Doctor Who: Trouble in Paradise

Destiny of the Doctor #6

by Nev Fountain, Nicola Bryant (Narrator), Cameron Stewart (Narrator)

Responding to a desperate summons from the Doctor's future self, he and Peri find themselves on a sailing ship in 1492, where the crewmen are gripped by superstitious fear. They say the Devil walks among them, stalking and striking them down. Even though they have landed in paradise, they fear that 'El Diablo' himself will drag them over the edge of the world and into the depths of hell. When the Doctor and Peri meet the captain of the ship, they both discover that heroes can sometimes behave un–heroically. Peri's reaction leads her into deep water, and soon the Doctor fears not only for her life but also for the existence of the ship, the paradise island, and the Universe itself...

Celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who, a brand new adventure for the Sixth Doctor. Nicola Bryant – Peri in the BBC TV Doctor Who series – and Cameron Stewart perform this original story by Nev Fountain, with music and sound design.

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Media Tie In, Short Stories

1 pages, Audio CD

First published June 3, 2013

About the author

Nev Fountain, born Steven John Fountain, is an English writer, best known for his comedy work with writing partner Tom Jamieson on the radio and television programme 'Dead Ringers'.

He is currently writing for Dead Ringers and the satirical magazine 'Private Eye'.

He has written three humorous murder-mystery novels, collectively called 'The Mervyn Stone Mysteries', and a serious thriller called 'Painkiller'.

His latest book, 'The Fan Who Knew Too Much' was released in July this year.

Nev was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire and now resides in Surrey.

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short story that is based on the television series. It is a stand alone that is also part of an overall connecting arc. In this one, the Sixth Doctor gets a message from a future incarnation of himself and is tasked to pick up an object. This object is in 1492 and onboard the ships of Christopher Columbus.

I decided on three stars as my rating could have been two to four stars. The reason is that there were parts I really did like and parts not so much. I love the idea of The Doctor and his companion meeting Columbus right before the discovery of America. I guess Columbus was kind of a jerk so this book automatically gets high regards for teaching me something. The narration is an example of my sentiments about this book. There were some parts of the narration I loved and totally immersed me in the story. The narration for the antagonist took me out of it. I understand what the actor was going for but I didn't care for it. The story was all over the place just like my rating. One gets a story where it is all over the place once in awhile in this universe so that didn't bother me so much.

This is the middle of the overall series and my enjoyment has gone downhill a little bit. It might be the novelty of the series has worn off or it might be that I don't have any experience with the old television show. That being said, I still am interested in this whole series and I will jump into the next one.

[Polly Batchelor · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Peri! You have to understand! I thought I had lost you! I had to find a new companion from somewhere and Neddy seemed to fit the bill. Noisy, angry, eats anything, always butting heads…"

Narrated by Nicola Bryant

In this story, we finally get to see the Doctor meet Christopher Columbus. The 11th Doctor tasks the 6th Doctor and Peri to find the Omnipardorx. We get to see Peri question the Doctor over his excitement of Columbus, when he was the one who enslaved the American population upon 'discovering America'. This is something that we should have seen more of on tv during their time. Peri questioning the Doctor.

"We are quite literally sailing off the edge of the world."

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Responding to a desperate summons from the Doctor's future self, he and Peri find themselves on a sailing ship in 1492, where the crewmen are gripped by superstitious fear. They say the Devil walks among them, stalking and striking them down.

After reading all the reviews of this adventure i will admit i was apprehensive and worried that this was going to be a boring book, but actually after listening to it, i can say that i greatly enjoyed the story, as i do enjoy a historical doctor adventure! And telling the truth behind Christopher Columbus that he was a horrible and despicable man, and teaching the Doctor that he isn't a man he should admire. I liked all that, sadly in terms of the overall story, it seems the 6th Doctor again has been looked over and given the simple task of getting an object, i don't know why Doctor who writers are so hard on Colin bakers Doctor yes he was outlandish but still a great Doctor. Either way this was better than others would lead you to believe, a fun little historical adventure with the Doctor and perry! Not bad if you ask me

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasthe sixth audiobook in a story of 10 not conected stories. Well, the only thing connecting is that is from a different doctor (this was the sixth) and every one of them (at least until now) were contacted by the Eleventh Doctor. At least it seems it's him.

