Doctor Who: Frostfire

The Companion Chronicles #1.1

by Marc Platt, Maureen O'Brien (Narrator), Keith Drinkel (Narrator)

Vicki has a tale to tell. But where does it start and when does it end?

Ancient Carthage. 1164 BC. Lady Cressida has a secret. She keeps it deep in the cisterns below the Temple of Astarte with only one flame for warmth. And it must never get out.

Regency London, 1814 AD. The first Doctor, Steven and Vicki go to the fair and meet the fiery Dragon, the novelist Miss Austen and the deadliest weather you ever did see.

But which comes first? The Future or the Past? The Phoenix or the Egg? The Fire or the Frost? Or will Time freeze over forever?

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Fiction

Audio CD

First published January 31, 2007

About the author

Marc Platt is a British writer. He is most known for his work with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.

After studying catering at a technical college, Platt worked first for Trust House Forte, and then in administration for the BBC. He wrote the Doctor Who serial Ghost Light based on two proposals, one of which later became the novel Lungbarrow. That novel was greatly anticipated by fans as it was the culmination of the so-called "Cartmel Masterplan", revealing details of the Doctor's background and family.

After the original series' cancellation Platt wrote the script for the audio Doctor Who drama Spare Parts. The script was the inspiration for the 2006 Doctor Who television story "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel", for which Platt received a screen credit and a fee.

He lives in London.

Reviews

[Emilija]

I quite enjoyed this story. I haven't watched or listened to much of this era of Doctor Who, but it felt like I got a good understanding of all of the characters, and I liked the plot. It felt like standard Doctor Who.

[Nicholas Whyte]

Frostfire is the best of the first four. Marc Platt is the author: he lands the Doctor, Vicki and Steven in the frozen London of 1814, where they team up with Jane Austen - Jane Austen - to defeat a nefarious force that threatens to suck the energy out from the whole of London, and maybe the world. Platt and through him Maureen O'Brien (playing Vicki for the first time in over forty years!) between them catch the First Doctor's voice perfectly, though poor Steven doesn't get much to do. It's nice to have a framing narrative of Vicki - now Cressida - reminiscing about the events of years before, for her subjective time line, or three thousand years in the future, by Earth time, and it turns out to have more relevance to events than anticipated. There is a typical Marc Platt paradox by way of plot resolution, and you have to swallow the concept of Jane Austen as woman of action, but it is tremendously enjoyable.

[osoi]

Самый большой плюс и одновременно buzzkill компаньонских хроник Первого Доктора – это сама эра Первого Доктора. Ладно, я давно смирилась с этим жестким и неподатливым дедком, с умным видом поучающим молодежь – куда от него деваться, тем более у него модные клетчатые слаксы и палочка, которой можно махать направо и налево. Но как я ни старалась проникнуться его компаньонами.. Иэн и Барбара отправились восвояси, и это самая большая жалость, ведь ворчливому деду осталось общаться с истеричной Вики (а ведь до этого была писклявая и не менее истеричная Сьюзен!) и непонятным Стивеном. ОДНАКО, есть все же в этой эре своя прелесть. Все эти неторопливые расследования банальностей и комично серьезные моменты якобы ревелейшенов. Вот я и балансирую между двумя вероятными исходами: либо мое понимание категории «нравится» расширится и я начну получать удовольствие от встреч, либо с истечением срока действия всю эту затею проникнуться Первым ждет коллапс.

Этот выпуск компаньонских хроник подкупил тем, что довольно внятно стягивает ниточки сюжета вокруг оригинальных серий. То есть Вики уже превратилась в Крессиду и рассказывает не только о неком missing adventure в синей будке, но и некоторые подробности своей пост-Докторской жизни. До чертиков приятно, что бывший компаньон не только жив, но и способен еще пару историй рассказать.
Сюжет относительно прост, но я пока держусь и не предъявляю лишних претензий к историям Первого. Все так, как и должно быть, с небольшим твистом в конце, который по меркам эры может даже считаться темным. О да. Не понравилась только нелепица с Джейн Остин – ну зачем было вводить этого абсолютно бестолкового персонажа? С ее появлением не стало интереснее, просто меня как читателя окунули в ведерко недоумения. О хорошем: Морин О’Брайан роскошно справилась с чтением, и даже Первый у нее достоверен. Сопровождение на высоте, и я все больше и больше проникаюсь аудио-поделками Биг Финиша.

annikeh.net

[Jacqueline]

Frostfire is the very first title in the Big Finish Doctor Who Companion Chronicles, and it does show a little bit in technical details - more about that at the end of the review. This story features the First Doctor (as played on the television show Doctor Who by William Hartnell) and his companions Vicki and Steven. The story is narrated by Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) who is literally telling a story to an unseen monster whom the CD jewel case identifies as "Cinder", however, he is never identified in the story itself.
The story begins with the Doctor landing in London, where he, Steven and Vicki attend the 1814 Frost Fair. They meet Jane Austen at the fair, and among the novelty acts and food, they are harassed by a strange Italian and rescued by a British gentleman, Sir Joseph Mallard, and his wife, Lady Georgiana. The Doctor, Steven, Vicki, the couple, and Ms. Austen are drawn in to see a Cabinet of Curiosities show, only to discover amidst the kitsch and fakery a genuine Phoenix egg. The Phoenix, however is not a creature of fire - but of ice. It entraps Georgiana and also captures Vicki's attention. The Phoenix goes on a rampage, killing with ice. Jane Austen takes everyone to her brother's house, offering an escape from the creature and lodgings for the TARDIS crew since she's discovered they have no lodgings or plans in London yet.
Once at Jane Austen's brother's house, Georgiana takes ill - and the harassing Italian returns to bother her. The party is going well, until the Phoenix shows up in the fireplace, sucking the heat out of the room (literally). A chimney sweep boy falls out of the fireplace, unharmed, but Georgiana is entranced by the Phoenix and gets captured. Vicki is freaked out because she thought the creature wanted her as well.
The Doctor, Steven, and Georgiana's husband, Joseph, head to a men's club to look for news. Jane Austen, Vicki, and the chimney sweep boy, investigate on their own - discovering many people and animals of London have been frozen solid by the creature. They end up at a church, and find the egg and Lady Georgiana. When the Doctor and Steven arrive - Georgiana takes Joseph away, and the Doctor and company track them to the Royal Mint. The creature had planned to use the furnace that is normally used to melt metals for coins to be born. This plan is ultimately thwarted, and Georgiana and her husband rescued. During the fracas to stop the Phoenix and snuff out the fire of the furnace, Vicki is hit in the eye by a cinder.
The story pulls back, as it has a few times throughout the telling, and we meet the mysterious guest in Vicki's basement - a cinder of the Phoenix. Vicki, now living in Cartridge with Troilus, as Lady Cressida, knows eventually the Phoenix egg will be found in Tunis, and taken to the Frost Fair where the entire cycle will begin again.
Maureen O'Brien does an excellent job performing Frostfire and having Keith Drinkel as Cinder helps because it gives her someone to react to, and Companion Chronicles always work best as two-handers. However, the entire CD is only four tracks, so some are extremely long, like over 22 minutes long. This was very inconvenient when listening while commuting in the car (I've have to start at the beginning of a track and re-listen to a lot before reaching any new material.) Also, this is this the only CD in the series I've listened to with no extras, such as interviews.

[Lennon]

The Companion Chronicles are one of Big Finish’s best and most varied ranges. They are an ingenious way to involve classic companion actors and tell stories of those Doctors who have sadly passed. Although the range has concluded over two years ago, Marc Platt’s Frostfire demonstrates that they are well worth returning to. Leading the companion charge, Maureen O’Brien breathes life into the past, as well as Vicki’s previously uncertain present as Lady Cressida. Cutting between her lonely yet contented present and an icy adventure with the Doctor, Steven and Jane Austen in the nineteenth century, Frostfire paves the way for fifteen more years of Companion Chronicles.

In her home in Carthage, 1164 BC, Vicki speaks to a strange alien entity about her old life. Her life with the Doctor and Steven Taylor. She speaks of an encounter with an evil egg encountered on the frozen surface of the River Thames, and the brutal carnage it would go on to unleash.

Frostfire establishes the clear format adhered to by companion chronicles for years to come, wherein a companion recounts an adventure they had with the Doctor at an earlier point in their life. This effectively grounds the stories by making use of their older, wiser selves to offer keener insight and clearer narration. Distinct from an audiobook, Companion Chronicles often feature one or two other cast members, and the same high quality sound production expected of any Big Finish production.

As with most Companion Chronicles, the story set in the companion’s past takes precedence, telling its own complete story. The present day sequences act as a prologue, interludes and an epilogue and serve to flesh out the story’s enduring antagonist Cinder, and learn more about how Vicki’s past experiences have shaped her life. Not to mention how her past has impacted the very different life she leads today. Whilst these supporting elements do not interrogate exactly why Vicki made the choice to leave the Doctor, they effectively explore the consequences of her decision.

Vicki’s characterisation as Lady Cressida is strong. O’Brien imbues her with a wonderful mix of melancholy and warmth as this older woman living out of her time attempts to relate with a cruel alien entity, Cinder. The pair share an incongruous existence in space and time, and the palpable relief Vicki from discussing her very unique and unbelievable history is compelling. Platt has painted a complex picture of Vicki. One which both reassures us that she is okay, living a good life, but it also raises questions about her place in her community and the abstract loneliness she feels as an individual out of time.

Read my full review here:
https://sonicreviewwho.wordpress.com/...

[Daniel Cork]

The companion chronicles is a very niche range, you'll either love it or hate it kind of affair. But there are no doubt some hidden gems I feel everyone should listen to and whilst it's taken me a long time to give this one a go, I certainly feel this is one of them.

The Doctor, Vicki, and Steven arrive in Regency London at the last of the frost fairs. Where they meet a loving couple, Jane Austen, and something very out of this world - an egg of a Pheonix and its hatching, drawing out heat from the world and if they don't act quickly it might be the end of civilization as they know it.

Marc Platt has put together an astonishingly beautiful script and Maureen O'Brien does an amazing job narrating the story. The atmosphere in this is incredible, the descriptions are beautiful, the story is a simple one but the way it's told is define!

Overall: One of the best companion chronicles and such a lovely way to start off the range. If you haven't listened to this one I would highly recommend it! 10/10

[Xander Toner]

Enjoyable, but really nothing special. I haven’t really seen or heard much of the character Vicki, the odd TV story and nothing from audio, so I think this was a surprisingly good introduction to the character, only muddled slightly by my lack of knowledge for her story, particularly her exit from the TARDIS. Still, this was fun. I especially liked the two stories happening simultaneously, with the Cinder allowed to make comments from the future story, about the past one. It really works well here, but I don’t know if its something I’d like to hear for the rest of The Companion Chronicles range. I’m not sure what other framing devices you could use for stories like these, but either way. Maureen O’Brien gives a wonderful performance, I really enjoyed listening to her voice throughout the two parts here, and whilst the Cinder falls into the usual Big Finish voice modulation schtick, I think they worked well off of each other, especially in giving the bittersweet ending here.

[David Layton]

Vicki, now a mother and long since settled in Carthage, recounts an adventure she had when travelling with the Doctor and Steven. Since this is pretty much a reading with a few dramatic touches, one should not take it as a full drama. So, as a story, how does it stack up? The story is a variation on the Phoenix myth, which allows Marc Platt to have some fun with circularity and time. The story is very much in the first Doctor tradition and probably could have been produced for TV. The presence of Jane Austen is a throw-away as the role the character plays could have been played by any gentlewoman of the period, really. Maureen O'Brien returns nicely to her character of decades ago.

[Shaun Collins]

A rather engaging companion chronicle that gives not only an interesting boot-strap paradox but a "what happened to Vicki" tale.

For our full thoughts visit https://travelingthevortex.com/?p=8868

[Mole Mann]

A pretty atmospheric first entry in the Companion Chronicles series with some pretty good mental images. I think I'll have to listen to more of these to make up my mind on the format of these stories.

[Billy Martel]

Dark and silly in all the right places.

[Steven Shinder]

I guess even early on they were still trying to figure out how to do these Companions Chronicles well.

[Cynik]

It was OK. These are a series of audio narrated by different Doctor's companions. I've liked some other Doctor Who fiction better.

[Paulo "paper books only"]

Frostfire
Vickie aka Lady Cressida has a tale to tell. Basically as other companion tales its about a Companion sharing his tales about the Doctor. In this case we don't know to whom is Vickie telling.



