FDA Lost Stories- The Valley of Death

[brandynigma]

The Valley of Death

A century after his Great-Grandfather Cornelius vanished in the Amazon rainforest, Edward Perkins is journeying to the depths of the jungle to find out what became of his ancestor’s lost expedition. Intrigued by what appears to be a description of a crashed spacecraft in the diaries of that first voyage, the Doctor and Leela join him on his quest. But when their plane runs into trouble and ends up crash landing, everyone gets more than they bargained for.

The jungle is filled with giant creatures and angry tribesmen, all ready to attack. But in the famed lost city of the Maygor tribe, something far, far worse is lurking. Something with an offer to make to mankind. Who are the Lurons and can they be trusted? Will the Doctor defeat the plans of the malevolent Godrin or will he become just another victim of the legendary Valley of Death?

This story takes place between Horror of Fang Rock and The Invisible Enemy.

[brandynigma]

A great fun romp, and surprising from Hinchcliffe. The tone and storyline are a great marrying of his and Williams' approach the series, blending literary and film references effectively.

It loses a point only for its relative shallowness in comparison to The Foe from the Future- but if you love the work of Bob Baker and Dave Martin as I do, you'll enjoy this!

[kevinwho]

It just about sounds like both these stories might be worth a listen. Guess I'll find out -- my set arrived yesterday.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Once again Brendan we seem to be in agreement. A fun story, all the more so for being rather bonkers and simpler to follow than Foe was.

[SiHart]

Very enjoyable load of cliched old nonsense, but cliched old nonsense done with such panache!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I think this has been the most fun of the Tom plays released to date.

[Rob McCow]

Yes, the cliches just kept on coming but it was brilliant. The script was witty, the acting was great, the villains were delicious and it all rattled along at a fun old pace. It was also way, way too expensive for any season of Doctor Who, possibly right up to the present day.

Some Spoilers...

I liked the way it was divided into two halves, with the 'Valley Of Death' taking up part one and the 'Friendly-Aliens-Are-Actually-Evil' plot fillng the second disc.

The run down of Saturday night TV in the 70's before the BBC Broadcast was tremendously cheeky!

Little detail - I liked Leela using the characters' full names throughout.

The science behind the Luron Sun was all kinds of silly, but it hardly seemed to matter.

Overall - great stuff.

[Junkyard]

Lots of fun, silly plot but wonderfully performed by the cast.