Jenny - The Doctor's Daughter, Series 1

Jenny - The Doctor's Daughter #1

by Matt Fitton, John Dorney, Christian Brassington

Jenny is brand new to the universe. Born a soldier, made for war, she has a Time Lord’s heritage. Luckily, that Time Lord is the Doctor.

She’s ready to save planets, fight monsters, and save the day, using nothing but her bravery, wit and instinct – and an awful lot of running.

1.1 Stolen Goods by Matt Fitton

Jenny is new to the universe and keen to explore – but in unfamiliar spaceships, accidents happen. She’s lucky to have someone on-hand to help. A slippery, fast-talking someone, called Garundel.

Soon, Jenny is mixed up in cons and explosions. But she also finds something strange, inexplicable, and as new to universe as she is. She’ll call him Noah.

1.2 Prisoner of the Ood by John Dorney

Moving into Leafield Crescent, Angie Glazebrook is surprised by an unexpected caller. But not half as surprised as Jenny, suddenly transported to a suburban close on twenty-first century Earth.

And that’s nothing to the surprise of the neighbours when alien visitors start appearing. Visitors with tentacled mouths, carrying death-dealing orbs. The Ood have come for their prisoner…

1.3 Neon Reign by Christian Brassington

The Dragon Lord rules Kamshassa with fear. Half the oppressed population live in an addicted stupor, while the other half are forced into service. Factories belch poisonous smoke, and Dragon Guards patrol the streets, condemning dissenters to the Eternal Fire.

When Jenny and Noah arrive, it’s only a matter of time before they start a revolution.

1.4 Zero Space by Adrian Poynton

Out in deep space, in the middle of – quite literally – nowhere, Jenny and Noah believe they’ve found a safe haven. And, very possibly, some answers. But the space station holds many secrets, and it won’t be long before Jenny’s past catches her up.

Bounty hunter COLT-5000 is on her trail and will stop at nothing to hunt down its quarry… even in Zero Space!

Cast: Georgia Tennant (Jenny), Sean Biggerstaff (Noah), Stuart Milligan

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction

Audio CD

First published June 1, 2018

Reviews

[Mari Pequenos Retalhos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great audiodrama, I love the character of Jenny and I think there's so much potential for her in Doctor Who. Georgia Tennant is amazing with her voice work.

[The Post Monument · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stolen Goods - 3 stars
Prisoner of the Ood - 3.5 stars
Neon Reign - 2 stars
Zero Space - 3 stars

Overall - 3 stars

[Taksya · Rating 4 out of 5]

1.1 Stolen Goods by Matt Fitton
Abbiamo lasciato Jenny, la figlia del Dottore, a bordo di una navicella, pronta a correre per l'universo e a mettersi nei guai... esattamente come suo padre.
Inseguita da un cacciatore di taglie, guadagna la compagnia di un misterioso naufrago, battezzato Noah, che conosce un'infinità di cose, tranne il proprio passato.
1.2 Prisoner of the Ood by John Dorney
Un tranquillo sobborgo inglese, una prigione controllata dagli Ood, un pericoloso criminale e Jenny... cosa potrà mai andare storto?
1.3 Neon Reign by Christian Brassington
Jenny e il suo companion Noah si trovano su uno strano mondo, dominato da un drago tiranno e dalle sue armate. Mentre il passato e le origini di Noah si fanno sempre più misteriose, basta poco a Jenny per organizzare una ribellione.
1.4 Zero Space by Adrian Poynton
Con il cacciatore di taglie sempre sulle loro tracce, Jenny e Noah si ritrovano nello Zero Space, a bordo di una stazione scientifica.
Mentre l'impronta del DNA di Noah continua a generare stupore, il cacciatore di taglie trova il modo di ottimizzare il suo guadagno... se non fosse per Jenny e le sue capacità di convincere chiunque a ribellarsi a qualunque cosa.

