While Greg recovers from Sargol poisoning, the Doctor visits Cal 2, a research facility dealing with the mentally unstable.
There he is alarmed to discover that the lunatics have taken over the asylum!
While Greg recovers from Sargol poisoning, the Doctor visits Cal 2, a research facility dealing with the mentally unstable.
There he is alarmed to discover that the lunatics have taken over the asylum!
Greg’s got sargol poisoning, the Doctor visits a lunatic asylum, and I’ve had so much highly-caffeinated hot chocolate that I can’t tell if I’m writing this review or just thinking it. Strap yourselves in, kids, cause here comes MAENAD!
Blurb While Greg recovers from Sargol poisoning, the Doctor visits Cal 2, a research facility dealing with the mentally unstable. There he is alarmed to discover that the lunatics have taken over the asylum!
The story begins with the Doctor having taken Greg to a doctor friend of his, to treat his sargol addiction. To avoid inquiries, his doctor friend is treating Greg on the down low, and has arranged a 3-day visit for the Doctor to an asylum colony on the planet below. Say it with me now. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? Meanwhile at the colony, Ambassadors from Kantria and Draconia listen to a speech about how the facility treats everyone from the eccentric to the homicidally psychopathic. The ambassadors feel there is something wrong and decide to stay a little longer. The facility’s guide, known as the Keeper, hypnotizes the Kantrian ambassador. Just then the Doctor shows up and chats with the Keeper. Left alone, the Doctor wanders through the asylum, noting that it is more of a zoo than anything. One of the prisoners writes a warning to the Doctor saying “Beware Rayden” The Keeper, who is actually Rayden, disintegrates the prisoner from his headquarters. The Doctor bumps into an official named Ria. She and the Doctor have a long scene together, which usually means she’ll become a new companion… Hmm…. Ria is intrigued by simple human characteristics and tells the Doctor that she has never been to school. It turns out that she is actually the Keeper’s daughter. They tell the Keeper about the death of the prisoner.
The Doctor breaks into the Draconian ambassador’s room to tell him he suspects that something is up. They get all Scooby Doo and try to figure out what’s going on. They decide to go to The Punishment Dome – a dome for punishment. As they enter, the Keeper apparently hits the “punishment” button, because both the Doctor and the Draconian begin screaming in agony.
CUE MUSIC
Episode 2 begins with the Keeper turning off the torture device (oooh, cop-out!!!). The Keeper and the Doctor have a snarkiness competition for awhile. The Keeper explains that he is actually Rayden. The prisoner who died earlier was actually the real Keeper. Rayden tells them that it’s time for them to visit the Pleasure Dome. It turns out that Rayden has exclusive rights for everyone needing treatment to come to his facility and no other, which will make him rich and powerful, etc. Villain rant, Doctor reply, lather, rinse repeat. The Doctor is left to talk to Ria. It turns out that although she is 19, she has no interest in relationships and never had a mother. And despite being 19, she can’t recall anything that happened even 3 years ago. It turns out that the Pleasure Dome can create life, but only in a 6-month cycle, and that Rayden created his daughter Ria there. There follows about 20 minutes of sitting around and talking that doesn’t do a whole lot. There’s a poetry reading, but that’s about it. Ria finds out she was created a few days ago and gets very mad at Rayden (well, wouldn’t you?). Runny runny, shouty shouty, shooty shooty. It’s embarrassing to say, but I’m not sure what happens to Rayden in the end. Apparently he may or may not have been destroyed, but having just listened to it again, I really have no idea. It is implied that Rayden may have poisoned the Doctor with sargol. The Doctor collects Greg and lets Ria join him on his adventures.
Evaluation
I recall a few days ago saying that I loathed Maenad. That actually isn’t true. I must have been doing something very unpleasant when I listened to it last time, because I enjoyed listening to it tonight. The first thing that strikes me about the story is that the actors have all settled into their roles very well. Although the Doctor is the only recurring character who has any screen time in this story, the AVs are often acted out by the same circle of people. Never did it sound like characters were reading their lines off of the script. The acting gets a 10 out of 10. The story itself is an intriguing one. Like previous stories, it’s interesting to take into consideration what stories had recently been on TV. The Pleasure and Punishment domes must owe something to the then recently aired Vengeance on Varos.
In a statement that will prove that I am in fact impossible to please, I think the running time lets Maenad down a lot. Both episodes are 45 minutes long, and you get the feeling they want to give listeners their money’s worth by using every last inch of tape on the cassette. The trouble is that there just isn’t enough story to sustain 90 minutes. The pacing is herky jerky. It flows nicely for the first 20 minutes, then wanders off to a different part of the store while you’re not paying attention. And by the time you’ve informed the clerk that your plot has wandered off and they dispatch a message to it over the PA, it’s lost its coherence, much like this baffling metaphor. I mean there is a 20 minute stretch where I can’t remember anything happening, other than preparations for a poetry reading. On the plus side, the novelty of Ria’s existence is fun, as is the addition of a new companion. It’s also a very arc-lite story, in that it deals with the sargol situation, but mainly in passing.
Overall 7 out of 10
I certainly don’t loathe it. It could have had a good 20 minutes shaved off, but you can say the same thing for most of the Pertwee era.
Dialogue Triumphs
“You pathetic lump of slime! If I didn’t need you, slug bucket, you’d be sent to earth forever!”
I like that one so much that I use it in conversation at least twice a day.
“Hold it wench! You ignorant slut!”
Again, twice a day.
Fun Facts
Gary Russell is actually a formidable Draconian hypnotist in real life, and has amassed a small army of them to do his bidding.
I’ve heard that before somewhere…
The Pleasure Dome was based on Kartz/Dastari principles. Kartz being one half of the unseen Kartz and Reimer duo of the Two Doctors, and Dastari being the Paul Shaffer look alike from the same story.
NEXT TIME
I up the ante as I review the epic THE MUTANT PHASE. I’ll contrast and compare it with the Big Finish adaptation, and probably get ridiculously in-depth. Expect graphs and pie charts!*
* I didn’t get ridiculously in-depth. I was going to, but it sounded like so much work! And there will be no pie charts.
Something else to take note of is that aspects and plot elements of this story seem to have been inspired by or have been lifted wholesale from the episode ‘Whom Gods Destroy’ from Stark Trek’s 3rd season.