‘Last of the Colophon’ (Audio)

‘LAST OF THE COLOPHON’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Doctor and Leela meet the Invisible Man

Here is Jonathan Morris’ take on Robert Holmes’ writing.

‘Last of the Colophon’ is the fifth story of the second season of ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish. It stars Tom Baker as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela. It’s an intriguing tale that has its own spin of the classic sci-fi movie, ‘The Invisible Man’. I haven’t seen ‘The Invisible Man’ yet! Shame on me! 😀

This is a two-part adventure by Jonathan Morris, one of Big Finish’s finest writers in ‘Doctor Who’. It’s also directed by Nicholas Briggs, who has directed all of the stories of this season with the Fourth Doctor and Leela. I do not think this story is the greatest in this season, but I’ve enjoyed listening to it.

The Doctor and Leela visit the planet Colophos where everything is dead. But they are not alone as a survey team comes to visit the planet. Under threat with guns, the Doctor and Leela with the survey team discover this bandaged creature called Morax, who is the last of the Colophon inside these ruins.

I must admit, I found this a rather average tale. There’s nothing wrong with Jonny Morris’ writing. It was a pretty decent tale. But I didn’t find it as exciting as I hoped and as many other ‘Doctor Who’ fans liked it. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen ‘The Invisible Man’ and the story’s style didn’t appeal to me.

But it was interesting listening to how Jonny Morris writes this tale and how he attempts to write it in the style of Robert Holmes. Certainly the characters have interesting personalities and some of the humour shone for me. But I didn’t feel this audio adventure had that exciting energy it could have had.

I did think that the story ended too quickly in ‘Part Two’ and thought it was a shorter episode when the Doctor and Leela were leaving in the TARDIS. But there was a surprise twist as it turns out Morax escaped and he makes to kill the rest of the survey team before the Doctor and Leela soon realise this.

Gareth Thomas and Tom Baker in ‘Last of the Colophon’.

Tom Baker is great as the Doctor as ever. I liked it when he gives Deputy Sutton and Pilot Kellaway the special knock when they’re dealing with Morax on their ship. I also liked it when the Doctor is keen to have a holiday but Leela gets fed up and frustrated, as these holidays don’t turn out so well in the end.

I enjoyed the humour that the Doctor gets to express in this story. Tom Baker clearly relishes on the funny lines and Jonny Morris knows how to write well for his Doctor. I enjoyed the scenes that Tom’s Doctor had in defying Morax when he tries to understand his motives and what is occurring in the tale.

Louise Jameson is lovely as Leela. It’s good that Leela gets to be more resourceful in these Big Finish audio tales, especially when she tries to understand what goes on with Morax. She knows how to talk fiery and defiantly when Morax reveals his true colours and when she attempts to run away from him.

Leela does have this sense of thinking she’s stronger than anyone else and even believes to be a better hunter than the Doctor is. I enjoyed it when she interacts with the survey team and Morax. I liked the scenes she has with the Doctor when the truth is discovered regarding Morax’s escape from the ruins.

Gareth Thomas guest stars as Morax. Gareth is well-known as Blake in ‘Blake’s 7’. I’ve heard Gareth in other Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ as well as in the ‘Soldiers of Love’ CD series and seeing him in an episode of ‘Torchwood’. It was nice to hear Gareth Thomas in this audio adventure with Tom Baker.

Morax is the last of the Colophon. He’s an invisible man, wrapped up in bandages and claims to be suffering from acid burns. But Morax turns out to be an evil man who wants to get away from his prison on Colophon. If he escapes, Morax can cause terrible chaos. The Doctor has to stop evil Morax.

Tom Baker and Jessica Martin in ‘Last of the Colophon’.

Jessica Martin guest stars as Deputy Surveyor Sutton. Jessica has appeared in ‘Doctor Who’ before in the story, ‘The Greatest Show In The Galaxy’ with Sylvester McCoy. It was nice to hear Jessica in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure with Tom Baker’s Doctor. This time, Jessica does not turn into a werewolf. 😀

Deputy Sutton is part of the survey team who comes to Colophon. She has these imperialistic beliefs in some ’empire’ and its ’emperor’. She’s suspicious of the Doctor and Leela when she and the team meet them. She shares scenes with Tom’s Doctor and meets a pretty sticky end at the hands of Morax.

The guest cast also includes Jane Goddard (writer Robert Shearman’s wife) as Nurse Torvik, Morax’s robot nurse. There’s also John Voce as Chief Surveyor Hardwick and Blake Ritson as Pilot Kellaway. Blake was in ‘Mansfield Park’ with Billie Piper and the Fourth Doctor audio, ‘The Foe From The Future’.

‘Last of the Colophon’ has been an interesting audio adventure to listen to. I don’t think it’s the greatest one with Tom’s Doctor and Louise’s Leela, but it’s about average. Jonathan Morris takes on an interesting slant on ‘The Invisible Man’ movie as he translates it into ‘Doctor Who’ terms on audio.

The CD extras are as follows. At the end of the disc, there are behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew including Tom Baker; Louise Jameson; Gareth Thomas; Jessica Martin; Jane Goddard; Blake Ritson; John Voce; writer Jonathan Morris; director Nicholas Briggs, etc. There is a trailer for the next story with the Doctor and Leela called ‘Destroy the Infinite’.

‘Last of the Colophon’ rating – 5/10

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The previous story For the Fourth Doctor was ‘The Evil One’ (Audio) For Leela was ‘The Evil One’ (Audio)	The next story For the Fourth Doctor is ‘Destroy The Infinite’ (Audio) For Leela is ‘Destroy The Infinite’ (Audio)
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