X. The Five Companions

The release is a special, which you can obtain through purchasing various subscriptions from Big Finish's catalog. The production boasts as the title suggests 5 of the companions from the Who range. We have Jean Marsh, William Russell, Peter Purvis, Sarah Sutton, Anneke Wills and Peter Davison as Doctor no.5, little bit of ironic joke there. With the the vocal talents of Dan Starkey and Nick Briggs, you sort of guess that we are going to get Daleks and Sontarans as the erstwhile baddie in the piece.

All the companions meet up on a construct place, one we learn is the creation of some unlikely architects. The interaction between Steven and Ian is the first, where, a Dalek is soon laid waste by Ian's clever skills with a sheet of metal. Next is Nyssa and Sara, whom encounter another enemy from the Doctors past. The story rumbles along, and for a special, this has the feel of a well written and well constructed drama. There is one short coming of it all, it feels like this was the work so of Big Finish to explore using different companions with different Doctors, a sort of draft if you like. to that end it works well. I like the idea of having the Daleks and the Sontarans form allegiance to get rid of their nemesis, the Doctor.

Peter, is on form as is most of the crew, once again I relate back to previous comment made about companions, that the Sara Kingdom should have been used far more, she is unlike any other companion as she challenges the Doctors belief with her own set, and does not need to adhere to his of trying to do the right thing or make peace not war. Maverick springs to mind.

In summary this is a good release, and, is a clever use of multiple companions and one Doctor, with a common goal to attain and answers to be got in the face of adversity against two of the best villains in the Who Universe.

This is a fun, if inconsequential story featuring the Fifth Doctor with an older Ian, Stephen, Sara Kingdom, Polly, and Nyssa as they face off against Daleks, dinosaurs and Sontarans in a story that ties into the Five Doctors.

It's a fun story that's little more than romp that gives us some insight on the Companions after leaving the Doctor. Each is given a moment to contribute, and all turn in good moments. The Dalek and Sontaran stuff is fun without ever seeming to have much to do with anything.

Overall, this story is a good bonus, and an absolute delight for fans.

Its an exclusive bonus story, so just owning it is reward enough.
Does it have much plot? no, it doesn't. It is mostly just familiar characters dancing with sontarans and daleks (plus dinosaurs)

The battles (or rivalries) between sontarans and daleks was probably the most interesting part, thought it was fun to hear the odd group of companions working together and meeting the older (younger) fifth doctor.

Pick it up for free and it is easily worth it.

I find this hard to rate fairly. The plot amounts to shifting groupings of characters running away from, and outwitting, daleks, sontarans and dinosaurs. It is light and utterly inconsequential and at times gets tedious. It is ultimately a narrative cul de sac set within the story of The Five Doctors. But it has a lot of charm and it is a fan's delight to hear five disparate companions interact with each other and with Doctor Five, who has some funny "explain awkwardly to a companion from decades ago" moments. And Dan Starkey's sontaran voice never fails to make me smile. I smiled a lot and laughed out loud twice, and since that is really all this piece is trying to do it can be considered a success. But I can't rate it highly compared with other audios so I find myself giving a relatively low mark to something I mostly enjoyed.