A MOST EXCELLENT MATCH

A Most Excellent Match by Matt Fitton is the second story in the Big Finish audio release of Recorded Time and Other Stories.

Peri is trapped in a virtual reality world of Jane Austen, where her biggest worry is which husband to pick (Darcy or the Doctor!).  The Doctor tries to bring her out of it, but discovers the world houses an alien that requires mind access to a “body” in order to escape.  At first the alien sets his sights on Peri, but then a Time Lord enters the “game”.

Playing a little like Red Dwarf‘s Beyond a Joke, A Most Excellent Match feels a little like a Trek-holodeck story.  Apparently it’s supposed to have many comedic elements in it, but not being familiar with Austen stories and similar, any such digs or parodies went completely over my head.  Still, the “fish out of water” nature of Peri being completely under the influence does make an interesting change.

Once again, it’s fortunate that this is a short story because there isn’t enough for it to last much longer.  It could almost be said that the author just wanted the 6th Doctor to awkwardly “propose” to Peri and then tried to fit a story around it.  It, again, shows how short episodes of Doctor Who can be handled when you stick to the plot and don’t try to make it CGI-fest “epic” of it.