Big Finish Bonus #1: Destination Nerva

This originally started life as a prepatory shot for the "Talons of Weng-Chiang", with my customized Fourth Doctor in his Sherlock Holmes outfit. Tragically, the paint (and I kid you not) fell off the figure and unlike my Season 16 chestnut brown coat Fourth Doctor, I couldn't save this one and had to unfortunately chuck it. Pity. As it stands though, it gave me a chance to whip out my modified Season 14/15 duplicate scarf, when Tom would wear it loose. 

Anyway, I'd said a bit ago that I was going to start doing some Big Finish inspired pieces, and began with "Zagreus" here ( fav.me/d7akh1q ) and now I'm venturing into the Fourth Doctor Adventures range with the first audio from the range (although not the first Fourth Doctor Big Finish story...discounting previous "Companion Chronicles" that distinction goes to The Foe From The Future from the Fourth Doctor Lost Stories box set). It sets the pace and mood for this part of the range, featuring the Fourth Doctor and Leela after their adventure in "Talons of Weng-Chiang" and theoretically is set at most points in between Season 14 and 15 (largely taking place prior to "The Invasion of Time", Leela's swan song). 

"Destination Nerva" has taken a lot of slack because of its length being so short (60 minutes) and the fact that the story doesn't showcase Tom Baker's performance as the Fourth Doctor that well, as opposed to the grand return in "The Foe From the Future". In my opinion, length aside its a solid enough story that could have been mined for a longer length, but it has to be remembered that appearances notwithstanding Tom is not a young man anymore, and the longer, 120 minute length stories probably takes a lot out of him now for recordings. Which doesn't undermine his approach and performance as the Fourth Doctor once again, as he and Leela return to the space station (that he encountered in "The Ark in Space" and "Revenge of the Cybermen"). The feel of it is a lot closer to "Ark" in terms that human transformation is at the heart of the story's terror, but the Drelleran, the alien race who play a shadowy, sympathetic role in the play, are themselves an interesting alien race that I wonder if they've appeared elsewhere in Big Finish's ouvre.

"Destination Nerva" isn't the best reintroduction to the Fourth Doctor. It actually wasn't even intended to be the first story for the range ("Energy of the Daleks", which has a better rhythm and pacing, actually was) but it has a few redeeming qualities. Aside from Tom, there is the always wonderful Louise Jameson returning as Leela, with a wonderful supporting cast to back the crew up. What Big Finish does to create moods, sounds, and atmosphere with their works are nothing short of phenomenal. I can picture visually the Fourth Doctor investigating, and in the beginning when they are inside the TARDIS, the sounds and whizzes transport me back to those reruns and Time Life videos of the Fourth Doctor's era.