Doctor Who - 7th Doctor Klein Audios

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One of the more wild Doctor Who companions that Big Finish created is Klein, a Nazi scientist who begins travelling with the Doctor so that he can "keep an eye on her" and maybe teach her a thing or two about morality as well.

25. Colditz by Steve Lyons

Colditz sees the Doctor and Ace land slap bang in the middle of Colditz castle, near the end of WW2. They're quickly apprehended, of course, and meet two particular Nazis. Tracey Childs as Elizabeth Klein and David Tennant as Feldwebel Kurtz are the stars of the show here, they're absolutely incredible. Tennant's Kurtz is utterly despicable and Klein is a fascinating character that I'm excited to see more of. The other side characters are great too, and the relatively small cast gives us time to get to know them well. The pacing is slightly inconsistent but barely a problem. Instead, this story has some great suspense, and this combined with its strong characters makes for a great adventure. My biggest problem here (and something that Big Finish are normally great at) is the audio mixing. This is an early audio so it's more understandable but some conversations have strange effects on them, like as though we're hearing conversations through doors. This can be a choice for the story but here it's just a bit annoying and done constantly. On top of this, the music sometimes overpowers the dialogue, making some conversations difficult to hear. Overall though, a really great story.

8/10

130. A Thousand Tiny Wings by Andy Lane

A Thousand Tiny Wings is a tense and intriguing murder mystery with great side characters, including (of course) the return of Elizabeth Klein, whose excellent conversations with the Doctor are at the core of this story, and I'm sure will drive the subsequent stories too! Andy Lane's script is just fantastic, and A Thousand Tiny Wings is very strongly plotted as it also includes a lot of information about the Mau Mau Uprising, which is delivered in a very competent way. This is an amazing story that educates as well as entertains!

9/10

131. Klein's Story by John Ainsworth and Lee Mansfield and Survival of the Fittest by Jonathan Clements

Klein's Story is a short 1-part story where Klein details the events that led up to her encounter with the Doctor, as she and 7 travel to their next destination. Klein's Story is really fantastically told and manages to pack a lot into its relatively short run time. It's also surprisingly gripping. It's difficult to talk about in detail without spoilers but it's a really fantastic story that's definitely worth a listen.

9/10

Survival of the Fittest is a very strong story story about an alien race, and their exterminators. The really fantastic sound design elevates the atmosphere of this one to make it a very immersive experience. Once again, Tracey Childs is fantastic as Klein, and her relationship with the Doctor continues to impress me. The three-part structure of this story helps a ton. It's well-paced and not at all bloated, it says what it wants to say all in good time. Survival of the Fittest also ends in a fantastic way, setting up an intriguing direction for end of this trilogy to explore!

8/10

132. The Architects of History by Steve Lyons

The Architects of History is a brilliant end to this trilogy, I absolutely loved it. The Architects of History deals with the consequences Klein stealing the Doctor's TARDIS at the end of Survival of the Fittest. Earth is in its golden age, as the Reich takes advantage of time travel to engineer results to their liking. This story has some pretty high stakes, but as with all the best Doctor Who stories, is very focused on the characters and their relationships. Here, 7 and Klein is the biggest focus, and their journeys together are wrapped up in a brilliant way. Another strong pairing is that of Rachel and the Doctor. Rachel's story as the forgotten companion is wonderfully tragic, and highlights how 7's complex machinations don't always end with the best outcome. The villains are great too, sort of more intimidating Sontarans, and Klein meets her match with them. Just a fantastic story, and the ending is brilliant too.

9/10

All in all, the Klein trilogy (+Colditz) is utterly fantastic and very worth a listen. Up next is UNIT: Dominion!