![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakStill on a Midnight induced fannish high (I've rewached two times now, and it's still brilliant and just gets me at a viscaral level), I thought it's time to post some reviews I've collected during recent weeks, for more Big Finish audio plays.
As can be gathered by part of the title - which, Peter Cushing films aside, I think the show did only once - i.e. use "Doctor Who" in the title of a story, in Doctor Who and the Silurians - Doctor Who and the Pirates is both a very meta reflection on the show and a tongue-in-cheek take on it. If stories that go meta on their source - like The Greatest Show in the Galaxy in Old Who, or Love and Monsters in New Who - aren't your thing, you will probably put off by this one. On the other hand, even meta-despisers might be lured by the fact that at one point, in the third part, to be specific, this turns into a Gilbert & Sullivan style musical, complete with the Doctor singing I am the very model of a Gallifreyan Buccaneer. (Complete lyrics are here, and if you don't get a kick out of the Doctor singing "I’ve been into the Death Zone and I’ve played the Game of Rassilon– /(Rassilon? Assilon, Bassilon.. ah-ha!)/ With pestilential monsters that I got a lot of hassle from!", what is wrong with you?) This happens because he wants to pep the story he and his companion Evelyn Smythe are telling to Evelyn's student Sally up a little.
The whole audio play consists of Evelyn and later the Doctor taking turns in telling the story of one of their adventures to Sally, for a very specific purpose they don't reveal until the end, and it makes no bones from the start that neither of them is exactly a reliable narrator. Evelyn has a tendency to loose the plot and the pace in favour of details, and making the Doctor do things which she then realises are probably out of character and revises; the Doctor, on the other hand, well, let's just say in his version the pirate captain suddenly addresses him as "oh distinguished-looking traveller with a stylish coat!" (If you haven't actually watched Six on screen, take a look.) Sally serves as a critic of their storytelling choices until the Doctor manages to draw her in with his musical gambit. The amazing thing is that for all that, and the openly acknowledged stereotypes of the guest characters other than Sally (i.e. the pirates, sailors and the captain of the captured vessel are all walking talking clichés of the genre, which Sally points out at once), you're not just having fun but manage to be genuinenly moved when it becomes apparant why Evelyn picked that particular story, and why she tells it. In a way, it's her equivalent of Donna's "just save someone; not the entire town, but someone" at the end of Fires of Pompeii.
Which is as good a lead-in as any to Project: Lazarus, the fallout to which, Arrangements of War, I already reviewed earlier. Because as in the deceptively light-hearted pirate story, Evelyn has to deal with the fact a character she has grown close to dies, and the Doctor is unable to save this person. Project: Lazarus also picks up on an earlier Six and Evelyn story, in which they encountered the Forge (think Torchwood with the original mission statement and without Captain Jack and the bisexuality), audio antagonist Nimrod and Cassie first. Simultanously, this is one of the most unusual multiple Doctor stories, because, and while I'm giving a twist away here, the twist is so glaringly obvious in the story that it's not much of a story, the two Doctors in question never actually meet. The first two parts of Project: Lazarus deal with the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn returning to Cassie in order to help her as promised when last they met, only to find things have gone horribly wrong, and in the end Cassie has to sacrifice her life to help them escape from the Forge and Nimrod. They then leave the narrative; as far as they are concerned, it continues with the first scene of Arrangements of War, which is set immediately after their last scene at the end of part II. Part III and IV, on the other hand, are the Seventh Doctor returning to the Forge and confront Nimrod once more. If you're thinking the opportunity of having Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy interact is wasted, however, you're mistaken. Nimrod, who got his hands on the Doctor in the first two parts and tortured him almost to the point of regeneration because he wants to study how the Time Lords do this, in order to replicate the process, has used the blood samples he took to create a clone, his own pet Doctor.
