On the jungle planet Garros, Earth Forces Knight Commander-in-Chief Greg Saraton and his team are hunting gigantic beasts, for sport. When the Doctor and Leela arrive, they are caught up in a web of intrigue where there is no clear friend or foe. What is Saraton’s vital connection with Earth’s Solar System’s Defence Shield? Why are the giant reptilian birds of Garros attacking? What terrible secret lurks deep within the trees? Before the truth can be revealed, a heavy price will be extracted and loyalties will be tested to the limit.
It won’t be too much of a shock to learn that the Zygons feature in this story, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the villains of the piece.
Nick Briggs has crafted a really enjoyable story here, the basic premise makes it seem like the Zygons are continuing in their original intention of taking over the Earth by their usual techniques of subterfuge and force but this story is very carefully layered so that it soon becomes obvious that things aren’t quite as simple as that.
The story works particularly well because Briggs has brought together an excellent group of characters all of whom, barring the Doctor and Leela, at first appear to be quite one dimensional and easily understood but it very quickly becomes clear that there is a lot more to them than it initially appears; Forces Knight Commander-in-Chief Greg Saraton, as played by Michael Maloney, at first comes across as a quite stereotypical one dimensional military buffoon and even though he never becomes likeable it soon becomes obvious there is more to him than there first appears.
The idea of hidden layers seems strangely in keeping for a Zygon story and like those classic monsters there is much in this story that is not how it first seems.
For a story with so many twists and turns and changes of character, quite literally in some cases, it is a wonderfully clear, easy to follow story; this is partly down to the clever, fast paced script that Nick Briggs has produced and partly down to the excellent performances he has elicited from his cast. All the cast excel themselves with this story giving polished performances that helps the script gallop along at a fair old rate, yet for all its pace it doesn’t feel at all forced and at no point does it feel like part of the story has been missed out.
The sound design on this story is superb with all the Zygon effects sounding exactly as they did in The Terror of the Zygons, and the Zygon actors using the same vocal effect and speech patterns as in that story which made it very easy to see them as the creatures they portrayed.
Tom Baker and Louise Jameson are once more in fine form and make a fantastic partnership, Tom’s dialogue is once again very good and it is very easy to imagine him as he was during the Graham Williams era of the show.
I have enjoyed the Fourth Doctor series of adventures as a whole and think that this is a great addition to the range that can be enjoyed as part of the ongoing series or as a stand-alone story in its own right.
Written By: Nicholas Briggs
Directed By: Nicholas Briggs
Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela), Michael Maloney (Gregor Saraton), Gillian Kearney (Mina Challis), James George (Knight Commander Elunas), Steven Alexander (Knight Commander Ollerie), Nicholas Briggs (Baragor/Zygons/Knights)
Zygon Hunt is available now from BigFinish.com and via the Amazon link below.
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