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More Doctor Who audio adventures
May. 1st, 2014 11:44 amThe Doctor Who/Beatles play having reawakened my appetite for Big Finish audios, I went on a minor downloading spree, with the result of listening to various excellent and one well intended but not altogether successful Doctor Who stories. As I generally like to end on a high note, I'll start with the later first.
The Council of Nicea: this is a Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem adventure as well as a pure historical (aside from the Doctor himself, there are no aliens around) reminiscent of the Hartnell era. The obvious comparison would be to The Aztecs, since the key plot issue is one of the Companions decides to change history. On the plus side, there are lot of aspects to admire about this audio: scriptwriter Caroline Symox (a theologian herself) manages to really get across how deeply and violently the religious doctrine debates went across the populace in this era where Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and just what the so-called Arian heresy consisted of in a way that's understandable if you've never heard about the big Athanasius versus Arius clash before. And it's another very strong outing for audio companion Erimem, whose difference of perspective to both Peri and the Doctor due her historical origin - Erimem is a pharaoh who never was from ancient Egypt - was used well in such audio adventures I've listened to as The Church and the Crown and The Kingmaker. For Erimem, the Council of Nicea takes place in her future, not her past, and so her asking the question of Barbara and Donna as to why they can't change events (when the Doctor can and does on other occasions) gains additional emphasis. (BTW there isn't really a good Watsonian answer to this, since the reason is so obviously Doylist.) The inter audio continuity of Erimem making a great organizer and leader is excellent, and the script makes a valiant effort of making the Emperor Constantine (yes, the in hoc signo vince guy) a shades of grey character (pure villainy is reserved for Athanasisus, who is presented as a scheming plotter willing to go over dead bodies, while Arius is presented as an ideal Christian standing by compassionate and pacifist beliefs).
However, on the downside: Since Erimem is no Christian, the script which needs to give her a reason to become an Arius partisan makes her side with Arius because she deems him, after just one brief encounter, an honorable man, but what got Arius into hot water and what was debated on the Council were his teachings about the nature of Christ, which Erimem has zero interest in. Her accusing Constantine of not listening to his people and of being a tyrant are staggeringly anachronistic and unlikely from a character coming from a culture where the kings were regarded as living gods. (Incidentally, I can't remember which dynasty Erimem is supposed to be from, but if it's post Akhenaten she would be familiar with the concept of heresy and more likely than not having a negative attitude towards the whole idea of monotheism.) And those are only my Watsonian level problems. Stepping outside of the story: there is a scene early on in which the Doctor explains to Peri and Erimem just why the Council of Nicea was such a turning point and mentions that the church became a political power under Constantine. Erimem asks how this is a good thing and why shouldn't it be changed, which is anachronistic for Erimem as an ancient Egyptian, see above, because religion most certainly WAS politicis in her culture and very much tied to the rulers. But it's still not a bad question, and it never gets answered beyond "then the entire history would change". Well, yes, obviously. But you can just as well argue Christianity becoming a state religion resulted in all the corruption of its ideals and abuse thereafter, and the audio doesn't give you a reason NOT to want history to be changed in this regard. Lastly, this is a story in which the Doctor is almost incidental, not effective or interesting; he keeps having the same "just listen to me "/"No" - dialogue with both Erimem and Constantine, and it's not clear why Constantine botheres to after the first round, since the Doctor does nothing impressive or clever to awaken his interest. (The Empress Fausta deems him a fascinating man when talking to Peri, and he can be, but he's just not in this story, which makes it a bad case of tell, not show.) (By contrast, The Aztecs may be primarily Barbara's story, but you can't say the Doctor is dull or redundant in it.)
In conclusion: interesting but frustrating, and ultimately not satisfying to me; your mileage may differ.
