Rochana Patel’s first foray into the Eighth Doctor Adventures range follows in the footsteps of classic science fiction greats such as Rendezvous with Rama and Alien.

A dark, sci-fi horror story, Lost Amongst the Stars is the latest adventure to feature the TARDIS trio of the 8^th Doctor, Charley and Audacity. It sees them coming to the aid of the Nautilus and its crew as they are being picked off one by one on what should be a dead rogue planet.

The Doctor wants to find a challenge for Charley and Audacity. All of time and space awaits, with wonders beyond their wildest dreams and darkest nightmares, but are they truly ready to venture further out amongst the stars?

Big Finish Synopsis

The first story in the Causeway boxset, their latest adventure starts with one of Doctor Who’s most classic and simplistic set-ups – we have a hostile world, vicious-looking aliens, and a TARDIS team offering their services. Much as it has done with numerous adventures in the show’s past, this setup works wonders for the start of the story.

Their exploration of a new and potentially dangerous world provides Patel with the perfect opportunity to explore her vision for the completely alien environment she’s trying to create. Within the opening scenes, this environment is vividly imagined, as she creates a wholly alien world filled with strange, futuristic tech and rooms with unknown purposes.

Moreover, Patel’s exploration of a classic Whoniverse set-up sets the stage for some interesting moments of development, especially for Audacity. Despite having only been travelling with The Doctor and Charley for a short time, this story is a great example of how quickly she’s managed to adapt to all the strange oddities that come with time travelling. During this adventure, she takes everything in her stride, and her own historical perspectives come in handy on more than one occasion.

As the story progresses and moves more towards its horror aspects, however, it becomes more and more noticeable that there are problems with how the plot builds its tension. Although all the ingredients are present for an unforgettable fright fest, they never quite manage to translate to something truly terrifying. For a while, I couldn’t pinpoint why these tense and heavy atmospheric moments were missing until the story had settled, ultimately revealing three factors stopping it from becoming an instant horror classic.  

The first, and most glaring, comes from the rather flat interactions that occur between members of the Nautilus and the TARDIS. The two groups are entirely too trusting of one another, and the lack of conflict between them ultimately detracts from an atmosphere that should be both heavy and intense. The second, though not entirely unrelated, comes from the separate set of aliens used as a bait-and-switch device. Though originally seen as the masterminds behind the attacks, the hive-like Vecrim fail to add anything more meaningful to the story. Finally, there’s the Doctor’s reaction to Audacity’s “death” and the TARDIS team’s strangely quick recovery despite everything they go through during the story. Both moments are met with a flat, almost emotionless response, all of which detracts from the story’s intended menace.