Someone is tampering with time, altering events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. But who and why?
1 Comment
Styre
on May 8, 2016 at 1:18 AM
ASSASSIN IN THE LIMELIGHT
So we had “Medicinal Purposes,” which was decent if unspectacular, and “Pier Pressure,” which retains its title of “worst Colin Baker Big Finish” to this day. Forgive me, then, if I wasn’t exactly looking forward to “Assassin in the Limelight,” the third release from author Robert Ross, involving yet another journey into history and a meeting with some “familiar” faces. In Ross’s defense, fans have allowed “Pier Pressure” to cloud their judgment — so this third script is a rare opportunity for a Doctor Who author to redeem himself. Did Ross take advantage?
Well, yes and no. “Assassin” certainly doesn’t plumb the depths of “Pier Pressure,” but sadly it fails to amount to anything significant. The historical setting this time around is Washington, D.C., 1865, just before the assassination of the Abraham Lincoln. Oscar Wilde is in town, negotiating a performance of “The Importance of Being Earnest” at Henry Clay Ford’s (Alan Marriott) theater, starring John Wilkes Booth (Paul Dubois). But it isn’t Oscar Wilde at all, it’s nefarious time-traveller Dr. Robert Knox (Leslie Phillips), trying to throw a wrench into history by killing Booth and averting the assassination! This is an innovative setup for Big Finish, and I appreciated a rare opportunity to view American history through the Doctor Who lens. It’s also refreshing to hear an American setting played straight: no, the accents aren’t perfect, but for once Big Finish isn’t populating the nation with comedy American southerners.
The problem with “Assassin,” though, is that Ross does absolutely nothing interesting with this setting. The temporal shenanigans are muddled at best and incomprehensible at worst, and the possible negative consequences of Knox’s actions are barely hinted at. The Doctor and Evelyn are reduced to a standard Doctor Who runaround, getting captured, recaptured, and shot at in dramatic cliffhangers — okay, so this time it’s a conniving American policeman doing the shooting, but really, so what? Coming on the heels of the brilliant “The Haunting of Thomas Brewster,” these shortcomings in the script are made even more apparent — really, two historical stories in a row involving time travel and paradoxes?
I’ll tackle another issue here — the character of Dr. Knox. Almost every review I’ve read seems to take pains to distinguish Phillips and the character, no matter what the author’s opinion of the play: “Leslie Phillips is of course brilliant,” and so on. Well, yes, it’s a good performance, but what on earth is so great about this character? He’s the Meddling Monk in all but name, and that character wasn’t brilliant for what he did but rather for what he represented: the existence of other Time Lords. Interference with history is merely a plot device: unless the author actually goes through with it, the listener knows the interference is going to be resolved by the end, so the story becomes a question of characterization and period setting. Why is Knox doing what he’s doing? Because of some nonsense involving aliens from a horrific earlier release? Are the Doctor and Evelyn particularly affected by this? No, except for a bizarrely out of place scene involving a moody argument — the Doctor’s even up for a joke about Lincoln’s death at the end! Is the setting well-captured? No, not beyond the period dialogue. I was checking my watch repeatedly as I slogged through the final two parts of “Assassin” — is it too much to ask for something to be interesting even if it isn’t good? God help it, even “Renaissance of the Daleks” managed that.
Even the acting doesn’t seem particulary interesting. Colin Baker blows through the script like he has somewhere to be — there’s a scene in which he’s strapped to a spinning board while knives are thrown at him, and his voice sounds exactly the same as it does when he’s standing unthreatened. This is Evelyn’s first appearance since “100,” and while Ross doesn’t completely sideline Maggie Stables like he did in “Pier Pressure,” he does saddle her with the unnatural “What is it, Doctor?” dialogue that the character is known for not saying. The supporting cast is solid, and Martin Johnson’s sound design effective — though I can’t remember a single note of the score. Barnaby Edwards, normally so good at pacing, can’t direct this plodding script up even to a slow jog.
I’m not sure what else to say about “Assassin in the Limelight.” As with many other unmemorable Big Finish releases, there’s really nothing bad about it, but there’s absolutely nothing interesting about it, either. It feels like one of those ineffectual midseason productions US networks throw together to stretch the season out to 22 episodes. Well, I’m tired of those: they’re not worthy of bad grades, but I have better things to do with my time.
