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The Companion Chronicles #6.10
Doctor Who: The Wanderer
Siberia at the end of the 19th Century, and the TARDIS arrives just as a shooting star hurtles to the ground.
With it comes an illness that affects the Doctor and Susan, and knowledge that must not fall into the wrong hands.
With his friends either dying or lost, Ian Chesterton must save the future and win the ultimate prize – a way home to 1963...
With it comes an illness that affects the Doctor and Susan, and knowledge that must not fall into the wrong hands.
With his friends either dying or lost, Ian Chesterton must save the future and win the ultimate prize – a way home to 1963...
Audio CD
First published April 30, 2012
About the author
Richard Dinnick
71 books31 followersRichard is a writer for TV, comics and books.
He is currently working on the TV show, Thunderbirds Are Go! and is a regular contributor to Titan's 12th Doctor ongoing comic - amongst other ranges.
His new Doctor Who book, Myths & Legends is published in June 2017.
In the past he has written audio drama scripts for franchises such as Doctor Who, Stargate, Sherlock Holmes and Sapphire & Steel.
His first novel Alien Adventures was published by BBC Children’s Books in 2010 and he has since gone on to write books and short stories for Penguin UK, Titan Publishing, Black Library, Running Press and Snow Books.
He is currently working on the TV show, Thunderbirds Are Go! and is a regular contributor to Titan's 12th Doctor ongoing comic - amongst other ranges.
His new Doctor Who book, Myths & Legends is published in June 2017.
In the past he has written audio drama scripts for franchises such as Doctor Who, Stargate, Sherlock Holmes and Sapphire & Steel.
His first novel Alien Adventures was published by BBC Children’s Books in 2010 and he has since gone on to write books and short stories for Penguin UK, Titan Publishing, Black Library, Running Press and Snow Books.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 1, 2020
I don't give out 5 Star reviews lightly. My reviews usually top-out at four stars, and to earn five, something has to be extraordinary. The Wanderer, a story in Big Finish's Companion Chronicles audiobook/play lines is extraordinary. I loved every minute of it. My second listen wasn't to catch any details I'd missed (I listen to audios while commuting) but because I just really wanted to listen to the story again. Immediately. It was that good.
The story begins with Ian reflecting on how the phrase, "Nomadic Lifestyle" conjures up romantic ideas of Arabian Nights, riding across the desert on camelback, but the reality is quite different, then he mentions one true wanderer he and Barbara met on their travels. Then his wonderful telling of the story transitions into the story itself. The TARDIS lands, we quickly find out, in Siberia in 1900. It's extremely cold, though the local carters who give the Docter, Susan, Ian, and Barbara a lift to the nearest village remark that it is Springtime.
As they arrive in the village, they meet another wanderer, dress in robes, gathered in at the waist by a rope. He is called Grigory, and the people call him Staritz, meaning Elder, leader, healer of his people. Everyone is just getting to know one another when a man rushes up, asking for aid. He's a local lumberjack and his sons have taken ill. The Doctor offers his services and they wander off, making the trek to the logging camp. But when the Doctor opens the door to the simple log cabin, he is taken very ill and collapses. Ian reflects that it reminds him of the Doctor getting radiation poisoning on Skaro. Barbara and Susan stay with the Doctor and the other two sick men while Grigory and Ian return to the village for medicines and aid.
At the village, they find the healing woman and obtain basic herbal remedies, they also obtain more lanterns then head back. But when they reach the cabin they find it's been ripped apart, Susan and Barbara are gone, the two loggers have died, and the Doctor is still ill. But he recovers enough to tell Ian that he's being affected by chronon radiation. There's a device in the nearby boathouse that's alien - and leaking radiation.
Barbara arrives and fills in some details. The Doctor starts to recover a bit. Susan was poisoned by the radiation, it affected her mind, she ripped up the room, then took off. Barbara ran after her then returned. The Doctor's notebook contains information about the alien device. He's recovered enough to tell Ian a little bit about it - it's supposed to be a recon device, gathering information - but it's malfunctioned. The interaction of the chronon radiation and the device's original purpose mean it's recording Earth's future at a rate of 1000 years per day. And anyone who touches the device is overwhelmed, either by the radiation itself or by a sonic blast of literally too much information. The two men who died touched the outer surface of the device and were poisoned. Susan touched the inside, became stuck to it by some force, and Barbara had to pry her off, but she still wasn't stable and ran off. Grigory hears all this and touches the device. He's knocked out but recovers. The Doctor manages to free the device's homing beacon and reverse it. He gives it to Ian and asks him, Barbara, and Grigory to find the alien spaceship. As Ian and Grigory walk through the woods, it becomes clear Grigory wasn't unaffected by his encounter with the alien device. He's now seen the next thousand years of Earth's future but not his own fate. He description really reminded me of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire".
