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selenakIn which I agree with the prevailing fandom judgement that Six is the best audio Doctor. I mean, Five and Seven are doing fine, and Eight of course really needed the audios to get fleshed out beyond the movie of doom, poor chap, but Six, as if to make up for Eric Saward's issues on tv, gets mostly really great scripts, fabulous audio companions, and allows Colin Baker to shine in a way the tv scripts wouldn't.
Davros, or, my least favourite mad scientist. The thing is, I thought Davros was truly chilling in Genesis of the Daleks but that all the subsequent appearances on tv proved he never should have been resurrected. Plus the (Fifth) Doctor angsting about whether or not to kill him in Resurrection of the Daleks just didn't work the way it was written, because simultanously, in the same story, he had no problem with the demise of a lot of Daleks, which made him look rather speciesist, and I doubt that was the intention. Also, as Davros doesn't have emotional backstory with the Doctor the way the Master or the Rani do, that factor can't be used to explain the agonizing, either. So, I went into this audio with some baggage of dislike, and not in the way we're meant to dislike a villain.
It didn't exactly make me a Davros fan, but it proved you can do a fascinating Davros story (and without any Daleks around). The structure - present day action and flashbacks to Davros' pre-accident life on Skaro - proved very effective; early on, one dreads that the flashbacks are leading to a "he lost his one true love (tm)" explanation for Davros' monstrosity, but thankfully the script is far more clever than that and comes up with a great twist on the cliché, and the revelation it presents near the climax makes clear that Davros was a monster long before he got crippled and changed his body. At the same time, one feels a clinical sort of pity for the sheer amount of physical injury and crippling, as that, too, is presented very effectively. Also, thish is one of the few stories that sold me on Davros as a genius, so bonus for that. Terry Molloy gives a great performance, from ruthless and chilling young Davros to evil insane current Davros, and actually makes one believe him when he says that he did genuinenly wonder whether he could change, which is quite some feat.
The one flaw in the script is that it uses one of my least favourite plot elements from an otherwise classic Star Trek story, Space Seed (otherwise known as "The One Which Introduced Khan and Made ST II Possible"), the female historian fangirling the sinister genius. Pity, too, since she's played by Wendy Padbury, who was of course Two's companion Zoe. At least she and her husband are interested in Davros for commercial reasons as well, and the whole big business angle is worked quite efficiently.
The Doctor is taking a backseat role in this story, but we get some neat character stuff for him nonetheless, from the lighthearted - his intellectual vanity is showcased again when Baines suckers him into working for him, and he does have to prove Davros isn't the only genius around - to the serious; when, at the end, he gets asked whether he's really sure Davros is still alive despite all, he says "yes; people like him and me don't know any better", and the bitter classification of himself with the ruthless mass murderer is quite telling. I'm afraid the "can't kill Davros" thing still irks me as much as when Five did it, but at least Six is allowed to do something else instead of agonizing passively, to wit, save most of the people Davros intended to kill via nuclear explosion. (Which also is the reverse of Four being unable to save them in Genesis of the Daleks, but Four in all fairness had a lot of other stuff going on.)
The Holy Terror: Or, the one with the talking Penguin. I've heard of Frobisher before - if you haven't: shapeshifting alien, prefers Penguin shape, talks like a New York cabbie, travelled with Six and Seven in comics - but this is the first time I've heard him in audio. He's great fun, as advertised. The script once again shows Rob Shearman really is awfully good, starting out deceptively lighthearted, in a Discworld kind of vein as Frobisher and the Doctor appear to find themselves in a kingdom build on fantasy clichés that are satirized, and then gradually revealing its dark, dark heart. It would be a shame to give away the twist, so I shan't. I will say Shearman obviously must be a fan of I, Claudius, with names like Captain Sejanus, Livilla, Eugene Tacitus, and the ruler-against-his-will, Pippin, being decidedly drawn in the Claudius vein. For a story that proves in the end incredibly dark, it does encouragingly believe in the possibility of freedom of choice and I think, therefore I am. Funniest moment, which comes btw not at the start but a good while after things have gone twisted: when Frobisher speculates about the TARDIS dumping them to this particular point because she likes being venerated, the Doctor gets defensive of his beloved ship and says the TARDIS doesn't have an ego problem.Also, she will end up as a household god in the future anyway. The pity the Doctor has for the technical villain of the story, btw, is really the ingredient that prevents the grotesque elements from going over the top and making the audience uncaring.
Arrangements for War: or, the one where Evelyn does some soul-searching and the Doctor goes from companion angst to blood on my hand angst. This story comes directly after one in which Evelyn, as other companions before and after her, had to experience the Doctor being unwilling/unable to save someone from death, and Arrangements for War shows how she copes with that, his alienness and her own mortality. In a way, it's a predictable story - for example, the way it is set up, with it starting by letting the Doctor tell Evelyn that some things are fixed and he can't go back and save these people, practically demands that Evelyn at the end will stop him from doing just that, having come to accept it, while the Doctor for his part gets driven to a point where he feels guilty enough to wanting to try anyway. Similarly, the fate of two characters is clear before you can say "star-crossed lovers". But that doesn't matter, because the story is that well told. Also, I have to praise Colin Baker's performance once again, because the Doctor's anxiety about possibly losing Evelyn as a companion is a red thread throughout, even when he covers it up with his usual Sixish bravado and bluster, and the quiet scene between them at the end is really beautiful.
(And one of the few times when the text spelling something out to the audience works, which otherwise I'm not too fond of, but when the Doctor tells Evelyn he has travelled with his intellectual equals, and he has travelled with his emotional betters, but that she is both, one does believe him.)
While the MacGuffin of the union between two previously warring countries depending on an arranged marriage requires a bit of a suspension of disbelief (especially since it's also made clear the monarchies at this point are largely ceremonial, as in Britain), the guest characters are all well drawn, down to a refreshing villain who for the most part is an antagonist out of political motives but not a stupid ignoramus or without patriotism, and when he sees there is a bigger threat to everyone here, he fight along Our Heroes. Then there's Governor Rossiter, who falls in love with Evelyn and strikes one as a very sympathetic, quiet and honorable man worthy of our Dr. Smythe. A great audio all around.
Whereas the next one has some severe drawbacks by comparison, but nonetheless some elements that made me glad I listened. The downside first: Medicinal Purposes is a historical using the case of the bodysnatchers William Burke and William Hare, who in 1827 sold the corpses of 17 of their victims to the Edinburgh Medical College, their main customer being Dr. Robert Knox, who in this story turns out to be a meddling time-traveller. And if you think Ten and Rose were somewhat too much on the touristy, disregarding-the-reality-of-human-tragedy side in Tooth and Claw: Six at the start of Medicinal Purposes makes them look like moral examples of sensitivity and tact. The Doctor has been shown, in most of his incarantions, as excited about meeting certain historical characters, absolutely, and entranced by the occasional monster, but I can't recall another example of him being shown giddy as the prospect of shaking the hands of serial killers. Mind you, predictably the script then makes a point of letting him become friends with their victims and be stricken when they die, plus of course the villain of the episode is a calleous time travelling tourist pimping the thrill of the meet-the-serial-killer scenario, so one could say shadow double, lesson learned etc, but still, it strikes me as somewhat ooc, even for Six who on screen has been known to make tasteless jokes while people died.
So why am I glad to posses this adventure nonetheless? Firstly, disregarding the initial set-up, there is a lot of good character stuff, from the opening scene where the Doctor declares his love for his TARDIS as the one constant in his life (and Evelyn has the obligatory "you talk of your ship as if it's alive" scene and gets corrected that of course she is) to the showdown with the villain, in which the Doctor showcases both smarts and ruthlessness, via the characterisation of the two body snatchers (never over the top, and credible as products of their era as well as choices) and one of their victims, Mary, who is an unapologetic prostitute without falling into the "whore with the heart of gold" cliché, but most of all: the way the Doctor bonds with another of the victims, Daft Jamie. (Like Mary a genuine, historical character.) Daft Jamie is a retarded young man with a limp, and the name together with the Scottish accent of course immediately makes the Doctor think of his old companion (from his time as Two), Jamie McCrimmon. Encouraging this Jamie by telling him his name is a valiant and honourable one, he becomes the boy's friend... all the while knowing Daft Jamie, being a well-documented victim of Hare and Burke, is utterly and completely doomed. It's touching and angsty as hell, down to the end where the Doctor literally has to deliver Jamie who completely believes in him to his death, and the fact Daft Jamie is played by David Tennant is just an added bonus.
(Sidenote: DT is everywhere in the audios, seriously. So far, I've heard him as a German guard with Seven and Ace, as the Brigadier's successor, Colonel Wood, with Alt!Three and Alt!Brig in Doctor Who Unbound: Sympathy for the Devil, and now with Six and Evelyn.)
Robert Knox appears to be set-up as a recurring villain, being played by Leslie Philipps and coming across as a somewhat more vicious version of the Meddling Monk, with the difference that he's not actually a Time Lord but just got himself a TARDIS for hire. I can't say he's the kind of villain that makes one immediately yearn for his return, but I'm not averse to finding out what happens the next time Six and Evelyn encounter him, either...
Davros, or, my least favourite mad scientist. The thing is, I thought Davros was truly chilling in Genesis of the Daleks but that all the subsequent appearances on tv proved he never should have been resurrected. Plus the (Fifth) Doctor angsting about whether or not to kill him in Resurrection of the Daleks just didn't work the way it was written, because simultanously, in the same story, he had no problem with the demise of a lot of Daleks, which made him look rather speciesist, and I doubt that was the intention. Also, as Davros doesn't have emotional backstory with the Doctor the way the Master or the Rani do, that factor can't be used to explain the agonizing, either. So, I went into this audio with some baggage of dislike, and not in the way we're meant to dislike a villain.
It didn't exactly make me a Davros fan, but it proved you can do a fascinating Davros story (and without any Daleks around). The structure - present day action and flashbacks to Davros' pre-accident life on Skaro - proved very effective; early on, one dreads that the flashbacks are leading to a "he lost his one true love (tm)" explanation for Davros' monstrosity, but thankfully the script is far more clever than that and comes up with a great twist on the cliché, and the revelation it presents near the climax makes clear that Davros was a monster long before he got crippled and changed his body. At the same time, one feels a clinical sort of pity for the sheer amount of physical injury and crippling, as that, too, is presented very effectively. Also, thish is one of the few stories that sold me on Davros as a genius, so bonus for that. Terry Molloy gives a great performance, from ruthless and chilling young Davros to evil insane current Davros, and actually makes one believe him when he says that he did genuinenly wonder whether he could change, which is quite some feat.
The one flaw in the script is that it uses one of my least favourite plot elements from an otherwise classic Star Trek story, Space Seed (otherwise known as "The One Which Introduced Khan and Made ST II Possible"), the female historian fangirling the sinister genius. Pity, too, since she's played by Wendy Padbury, who was of course Two's companion Zoe. At least she and her husband are interested in Davros for commercial reasons as well, and the whole big business angle is worked quite efficiently.
The Doctor is taking a backseat role in this story, but we get some neat character stuff for him nonetheless, from the lighthearted - his intellectual vanity is showcased again when Baines suckers him into working for him, and he does have to prove Davros isn't the only genius around - to the serious; when, at the end, he gets asked whether he's really sure Davros is still alive despite all, he says "yes; people like him and me don't know any better", and the bitter classification of himself with the ruthless mass murderer is quite telling. I'm afraid the "can't kill Davros" thing still irks me as much as when Five did it, but at least Six is allowed to do something else instead of agonizing passively, to wit, save most of the people Davros intended to kill via nuclear explosion. (Which also is the reverse of Four being unable to save them in Genesis of the Daleks, but Four in all fairness had a lot of other stuff going on.)
The Holy Terror: Or, the one with the talking Penguin. I've heard of Frobisher before - if you haven't: shapeshifting alien, prefers Penguin shape, talks like a New York cabbie, travelled with Six and Seven in comics - but this is the first time I've heard him in audio. He's great fun, as advertised. The script once again shows Rob Shearman really is awfully good, starting out deceptively lighthearted, in a Discworld kind of vein as Frobisher and the Doctor appear to find themselves in a kingdom build on fantasy clichés that are satirized, and then gradually revealing its dark, dark heart. It would be a shame to give away the twist, so I shan't. I will say Shearman obviously must be a fan of I, Claudius, with names like Captain Sejanus, Livilla, Eugene Tacitus, and the ruler-against-his-will, Pippin, being decidedly drawn in the Claudius vein. For a story that proves in the end incredibly dark, it does encouragingly believe in the possibility of freedom of choice and I think, therefore I am. Funniest moment, which comes btw not at the start but a good while after things have gone twisted: when Frobisher speculates about the TARDIS dumping them to this particular point because she likes being venerated, the Doctor gets defensive of his beloved ship and says the TARDIS doesn't have an ego problem.
Arrangements for War: or, the one where Evelyn does some soul-searching and the Doctor goes from companion angst to blood on my hand angst. This story comes directly after one in which Evelyn, as other companions before and after her, had to experience the Doctor being unwilling/unable to save someone from death, and Arrangements for War shows how she copes with that, his alienness and her own mortality. In a way, it's a predictable story - for example, the way it is set up, with it starting by letting the Doctor tell Evelyn that some things are fixed and he can't go back and save these people, practically demands that Evelyn at the end will stop him from doing just that, having come to accept it, while the Doctor for his part gets driven to a point where he feels guilty enough to wanting to try anyway. Similarly, the fate of two characters is clear before you can say "star-crossed lovers". But that doesn't matter, because the story is that well told. Also, I have to praise Colin Baker's performance once again, because the Doctor's anxiety about possibly losing Evelyn as a companion is a red thread throughout, even when he covers it up with his usual Sixish bravado and bluster, and the quiet scene between them at the end is really beautiful.
(And one of the few times when the text spelling something out to the audience works, which otherwise I'm not too fond of, but when the Doctor tells Evelyn he has travelled with his intellectual equals, and he has travelled with his emotional betters, but that she is both, one does believe him.)
While the MacGuffin of the union between two previously warring countries depending on an arranged marriage requires a bit of a suspension of disbelief (especially since it's also made clear the monarchies at this point are largely ceremonial, as in Britain), the guest characters are all well drawn, down to a refreshing villain who for the most part is an antagonist out of political motives but not a stupid ignoramus or without patriotism, and when he sees there is a bigger threat to everyone here, he fight along Our Heroes. Then there's Governor Rossiter, who falls in love with Evelyn and strikes one as a very sympathetic, quiet and honorable man worthy of our Dr. Smythe. A great audio all around.
Whereas the next one has some severe drawbacks by comparison, but nonetheless some elements that made me glad I listened. The downside first: Medicinal Purposes is a historical using the case of the bodysnatchers William Burke and William Hare, who in 1827 sold the corpses of 17 of their victims to the Edinburgh Medical College, their main customer being Dr. Robert Knox, who in this story turns out to be a meddling time-traveller. And if you think Ten and Rose were somewhat too much on the touristy, disregarding-the-reality-of-human-tragedy side in Tooth and Claw: Six at the start of Medicinal Purposes makes them look like moral examples of sensitivity and tact. The Doctor has been shown, in most of his incarantions, as excited about meeting certain historical characters, absolutely, and entranced by the occasional monster, but I can't recall another example of him being shown giddy as the prospect of shaking the hands of serial killers. Mind you, predictably the script then makes a point of letting him become friends with their victims and be stricken when they die, plus of course the villain of the episode is a calleous time travelling tourist pimping the thrill of the meet-the-serial-killer scenario, so one could say shadow double, lesson learned etc, but still, it strikes me as somewhat ooc, even for Six who on screen has been known to make tasteless jokes while people died.
So why am I glad to posses this adventure nonetheless? Firstly, disregarding the initial set-up, there is a lot of good character stuff, from the opening scene where the Doctor declares his love for his TARDIS as the one constant in his life (and Evelyn has the obligatory "you talk of your ship as if it's alive" scene and gets corrected that of course she is) to the showdown with the villain, in which the Doctor showcases both smarts and ruthlessness, via the characterisation of the two body snatchers (never over the top, and credible as products of their era as well as choices) and one of their victims, Mary, who is an unapologetic prostitute without falling into the "whore with the heart of gold" cliché, but most of all: the way the Doctor bonds with another of the victims, Daft Jamie. (Like Mary a genuine, historical character.) Daft Jamie is a retarded young man with a limp, and the name together with the Scottish accent of course immediately makes the Doctor think of his old companion (from his time as Two), Jamie McCrimmon. Encouraging this Jamie by telling him his name is a valiant and honourable one, he becomes the boy's friend... all the while knowing Daft Jamie, being a well-documented victim of Hare and Burke, is utterly and completely doomed. It's touching and angsty as hell, down to the end where the Doctor literally has to deliver Jamie who completely believes in him to his death, and the fact Daft Jamie is played by David Tennant is just an added bonus.
(Sidenote: DT is everywhere in the audios, seriously. So far, I've heard him as a German guard with Seven and Ace, as the Brigadier's successor, Colonel Wood, with Alt!Three and Alt!Brig in Doctor Who Unbound: Sympathy for the Devil, and now with Six and Evelyn.)
Robert Knox appears to be set-up as a recurring villain, being played by Leslie Philipps and coming across as a somewhat more vicious version of the Meddling Monk, with the difference that he's not actually a Time Lord but just got himself a TARDIS for hire. I can't say he's the kind of villain that makes one immediately yearn for his return, but I'm not averse to finding out what happens the next time Six and Evelyn encounter him, either...
