| EVOLUTION by John Peel |
| Story ? Synopsis: 1880 Devon is being attacked by inhuman creatures. The TARDIS arrives because Sarah wants to meet Rudyard Kipling. They are nearly hit by a huge doglike beast, and are directed to nearby Fulbright Hall. They stumble on the young Kipling on their way. The beast escapes, and the Doctor and Sarah spend the night at Fulbright Hall. The following morning, the Doctor asks Sir Edmund, the owner of the Hall, for a chance to try and catch the beast alive, before the latter attempts to kill it. He and Sarah help investigate the death of a old sailor whose face was bitten off. They meet Dr Conan Doyle, and Sarah is exempted from helping, and she meets Kipling again. The Doctor learns that 15 children have gone missing, and someone is digging up corpses. Sarah finds herself looking for the missing children, whilst the Doctor tries to solve the other crimes. Clues point to an industrialist, Breckinridge. After a pub lunch, the Doctor and Sarah and Doyle return to Fulbright Hall to rest up before an evening's pursuit of the dog beast. They find the creature, but after befriending it, someone else shoots it dead. It turns out to be a cross between a dog and a 10 year old boy. Sarah inspects Breckinridge's factory, but finds no evidence. The Doctor, Sarah and Doyle borrow the dead sailor's boat to try and find the elusive creature that killed him. They see a strange wheel of lights beneath the water, and are then attacked. They narrowly escape. Leaving Sarah to recuperate, the Doctor and Doyle speak to the captain of the whaler Doyle is travelling on, about his links to Breckinridge. This provides more clues. They go to the factory, where Breckinridge is absent, and find still more clues. Sarah decides to go to the graveyard, as the graverobbers are likely to strike. They do, but she is captured. The Doctor and Doyle are warned of this, and head for the factory. They meet Ross, who turns out to be an investigator working for Queen Victoria. His brother is helping Breckinridge. Inside the factory, they are held at gunpoint by Breckinridge. Sarah nearly becomes a specimen, but she attacks Dr Ross and breaks his hand. Ross found a jar of salve in a crashed spaceship, which the Doctor identifies as being Rutan. He has learned to cross humans with dolphins to create an underwater workforce for Breckinridge. Sarah claims Breckinridge must fail, but he prepares to work on his other donor - Kipling. The merchildren revolt against their vicious guards. A gunshot is fired, causing a wall of glass to break, flooding the room with seawater. Everyone legs it. Breckinridge unleases vicious attack dogs, but one kills him. Ross is also killed. Kipling is rescued. The Rutan salve is dispersed, and the Doctor takes the merchildren away to find a new planet for them to live on in peace. |
| Review:- When the Missing Adventures were launched, there was surprise that the first did not feature the longest-running screen Doctor, the 4th. This was swiftly remedied when he featured in this the 2nd of the range. But John Peel's poor reputation held it down, and this was not well received. The story is actually pretty simple. A mad scientist discovers a magic alien potion, and discovers by trial and error that he can use it to merge different species. And that's really it. Before we get to that, we have the mysteries of a wild hound, a shark-like fish, and mermaids. The inference seems to be that Kipling and Conan Doyle were pushed in the directions they took as writers as a result of this adventure. Which is no more fanciful than some ideas which have been presented in the series over the years. It might be said to be a little fortunate that Sarah is quite such an expert on both writers, but compared to her ardent women's-lib stuff, maybe it's not all bad. The Doctor does at least come across well, though whether it's as authentic as the real Tom Baker performance is a matter of taste. Peel pushes the right buttons, which is worthwhile. The local characters are quite thin. The enigmatic Ross and his faithful aide, Abercrombie, provide intrigue via red herring, and the involvement of Ross' villainous brother is the sort of twist that might have looked old hat to Conan Doyle (or maybe that's intentional). The Fulbrights are a bit bland and obvious, whilst Breckinridge the baddie might as well twirl his moustache like Dick Dastardly. The merchildren are given a few sections of development, and it's no trouble for a reader to hope that they come to a happy ending. On the whole, it's quite a straightforward thriller. Worth reading. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |