Big Finish Productions The Children of Seth

Written by	Chrisopher Bailey and Marc Platt
Format	Compact Disc
Released	2011

Starring Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding

Synopsis: During one of Nyssa's experiments, the TARDIS' temporal scanner picks up a message: "Idra". Just one word, but enough to draw the Doctor to the Archipelago of Sirius. There, the Autarch is about to announce a new crusade. A mighty war against Seth, Prince of the Dark... But who is Seth? What is the secret of Queen Anahita, Mistress of the Poisons? And what terror awaits on Level 14?

• It's All in the Binary by Jacob Licklider

It's All in the Binary by Jacob Licklider 2/12/24

Christopher Bailey is a writer who has two televised stories that are characterized by deeper metaphors for topics that influenced him as a writer. He created the Mara, which is a metaphor for the fears of humanity and exactly how we can let it consume us, but his third story, The Children of Seth, doesn't feature the Mara. In fact, it is all a metaphor this time for a lot of the facades that we put on for society and how technology is being in control of our lives in every way. The story sees the Doctor receive a message from someone who he had a previous relationship with because Nyssa used some technology to get the message, and they arrive at a planet where there is a war being fought against the evil Seth. There are terrors on Level 14 where people never return and androids for some reason are outlawed, except for the few hidden in guarding the queen. The story is very much a story of a puppet king being manipulated by his court, a queen trying to save him and an evil entity all created in the minds of the people. Yes, the villain is just there because the fact is that it's all an idea put into people's heads by a fear so the government can get rid of people for things they don't like. Marc Platt does a brilliant job at adapting what was a detailed outline into a really chilling story. It is one where paranoia runs very high, and you know something is going to go wrong rather quickly and it is only going to get much worse with time.

The characterization of the Doctor is great, as Peter Davison is enjoying being sucked into the action of the story where he takes on the role of Seth near the end. Davison also shows that the Doctor has had a past flame of sorts in Anahita, which is a very interesting dynamic. Of course, there is the really good idea as Davison is young while Anahita is very old and played by the brilliant Honor Blackman. Anahita is also interesting in her own right, as she is the crafty mistress of poisons for the planet and exiled queen, which is honestly great for her story arc, as you see the cogs turning in the character's brain with the music of the story and Blackman's good performance. David Warner features in this story as Siris who is the oblivious king, and let's be honest it's David Warner who just shines through in the script. Vernon Dobtcheff also features as Shamur, who also is glorious in that he gets to operate bits of the TARDIS really for no other reason.

Janet Fielding as Tegan once again is great in this story, as she is the audience surrogate. Tegan is the one asking questions, but also is trying to figure everything out. When of course the Doctor and Nyssa both lose their minds to Level 14 with the Doctor babbling in binary of all things and Nyssa is convinced that she is the Doctor, it is Tegan who has to be the one to figure things out. Fielding is a great actress and after all these years gets the character down to a tee for the entire story. Sarah Sutton, however, is the one who's got the short end of the stick for this story. The beginning of the story has Nyssa partaking in a large exposition dump, as there is a lot of information to get out about how we get the story going. Platt is a brilliant writer, but he isn't able to get the exposition out in a compelling way. Hearing Nyssa act like the Doctor is also very off, because it is again another way that Nyssa is hypnotized or written out because why not?

To summarize, The Children of Seth is of the three Christopher Bailey stories, the absolute best of the stories. It isn't perfect: the pacing is something that does not lend well to easy listening, the cover art is off as to the descriptions given in the story, and Nyssa is also underused in the story; but as a story it has the most depth and once you get around to what exactly Bailey was intending with this story, it's something good. The acting is really good in almost every way, and the adaptation is by Marc Platt, so who can complain? 95/100