‘HIVE OF HORROR’
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Fighting the Hornets with the Fourth Doctor, Mike Yates and Mrs. Wibbsey
Here we are on the fifth and final story of the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ series of ‘Doctor Who’! 🙂
Whilst I have been critical about the format of these BBC audio adventures starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor in ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ series, I can’t deny having enjoyed them in some measure. The narration aspects of the stories are often a chore to get through when hearing them. 😦
But it doesn’t mean the stories are awful. Paul Magrs clearly crafted the series in a way that makes it intriguing how the Fourth Doctor and Mike Yates’ reunion is handled and how they get to tackle the alien hornets with all the stories being told in-between so that we uncover the hornets’ background.
‘Hive of Horror’ is an episode where I feel the main action happens, particularly as Mike Yates gets to have an active role and his relationship with the Fourth Doctor develops. Admittedly, there’s narration by both the Fourth Doctor and Mike Yates to contend with, but I’m accustomed to that now.
What’s interesting is that the episode starts off with narration by Mike Yates in the opening teaser before the ‘Doctor Who’ theme music starts. We don’t have a The story so far recap like there was in ‘The Dead Shoes’, ‘The Circus of Doom’ and ‘A Sting In The Tale’. A fascinating change of set-up. 😐
Clearly, we’re expected to know what happened in the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ series so far beforehand, despite Mike Yates giving us a brief account of how he ended up in Nest Cottage and reunited with the Fourth Doctor. The narration often shifts back and forth between Mike and the Doctor in this. 😐
Not that I mind this so much, but it seems that Mike and the Doctor are narrating to each other about what happened to them in ‘Hive of Horror’ after the episode’s taken place. I wonder how the narration aspects will be handled when we get to ‘Demon Quest’ and ‘Serpent Crest’ next time. 😐
In ‘Hive of Horror’, the Doctor and Mike seem to have survived being attacked by feral monsters after coming out of the cellar from the end of ‘A Sting In The Tale’. I expected the episode to begin with that ending in order to resolve what occurred when the Doctor and Mike came out of the cellar.
A shame the episode didn’t begin like that, as the cliffhanger ending to ‘A Sting In The Tale’ was dramatic. It also would have established whether Mrs. Wibbsey was a threat or not, since that was the implication that I’d been getting when she called to the Doctor and Mike downstairs in the cellar.
The Doctor and Mike soon make to confront the alien hornets in their headquarters inside a stuffed zebra. They’re reduced to miniature size and they’re joined by a very unwilling Mrs Wibbsey. It’s very intriguing how the episode takes place inside a stuffed zebra whilst it’s still inside Nest Cottage.
I also expected Mrs. Wibbsey to be a voice for the alien hornets when she joined the Fourth Doctor and Mike Yates inside the zebra. Just like she was a voice for the alien hornets in ‘The Dead Shoes’. Surprisingly, it didn’t turn out like that, as she becomes an unlikely companion for the Fourth Doctor.
I know that Mrs. Wibbsey becomes prominent in the rest of ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’, but it’s intriguing how she’s set up as being a not particularly nice person to ending up becoming one of the heroes. I suppose sometimes heroes can be like that. Not all heroes can be very goody two-shoes. 😐
Mind you, the Doctor and Mike probably brought her along in order to keep an eye of her. Mike is suspicious of Mrs. Wibbsey during the adventure and it’s suggested she’s providing negative thoughts to keep the good spirits of the Doctor down. But then, Mike might have been affected too.
Director Kate Thomas, Tom Baker, audio editor Neil Gardner and Richard Franklin in ‘Hive of Horror’.
There are scenes where Mike is being controlled by the alien hornets and their Queen at a certain point in the episode. Mrs. Wibbsey is also a woman out of time, since she came from the 1930s. She probably blames the Doctor for bringing her forward into the future to get away from the hornets. 😐
Tom Baker does well as the Fourth Doctor in both the narration side and the interaction side between Mike Yates, Mrs. Wibbsey and the Queen of the Swarm. I haven’t mentioned this very often, but it’s astounding how Tom Baker and Richard Franklin seem to be a good combination here.
Richard Franklin’s Doctor was of course Jon Pertwee and you wouldn’t expect him to be paired up with Tom Baker’s Doctor, especially when the two never worked together in the TV show before. Yet somehow, they seem to get on well with each other and they seem so easily enjoyable to listen to. 🙂
We know what’s at stake with these alien hornets and how determined the Doctor is to thwart them with Mike and Mrs. Wibbsey’s help. I liked that moment when the Doctor recollects being reduced to miniature size in ‘The Invisible Enemy’. He shares this story to Mike as they journey deeper into the zebra.
