‘The Passenger’ (Blu-ray)

‘THE PASSENGER’

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Tegan reunites with Nyssa(?)… and the Mara

Usually, I wouldn’t review a trailer for a ‘Collection’ Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’ unless it’s released on a ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ DVD. But for this occasion, I wanted to share my thoughts on this very special mini-episode, especially since it stars Janet Fielding as Tegan and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa.

I couldn’t be more excited about watching this trailer on the ‘Doctor Who’ YouTube channel when it was released in July 2023. I’d been looking forward to the Season 20 Blu-ray box set for a long time, and it’s great that it’s advertised in style with a story featuring Tegan and Nyssa revolved around it. 🙂

I was anxious about how Season 20 Blu-ray box set would be advertised, wondering whether it would feature Janet and Sarah back as Tegan and Nyssa in some form or other and whether I would be satisfied by it. For the most part, I found the trailer gripping, spooky and very enlightening to watch.

In ‘The Passenger’, Tegan reunites with Nyssa at a fairground at night. This story is clearly set after ‘The Power of the Doctor’ for Tegan. I like how she reunites with Nyssa, and Sarah Sutton is so amazing with playing Nyssa again. The reunion between Tegan and Nyssa is very heartfelt indeed. 🙂

I’ve chatted to Sarah about the Season 20 Blu-ray box set trailer when I interviewed her at the ‘Popcorn TV, Film & Comic Con Sheffield’ in September 2023. It must’ve been very cold indeed for Sarah when she did that night-shoot with Janet at the Adventureland Southend-On-Sea theme park.

‘The Passenger’ is written, directed and edited by Pete McTighe, who has worked a lot on ‘The Collection’ Blu-ray box sets of classic ‘Doctor Who’ seasons. He also wrote ‘Kerblam!’ and co-wrote ‘Praxeus’. Pete wanted to bring back Nyssa and Tegan together for this trailer and I like how he managed to do that.

The TARDIS soon appears and Nyssa offers Tegan the chance to travel again. Tegan enters the TARDIS… only to find herself in a dark void. It turns out that Tegan is in the domain of the Mara, who offers her the chance to fulfil all her desires. Tegan refuses and the Mara threatens to consume her.

I have to say, poor Tegan. This is like the fourth time Tegan has been possessed by the Mara with the first three being ‘Kinda’, ‘Snakedance’ and ‘The Cradle of the Snake’. Is there a way for Tegan not to have the Mara inside her anymore? Or is the Mara going to be in Tegan forever? I truly hope not. 😀

This mini-episode does give Janet Fielding the chance to play a pale version of herself with evil eyes and red lips. I’m sure Janet enjoyed playing that role opposite Tegan, especially when she puts on that dark, deep voice. Those scenes were filmed in the studio on a separate day from the fairground.

Whilst this mini-episode is mostly pleasant and enjoyable to watch, there are continuity issues I have to raise about what happens to Tegan and Nyssa in this. I know this is something I continually brag about in other reviews, but it’s something I feel has to be addressed in order to establish continuity.

‘The Passenger’ does seem to contradict what’s been established in other stories featuring Nyssa and Tegan before it. For example, Tegan claims she last saw Nyssa on Terminus, which is odd. Shouldn’t she recall having adventures with an older Nyssa from ‘Cobwebs’ to ‘The Entropy Plague’?

Then again, this happens to be a dream that Tegan is having, created by the Mara. Maybe the ‘Doctor Who’ stories by Big Finish featuring the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and the older Nyssa did happen and somehow the Mara has twisted Tegan’s mind to forgetting them whilst she’s dreaming.

Which leads to a question that is left open to speculation in terms of its answers. Is Nyssa in this mini-episode the real Nyssa? Yes, it’s Sarah Sutton playing her and yes, she seems to be behaving the way we expect Nyssa to behave. But again, this could all likely be a fabrication by the Mara. 😐

Had this mini-episode not featured the Mara and had it all been just a happy reunion between Nyssa and Tegan, it could have started what Russell T. Davies established in ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ with them presumably being a couple. This is something I still find very hard to contemplate to this day.

In a way, I’m glad it’s not explicitly established here, especially since it all takes place in a dream. But it annoys me that televised ‘Doctor Who’ episodes still ignore the Big Finish continuity. There’s also the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ spin-off series to consider, but that’s something to discuss for another time. 😐

There is something in the mini-episode that could lead to the possibility that the real Nyssa appeared in ‘The Passenger’. It’s a slim possibility, especially when the Mara could be distorting and twisting things in Tegan’s mind when she interacts with it, but it’s something that could be plausible.