This one involved time travel and it's consequences. Dr who and his companion Peri went back in time to 1492 and appear on the lap of Christopher Columbus and some goat. So, the sixth doctor went back in time to retrieve something called Omniparadox - which makes the story a little odd. So an omniparadox if I understood it's a paradox within another paradox (or two time travelers in the same time)... Basically and I am going to ruin this story here so... spoilers alert............................. yeah lets go.... So the eleventh doctor warns the sixth doctor to retrieve the omniparadox or else it could destroy the universe(s). So he went and met Columbus which is inconsequential to the story and a Goat/bovine mastermind. Yes. It seems bovines rule the earth a long time ago, but then they were surplanted by humans. That bovine awake several millenia afterwards and stole a time travel device from the future to get to the past. And so, he thought the indians were killing their bufallo kind so he thought he would help Columbus arrive at America and so white man could destroy the red men instead of bovine men.... (yeah that turn out very good for you oh lord of the bovine). As they are confronting the lord bovine it appears another lord bovine from the future (well it was him but a bit older saying that his plan was absurd because white men indeed killed all red men but also bovine men... meanwhile columbus tries to kill the doctor (jeoulosy) and destroyed instead the bovine lord traveling machine making the old bovine lord appear. And so the story as you know ... Columbus discovered America - The red men were killed - The Bovine men were killed and USA appeared - Which made the companion of the Doctor born and join the doctor in his travellings, go to the past and warn the doctor and instead columbus kill the doctor he destroys the lord bovine travelling machine making him dissapear and so columbus disocver america - the red men were killed and.... wait I've said that before haven't I???.... Time travel is very confusing I must say...

In the end, it was a fun quick read and as the previous one or two if you read it as a comedy it will be nice. Butt it's not good. Far from it.

[Lori S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars
I wonder how much research Nev Fountain actually did for this story (and how much time they would have had to research). While I get removing religious references which would have peppered Columbus' journal entries, the journal entries in this story not only felt quite anemic, but also very self-serving (and it turns out, quite inaccurate too. See Journal of the First Voyage of Columbus pg. 110). I love when historical figures show up in stories. I love it even more when the author takes steps to be somewhat accurate with their depiction of the person in question.

RE: the Bovinoid. Where to start? Bison are first and foremost not buffalo. The information about their demise is pretty accurate, and in the 1800s, the US undertook to decimate herds in one of their many dastardly dealings with the tribes that relied on the herds for food, clothing, etc., to force them off their traditional lands and onto reservations. (I am happy to report that, slowly, herds of bison are making a comeback and are now the National Animal of the USA.) It always sets my teeth on edge when people equate bison with buffalo. North America doesn't have native buffalo and it doesn't take much to look this fact up. Grrrrrrr

The narration left a lot to be desired. This review by Rick covers the problems quite thoroughly.

On the whole this whole series is really disappointing for a celebration of 50 years of Doctor Who. I've got 7-11 to go still though, so I will continue.

[Emilija · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024 52 Book Challenge - Summer Olympics Mini Challenge - Water - 3) Plot Featuring The Butterfly Effect

I actually really enjoyed this audio drama, it's by far the best of the Destiny of the Doctor series so far, which came as a surprise to me because I'm not a great fan of the Sixth Doctor.

I really enjoyed the historical setting and Peri's arguments over history remembering the big guy and forgetting the others, and also the Doctor suffering from meeting one of his heroes. The interactions between the Doctor and Peri also felt real, and I think a lot of it can be attributed to how good a narrator Nicola Bryant was.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again I'm not familiar with this Doctor's stories at all, but I found it quite enjoyable.

I have thoughts about Columbus that irked me, but I'm not going to go into them here.

But the production of the story was well done, and I liked Peri.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sixth story in the series is read by Nicola Bryant, who played companion Peri Brown on the TV series.

This time, we get the plot arc element out of the way right in the opening scene, before the TARDIS lands on Columbus's ship just as it makes landfall in the Bahamas. There's an alien stalking the ship (it's not clear how it got there from the shore), Columbus is a complete arse, and the Doctor and Peri get into a lot of arguments.

Ironically, the real problem with this story is, from another perspective, its only strength: it feels a lot like the sort of TV story we got during Six's era. And those were mostly rubbish. Many of the worst traits of those episodes are on display: the Doctor is needlessly arrogant, Peri is petulant but unjustly abused, the alien is a bit silly, and the whole thing just feels charmless. There is even a scene with charnel house gore in it, for no particular reason, and we're specifically told at one point how much Peri's wet clothing is sticking to her figure.

Frankly, the most likeable character in it is the goat.

Those who have listened to the regular series of Big Finish plays featuring the Sixth Doctor will know that they have (mostly) repatriated him, not only giving him decent scripts, but smoothing his prickly exterior while still keeping him recognisably the same character. Here, Fountain goes all out to emphasise his worst qualities, possibly because that was what the line editor wanted - a believable introduction to what his TV era was actually like.

