Decades ago, the mysterious time-travelling Doctor and his cheerful companion Mel became the toast of the planet Prosper, when they brokered a peace between the native Mogera and humans from the colony ship The Duke of Milan.
But when the TARDIS at last returns to Prosper, the Doctor, Mel and their associate Ace find only a warzone. The burrowing Mogera have become brutal monsters, dominated by their terrifying leader Caliban – and it’s all the Doctor’s fault!
MAKER OF DEMONS
The 2016 Sylvester McCoy trilogy closes with “Maker of Demons” from Matthew J. Elliott, a story that attempts to answer the question of what happens when the Doctor leaves abruptly at the conclusion of an adventure. It doesn’t answer this question particularly well, and throws in a bunch of empty Shakespeare references and overwritten dialogue to boot. In short: not good.
While the new series has dealt extensively with the Doctor’s habit of fleeing the consequences of his actions, it’s very rare for a story to make him face up to them. The classic series took a swing at it all the way back in “The Ark,” and then not again until “Timelash,” which is better left unmentioned. So I appreciate the effort by Elliott to write a sequel to an unseen adventure in which the Doctor and Mel saved the colonists of the ship The Duke of Milan by helping them set up a colony on the planet Prosper. Now, when the Doctor and Mel return along with Ace, they find a planet torn apart by a century of war. It turns out that the Doctor overestimated the availability of supplies, rendering the colony unsustainable in the long term without draconian measures to cull the population. As a result, a small group of humans calling themselves the Milanese artificially engineer a war between the humans and the native Mogera to keep the populations in check. The biggest problem with this setup is how the story presents the Milanese: as a bunch of cackling megalomaniacs. Between that and the brief scene at the start where the human-Mogeran peace treaty is torn up the moment the Doctor leaves, it’s hard to tell whether the Doctor actually is responsible for this or not, and the humans-against-monsters drama that takes up much of the running time obscures any attempt at subtlety. The Companion Chronicle “The War To End All Wars” dealt with a similar idea, but by making a dispassionate computer responsible for the conflict it removed any clumsy “evil villain” plotting like we get here.
If you didn’t notice from basically every single character and place name, “Maker of Demons” is also a massive homage to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” Prosper, the Duke of Milan, Caliban, Alonso, Gonzalo, Miranda, and so forth. The dialogue is peppered with quotes from the play, right up to the final line. (I’m shocked that the Sycorax didn’t turn up.) And yet, if you’re looking for any of the play’s thematic significance to turn up here, you’ll be quite disappointed. I suppose, at a stretch, you could compare the Doctor facing the consequences of his actions with Prospero learning to accept his nature, but that’s about it. If anything, this reminds me of “Zagreus” – and that is never a good sign – in how it quotes heavily from famous source material but forgets to engage with that material in any meaningful sense. As soon as I figured out what was going on, I started waiting for someone to say “What’s past is prologue,” and of course it was the final thing the Doctor says before disappearing into the TARDIS. Never mind that it doesn’t really make sense for him to say that, because even if it did, it’s so labored and obvious that it ruins the end of the story.
Also, if we’re talking about things being labored and obvious, let’s discuss the dialogue. “Maker of Demons” has some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever heard in a Big Finish release, with almost every line sounding drawn-out and overwritten. Characters frequently spell out their entire thought processes, while almost every attempt at witty interaction falls flat due to taking too long. This is particularly obvious with Mel, who frequently sounds less like a human being and more like what a computer program thinks a human being sounds like. And speaking of Mel, remember how she rejoined the TARDIS after spending time traveling with Sabalom Glitz? It’ll be mentioned once or twice, but never once are we given the impression that this character is any different from the one we saw in season 24. Nor indeed does Ace seem any different from her TV persona, and now that I know that these stories are supposed to be set after Hex, I’m wondering why Big Finish seeks to insult my intelligence by completely disregarding years of character development in lieu of generic, uninspiring writing. They know they can make stories accessible to new listeners while maintaining their own continuity, right? Or will the average Big Finish listener snap the CD in half upon learning that Ace doesn’t sound exactly the same as she did in 1988? At least McCoy is good in this, if you’re looking for a redeeming quality.
The production is generally quite good. Ken Bentley offers his usual accomplished direction, but the music from Nigel Fairs is a standout as it actually employs some vocals. But this isn’t enough to save “Maker of Demons,” which is disappointing even for the monthly range. It’s a shame, because along with the quality production is a great idea for a Doctor Who story – but the execution simply isn’t good enough. I’m predisposed to like Doctor Who stories, and this one was a struggle even to finish.
Poor.
3/10