Le quattro storie hanno un paio di fili conduttori, tra il mistero misterioso che avvolge Noah e il cacciatore di taglie che segue Jenny da prima dell'inizio delle avventure, ma possono essere ascoltate come stand alone senza problemi.
Il finale promette nuove avventure e, visto come hanno caricato il mistero di Noah, potrebbe essere una buona idea produrre un secondo cofanetto o inserire il personaggio in qualche altro spin off.
Devo ammettere che, pur trovando simpatica Georgia Tennant, non sono mai stata una entusiasta del personaggio di Jenny... ma mi sono dovuta ricredere, perché le quattro avventure sono risultate divertenti e ben orchestrate.
Vedremo se la promessa di nuove avventure sarà mantenuta.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyed the first two adventures in this. Jenny is like Tennat's Doctor without the annoying godlike and emo parts. Funny, quirky, and full of excitement and enthusiasm. Sian Philips was hilarious and brilliant as the killer android. Inspired piece of casting. I was a little less impressed with the need to give Jenny a "companion" of her own.
Unfortuatnely things fell apart in the third story which employed some of the worst stereotypes and misunderstanding of Chinese culture that I've seen. It was another Great White Hope story! Not only did the Great White Hope succeed in overthrowing the sexist dragon but she got to pick her own colonial ruler in their place! At least they did actually use Asians instead of yellow facing it. But still really disappointing. In fact it put me off so much that I didn't listen to the last story for another week.
The last story was quite good. Cloning and scientists gone a bit wrong. I was hoping Sian would have had more to do with a big climax to her story in the last act but it was just a bit more of the same.
I'd definitely recommend the first two stories. It's a shame the newer writers weren't as good as the more established ones.

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just spent the whole afternoon listening to Jenny; the doctor's daughter boxset and it's been a while for me to fully sit down and listen to a full boxset and I enjoyed every minute of it! I loved Jenny anyway and all the stories here were so much fun.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spun off from an episode that introduced the character of Jenny aka The Doctor’s Daughter. Superficially, this is what Big Finish does quite well.

(1) Stolen Goods - So, it’s basically just a farce from start to finish. And the comedy isn’t really all that funny. Most of the time, it feels like the plot is being driven in attempts to create humorous situations. Hmm, sounds,Ike a sit-com for Doctor Who. Hopefully, the next episode will be better.

(2) Prisoner of the Ood - This was a wee bit better than the first story, but I’m still not loving the series yet. And ... I think I figured out why. And this is really ood. Oh, sorry, odd, I mean. Georgia Tennant sounds an awful lot like ... Clara Oswald. And ... um ... not really a fan of Clara. So between that and the ... humor? At least a style of humor that just doesn’t really strike my fancy. Sigh. Oh well.

(3) Neon Reign - Interesting story, but I just can’t help feel that they really didn’t know what to do with the character and they keep churning out stories that have been adapted from rejected script ideas from Doctor Who. There doesn’t feel like there’s anything original in here.

(4) Zero Space - On one hand, this was probably my favorite of these stories. I suppose they saved the best for last. On the other hand though, I still wasn’t overly impressed with this series. It was well put together and I feel like the cast did a fine job. I just don’t think the writing was as good as it might have been, or at least as good as I’ve come to expect from Big Finish. I feel like these stories were rushed into production and may not have gotten their final polish. Oh well. Still entertaining.

This release also include extensive interviews with cast and crew and a gorgeous music suite of the score written exclusively for this release. Oddly, the interviews revealed that I was wrong in one of my assumptions, that this was rushed to completion. The interviews said they had plenty of time to work the kinks out of the scripts. I wish I could say it helped, but I wasn’t overly impressed with these stories. They were bad, just not very inspired. And at least one of them was revealed to have been an used Tenth Doctor story that never made it into a release, so it was repurposed, reused and rewritten here as a Jenny story. And I suppose, this is part of the problem I had: there’s nothing here that feels original. These are just a Time-Lord-traveling-with-a-companion-and-solving-wrongs-that-are-discovered. I was hoping for something a bit different.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 3 out of 5]

STOLEN GOODS by Matt Fitton
★★★☆☆

A light, slightly pantomimish story that (thankfully) entails a measure of misdirection. All told, a decent introduction to the Doctor’s daughter in audio form (although it’s hard not to do Big Finish an injustice and retrofit Georgia Tennant as channelling Jodie Whittaker).


PRISONER OF THE OOD by John Dorney
★★★★☆

John Dorney is perhaps the best of Big Finish’s regular writers. Prisoner of the Ood has a conspicuous Doctor Who vibe (Russell T Davies era) and an intelligent script, showcasing Georgia Tennant while using Jenny’s character newness to camouflage its in-premise artifice.


NEON REIGN by Christian Brassington
★★☆☆☆

Trite premise, clumsy exposition, heavy-handed on the agenda. The saving grace here is the characterisation of Jenny (who’s inherited some of the Tenth Doctor’s traits) and her companion Noah (who carries himself with a naïve sangfroid that curiously echoes Paul McGann’s Eighth).


ZERO SPACE by Adrian Poynton
★★★☆☆

There are some nice SF ideas serving as backdrop, but again the mandate seems to be characterisation. All well and good; however, the plot progression of Jenny and Noah arriving, delivering an uplifting pep talk, then running away is already wearing thin.

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Des épisodes très différents les uns des autres donc je passerais à travers individuellement avant de revenir sur l'ensemble.

Stolen Goods par Matt Mitton
Pas un épisode extraordinaire en ce sens qu'on place les différents personnages:
Jenny, reprise quelques temps après où on l'a laissé et poursuivie par une chasseuse de prime cyborg, COLT-5000 (qu'on découvre comme antagoniste de l'épisode aussi)
Noah, un espèce de personnage miroir de Jenny qui n'a aucune idée de qui il est (et ça deviendra probablement un des motifs de la série, j'imagine même au-delà de ce boîtier de quatre épisodes)
et Garundel, apparemment un personnage qui est apparu dans deux autres audio de Big Finish et qui représente parfaitement cette idée d'un fonctionnaire malhonnête qui arnaque les gens
L'épisode passe son temps à faire échapper les personnages des antagonistes, d'abord Garundel puis COLT-5000 et c'est à peu près la seule chose qui se passe.

Prisoner of the Ood par John Dorney
Un bon épisode! Drôle, plein d'action, pas prévisible (en tout cas pour moi), des personnages mémorables, une belle exploitation du personnage des Oods, bref, un bon épisode! Il n'explore pas du tout les personnages de Jenny et et Noah, mais laisse entendre plusieurs autres aventures et laisse vraiment la place à la situation et les autres personnages.

Neon Reign par Christian Brassington
Ça aurait pu être un bon épisode qui se situe dans un régime totalitaire où les femmes sont obligées de travailler doublement pour fournir des drogues à leur mari/père qui restent oisifs.
Jenny et Noah arrivent sur la planète et évidemment renverse la situation, etc. etc.
Les allusions au Wizard of Oz sont cependant non seulement trop nombreuses et ruinent l'intrigue, mais déjà sur-utilisé dans la culture populaire. Le scénariste dit, dans les notes d'épisode, vouloir évoquer une atmosphère à la Blade Runner, mais à part des personnages dans UN référent culturel asiatique (le dragon) et peut-être une certaine idée d'un shogunnat, je ne vois pas du tout le rapport avec Blade Runner sérieusement, on est plus dans les clichés asiatiques qu'autres choses.
Finalement, s'il voulait faire un espèce d'épisode féministe, à la Handmaid's Tale ou quelque chose du genre, on aura vu beaucoup mieux. L'épisode précédent aussi avait un « gender reveal » que le genre du personnage n'était pas le même que celui présumé, deux fois de suite, ça devient lourd et on dirait de l'écriture paresseuse à ce point. Le désir de la « méchante » d'être un homme pour bénéficier des privilèges mâles et le fait qu'elle ne soit même pas aussi bonne que son père en dit plus long sur la pensée du scénariste que ses observations sociales qu'il peut croire fine. Bref, un scénario extrêmement prétentieux qui n'est même pas capable d'être original ou de transmettre les messages qu'il veut transmettre. Le genre de scénario qui se veut féministe, mais dont l'auteur n'a pas la moindre idée de ce dont il parle. Trop prévisible et aussi trop de deux ex machina (notamment avec le «Elder One»...) sans compter le happy ending hyper forcé où deux personnages complètement antagonistes se supportent les unes les autres comme ça, un peu sans raison suffisante. Heureusement que le jeu d'actrice rendait le tout potable.

Zero Space par Adrian Poynton
Un bel épisode qui arrive non seulement à être complet en lui-même, donner une impression de fin (pas nécessairement à la série toutefois) et réussir à expliquer et sa trame narrative et sa situation spatio-temporelle à la fois : rien n'est laissé au hasard, mais rien ne vient gâcher l'intrigue non plus, on n'a pas de deus ex machina bien qu'on a des rebondissements inattendues (ce qui est une bonne chose!). Une belle exploration de contraste entre la vie d'action et celles des scientifiques, mais aussi un contraste dans la propre vie des scientifiques entre leur recherche de savoir et leur propre spiritualité. Le tout est définitivement bien ficelé et organisé et donne un très bon épisode digne de terminer la première série!

