It has been over a year since Big Finish’s first series of The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures began, and yet the second half of the 12-episode run has only just begun. Marking the halfway point was Aegis (followed up by The Hallamshire Incident last month), and it’s been an unusual release schedule given the new Twelfth Doctor Adventures has landed with six episodes in swift succession.

The wait was made even longer by Big Finish’s technical issues over the summer that impacted access to its app and website.

It is revealed in the behind-the-scenes interviews for Aegis that this was a banked story idea that was expanded so it could become the arc-carrying series mid-point, and it arguably suffers due to that. But equally, it needed resolving sooner rather than later.

How it came to life as a production manifests in its story potential when listened to, with a great concept and character work for Yasmin Khan (played by Mandip Gill) which eventually has to make way for wrapping up the information teased from the preceding episodes. Gill is the star performer, and it makes sense since the script’s scenes of her being possessed with an ‘evil’ thing were an ambition of hers to perform in the companion role. In fact, most of the creative decisions in Aegis are made by women, and that does make a difference that is felt throughout.

The focus of the episode is the Aegis Protectorate interplanetary defence expo, which is noted in-story as a comic con for warmongers, and it is brought to life at first with the hallmarks of corporate optimism rather than a dark exploration of weapons trades.

This lighter tone carries throughout, and makes Aegis firmly sit as a story that could be enjoyed by very young audience members. The Thirteenth Doctor is bubbly throughout, open to admitting a frequent lack of confidence, while putting an onus on trust.

She is kept apart from Yaz for much of the runtime, with Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill’s lines recorded separately, and this becomes a Yaz-led story through both the action and Gill’s excellent acting. Whittaker’s is unfortunately lacking until late on, often too cheery given the serious tasks at hand for the Doctor.

Like the Fifteenth Doctor episode Boom, there are some great concepts about how wars will be fought by or with humans in the future. Aegis’s COO Athena is selling Trojans, robotic warriors controlled remotely by humans who get to fight from home or from what is basically a big body bank, and her new models look more like crabs than people.

After the Doctor and Yaz join an actual cohort of those fighting, which is one of the stronger scenes, the former then goes investigating to learn more about the Trojans. It can be interpreted in different ways regarding what it is achieving as contemporary commentary, whether that be virtual reality, children growing up playing immersive fighting games, or that the Iliad will always be relevant given the names and motivations of characters and corporations.

Due to the arc elements that need wrapping up, the focus switches to The Tourist, who appeared in earlier episode Ride or Die and has been teased elsewhere in this range. It inhabits Yaz, which enables the character to show off her confidence (trumping the Doctor), and join Athena’s actor Juliet Aubrey in hamming it up for fun.

If this were on television, you could have this plot in the foreground while the expo remains ever-present in the background. Instead, the focus on The Tourist almost feels like a detachment from Aegis until the character’s exact relationship with the corporation is explained. Ultimately, if you were not invested in who they were from previous episodes, this one won’t change that and particularly with its final scene.

The comedy characters are comedic, the female antagonist is ruthless, and The Tourist is played by Gill and non-binary actor Maddison Bulleyment. That was a conscious decision by writer Noga Flaishon, who is also the series producer so had the best understanding of the arc and how the character needed to be fully realised as a being usually without body or gender.

Finally, Joe Kramer’s score starts off very strongly, perfectly pitching the Aegis expo as an event that feels like a mix of Flash Gordon and Star Wars. There’s also ceremonial music, but in the story’s second half, it changes and is a contributing factor to the aura of this episode being targeted at young audiences.

Next up: Ice Warriors in Sheffield, as The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures powers ahead. Noga Flaishon acts as a producer here too, and she’s certainly got a good grasp of the characters, making Yaz in particular shine in Aegis.

The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Aegis is available now from Big Finish.