The Fifth Doctor and Peri find themselves on Mars and, together with a NASA expedition, they awaken the Ice Warriors.
The Fifth Doctor and Peri find themselves on Mars and, together with a NASA expedition, they awaken the Ice Warriors.
RED DAWN
Of the pre-McGann releases, none have come under as much assault as Red Dawn, the eighth offering from Big Finish. I’ve always struggled to understand this; while Red Dawn is certainly neither innovative nor exciting, it lacks any excessively poor elements, something many of its esteemed predecessors cannot say.
After Whispers of Terror, which featured a genuinely inventive use of the audio medium, one could be forgiven for expecting another exploration of the boundaries from author Justin Richards. Yet Red Dawn is anything but, amounting only to a standard Doctor Who runaround with a returning “bad guy” in the Ice Warriors. There is very little depth in this script — a huge clue is given at the first scene with the astronauts, a play-by-play of their initial descent onto Mars. Sure, it’s detailed (and maybe even 5% accurate) but it serves absolutely no purpose other than to pad the script out an extra ten minutes. The first steps on Mars are no better; indeed, it isn’t until after the “landmark” Neil Armstrong-esque line is uttered and the listener gets confused that it becomes apparent that this is the first trip to Mars for humanity. (Other than, of course, all the times it happened with Troughton, Pertwee, et.al., which are casually dismissed.)
I don’t think this play even has a theme. The plot is almost ridiculous in its simplicity: characters land on Mars, wake up some Ice Warriors, one of the characters reveals secret agenda, characters then chase each other back and forth for two and a half episodes until a bunch of stuff blows up and everything ends. None of the characters act out of any particular motivation, other than the cliched Ice Warrior sense of honor and some nonsense about the Brookings report, so it’s difficult to offer any criticism of the writing. This sounds as though Richards wrote it in an afternoon while he was preoccupied with something else — thankfully he’s talented enough not to have made a complete mess of the project.
The fifth Doctor seen here, though of course completely out of character for season 21, is fairly unimaginative. The Doctor is certainly more reactive than proactive, keeping with Davison’s portrayal, but he really doesn’t do anything in this story other than argue with Zzarl, get captured, and argue with the villain. Davison’s portrayal is his usual solid offering, nicely laced with sarcasm, but I can’t recall a single line of his from the play. Nor indeed is there much to say about Peri, who manages to do even less than the Doctor over the course of the play. Nicola Bryant’s role is basically to stand around and deliver expository dialogue, but at least she sounds comfortable with the American accent for once.
Speaking of American accents, BF seems to have done them well this time around, as the accent work in this play does not detract from the drama. (Short note, though — it’s Hue-ston, not Hoo-ston.) All of the actors acquit themselves well — I can see why they cast Davison’s daughter, since there wasn’t much of a risk of miscasting a challenging role. Not sure why Robert Jezek was brought in for such a meaningless role, though. As for Stephen Fewell, he plays his part well, but Paul is an absolutely ludicrous character. Without anything approaching a good reason, he completely slips the bounds of sanity into maniac-serial-killer mode. Sure, Fewell’s performance fits this, but that doesn’t mean it fits in. Matthew Brenher sounds too human as Zzarl, but overall he and Hylton Collins turn in fine performances.
I’ve been trying to find something to say about Red Dawn but I’ve failed. Even the production, save Russell Stone’s oddly suitable score, is utterly nondescript. Yet, despite the almost total lack of originality, this is still an entertaining way to pass an hour and a half. True, there’s nothing to tickle the brain, but there’s Ice Warriors and some violence near the end. There also aren’t any bad performances, and the script, while utterly predictable, is hardly Mike Tucker material. If this was a movie, I’d say rent it — you could certainly do worse.
6/10