One Big Finish series that's proved to be a fun listen, especially for those fans who enjoy mixing Classic and New Who together, is Classic Doctors New Monsters. The premise is as simple as the title: tell stories featuring Doctors from the Classic Series facing monsters from the New.
Since the series began, we've had episodes featuring the Weeping Angels, the Vashta Nerada, the Dream Crabs, the Judoon, and many more. This year's volume, Faithful Friends, features four stories with three New Series monsters: the Krillitanes, the Lupari, and the Monks.
The Krillitanes have only appeared in one episode of Doctor Who, specifically the Tenth Doctor episode "School Reunion". But their concept is so interesting that I've been curious to see them explored further, especially with previous Doctors. They're a race constantly changing due to taking physical attributes from the races they conquer. So, while they had the form of giant bats in their first appearance, they could theoretically appear in another episode and look completely different.
"The Krillitane Feint" and "The Krillitane Relic"
It's a shame that this hasn't happened on TV, but at the same time, it's exciting to see them featured in this box set. More than that, they feature in not one but two stories in this volume: "The Krillitane Feint" and "The Krillitane Relic", both written by John Dorney.
I must admit, one feature I do enjoy about Classic Doctors, New Monsters is that most volumes feature one of the monsters in two stories. The stories are also usually linked, with one Doctor facing the consequences of an earlier (or even later) Doctor's adventure.
"The Krillitane Feint" and "The Krillitane Relic" are classic examples of this. The first story features the Second Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe, who arrive at a military base experimenting on a colony of Krillitanes. While the familiar bat versions are featured on the cover, the Krillitanes in this story look very different. In this story, they're described as looking like goblins.
Consequences
I'm a big fan of the Second Doctor's era, and "The Krillitane Feint" certainly pays tribute to it. Not just with the iconic team of the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe, but also with the classic "base under siege" setup. When the story begins, the base is seemingly secure. But any fan knows it's simply a matter of time before that changes and chaos erupts. What's fun is finding out how that happens.
John Dorney has written a number of great Doctor Who stories with fresh takes on new monsters, and "The Krillitane Feint" is no different. However, it's difficult to go into detail on this one without giving too much away. In fact, that extends to its sequel. While "The Krillitane Relic" is set much later, "Feint" has a clear impact on it. As I mentioned before, when a new monster faces two classic Doctors, the second story often explores the consequences of the first, and the Krillitane stories in this volume are no exception.
What I can say is that "Feint" is a great Second Doctor story that feels authentic to its era while providing something fresh. "Relic" not only explores the consequences of that story, but also the Seventh Doctor's guilt and vulnerability. These emotions are rarely explored with this Doctor, but they feel right for the story its telling. Together, "Feint" and "Relic" are two different but equally great takes on a very unusual monster.
"The Dying Breed"
The second story of Faithful Friends, "The Dying Breed" by Tim Foley, doesn't just focus on the dog-like warrior race the Lupari, originally introduced in the Thirteenth Doctor season titled Flux. It's also an origin story for the bond between humanity and the Lupari, something that was a key part of their introduction.
Encountering the Lupari are the Fourth Doctor, Leela and K9. Which, frankly, is a perfect team to encounter this race, especially the companions. After all, one companion is a warrior, the other is a robot dog. Naturally, Tim Foley has as much fun as possible when handling the companions in this story.
There are some great visuals in "The Dying Breed", as well. That may sound like an odd compliment for an audio story, but when you give the listener a clear, distinctive visual, one that comes across well via both the dialogue and the sound design, then it just makes it so much easier to imagine. The best example of this is the Lupari's homeworld - instead of a typical planet, it's a giant ring, with the whole of the Lupari civilization on the inside. Like I said, a great visual that's easy to imagine, especially when listening to the story.
"The Dying Breed" is a pretty fun story, one that feels true to its era while also including many hints of other eras, especially the Thirteenth Doctor's.
"Five Hundred Ways to Leave Your Lover"
The idea of not being able to trust your memory is explored heavily in this box set's final story, "Five Hundred Ways to Leave Your Lover" by Tim Foley. We see events from the perspective of Chris, someone who's desperate to break up with his boyfriend. But, no matter how many times he tries, the Doctor just can't take a hint - even when they're being hunted down by mysterious Monks in red robes...
As you've probably guessed, this story features the Monks, the monsters that played with memory in Series 10. While the Silence were monsters that simply made you forget, the Monks were, in some ways, subtler than that, controlling entire worlds by creating false memories. Foley's story explores this on a personal and emotional level. Chris is a sympathetic character, but we immediately know that something isn't quite right. Especially when we find out who his boyfriend is.
Admittedly, out of all of the Classic Doctors, the Eighth is definitely the most romantic. This is the first Doctor to have kissed a (brief) companion on-screen, and he even once openly admitted to loving his companion Charley. So, to see him in a relationship isn't too out of place.
And yet, at the same time, it is. This might be a Doctor that's more romantic and more emotional than some of the others, but it's still the Doctor. It's one thing for him to love someone. It's another thing entirely to picture him in a relationship. So it's fun listening to this story and finding out what's going on.
Tim Foley uses the Monks really well, too. I've mentioned how they played with memory in their TV appearances, which they also do here. But there are other memorable aspects that Foley explores, too. I won't go into too much detail, as it'd ruin the mystery of why the Monks are so interested in the Doctor and Chris. I'll just say that, overall, the Monks are used extremely well.
That's true for all the monsters in this volume of Classic Doctors New Monsters. Each story feels fresh, and the selected Doctors and companions work well against their monsters. Another great volume in an extremely fun series of mashups.