The Condemned: This is the first Sixth Doctor and Charley Pollard story and also a murder mystery in Manchester featuring a fabulous tough female Mancunian D.I. named Patricia Menzies who temporarily teams up with the Doctor. Charley, who spent several years as the Eighth Doctor's audio companion, finally parted ways with him in the audio "The Girl Who Never Was" , which I had listened to some years ago, and which had a cliffhanger ending in that the TARDIS arrives, Charley thinks it's the Doctor...and it is, but the wrong Doctor. This turns out to make for a great new dynamic, since Charley is basically in the River Song position of knowing the Doctor's future self while he doesn't know her and is not a little irritated (though also intrigued) by the fact there are obviously secrets she keeps from him, and that she acts as if she knows him. Also, the romantic angst between Eight and Charley that was in their later stories is gone which is a relief. That said, the majority of interaction actually happens between the Doctor and D.I. Menzies on the one hand, and Charley & other guest characters on the other. I'm told D.I. Patricia Menzies will be back, which is great, because she and the sixth Doctor make a great detective team, complete with lots of verbal sparring, and you almost wish for the Doctor to be stuck in Manchester for a while longer so they can solve some more cases together. In conclusion, this audio is a joy to listen to, works even if you are not familiar with Charley before (then you're in the Doctor's rather than Charley's pov re: her), and has lots of neat details to boot, like the Doctor getting to show off the fondness for cats that is at its peak in this particular regeneration.
The Word Lord: is the audio equivalent of a short story from a larger collection, written by Steven Hall, but can be downloaded individually and should be before listening to the adventure reviewed below, as it introduces the later's main antagonist. It's a Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex (more about him in a moment if you don't already know him, he's an audio only character) adventure; at a secret station in Antarctica, they run into a being from another dimension, Nobody No One, the Word Lord from the title, who is a renegade from his people is obviously designed as the Doctor's opposite number, very powerful and not a little psychotic, thriving on word play. He gets his power via language and travels in the linguistic equivalent of a TARDIS (called CORDIS), and because his powers allow him to bend reality (if someone says "Nobody can do this and that", Nobody the Word Lord is instantly able to do this and that), he's damm near unstoppable. Which makes him an ideal opponent for the Seventh Doctor specifically, who has to both outthink and outtalk him. The Word Lord only takes 20 minutes or so but is a great mini adventure as well as a good introduction of a new nemesis. Can be heard without much previous knowledge, and also showcases the Ace and Hex interactions in a good way.
A Death in the Family: this, on the other hand, very much a tale which needs both tv show and audio canon knowledge do be properly appreciated. It's sublime. Again written by Steven Hall, it features Seven, Ace, Hex and Evelyn (formerly Smythe, now Rossiter) and Nobody No One the Word Lord as far as recurring characters are concerned. Hex and Evelyn are both audio companions, Hex of the seventh, Evelyn of the sixth Doctor, but their backstories are connected in one particular point which finally receives a pay off. To briefly sum up: Evelyn knew Hex' mother, Cassie, whom she met when travelling with the Doctor, and the Doctor's inability to save Cassie caused the first serious fallout between him and Evelyn. Years later, in the Doctor's seventh incarnation, he ran into Cassie's son (or rather Ace did), who ended up as a Companion, but the Doctor did not tell Hex (the name is short for Thomas Hector Schofield) about Cassie until it all came out messily in the audio Project: Destiny which immediately precedes A Death in the Family. And anyone who's been watching more than one adventure of the Doctor and Ace on tv is aware that they're very close but he also has a penchant for manipulativeness when it comes to her. A Death in the Family has fantastic character scenes for all three relationships - the Doctor's with Ace, Hex and Evelyn -, and, as far as I'm concerned, succeeds in something Stephen Moffat tried to in season 6 of New Who but didn't pull off satisfyingly: killing off the Doctor early on in the tale complete with establishing a puzzle, then using timey-wimeyness and the characters being themselves to come up with a solution that feels emotionally satisfying and earned as to why the Doctor (obviously, since a listener knows coming in that he doesn't die for good in his seventh body) makes it out of the story alive after all. (Another parallel to New Who's season six is that you get an older and a younger version of the Doctor around during some of the time for this that is part of both the riddle and the solution.) My favourite part of timey-wimeyness used is when the Doctor in a conversation with Ace references something Evelyn said to him which, however, Evelyn only says much later in the story, but what makes this emotionally effective as well as clever is that both conversations are ones he could only have with these specific women. Most Companions change while travelling with the Doctor, but with Ace he made a deliberate effort to achieve that (Doylist wise because part of the idea for Ace back in the 80s was that she'd end up as a human going Time Lord, which never happened because the show was cancelled), and there always was an ambiguity about that, so for the Doctor to be confronted with how much Ace has become like him (while still being herself) was fantastic to listen to. Meanwhile, Evelyn was the first Companion already in her 60s when introduced, and the age and experience that gave her contributed to making her such a good foil for the brash Sixth Doctor who became very deeply attached to her and listened to her in a way he didn't to most others. He'd met Evelyn once already in his seventh regeneration (in a short scene on the audio Thicker Than Blood, which is mainly a Sixth Doctor adventure but lets Seven visit Evelyn while Six is busy elsewhere to tell her about Cassie's son), but here he does so for a longer time, and Evelyn, very old now and with the perspective of having known him in a previous regeneration, is the ideal person to question him about one of the key differences between these two selves, tied to Seventh's penchant for withholding information and need to be in control. As for Hex, who hasn't been travelling with the Doctor as long as Ace but still finds himself changing, wondering about the choices he's made, the ones being made for him, and what he wants from his life makes for some awesome scenes with both Evelyn and the older version of the Doctor. Hex, a male nurse before Rory was ever invented, shines in his compassion and need to understand.
All of these character scenes are tied together with the second use of Nobody No One as a really scary villain, whose power through words make him an ideal oponent in a medium that tells its tale through sound, not visuals, and his various showdowns with Our Heroes keep you on your listening toes, so to speak, all the time. This is also a tale very much on a meta level, about people choosing their narratives versus being trapped in them, and while it wraps up the various plots very well, it does leave room for ambiguity where you really want no black and white because ambigutiy is part of the character point. In short, this was both moving and brilliant, and it never cheated. I loved it.
The Council of Nicea: this is a Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem adventure as well as a pure historical (aside from the Doctor himself, there are no aliens around) reminiscent of the Hartnell era. The obvious comparison would be to The Aztecs, since the key plot issue is one of the Companions decides to change history. On the plus side, there are lot of aspects to admire about this audio: scriptwriter Caroline Symox (a theologian herself) manages to really get across how deeply and violently the religious doctrine debates went across the populace in this era where Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and just what the so-called Arian heresy consisted of in a way that's understandable if you've never heard about the big Athanasius versus Arius clash before. And it's another very strong outing for audio companion Erimem, whose difference of perspective to both Peri and the Doctor due her historical origin - Erimem is a pharaoh who never was from ancient Egypt - was used well in such audio adventures I've listened to as The Church and the Crown and The Kingmaker. For Erimem, the Council of Nicea takes place in her future, not her past, and so her asking the question of Barbara and Donna as to why they can't change events (when the Doctor can and does on other occasions) gains additional emphasis. (BTW there isn't really a good Watsonian answer to this, since the reason is so obviously Doylist.) The inter audio continuity of Erimem making a great organizer and leader is excellent, and the script makes a valiant effort of making the Emperor Constantine (yes, the in hoc signo vince guy) a shades of grey character (pure villainy is reserved for Athanasisus, who is presented as a scheming plotter willing to go over dead bodies, while Arius is presented as an ideal Christian standing by compassionate and pacifist beliefs).
However, on the downside: Since Erimem is no Christian, the script which needs to give her a reason to become an Arius partisan makes her side with Arius because she deems him, after just one brief encounter, an honorable man, but what got Arius into hot water and what was debated on the Council were his teachings about the nature of Christ, which Erimem has zero interest in. Her accusing Constantine of not listening to his people and of being a tyrant are staggeringly anachronistic and unlikely from a character coming from a culture where the kings were regarded as living gods. (Incidentally, I can't remember which dynasty Erimem is supposed to be from, but if it's post Akhenaten she would be familiar with the concept of heresy and more likely than not having a negative attitude towards the whole idea of monotheism.) And those are only my Watsonian level problems. Stepping outside of the story: there is a scene early on in which the Doctor explains to Peri and Erimem just why the Council of Nicea was such a turning point and mentions that the church became a political power under Constantine. Erimem asks how this is a good thing and why shouldn't it be changed, which is anachronistic for Erimem as an ancient Egyptian, see above, because religion most certainly WAS politicis in her culture and very much tied to the rulers. But it's still not a bad question, and it never gets answered beyond "then the entire history would change". Well, yes, obviously. But you can just as well argue Christianity becoming a state religion resulted in all the corruption of its ideals and abuse thereafter, and the audio doesn't give you a reason NOT to want history to be changed in this regard. Lastly, this is a story in which the Doctor is almost incidental, not effective or interesting; he keeps having the same "just listen to me "/"No" - dialogue with both Erimem and Constantine, and it's not clear why Constantine botheres to after the first round, since the Doctor does nothing impressive or clever to awaken his interest. (The Empress Fausta deems him a fascinating man when talking to Peri, and he can be, but he's just not in this story, which makes it a bad case of tell, not show.) (By contrast, The Aztecs may be primarily Barbara's story, but you can't say the Doctor is dull or redundant in it.)
In conclusion: interesting but frustrating, and ultimately not satisfying to me; your mileage may differ.
The Condemned: This is the first Sixth Doctor and Charley Pollard story and also a murder mystery in Manchester featuring a fabulous tough female Mancunian D.I. named Patricia Menzies who temporarily teams up with the Doctor. Charley, who spent several years as the Eighth Doctor's audio companion, finally parted ways with him in the audio "The Girl Who Never Was" , which I had listened to some years ago, and which had a cliffhanger ending in that the TARDIS arrives, Charley thinks it's the Doctor...and it is, but the wrong Doctor. This turns out to make for a great new dynamic, since Charley is basically in the River Song position of knowing the Doctor's future self while he doesn't know her and is not a little irritated (though also intrigued) by the fact there are obviously secrets she keeps from him, and that she acts as if she knows him. Also, the romantic angst between Eight and Charley that was in their later stories is gone which is a relief. That said, the majority of interaction actually happens between the Doctor and D.I. Menzies on the one hand, and Charley & other guest characters on the other. I'm told D.I. Patricia Menzies will be back, which is great, because she and the sixth Doctor make a great detective team, complete with lots of verbal sparring, and you almost wish for the Doctor to be stuck in Manchester for a while longer so they can solve some more cases together. In conclusion, this audio is a joy to listen to, works even if you are not familiar with Charley before (then you're in the Doctor's rather than Charley's pov re: her), and has lots of neat details to boot, like the Doctor getting to show off the fondness for cats that is at its peak in this particular regeneration.
The Word Lord: is the audio equivalent of a short story from a larger collection, written by Steven Hall, but can be downloaded individually and should be before listening to the adventure reviewed below, as it introduces the later's main antagonist. It's a Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex (more about him in a moment if you don't already know him, he's an audio only character) adventure; at a secret station in Antarctica, they run into a being from another dimension, Nobody No One, the Word Lord from the title, who is a renegade from his people is obviously designed as the Doctor's opposite number, very powerful and not a little psychotic, thriving on word play. He gets his power via language and travels in the linguistic equivalent of a TARDIS (called CORDIS), and because his powers allow him to bend reality (if someone says "Nobody can do this and that", Nobody the Word Lord is instantly able to do this and that), he's damm near unstoppable. Which makes him an ideal opponent for the Seventh Doctor specifically, who has to both outthink and outtalk him. The Word Lord only takes 20 minutes or so but is a great mini adventure as well as a good introduction of a new nemesis. Can be heard without much previous knowledge, and also showcases the Ace and Hex interactions in a good way.
A Death in the Family: this, on the other hand, very much a tale which needs both tv show and audio canon knowledge do be properly appreciated. It's sublime. Again written by Steven Hall, it features Seven, Ace, Hex and Evelyn (formerly Smythe, now Rossiter) and Nobody No One the Word Lord as far as recurring characters are concerned. Hex and Evelyn are both audio companions, Hex of the seventh, Evelyn of the sixth Doctor, but their backstories are connected in one particular point which finally receives a pay off. To briefly sum up: Evelyn knew Hex' mother, Cassie, whom she met when travelling with the Doctor, and the Doctor's inability to save Cassie caused the first serious fallout between him and Evelyn. Years later, in the Doctor's seventh incarnation, he ran into Cassie's son (or rather Ace did), who ended up as a Companion, but the Doctor did not tell Hex (the name is short for Thomas Hector Schofield) about Cassie until it all came out messily in the audio Project: Destiny which immediately precedes A Death in the Family. And anyone who's been watching more than one adventure of the Doctor and Ace on tv is aware that they're very close but he also has a penchant for manipulativeness when it comes to her. A Death in the Family has fantastic character scenes for all three relationships - the Doctor's with Ace, Hex and Evelyn -, and, as far as I'm concerned, succeeds in something Stephen Moffat tried to in season 6 of New Who but didn't pull off satisfyingly: killing off the Doctor early on in the tale complete with establishing a puzzle, then using timey-wimeyness and the characters being themselves to come up with a solution that feels emotionally satisfying and earned as to why the Doctor (obviously, since a listener knows coming in that he doesn't die for good in his seventh body) makes it out of the story alive after all. (Another parallel to New Who's season six is that you get an older and a younger version of the Doctor around during some of the time for this that is part of both the riddle and the solution.) My favourite part of timey-wimeyness used is when the Doctor in a conversation with Ace references something Evelyn said to him which, however, Evelyn only says much later in the story, but what makes this emotionally effective as well as clever is that both conversations are ones he could only have with these specific women. Most Companions change while travelling with the Doctor, but with Ace he made a deliberate effort to achieve that (Doylist wise because part of the idea for Ace back in the 80s was that she'd end up as a human going Time Lord, which never happened because the show was cancelled), and there always was an ambiguity about that, so for the Doctor to be confronted with how much Ace has become like him (while still being herself) was fantastic to listen to. Meanwhile, Evelyn was the first Companion already in her 60s when introduced, and the age and experience that gave her contributed to making her such a good foil for the brash Sixth Doctor who became very deeply attached to her and listened to her in a way he didn't to most others. He'd met Evelyn once already in his seventh regeneration (in a short scene on the audio Thicker Than Blood, which is mainly a Sixth Doctor adventure but lets Seven visit Evelyn while Six is busy elsewhere to tell her about Cassie's son), but here he does so for a longer time, and Evelyn, very old now and with the perspective of having known him in a previous regeneration, is the ideal person to question him about one of the key differences between these two selves, tied to Seventh's penchant for withholding information and need to be in control. As for Hex, who hasn't been travelling with the Doctor as long as Ace but still finds himself changing, wondering about the choices he's made, the ones being made for him, and what he wants from his life makes for some awesome scenes with both Evelyn and the older version of the Doctor. Hex, a male nurse before Rory was ever invented, shines in his compassion and need to understand.
All of these character scenes are tied together with the second use of Nobody No One as a really scary villain, whose power through words make him an ideal oponent in a medium that tells its tale through sound, not visuals, and his various showdowns with Our Heroes keep you on your listening toes, so to speak, all the time. This is also a tale very much on a meta level, about people choosing their narratives versus being trapped in them, and while it wraps up the various plots very well, it does leave room for ambiguity where you really want no black and white because ambigutiy is part of the character point. In short, this was both moving and brilliant, and it never cheated. I loved it.