ASSASSIN IN THE LIMELIGHT
So we had “Medicinal Purposes,” which was decent if unspectacular, and “Pier Pressure,” which retains its title of “worst Colin Baker Big Finish” to this day. Forgive me, then, if I wasn’t exactly looking forward to “Assassin in the Limelight,” the third release from author Robert Ross, involving yet another journey into history and a meeting with some “familiar” faces. In Ross’s defense, fans have allowed “Pier Pressure” to cloud their judgment — so this third script is a rare opportunity for a Doctor Who author to redeem himself. Did Ross take advantage?
Well, yes and no. “Assassin” certainly doesn’t plumb the depths of “Pier Pressure,” but sadly it fails to amount to anything significant. The historical setting this time around is Washington, D.C., 1865, just before the assassination of the Abraham Lincoln. Oscar Wilde is in town, negotiating a performance of “The Importance of Being Earnest” at Henry Clay Ford’s (Alan Marriott) theater, starring John Wilkes Booth (Paul Dubois). But it isn’t Oscar Wilde at all, it’s nefarious time-traveller Dr. Robert Knox (Leslie Phillips), trying to throw a wrench into history by killing Booth and averting the assassination! This is an innovative setup for Big Finish, and I appreciated a rare opportunity to view American history through the Doctor Who lens. It’s also refreshing to hear an American setting played straight: no, the accents aren’t perfect, but for once Big Finish isn’t populating the nation with comedy American southerners.
The problem with “Assassin,” though, is that Ross does absolutely nothing interesting with this setting. The temporal shenanigans are muddled at best and incomprehensible at worst, and the possible negative consequences of Knox’s actions are barely hinted at. The Doctor and Evelyn are reduced to a standard Doctor Who runaround, getting captured, recaptured, and shot at in dramatic cliffhangers — okay, so this time it’s a conniving American policeman doing the shooting, but really, so what? Coming on the heels of the brilliant “The Haunting of Thomas Brewster,” these shortcomings in the script are made even more apparent — really, two historical stories in a row involving time travel and paradoxes?
I’ll tackle another issue here — the character of Dr. Knox. Almost every review I’ve read seems to take pains to distinguish Phillips and the character, no matter what the author’s opinion of the play: “Leslie Phillips is of course brilliant,” and so on. Well, yes, it’s a good performance, but what on earth is so great about this character? He’s the Meddling Monk in all but name, and that character wasn’t brilliant for what he did but rather for what he represented: the existence of other Time Lords. Interference with history is merely a plot device: unless the author actually goes through with it, the listener knows the interference is going to be resolved by the end, so the story becomes a question of characterization and period setting. Why is Knox doing what he’s doing? Because of some nonsense involving aliens from a horrific earlier release? Are the Doctor and Evelyn particularly affected by this? No, except for a bizarrely out of place scene involving a moody argument — the Doctor’s even up for a joke about Lincoln’s death at the end! Is the setting well-captured? No, not beyond the period dialogue. I was checking my watch repeatedly as I slogged through the final two parts of “Assassin” — is it too much to ask for something to be interesting even if it isn’t good? God help it, even “Renaissance of the Daleks” managed that.
Even the acting doesn’t seem particulary interesting. Colin Baker blows through the script like he has somewhere to be — there’s a scene in which he’s strapped to a spinning board while knives are thrown at him, and his voice sounds exactly the same as it does when he’s standing unthreatened. This is Evelyn’s first appearance since “100,” and while Ross doesn’t completely sideline Maggie Stables like he did in “Pier Pressure,” he does saddle her with the unnatural “What is it, Doctor?” dialogue that the character is known for not saying. The supporting cast is solid, and Martin Johnson’s sound design effective — though I can’t remember a single note of the score. Barnaby Edwards, normally so good at pacing, can’t direct this plodding script up even to a slow jog.
I’m not sure what else to say about “Assassin in the Limelight.” As with many other unmemorable Big Finish releases, there’s really nothing bad about it, but there’s absolutely nothing interesting about it, either. It feels like one of those ineffectual midseason productions US networks throw together to stretch the season out to 22 episodes. Well, I’m tired of those: they’re not worthy of bad grades, but I have better things to do with my time.
Doctor Who on autopilot.
5/10