UNIT: Dominion is an epic four-hour audio adventure from Big Finish.  Written by Nicholas Briggs and Jason Arnopp, script edited by Nicholas Briggs, with an extra UNIT: Dominion documentary edited and produced by Martin Montague, this is a 7th Doctor and Raine story involving UNIT and the return of one of the Doctor’s most dangerous enemies.

The 7th Doctor, UNIT: DOMINION

The story opens with an apparent threat to Earth from a “Power Vampire” creature, which turns into a threat from “Mind Leechers”, and then from Giant lava-shooting killer Spiders.

Fortunately, the Doctor chooses this moment to arrive, or does he?  This is apparently a future Doctor, one with Dr Elizabeth Klein doesn’t recognise.  He doesn’t remember much of her, but he has all of the requisite UNIT credentials and passwords to prove his identity.

Elsewhere, the 7th Doctor and Raine receive a distress call in the TARDIS and a warning from Ace on Gallifrey.  The warning is interrupted, and they land at the site of the distress call – an alien world in an alternative dimension.

Before the Doctor can find out what’s going on, the arrival of his “future self” stops him and warns him not to help the native inhabitants, before he shoots of back to Earth to help with the crisis there.

Dr Elizabeth Klein, UNIT: DOMINION

The Doctor being the Doctor, and never following instructions, particularly from a future younger version of himself that behaves so bouncy, investigates.  He finds a “power leech” that is sucking power from everything around it, including the local inhabitants who ask for his help.

The Doctor is able to discover what the power draining device is – an artefact from hidden Time Lord archives.  He’s able to return the power and life back to the people, but they want more and they threaten Raine to get the Doctor to capitulate.  Doing this weakens the walls between dimensions, and everything starts collapsing.

I’ve no real knowledge of who Klein or Raine are, except that the former reminds me an awful lot of Evelyn Smythe – they sound the same, behave the same, and even have similar German-sounding names (Elizabeth Klein / Evelyn Smythe).  The latter shares many similarities with Ace and, with Ace being on Gallifrey, maybe that companion suits this Doctor best?

The episodes play out a little like a “Two Doctors” story with one Doctor ably supported by Dr Klien, UNIT’s current Scientific Advisor, and the other by Raine, the Ace-a-like.

Raine Creevy, UNIT: DOMINION

UNIT is portrayed as a bunch of terrified plodders with no real indication of how they became soldiers, or UNIT soldiers, if they are that unprepared for what they might encounter.  Fortunately Dr Kleine takes everything in her stride and is able to both shout the soldiers into standing up to the threat and tearing strips off their commander who’s more interested in the press.

The adventure progresses through four one-hour episodes, each one having their own threat.  Each threat serves to prolong the adventure until the big “reveal” cliffhanger at the end of episode three, allowing the final episode to be the climax that we’ve all been waiting for.  However, despite this, the adventure rarely feels like it outstays its welcome.  Although each threat is a bit of a nothing with the “future Doctor” saving the day in time for the next threat to come along, the whole thing is made worth its stay thanks to the actors involved.

Alex McQueen plays the “future Doctor” as a kind of amalgam between third Doctor’s arrogance with an overwhelming infection of tenth Doctor manic.  Indeed, it often feels like McQueen is channelling David Tennant (no wonder the 7th Doctor, upon meeting his “future self”, tells Raine that if he ever starts behaving like that she’s to shoot him!).

The “other” Doctor, UNIT: DOMINION

Tracey Childs is Dr Elizabeth Klein, UNIT’s current scientific advisor with a mysterious past.  I’ve no interest in her past because it’s not a factor in the story, except that the writer tries to make it one later in the adventure.  This doesn’t really go anywhere, but I’m sure it’s of more interest to those who’ve listened to her previous adventures.  One of the reasons I’d previously hesitated from buying UNIT: Dominion is because of the “oh no, not ANOTHER woman scientific advisor of UNIT” factor.  It’s strange to think that what with Colonel Chaudhry, Elizabeth Klein, and Kate Stewart, there have been three times as many female scientific advisers than there have been male ones – yet still we’ll see more female ones in the future.  Not so much seeking equality as a complete imbalance.

However, by the time you’ve reached the final episode, Dr Klein has grown on you.  I think that Tracey Childs plays the character the most “real” of the three female scientific advisers.  Her Elizabeth Klein is grounded in reality whilst still having a penchant for things otherworldly.  She doesn’t get all bossy and feels like she has to boss everyone around (although there is still an element of this with the soldiers portrayed as little more than grunts).  A definite improvement on the other options.

Beth Chalmers plays Raine Creevy, a character I’ve no prior knowledge of.  In this adventure she doesn’t necessarily get to do more than be the typical companion, supporting the 7th Doctor.  This in itself is something quite refreshing, what with so many stories these days pushing the companion to prominence over what’s supposed to be the central character.  She feels a little like an early Ace, before Ace got too complicated with being on Gallifrey (I’ve still no idea what she’s doing there anyway).  Raine is apparently good at overcoming locks, as she says once or twice, but you don’t get much more sense of the character in this story.

In short, all three characters and actors are what, together with the essential presence of Sylvester McCoy as the 7th Doctor, make the adventure a pleasure to listen to for the four hour duration.  If any of these had been written or performed too dislikeably, it would have been extraordinarily difficult to make it through the entire four hours.

The 7th Doctor doesn’t play the biggest role in the adventure (due to Sylvester McCoy’s availability, I believe) but it’s written in such a way that he’s always there. There are plenty of scenes with him early on in the story, and he’s present in a big way towards the end, and there are enough scenes throughout the rest of the adventure that you never get the sense that he’s being sidelined.

UNIT: DOMINION

If anything, UNIT: Dominion doesn’t really feel much like a UNIT story at all.  It feels like an Earth story in which UNIT are present, but it’s most definitely a “Doctor” story – even when it’s the “future Doctor” stealing many of the scenes.  I think that’s why it works so well.

I would definitely enjoy listening to more of these stories, which is not something I might have said about either the previous “Doctor-less” UNIT stories and is definitely not something I would have said about the current “Kate Stewart” UNIT stories.  In that light, I guess UNIT: Dominion gets the recommended “thumbs up” from me.

Prior to UNIT: Dominion, I didn’t really have much interest in pursuing other adventures with non-TV companions but I have to admit that I think I’ll be checking out other 7th Doctor/Raine adventures next.  I think I have a few “Lost Stories” featuring these characters that I’ve yet to listen to.