‘FRIENDLY FIRE’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Visiting Komoko with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan
At last! Here I am checking out the ‘Conflicts of Interest’ box set of ‘Doctor Who’! 🙂
In 2023, there were two ‘Fifth Doctor Adventures’ box set audio releases – ‘Conflicts of Interest’ and ‘In the Night’. I didn’t get the chance to check out the two box sets in 2023, as I was very busy attending to the 60th anniversary celebrations of ‘Doctor Who’, which of course included ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’.
It’s probably just as well that ‘Conflicts of Interest’ and ‘In the Night’ were released in 2023, since they’re the closest of getting ‘Doctor Who’ stories featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan in the 60th anniversary year. So far, I’m saddened that ‘Once and Future’ doesn’t have Nyssa and Tegan. 😦
Because the 60th anniversary celebrations pushed my planned schedule to do a ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season from December 2023-January 2024 to March-April 2024, it took a while for me to get around to hearing the stories in ‘Conflicts of Interest’. I’m pleased I’ve finally listened to them.
‘Conflicts of Interest’ is a very intriguing and unusual ‘Doctor Who’ box set, starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan. For one thing, the two stories that are featured in the box set are three-part adventures instead of the usual four-part adventures.
There’s ‘Friendly Fire’ by John Dorney and ‘The Edge of the War’ by Jonathan Barnes. Not that I have any objection to these being three-parters instead of four-parters, as it’s a box set featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan – my favourite TARDIS characters – and I’m happy to check it out anyway. 🙂
Still, I’m currently wondering why the latest ‘Fifth Doctor Adventures’ box sets aren’t 4-disc sets like ‘The Lost Resort and Other Stories’ was instead of 3-disc sets. Having ‘Conflicts of Interest’ as a 4-disc set would have allowed ‘Friendly Fire’ and ‘The Edge of the War’ to be four-parters, not three. 🙂
I appreciate the experimentation in these latest Big Finish audio releases, especially as the ‘Doctor Who’ stories are now being done as box set stories as opposed to say trilogies of individual releases, as was done in ‘The Monthly Range’ days, but the limits Big Finish appear to be under are debatable.
Despite that, as already established, I was looking forward to checking out a new ‘Fifth Doctor’ audio release by Big Finish, whether it’s a box set or not, especially since Sarah Sutton is involved, as she’s my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion. Checking out these audio releases provides me bouts of joys.
A notable thing of interest worth mentioning is the placement of the 2023 audios releases featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan. It’s implied that the stories in ‘Conflicts of Interest’ and ‘In the Night’ are set in-between ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’, and presumably after ‘Goth Opera’.
This seems evident considering Nyssa is wearing the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ outfit on both the covers for ‘Conflicts of Interest’ and ‘In the Night’. No mention is made of Tegan recovering from her trauma in ‘Snakedance’ in ‘Friendly Fire’, but I suppose the audio adaptation of ‘Goth Opera’ will cover for that.
Peter Davison in ‘Friendly Fire’.
Anyway, let’s get on with talking about the first story of ‘Conflicts of Interest’ called ‘Friendly Fire’ by John Dorney. John Dorney has penned quite a fair amount of Big Finish audio stories over the years.
This includes ones featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan like ‘The Elite’. I’ve enjoyed John Dorney’s style of writing over the years, and I particularly enjoyed how he wrote ‘Friendly Fire’ here.
In ‘Friendly Fire’, the TARDIS cloister bell sounds and Nyssa and Tegan meet up with the Doctor, who tells them the ship needs to reset itself. Like an annoying update needs to be done on a computer. 😀
The Doctor performs an emergency landing, and he and his friends exit the ship as it resets. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan find themselves on the Aranis Space-Hub, filled with numerous attractions.
