On the planet Kelfer the Doctor encounters a stranded Time Lord, Askran, who has synthesized a narcotic called Sargol. The Doctor finds himself in the employ of an evil and warped intelligence.
On the planet Kelfer the Doctor encounters a stranded Time Lord, Askran, who has synthesized a narcotic called Sargol. The Doctor finds himself in the employ of an evil and warped intelligence.
Heading into the final story of the first Audio Visuals season, the stories have really been on a high lately. And speaking of highs, it’s SHADOW WORLD!
Blurb On the planet Kelfer the Doctor encounters a stranded Time Lord, Askran, who has synthesized a narcotic called Sargol. The Doctor finds himself in the employ of an evil and warped intelligence.
Our story begins with a man and a woman talking to each other in a dreamlike scene (echoes, reverbs, ya know). The man seems to be in pain. Next, we’re back in the Tardis, where the Doctor tells Greg they’re about to land. Greg shows mock excitement, which irritates the Doctor. He gives Greg an ultimatum to either stop being gloomy about his life in the Tardis or go back home. Perhaps a little harsh, considering that Greg’s life with the Doctor up to this point is a cross between Bambi’s mom and Schindler’s List.
Meanwhile, the man we heard earlier is coming out of his hallucination. His assistant tells him that he’s taken too much Sargol. Askran (his name) tells her that she doesn’t know anything about Sargol, and that the only way to understand its ecstasy and pain is to use it.
CUE THEME MUSIC
Greg and the Doctor continue fussing. Greg isn’t over the death of the shape shifty blob monster that he fell in love with in the last adventure (teenagers!). They land on the tranquil planet Kelfer so that Greg can go for a walk and come to terms with things.
Askran has his assistant, Miranda, go to town to deliver a shipment of Sargol. Meanwhile, he’ll be working on his Tardis. Yep, he’s a drug addict Time Lord. Wooohooo!
Greg runs across Miranda, who pulls a gun on him and demands to know who he is. She considers killing him, but when Greg mentions the Tardis, she takes him prisoner.
Some locals have discovered the Tardis and mumble to each other about how nasty Sargol actually is.
Miranda takes Greg to Askran. She tells him that Greg arrived in a Tardis, and discovers that he is traveling with the Doctor. Askran has heard of him, but not a great deal. He knows that he meddles and could present a problem for him.
The previously mentioned locals enter the Tardis (the Doctor opened the door for them) and kidnap the Doctor.
We next find Greg freaking out in a drug-induced panic with voices singing nursery rhymes to him. Askran gives Miranda a tracer to find the Doctor’s Tardis.
The locals start interrogating the Doctor, demanding to know why he has been poisoning them with Sargol. The Doctor says that it’s a case of mistaken identity (he must really get tired of that). They explain that while a few locals were drunk, Askrin plied them with Sargol. The drug eventually kills, but first takes them into the shadow world (a nasty psychosis that’s apparently something like watching Yellow Submarine while standing on your head and eating honey mustard). They let the Doctor go, and he quickly runs across Miranda. They have a little catfight, and Miranda takes him at gunpoint to Askran.
Meanwhile, Greg is freaking out big time with voices mocking him.
The Doctor and Askran meet and have one of those snippy wars of words that Time Lords always do. Imagine a fight between Frasier and Niles Crane. Askran’s Tardis is damaged, and he needs the Doctor’s services. In exchange, Askran will return Greg to him. Askran plans to take his Sargol all across the universe and turn everyone into drug addicts, causing society to collapse.
The Blue Meanies in Greg’s head tell him that he is responsible for Reannon’s death. Pink elephants on parade to the extreme.
End of side one…
The Doctor gets to work fixing Askran’s Tardis. After pressing, Miranda admits to the Doctor that Askran is addicted to Sargol. The Doctor tells her that Askran is about to crack, but she won’t listen and tells him to get back to work.
Lets check in on Greg, shall we? Still tripping? Ok, we’ll check back later.
Some locals argue with other locals about whether or not Sargol is good. It’s kind of a b-story and it doesn’t really matter a whole lot. It’s one of those things where you understand what’s going on, but none of the characters are important enough to bother learning their names.
The Doctor tells Miranda that she’ll end up in trouble if she continues hanging around a drug-addicted psychotic Time Lord. Some local drug addicts come back to Askran for a fix, so he kills them. Told you not to bother learning names! The Doctor and Greg are left as Miranda’s prisoner, but she releases them with a Sargol antidote. The three escape, with Askran having mistakenly taken a dose of hard Sargol instead of an antidote.
Miranada decides to stay on the planet, saying that she wants to help the villagers whom she had a hand in addicting. After the Doctor and Greg leave, she shoots a local and prepares to, I don’t know, continue being really nasty.
Evaluation
All joking aside for a second, I am passionately anti-drugs. But this is about as far from a pro-drug story as you could come up with. Shadow World takes a conceit that you could never have seen on television, a drug addicted Time Lord, and turns him into a realistic villain. Can you possibly imagine Anthony Ainley’s Master snorting lines off of his Time Rotor? It’s very very grim and pitiful. And it’s that grimness that makes Askran’s decaying and corrupt character so interesting. He doesn’t die at the end. His Tardis malfunctions and he’s flung who knows where. But it’s a character who is being devoured by his addicition. A brilliant, albeit arrogant, Time Lord who is imploding.
The story is pretty well plotted. The secondary story about the locals and their drug addiction isn’t all that interesting, since the characters aren’t very developed. They serve to set the scene that Askran has created. My major gripe is with Askran’s plan to spread the Sargol addiction across the universe. Not because it’s evil, but because, as Smithers would say, it’s “cartoonish super-villainy.” In a story that deals with the psychological torture of drug use, giving the villain a mustache twirling plot just doesn’t feel quite right.
This was something I’d planned on pointing out, but now nobody’s going to believe it because he’s commented on this thread. I really enjoyed John Ainsworth’s performance. Apart from Michael Wisher, he’s the first “guest” that really stands out to me. His erudite performance feels like a Time Lord. He comes off as a self important twit, which I mean as a compliment! I had this story in mind when I decided to start reviewing, partly because I liked his character so much.
Something you come to appreciate after listening to a few Audio Visuals is that they don’t usually end with a hug or a smile. They end by telling you there’s something on your shoe and then punching you in the back of the head. It’s not run of the mill kid’s stuff.
Shadow World is the final story of the first season of Audio Visuals, and it finishes out the first run strongly. And while the Daleks, Conglomerate, Askran and Sargol all make returns throughout the series, there is no linking arc as will be found from now on. I think that’s a good idea. There are cases where it works, like the Charley arc, but they’re often muddled and confusing. Bad Wolf my foot!
Overall 9 out of 10
This one nearly got 10 out of 10, but it needed a little more Doctor in it.
NEXT TIME
My life is at your command when the Draconians return in MAENAD.