I almost feel that I should be more generous to this because it does have one genuinely good feature in the quality of Nicola Bryant's performance. Notably, she's really quite good at doing Six's delivery, which at least brings things alive. But, no, I did not like this, and, for the first time in ages of listening to these things, I'm going to give it 2.5 stars, and round down.

[Marcy Webb · Rating 1 out of 5]

YIKES, this is the worst and most problematic Big Finish audios I've heard. And I thought I liked Nev Fountain as a writer. It's at Slipback level, but worse.

Peri is woke and progressive about Columbus and the plight of natives, but over the course of the story comes to not hate him? And help create America? Meanwhile the Doctor admires him and sees no problem with slavery because that was just the period?

Meanwhile, Columbus mistakes the Doctor's coat for being a tribal leader and medicine man, and Peri for a sacrifice to the gods, despite their ethnicities and Peri being a colonised American from centuries in the future. Peri doesn't fear natives, she only fears them when they have alien technology on their heads! Peri falling off the ship and the Doctor writhing in anger? A native ritual! Hearing ignorant letters from Columbus' perspective doesn't even change matters.

The narrative draws towards a horrific conclusion, with the Doctor refusing to treat a man who fears "el diablo" with TB in order to preserve the integrity of the Web of Time (even though I doubt a cure could be formulated from one man surviving?) The Doctor compares the genocide of native Americans (and implies they're extinct, when they're absolutely not in any sense) to the introduction (and eradication) of tree frogs in Australia. The enemy alien species wants to force the arrival of the Europeans to wipe out Native Americans so the buffalo can survive and the Doctor sides with him. Massacring 14 year olds is okay if the buffalo can foam!

There's some nonsense about the end of the universe and Columbus admiring the Doctor and the Doctor seeing a goat as a good replacement companion for Peri and Peri wanting to leave the Doctor yet again (see, The Reaping, The Trial of a Time Lord, the older Peri trilogy) and uuuggghhhh this sucks so bad

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Technically I’m writing this while I’m in the middle of this audiobook. But, it’s pretty clear that part of the problem is that the narrator is terrible. Still, that’s only part of the problem. Nicola Bryant cannot even seem to maintain current accents and speech patterns between her voice as Peri and as the narrator. The rest of it is probably the writing itself. Some of the issues, most perhaps, might have been mitigated by having this produced as a full-cast drama, but it would have still had some rather insurmountable problems.

[Adam Duclos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great audiobook! Nicola Bryant is once again rocking it as Perry, and in this one she does double duty as Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor too, and she rocks that as well. The author really captured the character's chemistry from the original show, then made it better... this story is better than any of the actual Sixth Doctor TV serials, and is every bit as good as the other Big Finish Sixth Doctor audiobook I've read recently (that actually had Colin Baker voicing his character), The Rani Elite.

Now, this is part of a series for the Doctor Who 5th Anniversary that highlights each of the Doctors in turn (although aside from the 3rd, the companions have either featured heavily or actually been the main characters), and each one has been contacted by the 11th Doctor at some point, usually giving them an additional mission parameter during their adventure. Interestingly, this time the 11th Doctor pops in at the beginning and gives them their entire mission, which works great.

Double Spoiler Alert!

Okay, so one of the great things about this is that the character of Perry is from the USA, and here they pop onto one of Christopher Columbus' ships as he's about to 'discover' the Americas. Ha ha, right? But she knows about all of the real Columbus' misdeeds, and wants nothing of it! And, true to his real form, Columbus is a real piece of work.

Triple Spoiler!

One thing that was pretty weird is that it seemed as if the Doctor was going to be the one truly responsible for the destruction of the Native Americans in the Americas, but they managed to sidestep that... yeah, it was Columbus again, and some kind of one of a kind telepathic super buffalo that acted as a hive mind for other buffalo.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of the series so far. The author truly captured the snark and banter between the 6th and Peri and Nicola Bryant does a really good job of reading the Doctor's part if not in his "voice" at least with his energy and cadence. This feels like a missing episode of the show.

Peri and the Doctor wind up on the Santa Maria as Christopher Columbus is winding his way towards the future USA. But the sailors fear the Devil has cursed their voyage AND that they'll be flung off the edge of the world (a base and superstitious belief that Columbus, self-proclaimed: "Greatest Explorer, IN THE WORLD!" eschews but has trouble convincing his sailors to disregard). The Doctor's future self explains to the 6th that they need to safely capture an Omni-Paradox...and they're off! It's silly, and over-the-top fun, a bit snarky and pokes at the potential consequences of time travel. If you don't enjoy Peri's American accent whining from the show; you'll have a rough time of it with this one though.

