Well, I couldn't be doing to listening to the thing piecemeal, so I saved all the parts up and listened to it it one go. It did feel more cohesive that way - you could probably have chopped some of the themetunes out and made it feel not unlike a four parter.(Or possibly a three parter based around the three narrators.) The three distinct chunks actually have rather different atmospheres, so I'll take them one by one.
Polly's story begins affairs with a fairly smart set up. Jo 'Jones' has been blogging about her time with the Doctor, and this has alerted Polly to the existence of the Brig, who she's emailed in the hopes of hearing about other friends of the Doctor. The two fall into a correspondence, and the narration takes the form of the emails. The first part is quite a pleasant affair, with Polly and the Brig getting to know one another, and mostly just handles their meeting, without going into the plot. From the second part onwards, though, the tale kicks in. It's not an utterly thrilling affair; amiable enough but very much unremarkable. Some of the backgrounding contains points of interest though - it's quite a nice portrayal of the lifecycle of a planet used as a resource. The empty streets and homogenous tower blocks provide an image that was immediately realised in my head in full 1960s black and white. Still, it's not entirely compelling stuff.For her part, Anneke Wills reads and acts well. She's also got Troughton's mannerisms down well, if not his tone of voice (and she benefits from good writing of him by Platt). Her voice for Ben is a little brash, but it's not a big deal, as Ben and Jamie are given very little actual coverage. They rather play gooseberry to the plot.
The Brig's story is a much more intriguing state of affairs. We're immediately whisked away by mysterious signals to a bizarre imitation-Waterloo. Platt piles on the peculiar with endless looping people, a Polly simulacrum (which starts to give things a more satsifying feel of building to something more), and a train to World's End. I found myself rather more involved with this part and its smorgasbord of the weird and mysterious.
It's not without its flaws, though. The story is still pretty lightweight as a result of its running time, and the email conceit has broken down completely by now as well. Unfortunately, rather than drop it completely, it's maintained in such a halfhearted way it becomes incredibly distracting and makes no sense at all.
I've not heard his other Companion Chronicles, but I believe Courtney has always provided the supporting voice. On the strength of this one, I think he's definitely better suited to that than leading the narration. In the moments closer to drama, he's as good as ever, but in the more narrative segments his voice can become quite staid, and his rendition of Pertwee is rather nondescript.
Finally we get Brewster's story, designed to tie everything together. Which it does, more or less, but it's not entirely satisfying. Instead of the revelatory 'Ohh!' you might hope for, it's more of a deflated 'Oh.' Ultimately Brewster's story turns into a sort of 'Predator' esque sci-fi showdown between the 'Hunter' and a big monster. Nothing wrong with a big monster showdown if you want that sort of B-Movie vibe, but it didn't actually involve any of the titular Three Companions in any significant way, which seems silly. There's also an enormous explosion at the end which seems to come out of nowhere.
I'm not hugely keen on Brewster. It seems no one knows quite how to characterise him. Sometimes he verges on villainy, other times he's a complete angel, sometimes he's tragic and misguided, other times wilfully defiant. It almost seems like he's supposed to be 'a good boy really' who slips up because of his upbringing. The problem is his slip-ups are really beyond what can simply be brushed under the carpet. In the main range the Doctor actually seemed to realise this and wanted to give him a talking to, but Nyssa persuades him it's not neccesary. Thing is - it really was. As it is he's being treated in a manner inconsistent with his actions, which makes it seem like the writers' view of him is similarly inconsistent.
One thing you have to say for John Pickard: He's not short on enthusiasm. He plays Brewster in such lively fashion he never sounds like he's bored or reading a script. Sometimes he carries this a bit far though - he's so enthusiastic Brewster seems to be perpetually excited, and there's little hint of any emotional depth. We never hear any fear, regret, or other emotions underlying his character. I'm also not keen on the Oliver Twist mockney accent, but I figure that Oliver vibe is what they were after, so fair enough.
Russel Floyd is quite enjoyable as the scoundrel Gerry Lenz, who is actually a credibly rounded villain, with some (small) redeeming facets. However he does seem to suffer the same problem as Brewster: Nobody really seems concerned about holding him to account for wreaking mass devestation on the world.
On the whole it's an interesting curio. A partially succesful experiment, which, if Big Finish listen to feedback, could be done again with real potential. There's some beautiful imagery and turns of phrase which keep things going when the plot starts to lag. On the other hand, it's not really something I'm compelled to listen to again. If it had all maintained the level of the Brigadier's story I might have, though, so I don't think it, nor the format, is a write-off. It's actually quite hard to assign it an objective value, the Brig's story being that much more engaging than the rest. So, take this with a pinch of salt, but for completeness, sake, I'll give it a 5/10.
Image property of Big Finish Productions.
Is there some kind of conspiracy around Gerry Lenz??? I can find not one word written on him, full stop, about where he fits into the cannon. He's supposed to be an old rival of the Dr's, but we never get background info, not even in interviews, continuity guides, etc.
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