The 6th Doctor arrives on the planet Artaris many centuries after his first visit, where a seemingly familiar figure is still hunting for the Holy relic.
The 6th Doctor arrives on the planet Artaris many centuries after his first visit, where a seemingly familiar figure is still hunting for the Holy relic.
EXCELIS RISING
After the double-disc start to the Excelis trilogy, Excelis Dawns, Big Finish’s second offering in the series was released in single-disc format, just as originally intended. As such, the story is on the order of an original series two-parter, and David McIntee’s script features all the advantages and flaws that one would expect from such a length.
Unfortunately, this is the middle part of a trilogy, and as such it serves only to move the action along from the start to the conclusion. It is of course possible to write a brilliant second part (The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II), but this one is simply average, doing exactly what it says on the box. Of course it’s obvious from square one that Grayvorn/Maupassant is responsible for the murder, but the idea is to advance Maupassant’s condition and disembody him. The story thus becomes a simple runaround inside a museum, evoking a traditional Doctor Who sense — there’s not a great deal to comment upon, save that McIntee does a fine job of capturing a claustrophobic environment. The steampunk setting is there, yes, but I’ve never found steampunk to be interesting.
Colin Baker turns in his usual solid performance as the sixth Doctor, and the script gives him a fun sense of enthusiasm. His desire to see dinosaurs in the museum is hilarious, and he approaches problems cheerfully — this precise emotion isn’t exactly normal for this Doctor but it’s carried off exceptionally well.
Anthony Stewart Head returns to his role as Grayvorn, this time as Reeve Maupassant, and after one thousand years his character has become less violent and much more sinister. Head adopts a very quiet, mournful voice for this turn in the role, and it functions much better than his bellowing rendition of Grayvorn — he convincingly portrays a man who has lived for a millennium and who is driven by a desire to reclaim the Relic. Charles Kay, meanwhile, is excellent as the Curator — it’s always refreshing to hear characters willing to take the Doctor at face value. Danby is a pseudo-companion, and serves mostly as a function of exposition, but Nicky Goldie is engaging all the same.
On the production front, Excelis Rising is a great improvement over its predecessor. Whatever caused Head’s performance to sound odd in Excelis Dawns is absent from this play — and David Darlington’s sound design is quite convincing. This play also represented Edward Salt’s directorial debut with the Doctor Who range, and his turn in the director’s chair is a success — despite the play’s formulaic status, the pace never flags and the actors convince throughout. Darlington’s score, reused in part from Excelis Dawns, is excellent — and the heartbeat motif at the conclusion is eerie.
Overall, Excelis Rising is a solid Doctor Who story. It doesn’t aspire to greatness, and nothing about it reaches that status, but it’s still well worth hearing. As I’ve said in the past, I disagree with the idea that sticking with what works is somehow a bad idea — as such, this marks a good continuation for the trilogy.
6/10