‘THE FIRST SON’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Is River Song a Movellan or not with the Tenth Doctor and Anya?

We’re now on the last set of stories in the ‘Dalek Universe’ season! 🙂

It’s amazing to reflect on the time when I heard the announcement back in 2020 that ‘Dalek Universe’ was happening with David Tennant, Jane Slavin and Joe Sims. My parents and I managed to have a little holiday in Bath during the Covid-19 pandemic when that announcement happened. 🙂

Here we are on the third ‘Dalek Universe’ box set of ‘Doctor Who’ audios. So much has happened since then. In the second ‘Dalek Universe’ box set, Joe Sims as Mark Seven got killed off in ‘The Trojan Dalek’. I’d expected him to appear in all of the ‘Dalek Universe’ episodes when hearing them.

It’s interesting to hear the third ‘Dalek Universe’ box set of ‘Doctor Who’ audios being carried by David Tennant and Jane Slavin as the main characters of the Tenth Doctor and Anya Kingdom. In some respect, the ‘Dalek Universe’ audio season almost reflects ‘The Syndicate Master Plan’ season.

In ‘The Syndicate Master Plan’ season, the Fourth Doctor and Ann Kelso had a robot companion in K-9. In the ‘Dalek Universe’ season, the Tenth Doctor and Anya had a robot companion in Mark Seven. I’m surprised Big Finish didn’t have Mark Seven in the rest of ‘Dalek Universe’. Or perhaps they did. 😐

At the end of ‘The Lost’, the Doctor and Anya found themselves caught up in the Dalek/Movellan war from ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ and they were about to be tractor-beamed by a Dalek that almost spoke like River Song. I was curious about how this was going to build up in the final set of stories. 😐

There are two stories in the third ‘Dalek Universe’ box set. The first story is a single-part episode called ‘The First Son’ by Lizzie Hopley. The second and final story of the third ‘Dalek Universe’ box set is a two-part adventure called ‘The Dalek Defence’/’The Triumph of Davros’ by Matt Fitton. Exciting!

Let’s first talk about ‘The First Son’, the sixth story in the ‘Dalek Universe’ season by Lizzie Hopley. I’ve encountered Lizzie Hopley as a ‘Doctor Who’ writer before. She’s penned a number of episodes.

They include ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ with the Eighth Doctor and ‘Precious Annihilation’ with the Tenth Doctor and River. I’m looking forward to ‘The Stuntman’ with the Tenth Doctor, Nyssa and K-9.

With all this said though, I can’t say I’ve been enamoured with Lizzie Hopley’s efforts as a writer. Oh to be sure, they are decent efforts, but I can’t say I’ve been really excited from hearing her episodes.

I’d like to think I’m proven wrong when it comes to hearing ‘The Stuntman’ with David Tennant, Sarah Sutton and John Leeson. But there’s something about Lizzie Hopley’s penned episodes that don’t work for me.

Whether it’s because I’m not in gear when hearing the episodes or whether I find the stories complicated, but so far, I’ve felt dissatisfied with how Lizzie’s episodes are developed and concluded.

It’s a shame, as I’m sure she’s a competent writer and delivers on time. Whilst listening to ‘The First Son’, there was one moment where I thought she was going to win me over with an intriguing plot. 🙂

But when it came to the episode’s conclusion, I was puzzled. Granted, the episode is meant to lead into the next one. But the cliffhanger itself wasn’t exciting and I’m not sure about what happened. 😐

When the Doctor and Anya find themselves caught in the Dalek/Movellan war, they end up crash-landing onto a planet made up of crashed space-ships. This planet happens to be called Mto, I think.

As ever, the performances of David Tennant and Jane Slavin are great in this episode. I also like the idea of a lot of spaceships interlinking with each other to form a planet where peaceful colonists live.

The Doctor and Anya soon meet up with Alex Kingston as River Song…who happens to be dressed up as a Movellan. She claims to be a member of the Movellan race and has a son called Kamen Vers.  😐

Our main heroes suspect that River is going undercover or perhaps she’s a duplicate or something more sinister. I wondered what the deal with River was all about in the episode, as I got so confused.

There were times when I thought this wasn’t actually River and that she was a Movellan in her image and had perhaps kept the real River prisoner. But it turned out it was River all along in the episode. 😦

This is probably one of the reasons why I’m not a fan of River Song as a character. Apart from everything else, it’s hard to trust her and she’s not often the warm-hearted person I’d like her to be.

Incidentally, River as Kamen Vers’ mother is also named Mto in the episode. Mto happens to be a Swahili word for ‘river’. It was interesting to hear that when the Doctor deduced it in the episode.

It’s also interesting to hear from Anya that she’s met River Song before. That happened in ‘The Diary of River Song’ audio series in the episode called ‘Queen of the Mechonoids’. I’ve yet to hear that story.

It was fun to hear the Daleks voiced by Nicholas Briggs in the episode as well as the Movellans voiced by members of the cast. The Movellans have made a huge impact on ‘Doctor Who’ over the years. 🙂

The guest cast also includes Noma Dumezweni as Rodekka. Noma Dumezweni played Captain Erisa Magambo in the ‘Doctor Who’ episodes ‘Turn Left’ and ‘Planet of the Dead’ with the Tenth Doctor. 🙂

Kamen Vers, River/Mto’s son, who ends up being the villain of the episode, is played by Matthew Jacobs-Morgan. Matthew Jacobs-Morgan played Kenrik Vost in ‘The Dalek Occupation of Winter’. 😀

And there’s Paul Panting as Karl Lamb. Paul Panting is a Big Finish veteran, as he’s been in audio stories like ‘Mistfall’, ‘The Ultimate Evil’, ‘Breaking Bubbles and Other Stories’, ‘Island of the Fendahl’, etc. 🙂

Once River turns out to be River all along, she mentions to the Doctor about the First Movellan before she beams out. The Doctor and Anya also end up in a ‘fridge’, as Daleks and Movellans attack.

At least I think that’s what happened. I’m not sure, as ‘The First Son’ ended up being a bit of a mess for me. This is a shame, as I’d been enjoying it and I wanted it to be a winner. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

‘The First Son’ rating – 7/10

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The previous story For the Tenth Doctor was ‘The Lost’ (Audio)  For Anya was ‘The Lost’ (Audio)  For River Song was ‘Queen of the Mechonoids’ (DRS) (Audio) For the Daleks was ‘The Pilot’ (TV)	The next story For the Tenth Doctor is ‘The Dalek Defence’/’The Triumph of Davros’ (Audio) For Anya is ‘The Dalek Defence’/’The Triumph of Davros’ (Audio) For River Song is ‘R&J’ (TLOCJ) (Audio) For the Daleks is ‘The Dalek Defence’/’The Triumph of Davros’ (Audio)
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