The Foe from the Future
The Grange is haunted, so they say. This stately home in the depths of Devon has been the site of many an apparition. And now people are turning up dead. The ghosts are wild in the forest. But the Doctor doesn’t believe in ghosts.
The TARDIS follows a twist in the vortex to the village of Staffham in 1977 and discovers something is very wrong with time. But spectral highwaymen and cavaliers are the least of the Doctor’s worries.
For the Grange is owned by the sinister Jalnik, and Jalnik has a scheme two thousand years in the making. Only the Doctor and Leela stand between him and the destruction of history itself. It’s the biggest adventure of their lives – but do they have the time?
The Valley of Death
A century after his Great-Grandfather Cornelius vanished in the Amazon rainforest, Edward Perkins is journeying to the depths of the jungle to find out what became of his ancestor’s lost expedition. Intrigued by what appears to be a description of a crashed spacecraft in the diaries of that first voyage, the Doctor and Leela join him on his quest. But when their plane runs into trouble and ends up crash landing, everyone gets more than they bargained for.
The jungle is filled with giant creatures and angry tribesmen, all ready to attack. But in the famed lost city of the Maygor tribe, something far, far worse is lurking. Something with an offer to make to mankind. Who are the Lurons and can they be trusted? Will the Doctor defeat the plans of the malevolent Godrin or will he become just another victim of the legendary Valley of Death?
THE LOST STORIES: THE FOURTH DOCTOR BOX SET
THE FOE FROM THE FUTURE
When Big Finish first began releasing Doctor Who audio stories, they brought Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy into the fold to recreate their respective eras. Not long after that, they convinced Paul McGann to bring his eighth Doctor into the fold, and for many years those four Doctors were the faces of Big Finish. But there was always one other surviving Doctor from the classic series: Tom Baker, the most famous of them all, who for years resisted every effort to secure his involvement. But Baker broke his silence with a series of Paul Magrs scripts for BBC Audio, and not long after that Big Finish finally secured his services. But rather than introducing Baker with a series of new scripts, BF debuted him in the Lost Stories range with two stories originating in the Hinchcliffe era.
The first of these, Robert Banks Stewart’s “The Foe From the Future,” was originally intended to close the legendary season 14 and would eventually serve as a minor inspiration to its replacement, “The Talons of Weng-Chiang.” Stewart, a veteran TV writer, had two previous Doctor Who credits to his name: “Terror of the Zygons” and “The Seeds of Doom,” both among the best-regarded episodes in the entirety of the classic series. With John Dorney adapting the idea to audio, it’s no surprise that “Foe” follows in the footsteps of Stewart’s other scripts – it’s consistently great from start to finish.
The big story here is Tom Baker’s debut release with Big Finish, and it could not possibly have gone better. Baker is the eldest of the surviving Doctors – he’s approaching 80 – and so it’s impossible to keep the difficulties of age from his voice when comparing it to 1975. But in all other respects, it’s astonishing how easily and how completely he slips back into the role of the fourth Doctor: I had a wide grin on my face from his first scene that rarely faded through all six episodes. Admittedly, much of the fourth Doctor’s characterization was merely Baker’s own personality, but it’s all here: his ability to switch on a dime from frivolous to deadly serious, the sly grin you can hear in his voice as he spins off a sarcastic comment, the way he can make technobabble sound simultaneously ridiculous and utterly believable… name a character trait and it’s here, on full display. The script doesn’t shy away from this, either – the authors provide an incredibly witty script with a good mix of horror and comedy, a perfect fit for its era.
Alongside Tom Baker’s Doctor is Louise Jameson as Leela. While this character isn’t new to Big Finish – she’s appeared in the Companion Chronicles and the Gallifrey miniseries, among others – but certainly her most natural place is alongside the Doctor, and Jameson sounds like she’s just stepped off the TV set with Baker. Leela is a delight in this script, easily controlling her share of the action and rarely slipping into the stereotypical companion role. As ever with the character, both her savagery and her human compassion are at the forefront, and I’m continually amazed at the ease with which Jameson can switch between the two. It’s easy to write characters like this according to stereotype, a mistake the TV show made from time to time – but that certainly doesn’t happen here. It’s not hyperbole to call “The Foe from the Future” one of the best Doctor/companion showcases ever released by Big Finish.
