Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles – The Guardian of the Solar System

 Welcome! We now take a look at the last part of the Sara Kingdom trilogy. The best was saved for last though~

Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles – The Guardian of the Solar System

Written by Simon Guerrier

Directed by Lisa Bowerman

Starring:

Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom

Niall MacGregor as Robert

In life we’re told we make our own destiny. We can forge our own path as long as we have the courage and strength to pull ourselves through anything, though one has to wonder if by trying to shape our own destiny, if we’re just falling into a spiral where destiny is simply a prearranged trap and you’re the helpless victim. The Doctor Who audio adventure The Guardian of the Solar System explores one woman’s attempt to change her destiny. This is the third and final part of the Sara Kingdom trilogy. Sara Kingdom’s arc is coming to a close and its final piece is unbelievably the strongest in the story arc.

Things have certainly turned around for Robert and Sara. Robert is now the caretaker for the house which Sara was once part of. He is the entity which will now live forever able to use the houses abilities to create whatever he wishes, but trapped within its walls. Sara has become once again human, now free to leave the house. Unfortunately for Sara a storm has come to the island where the house is located and she can’t currently leave the island. Returning to the house in which Robert now haunts as she did only a short while ago. One thing hasn’t changed about Sara’s predicament in the house, she still finds herself telling another story about her life to Robert, but this one is her defining moment of defeat. This final story has Sara returning to before the time she left with the Doctor, before everything went wrong with her life. Now Sara has a chance to prevent the tragedies of her own future and save her brother.

Sara's doomed brother Bret Vyon, played by the dearly missed Nicholas Courtney

While the whole of the Sara Kingdom arc has been quite a bit of characterization for our lovely Sara, The Guardian of the Solar System is perhaps the strongest in exploring Sara’s character and motives. Having Sara come face to face with the beginning of the events that caused the death of her brother at her own hands isn’t only a fascinating idea, but one that must be handled perfectly. Fear not though, what waits in this adventure is not only fantastic, but heart breaking. Sara faced with the chance to change everything for the better does what anyone would do, she jumps at the opportunity to set things right. Sara’s passion and struggle in an attempt to sway her brother’s and her self’s personal history leaves me feeling full of hope and excitement, despite knowing the end result. Just maybe though I can hope that Big Finish will now throw in an amazing plot twist I didn’t see coming and give Sara the justice she deserves.

It is in this hope that I find perhaps the second greatest joy of all within this audio, heartbreaking failure. Failure though can be a beautiful thing. Just because things don’t go right and disappointment sets in doesn’t mean a story flounders in the end. The wonderful thing about doing failure exquisitely is that it becomes a tragedy, and in a perfectly done tragedy do I find myself enjoying it significantly more than if everything came up sunshine and flowers. I can feel every current flow through myself as a smile forms on my face, savoring the hopelessness that is finally realized through perfect failure.  Sometimes by trying to set things right, you simply begin pushing things in the direction destiny had planned out for you. You are your own doom, and everything went as it should. Sara trying to save her brother from her own hands sets everything in motion for the moment she kills him. She didn’t just kill her brother; in trying to prevent her brother’s death she ends up putting herself right where she needed to be to murder him. Her brother was forever doomed the moment she tried to fix everything. If she had not done anything at all it would have been better, but she was already caught in time’s web.

Hearing Sara’s analysis and theories on Mavic Chen was also rather interesting. Here we have Sara with the man responsible for her whole horrible ordeal right in front of her. The problem is she’s uncertain of whether or not he’s even made the deal with the Daleks that sends things spiraling down. Perhaps she has the chance to prevent it all, to stop Chen and warn her brother. She realizes that Chen does have everyone’s best interest in mind, but somewhere it gets twisted along the way. Chen has this giant clock secretly tucked away that enables him to power earth’s hyperspace travel. The clock enslaves those within it though, forcing them to keep the clock operational. A question arises though, why would Chen later need the Daleks help with such a great tool at his disposal? The answer to that question relies heavily on Sara and what she does with the chance she believes she is given.

Mavic Chen

For most of the audio, until the end I felt that Robert’s current predicament took second fiddle to Sara’s story. Perhaps in a way though Robert’s story is now done. Once again Sara is given the chance to go back out there and shine. I’m not saying that Niall MacGregor does a bad job in this story. Quite the contrary, he does a wonderful job playing Robert who is now in control of the house. Perhaps the lack of attention to further development for him is a way of saying his story is over, he has saved his daughter and now is content to replace Sara as caretaker for the house. Where does this leave Sara though? Well, the answer to this may just be fan-boys like me wet dream.

I’d be lying if I said The Guardian of the Solar System wasn’t possibly my favorite Companion Chronicle, but it’s also one of my favorite Doctor Who adventures. I could listen to Jean Marsh spin me stories all day long, her voice is wonderful and she is a shining star in the Companion Chronicle range. In this final masterpiece I felt despair at the fact that sometimes you’re just a cog in the machine, destiny cannot be changed. Full circle effect is in place for Sara’s tale and the circle is closed beautifully. However, that very last scene left me with such hope that I dream of a continuation to this trilogy and wonder what places such a thing would take me. It is with a sad heart as I leave this trilogy, but I have hope for Sara’s future now. I also have some very fond memories now of my journey through this audio and I can say the whole trilogy is worth a few good re-listens.

Rating: 5 out  5