The travellers are enjoying Hollywood in the 1920s, only to discover that a deadly force is taking the voices of movie stars – and monstrous silhouettes are on the prowl…
The travellers are enjoying Hollywood in the 1920s, only to discover that a deadly force is taking the voices of movie stars – and monstrous silhouettes are on the prowl…
THE SILENT SCREAM
It’s time for another Fourth Doctor Adventure, this one called “The Silent Scream” from James Goss. And since it’s set in season 18, one of Doctor Who’s most unique and experimental seasons, let’s go through the checklist and see what season 18 features are on display.
Somber atmosphere? Nope!
Powerful, atmospheric electronic score? Sort of!
A story dealing with entropy or decay? Only in the most technical sense!
So that’s 1-for-3 if you’re feeling generous, or 0-for-3 if you’re not, and I’m not.
The plot here is almost too simple for words: an intruder from the future is using advanced technology to steal the voices of Hollywood stars who were aged out of the business when talkies supplanted silent movies. The thief, Dr. Julius (Alec Newman), is doing this for profit, of course, and it’s up to the Doctor, Romana, and K9 to stop him. Since his strategy is to steal voices, it follows naturally that one of our heroes will lose their voice – and of course it’s Tom Baker, since it makes sense to have the biggest reason people buy these left mute for most of the second episode. But either way, it’s a simple scheme, so simple in fact that the Doctor essentially saves the day by waving his sonic screwdriver at the machinery. There are some mildly interesting ideas about the “shadows” that do Julius’ dirty work – I especially like how K9 can easily destroy them but they explode so violently that it becomes dangerous for him to shoot them.
I’m not opposed to simple or even perfunctory plot machinations if the story fills in the dramatic gaps in some other way, but “The Silent Scream” does not do this. The story largely involves the TARDIS crew following characters around, including Lorretta (Loretta?) Waldorf (Pamela Salem) and Lulu Hammerstein (Andrée Bernard), both of who have terrible American accents. (Is there a reason why all the American characters in Big Finish approximate some form of New York accent? It sounds like an audio production of Newsies every time they visit the US.) Lorretta loses her voice, Lulu is talked onto the Doctor’s side – it’s all very predictable. I’m disappointed by this, actually – Goss is usually a writer you can rely on for unusual ideas or presentations, but that is not the case here.
The production is fine. Nicholas Briggs directs well, Russell McGee’s sound design is convincing, and Jamie Robertson’s score is suitably electronic but we don’t hear nearly enough of it. But I don’t have much to say about “The Silent Scream” – it’s a bland, straightforward story that makes virtually no effort to sound like it takes place in its stated era. “Bland” is still a step up from many other Fourth Doctor Adventures, of course, but there’s no reason to recommend this.
5/10