Really, what’s to complain about here? Jalnik (Paul Freeman) is a delightfully memorable villain, totally insane without ever becoming irritating. He also forms a great double act with Butler (John Green), who delights all the way up to his final confrontation with Leela. Sherlock veteran Louise Brealey is nothing but appealing as companion surrogate Charlotte-from-the-village, just as Camilla Power’s Kostal is darkly villainous – though nothing like Jalnik! Plotting isn’t a huge priority for me, but this is shockingly well structured for a story with roots in the 1970s – everything is set up with an eye toward the conclusion. The sound design from Howard Carter may not evoke any Dudley Simpson oddities but it’s effective nonetheless, and Ken Bentley’s direction keeps a rare Big Finish full-cast six-part story flowing without pacing or performance problems. Overall, you couldn’t ask for a better debut story for Tom Baker’s time at Big Finish. That it’s part of the Lost Stories series almost seems incidental – yes, this could easily slot into season 14, but that was the best season the classic series ever did, so that should tell you something.
Excellent!
10/10
THE VALLEY OF DEATH
The second story in the box comes from Philip Hinchcliffe himself, apparently intended for production in the season following his departure. It’s adapted by Jonathan Morris, who became rightly well known for his Williams-era novel “Festival of Death” and who brings that same sensibility to this production. Unfortunately, some questionable characterization keeps “The Valley of Death” from reaching the heights of “The Foe from the Future,” but it’s still an entertaining listen in its own right.
Much like “The Foe from the Future,” Tom Baker is firing on all cylinders again in this story. He gleefully goes over the top from time to time – his description of an exclusive interview with God is hilarious – but he also displays some of the surprising, righteous anger that made his performance in stories like “The Pirate Planet” so effective. He’s clearly having fun with it, and the humor means the story isn’t entirely serious, but there’s little to complain about this performance.
But the script isn’t quite as elegant as the other story. “The Valley of Death” is essentially split into two parts: for the first two episodes, the characters are exploring an uninvestigated part of the Amazon jungle in search of a missing expedition and a lost city of gold – but once they find it, the story rapidly switches back to 1977 London and transforms into an alien invasion. While this style has been used effectively in the past – “The Seeds of Doom” comes immediately to mind – here the opening parts seem almost incidental to the story, the lost expedition contributing virtually nothing to the eventual resolution. The jungle is full of giant frogs and a dangerous lost native tribe, but neither of these contributes significantly to the plot despite being heavily emphasized in the early going.
The characters don’t do very well, either. While there’s nothing wrong with Louise Jameson’s performance, Leela seems a bit more stilted than usual, addressing every character by their full name and seeming more ready than usual to declare her identity as a warrior of the Sevateem. The “greatest weapon in the universe: a screwdriver!” line is also a bit too theatrical for her, but that’s getting into nitpicking. More obviously wrong is Jane Slavin, whose Valerie Carlton is nothing more than an assembly of irritating journalist stereotypes, and who adopts an accent so peculiar it’s impossible to identify. Nor does Anthony Howell do any better – Edward Perkins is a weak, useless character, but crucially he’s also unsympathetic, and any entertainment gained from Leela mocking him gets old after four episodes. Professor Perkins (David Killick) is the most interesting, so naturally he’s immediately disposed of when his plot function is complete! Nigel Carrington, however, is fantastic; Godrin is a delightfully evil character with an occasionally generous side that amuses as well.
This review sounds negative, but overall I did enjoy “The Valley of Death.” It’s a great early-Williams era story, and if the script is a bit disjointed and the characters aren’t great, it’s still much better than something like “Underworld.” The pace drags somewhat near the end of the jungle sequences, but otherwise Ken Bentley’s direction is first-rate; Andy Hardwick’s sound design and score, meanwhile, are efficient but wholly unmemorable. “The Foe from the Future” is certainly the highlight of this box set, but “The Valley of Death” is a fine second story and well worth hearing.
Recommended.
7/10