As you all know, for those who watch the series, Vickie left the Doctor and married some guy after going to the Troyan times (The Myth Makers). There she rename herself as Cressida (you should check the google for it... yes I will wait........ Yeah she is that Cressida).

She begins to tell a tale about a time they were in the Victoria period and something strange was happening. Time was freezing over. There they deal with a being called a Cinder (think of it as a Phoenix kind of animal). It is a interesting tale, not that boring comparing with other tales, and the end they are trying to decide what to do with it. The Phoenix needs heat and left uncheck he could bring a ice age if you will. As the story progress we understand that the being Vickie is talking is the Cinder that now she is living on a temple of Astartes and Vickie keep him in check with small amount of food to keep her company after all she is all alone on that time. Nobody understands her...

This is a fate of most companions of the Doctor. After seeing wonders and knowing too much how can you return to a happy boring uneventful life?

[Jamieson]

Frostfire was the first of Big Finish's Companion Chronicles range. The idea of which is to take usually two actors (though there were occasionally more), one of which was a companion and tell a Doctor Who story in what was usually a hybrid of traditional audiobook and audio drama. At a time before they secured Tom Baker and before they recast the first three Doctors, this was the primary way to get new stories with the first four Doctors.

This story sees an elderly Vicki in Carthage telling a story to a mysterious prisoner. The story sees the First Doctor, Vicki and Steven visit the frost faire in 1814. There, they encounter an alien phoenix that sucks the heat out of everything it encounters. Plus, they meet Jane Austin. It's a really good story and the framing device works really well. While I've only dabbled in the Companion Chronicles and prefer the full-cast audio dramas from Big Finish, this was a good release and well worth it if you're a fan of the Hartnell/Steven/Vicki Tardis Team.

[Jamie Revell]

A quick word on the format here, since it's the first Companion Chronicle I've reviewed. Unlike most of Big Finish's other work, this isn't a full-cast play, but something more akin to an audiobook. The Companion Chronicles feature a character from the series giving a first-person account of an un-televised adventure, and, in that respect, are basically audiobooks that happen to be written in the first person.

It differs from a regular audiobook in that (in this case) an additional character, voiced by a different actor, occasionally interrupts the narrator, and that the story itself is enhanced with background sound effects. If you're used to audiobooks this may be a plus (or, then again, it may be distracting), but if you're used to full-cast plays, it's likely a step in the other direction.

Anyway; Frostfire.

This is a perfectly functional Doctor Who story, but it suffers from feeling a bit too generic. One could easily imagine the story featuring any Doctor and around half the companions would work as well as Vicki does. Indeed, by being set in Earth's past, yet still featuring a monster, one could argue that the First Doctor is just about the one it works least well with. It has a reasonable pace, and is quite atmospheric, and there's some nice ideas in it, but it somehow fails to take advantage of the characters that it has to work with.

[G. Hoffmann]

With the last os the Thames Frost Fairs as the main setting, this story brings the 1st Doctor and companions Steven and Vicki to investigate a mysterious "phoenix" egg. Don't let the slow start fool you - this is really a great story, lots of character moments for Vicki (who gets to meet a most famous novelist), well written by Marc Platt and acted here by Maureen O'Brian herself who, besides not liking to be connected with her past work on the series nowadays, delivers a good job here as Vicki. Her narration and male voices are not quite as good, though.
The framing sequences show Vicki as Cressida, and hints at the life she had after leaving on the classic arc "The Myth Makers".
I found this to be very enjoyable, another (well, in fact the first) solid entry on The Companion Chronicles!

[Jon Arnold]

The Companion Chronicles get off to a fine start with Maureen O'Brien reprising Vicki as both the girl from the TV series and older woman. She nails the narrated drama format, helped by a strong story from Marc Platt which features the last of London's frost fayres, a wonderfully violent Jane Austen and a mysterious egg. It retains the feel of a Hartnell story but with more pace and punch t(thanks Jane!) to the narrative and an evocative setting.

[Debra Cook]

This is the very first companion chronicle and it wasn't a bad one. Vicki takes us on an adventure with frozen eggs and Jane Austin. And Jane seems to like to get into enough trouble as Vicki.