Doctor Who: The Black Hole

The Early Adventures #2.3

by Simon Guerrier, Frazer Hines (Narrator), Anthony Keetch (Narrator)

On a research station near a black hole, time keeps standing still. Investigating the phenomenon, the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria discover a power far greater than any of the monsters that have challenged them on their travels... The Doctor's own people.

With the safety of thousands balancing out the need to flee, and a policeman from his home planet working at his side, the Doctor reluctantly finds himself involved in a race against time.

But nothing is ever as simple as it appears. And if you can use the Doctor's compassion against him, you have the makings of a perfect trap...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published November 1, 2015

About the author

Simon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs. Although he has written three Doctor Who novels, for the BBC Books range, his work has mostly been for Big Finish Productions' audio drama and book ranges.

Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.

After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.

His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.

Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series

Reviews

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are plenty of surprising twists in this story. One of which would have better if I'd listened to this upon release. But that's my fault not that of the release. Music and sound design are again top notch and evoke the era briliantly. Fraser Jones does an amazing job of tackling the duel roles of Jamie and the second Doctor. Janet Dibley makes a great guest star as Commander Flail. The only weak spot (and I feel so mean-spirited saying this) is Deborah Watling's Victoria. Her voice has changed (through age and health) to the point where she doesn't convince as being the same character. It is a shame I don't mean to speak badly of those no longer with us but your ears will be glad that her role is relatively reduced. You ears however will be overjoyed to know that David Warner provides the narration in this. Helping recreate the feel of those lost episodes CDs I listened to over and over again over old telesnaps. No telesnaps here but it will conjure up vivid pictures in your mind as if it really had aired on TV back in 1967/8

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

With this release, we reach the fifth season of the original TV show, with Victoria (Deborah Watling) as companion alongside Jamie, in what was almost her last acting role. While I've often mentioned before that some of the older DW actors no longer sound like their younger selves, Watling is, unfortunately, one of the most extreme examples and, in her late sixties sounds nothing at all like she did as a teenager. That's unavoidable but also very distracting in an audio play.

The story is also heavily narrated in places, something that has been avoided in some other releases in the series. This matters in part because neither of the main actors was suitable for narration duties (Hines, for example, already playing two different roles) which means that we get David Warner. Now, Warner is good, and has a great voice for this kind of thing, but the use of an external narrator is different from previous releases, enhancing the contrast with them and making this closer to a regular audiobook.

There's also the issue that this doesn't feel much like a Second Doctor adventure. There are sound plot reasons why the Doctor is able to do things here that he couldn't in the TV series of the time. But these explanations are obviously wedged into the story as an afterthought, forcing the use of an obvious reset button at the end. This blunts the effectiveness of the subplot, since we know that one of the guest characters can't possibly succeed. Of course, that's true to an extent with all of these stories, since the Doctor and his companions can't die, but it's perhaps more obvious here than usual.

Take all of that out and what we're left with is actually quite good. There's some timey-wimeyness and a plot that's often quite intelligent, if not entirely in line with modern physics. There are some nice touches in the setting that enhance the '60s feel, a plot twist that echoes the modern series, and an alternative explanation from the usual fan theory as to what exactly was going on at the beginning of The Two Doctors. But, in the end, the story might have worked better with a different Doctor.

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Early Adventures series is kind of halfway between Companion Chronicles and New Adventures. They have a narrator to provide links and description, but for all practical purposes are full-cast dramas. Some may like the narrative links. I think they get in the way. This time around, David Warner provides the narrative without playing a part in the drama. This allows Frazer Hines a chance to concentrate on playing Jamie and the Doctor. This time Victoria is along. Deborah Watling does her best to pitch the voice higher, but still can't get that girl sound she had in 1967. The story itself is written as if it were produced for TV at the time. Computers in space, for instance, are large metal boxes that use tape. The story itself involves our travellers accidentally arriving in a space station, where strange things are happening with time. It turns out that somebody is creating an artificial black hole, and The Doctor suspects "his people" are involved. Simon Guerrier has a tricky brief here, trying to fit the story to 1967 while also slotting it into Who sequence. This means that somehow all the many references to Time Lords and so on will have to be erased. The science of black holes is seriously wrong in this story. There is some playing around with time. It's entertaining, but flawed in key areas.

[Danny Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully complex story that fixes some continuity issues (The Two Doctors) whilst being extremely clever at the same time. It's interesting seeing the characters meeting a timelord way before The War Games. (Don't worry this continuity issue gets fixed at the end).

Simon Gurrier has written a truly brilliant story with the return of an old villain with some nice narration by David Warner and the cast of this were fantastic also. If you haven't listened to this, I highly recommend you too because it is a truly amazing story! 10/10

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

So the intention was for this particular story to be the point from which The Doctor and Jamie leave Victoria to experience the events of The Two Doctors, which goes against the idea that The Two Doctors takes place during Season 6B. I have mixed feelings about this. The idea of The Two Doctors taking place during their travels with Victoria does admittedly make more sense. There is also talk of the Time Lords and some memory erasing, which, while convoluted, does make the serials later make sense. What I appreciate most is the return of the Monk in this story.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite Tardis crew - 2, Victoria and Jamie - and this is currently my favorite story with this crew. The main con to the story is the science techno babble and keeping track of the time lines can be confusing. This is a story that gets better the more you revisit it as you'll understand the story better. Other than this issues the story's twists hit so well, unique plot and performances for work so well. David Warner adds some great levity to the narration. More like a 4.5 for me personally.

[Richard Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really wanted to love this one but couldn't quite get there. Felt a bit like fanfic, bringing in the Meddling Monk, an alternative explanation to season 6B, Peter Butterworth's daughter-in-law. Was also a bit distracted listening to Deborah Watling who didn't sound much like young Victoria anymore and passed away recently. This story was a bit of a missed opportunity for me

[Billy Martel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of the season 6B concept, I really didn’t want to like this one. Such a shame that it kicks so much ass and is really a way better explanation of the Two Doctors continuity issues than season 6B ever was.

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The monk is screwing with events again. Can't he be stopped.

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy it when the Monk turns up. He's very good on audio, particularly as Rufus Hound.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Miguel Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

primer audiodrama que escucho con un narrador, y vaya que lo hicieron valer. si es uno de mis favoritos. ayuda que en teoría uno de mis doctores favoritos es el segundo y aquí luce bastante

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was lots of fun. Very entertaining and really feels like a “classic” second Doctor series. Not my favorite sorry, but still solidly enjoyable.

[Jamieson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first story released that features Rufus Hound as the Meddling Monk. The Black Hole is a combination of narration (by the late David Warner) and full-cast audio drama. The story revolves around the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria having TARDIS trouble and landing on a space station orbiting a black hole. The Monk's plan is relatively simple and involves freeing an alien race from a pocket dimension. The big continuity draw of this is giving an explanation for the Second Doctor's involvement in The Two Doctors without using the popular Season 6b explanation. I love this incarnation of the Monk aand found this a decent story. The worst part of this is Deborah Watling who plays Victoria. At this point she was 67 and would pass a couple years later from lung cancer from smoking. And, unlike most of the older actors who can mostly recapture their characters, Watling sounds awful. She does a passable job, but it does hurt the producation a bit. Still, this was an enjoyable story and definitely worth a listen as Frazer Hines (The Doctor and Jamie) and Rufus Hound (The Monk) are very good.

[Monster X · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to listen to this again after hearing it last year because this particular adventure explains how the doctor & Jamie teamed up with the six doctor & peri in the two doctors & explains how Jamie and Victoria know that the doctor is a time lord & the doctor being able to control the Tardis, really cool for that but also a better story than I remembered