Doctor Who: Leviathan Review


Many modern people think of the Dark Ages as a time of myth and legend and the Legends become scarily true when the TARDIS arrives in the middle of a hunt. A skull faced, horn crowned monster leading a pack of savage dogs on a hunt for a scared peasant boy. Their hunting him because his name is Gurth and it is his time. But what does that mean? Basically, in this village, when you reach a certain age you either turn yourself over to the captain's guards at the castle or Herne the Hunter is sent after you.
There are a few children who have escaped and are hiding in the woods to avoid their fate but they have no supporters from the village.
After all, they are the Pariah and anyone on the Baron's side, including their own families, will turn them over for their punishment.

Although, the Doctor's companion Peri has trouble trying to get him to interfere in their culture, eventually his own curiosity starts to get the better of him. For example, when a couple of Herne's dogs are killed, why do they not bleed? Why does the village priest offer him fresh white bread and why can't the Baron name his own king? But more importantly, who is the mysterious Zeron, whose name booms across the castle? While the Doctor finds out the truth behind the strange anachronisms, the Pariah have gathered. Its time for a revolt and they will kill anything and anyone that stands in the way of their ending the Way.

Although the third release in the Lost Series range, Leviathan is the first story that was ever truly lost. There are no scripts, no previous charity released audios, no novelisations and the story is all the better for it. There is no being forced to be faithful to previous incarnations of the story and because of this, Leviathan sounds like a fully modern, Big Finish adventure.

And it is an adventure with lots of running around, shouting and swordplay. The story twists and turns significantly and nothing is ever what it seems. And everything rises naturally out of what we are told and still manages to be unexpected at the moment of revelation.

With its horror and mythical monster, Leviathan is a story very much in the vein of stories like, Horror of Fang Rock and The Stones of Blood.
It is an excellent listen, not just for fans of the Sixth Doctor but for people who like their Doctor Who stories to be gothic and action packed.

LEVIATHAN, WRITTEN BY BRIAN FINCH AND STARRING COLIN BAKER AND NICHOLA BRYANT WAS RELEASED BY BIG FINISH PRODUCTIONS IN JANUARY 2010.

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