The 5th Doctor arrives on the planet Artaris, where he and Iris Wildthyme become entangled with the search for the Holy Relic.
The 5th Doctor arrives on the planet Artaris, where he and Iris Wildthyme become entangled with the search for the Holy Relic.
EXCELIS DAWNS
Releasing a linked trilogy of past Doctor plays during the second McGann season was a fine idea by Big Finish — it allowed fans of the past Doctors to whet their appetites while simultaneously attempting an arc-type plot with the older actors. However, Paul Magrs’ script for the opener is curious for a “hook” — rather than an exciting adventure, it’s more of a rambling travelogue. It’s good for what it is, but it’s certainly unexpected.
I’ve often said the one problem with the fifth Doctor/Peri/Erimem audios is that they necessarily avoid the tones of the surrounding season 21. Here, though, Magrs has done his homework — references to Turlough and Tegan as well as The Five Doctors set the scene in season 21, and the Doctor is true to form, questioning his role in an increasingly hostile universe. Of course, this means that the Doctor’s role in the resolution is passive, but the tone of Magrs’ script is such that it doesn’t really matter. By the time the carefully-inserted continuity references are through mixing with the well-crafted alien society, it’s difficult not to stop grinning.
However, this doesn’t change the fact that the play is far too long. Yes, Magrs is a skilled writer and it’s fun to listen to what he has to say, but there are far too many stretches of this play in which absolutely nothing happens. Quite why it had to be extended to two discs is beyond me; I understand that travelogue narratives require a slow pace, but there exist scenes which are simply unnecessary.
Peter Davison seems to get better with each successive performance, and here he expertly recaptures his late-era persona. This Doctor lacks his characteristic “breathless enthusiasm,” possessing instead an introspective quality tempered by increasing sarcasm. He’s exasperated by Iris, but it’s not pure dislike, and this comes through perfectly in Davison’s acting. Rather than coming across as maudlin, the reflective scenes about Adric have a strong emotional resonance, showing both powerful scripting and acting.
And as there is no companion, the support role falls to Katy Manning, playing Magrs favorite Iris Wildthyme. Iris is a perfect anti-Doctor for this script, representing everything that the fifth Doctor has grown out of: defensiveness, silliness, and a strong desire for random adventure. Her back and forth exchanges with Grayvorn are hilarious, her conversations with the Doctor sometimes funnier, sometimes thought-provoking, and her personality always lively. At times, Iris could become annoying in the novels, but not here — Manning invests the character with surprising warmth under the satiric exterior. Of course, given her DVD commentaries, I sometimes wonder where Iris ends and Katy Manning begins, but…
Rounding out the main cast is the warlord Grayvorn, played by Buffy the Vampire Slayer regular Anthony Stewart Head. Magrs writes Grayvorn as a brute — granted, a brute with particular insight into the world of Artaris, but a brute nonetheless. As such, Head throws himself into the role with gusto, putting the fear of God into each of his (slightly ridiculous) threats to Iris and the Doctor. Perhaps the only weakness in his performance is his grunting during his fight sequences, but that’s hardly his fault. Posy Miller is decent as Sister Jolene, but both her and Billy Miller’s Zombie King go way over the top by the end of the play.
David Darlington’s sound design, unfortunately, is subpar. The sound effects are confusing and indistinct while the mixing is particularly poor. I refer specifically to the integration of Head’s lines, recorded in a separate studio, into the production — it constantly sounds as though Head is elsewhere, especially during his fight sequences, which constitute some of the least exciting ever committed to audio. Darlington’s score, however, is excellent — though I’m a bit uneasy with its dead seriousness juxtaposed against the often overt humor of the script. Gary Russell’s direction is decent, though it sounds as though Head either didn’t listen to his fellow actors or Head’s fellow actors didn’t listen to his recordings. Darlington angrily asks in The Inside Story whether anyone could tell that Don Warrington recorded his lines separately in Neverland — no, they couldn’t, but that was because Neverland sounded better.
Endearing as it is, it’s hard to give Excelis Dawns a particularly good grade. While Magrs’ script and the performances of Davison and Manning are excellent, the production seems to have gotten out of control, creating a much more amateurish sound than usual. Add to that an overlong running time and you’ve got a bit of a mess — but at its heart it’s strong enough to make it worth hearing.
6/10