Review of The Marian Conspiracy (#6)
Big Finish Release Date: March 2000
Doctor/Companion: Six and Evelyn Smythe
Stars: Colin Baker and Maggie Stables
Preceding Story: The Fearmonger (Seven, Ace)
Succeeding Story: The Genocide Machine (Seven, Ace)

Apparently I just needed to start in the right spot.

After my last experience with a Big Finish audio adventure, I was a little reluctant to dip my toe back into the pool. Although previous forays had been enjoyable, I didn’t get as much out of my first Sixth Doctor story as I’d hoped. (Actually, it was only the first full-length one; I’ve heard a couple of shorts in which Six teams up with Jago & Litefoot.) I wanted to be as enthusiastic about Six’s adventures as I’d been about Eight’s, but something just didn’t quite click.

Good thing I persevered.

Having come into the middle of Evelyn’s travels with the Doctor in The Apocalypse Element, I didn’t quite “get” their relationship. Starting at its beginning, though, I was immediately charmed by Evelyn’s manner with him, and her refusal to take any of his shit. As a 55-year-old woman, she’s well established in her life as a history professor and knows her own mind. She has no need to feel in awe of him, as so many of his (especially younger) Companions have initially been. The more mature give and take between them makes for a refreshing change of pace—not least because it shows him not to be the brusque boor he often was in the televised stories.

The particular shape of their initial adventure together didn’t hurt matters, either. When the Doctor discovers that Evelyn herself is at the temporal nexus he’s been tracking, leading to some Back to the Future-style fading from existence, and realizes he needs to head back to Tudor England to unravel the puzzle, she invites herself along for the ride. After all, how can a historian resist a trip in a time machine?

Of course, nothing goes quite to plan. The Doctor heads to court to speak with the Queen while Evelyn tries an “everyman” approach in a local pub. Neither of them is prepared for the reception they get.

Because British history hasn’t been thoroughly pounded into my brain, I enjoy learning a bit more about it through stories such as this one, twisted though the history may be. (Look at me; I’m the original target market!) For instance, the back-and-forth of the legalities of Catholicism and Protestantism in the 16th century had not made it onto my mental radar. The addition of a genealogical twist tickles my fancy even further, lending the adventure a bit of the thrill of discovery I’ve so often had researching my own family history.

It’s also delightful to watch (or hear, as the case may be) a confident, modern woman—a historian, at that—step into the past and blunder about with anachronisms without a second thought. Cringe though we veterans might, the sheer innocence and heedlessness of Evelyn’s actions endear her to me all the more.

The overall plot had several predictable twists, which made it easy for an audio-obtuse fan like me to follow. The characterizations of the two leads are the best part, though. Evelyn is gloriously straightforward, the Doctor is self-assured yet thoughtful of others, and the snark between them is excellent. And even with so short an association, the Doctor clearly cares for Evelyn, as he caves into her blandishments with very little resistance.

Perhaps most striking to me as I listened now, though, is the through-line in the Doctor’s life that has cropped up in spades nearly fifteen years later. While Twelve spent most of Series Eight asking himself, “Am I a good man?”, Six shows us it’s not a new question. “If you do what you firmly believe is good and right,” he asks the Queen’s handmaiden, “however much it hurts you or others and no matter what happens as a consequence, does what’s in your hearts—heart make you a good person?”

I don’t have an answer for the Doctor, but I do have a verdict for you. This is a truly enjoyable adventure. Do yourself a favor and start here.