The sinister organisation that wants to control everyone on earth has even more sinister masters.
1 Comment
Styre
on May 9, 2016 at 3:34 AM
WORLDWIDE WEB
It’s pretty obvious what happened here. With Big Finish attempting to fill the Doctor Who TV “gap year” of 2009 with the third season of Paul McGann audios, they opted to finish the season with an epic story set on modern-day Earth with an old enemy returning and a deadly threat to the human race. That should sound familiar, for obvious reasons — but where “Worldwide Web” (and its predecessor) falls down in comparison to its TV counterparts is in the characters. In the end, we’re left with a finale that certainly acts epic, and throws a major threat at humanity, but at its heart it’s an empty, soulless runaround and a significant disappointment.
Fortunately, we get to hear much more of Lucie in this story than we did in the first part. While she spent the majority of “The Eight Truths” possessed, here we learn that Lucie’s mind still survives, fighting against its Spider invader. This internal conflict is easily the most entertaining part of the play, and Sheridan Smith does a fantastic job of playing Lucie’s struggle — I was genuinely concerned about her attempt to escape, something I couldn’t say about the other conflicts. Compare to the Doctor, who faces virtually no personal difficulties over the course of the play. This is not to say that resolving the situation is easy, but if this series wants to be a TV replacement, where’s the drama facing the Doctor? Where’s the decision, for example, between letting the Daleks survive or killing everyone on Earth? Without this, the drama seems empty — yes, the Doctor uses TARDIS technology to break the Queen’s links with the stellar manipulator, and uses crystals to break the Spiders’ influences over the possessed, but he never feels threatened. There’s a moment where author Eddie Robson tries to show the extent of the Spiders’ possession, but it’s shockingly awkward for such a reliable writer: the Doctor, while racing to save the day, proposes a stop at a nearby drive-thru to get hamburgers! And yes, that sounds wacky and “Doctorish,” but it’s played perfectly straight, just so the regulars can be recognized as enemies by the girl at the window.
There’s an attempt at the conclusion to insert some emotion: the Headhunter (Katarina Olsson) sacrifices herself in order to stop the Queen Spider. As her mind is slowly broken down by psychic feedback, the Doctor urges her to hold onto something she knows to be true, to retain her identity — but, tragically, she cannot even remember her own name, and is lost. Unfortunately, the “tragedy” is anything but: in the three seasons of McGann audios, all we’ve learned about the Headhunter is that she’s a dangerous adversary who acts exclusively out of self-interest. We haven’t been shown any reason to feel sympathy for this character, and while the moment where we realize we don’t even know her name is well-written and well-scored, it rings hollow.
Which is my complaint about the story. As usual, I’m not saying it’s awful. The performances are generally good — McGann is in control, Sheridan Smith is excellent, and the supporting cast, particularly Sophie Winkleman and Beth Chalmers, is solid. Martin Johnson’s design is effective, with one or two truly memorable compositions — something that has been lacking in BF of late — while Nicholas Briggs’ direction is effective. But there’s something missing here, something absent from the core of the play, something that was definitely there in — for example — Robson’s “Human Resources” two-parter. “Worldwide Web” is a dressed-up Doctor Who runaround, with little actually going on, and its few attempts at depth ring false. And the returning villain isn’t even interesting! The Spiders are exactly the same as they were in 1974, with the same basic plan — a universal hive mind — and behaviors. This time they’re using stolen Time Lord technology, but absolutely nothing interesting is done with the stellar manipulator, which might as well have been called the Floating MacGuffin for all the difference it made.
Easily the most disappointing Eddie Robson release, and yet another in the litany of Big Finish “event” failures. Sigh.
WORLDWIDE WEB
It’s pretty obvious what happened here. With Big Finish attempting to fill the Doctor Who TV “gap year” of 2009 with the third season of Paul McGann audios, they opted to finish the season with an epic story set on modern-day Earth with an old enemy returning and a deadly threat to the human race. That should sound familiar, for obvious reasons — but where “Worldwide Web” (and its predecessor) falls down in comparison to its TV counterparts is in the characters. In the end, we’re left with a finale that certainly acts epic, and throws a major threat at humanity, but at its heart it’s an empty, soulless runaround and a significant disappointment.
Fortunately, we get to hear much more of Lucie in this story than we did in the first part. While she spent the majority of “The Eight Truths” possessed, here we learn that Lucie’s mind still survives, fighting against its Spider invader. This internal conflict is easily the most entertaining part of the play, and Sheridan Smith does a fantastic job of playing Lucie’s struggle — I was genuinely concerned about her attempt to escape, something I couldn’t say about the other conflicts. Compare to the Doctor, who faces virtually no personal difficulties over the course of the play. This is not to say that resolving the situation is easy, but if this series wants to be a TV replacement, where’s the drama facing the Doctor? Where’s the decision, for example, between letting the Daleks survive or killing everyone on Earth? Without this, the drama seems empty — yes, the Doctor uses TARDIS technology to break the Queen’s links with the stellar manipulator, and uses crystals to break the Spiders’ influences over the possessed, but he never feels threatened. There’s a moment where author Eddie Robson tries to show the extent of the Spiders’ possession, but it’s shockingly awkward for such a reliable writer: the Doctor, while racing to save the day, proposes a stop at a nearby drive-thru to get hamburgers! And yes, that sounds wacky and “Doctorish,” but it’s played perfectly straight, just so the regulars can be recognized as enemies by the girl at the window.
There’s an attempt at the conclusion to insert some emotion: the Headhunter (Katarina Olsson) sacrifices herself in order to stop the Queen Spider. As her mind is slowly broken down by psychic feedback, the Doctor urges her to hold onto something she knows to be true, to retain her identity — but, tragically, she cannot even remember her own name, and is lost. Unfortunately, the “tragedy” is anything but: in the three seasons of McGann audios, all we’ve learned about the Headhunter is that she’s a dangerous adversary who acts exclusively out of self-interest. We haven’t been shown any reason to feel sympathy for this character, and while the moment where we realize we don’t even know her name is well-written and well-scored, it rings hollow.
Which is my complaint about the story. As usual, I’m not saying it’s awful. The performances are generally good — McGann is in control, Sheridan Smith is excellent, and the supporting cast, particularly Sophie Winkleman and Beth Chalmers, is solid. Martin Johnson’s design is effective, with one or two truly memorable compositions — something that has been lacking in BF of late — while Nicholas Briggs’ direction is effective. But there’s something missing here, something absent from the core of the play, something that was definitely there in — for example — Robson’s “Human Resources” two-parter. “Worldwide Web” is a dressed-up Doctor Who runaround, with little actually going on, and its few attempts at depth ring false. And the returning villain isn’t even interesting! The Spiders are exactly the same as they were in 1974, with the same basic plan — a universal hive mind — and behaviors. This time they’re using stolen Time Lord technology, but absolutely nothing interesting is done with the stellar manipulator, which might as well have been called the Floating MacGuffin for all the difference it made.
Easily the most disappointing Eddie Robson release, and yet another in the litany of Big Finish “event” failures. Sigh.
4/10