Nyssa and Tegan are keen to explore the space-hub, but the Doctor is more interested in visiting a nearby mining planet called Komoko. It’s where an old friend of his called Velar happens to live. 😐
Just to side-track a bit, there’s an opportunity for this to be a four-part story. Nyssa and Tegan could have enjoyed the Aranis Space-Hub in ‘Part One’ whilst the Doctor goes off to see Velar on Komoko.
Then in ‘Part Two’, Nyssa and Tegan become concerned about the Doctor not returning to the space-hub as pre-arranged, and they decide to go in a shuttle to Komoko to find out what’s going on.
But that doesn’t happen here. The Doctor manages to persuade Tegan and Nyssa to join him on a visit to Komoko where most of the story takes place and we don’t get to spend very long on Aranis. 😦
Now I appreciate this being John Dorney’s first time to write a three-part ‘Doctor Who’ story, according to the CD interviews. But like Tegan, I would’ve preferred to be on the space-hub than on Komoko. 😦
And if you’re wondering who this Velar person is, he happens to be an ex-Batearian diplomat. Batearians are like space-armadillos. And it turns out the Fifth Doctor has met Velar in another story.
At least it’s the one that’s included with ‘Conflicts of Interest’ if you purchase the box set from Big Finish. It’s called ‘Gobbledegook’, one of the ‘Interludes’ stories, featuring the Fifth Doctor and Velar.
And if you’re also wondering if Velar appears in ‘Friendly Fire’, then the answer is no. In fact, Velar is dead in this story, as he got killed by a group of Komoko humans, led by Alice Krige as Marshal Reno.
Alice Krige in ‘Friendly Fire’.
It was great to hear Alice Krige in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. She’s well-known as the Borg Queen in ‘Star Trek: First Contact’ as well as in other ‘Star Trek’ stories like the ‘Voyager’ episode ‘Endgame’. 🙂
Reno comes across as a ruthless colonist who attempts to get rid of the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan and have them killed in an exploding shuttle. There’s one point where she’s about to shoot the Doctor. 😮
The guest cast also includes Grieg Johnson as Brennan, a rather nervous acolyte in Reno’s group. There’s also Tom Alexander as Jagger, who’s just as ruthless as Reno and is very willing to follow her.
And there’s Imogen Church as Spencer, the colony medic on Komoko. Spencer is initially reluctant to help Nyssa, Tegan and the Doctor when their lives are endangered, but she comes round in the end.
Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding continue to be excellent as the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan in this audio story. I felt engaged with their characters once they got into serious trouble. 🙂
The Doctor knows something is wrong with the planet Komoko and suspects something happened to his friend Velar. He’s appalled and disgusted by the actions that Reno and her people have made. 😐
Apparently, the theme of ‘Conflicts of Interest’ as a box set is the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan discovering that humans can be monsters too. This is pretty evident concerning Reno and her people.
Sarah Sutton in ‘Friendly Fire’.
I like how Nyssa gets to spend a lot of scenes with the Doctor, especially when they’re driving around in a buggy. Nyssa looks out for the Doctor and Tegan as friends, and Sarah plays that so well.
I enjoyed Tegan’s scenes, especially when she makes it clear she doesn’t want to be on Komoko and Brennan points out her sarcasm. I like how she got through to Spencer to help her and her friends. 🙂
The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan of course win the day and Reno and her forces are defeated. But it’s sombre for our trio when heading back to Aranis, since they’re upset by what they’ve experienced. 😦
‘Friendly Fire’ is a gripping audio story to listen to. Despite the shortcomings in not being a four-parter, John Dorney does well in providing tension for the TARDIS trio when their lives are in danger.
At the end of Discs 1 and 2 of ‘Conflicts of Interest’, there are behind-the-scenes interviews on ‘Friendly Fire’ with the cast and crew, including Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, Alice Krige, writer John Dorney, director Ken Bentley, etc.
As of April 2024, I’ve had my CD box set cover of ‘Conflicts of Interest’ signed by Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton at ‘Comic Con Mania Leicester’ in April 2024.
‘Friendly Fire’ rating – 8/10
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