L'espèce de postface du dernier épisode est vraiment là pour plaire au fan. Et ça marche clairement :p, je n'en dirais pas plus.

La série a du potentiel, à l'exception donc de l'épisode de Brassington que je n'ai pas aimé et le premier épisode qui ne faisait qu'introduire les personnages, les deux autres épisodes ont montré qu'ils pouvaient être intéressants et plein de rebondissements. On n'a cependant pas vu énormément d'évolution des personnages, encore moins de réponses à leurs questions (le lieu commun de l'amnésique a beau ne pas être original, il peut être intéressant, mais là, on n'a jamais eu de réponses à nos questions ce qui est plus frustrant qu'autres choses). Les personnages restent toutefois attachant, un peu mémorable et j'hésite encore à voir si j'achèterais une deuxième série ou non, tout dépendra, je crois, cette fois-ci, des scénaristes. S'il pouvait y avoir au moins une femme (sur 4 scénaristes), peut-être est-ce qu'à défaut d'être féministe, j'aurais une motivation supplémentaire à écouter une série autrement qu'écrite par des hommes sur une femme.

La chanson thème de Jenny ressemble étrangement à un mélange rock’n’roll de la chanson thème du Dixième Docteur et de Stargate. Dès le deuxième épisode audio, je n'étais plus capable de l'ôter de ma tête. Réussi. Le 4ème DC recueille aussi toutes les musiques utilisées durant la série.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oft-asked question on Doctor Who fan forums is ‘what happened to Jenny after the events of The Doctor’s Daughter?’. If anything, then, the surprise is that it took Big Finish so long to come up with an answer, in the form of this collection of four hour-long episodes. Some of the stories are good, and others merely middling, but if what you want is a chirpy, kick-ass female version of the Tenth Doctor, then this is absolutely for you.

• Stolen Goods – The first story doesn’t follow on directly from the end of the TV episode, although it’s implied to take place not long after it. It sees Jenny meet Garundel, an amphibian-like alien villain who once appeared in a 7th Doctor audio. That was set around 5,000 years before this, but there’s no attempt to explain the discrepancy, so we’re probably not supposed to notice it. Leaving that minor point aside, the tone of the story feels upbeat, as if the stars are finding it all a bit too much fun to take seriously. Indeed, given Garundel ‘s camp American accent, this might be intended as a bit of a comedy, although, if so, it’s not a particularly successful one. It also, of course, has to set up the plot arc for the box set, with Jenny meeting a mysterious young man – who goes on to take the ‘companion’ role, but is still a bit of a blank at this point – and being chased by a killer cyborg. This may all be going somewhere, but the episode taken on its own merit doesn’t gel yet. 3 stars.

• Prisoner of the Ood – The second story is the strongest to my mind, although it too starts out with a light tone that’s at odds with the subject matter. Having acquired the secrets of time travel (something of a necessity in a DW spin-off like this), Jenny arrives in a suburban street on present-day Earth and soon discovers that it’s sealed off from the outside world. As the title indicates, the Ood feature as the ‘monster’ in this one, although their behaviour suggests that they are being controlled by a sinister psychic force, as was the case in their original TV appearance. Unravelling what that might be is the central mystery here, and the tension does eventually ratchet up as the death toll starts to mount. The result is a decent monster story, featuring iconic aliens from the modern show. 4 stars.

• Neon Reign – Jenny and Noah arrive on a colony planet where women do all the work and men laze about doing drugs all day. That aside, the world as described has a distinctly Chinese feel to it (Jenny is apparently the only blonde on the planet), which makes a change from everything being European… but, while the actors are East Asian, the writer isn’t and it may play too heavily on the stereotypes. Where the previous story is a base-under-siege, here we’re in the revolution-against-a-corrupt regime trope that was, perhaps more common in the classic TV show than in the modern one. We get to see a bit more of Noah, but the focus remains on Jenny, clearly falling into the Doctor role but more willing to punch people than he has typically been. It’s explicitly feminist, where the other stories in the collection are more implicitly so, and one could argue that it’s all a bit of a blunt tool, but it’s a decent example of its type. 4 stars.

