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Doctor Who Novel Adaptations #11
Doctor Who: Cold Fusion
A newly regenerated Fifth Doctor arrives on an occupied ice planet – where the Seventh Doctor is investigating dangerous energy experiments conducted by the Earth Empire. But events spin out of control when a refugee from the distant past arrives - Patience, the Doctor's Wife!
Audio CD
First published January 31, 2017
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About the author
Lance Parkin
84 books96 followersLance Parkin is an author who has written professional Doctor Who fiction since the 1990s. He is one of the few authors to write for both the 1963 and 2005 version of the programme — though much of his fiction has actually been based on the 1996 iteration. Indeed, he was notably the first author to write original prose for the Eighth Doctor in The Dying Days. He was also the author chosen to deliver the nominal 35th anniversary story, The Infinity Doctors, and the final volume in the Eighth Doctor Adventures range, The Gallifrey Chronicles. More recently, he has written for the Tenth Doctor in The Eyeless.
He is further notable for his work with Big Finish Productions, where he is arguably most known for writing the Sixth Doctor adventure, Davros.
Outside of Doctor Who, he has written things like Warlords of Utopia and (with Mark Jones) Dark Matter, a guide to the author Philip Pullman.
He is further notable for his work with Big Finish Productions, where he is arguably most known for writing the Sixth Doctor adventure, Davros.
Outside of Doctor Who, he has written things like Warlords of Utopia and (with Mark Jones) Dark Matter, a guide to the author Philip Pullman.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 27, 2020
Chris Chibnall, if you can acknowledge Lungbarrow and it's Gallifreyan lore, the least you could have done for series 12 is some proper f*cking research including acknowledging Cold Fusion.
If you want to do deep lore Chibnall, this is HOW it is done.
Cold Fusion is Gallifreyan lore heaven.
If you want to do deep lore Chibnall, this is HOW it is done.
Cold Fusion is Gallifreyan lore heaven.
December 2, 2019
Absolutely wonderful. I had some rather high hopes for this audio adaptation. With two Doctors and an assortment of companions, all in what was reported to be a rather complicated story ... it sounded like it would be a great narrative. On the other hand, with such high expectations, I could have found it to be enormously disappointing. So imagine my pleasant surprise when it pretty much lived up to my expectations. The Doctors (Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy) play off each other really well. I was also pleased that the story makes it clear when this story occurs (at least it is clear for one of the Doctors, and the other is fairly easy to extrapolate). Often the plots in the Doctor Who audio-dramas are fairly simplistic and not very engaging, here the plot is delightfully complicated. This is probably due to the fact that this is an adaptation from a novel, Doctor Who: Cold Fusion (in fact I enjoyed it so much I might just have to read the original book). And, as novels have the option of more time, they can develop themes, characters and situations in much greater detail than can be usually Be accomplished on film. So all-in-all this came together quite well. Good chemistry with the actors, well developed story moved at a nice brisk pace and keep this listener actively engaged. Yep, this was a good one.
September 26, 2023
Starts off extremely well, with the cliffhanger for episode 2 (where the Doctor recounts differing accounts of his leaving of Gallifrey, his different ages and the blending and merging of his different continuities (the original indication that the Doctor was a Human scientists from the far future who built the TARDIS with the help of his granddaughter stranded from his home planet and trying to return, to the War Games 'official' explanation of the Doctor being a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who deliberately ran away, from the VNA's Loom born Gallifrey where the Doctor was born as one of the hundreds of Cousins in the House of Lungbarrow and the reincarnation of the third founder of Time Lord society) is a marvellous piece of myth-spinning, a mysterious and magical reinvoking of the Doctor's history as a kind of fairy tale barely remembered by him any more, differing timelines converging into one mind. It really added to what the post-cancellation Whoniverse did at its best, adding and mixing facets of the show together, using its past (in this case, a Fifth Doctor story) to add elements to the (then) present continuity, adding depth and mystery to the show.
Indeed, I also do love the idea of having a 2 doctors story where the 7th doctor more or less just happens to be in the same one as the 5th, kind of an accident not really part of the events. I also find it great by how horrifying the 5th Doctor finds his 7th incarnations ethics, although I never much liked how unethical they made the 7th. The doctor is more interesting when he's a desperate maniac trying to be good, and the VNA's misinterpretation of that as being the Doctor just being plan evil all the time- was shit and stupid. Theres no particularly good reason for the 7th to turn so hard in the direction of means-justify-the-ends in character, he just decides one day in Rememberance to commit genocide against all Daleks, and, hey, that's his character. It aways felt so forced to me, so edge lord and infantile a way to add 'depth' to the character. I like dark Doctor, but only when it plays off the ethics of his/her character, forcing and testing the limits of his code and making him/herself, and us, doubt whether this is a character worth supporting. With Virgin 7th, there's never any doubt that he isn't. Poor 5th, he deserved better than to see his own character slaughtered in such a way.
The idea of the monsters, a race of beings who took the role if the Time Lords from a universe where Gallifrey was destroyed during the stellar explosion that created time travel, and used a kind of sorcery to time travel and effect worlds, is really brilliant. But there just not used enough, and by the end they seem to just do nothing and get stuck in a time bubble. How dissapointing.
The plot however lunges on in a fairly aimless way, far too long for its own good, suffering from the ususal 6 part "let's split up the characters and let them plod onto their own stories until a certain point" which just doesn't make very good drama, making the narrative feel disjointed.
It's also mind numbingly complicated. Who knows what happens at the end. In retrospect adapting a book from the middle of a long and complicated internal and completely different alternate continuity separate to anything we now know as Doctor Who, specifically related to Lance Parkin's vision of the Doctor's former life on Gallifrey (and tying into things like the Infinity Doctors), with virtually no explanation given to any of this, seems mad. I'm reasonably aware of the whole Patience thing and how it plays into the VNA canon, and even I was bewildered, god knows how anyone completely fresh to it would interpret it. Its a hell of a lot of plot arc to put into one release, and one so separate to the rest of the VNA run (the rest of the novel adaptions are all fairly stand alone adaptions from the early bit of the VNA run, ones that have barely any relation to the later Lungbarrow mythos, so why they picked this one amongst them is beyond me). Again, on the wider context of the VNA's run, having a past Doctor story that intersects with elements of the 7th Doctor's run, the two book seriese' occurring concurrently with one another and giving the former weight precisely because of how much it impacts the latter, is a stroke of genius. In the context of these big finish novel adaptions - eh, not so much.
Indeed, I also do love the idea of having a 2 doctors story where the 7th doctor more or less just happens to be in the same one as the 5th, kind of an accident not really part of the events. I also find it great by how horrifying the 5th Doctor finds his 7th incarnations ethics, although I never much liked how unethical they made the 7th. The doctor is more interesting when he's a desperate maniac trying to be good, and the VNA's misinterpretation of that as being the Doctor just being plan evil all the time- was shit and stupid. Theres no particularly good reason for the 7th to turn so hard in the direction of means-justify-the-ends in character, he just decides one day in Rememberance to commit genocide against all Daleks, and, hey, that's his character. It aways felt so forced to me, so edge lord and infantile a way to add 'depth' to the character. I like dark Doctor, but only when it plays off the ethics of his/her character, forcing and testing the limits of his code and making him/herself, and us, doubt whether this is a character worth supporting. With Virgin 7th, there's never any doubt that he isn't. Poor 5th, he deserved better than to see his own character slaughtered in such a way.
The idea of the monsters, a race of beings who took the role if the Time Lords from a universe where Gallifrey was destroyed during the stellar explosion that created time travel, and used a kind of sorcery to time travel and effect worlds, is really brilliant. But there just not used enough, and by the end they seem to just do nothing and get stuck in a time bubble. How dissapointing.
The plot however lunges on in a fairly aimless way, far too long for its own good, suffering from the ususal 6 part "let's split up the characters and let them plod onto their own stories until a certain point" which just doesn't make very good drama, making the narrative feel disjointed.
It's also mind numbingly complicated. Who knows what happens at the end. In retrospect adapting a book from the middle of a long and complicated internal and completely different alternate continuity separate to anything we now know as Doctor Who, specifically related to Lance Parkin's vision of the Doctor's former life on Gallifrey (and tying into things like the Infinity Doctors), with virtually no explanation given to any of this, seems mad. I'm reasonably aware of the whole Patience thing and how it plays into the VNA canon, and even I was bewildered, god knows how anyone completely fresh to it would interpret it. Its a hell of a lot of plot arc to put into one release, and one so separate to the rest of the VNA run (the rest of the novel adaptions are all fairly stand alone adaptions from the early bit of the VNA run, ones that have barely any relation to the later Lungbarrow mythos, so why they picked this one amongst them is beyond me). Again, on the wider context of the VNA's run, having a past Doctor story that intersects with elements of the 7th Doctor's run, the two book seriese' occurring concurrently with one another and giving the former weight precisely because of how much it impacts the latter, is a stroke of genius. In the context of these big finish novel adaptions - eh, not so much.
January 24, 2024
🙏🏼58% = Average!
Adapted from The Virgin Missing Adventures novel of the same name, published in 1996.
This story is told in a timey-wimey fashion, with the Seventh Doctor arriving at a planet where his earlier self, the Fifth Doctor, has caused havoc. From the Fifth Doctor's POV, this story takes place directly after Castrovalva, with a freshly regenerated Fifth Doctor.
