Two prisoners meet in a prison cell. Zara was only born yesterday but already she’s killed hundreds of people. Ace was going to kill everyone on the planet. What have they got against the people of Erratoon? A crossover with the Key 2 Time series.
Two prisoners meet in a prison cell. Zara was only born yesterday but already she’s killed hundreds of people. Ace was going to kill everyone on the planet. What have they got against the people of Erratoon? A crossover with the Key 2 Time series.
Prisoner’s Dilemma is the Ace companion chronicle but the first part is very much Zara’s story. Ace and Zara meet in a prison cell. Zara tells us, not Ace, how she became who she is, what happened right after her ‘birth’ and the events that led up to her being in prison. Zara explains that she is very open to persuasion as she doesn’t now any better, which I think, will make it very interesting to compare her to her sister, Amy. Zara tells of Zinc, who taught her how to be selfish and jealous.
The second part is much more of an even split between Zara’s and Ace’s story. There is a lot of flashing back to the ‘present’ story between Zara and Ace, and Ace and Zara telling their own stories but it doesn’t get confusing. I found it very very easy to follow and incredably enjoyable.
And the extras were great! Writer, Simon Guerrier, was interviewing Sophie Aldred, Laura Doddington and Lisa Bowerman. Those four together are incredably funny! And they talked about the infamous Big Finish lunches!
Both parts have loads of random Doctor Who references shoved in which are funny if you recognise them and just add to the story if you don’t. This audio was directed by the wonderful Lisa Bowerman, who did an incredable job. She managed to keep the flow and rhythm of the story. The balance of music to dialogue was perfect. The music wasn’t so loud that you couldn’t hear dialogue, but it wasn’t so quiet that you didn’t notice it. It helped build suspension in the right places.
So all in all, an absolutly wonderful audio and worth every single penny. Its £8.99 from Big Finish and I highly recommend it. If this is the standard of the Key 2 Time series, then its going to be one of the best series that Big Finish have produced. I can’t wait for the rest of the audios now!
THE COMPANION CHRONICLES: THE PRISONER’S DILEMMA
For the sixteenth Companion Chronicle, and the eighth of the third series, Big Finish offers a surprising twist to the format once again, changing virtually everything accepted as normal in the range. Simon Guerrier’s “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” is a successful experiment, pushing boundaries while simultaneously telling an interesting story.
Much like “The Darkening Eye” before it, “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” ignores the standard “impossible casting” format, set as it is in the McCoy era and narrated by Sophie Aldred. Not only that, it’s fairly clearly set during the New Adventures period: this is the serious, weapons-expert “New Ace” seen post-Deceit. This doesn’t compel a great change in Aldred’s performance – she’s recognizably the same character, just with a bit of a harder edge. I also love the story’s use of the Doctor, because it forces the listener to take the perspective of an NA companion: the Doctor, clad in white linen suit, hovers around the edges of the story, observing but rarely seen to interfere. It’s quite obvious that he has a plan in place, but that plan is never made clear – and the end of the story, with Ace’s memories wiped and selectively restored, throws even the truth of the story itself into question.
Then again, what we do know is that he’s following up on the actions of a previous self, and we know that because “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” is an explicit prequel to the Key 2 Time trilogy. Zara (Laura Doddington) is the other major character in the story, and though she hasn’t started using that name, the story is clearly designed to show us her beginnings. The foreboding of the opening narration is borne out in the first episode, as an entire lake is transformed into a segment of the Key to Time, resulting in the deaths of thousands. It’s actually surprising how grim this is compared to the Key audio trilogy – I haven’t heard any of Guerrier’s “Graceless” series but now I wonder if it’s more like this than the main range stories.
The story also shatters the Companion Chronicles format by using both Zara and Ace as narrators, and completely disposing with a framing sequence. The scenes with the two narrators together are played as two-handers, the narration disappearing. Despite the unique format, these scenes are actually the weakest: the dilemma faced by the two prisoners is much less interesting than the theoretical problem that shares the story’s title, and the characters don’t struggle much with it. Much better are the narrated sequences: Guerrier brilliantly presents Zara’s “formative years,” while seeing Ace both before and after her memory is erased is a disquieting experience.
There are also some neat concepts on display, particularly the idea that the city is designed, from the ground up, to adapt when its protective dome is damaged. The production is also successful: director Lisa Bowerman deftly shifts between “live action” and narrative, while David Darlington provides effective sound design. Overall, “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” is another success. While it’s a bit simple in places, in others it’s quite fascinating. At the end of the story, I was left wanting to find out more – and isn’t that usually the mark of a good one?
Recommended.
7/10