• Zero Space – In the final story, Jenny arrives at a space station where she finally has a chance to work out who or what Noah is. We, the listeners, unfortunately don’t get to learn the answer to that, and the hints that have been dropped so far don’t go anywhere – something that might have been less of an issue had there been any sign of a sequel to this volume, which, three years on, there isn’t yet. This soon turns into another base-under-siege as the villain for the arc turns up and starts chasing the heroes. There are some speeches about individuality, drawing on Jenny’s own origin as a clone of the Doctor, and a number of other typical tropes of the TV series, but nothing that really marks this story out as special. 3.5 stars.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a long time, I wondered whether it was a mistake to have Jenny revived at the end of "The Doctor's Daughter" since she never appeared on the show again. Thankfully, Big Finish breathed more life into her story. I love this audio anthology's rendition of the Doctor Who theme. It's really rocking. "Stolen Goods" sets the tone as she goes on adventures and gains a companion in the form of Noah, who seems newer to everything than she is, which makes for a compelling dynamic. And apparently, the salamander-ish character Garundel had previously appeared in a couple of Seventh Doctor audios. "Prisoner of the Ood" is my least favorite of the bunch, but it was still entertaining. "Neon Reign" has a Wizard of Oz parallel, which might feel overused to some, but it was still very enjoyable. And then "Zero Space" had some interesting stuff to say about clones. I did think it was rather frustrating how, at the end, we get a cameo from the Tenth Doctor, who has just missed Jenny while traveling. It seems as if they're destined to never meet again.

[TheSmilingDragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This box set contains four stories starring Georgia Tennant as the Doctor's daughter Jenny from series four of Doctor Who (not to be confused with season four from the original run of the show).

1. Stolen Goods by Matt Fitton ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This sets up the series well with an interesting plot involving the toad like alien Garundel, from previous Big Finish audio dramas. It also introduces Noah, who acts as jenny's companion for the series and Colt-5000 the main antagonist.

2. Prisoner of the Ood by John Dorney ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The second story of the set involves the Ood in the suburban setting in the U.K. This one starts a little differently, leaving the listener a unsure as to what is happening which was fun and it was good to hear the Ood back. I did work some of the main plot points as the story when on though, but it was still an interesting concept.

3. Neon Reign by Christian Brassington ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jenny and Noah find themselves stranded on the planet Kamshassa, a planet ruled by and oppressive regime. This was another good story that added to the characters and teased Noah's backstory. I also appreciated how this one includes references to the first series of "The Diary of River Song" and I'm glad that I listened to that before this set, although it isn't necessary to do so.

4. Zero Space by Adrian Poynton ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The final story takes place on a research station in an unusual area of space. I liked this on for it's intriguing setting and concepts. It the series with the promise of more adventures which is a good thing as there still questions to be answered regarding the main characters.

Overall this was a success for me and I am keen to see where the writers take the characters from here.

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny is flying around the universe seeing what there is to see. Along the way she gets a companion named Noah who is trying to find out who he is. They have a angry woman chasing them. Very good adventures.

[Amanda Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Georgia Tennant and Sean Biggerstaff were amazing, all four stories were super engaging. It had everything, character development, feminism, a genuinely funny Schrodinger joke, and enough mystery that I absolutely want a second batch with Jenny and Noah

[Beth Wangler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume was incredible. Jenny is delightfully naive while also being fantastically clever. I loved the multiple mysteries, and am excited to see more of them resolved in the future. The twist at the end made me grin.

[Ellen Schoener · Rating 4 out of 5]

In one word- FUN.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this boxset so much ♡

[Joseph S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I waited on this not sure why. It's fabulous, truly.

[Michael Otto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great adventures in audio form Jenny, Doctor Who's daughter

[Idamus]

I got Stolen Goods as a lockdown freebie, 3 stars.
Will definitely get the whole thing at some point.

[Luiz Santiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

4

[Charles Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of four stories featuring Jenny (Georgia Tennant), the Doctor's daughter. Along the way she meets interesting aliens and gets into hilarious hijinks. Fun set.

[Gabby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stolen Goods 2
Prisoner of the Ood 3.5
Neon Reign 2.5
Zero Space 4

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stolen Goods - 4*
Prisoner of the Ood - 4*
Neon Reign (cw: transphobia, sexism, sinophobia, racism, addiction, anti-communism, fat shaming) - 4*
Zero Space - 4*

[Jonathan Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 5 disk set containing 4 stories and behind the scenes disk are very well done and I would welcome a second series. Highly recommended for everyone who loves The Doctor