This is my first ever Big Finish review! My first story I listened to was The Companion Chronicles instalment called The Scorchies!
This story is about a group of aliens stuck as children’s puppets attempt to destroy earth and whilst attempting stop them, Jo gets trapped in their trap and explains the story of how she and the Doctor and the Brigadier came across them and they sing songs but in the end, Jo is forced to work on the weapon with this deranged scientist but instead of destroying Earth, it destroys the Scorchies instead and Jo is reunited with the Doctor! As they are dying, The Scorchies declared that isn’t over with them.
The Doctor is hardly in this story but definitely is still well used in the flashbacks and at the end.
Katy Manning tweeted me on the day I listened to this and said she enjoyed making this audio which was a pleasure to hear Katy enjoyed herself. For me, Katy stole the show and had a lot of passion which I saw when she was on screen and gives the performance of her life. Katy is natural on Audio and on screen so she deserves to be highly praised.
Melvyn Hayes voiced all the Scorchies. Thy were quite entertaining and intriguing but made deadly villains like we see on TV so it definitely worked. Each character were different to each other so they weren’t the same which made them quite unique as many villains do seem to have different personalities so they did quite well there. My critique towards the Scorchies is that their singing irritates me later on in the audio. The first one was alright but I was bored after the second one but I get what they were trying to do. Sometimes, the laughs were a bit annoying but most of it was ok.
This is a great story but needed less of the songs and less of the laughs but a great performance from Katy!
Score: 6/10