There’s a moment when Tegan hears Nyssa’s voice during her confrontation with the Mara where she says “In another universe, we are together”. Whether you interpret that as Nyssa and Tegan travelling together, perhaps with the Fifth Doctor again, or them being a couple is entirely up to you.

It could be the real Nyssa is trying to communicate with Tegan through the dream, maybe with the Doctor’s help (which one I don’t know), and perhaps the Mara is distorting Nyssa’s words to tempt Tegan to accept its offer of fulfilling her desires. Or it could be that this is a parallel version of Nyssa.

Maybe ‘the Nyssa and Tegan being a couple’ thing does happen in an alternative universe, as established in my story ‘Into the Death-Space’, and somehow Nyssa is trying to reach out to Tegan in that regard. The Mara did say “A tempting scenario in a universe of possibilities” to Tegan in the story.

This is all speculation on my part, and again, it’s frustrating there doesn’t seem to be enough concrete evidence to confirm where Nyssa is in her timeline regarding this mini-episode. On the surface, it seems like Nyssa didn’t appear in the story at all and we’re led to think the reunion didn’t happen. 😦

For the sake of argument, I’m going to say that Nyssa does appear in ‘The Passenger’, although not the way you expect. The voice that Tegan hears is the real Nyssa trying to communicate with her, but it’s somehow distorted by the Mara when it’s trying to tempt Tegan into accepting its offer.

That’s the best theory I can go with, unless someone comes up with another theory entirely. It’s also implied that Tegan might have romantic feelings for Nyssa after all these years. Whether that’s on Nyssa’s side at all, it’s a matter for debate, although I’d still like to think of it as a close friendship.

Despite the continuity issues I’ve raised, ‘The Passenger’ is still a very enjoyable mini-episode to advertise the Season 20 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’. I’m very pleased I saw it on the ‘Doctor Who’ YouTube channel and I’m glad Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton got to play Tegan and Nyssa again in this story.

The preview for the Season 20 Blu-ray box set in the trailer is especially exciting. I was looking forward to checking out the ‘Look Who’s Driving’ documentary with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding doing their road trip to a ‘Doctor Who’ convention in Germany back in October 2019.

I was also looking forward to the ‘Let’s Go Dutch’ documentary with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson; the ‘In Conversation’ interview with Janet and Sarah, conducted by Matthew Sweet; and of course, the ‘Behind the Sofa’ stories on the stories featured in Season 20.

‘The Passenger’ rating – 9/10

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‘MAKING ‘THE PASSENGER’

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It was surprising when five days after the Season 20 Blu-ray box set trailer, a behind-the-scenes video on the making of ‘The Passenger’ was released on the ‘Doctor Who’ YouTube channel, featuring interviews with Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and writer/director/editor Pete McTighe. This doesn’t usually occur with trailers to Blu-ray box sets.

As of April 2024, this is the only time this has happened for a trailer to a ‘Collection’ Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’. ‘The Passenger’ starring Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton must have been a huge deal. I greatly enjoyed the video, and it was lovely to see Janet and Sarah being interviewed for this.

I did think it was a little cruel of Janet when she refused to acknowledge that Peter Davison didn’t appear in the trailer with her and Sarah. Whether Peter appearing in ‘The Passenger’ would have made things better or made a difference, I don’t know. Probably best he wasn’t in this Blu-ray trailer.

With that said, I wonder what a new series of ‘Doctor Who’ adventures starring Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding as they are now as the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan could be like. It’s a possibility that could’ve happened in ‘Tales of the TARDIS’, but again that’s for another discussion. 🙂

In the behind-the-scenes video, Sarah shared about forgetting to bring a hot water bottle like Janet did on location for ‘The Passenger’. Sarah said the same thing to me when I interviewed her at the ‘Popcorn’ event in Sheffield in September 2023. 😀 Luckily, it wasn’t as cold as ‘Time-Flight’ for Sarah and Janet. 🙂

‘The Passenger’ and ‘Making ‘The Passenger’ can be found on Disc 2 (the ‘Snakedance’ disc) of the Season 20 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’.

‘Making ‘The Passenger’ rating – 9/10

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The previous story For Tegan was ‘The Power of the Doctor’ (TV) For Nyssa was ‘The Entropy Plague’ (Audio)	The next story For Tegan is ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ (SJA) (Webcast) For Nyssa is ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ (SJA) (Webcast)
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