| THE PESCATONS by Victor Pemberton |
| Story ? Synopsis: The TARDIS materialises on a beach by the Thames. The Doctor and Sarah are menaced by a large humanoid fish. They soon contact the ECPU, and learn of a meteorite that recently fell nearby, and of a slime infestation in the sewers. Underwater, the Doctor discerns that the meteorite is a Pescaton spaceship. With the help of an astronomer, he sees that their planet, Pesca, is almost destroyed, and they are coming to Earth. Further 'meteorites' land. In desperation, the Doctor recalls his previous trip to Pesca, and that the Pescatons are focussed by one individual Pescaton, Zor. If he can find Zor, he may be able to stop the invasion. He also realises that the Pescaton weakness is fire - it's why they're leaving Pesca. He tracks Zor down to the London Underground, and uses a train to obliterate the Pescaton leader. Having saved the day, the Doctor and Sarah leave in the TARDIS. |
| Review:- In the mid-1970's, Doctor Who was going through a strong phase on television, and an attempt was made to broaden the multimedia horizon, and lo! This story became the first proper story to be created solely for audio. Featuring the then-current team of Tom Baker and Liz Sladen in their familiar roles as the Doctor and Sarah Jane, Victor Pemberton gives us a tantalising tale of alien invasion that it similar but different to some of those seen on television. The story works in broad strokes. The Pescatons themselves are humanoid sharks, albeit souped up to be even more dangerous and scary. They leave slime trails, they create unbreakable cocoons for their eggs to hatch in, they kill people gruesomely, and they arrive in large numbers. And the Doctor is clueless how to defeat them. This vulnerability seems a little overdone. Whilst it might be a little less exciting if conventional forces had any effect on these aliens, the complete lack of any advantage makes it seem that the battle is hopeless. It is only the Doctor's belated recall of his previous encounter on Pesca that jogs his memory of their weaknesses for sunlight, and their reliance on the single mind of their leader, Zor. If the story itself is quite dull, and the new characters we meet are uniformly bland and forgettable, is there anything to bother with this story for? Well, the best part I think is its timing. There is nothing much to suggest that this isn't mid-1970's Earth, but nothing to pin down its relation to other alien invasions of the UNIT days. Could this have happened before the Autons first arrived, or after the Zygons had been finished? With no clues either way, this could be a missing link for some dating theories, or else ignorable due to its not-on-TV status. I guess it comes down to personal preference. Overall, this was a thin little adventure, barely worth troubling with. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of the novelisation. |