Doctor Who: The Tribulations of Thadeus Nook

The Fourth Doctor Adventures #10.3

by Andrew Smith, Tom Baker (Narrator), Louise Jameson (Narrator)

10.3 The Tribulations of Thadeus Nook by Andrew Smith
It’s time for the trip of a lifetime! Come along on one of Thadeus Nook’s Time Tours. See history as it really was. Get to witness wars and assassinations! See barbarian warlords right up close!
The Doctor and Leela encounter a most enterprising young gentleman – using time travel for his own financial gain. The Doctor is horrified at the irresponsibility – but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Because Thadeus Nook is about to learn that history is often best left in the past.
Note: This title is also available on CD as part of Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 10 Volume 02

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction

Audiobook

First published February 1, 2021

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Andrew Smith wrote the Doctor Who television story Full Circle and its novelisation. At the time of initial broadcast, he was the youngest writer to contribute to the TV series.

Smith submitted his work to more than one Doctor Who script editor. They replied with "positive criticism". Finally he sent The Planet that Slept, which became Full Circle.
Shortly afterwards, he became a police officer, spending a long time in that career.

Smith was approached by Big Finish and displayed interest in writing for them. Because he had started the trilogy with Full Circle, they asked him to write a Companion Chronicles story set in E-Space. The Invasion of E-Space was released in October 2010.

Reviews

[Jamie Revell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story sees the Doctor and Leela pursuing an irresponsible time traveller whose actions are inadvertently changing history. The first part focuses on the chase, with an introductory action piece and then a whistle-stop tour across time and space. The Doctor and Leela are, as so often, separated for much of this section, and it's Leela who ends up with the better scenes. That's mainly because she gets to interact with the antagonist and his girlfriend who are considerably more interesting than the non-entity the Doctor ends up being paired with.

Things take a turn at the halfway point, as we encounter the real villain and the fight is on to save the course of history. Although the plot is more focussed here, I found it less entertaining, possibly because the history in question is that of the future, and had little relevance to us in the real world. Plus, neither the villain nor his main sidekick are particularly well-developed, with the former just being shouty and gravelly-voiced. (He might, of course, come across better in a visual format with decent prosthetics or CGI, but here, we're just left with the vocal effects).

But there is plenty in this story about time travel itself, and without it being especially timey-wimey. That is, there's quite a lot about how you could use time travel to break things, but there are no paradoxes and the part that's out of (external) chronological sequence is fairly straightforward as such things go. There's a good use of a small cast to imply a larger range of characters, even if those does lead to some dodgy accents in places. Taken together, that's enough to raise this above average, even if the villain isn't.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

After enjoying the first two adventures in this series this one was quite disappointing. I wish male authors would stop writing the obnoxious and funny male character as they are just such an annoying stereotype. Also warlords with loud voices who want to conquer everything. When you get actual characterisation in other ranges it makes these seem even worse. It was the kind of silliness you'd get from 80s who rather than a Leela story. (Tom I guess had the pirate planet) Definitely the weakest so far. I hope the 2nd story is better.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series 10 of the Fourth Doctor Adventures is turning out to be pretty solid. This third episode is light fun, with the Doctor and Leela stumbling upon a time travel tour guide and the troubles he encounters when someone decides to use his business to save an evil warlord from defeat. Good stuff.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this but kept thinking Thadeus Nook sounded like Rufus Hound so kept expecting the Monk!