The Doctor and Ace are locked up. The TARDIS is gone. Things just couldn’t get worse, could they?
Of course they could. Things can always get worse — the new President of the Solar System, Josiah W Dogbolter, didn’t get where he is in life without learning that. That’s why he has a Quantum Possibility Engine. It’s a wonderful machine, creating a wonderful Solar System. And with this wonderful device, he can bring happiness and peace to all.
Possibly.
Either that or tear the universe to shreds, it’s hard to be sure which.
THE QUANTUM POSSIBILITY ENGINE
Finally! Big Finish actually tries to do something interesting with the Ace and Mel companion pairing! At the end of the last story, Mel betrayed the Doctor and Ace, and that leads us straight into “The Quantum Possibility Engine” by Guy Adams. This story consciously adopts a comic book style, even reintroducing DWM comic villain Josiah W. Dogbolter, last heard on audio in “The Maltese Penguin.” But does it work? Sort of. It’s definitely a fun, entertaining listen, but it’s also so lightweight as to be utterly disposable.
The plot is complicated but Adams ties it together rather well. As briefly as I can: Dogbolter buys Mel’s debt from the Sperovores and uses it to blackmail her into stealing the TARDIS for him. Once he acquires it, he sends it back in time to give his scientists an effectively infinite amount of time to figure out how it works. New technology in hand, Dogbolter orders the construction of a “Quantum Possibility Engine,” something that locks the Solar System into a separate pocket of time and enables Dogbolter to rewrite events within the pocket at will. The Doctor, Ace, and Narvin (sent by the Time Lords) are exiled into the system, their personal histories rewritten, leaving Mel on her own to get the TARDIS back and save the day, even as Dogbolter has to defend the Solar System from an invading Krasi fleet. All of this works: all of the threads are tied off, everything makes sense, and the whole thing has a delightful comic book feel, making you want to turn the pages to see the next colorful splash panel. Mel in particular gets a lot to do: she’s the Doctor surrogate in this story and does a wonderful job. Adams puts her intelligence on full display: for once, she’s not just a woman with a good memory, she’s a brilliant, capable hero in her own right. She even gets some darker moments in her interactions with robot servant Hob (Wayne Forester) and Bonnie Langford pulls them off surprisingly well. I also think Dogbolter is fantastic in this: Toby Longworth gives a strong, memorable performance as a character that starts out as a simple villain but evolves some interesting shades of grey.
As entertaining as the story is, it is in desperate need of more weight. I mentioned that Narvin is in this story, and while Sean Carlsen gives his usual great performance and his interactions with Sylvester McCoy are delightful, Narvin contributes literally nothing to the story. You could cut his character out entirely and absolutely nothing about the plot would change; story elements like this are normally removed during the editing process. The Doctor, Ace, and Narvin have their histories altered: Ace works as a security officer cohabiting with her news anchor boyfriend, the Doctor is a cleaner living in public housing, and Narvin is a scientist developing new microwaves for a home appliance company. It is fun hearing them in these different situations – Narvin in particular is hilarious – but that’s as far as Adams wants to take things. Ace in particular should be horrified at the idea of being a cop, but she barely reacts at all, while the Doctor’s amnesia leaves him… almost exactly the same. The Quantum Possibility Engine is a fascinating idea, but Adams does almost nothing interesting with it, making Dogbolter seem unimaginative and wasting its potential. There’s also the question of Ace and Mel: Ace values loyalty above all else, so Mel’s betrayal should drive a massive wedge between them. The scenario is crying out for scenes between the two women, showing the rift in the TARDIS crew, but the script separates them for basically the entire running time. And then at the end, Ace essentially says “I’m mad at you but I’ll get over it,” and you know this is going to be completely forgotten by the next story featuring this group.
Overall, I enjoyed “The Quantum Possibility Engine.” There’s nothing inherently wrong with lightweight Doctor Who, but it needs to be heavier than this. Even stories like “Delta and the Bannermen” had some dark undercurrents, but this one floats away on a cloud. If you’re okay with that, you’ll love this; if you’re not, you’ll probably enjoy it anyway but, like me, find it wanting.
Recommended nonetheless.
6/10