Doctor Who Short Trips: Regeneration Impossible
Big FInish
Written by: Alfie Shaw
Performed by: Jacob Dudman
The time has come, where I have the great privilege of reviewing a Doctor Who audio from the great Big Finish. Right off the bat, let me tell you A) I’m a huge Doctor Who fan (obvious at this point with all my articles, right?), B) I absolutely love the audio plays from Big Finish, and C) I’ve followed Jacob Dudman’s work since his first Matt Smith impression video on YouTube. Now, combine all three, and you get me geeking out over “Regeneration Impossible.”
“Regeneration Impossible” lands us in a rather interesting situation, where the Eleventh Doctor is in the midst of his “retirement” (from “The Snowman”) and where the Twelfth Doctor is, well, continuously regenerating for some bizarre reason. I initially thought it was during his final moments where he kept pushing his regeneration back, but no! Here I was thinking it was Eleven and Twelve meeting before/in the middle of their respective regenerations, but I quite like the short story we got instead. If you’re a fan of the Classic Era (the seasons of Doctor Who prior to 2005), then you might be familiar with the concept of Vampires, but not the ones we know… space Vampires (I believe these are the ones from the Fourth Doctor story, “State of Decay,” if you’d like to get familiar with the space dwelling energy suckers). Basically, that’s why Twelve keeps regenerating. The Vampire trapped him, and is consuming regeneration energy, while killing the Doctor in the process.
Here I am, pained over the decision whether to tell you the story, or let you listen to it yourself. I’m torn. I’ll only say a little (I mean, I’ve already spoiled the Vampires so…) as this story is a quick listen, less that half an hour, and is quite affordable – but a lot is packed into this short story, and it’s a very good listen.
Audio quality! This is something I have to discuss, as Big Finish does it well. As they should! They are the creme-de-la-creme when it comes to creating audio plays, and they’ve only gotten better in quality. The music isn’t distracting, but used to enhance the scenes in action (which is something that can sometimes be distracting in the actual television program), and the vocal roles come in crystal clear, and is very well acted. Jacob Dudman has been acting for quite some time, and when I heard he begun to work for Big FInish I couldn’t be happier! I was elated to hear his Matt Smith impression done in an official role. I’ve heard his Capaldi impression before, and, no offense, but I feel that impression still has some ways to go (I kept hearing his David Tennant impression sneaking in every now and then). With that said, it wasn’t distracting at all. His impressions of both Doctors were believable enough to make me feel I was listening to Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi banter with each other as the Doctor… and as the Vampire villain.
Last but not least, boy did my heart swell when I heard the Introductory Theme from Season 5 & 6. I have very fond memories of the Matt Smith era (gotten me through all the Hell that High School was!).
All in all, it was wonderful! I was enthralled from start to finish hearing this “Short Trip,” and you will too! It’s not a large time investment like most stories, so you can listen to it whenever you like, without setting time aside for some quality Big Finish listening (which I do very often).