Doctor Who: The Sons of Kaldor

When I reviewed the only previous Big Finish release to feature the Kaldor robots, Robophobia, I commented that there isn't much you can do with them beyond having them apparently start killing people. Indeed, that particular story was basically a twist on the classic TV story The Robots of Death albeit one that was well done. Well, with this release, Andrew Smith has found that other thing for them to do, and it opens up possibilities beyond this particular story. If you want to see the robots as more than faux monsters, this one is for you.

The story opens with the Doctor and Leela arriving on a powered-down airship only to discover that it is crewed by robots, directionless without their human supervision. The first half is a mystery as the Doctor tries to uncover what has happened but it turns out that there is something outside trying to get in and, once it does, the story becomes more action-oriented as we also discover that there have been some significant changes on Kaldor since we last saw it.

If there's a flaw, it's that the story ends still leaving one wanting to know “what happens next”. The Doctor, of course, leaves as soon as the initial crisis is resolved but it's clear that the future of Kaldor hangs in an uncertain balance. Normally, I'd put this down to the ideas being too big to fully explore in a 60-minute audio, necessarily leaving some questions unanswered. But I can't help noticing that the robots return again in a BF release later in the year, which leads into an entire 12-episode spin-off series. Assuming that there's a connection (and I'd be surprised if there isn't), this can be more accurately be seen as a teaser or prequel episode setting up events for later.

And, taken in that way, the flaw becomes a strength.