The first two parts I found moving, with Evelyn getting through to an angry and dissappointed Cassie only to see that by this, she also has doomed Cassie, and the incredibly painful end where Six attempts to comfort her in a clumsy fashion and she mistakes it for callousness (this, btw, is a beautiful miniature illustration on how the audios improved Six without changing him - on screen, the scripts actually did make him look callous, but here the listener, though not Evelyn for understandable reasons, are aware he is just being Doctorish and really bad in this type of situations with a companion he deeply cares about) and shuts herself away from him. I'm very glad to have already listened to Arrangements for War wherein they come to terms with this, and their ways of dealing with death. But I have to say what really makes Project: Lazarus for me are parts III and IV, and not just because I'm so fond of Seven. Nimrod has been build up as an impressively dastardly villain; and if there is one incarnation of the Doctor you really, really, really don't want as your enemy, it's the deceptively mild-mannered Seven, the ruthless Machiavellian. Which is why it's immensely satisfying to see him deal with Nimrod. If the Sixth Doctor in this double story is used to illustrate the Doctor's vulnerable and emotionally accessible side, the Seventh really brings on the scary Oncoming Storm. Which is not to say he's not also emotional, but in a much more controled manner. The tight voice when he mentions Evelyn never forgave him for letting Cassie die is saying quite a lot. And the interaction with Clone!Six goes through the whole gambit, from the expected Doctor/Doctor squabbling early on (though it doesn't take Seven that long to figure out this is not his earlier self) to ruthless telepathic interrogation to compassion, as Clone!Six turns out to be quite a tragic character (great performance by Colin Baker, btw), especially in a scene directly stolen, err, paying homage to Alien: Resurrection, when the full extend of Nimrod's Lazarus experiment is revealed.
Lastly: the Doctor's trait of being an incorrigable name dropper is used in a priceless fashion here as Seven at the start of Part III, after playing a few melancholy chords on the piano, says "I should have listened to Elton and practiced more".
Thicker than Water is set some years after Evelyn left the Doctor, though thanks to the flexibility of Big Finish, she still has adventures with him being produced which take place before that. But Thicker than Water doesn't just tell us in flashback how they'll part but how they'll meet again, and what becomes of Evelyn in her post-Doctor life. It also picks up on events and characters from Arrangements for War, and manages to provide resolution for Evelyn and no less than two incarnations of the Doctor while offering a good adventure. I especially liked Sofia, as characters hostile to Our Heroes who are nonetheless good and full of integrity are always a rarity. Rossiter, Evelyn's love interest from Arrangements for War whom she has married in the meantime, continues to be quietly strong and sympathetic, someone Evelyn can believably have decided to spend her life with, and the aftermath of the invasion from Arragements for War is a rare occasion where we see what happens to planets after the immediate saving by the Doctor and friends is done.
It's also an old companion meets new companion story, with the added twist that the new companion, Mel, is in a way for the audience the old one, since Mel was a genuine tv show Sixth and Seventh Doctor companion, while Evelyn is "new" in as much as she was invented for the audios. As far as their reactions to each other are concerned, I'd say their first encounter falls somewhere between the Sarah Jane meets Rose bristling from School Reunion and the instant bonding between Donna and Martha in The Sontaran Strategy. Early on, Mel rolls her eyes a bit (well, as one as one can in an audio medium, but you can hear it in her voice) at the Doctor going on about Evelyn yet again, but she's also genuinenly curious, and while there is some awkwardness when first they meet, they become comfortable with each other pretty soon. Also, the scene wherein the Doctor confesses of having reacted to Evelyn's decision to leave him by basically going, "oh fine, what do I care, just GO!" on her and Mel responds to that is priceless. (She says something along the lines that she hopes he's not going to be a sulky child when she decides to hang up her time-travelling boots. This puts the Seven and Mel parting, which is the anti-Doomsday, in a new light.*g*)
As I said, there are basically not just one but two resolution scenes between Evelyn and the Doctor in this story, and yet they don't feel repetitive, as they concern different issues. One is when Evelyn is lying at the hospital, and Six is busy fighting the bad guys elsewhere; Seven shows up to tell her something that gives her some peace about Cassie at last, since he reveals Cassie's son (mentioned but not seen in the Six era audios) is none other than the young man who currently travels with him and Ace, Thomas Hector Schofield, aka Hex. (Hex is a Seventh era audio companion who works really welll with the established TARDIS team of Seven and Ace.) Though being Seven, aka the Doctor who made keeping secrets from his companion(s) into an art form, he hasn't told that to Hex yet. It's a very gentle scene, and despite Sylvester McCoy and Maggie Stables not having worked together on the audios before, you really believe the way they respond to each other as the Doctor and Evelyn, subtly different from the way Six and Evelyn interact but still with the quintessence of the relationship intact.
The big resolution scene, otoh, is between the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn and concerns the way he reacted to her leaving him, and the fact he didn't show up at the wedding. (She had wanted him to give her away.) They're keeping the delicate balance of Doctor/Companion relationships here, making it clear that Evelyn sees no contradiction between being completely happy with the life she chose and still being able to tell the Doctor she loves him. (It came across as "I love you as my dearest friend" to me, but far be it from me to keep shippers from making a different interpretation. Either way, it's not said in a pining fashion, and as mentioned, the audio is very clear on her being happy with Rossiter. Oh, and having come to terms with her mortality; Evelyn is pushing 60 at that point, and her heart condition hasn't improved.) Being the Doctor, he's unable to say it back and goes for the infinitely touching "I still miss you" instead.
It's an audio that depends on you having listened to several Six and Evelyn adventures before, since you need to care for them as a team, so under no circumstances start here. But once you do know them, it's wonderful to listen to, if melancholy - in a good way - as it reminds us that companions, and regenerations, come and go, and sooner or later, everything ends. But what an adventure until then!
As can be gathered by part of the title - which, Peter Cushing films aside, I think the show did only once - i.e. use "Doctor Who" in the title of a story, in Doctor Who and the Silurians - Doctor Who and the Pirates is both a very meta reflection on the show and a tongue-in-cheek take on it. If stories that go meta on their source - like The Greatest Show in the Galaxy in Old Who, or Love and Monsters in New Who - aren't your thing, you will probably put off by this one. On the other hand, even meta-despisers might be lured by the fact that at one point, in the third part, to be specific, this turns into a Gilbert & Sullivan style musical, complete with the Doctor singing I am the very model of a Gallifreyan Buccaneer. (Complete lyrics are here, and if you don't get a kick out of the Doctor singing "I’ve been into the Death Zone and I’ve played the Game of Rassilon– /(Rassilon? Assilon, Bassilon.. ah-ha!)/ With pestilential monsters that I got a lot of hassle from!", what is wrong with you?) This happens because he wants to pep the story he and his companion Evelyn Smythe are telling to Evelyn's student Sally up a little.
The whole audio play consists of Evelyn and later the Doctor taking turns in telling the story of one of their adventures to Sally, for a very specific purpose they don't reveal until the end, and it makes no bones from the start that neither of them is exactly a reliable narrator. Evelyn has a tendency to loose the plot and the pace in favour of details, and making the Doctor do things which she then realises are probably out of character and revises; the Doctor, on the other hand, well, let's just say in his version the pirate captain suddenly addresses him as "oh distinguished-looking traveller with a stylish coat!" (If you haven't actually watched Six on screen, take a look.) Sally serves as a critic of their storytelling choices until the Doctor manages to draw her in with his musical gambit. The amazing thing is that for all that, and the openly acknowledged stereotypes of the guest characters other than Sally (i.e. the pirates, sailors and the captain of the captured vessel are all walking talking clichés of the genre, which Sally points out at once), you're not just having fun but manage to be genuinenly moved when it becomes apparant why Evelyn picked that particular story, and why she tells it. In a way, it's her equivalent of Donna's "just save someone; not the entire town, but someone" at the end of Fires of Pompeii.
Which is as good a lead-in as any to Project: Lazarus, the fallout to which, Arrangements of War, I already reviewed earlier. Because as in the deceptively light-hearted pirate story, Evelyn has to deal with the fact a character she has grown close to dies, and the Doctor is unable to save this person. Project: Lazarus also picks up on an earlier Six and Evelyn story, in which they encountered the Forge (think Torchwood with the original mission statement and without Captain Jack and the bisexuality), audio antagonist Nimrod and Cassie first. Simultanously, this is one of the most unusual multiple Doctor stories, because, and while I'm giving a twist away here, the twist is so glaringly obvious in the story that it's not much of a story, the two Doctors in question never actually meet. The first two parts of Project: Lazarus deal with the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn returning to Cassie in order to help her as promised when last they met, only to find things have gone horribly wrong, and in the end Cassie has to sacrifice her life to help them escape from the Forge and Nimrod. They then leave the narrative; as far as they are concerned, it continues with the first scene of Arrangements of War, which is set immediately after their last scene at the end of part II. Part III and IV, on the other hand, are the Seventh Doctor returning to the Forge and confront Nimrod once more. If you're thinking the opportunity of having Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy interact is wasted, however, you're mistaken. Nimrod, who got his hands on the Doctor in the first two parts and tortured him almost to the point of regeneration because he wants to study how the Time Lords do this, in order to replicate the process, has used the blood samples he took to create a clone, his own pet Doctor.
The first two parts I found moving, with Evelyn getting through to an angry and dissappointed Cassie only to see that by this, she also has doomed Cassie, and the incredibly painful end where Six attempts to comfort her in a clumsy fashion and she mistakes it for callousness (this, btw, is a beautiful miniature illustration on how the audios improved Six without changing him - on screen, the scripts actually did make him look callous, but here the listener, though not Evelyn for understandable reasons, are aware he is just being Doctorish and really bad in this type of situations with a companion he deeply cares about) and shuts herself away from him. I'm very glad to have already listened to Arrangements for War wherein they come to terms with this, and their ways of dealing with death. But I have to say what really makes Project: Lazarus for me are parts III and IV, and not just because I'm so fond of Seven. Nimrod has been build up as an impressively dastardly villain; and if there is one incarnation of the Doctor you really, really, really don't want as your enemy, it's the deceptively mild-mannered Seven, the ruthless Machiavellian. Which is why it's immensely satisfying to see him deal with Nimrod. If the Sixth Doctor in this double story is used to illustrate the Doctor's vulnerable and emotionally accessible side, the Seventh really brings on the scary Oncoming Storm. Which is not to say he's not also emotional, but in a much more controled manner. The tight voice when he mentions Evelyn never forgave him for letting Cassie die is saying quite a lot. And the interaction with Clone!Six goes through the whole gambit, from the expected Doctor/Doctor squabbling early on (though it doesn't take Seven that long to figure out this is not his earlier self) to ruthless telepathic interrogation to compassion, as Clone!Six turns out to be quite a tragic character (great performance by Colin Baker, btw), especially in a scene directly stolen, err, paying homage to Alien: Resurrection, when the full extend of Nimrod's Lazarus experiment is revealed.
Lastly: the Doctor's trait of being an incorrigable name dropper is used in a priceless fashion here as Seven at the start of Part III, after playing a few melancholy chords on the piano, says "I should have listened to Elton and practiced more".
Thicker than Water is set some years after Evelyn left the Doctor, though thanks to the flexibility of Big Finish, she still has adventures with him being produced which take place before that. But Thicker than Water doesn't just tell us in flashback how they'll part but how they'll meet again, and what becomes of Evelyn in her post-Doctor life. It also picks up on events and characters from Arrangements for War, and manages to provide resolution for Evelyn and no less than two incarnations of the Doctor while offering a good adventure. I especially liked Sofia, as characters hostile to Our Heroes who are nonetheless good and full of integrity are always a rarity. Rossiter, Evelyn's love interest from Arrangements for War whom she has married in the meantime, continues to be quietly strong and sympathetic, someone Evelyn can believably have decided to spend her life with, and the aftermath of the invasion from Arragements for War is a rare occasion where we see what happens to planets after the immediate saving by the Doctor and friends is done.
It's also an old companion meets new companion story, with the added twist that the new companion, Mel, is in a way for the audience the old one, since Mel was a genuine tv show Sixth and Seventh Doctor companion, while Evelyn is "new" in as much as she was invented for the audios. As far as their reactions to each other are concerned, I'd say their first encounter falls somewhere between the Sarah Jane meets Rose bristling from School Reunion and the instant bonding between Donna and Martha in The Sontaran Strategy. Early on, Mel rolls her eyes a bit (well, as one as one can in an audio medium, but you can hear it in her voice) at the Doctor going on about Evelyn yet again, but she's also genuinenly curious, and while there is some awkwardness when first they meet, they become comfortable with each other pretty soon. Also, the scene wherein the Doctor confesses of having reacted to Evelyn's decision to leave him by basically going, "oh fine, what do I care, just GO!" on her and Mel responds to that is priceless. (She says something along the lines that she hopes he's not going to be a sulky child when she decides to hang up her time-travelling boots. This puts the Seven and Mel parting, which is the anti-Doomsday, in a new light.*g*)
As I said, there are basically not just one but two resolution scenes between Evelyn and the Doctor in this story, and yet they don't feel repetitive, as they concern different issues. One is when Evelyn is lying at the hospital, and Six is busy fighting the bad guys elsewhere; Seven shows up to tell her something that gives her some peace about Cassie at last, since he reveals Cassie's son (mentioned but not seen in the Six era audios) is none other than the young man who currently travels with him and Ace, Thomas Hector Schofield, aka Hex. (Hex is a Seventh era audio companion who works really welll with the established TARDIS team of Seven and Ace.) Though being Seven, aka the Doctor who made keeping secrets from his companion(s) into an art form, he hasn't told that to Hex yet. It's a very gentle scene, and despite Sylvester McCoy and Maggie Stables not having worked together on the audios before, you really believe the way they respond to each other as the Doctor and Evelyn, subtly different from the way Six and Evelyn interact but still with the quintessence of the relationship intact.
The big resolution scene, otoh, is between the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn and concerns the way he reacted to her leaving him, and the fact he didn't show up at the wedding. (She had wanted him to give her away.) They're keeping the delicate balance of Doctor/Companion relationships here, making it clear that Evelyn sees no contradiction between being completely happy with the life she chose and still being able to tell the Doctor she loves him. (It came across as "I love you as my dearest friend" to me, but far be it from me to keep shippers from making a different interpretation. Either way, it's not said in a pining fashion, and as mentioned, the audio is very clear on her being happy with Rossiter. Oh, and having come to terms with her mortality; Evelyn is pushing 60 at that point, and her heart condition hasn't improved.) Being the Doctor, he's unable to say it back and goes for the infinitely touching "I still miss you" instead.
It's an audio that depends on you having listened to several Six and Evelyn adventures before, since you need to care for them as a team, so under no circumstances start here. But once you do know them, it's wonderful to listen to, if melancholy - in a good way - as it reminds us that companions, and regenerations, come and go, and sooner or later, everything ends. But what an adventure until then!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 04:33 pm (UTC)As for Project:Lazarus, you are so, so right about Baker's performance as the clone. I always find him amazing, but this audio was on a whole other level. So magnificent and heartbreaking, and sure it was a rip off of Alien:Resurrection but I didn't care. I still cried.
God, do I love Six&Evelyn. I know some fans don't like her, or think she is too highly praised. And I know I've read some reviews where people are pissed off about the scene in Arrangements for War when Six tells her how much he cares for her, that they feel it was over the top. That the writers are placing her on a pedestal. But I don't care. I absolutely adore her in every possible way. I'd say she is one of my top five companions of all time. The depth of emotion between them (romantic or not) and the level of respect they have for one another is so f-ing beautiful to me. And Baker and Stables have such chemistry. They are just magical.
PS. This:
this, btw, is a beautiful miniature illustration on how the audios improved Six without changing him - on screen, the scripts actually did make him look callous, but here the listener, though not Evelyn for understandable reasons, are aware he is just being Doctorish and really bad in this type of situations with a companion he deeply cares about
is a perfect illustration of why your reviews kick so much ass.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 07:41 pm (UTC)Yes, and the situation is quite different from how it would be were Evelyn a tv companion, since then we'd know we'd never see her again. Whereas on audio you can tell the end and then go back to show the other adventures they had, which makes for happiness instead of parting sadness.
you are so, so right about Baker's performance as the clone. I always find him amazing, but this audio was on a whole other level. So magnificent and heartbreaking
Like his take on the crippled Alt!Doctor in the Tower in Jubilee, it just kills me listening.
I know some fans don't like her, or think she is too highly praised.
No companion is universally beloved, so that doesn't surprise me. Personally, I think the writers didn't go over the top - Evelyn isn't always right, and instead of just choosing to write a middle-aged companion for the novelty and because they can on audio, they made the downsides a part of her charaterisation, too, just like the pluses. (I.e. Evelyn can't run like a younger companion, her knees are weak, there is her heart condition, and her ingrained way of lecturing younger people - "now listen, young lady" - like her students sometimes puts people of at the wrong moment (Cassie, Sofia)). They thought it through. And the relationship between her and the Doctor grows naturally, so by the time they have that scene in Arrangements for War, it feels earned.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 07:52 pm (UTC)Absolutely. And it really isn't surprising at all. I can see where the critics are coming from sorta. I mean it's clear that the writers love Evelyn as much as the Doctor does and if she isn't your cup of tea, it can seem overwhelming. Just like RTD's love for Rose can seem a bit overmuch at times. A matter of taste, I guess.
They thought it through. And the relationship between her and the Doctor grows naturally, so by the time they have that scene in Arrangements for War, it feels earned.
ABSOLUTELY. Their relationship is so rich and so REAL to me. I think that's another benefit of a strictly audio companion, like Charley or Hex. As opposed to having to fit the adventures and the relationship into what we saw in the show, with the audio companions we see the entire thing from begining to end and it adds SO much. I feel like I come to know and love these companions just as the Doctor is learning about them and it makes all of the emotional stuff that much more intense and meaningful. Earned, like you said.