"I positively adore the scenes of [Jo] exploring the jungle of Spiridon while nervously recording her experiences in the tape log. To be honest, I almost wish the story had continued in that vein and let it be Jo's show, giving Jon Pertwee a bit of a holiday. I guess that's what Companion Chronicles are there for."
Well, lucky me. Trust me when I say that I had no idea that I'd be getting this precise thing hours later in Ghost in the Machine. Taking large amounts of inspiration from this plot element of Planet of the Daleks, this Companion Chronicle starts with Jo waking up in a silent TARDIS, and emerging into a shadowy crypt that was once a research center, only to find the Doctor in a coma. He has the TARDIS log tape with a single note on it - "Use me". But Jo soon wishes she hadn't.
This claustrophobic little story really lets Katy Manning stretch her wings, playing not only Jo, but also the murderous Second Voice, as well as standing in for Pertwee's Third Doctor. The amount of breadth that she shows here is tremendous, and it's so interesting hearing the colder, more mature voice of the evil presence possessing Jo compared with her usual warmer, lighter tones.
The central conceit of this story, that someone's essence or soul might be captured by an audio recording, seems a little hokey at first but is executed with such aplomb, and such bone-chilling terror, that I really don't mind it. It allows for moments of utter horror, such as one where the Second Voice traps a copy of Jo's voice onto another tape and then erases it, murdering the copy, to scare the "proper" Jo into line. The fact that people who have been trapped as recordings longer slowly deteriorate is utter nightmare fuel, too. I don't think I've ever listened to a scarier Big Finish audio.
Damian Lynch deserves credit as the guest star as well, in his maiden Who performance, playing both Dr. Benjamin Chikoto, as well as Jo Grant and the Third Doctor when some body-swapping occurs.
Having only two actors in it makes the story feel appropriately claustrophobic, given the confined setting. The soundscape is totally eerie, full of echoes, white noise, and whispered voices. I also have to tip my hat to the writer for writing part two with only the words that were included in part one's script, in a clever little piece of metafiction.
All in all, quite a brilliant addition to the Big Finish corpus, and at just under an hour, well worth your time. Anyway, back to N-Space for the conclusion of Season Ten, The Green Death.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 8 April 2021.)
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