Bernice soon finds herself trapped in a race against death on an unstable planetoid where there’s more to a legendary tomb than meets the eye.
Bernice soon finds herself trapped in a race against death on an unstable planetoid where there’s more to a legendary tomb than meets the eye.
The Goddess Quandry
And here things get complicated. Despite protests from various placing websites, Bernice Summerfield and the Goddess Quandry is actually set after ‘The Lost Museum’, and after the events of ‘The Crystal of Cantus’ which are kept shrouded in mystery, and is actually set concurrent to the story narration of ‘Death and the Daleks’. The conclusion of this story leads directly into ‘Life in Pieces’, which leads directly into ‘Something’s Changed’, which leads into ‘The Lost Museum’ which this story then follows, which is when ‘Death and the Daleks’ plus ‘Crystal of Cantus’ also happen. Keeping up? Good
It doesn’t really matter to the individual stories but keeping track of the overall timelines has become a nightmare. Never the less, despite the awkward framing device, Andy Rusell pens a fabulous isolated piece that harks back to Big Finish’s original plan for the range, with Bernice’s strangely absent ‘best friend’ Ker’a’nol who hasn’t been seen since the short exclusive piece ‘Buried Treasures’. Jane Goddard, one of Big Finish’s regular actresses, gives a slightly different approach to the role compared to Sarah Mowatt but it works, and comes across somewhat more mouse-like than the first.
The Goddess Quandry concerns a television documentary planned around the Etheria system, which may contain the final resting place of the warlord Aldebrath. The story starts with some comic scenes with Abbott Primus and Father Secundo observing one of Bernice Summerfield’s previous documentaries. They decide to invite her to Etheria to see if she can find the tomb and bring more exposure to the diminished brotherhood.
I actually quite like the comedy value here although by the end the joke does start to wear thin. As events spiral towards the climax, persistent chants begin to take over the play and slow things down. There’s some good tension mounting between Bernice and Ker’a’nol, whilst Father Secundo pleasingly plots away in a voice that is so eerily similar to Christopher Lee yet somehow completely different. Things conclude well, with a pun on Bernice’s old catchphrase ‘Goddess’ and a brilliant unveiling of the greatest warlord who ever lived, just not who was expected.
All in all the Goddess Quandry is pleasing experience, something slight and engaging, that never the less whets the appetite for something ‘big’ to follow.
9 / 10