After saying their goodbyes to Professor Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago, the Doctor and Leela respond to an alien distress call beamed direct from Victorian England. It is the beginning of a journey that will take them to the newly built Space Dock Nerva… where a long overdue homecoming is expected.
A homecoming that could bring about the end of the human race.
DESTINATION: NERVA
After the “soft” intro of the Fourth Doctor Box Set, Big Finish celebrated Tom Baker joining their Doctor Who range with a new series of Fourth Doctor Adventures. These are designed similarly to their New Eighth Doctor Adventures: two-episode, hour-long stories, released separately from the monthly range. This format allows them to forge new directions and establish consistent plots or themes – so, naturally, the first of these stories is written by Nicholas Briggs and prominently involves a completely unnecessary continuity reference.
Yes, it’s “Destination: Nerva” – and, as we learn in the extra features, writer-director Briggs and producer David Richardson knew they had to do a Nerva story in these first six Tom Baker releases. This is obviously intended as a continuity reference to delight fans, but what, exactly, is delightful about it? Nerva is a space station, nothing more – it’s not a character, there’s nothing compelling about the actual structure – so why on earth should I care that they’re doing a story set there? This is also an audio story, so I can’t even get a nostalgic twinge from seeing the old sets recreated.
Perhaps the Nerva issue seems like an insignificant complaint, but it’s symptomatic of the problem facing the entire story: it’s trying way, way too hard to be a nostalgia trip into the 1970s. Everything from the Tom Baker era is crammed in here: gothic 19th century horror, alien invasions on futuristic space stations, an abundance of witty dialogue – all it needs is something from the Bidmead era to complete the set. But none of it operates in service of anything greater: yes, the opening scenes attempt somewhat successfully to be scary and suspenseful, but the story endlessly drags its feet before providing a resolution. Yes, the sound design makes the alien transformations sound painful and horrifying, but the characters are so poorly written that it’s impossible to care about what happens to them. Yes, the Doctor is a font of humor and insight, but he’s written with a sledgehammer wit and an indifferent personality that sound nothing like the character. And yes, Leela is the noble savage, but Briggs forgets that she’s actually intelligent and just makes her sound needlessly violent and unsubtle.
I mean, Tom Baker’s great, obviously, and he’s audibly delighted at returning to the role. Louise Jameson is equally successful, and I’m glad I get to hear this team for the remainder of the first series. Raquel Cassidy is on fine form as well, which is saying something considering the abominable lines she’s been given. Worried that your character has the depth of a dry pond? Reveal out of nowhere that she lost a child in infancy! It won’t add anything but at least it’ll make you seem crass and insensitive!
I try not to listen to the extra features because more often than not they irritate me, but I had some extra time here and listened as Briggs described how he always wanted a story in which the British Empire is the “bad guy.” I wondered, briefly, if Briggs had ever watched Doctor Who in his life, especially the Pertwee era, especially “The Mutants” – but then I realized he was speaking literally: he wanted to write a story in which actual representatives of the actual British Empire were the villains. I didn’t know Doctor Who writers lay awake at night hoping one day to write something crushingly unsubtle, but here we are.
At least the production is commendable. Briggs directs well, and Jamie Robertson’s brilliant sound design is outdone only by the homage to the era his score represents. And the performances are generally beyond reproach. But honestly, is this the best Big Finish could come up with to launch a new range featuring the most popular of all classic series Doctors? A story whose biggest drawing point is “It takes place on the same space station as ‘Revenge of the Cybermen?’” When you learn everything you need to about a story from the cover, it’s not good.
What a disappointment.
3/10