It is a sad day folks. Today I am reviewing the last in the first season of New EDA's. But fear not, I shall be back next week with the first story of season 2
Human Resources is a two part, 50 minutes a piece drama that closes the first series of the new EDA's and I have to say it ends on an absolute stormer. Here is the synopsis.
Lucie Miller's been headhunted to join the staff of Hulbert Logistics, a respectable blue-chip firm in Telford. Great prospects, competitive salary - you don't have to be mad to work here! But wasn't she made for better things, like travelling by TARDIS through time and space? The Doctor, meanwhile, has been fired - into a confrontation with the most terrifying of enemies...After Lucie's kidnapping at the end of the last serial, the Doctor is given a time ring by the Time Lords in order to aid her rescue and sets in motion his mission. Lucie meanwhile, wakes for her first day of work believing that her travels in time and space were just a dream. The Doctor manages to find her and restore her memories fully, making her realise it was all real and this is the job she would have had if she hadnt been taken out of time in the first audio story. Lucie and another employee manage to get themselves fired while the Doctor is off investigating and it is revealed that the office is actually inside a giant war machine (no not one of those) on another planet. The Doctor finds a corridor in the human resources department that crosses dimensions and leads to an office back on earth. When he is found by the manager, he is assumed as a customer and taken off to a conference where the business is revealed as a type of extermination company. The Doctor, thinking that the business is evil and corrupt sabotages the defence systems of the conference, but then discovers that the war machines are actually being used in the fight against the Cybermen, who then overrun the room. (end of part one)
When the manager of the company agrees to swap sides and work with the Cybermen, the Doctor realises that these are an earlier version of the Cybermen that he has ever encountered and they don't know who he is. Lucie meanwhile comes face to face with the Headhunter, who reveals that she was in fact emplyed by the manager of the company she was meant to be working for, but because she does not want to see the Cybermen take over she decides to help Lucie and the other employees. They manage to regain control of the office from the Cybermen who are planning to use the corridor in Human Resources as a way to invade Earth. When the Doctor and Lucie are once again teamed up, she shows him something in the office that she found which he says can be used to alter the future, with the holder of the device getting the best possible future. They go to the TARDIS to speak with another time lord who tells them that the war was in fact started by the Celestial Intervention Agency (The War Games, The Deadly Assassin) as a way to get rid of the Cybermen once and for all and that they believed Lucie would one day become a dictator who would be bad for the world and so altered her time lines with the object they found in the office. Lucie is upset about having her life messed with and runs off out of the TARDIS just before the Doctor works out that she has been confused with the employee who was sacked on the same day, who it turns out also would have had her interview on the same day. The Doctor manages to convince her of the mix up and gives the time manipulator thing to the Cybermen who are all killed when they try to use it (its a lot more complex than I am explaining, but this is getting long). The Time Lords send all of the employees back to their own time but the would be dictator decides she wants to work with the Headhunter and leaves with her. Lucie and the Doctor, meanwhile, head off for further adventures.
Ok, I know this is a bit long but this audio is seriously cram packed with action from start to finish. I had to leave loads out. It is probably the best of the first series and they really went all out with it. The cast are once again all fantastic and the script gives them plenty to work on. It is brilliantly written and paced and the time flies by with all the action. The appearance from the Cybermen is spot on and it was a nice touch making them pre-Telos and a great audio return for them in general. The cast this time included Roy Marsden (Mr Stoker, Smith and Jones) and Nicholas Briggs as the voices of the Cybermen.
Of all of the first series audios I have reviewed, if I had to tell you to pick one it would probably be this. You cant fail to be pulled into the story and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing along the way. This is one of those stories that would translate brilliantly to the screen and brings the first series to a close brilliantly.