[John Parungao · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor and Peri don't always get along and Nev Fountain captures the feel of the friendly banter between this pair. Nev Fountain also uses this rocky relationship to drive the plot by getting Peri to run off on her own in a fit of anger.
There's also the element of the historical guest star, which is in keeping with the sixth Doctor era. This plays out similar to meeting H.G. Wells during Timelash, without the surprise reveal at the end. We know right away that the Doctor and Peri have met Christopher Columbus, and Peri as someone from the 20th century is versed in the story of Columbus, good and bad. The version of Columbus we are presented with isn't a heroic figure. He treats the Doctor and Peri as heathens to exploit in his exploration and plots to steal the Tardis and even has his men torture the Doctor to get him to turn over the Tardis key. The Doctor did once comment that Columbus had a lot to answer for. Apparently the Doctor was right.

[Oliver · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was an incredibly irritating experience. Yes, we get it; Christopher Columbus wasn't a very good person. We don't need an entire hour-long audio drama to explain that. Author Nev Fountain did nothing new with the concept and, in the process, created some very uncomfortable scenes that come across as actually rather racist towards native americans, such as the way the doctor acts when pretending to be "primitive."

The idea of the Doctor meeting famous historical figures is always an interesting one, and this attempt at it falls incredibly flat. Columbus is a one-note evil idiot, Peri is a constant whiner, and the way the Sixth Doctor is written feels completely out of character and way more in line with the 7th Doctor.

Thankfully, you don't need to listen to this one in order to understand Destiny of the Doctor or the 50th anniversary event as a whole, so I would recommend skipping it as the rest of the audio series has far better to offer.

[Maj · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is worth 3/5. Solid, good. It dealt with the grim reality of what Columbus was very well, but not without humour.

But I have to add an additional star for Nicola Bryant's performance of this story. She kept witching accents nimbly, and it's quite quite obvious she has a great ear for not only the Sixth Doctor, but Eleventh as well. It was a joy listening to her!

[Danny Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good story by Nev Fountain who writes an historical piece with plenty of interesting ideas around time, but also having a famous historical figure in this with Christopher Columbus! This release probably has the best performances so far too with a fantastic reading by Nicola Bryant and Cameron Stewart as Christopher Columbus! 8/10

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor Who television series of the 1980s was rarely set in Earth's past, so it was fun to explore what the 6th Doctor would be like with a historical personality like Columbus. I enjoyed the story but am giving it 3 instead of 4 stars because this hybrid of mostly book with a small amount of radioplay is not my favorite. Also, author Nev Fountain misses the 1980s era by giving Peri a modern sensibility and interpretation of Columbus, something an American in the early 1980s would have lacked.

[William Vaudin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one started big with the premis and how Peri questions her relationship with the Doctor. It is a lot. Then a giant talking buffalo alien taking in a stupid voice showed up and I was lost.
A lot of the initial set up to the his with Peri and Christopher Columbus was nice, but it didn’t really do anything else after that. I still remember liking most of what was there though.

[GateGypsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting...
an incredibly self-inflated Columbus, an American companion who knows that Columbus wasn't exactly a paragon of historical virtue, and a "space buffalo" who isn't really from space. At least, I don't think, so, anyway.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not my favorite DW story, but BWAHAHAHA, the idiotic Columbus' diary entry about the Doctor being some kind of primitive chieftain/medicine man and the TARDIS as "some kind of blue shrine" is HILARIOUS.
Also, GO PERRY, you tell the Doctor about the downtrodden people in history.

[Adele]

0 stars! This was awful! Thank goodness it was very short. Peri was annoying with her revisionist history and childish behavior. The plot was utterly ridiculous. The series has been fine till this one. The good thing is the stories are so far standalone, so this one can be skipped easily.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was pretty corny, but that's typical for Colin Baker's Doctor. It was a lot of fun. Honestly, I thought Nicola Bryant went a little too far over the top with her narration, but really the whole story went pretty far over the top.

[Mathew Benham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 1 hour audio book. The Doctor goes on a real demon chase, and you get to meet one of the most hated/loved sailors of the past, the first part of the story starts off slow but by the end I thought the ideas and paradox ideas were amazing.

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicola Bryant did a marvelous job of imitating Colin Baker. The Eleventh Doctor cameo was great, too, and I'm glad that Columbus's misdeeds were mentioned. He was no hero.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor meets Christopher Columbus and the Devil. Oh, and he creates America!

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good and reminded me I should listen to more of the Sixth Doctor adventures. I'm glad they made Columbus an asshole (to put it lightly), just as he was in real life.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best of the series so far.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the hell did I spend an hour of my life listening to?

[Aline Leal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was quite interesting. I like the Doctor meddling with actual History, especially when there's critique involved.

[Idamus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t like Peri, the plot was all over the place, so this goes into the never again pile. I finished, that’s about the best I can say.