It turns out that Tom Baker’s Doctor does have K-9 when travelling in the TARDIS. He mentions this to Mike when asking him to look after Captain the dog at the episode’s end. I’m surprised K-9 didn’t appear in the next two sets of ‘Nest Chronicles’. Surely that would have made them more interesting. 😦
Incidentally, it’s interesting that Paul Magrs set ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ in-between Seasons 15 and 16. He could have easily set it during the Philip Hinchcliffe era seasons since the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ episodes have macabre elements. Then again, Season 15 had macabre elements in its stories as well.
I enjoyed Richard Franklin’s performance and narration as Mike Yates in this adventure, and how we get to learn more about him as a character when he helps the Doctor to thwart the alien hornets. There are references to his previous stories with U.N.I.T., especially when he had been brainwashed.
This includes Mike’s experiences with the BOSS computer in ‘The Green Death’ and Operation: Golden Age in ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’. The time when Mike turned traitor is referred to in this episode as well as when he sought refuge at a Buddhist meditation centre in ‘Planets of the Spiders’.
‘Hornets’ Nest’ is a series that showcases what happened to Mike after his decommission from U.N.I.T. Mind you, I’m confused about this series inferring he never travelled in the TARDIS before, since he did in certain stories like ‘Speed of Flight’ in book form and ‘The Havoc of Empires’ on audio.
Or did his experience with the BOSS computer make him forget those occasions? It’s confirmed in this story that the hornets manipulated the Doctor to have the advertisement in the newspaper printed in order for Mike to come to Nest Cottage in order to acquire and control him at their will. 😐
Susan Jameson as Mrs. Wibbsey comes into her own in this episode, especially when forced to accompany the Doctor and Mike into the stuffed zebra to find the hornets’ headquarters. Mrs. Wibbsey could have easily been responsible for the Doctor to fail in thwarting the alien hornets in this.
Thankfully, that doesn’t happen, and I wonder if plans were changed in order to accommodate Mrs. Wibbsey’s significance in the BBC series of Fourth Doctor audios. I’m sure Tom Baker and Susan Jameson got on well with each other whilst playing their characters in these ‘Hornets’ Nest’ episodes.
Rula Lenksa makes a return as the Queen of the Swarm in the episode. It’s interesting how the Queen seems to be manipulative, especially when bending Mike Yates to her will. It’s also fascinating that the Fourth Doctor had never faced her before, despite hearing her voice in ‘A Sting In The Tale’.
Things do become tense when the Fourth Doctor and Mrs. Wibbsey are separated from Mike, and the Hornet Queen is about to go forward in her plan of controlling the human population of Earth. Thankfully, the Doctor gets to thwart the Queen and her hornets in the end, and she’s very unhappy.
The episode does conclude on a happy note, as the Doctor, Mike Yates and Mrs. Wibbsey get out of the stuffed zebra and the alien hornets are gone forever. It’s actually good timing that this has happened. It turns out to be Christmas Eve and the trio get together to celebrate the festive event. 🙂
I like how Paul Magrs writes the end of the episode with the Fourth Doctor, Mike and Mrs. Wibbsey enjoying Christmas at Nest Cottage. The festive music in the background helps as well, particularly with the instrumental music of ‘Good King Wenceslas’, which the Doctor had sung earlier on in this story.
‘Hive of Horror’ has been an enjoyable conclusion to the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ audio series. I admit, I wish things were handled differently in terms of how the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ episodes played out with more full-cast interaction and less audio narration, but I do like how things are resolved in this instalment.
The plot points are resolved quite satisfactorily and the set-up of the Fourth Doctor, Mike Yates and Mrs. Wibbsey as heroes is done reasonably well. The fact that ‘Hive of Horror’ ends on a festive note is good, especially with the audio episode being released in December 2009 to tie-in to the occasion.
It will be intriguing to discover what happens next to the Fourth Doctor, Mike and Mrs. Wibbsey when they return for the next set of ‘Nest Cottage Chronicle’ stories. Clearly ‘Hornets’ Nest’ became popular when released in 2009, and one wonders how the saga will continue next in ‘Demon Quest’.
‘Hive of Horror’ rating – 7.5/10
‘Hornets’ Nest’ series rating – 7.5/10
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