The first part of the story is very confusing to follow. There are a lot of characters, and it's not exactly clear how everything connects. The second part doesn't make things easier to follow, as the story floats around a lot, seemingly without a real structure. Part 3 settles in a bit and begins to piece together the puzzle, but it's still not overly exciting.
The last part finally turns up the dial on tension as the characters fight against time to stop a devastating explosion. This also finally sees Doctors Five and Seven meet up and bicker their way through the climax.
I guess the most interesting thing here is the introduction of Patience, a Time Lady revealed to be the Doctor's wife (the novels did this years before Steven Moffat!). She and the larger exploration of the Doctor's past are kind of fascinating, but not as much as I'd hoped.
Matthew Waterhouse sounds strange; I don't remember him sounding like this in his other audio appearances as Adric. Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, and Sarah Sutton are good, and they all sound very close to their 80s selves.
The pace is mostly very fast, so it's easy to get confused about things, at least until the story settles down in the latter half.
The sound design is occasionally so loud and messy that it's difficult to follow the dialogue.
Adapted from The Virgin Missing Adventures novel of the same name, published in 1996.
This story is told in a timey-wimey fashion, with the Seventh Doctor arriving at a planet where his earlier self, the Fifth Doctor, has caused havoc. From the Fifth Doctor's POV, this story takes place directly after Castrovalva, with a freshly regenerated Fifth Doctor.
The first part of the story is very confusing to follow. There are a lot of characters, and it's not exactly clear how everything connects. The second part doesn't make things easier to follow, as the story floats around a lot, seemingly without a real structure. Part 3 settles in a bit and begins to piece together the puzzle, but it's still not overly exciting.
The last part finally turns up the dial on tension as the characters fight against time to stop a devastating explosion. This also finally sees Doctors Five and Seven meet up and bicker their way through the climax.
I guess the most interesting thing here is the introduction of Patience, a Time Lady revealed to be the Doctor's wife (the novels did this years before Steven Moffat!). She and the larger exploration of the Doctor's past are kind of fascinating, but not as much as I'd hoped.
Matthew Waterhouse sounds strange; I don't remember him sounding like this in his other audio appearances as Adric. Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, and Sarah Sutton are good, and they all sound very close to their 80s selves.
The pace is mostly very fast, so it's easy to get confused about things, at least until the story settles down in the latter half.
The sound design is occasionally so loud and messy that it's difficult to follow the dialogue.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2023
An exercise in contrasting the classic series with where the 90s novels took the franchise, compressed into a handy to digest (and easier to acquire!) audio adaptation. It’s less a multi-Doctor story more a multi-companion story with Nyssa and Chris and Adric and Roz, whilst Seven is mostly absent and Five becomes acquainted with the oh-so-mysterious Patience. The companions work surprisingly well together and do work in showing how these eras contrast.
Patience is one of the most murky corners of Who lore, with how and where she fits in really being open to interpretation (especially nowadays post-Timeless Child). It’s quite a thrill hearing some tentative steps taken into these murky waters, even if it does end all quite abruptly. But then that’s rather the point (and arguably The Infinity Doctors provides something of an follow-up there…sort of).
Ultimately when the Doctors do meet, it works really well. The crisis is solved, the day is saved, but not in a way the younger is happy with. Has his older self lost his way? Or has he just recognised a harsher reality than his more idealistic self could? You’re not left with an answer, but it’s food for thought and that’s much more than most anniversary crossovers leave.
Recommended if you want a dive into the old 90s lore but not the second hand market prices to get the original.
Patience is one of the most murky corners of Who lore, with how and where she fits in really being open to interpretation (especially nowadays post-Timeless Child). It’s quite a thrill hearing some tentative steps taken into these murky waters, even if it does end all quite abruptly. But then that’s rather the point (and arguably The Infinity Doctors provides something of an follow-up there…sort of).
Ultimately when the Doctors do meet, it works really well. The crisis is solved, the day is saved, but not in a way the younger is happy with. Has his older self lost his way? Or has he just recognised a harsher reality than his more idealistic self could? You’re not left with an answer, but it’s food for thought and that’s much more than most anniversary crossovers leave.
Recommended if you want a dive into the old 90s lore but not the second hand market prices to get the original.
November 12, 2023
Another New Adventures adaptation, another slightly failed experiment. As fun as it is to have two Tardis teams running up against each other, the story bogs down in complex "canon" stuff from the Seventh Doctor's timeline and to be fair at that point I kind of lost interest.
