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Destiny of the Doctor #4
Doctor Who: Babblesphere
The violent, volcanic world of Hephastos is home to a colony of composers, painters, authors and poets, all striving to create the greatest works of art the universe has ever seen. But in pursuit of their goal, artistic collaboration has been taken a stage too far...
When the Doctor and Romana arrive, they discover the colonists have neglected their well-being and their once beautiful habitat has now succumbed to decay. What's more, they are enslaved to the Babble network which occupies their every waking moment. Every thought, however trivial or insignificant, is shared with everyone else and privacy is now a crime. The colonists are being killed and the Doctor and Romana begin to suspect that a malevolent intelligence is at work...
When the Doctor and Romana arrive, they discover the colonists have neglected their well-being and their once beautiful habitat has now succumbed to decay. What's more, they are enslaved to the Babble network which occupies their every waking moment. Every thought, however trivial or insignificant, is shared with everyone else and privacy is now a crime. The colonists are being killed and the Doctor and Romana begin to suspect that a malevolent intelligence is at work...
1 pages, Audio CD
First published April 4, 2013
1 person is currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Morris
215 books70 followersJonathan Morris is one of the most prolific and popular writers of Doctor Who books, including the highly-regarded novels 'Festival of Death' and 'Touched by an Angel' and the recent guide to monsters, 'The Monster Vault'. He has also written numerous comic strips, most of which were collected in 'The Child of Time', and audios for BBC Audio and Big Finish, including the highly-regarded comedies 'Max Warp' and 'The Auntie Matter', as well as the adaptation of Russell T Davies’ 'Damaged Goods'.
Recently he has started his own audio production company, Average Romp. Releases include a full-cast adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Chimes', an original play, 'When Michael Met Benny', and three episodes of a SF sitcom, 'Dick Dixon in the 21st Century'.
For details visit www.averageromp.com
He also originated his own series, Vienna and script-edited the Nigel Planer series 'Jeremiah Bourne in Time'. He’s also written documentaries and for TV sketch shows.
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Recently he has started his own audio production company, Average Romp. Releases include a full-cast adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Chimes', an original play, 'When Michael Met Benny', and three episodes of a SF sitcom, 'Dick Dixon in the 21st Century'.
For details visit www.averageromp.com
He also originated his own series, Vienna and script-edited the Nigel Planer series 'Jeremiah Bourne in Time'. He’s also written documentaries and for TV sketch shows.
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
December 13, 2023
The 4th Doctor is the one that connected me to the Whoniverse and pissed off my mother royaly, she accepted Star Trek but this weirdo with his curly head and mighty scarf was not for children.
Anyhow further on in my life I picked up the Doctors' adventures but have always remained a fan of Doctor nummer 4. Even my daughters who are fan of the New Doctors can be entertained by Tom Baker.
Anyhow this is read by Lala Ward, Timelady and fellow traveler in the TARDIS, and tells about a world where social media is taken to extremes in so far that privacy is considered a crime.
The Doctor and Romana are caught up in this fine mess and have to outthink the entity ruling the babblenet.
Enjoyable stuff albeit it so far the weakest of the stories. Which is quite annoying for a 4th Doctor fan .
Onwards to the fifth Doctor.........
Anyhow further on in my life I picked up the Doctors' adventures but have always remained a fan of Doctor nummer 4. Even my daughters who are fan of the New Doctors can be entertained by Tom Baker.
Anyhow this is read by Lala Ward, Timelady and fellow traveler in the TARDIS, and tells about a world where social media is taken to extremes in so far that privacy is considered a crime.
The Doctor and Romana are caught up in this fine mess and have to outthink the entity ruling the babblenet.
Enjoyable stuff albeit it so far the weakest of the stories. Which is quite annoying for a 4th Doctor fan .
Onwards to the fifth Doctor.........
November 3, 2020
This is based on the television show and is part of a series. Each book is a story that be can be read on its own while being part of an overall story. In this one we have the Fourth Doctor and Leela travel to a society where all the people are acting like their heads are in the clouds. The Doctor investigates.
I am reading these in order so this is my fourth one and my favorite so far. I cannot say if the portrayals of the established characters were correct as I don't know them but this audiobook portrayed them with characteristics (unlike the last offering). I found the portrayal of the Fourth Doctor very amusing and interesting. As for the story it is a diatribe against social media which I kind of agree with. My extent of social media is this website and that is it. I liked the story and I could get behind it. It also continues the overall thread with the continuing cameo by a certain character and these cameos continue to make me chuckle.
I really enjoyed this story and I am digging this whole series with self contained stories being a part of a bigger picture. Each story is about an hour long so they are quick reads and I will immediately jump into the next one.
I am reading these in order so this is my fourth one and my favorite so far. I cannot say if the portrayals of the established characters were correct as I don't know them but this audiobook portrayed them with characteristics (unlike the last offering). I found the portrayal of the Fourth Doctor very amusing and interesting. As for the story it is a diatribe against social media which I kind of agree with. My extent of social media is this website and that is it. I liked the story and I could get behind it. It also continues the overall thread with the continuing cameo by a certain character and these cameos continue to make me chuckle.
I really enjoyed this story and I am digging this whole series with self contained stories being a part of a bigger picture. Each story is about an hour long so they are quick reads and I will immediately jump into the next one.
March 3, 2025
2020 52 Book Challenge - 24) Title Beginning With The Letter "B"
I wanted so badly to like this, but it was just so poor. Clearly, this was a Romana book and not a Doctor book, which doesn't bother me too much because Romana is one of my favourite companions, and it was narrated by Lalla Ward who played Romana II in the show, which worked well for Romana, but she absolutely could not do a voice for Tom Baker, even though she tried.
Also, the plot, we get it Jonathan Morris, you can't stand social media, it's the bane of humanity. It just wasn't written well enough to be able to pull off the intricacies needed to exemplify the societal effects of social media.
I wanted so badly to like this, but it was just so poor. Clearly, this was a Romana book and not a Doctor book, which doesn't bother me too much because Romana is one of my favourite companions, and it was narrated by Lalla Ward who played Romana II in the show, which worked well for Romana, but she absolutely could not do a voice for Tom Baker, even though she tried.
Also, the plot, we get it Jonathan Morris, you can't stand social media, it's the bane of humanity. It just wasn't written well enough to be able to pull off the intricacies needed to exemplify the societal effects of social media.
April 11, 2017
Not great!
Whoever wrote this:
A) Hates Facebook/Twitter/whatever
B) Can't write the Fourth Doctor
C) Can barely write Romana.
Also sadly: Lala Ward, awesome though she is, and obviously perfect to portray Romana (having been the second and best actress to play her on TV), can't do a 4th Doctor impression to save her life.
That last one is the real trouble, because this story was based around Romana! This is part of the Destiny of the Doctor series, made for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, and each part features a story from the era of a different Doctor. However, the first featured Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter and companion to the First Doctor, and this one features Romanadvoratrelundar, Romana for short, a Time Lord in her own right, inexperienced but brilliant, who traveled with the Fourth Doctor.
The plot? Romana (the main character) and the Fourth Doctor land in a space colony where all the people got brain implants that recreated a super invasive form of social networking service so powerful, and so inane, that it drove the computer program governing it to insane megalomania. It wants to take over the entire human space empire!
The two see that almost everyone is burnt out and lethargic, so they run around for a bit, meet a few people, get plugged into the machine, and realize that it's making people lethargic so it can cope with the sheer magnitude of the inane prattle.
So, they convince everyone to overshare, which almost overloads the program! So, the two of them join in. Not quite enough! Finally, the 11th Doctor shows up (as he has in the previous installments) and turns the tide!
The computer is about to burn out, but the 11th Doctor had told them that they should save it and bring it to a particular place (a recurring theme!), so the Doctor saved it to a wee computer, the end.
Problems with this!
1: Poorly written
2: We get it, the author hates Twitter or whatever other similar program his grandkids like.
3: Overuse of the word, probably misspelled, "Pettisequods", much like the word "Recumbent" in the last one.
4: Where the hell was K-9?
