‘Technophobia’ (Audio)

‘TECHNOPHOBIA’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Koggnossenti with the Doctor and Donna

Tim Bradley with ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 1’ box set, May 2016

It’s Series 4 of ‘Doctor Who’ in 2008 all over again…and the Doctor and Donna are back!

In October 2015, Big Finish made the announcement I was waiting for! They confirmed there was going to be three new audios tales with the Tenth Doctor and Donna. It was too good to be true and I was so looking forward to David Tennant and Catherine Tate’s return in ‘Doctor Who’ via Big Finish!

The Tenth Doctor era was my era of ‘Doctor Who’ on TV! I grew up with Series 4 when it was shown on TV back in 2008 and I was getting into the series since its return in 2005. I have happy memories of this era and I didn’t hesitate purchasing my order for ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 1’.

I listened to all three stories of ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 1’ when the box set was released in May 2016. I love the box set, as it contains three amazing ‘Doctor Who’ adventures with the Tenth Doctor and Donna! This was like going to back to Saturday evenings in 2008 all over again!

I had a photo taken with my copy of ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 1’ box set when I received it in May 2016!! I loved hearing the Tenth Doctor and Donna again and David Tennant and Catherine Tate’s performances in these three audio adventures are superb and amazing to listen to

This is a 5-disc CD box set. The three episodes are on the first three discs and they are ‘Technophobia’; ‘Time Reaver’ and ‘Death and the Queen’. There’s also ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures Documentary’ on Disc 4 and ‘The Audio Adventures of Doctor Who’ documentary on Disc 5.

The box set of ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 1’ has been presented in the same style as ‘The Light at the End’, ‘The Worlds of Doctor Who’ and ‘The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure’. There are wonderful behind-the-scenes photos of the cast, writers’ notes, director’s notes and producer’s notes. There are also forewords by Dan Starkey and Terry Molloy made to this ‘Doctor Who’ box set.

The first episode of this box set, ‘Technophobia’, is by Matt Fitton. ‘Technophobia’ is a brilliant opening episode. I loved every moment of it, especially with David’s Doctor and Catherine’s Donna.

I enjoyed the present day-like setting of London in this episode, especially with the technology going awry and people being afraid of it. It certainly evoked the Russell T. Davies era superbly which I liked.

The year is 2011, two years in Donna’s future. The Doctor and Donna are enjoying their time in London and are impressed by the new technology coming from the new M-Pads of Meadow Digital.

But something goes wrong, when it seems the technology stops working for people. But as it turns out, it is the people who have stopped working as somehow they’ve been made to become stupid.

I liked the concepts running through this episode by Matt Fitton. It’s interesting with the idea of our dependency of our technology being lost to us. It’s a horrifying notion especially by the 21st century.

David Tennant is back on fine form as the Doctor in this adventure. He’s never lost the Doctor in him and it is like he’s never been away since he left the TV series. I enjoyed his enthusiasm throughout.

His scenes with Donna are amazing to hear. I like how they still bounce off each other in these new audio adventures and there are plenty of moments with David Tennant’s Doctor to get so thrilled by.

I liked it when David’s Doctor interacts with everyone else in the story like Bex and how he tries to help Jill Meadows out of her sudden fear of computers. Getting her to draw a cat on paper was fun.

It was quite shocking when David’s Doctor stops working and he loses it when he’s inside the TARDIS. David’s performance during those moments of him losing his marbles was amazing to hear.

Catherine Tate is wonderful as Donna in this adventure. I’m so pleased Catherine agreed to return to play Donna with David Tennant’s Doctor, especially as the two worked well together in the TV series.

Donna sounds the same as ever with her no-nonsense manner, yet balancing the compassionate side of her character so well. I enjoyed the banter between her and David’s Doctor, as it a joy to listen to.

In this episode, Donna gets to become friends with Bex, another temp like her. The two team up together and I liked it when Donna says “Temps united!” in order to encourage to Bex to keep moving.

Donna gets freaked out and shocked when David’s Doctor starts to lose his marbles. She eventually gets to drive a tube train and I enjoyed it when she said to the Koggnossenti, “I’ll give you language!”

Rachael Stirling guest stars as Jill Meadows, the CEO of Meadow Digital. Rachael is the daughter of Dame Diana Rigg and guest starred in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Crimson Horror’ with Matt Smith.

Niky Wardley guest stars as Bex with an ‘x’, a temp that Donna and the Doctor meet in this tale. Niky played Tasmin Drew in the Eighth Doctor audio stories and she was in ‘The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot’.

The monsters are the Koggnossenti (voiced by Chook Sibtain). They are aliens that have this ability to make humans become stupid with technology. It is all part of their invasion plan and they tell humans ‘they know nothing’.

I enjoyed ‘Technophobia’ very much from this first box set of ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures’. David Tennant and Catherine Tate are superb as the Doctor and Donna and it’s a great tale by Matt Fitton.

At the end of Disc 1 of ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 1’, there’s a track of incidental music from ‘Technophobia’ to enjoy!

If you subscribe to Big Finish for ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 1’ or for ‘Technophobia’ individually, you’ll get the following extra. There’s a PDF script of ‘Technophobia’.

‘Technophobia’ rating – 9/10

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The previous story For the Tenth Doctor was ‘Death’s Deal’ (DOTD) (Audio) For Donna was ‘Death’s Deal’ (DOTD) (Audio)	The next story For the Tenth Doctor is ‘Time Reaver’ (Audio) For Donna is ‘Time Reaver’ (Audio)
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