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Recap / Big Finish Doctor Who NEDAS 3 E 3 The Beast Of Orlok

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Lucie and the Eighth Doctor end up in the Black Forest of Germany, 1827. Pretty much immediately, they stumble on an adventure that's a seamless mix of The Brothers Grimm, Faust, Nosferatu, Frankenstein, The Golem and Superman.

Two siblings named Hans and Grete are reunited when Hans comes home from university for a bit. While Hans gets involved in some local monster attacks, Grete decides to go check out the local travelling mystic. They both find out that they're alien Golems (illegal soldier drones), and that they're prototypes for a new race of them that can feel, think, learn and adapt.

The Doctor makes a requisite Heroic Sacrifice, Lucie and the TARDIS save him, and they're all rewarded with delicious Black Forest cake.


Tropes

  • Aristocrats Are Evil: The original Baron Teufel was the Beast of Orlok.
  • Artificial Human: Hans and Grete.
  • Boy of the Week: Hans and Lucie have a rather flirtatious relationship, leading up to what sounds an awful lot like a kiss at the end. But then she's got to hit the road with the Doctor.
  • Deadpan Snarker: As usual, Eight turns into one when he's in a Death Trap, to the point where it's starting to sound like a coping mechanism.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: Unintentionally — Lucie gets mistaken for a Golem because her escape from the castle left her Covered in Mud.
  • Eye Scream: What Todd did to Teufel using a burning branch when he tried to take Hans and Grete. The fact Baron Teufel sees Lucie causes her to realise he's an imposter.
  • Fortune Teller: Judah pretends to be one, for purposes that seem more nefarious than they really are.
  • Golem
  • Happily Adopted: Hans and Grete.
  • Historical In-Joke: Lucie ends up advising Frau Tod to patent her old family recipe for what becomes known as Black Forest gateau.
  • Mad Scientist Laboratory: The Doctor is quite impressed by the secret basement laboratory in the old castle, complete with en-suite bubbling tar pit.
  • Mama Bear: Frau Tod, hardcore. She's willing to kill people to protect her adopted children.
  • Meaningful Name: Everyone. "Tod" means "death", "Hans" and "Grete" are the regular forms of "Hansel" and "Gretel" (which are cutesy versions), "Orlok" is the eponymous Nosferatu, "Teufel" means "devil", and "Lugner" is a misspelling of "Lügner", meaning "liar". "Judah", the man who takes care of the Golems, evokes "Jude", meaning "jew".
  • Muggle Foster Parents: Frau Tod to Hans and Grete.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: The Doctor jokes to Lucie that the TARDIS has a big red Doctor-homing button. When he's crushed underneath a building, Lucie actually finds that button, although it's in fact green and a lever. It's very possible that the TARDIS grew it by herself on the spot, just to save her Doctor.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Paul McGann makes one valiant attempt at pronouncing "Schwarzwald", but after that, all German words and names are pronounced the British way by everyone.
  • "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Or not. Kind of, but not really.
  • Sherlock Scan: The Doctor quickly deduces that they're in the late 1820s just from the type of pistol Hans is using and the fact that he didn't know what a meteorite was even though he's clearly an intelligent and well-educated young man.
  • Spot the Impostor: Todd realises that 'Baron Teufel' is an impostor when Lucie mentions the way the Baron looked at her because Todd blinded the real Baron.
  • Super-Soldier: Golems.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: Hans and Grete discover that they're a new kind of sentient Golems.

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