5: When all was said and done, and the Doctor saved the computer program to the wee computer, he joked that he also put a copy of his own conciousness in there to 'keep it company'. What the hell? There's so much wrong with this. First, he's actually torturing his own consciousness that way! Second, there's the possibility that the evil computer program will overwhelm or trick the copy Doctor and learn Time Lord secrets. Third, there's no way the Fourth Doctor would ever do this because he's done the exact same damned thing before, in his personal past, and it worked out extremely horribly, in the show 'The Face of Evil'.
So yeah, not a great episode, but I got through it. Sorry Romana (and Lala Ward), you deserved better than to be an also-ran in your own story!
Whoever wrote this:
A) Hates Facebook/Twitter/whatever
B) Can't write the Fourth Doctor
C) Can barely write Romana.
Also sadly: Lala Ward, awesome though she is, and obviously perfect to portray Romana (having been the second and best actress to play her on TV), can't do a 4th Doctor impression to save her life.
That last one is the real trouble, because this story was based around Romana! This is part of the Destiny of the Doctor series, made for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, and each part features a story from the era of a different Doctor. However, the first featured Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter and companion to the First Doctor, and this one features Romanadvoratrelundar, Romana for short, a Time Lord in her own right, inexperienced but brilliant, who traveled with the Fourth Doctor.
The plot? Romana (the main character) and the Fourth Doctor land in a space colony where all the people got brain implants that recreated a super invasive form of social networking service so powerful, and so inane, that it drove the computer program governing it to insane megalomania. It wants to take over the entire human space empire!
The two see that almost everyone is burnt out and lethargic, so they run around for a bit, meet a few people, get plugged into the machine, and realize that it's making people lethargic so it can cope with the sheer magnitude of the inane prattle.
So, they convince everyone to overshare, which almost overloads the program! So, the two of them join in. Not quite enough! Finally, the 11th Doctor shows up (as he has in the previous installments) and turns the tide!
The computer is about to burn out, but the 11th Doctor had told them that they should save it and bring it to a particular place (a recurring theme!), so the Doctor saved it to a wee computer, the end.
Problems with this!
1: Poorly written
2: We get it, the author hates Twitter or whatever other similar program his grandkids like.
3: Overuse of the word, probably misspelled, "Pettisequods", much like the word "Recumbent" in the last one.
4: Where the hell was K-9?
5: When all was said and done, and the Doctor saved the computer program to the wee computer, he joked that he also put a copy of his own conciousness in there to 'keep it company'. What the hell? There's so much wrong with this. First, he's actually torturing his own consciousness that way! Second, there's the possibility that the evil computer program will overwhelm or trick the copy Doctor and learn Time Lord secrets. Third, there's no way the Fourth Doctor would ever do this because he's done the exact same damned thing before, in his personal past, and it worked out extremely horribly, in the show 'The Face of Evil'.
So yeah, not a great episode, but I got through it. Sorry Romana (and Lala Ward), you deserved better than to be an also-ran in your own story!
March 17, 2018
The fourth story in the series is read by Lalla Ward, who played Time Lady Romana in the TV series.
The Doctor and Romana arrive on an isolated colony world in the far future and immediately stumble across a dead body. The early sections of the story are atmospheric and quite surreal as the two Time Lords investigate their strange surroundings. By the time we discover what it is, the Doctor has been separated from Romana, and she remains the viewpoint character throughout the story; the Doctor's role in events is undeniably important, but most of the action happens to his companion, and there's a long stretch without him.
Once the explanation is finally revealed, the story switches from surreality to satire, with a personification of modern social media as the primary antagonist. Clearly, such a story wouldn't have been written for the '70s version of the TV show, because the thing it's satirising didn't exist back then, but it is reminiscent of some episodes that were (mainly The Sunmakers, for the satirical elements, but also, for other reasons, The Face of Evil and Underworld).