"I can see: Alexander, Kaiser Wilhelm, Bolsheviks, a Great War
Revolution, Armistice, Stalin, Nazis, Hitler, a Second World War
Television, Computers, Space Flight, Gagarin, Berlin Wall, Cuban Missiles
A Tenth Planet, Aliens, Invasions, Lunar Bases, Men on Mars, The Doctor!"
– Grigory Rasputin
And a little later, Rasputin continues to describe to Ian how he sees the Doctor through time.
"The Doctor is woven through the Tapestry of Time, keeping it safe against all manner of enemy: Others of his kind, denizens of Hell and other planes,
soldiers from distant worlds and home-spun foes,
Plastic people, Men of Metal, Creatures of Carbon, Silicon, and Calcium,
Egyptian Gods, Werewolves, ghosts, and vampires,
so many nonsensical things with unpronounceable names, like scrambled Roman numerals.
If they are as ungodly as I suspect, then The Doctor must truly be a Staritz."
– Grigory Rasputin
After a short walk, Ian and Grigory come across a small, squat, frog-like spaceship. Hearing a scream, Ian hides behind the ship then sneaks around it. He sees three aliens, short and stocky, but powerful, like their ship, with four arms, and a tail that curves up over their heads from the back and ends in a nasty stinger. Essentially, they seem like intelligent, walking scorpions. One of the aliens is holding Mikhail prisoner (the father of the two loggers who found the device earlier). Ian makes himself known and Grigory runs off. The aliens demand Ian tell them the location of their Ranger. They kill Mikhail and bring the unconscious Susan out of the spaceship, threatening her. Ian demands them produce and set free Barbara, but the aliens ignore the demand (because they actually haven't seen her). The aliens threaten Ian, but he points out that if they kill him, they will never find their Ranger. He also tells them the device was damaged in landing and it's making the humans here sick. But he's scanned, the aliens find the homing beacon on him, then he and Susan are returned to the ship and tied up. then the aliens (four of them now), leave. Susan opens her eyes. She's awake, uninjured, and no longer affected by the poisonous radiation from the Ranger device. Just as she and Ian try to figure out how to get themselves free, the door opens. It's Rasputin, who lets them out. He'd run off so he wasn't captured and could let them free.
Everyone ends up back at the boathouse, where the Doctor and Barbara are waiting, including the four aliens. The Doctor tricks the aliens into handling their device, but because it is malfunctioning, it turns the aliens into petroleum puddles. Grigory is suddenly overwhelmed by the info-dump of a thousand years of future history, screams in agony and collapses. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan gather the villagers and they haul the alien spacecraft by horse to a nearby river and drop it in to hide it. The Doctor takes the alien device (what's left of it) and Grigory into the TARDIS. Grigory is cured of the radiation poisoning by exposure to the time vortex, and the Doctor wires the device into the TARDIS console. He returns Grigory to the garden outside the palace in St. Petersburg, after assuring Ian that Grigory will not remember any of the events he experienced. But when the Doctor tries to program the TARDIS to return Ian and Barbara to 1963, the alien Ranger finally gives up the ghost and goes "poof". Barbara is upset at first but then accepts it. Ian is depressed that he and Barbara will still be doomed to wander, but he realizes that as long as he's with her, she is his home, so it's all right.
I loved this story! Loved it - every though a short summary makes it sounds somewhat grim, it's actually a very enjoyable and fun story, with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. Ian's somewhat sardonic narration is absolutely perfect. And you gotta' love that Ian meets a man, dressed as a monk, named Gregori, in Russia, in Siberia, in 1900 - and it NEVER crosses his mind this guy might possibly be Rasputin until Rasputin mentions his last name. That bit was hilarious - and it's so Ian, he can be quite clueless sometimes, but it a totally loveable way. Also, Ian being a bit depressed at the end of the story because of the possibility of finally going home is dangled in front of him and then it's snatched away until he realizes that wherever Barbara is is his home is perfectly priceless. The entire story is just filled with little gems here and there, bits of dialogue, situations, that just really work. They suit the characters, break the tension, get you to laugh, but never make fun of or demean any of the characters. I also enjoyed the beginning where Grigory is a very rational man, but also a man of faith who believes he has a destiny. This isn't presented as ego, but as a common thing - that everyone, no matter who they are, wants to be remembered. The Wanderer is a truly enjoyable story and I highly recommend it.
