Prisoner of the Sun is another story with the Doctor as jailbird, this time Eight in a peculiar cell beneath the surface of a star with a succession of android servants who all sound exactly like his erstwhile companion Lucie Miller. It didn't really make a lot of sense but the cast seemed to know what they were doing, with the notable exception of former child actor and singer Anthony Costa, who seems not to have read the acting instruction manual. ( )

When NEDA stalwart Eddie Robson's story begins, the Doctor has been working at the same space station for a few years, trying to prevent a star from erupting catastrophically and killing billions of people living on a nearby planet. His TARDIS is far off, and he's a virtual prisoner. But he claims he could escape any time he wanted, yet he won't-- he needs to stay, as his responsibilities won't let him do otherwise. His only companionship, other than his warders (the strange Mercurials), is a series of robot helpers that he's programmed with the voice of Lucie Miller.

It's a great idea, and the beginning of the audio certainly grabbed my attention, as I worked to figure out what had happened and why. But this is Doctor Who, and of course we can't just listen to 30 minutes of the Doctor being a prisoner, and so things begin to go horribly wrong when the resistance shows up to rescue the Doctor-- only he doesn't want to be rescued. Because, after all, if he wanted to escape, he would have. When these big events do happen, though, they don't carry the weight it seems they should-- with a limited number of characters running around a bit, it's all a bit on the light side.

If there's a downside to Prisoner of the Sun, it's that it never quite achieves the full weight of its excellent premise. It's a great idea that I feel could sustain a longer, more character-driven story, but most of what we get here is typical NEDA light action/adventure. But there are those occasional glimpses of that great idea-- the wandering Doctor forcing himself to be solitary for years on end-- and in those moments, Prisoner of the Sun absolutely excels. With two sharp stories in a row, I hope next month can keep up this level of quality as we head into the series finale.

You can read a longer version of this review at Unreality SF.