Morris has a good grasp of the Fourth Doctor and Romana, although Lalla Ward, as in the Companion Chronicles, struggles with doing Tom Baker's voice. (To be fair, I assume he'd have a hard time doing hers). There are a number of nice touches for the fans, too - I thought the brief plot arc sequence where the Doctor lists his worst foes was particularly fun. Whether you enjoy it may depend on your opinions of social media, but I thought it worked quite well. #eviltwitter
The Doctor and Romana arrive on an isolated colony world in the far future and immediately stumble across a dead body. The early sections of the story are atmospheric and quite surreal as the two Time Lords investigate their strange surroundings. By the time we discover what it is, the Doctor has been separated from Romana, and she remains the viewpoint character throughout the story; the Doctor's role in events is undeniably important, but most of the action happens to his companion, and there's a long stretch without him.
Once the explanation is finally revealed, the story switches from surreality to satire, with a personification of modern social media as the primary antagonist. Clearly, such a story wouldn't have been written for the '70s version of the TV show, because the thing it's satirising didn't exist back then, but it is reminiscent of some episodes that were (mainly The Sunmakers, for the satirical elements, but also, for other reasons, The Face of Evil and Underworld).
Morris has a good grasp of the Fourth Doctor and Romana, although Lalla Ward, as in the Companion Chronicles, struggles with doing Tom Baker's voice. (To be fair, I assume he'd have a hard time doing hers). There are a number of nice touches for the fans, too - I thought the brief plot arc sequence where the Doctor lists his worst foes was particularly fun. Whether you enjoy it may depend on your opinions of social media, but I thought it worked quite well. #eviltwitter
March 29, 2013
Fourth in the Destiny Of The Doctors 50th anniversary series, and, oh dear me, this one's dreadful. Apparently it was decided that the best way to represent Four's era was to attempt a Douglas Adams pastiche and do a satirical story...the result, despite Lalla Ward's best efforts, is embarrassing. A mentally linked amalgam of Facebook and Twitter has taken over a human colony, with dire results...on both the world of the story, and the story-telling itself.
August 24, 2020
This was enjoyable.
But wow, definitely putting modern issues in a past story line. Because yeah this was a direct commentary on people's overuse of social media and it's subsequent addiction. I'm not saying it wasn't unenjoyable, just saying it was a bit in your face about it.
I did like it though. And the hubby who was a 4th Doctor fan who was listening as well (he was doing other things, and because I couldn't do what I normally do at that time, I put it on and he just had to deal with hearing my audiobook) enjoyed it.
But wow, definitely putting modern issues in a past story line. Because yeah this was a direct commentary on people's overuse of social media and it's subsequent addiction. I'm not saying it wasn't unenjoyable, just saying it was a bit in your face about it.
I did like it though. And the hubby who was a 4th Doctor fan who was listening as well (he was doing other things, and because I couldn't do what I normally do at that time, I put it on and he just had to deal with hearing my audiobook) enjoyed it.
July 4, 2021
Has to be the best one yet! It might be down to the fact that im a huge 4th doctor fan, but i honestly just loved this story, but i also can see why people would have an issue with it. But i just really loved this story, it's fun!
Read
March 12, 2017Good story, I was not very happy with the ending, but in general this is how I was hooked up with Doctor Who stories :)
Read
September 17, 2017I really wanted to like it but I didn't really understand the point it was making very well (social media = bad I got, but the exact moral not so much). The old women = boring gossips trope was also a bit not good, especially given that the women in question all seemed so very interesting! It was, however, good to see Four and Romana again, which is why I gave it a three star rating! However, the copied consciousness ending was just a bit 😐. So many mixed feelings!
June 1, 2017
Review to come... It remind me of Douglas Adams novels... Another episode from Judge Dredd, nothing really interesting... Not Making a review. Only watch if you are going to watch the other two dozen or so...
January 30, 2018
Computerized live chat system takes over colony world, and people simply can't stop sharing their single thought every waking moment of their life. Who better to stop the program, than the Fourth Doctor?
August 2, 2017
Enjoyable take on how social media could become nefarious, with a funny cameo at the end.
October 10, 2021
Doctor Who often uses future settings to comment on society. Babblesphere is a take on the evils of social networking. What happens when you give up personal privacy in favor of non-stop interaction. The Doctor and Romana come across a society literally in decay, corpses and bodies in decay as they witness people in a catatonic zombie state wandering around disheveled because nobody cares about anything but the social interaction generated by the computer controlled reality.
