The Creed Of The Kromon
Still trapped in the divergent universe without the TARDIS, the Doctor and Charley encounter what seems to be an impenetrable barrier, guarded by a being known as the Kro’Ka. After assessing what both of the travelers fear, the Kro’Ka lets them pass through to a neighboring zone, where the native humanoid population has been enslaved by the insectoid Kromon. The Doctor and Charley meet C’rizz, a refugee from the Kromon biodomes in a suicidal mood since he lost his mate. The Doctor offers to help, and the three make their way into the nearest Kromon dome, which is also where the Doctor hopes to find the TARDIS. Once inside, however, they become prisoners of the Kromon. The insectoid creatures, following the creed set down by a long-vanished Company, intend to mine the Doctor’s knowledge of space travel and enslave C’rizz once more. And they have something else in mind for Charley - a fate worse than death in the Kromon breeding chambers.
written by Philip Martin
directed by Gary Russell
music by David DarlingtonCast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charley), Conrad Westmaas (C’rizz), Brian Cobby (The Oroog), Stephen Perring (The Kro’Ka / Kromon voices), Jane Hills (L’da), Daniel Hogarth (Kromon voices)
Timeline: after Scherzo and before The Natural History Of Fear
Review: After all the mold-breaking that went on in Big Finish’s 2003 audio productions, it’s a bit of a shock to the system to encounter a story which more or less conforms to the prerequisite beats of a typical Doctor Who romp. Chasing, escaping, rebelling, rescuing, there’s a lot of that going on here, and there are also some overt thematic throwbacks to Vengeance On Varos, not surprising since Kromon is also written by Philip Martin. Plenty of noble giants, noncorporeal threats, and mind control as well - in other words, there seems to be little here that couldn’t have appeared during Tom Baker’s years on television. And perhaps this relative simplicity - when held up against some of the prior eighth Doctor audio plays and even the recent convoluted epic that was Zagreus and the high-concept Scherzo - is no mistake. Creed Of The Kromon is designed primarily to bring C’rizz on board as a new companion, focusing on him quite a bit and giving the listener a lot of time to analyze who he is. Conrad Westmaas makes an interesting first impression, dashing and heroic and troubled and tragic in turns. It’s hard to gauge how he’ll interact with his new friends until we get to the next story. (more…)
In the Divergent dimension, the TARDIS is barely able to maintain its shape, dimensions and function, struggling to keep itself intact in a pocket universe where the normal physical laws do not apply. It brings the Doctor and Charley - who stowed away aboard the TARDIS after the Doctor’s harrowing battle with Zagreus - to what seems to be a dark void. The Doctor and Charley finds themselves battered by deafening, disjointed repetitions of their own words in their own voices, and the Doctor surmises that they’re dealing with a creature made of pure sound. But Charley, preoccupied with her unrequited feelings for the Doctor, isn’t as fascinated by the experience. And before either of them knows it, they’re trapped, together alone at the whim of an unseen, and yet incomprehensibly heard, tormentor.
Imbued with the energy of anti-time and possessed by the power-mad Zagreus, the Doctor wrestles for self-control and terrifies Charley into hiding within the TARDIS. A familiar face appears to Charley as she hides - the Brigadier, or, more precisely, a TARDIS-projected simulation of Lethbridge-Stewart intended to help her. Its method of doing so, however, is unorthodox to put it mildly: Charley must divine the true nature of the increasingly disastrous situation from a series of metaphors, ranging from her own childhood to a visit to Gallifrey’s past to an insane amusement park where animatronic cartoon characters are slaughtering one another. The Doctor, too, hears from some familiar voices in his own past, coaxing him to regain control of his own mind. But all too late, the Doctor realizes that his body and soul are not Zagreus’ only battleground, and the real battle for the fate of the entire universe is only now being joined.
The Doctor and Charley arrive in Italy as the country celebrates its 1982 World Cup victory. But something more sinister lurks behind the revels: two aliens - Threllips - are scouting the Earth for conquest and colonization. And while the Threllips have the strength of a dozen humans, technology at least on a par with the Sontarans, and the willpower to subjugate the entire human race, they’re also a little short on brainpower. With that in mind, the Doctor and Charley set the pair of invaders up to fail under the weight of their own egos.