Frostfire

In Carthage in 1164 BC, years after she has left the TARDIS, Vicki is enjoying her life with Troilus as much as she can. Oh she's happy enough with him but every now and again she sounds a bit remorseful, as if she hadn't thought it through properly and reality only came after she saw the ship leave the burning of Troy. Now she pays a visit to someone and tells of an adventure she had before coming to Troy, and adventure which took her to London in 1814 at the time of the frost fair on the river Thames. Together with the Doctor and Steven she met Jane Austen and an alien from another world which used the cold to spread its influence and power.

This was actually the very first Companion Chronicle ever made and with a Marc Platt script they made the right choice to get things going. This is actually the way I prefer to hear them told, giving us not only a glimpse of a take we did not see but also showing us where the companions are now that they have moved on. The Ian Chesterton set did a fantastic job in that respect, and the current set of Vicki based adventures (only three right now) may do the same, although I have not enjoyed the others yet. Soon. The story is simple enough though, with an alien menace in Regency London, but exactly how it connects to Vicki's "present" in 1164 BC is what makes the story that much more interesting. There's no obvious continuity collisions with this story and any others in the period it's set in; if it were a standalone tale I'd say it would be just as at home between Galaxy Four and The Myth Makers as it is here told in retrospect.

Jane Austen is a puzzling choice for this one, but not a bad one in the end. Marc Platt must be a fan, as he could have just as easily made up a period character to mix with the TARDIS crew although Ms Austen's social standing makes it easy for Vicki, the Doctor and Steven to mix with the right crowd to stay close to a mysterious alien egg that has aroused interest at the fair. And while Steven is beeing oohed and ahhed over by the ladies of the time, the Doctor manages to take a successful turn on the dance floor.

Thematically there's this mention of the cold that would not go, and it's much akin to the creeping cold of the Time and Relative novel, not to mention the 2012 Christmas episode The Snowmen. Seems winter can be just as evil as autumn; that will be back as a theme in later episodes of course.

NEXT EPISODE: STARBORN