Instead of an exchange of creative ideas there is a witless commentary on the banality of life. The computer has begun killing off the least productive and thoughtful members of society until the Doctor and Romana change the conversation.
Instead of an exchange of creative ideas there is a witless commentary on the banality of life. The computer has begun killing off the least productive and thoughtful members of society until the Doctor and Romana change the conversation.
October 5, 2022
Babbleshere is a Destiny of the Doctor audio book featuring the fourth doctor. It's very Ready Player One esque in it's setting but does not focus on the positive. Was it a fun listen?
Yes
Yes
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2018
Skip it.
It's very heavy on the consequences of oversharing on social media. That got tiring very fast.
Lalla Ward narrates this. She's not a good narrator at all. Somehow she screwed up voicing her own character. She tries to do a voice for the Doctor, but it sounds nothing at all like Tom Baker. Judging by the writing alone, the Doctor is very in character. Yet somehow Lalla Ward made him out of character by the way she read him. Embarrassing voice work.
It's very heavy on the consequences of oversharing on social media. That got tiring very fast.
Lalla Ward narrates this. She's not a good narrator at all. Somehow she screwed up voicing her own character. She tries to do a voice for the Doctor, but it sounds nothing at all like Tom Baker. Judging by the writing alone, the Doctor is very in character. Yet somehow Lalla Ward made him out of character by the way she read him. Embarrassing voice work.
May 2, 2020
A wonderful but bizzare Fourth Doctor story with a message on the internet, evil computers and rebels. Lalla Ward did a fantastic job narrating this story and Roger Parrott as Aurelius was good too. This series has a very intriguing but exciting mystery going on as I dive further into this series of adventures. 8/10
December 22, 2021
Hmm, I wanted to like this one more, but I had a few issues with it. It's kind of a "Facebook gone wrong" story, which is nice, but I've seen this kind of thing before. And it doesn't really fit with the fourth Doctor's era. It feels more like a modern era story. Still, it's kind of fun, and captures some of the anarchic fun of the fourth Doctor and Romana.
January 29, 2018
This one would have been amusing had it not been so incredibly condescending and featuring faulty internal logic.
I think I would have found it a bit annoying even had I listened to it back when it was released, but in 2018 I have to say it just mostly pissed me off.
I think I would have found it a bit annoying even had I listened to it back when it was released, but in 2018 I have to say it just mostly pissed me off.
May 30, 2020
This one was amazing. I wish I didn't like the 4th Doctor that much. 😂
I love Romana! She's way more than a companion.
The narration was great. The story they came up with is quite interesting. We've been sharing more and more about our lives without actually connecting with other people.
I love Romana! She's way more than a companion.
The narration was great. The story they came up with is quite interesting. We've been sharing more and more about our lives without actually connecting with other people.
July 25, 2020
Well, almost everything I don’t like about the Tom Baker era is present here. So, not a chapter I was particularly fond of. On the other hand, fans of Douglas Adams will likely love this one.
Read
January 24, 2021this was FUN and i really needed it after this week at school. also i'm in love with romana... spare hand in marriage ma'am?
February 21, 2021
This was a rare treat, a story told from Romana's point of view for a change, enhanced by having Lalla Ward reading the story. Maybe a bit on the nose about social media and what it's doing to society, but an enjoyable story nonetheless.
November 12, 2021
Everything went swimmingly here. It was funny. I really liked the method of solution/resolution. hahha. Short story that still spoke about how communication can break down among people. It was relevant, lol. Good stuff.
July 23, 2025
A 1 hour audio book. Story of the Doctor and companions as they go to a far off galaxy to find the human outpost that has been taken over by a very familiar enemy of 2030s. Overall, I did not like the story due to lack of information on how the Doctor won.
May 12, 2018
A beautiful indictment of social media obsession.
October 9, 2017
Lalla Ward's Romana was one of my favorite classic companions; she really shines here. The premise was interesting: a world where the government has banned privacy and private thoughts.
March 1, 2018
I definitely prefer the big finish audio books to these. I think that Big Finish should have done them.
April 20, 2018
Funny idea.
April 6, 2020
The entire first half is largely exposition and very little in the way of sound effects.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews