#59 Doctor Who Special Releases: No Place Like Home

My Randomoid Selectortron will have to return to France and the Great War someday to finish the job, but for now it visits...

Doctor Who Special Releases: No Place Like Home

Starring: Peter Davison as the Doctor Caroline Morris as Erimem, and Mark Donovan as Shayde
Format: One half-CD-length episode.
Silly? Yes.
Standalone? It's aimed at people who might not have heard any Big Finish Doctor Who before.
Recommended? Yes.


My thoughts on this story contain spoilers for it.

Before listening

This was originally a free teaser story that came with an issue of Doctor Who Magazine, with a Dalek Empire excerpt taking up the other half of the CD. It's now available for free as a download. I think I've heard it only once, and I don't remember it clearly.
Shayde is a character from Doctor Who Magazine comics who hasn't otherwise appeared in audio. From what I recall, this story takes place in the TARDIS interior, and involves Erimem meeting Shayde and learning a little about the history of the TARDIS. I don't remember what the central conflict of the story is or how seriously it took itself. I'm behind schedule on my listening and it's short, so I'm going to dive into No Place Like Home immediately.

After listening

This story's main job seems to have been to make Doctor Who Magazine readers of Big Finish's then-new companion for the fifth Doctor, Erimem, and to reassure them that Big Finish cared about Doctor Who continuity, including the continuity of Doctor Who Magazine comics.
Much of the running time of the story is spent reminiscing about the past of Doctor Who, including references to elements only appearing in novels and other elements only appearing in comics. The Doctor takes Erimem on a tour of the TARDIS and does a lot of talking about his past adventures and companions, then a villain traps them in a loop of TARDIS rooms. The Doctor explains who Shayde is to Erimem, a bit perfunctorily but adequately for the story's sake. Erimem talks about her own past, and from what I can recall, this story actually fleshes out her past a little beyond what had been established up to its release.
The villain resembles Omega in its sympatheticness, but is played for laughs. There is a dissonance here, with the Doctor and Erimem mocking the villain for essentially superficial reasons. The Doctor arrives at a plan that has mocking the villain as part of it, but only after he's already been mocking the villain and seen its reaction. It doesn't feel like it fits the fifth Doctor.
No Place Like Home is free and short and has several worthwhile moments in it, so I recommend it, particularly if you have any interest in Erimem's arc or in Big Finish's handling of elements from comics.