The story begins with Ian reflecting on how the phrase, "Nomadic Lifestyle" conjures up romantic ideas of Arabian Nights, riding across the desert on camelback, but the reality is quite different, then he mentions one true wanderer he and Barbara met on their travels. Then his wonderful telling of the story transitions into the story itself. The TARDIS lands, we quickly find out, in Siberia in 1900. It's extremely cold, though the local carters who give the Docter, Susan, Ian, and Barbara a lift to the nearest village remark that it is Springtime.
As they arrive in the village, they meet another wanderer, dress in robes, gathered in at the waist by a rope. He is called Grigory, and the people call him Staritz, meaning Elder, leader, healer of his people. Everyone is just getting to know one another when a man rushes up, asking for aid. He's a local lumberjack and his sons have taken ill. The Doctor offers his services and they wander off, making the trek to the logging camp. But when the Doctor opens the door to the simple log cabin, he is taken very ill and collapses. Ian reflects that it reminds him of the Doctor getting radiation poisoning on Skaro. Barbara and Susan stay with the Doctor and the other two sick men while Grigory and Ian return to the village for medicines and aid.
At the village, they find the healing woman and obtain basic herbal remedies, they also obtain more lanterns then head back. But when they reach the cabin they find it's been ripped apart, Susan and Barbara are gone, the two loggers have died, and the Doctor is still ill. But he recovers enough to tell Ian that he's being affected by chronon radiation. There's a device in the nearby boathouse that's alien - and leaking radiation.
Barbara arrives and fills in some details. The Doctor starts to recover a bit. Susan was poisoned by the radiation, it affected her mind, she ripped up the room, then took off. Barbara ran after her then returned. The Doctor's notebook contains information about the alien device. He's recovered enough to tell Ian a little bit about it - it's supposed to be a recon device, gathering information - but it's malfunctioned. The interaction of the chronon radiation and the device's original purpose mean it's recording Earth's future at a rate of 1000 years per day. And anyone who touches the device is overwhelmed, either by the radiation itself or by a sonic blast of literally too much information. The two men who died touched the outer surface of the device and were poisoned. Susan touched the inside, became stuck to it by some force, and Barbara had to pry her off, but she still wasn't stable and ran off. Grigory hears all this and touches the device. He's knocked out but recovers. The Doctor manages to free the device's homing beacon and reverse it. He gives it to Ian and asks him, Barbara, and Grigory to find the alien spaceship. As Ian and Grigory walk through the woods, it becomes clear Grigory wasn't unaffected by his encounter with the alien device. He's now seen the next thousand years of Earth's future but not his own fate. He description really reminded me of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire".
"I can see: Alexander, Kaiser Wilhelm, Bolsheviks, a Great War
Revolution, Armistice, Stalin, Nazis, Hitler, a Second World War
Television, Computers, Space Flight, Gagarin, Berlin Wall, Cuban Missiles
A Tenth Planet, Aliens, Invasions, Lunar Bases, Men on Mars, The Doctor!"
– Grigory Rasputin
And a little later, Rasputin continues to describe to Ian how he sees the Doctor through time.
"The Doctor is woven through the Tapestry of Time, keeping it safe against all manner of enemy: Others of his kind, denizens of Hell and other planes,
soldiers from distant worlds and home-spun foes,
Plastic people, Men of Metal, Creatures of Carbon, Silicon, and Calcium,
Egyptian Gods, Werewolves, ghosts, and vampires,
so many nonsensical things with unpronounceable names, like scrambled Roman numerals.
If they are as ungodly as I suspect, then The Doctor must truly be a Staritz."