November 10, 2025
A six-parter adapted by Parkin from his own novel. In script and performance, ‘Cold Fusion’ perfectly captures (indeed, elevates) the early Davison era—an exemplar of what Big Finish can accomplish when not going through the motions or faffing about with Daleks.
December 16, 2022
It was fine. Seven meeting Adric felt awkward. Also got kinda meta with Five asking if he sounds older.
August 9, 2025
"I saved a planet, broke the nose of the leader of a terrorist group and outted a bent copper." Tegan really did have a great outing here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2019
Story Review: The story is a bit complex, but it needs to be to give so many characters something to do I suppose. The individual scenes are a lot of fun with the mixing of the Doctors and companions, but I'm still not totally sure what happened overall. It might have been helpful to read the book first. Either way, it's still enjoyable even with the confusion.
Also, looms and Gallifrean politics about natural birthing versus looming. What else do you want?
Characters: Having 7 meet Adric was the best part of this entire thing. Every scene they had together was absolute perfection. Tegan had some really hilarious moments, and I say this as someone who is not a big fan of Tegan. As for Nyssa's scenes...well I have always imagined her and Adric as fairly young, so it's uncomfortable whenever she is sexualized by adults, but at least she had some nice banter with Tegan. I hadn't know about 7's companions, but they seemed really interesting.
Overall, it was a good audio with interesting aliens, a complex story, some depth about the Doctor's identity and past on Gallifrey, and some amazing scenes with 7 and Adric.
Also, looms and Gallifrean politics about natural birthing versus looming. What else do you want?
Characters: Having 7 meet Adric was the best part of this entire thing. Every scene they had together was absolute perfection. Tegan had some really hilarious moments, and I say this as someone who is not a big fan of Tegan. As for Nyssa's scenes...well I have always imagined her and Adric as fairly young, so it's uncomfortable whenever she is sexualized by adults, but at least she had some nice banter with Tegan. I hadn't know about 7's companions, but they seemed really interesting.
Overall, it was a good audio with interesting aliens, a complex story, some depth about the Doctor's identity and past on Gallifrey, and some amazing scenes with 7 and Adric.
February 15, 2024
Cold Fusion is the audio adaptation by the author of the novel Doctor Who: Cold Fusion. It's a multi-Doctor story, sort of. Featuring the Fifth and Seventh Doctors, it takes place on an ice world where the Earth Empire has discovered a mysterious structure in the ice. It's a good story, if a bit lore heavy and a little confusing. For the Fifth Doctor, it takes place early in Season 19 and features Adric, Nyssa and Tegan. For the Seventh Doctor, it takes place later in the Virgin New Adventures novel series and features Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester. It does delve into ancient Gallifreyan lore but it's a fun story with plenty of action and political intrigue. It's almost like a Doctor Who sci-fi spy thriller.
August 19, 2019
A good listen this one. Multi-Doctor stories are always fun, but this was less about their interactions (which were still great when they came) but more about their respective companions' interactions with each other, with some great and humorous moments as a result. The story is an intriguing one, with a few mysteries to entangle as well as various schemes in play from various characters. I'm not generally a big fan of some of the New Adventures continuity, such as the Looms and the suggestion the Doctor is the Other, but while present they weren't too overplayed here, so I could still enjoy the story. The various actors in good form as usual here, and all up added to a well paced story over 6 episodes.
March 15, 2017
Didn't do as well as the (amazing) novel but an excellent attempt to squish a very dense narrative into a couple of hours reading. Great banter between the Doctors and I love all the added things referencing Day of the Doctor and the fact that Peter Davison is sounding a fair bit older than he did 30 years ago (aren't we all). Despite having five companions, the story manages to give everyone a few really good moments and plenty to keep them busy
May 17, 2017
A fun 2-Doctor story (with 5 and 7) . . . I enjoyed it, although the story was not the most compelling - it was the fun in the interactions between characters who do not normally interact that sold me, really.
February 7, 2018
Doctors Five and Seven as well as their companions land on a planet that seems to be giving off a strange energy. On top of it the problem seems to be linked to a time lord that has amnesia. Can they stop what is happening.
May 15, 2017
I liked the references to the time the 13 Doctors saved Gallifrey, and the reference to the 8th Doctor. It was neat having 5 and 7 together in a story.
May 18, 2017
Wonderful adaption. I'm loving these novel adaptions, especially as I've been a huge fan of Chris and Roz for years. The two TARDIS crews work really well together.
September 4, 2017
An excellent adaptation of an excellent novel.
October 29, 2017
One of the best Big Finish stories! I loved it!
Read
April 13, 2020I say read... I listened and I'd love to read the original book. I really enjoyed it
March 29, 2022
Did the sound engineer swipe Steve Miller's effects board? Some of those noises sound straight out of Fly Like An Eagle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zT4Y....
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews