Bernice is asked to investigate the remains of an ancient civilisation on Tysir IV. As she digs deeper into the mystery, she discovers that Tysir IV is not quite as dead as she’d been told.
This story was released free with Dr Who Magazine.
Bernice is asked to investigate the remains of an ancient civilisation on Tysir IV. As she digs deeper into the mystery, she discovers that Tysir IV is not quite as dead as she’d been told.
This story was released free with Dr Who Magazine.
SILVER LINING
Silver Lining begins with a new cliché for the BF range which seems to have replaced the diary as the de facto scene setter; she’s attempting to record a message to send back to the Collection to explain her absence. It’s not the only familiar meme Colin Brake troupes out in this half hour advert for the series. To be fair, for something given out for free, expectations don’t necessarily need to be that high, although if you’re going to use this as marketing it should ideally be on top form.
I’m never a particular fan of awkward ‘fan’ characters fawning over the hero, even if it turns out that they do have a specific agenda later. Nicholas Briggs actually does an astoundingly good job at disguising his voice, I almost didn’t realise it was him. He also plays a lone 1980s Cyberman, a particularly flawed example of the species who relies on logic so flawlessly Lisa Bowerman is capable of instantly running rings around him.
Is it because he’s a machine or because he’s a man? We’ll never know.
The plot, as it plays out in a scant half hour, is actually quite neat and tidy with next to no frills. It makes good, if not innovative, use of both Bernice and the Cybermen, showcasing the main qualities of each within half an hour. One is witty, intelligent and career bound whilst the other is large, strong and logical to obsession. Between them they make an interesting team, although inevitably a double cross was coming. Although Bernice’s escape is…. logical, it is particularly heartless on her part.
All in all Silver Lining is exactly what it promises; Bernice meets the Cybermen. It’s a decent play, a competent remix of many previous Bernice and Cybermen stories. It treads out a few old clichés and I am getting tired of the familiar Bernice ‘diary’ framing device, but they are clichés for a reason: they work.
6 / 10