Fourth Doctor Adventures: Phantoms of the Deep
Starring: Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor, Mary Tamm as Romana, and John Leeson as K9
Format: 1 full-cast CD (or download) of two half-CD episodes
Silly? Not overtly deliberately silly, but a lot of wild science fiction elements are introduced in rapid succession.
Standalone? Yes.
Recommended? If "action story in a submarine with the Fourth Doctor, the first Romana, and K9" is a concept that particularly appeals to you, or if you like action-story audiodrama in general and you can get it at a good price.
My reaction to this story contains spoilers for it.
Before listening
From what I recall, the Doctor and Romana spend most of Phantoms of the Deep in a submarine on Earth. There's a shipwreck with a survivor who's been kept alive by aliens, then further down there's an alien shipwreck, and the alien ship causes psychic powers. It would have been impossible to produce on a BBC television budget, and it uses psychic powers in a way that's not really how the classic TV series used them, but everything else about the story is very straightforward about just being a Doctor Who adventure, without going for any thematic depth or formal experimentation beyond what the TV show went for. I think I've listened to it once, and that when I was in a mood for something meatier and wasn't up for appreciating light entertainment.After listening to episode 1 of 2
If the BBC had had a budget for the Mariana Trench, a futuristic submarine, bioluminescent squid flashing patterns of symbolic logic, a glowing coral reef, a derelict WW2 submarine, and a giant jellyfish, they'd possibly have produced something like this, but the events of this episode surely wouldn't have all been in a single television episode. The first episode of Phantoms of the Deep is a highly eventful undersea adventure that doesn't leave breathing time for more reflective character-driven scenes. I get the impression that it was intentionally written this action-packed from the beginning, as opposed to being the result of cutting down a story that was originally written for a higher episode count.The cliffhanger, in which K9 opens the submarine's outer airlock door while a crew member is in the airlock, is intense. When I was listening to this story the first time around, I had guessed that the crew member was either secretly an alien or in the airlock with an invisible alien and that K9 had a plan, and I was surprised to discover the real reason had a different twist entirely.
After listening to episode 2 of 2
The rapid succession of undersea events continues: an oyster-like alien spacecraft is boosting squids' and peoples' intelligence, which is also making the people psychic, so that it can create suitable vessels for the ghosts of its alien creators to possess. Also, the futuristic submarine had a reason beyond simple exploration for being in the Mariana Trench in the first place, and yet another kind of sea monster shows up. If this story had been paced like the TV series it would have been between 4 and 6 episodes.This is one of the most action-oriented Big Finish stories I've heard. It does a good job of it. For much of the story, the party is split up and keeping in touch by radio, so having everyone narrate what they see works well. Another good exposition scene that doesn't rely on the radio link has Romana having one conversation with a submarine crew member while the Doctor is having a very similar conversation with the others. The two conversations are intercut at corresponding lines, and then an interesting event happens that works really well with the intercutting.
I don't usually listen to Big Finish for fast-moving action adventures, but I can say this is a pretty good one. Since Fourth Doctor Adventures are at a premium price compared to other Big Finish, I'm reluctant to recommend Phantoms of the Deep at its normal asking price without reservations unless you really want this particular sort of undersea action.
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