Decades after their defeat by the Eleventh Doctor, the Silence prepare to rise against humanity….
1. House of Silents
There is no record of the presence of an alien species known as ‘The Silents’ on Earth. UNIT has never engaged hostiles capable of editing themselves from observers’ memories. There is no evidence that such an opponent, if real, is regrouping and beginning a new plan of infiltration and manipulation. Kate Stewart and her team are in no mortal danger. How can they be, when they don’t even know the enemy exists?
2. Square One
It’s business as usual at UNIT, and thankfully, Kate Stewart has no immediate threats to concern her. Or so she believes. But when Sam Bishop returns from leave, he notices things aren’t quite as they seem. Soon he and Osgood are on the trail of an elusive enemy. Meanwhile, Kenneth LeBlanc and his controversial political movement gather momentum, and one UNIT team member isn’t quite themselves…
3. Silent Majority
Kenneth LeBlanc looks set to lead his party to national victory, overturning political opinion and taking the polls by storm. UNIT can only stand and watch as a silent revolution takes place. But who are LeBlanc’s real backers? And what use to them is the triumph of a leader who seems to be nothing more than a liability? The Silents are about to make the headlines.
4. In Memory Alone
When Sam Bishop and Osgood visit an orbiting space station for a routine mission, they have no idea that they are part of an alien scheme, years in the planning. As the global situation spins out of control, Kate seeks help from an unlikely source. The Silents are not done with humanity yet – and they will have their revenge.
UNIT: SILENCED
I’ve been critical of Big Finish’s new UNIT series largely because of wasted opportunities: the first two sets were little more than generic action stories that were overlong, had nothing to say, and featured a bunch of interchangeable, uninteresting characters. Finally, with the third set, “UNIT: Silenced,” it seems they’ve figured it out, as it is a great improvement on its predecessors.
“Silenced,” written by Matt Fitton and John Dorney, is another four-hour epic story, but unlike the previous two sets, each of the four episodes takes place at a different time in the larger story. By separating each episode by days or weeks, it keeps the story fresh: the authors can set new challenges to the characters instead of trying to find ways to spread one conflict over four hours. The villains of the story, of course, are the Silents, and their unique nature also means that the characters must constantly find new ways to remember their very existence. “Silenced” never gets boring, in other words – in fact, it’s quite exciting throughout, moving through twists and turns with ease and keeping the listener’s attention to the very end.
“Silenced” is also unafraid to embrace the continuity of the TV series. The Doctor eventually defeated the Silents by imbedding a secret instruction in humanity to attack the Silents on sight, forcing them to go into hiding and stop meddling in human affairs. “Silenced” grabs that and runs with it: the first time the UNIT team encounters the Silents, they’re gripped with a powerful desire to gun them down, and much of the story involves the Silents plotting to undo the Doctor’s actions by imbedding a different message in viral videos and the like. This is a natural extension of the Silents into the modern, digital age, and it feels very much like a plot we might have seen on TV in a Steven Moffat story. I also enjoyed the way the authors got around the problem of the characters forgetting the Silents: designing eyewear that projects an image of a Silent directly into the wearer’s vision. My one complaint is that the ultimate solution is almost exactly the same as what we saw in “Day of the Moon” – a subliminal message instructing the people of Earth not to trust the Silents. There are a few differences, of course, but it’s similar enough to feel repetitive.
In addition to its entertainment value and its skillful use of television continuity, “Silenced” also works because it’s about something. The middle two episodes chronicle the rise of Kenneth LeBlanc (Nicholas Day), a wholly unqualified candidate for Prime Minister whose campaign of obnoxious divisiveness appears to be propelling him toward election. You can judge for yourself which horrible politician he is intended to represent – there are an unfortunately large number of them around right now – but it feels incredibly topical no matter what figure he’s intended to parallel. If anything, it’s still too optimistic – after all, the only way someone like that could get elected is if aliens are working behind the scenes to brainwash us all, right? Also, I know this isn’t a long-term political drama, but getting rid of LeBlanc and putting the government back in the hands of someone competent feels way too easy as a conclusion to that thread.
There isn’t much progression in the characterization, unfortunately, but at least we get to see the entire UNIT team doing their jobs efficiently. I’ve heard this sort of story described as “competence porn” – watching skilled, intelligent people apply their skills and intelligence to solve a complicated problem – and I always enjoy watching that sort of thing. At this point, I think the characters are what they are – Josh’s plastic skeleton only gets one perfunctory mention, and everyone else is exactly what you’d expect. But if they’re solving problems, getting along, and not dragging things to a halt, it’s acceptable.
The sound design is great throughout, with contributions from both Peter Doggart and Howard Carter – this is a story that veers from alien invasion to politics to space adventure and always sounds convincing. The score, also from Carter, is suitably cinematic, and director Ken Bentley holds everything together with his expected skill. Overall, “UNIT: Silenced” is a huge step forward for the new UNIT range. It’s very entertaining, it uses TV continuity quite well, and it actually offers commentary about current events. More sets like this and I’ll be much happier with the range.
Highly recommended.
8/10