‘THE CLOUD EXILES’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
The Ethereal homeworld with the First Doctor
It’s nice to check out a ‘Doctor Who’ audio annual now and again, isn’t it? 🙂
So far, in terms of my exploration of the ‘Doctor Who’ audio annuals, they’ve included the first ‘Doctor Who Audio Annual’ and ‘Time Wake & Other Stories’. I can’t say I’m that excited to check every one of them out, hence why I’ve not reviewed many audio annuals.
The primary reason for me to check out these ‘Doctor Who’ audio annuals is because I want to hear the audiobook reading of a story featured in the 1983 ‘Doctor Who Annual’, which includes stories featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan. Often, it’s a new audiobook. 🙂
I include my latest reviews of a ‘Doctor Who’ audio annual on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ as part of my annual ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review seasons at Christmas time. It gives me a very juicy reason to revisit the 1983 ‘Doctor Who Annual’, since I don’t read it repeatedly.
It also allows me the opportunity to check out ‘Doctor Who’ annual stories I’ve not read nor heard before from the eras of the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Sixth Doctors. Sometimes, it’s just hearing the audiobooks, since I don’t have access to every annual. 😐
With that said, will I enjoy the stories featured in ‘The Cloud Exiles & Other Stories’? Will I enjoy the readings made by the various ‘Doctor Who’ actors for these stories? I’m hoping for that to be the case, but like many short story collections, you can never be sure. 🙂
The stories include ‘The Cloud Exiles’ with the First Doctor, ‘Death to Mufl’ with the Second, ‘Revenge of the Phantoms’ with the Third, ‘Inter-Galactic Cat’ with the Fourth, ‘Danger Down Below’ with the Fifth and ‘Davarrk’s Experiment’ with the Sixth. Want more?
Well, apparently, there’s an audiobook reading by Tim Treloar for the feature ‘Behind the Scenes at Doctor Who: The Producer’ from the 1983 ‘Doctor Who Annual’. I’ve updated my review on ‘The God Machine’ accordingly to that. Anyway, let’s check out these stories! 🙂
We begin, of course, with the titular story of the audio annual – ‘The Cloud Exiles’, read by Maureen O’Brien from the 1967 ‘Doctor Who Annual’. It’s nice to hear Maureen read this story, as she’s well-known for playing Vicki in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV show and audio stories.
Maureen clearly captures William Hartnell’s tones when voicing the First Doctor in ‘The Cloud Exiles’. It’s been a while since I heard ‘Frostfire’, but I enjoyed her narration in that audio story, and it matches so well to how much I enjoyed her reading of ‘The Cloud Exiles’.
Like many early ‘Doctor Who’ stories published in the 1960s, the Doctor is referred to as ‘Dr. Who’ and the TARDIS is referred to as simply ‘TARDIS’. In ‘The Cloud Exiles’, the Doctor leaves Earth in 2067 before he ends up on a world that belongs to the cloud-like Ethereals.
The Ethereals render him unconscious before they share their plans to mould his body to cast new bodies and become corporeal again to overthrow their oppressors, their once robotic servants – the Baggolts. The Doctor is opposed to their plans once he hears them.
But he’s willing to help them after he uses his super-ring to escape. The super-ring has been used quite a few times in ‘Doctor Who’, including ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. I’ve included the super-ring in my 60th anniversary ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’.
It’s interesting that the Ethereals happen to be sensitive to sound, matching to the Sensorites. I like how the Doctor wins their favour and helps them to overthrow the Baggolts. Overall, ‘The Cloud Exiles’ is enjoyable, even though it does end rather abruptly.
‘The Cloud Exiles’ rating – 7/10
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