Torchwood: Red Base
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15
Ratings1
Average rating4
Mars is the next giant leap for mankind. Starr Base is the first small step. A practice Mars base has been set up in a quarry in Neath, just off the A474. Its aim is to see if humanity can survive on the red planet. The problem is that the crew are dying. The survivors are terrified, paranoid, and wondering if something alien has got inside Starr Base. Sgt Andy Davidson has come to find out what’s gone wrong.
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67 primary books71 released booksBig Finish Torchwood is a 71-book series with 67 primary works first released in 2015 with contributions by Guy Adams, David Llewellyn, and 26 others.
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Sgt Andy investigates a series of unexplained deaths at a simulated Mars base just off the A474. The result is part techno-thriller and part murder mystery, with more than a passing nod to 2001: A Space Oddessy. It's also, of course, a base under siege, although here without the usual connotations of alien invasion that we'd get in a Doctor Who story of that type.
Despite the base in question being in a fenced-off quarry near Neath, the story still has the sense of claustrophobia that being set on a real Mars base might have, but with the added frustration that the real world is just somewhere outside the door, yet apparently beyond reach. There's also a plausible sense of the crew cracking up under the strain, forced to be cooped up with another for a protracted period. Whether you'll like it will depend on what you expect; there are no sinister aliens here and, while the story is tense, it isn't regular horror, either.
It's a change of pace for Torchwood, keeping things mixed up with something that feels more like hard sci-fi, or even a detective story, than the usual offerings. For me at least, that's welcome once in a while, and this is a well-done story in that vein, keeping a serious tone despite the absurdity of the underlying situation.