– Grigory Rasputin
After a short walk, Ian and Grigory come across a small, squat, frog-like spaceship. Hearing a scream, Ian hides behind the ship then sneaks around it. He sees three aliens, short and stocky, but powerful, like their ship, with four arms, and a tail that curves up over their heads from the back and ends in a nasty stinger. Essentially, they seem like intelligent, walking scorpions. One of the aliens is holding Mikhail prisoner (the father of the two loggers who found the device earlier). Ian makes himself known and Grigory runs off. The aliens demand Ian tell them the location of their Ranger. They kill Mikhail and bring the unconscious Susan out of the spaceship, threatening her. Ian demands them produce and set free Barbara, but the aliens ignore the demand (because they actually haven't seen her). The aliens threaten Ian, but he points out that if they kill him, they will never find their Ranger. He also tells them the device was damaged in landing and it's making the humans here sick. But he's scanned, the aliens find the homing beacon on him, then he and Susan are returned to the ship and tied up. then the aliens (four of them now), leave. Susan opens her eyes. She's awake, uninjured, and no longer affected by the poisonous radiation from the Ranger device. Just as she and Ian try to figure out how to get themselves free, the door opens. It's Rasputin, who lets them out. He'd run off so he wasn't captured and could let them free.
Everyone ends up back at the boathouse, where the Doctor and Barbara are waiting, including the four aliens. The Doctor tricks the aliens into handling their device, but because it is malfunctioning, it turns the aliens into petroleum puddles. Grigory is suddenly overwhelmed by the info-dump of a thousand years of future history, screams in agony and collapses. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan gather the villagers and they haul the alien spacecraft by horse to a nearby river and drop it in to hide it. The Doctor takes the alien device (what's left of it) and Grigory into the TARDIS. Grigory is cured of the radiation poisoning by exposure to the time vortex, and the Doctor wires the device into the TARDIS console. He returns Grigory to the garden outside the palace in St. Petersburg, after assuring Ian that Grigory will not remember any of the events he experienced. But when the Doctor tries to program the TARDIS to return Ian and Barbara to 1963, the alien Ranger finally gives up the ghost and goes "poof". Barbara is upset at first but then accepts it. Ian is depressed that he and Barbara will still be doomed to wander, but he realizes that as long as he's with her, she is his home, so it's all right.
I loved this story! Loved it - every though a short summary makes it sounds somewhat grim, it's actually a very enjoyable and fun story, with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. Ian's somewhat sardonic narration is absolutely perfect. And you gotta' love that Ian meets a man, dressed as a monk, named Gregori, in Russia, in Siberia, in 1900 - and it NEVER crosses his mind this guy might possibly be Rasputin until Rasputin mentions his last name. That bit was hilarious - and it's so Ian, he can be quite clueless sometimes, but it a totally loveable way. Also, Ian being a bit depressed at the end of the story because of the possibility of finally going home is dangled in front of him and then it's snatched away until he realizes that wherever Barbara is is his home is perfectly priceless. The entire story is just filled with little gems here and there, bits of dialogue, situations, that just really work. They suit the characters, break the tension, get you to laugh, but never make fun of or demean any of the characters. I also enjoyed the beginning where Grigory is a very rational man, but also a man of faith who believes he has a destiny. This isn't presented as ego, but as a common thing - that everyone, no matter who they are, wants to be remembered. The Wanderer is a truly enjoyable story and I highly recommend it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2020
A fantastic pseudo-historical with great ideas and characters with a great revelation! Richard Dinnick has written a great story with William Russell doing a brilliant job with his fellow cast member in this companion chronicle! 9/10
September 19, 2022
No thanks.
November 19, 2023
It’s a Companioj Chronicle, so I didn’t expect a whole lot.
August 27, 2012
God bless William Russell (real name Russell Enoch), who will turn 88 this year and is still doing well off a TV show he appeared in almost fifty years ago. Big Finish have served him up a testing Richard Dimmick script where he has to play not only Ian Chesterton but also every other character bar one, in a tale of alien intrusion into a Russian village in the early 1900s. The local AB0@5F is played very convincingly by Tim Chipping, of whom I had not otherwise heard, and though I worked out his identity as soon as the character was introduced it is well executed. Russell's version of Hartnell is a homage rather than a portrayal, sounding actually like a much younger man (but of course Hartnell when he first played the Doctor was almost thirty years younger than Russell is now). The plot is fairly standard stuff but it is done very well; non-Who fans may enjoy it because of the historical tie-in.
March 27, 2016
The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara land on earth where aliens are trying to control the people. The Doctor and Susan get sick and go mad when touching their equipment. Ian tries to save the day with the help of Rasputin who knows the future.
October 28, 2012
Although I guessed early on who Gregori was, it didn't take away from the story. I've always enjoyed the Who historicals, and William Russell does a very good job of narration in the role of Ian.
June 1, 2017
Nothing much to say about this. I will not be making a review. Didn't enjoy that much. Only to anyone who wants to read everything from the first three doctors.... ah Siberia....
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews