The Death Collectors: A virulent disease that killed millions. A missing scientist. An ancient race of salvagers who collect and preserve the dead. The quarantined planet Antikon connects them all.
Spider’s Shadow: It is the eve of battle and the Martial Princesses Louise and Alison are hosting a royal ball. But there are unwelcome visitors in the garden and a sequence of events spiralling out of control. And what’s more, the Doctor doesn’t even remember arriving.
THE DEATH COLLECTORS
Stewart Sheargold’s first script for the main Doctor Who range, “Red,” struck me as almost too intellectual. As a treatise on the role of violence in society, it was fascinating; as a piece of drama, it was somewhat unrewarding, lacking a strong plot or a significant atmosphere. “The Death Collectors,” Sheargold’s second offering in the range, suffers from similar issues: while thematically interesting, and somewhat atmospheric in places, it lacks both the dramatic heft and the immersive environment required to set it apart from the average release. It’s certainly not a play I condemn as a failure, but yet it was hard to dub a full success.
Let’s be clear, though: this is not a story you can accuse of being hollow. Death runs through the play from the first moments: the Doctor is approaching the end of his seventh life, there is an alien race, the Dar Traders, who actually collect death per the title, and there is an oncoming storm of sorts, the Decay, consuming everything in its path. The same Puccini that will play in a San Francisco hospital operatory flows from speakers throughout the story — and this connects to the story’s view of regeneration as a form of death, with the Dar Traders perceiving the Doctor as a man who has died several times over, and the Doctor’s willingness to “trade” his seventh self as a form of sacrifice. It’s a fascinating listen in this regard, even if it seems oddly spiritual: the current view of death in the televised Doctor Who universe as empty, eternal darkness doesn’t seem to gel with this story’s talk of “in between” states, for example.
Despite my love of atmosphere, and my prioritizing of theme and environment over plot, I couldn’t get into “The Death Collectors.” Sheargold is on record saying that he wrote the story in part to creep out his audience; I cannot speak for my fellow listeners, of course, but for my part I wasn’t particularly frightened. Ultimately, though, I feel that aim was slightly misguided: rather than fright, I think the aim should have been to evoke a sense of gloom, or even foreboding — while “Logopolis” is never a creepy story, for example, the shroud of impending death hangs over almost every scene, and I feel a similar approach would have been more effective in this case. “The Death Collectors” feels slightly less stage-bound than “Red,” but it suffers from the same stagnant plot as its predecessor: there is a very small number of settings, and the vast majority of scenes involve either travel between these settings or long conversations within them. There’s very little action in this play — it’s very much an intellectual exercise, but not so much so that it makes up for its other faults.
Fortunately, the other elements are generally superb. This is one of Sylvester McCoy’s best performances in a while — periodically, he’ll deliver one of his infamous bizarre readings, but he, at least, captures my desired sense of foreboding in every melancholy line. Katherine Parkinson, whom I gather is somewhat famous, is excellent as Danika Meanwhile, the de facto companion for this story: her chemistry with McCoy is first-rate. Alastair Cording, too, sparks with McCoy as intellectual rival Mors. I’m not sure about Katarina Olsson, though, whose performance as the AI Nancy seems to vary too much in tone. David Darlington’s sound design is exceptional, as his his subtle, creepy score — and new director Ken Bentley allows the story a languid pace, despite its shortened three episode length.
Ultimately, “The Death Collectors” is a flawed release with much to recommend it. While somewhat unrewarding as a piece of drama, as a rumination on death in the Doctor Who universe it’s fascinating. While I haven’t heard Sheargold’s scripts for the other Big Finish ranges, it’s tempting to label him as Big Finish’s resident philosopher — and mean that as a compliment.
Recommended, if this is the sort of thing you enjoy.
7/10
SPIDER’S SHADOW
Stewart Sheargold’s “Spider’s Shadow” might just be the best one-part Big Finish story yet. It plays with structure in a way that allows the listener to figure out what’s going on at their own pace, and watch the Doctor do so from a more challenging perspective. Unlike “Creatures of Beauty,” which rearranged the scene structure for thematic purposes, “Spider’s Shadow” isn’t “out of order” — the Doctor is experiencing events in the same sequence. The explanation for this is heady, but elegant, and the nature of the “spider” Henry (Kevin McNally) is fascinating. I could see this story being too high-concept for some tastes, but Sheargold’s grounding of the story in a fairy-tale-like setting helps offset this effect. Perhaps my only complaint is that the morality on display is awfully simple and obvious, but for a 25 minute story, this is hardly a serious flaw. The script also works in elements of “The Death Collectors” in effective fashion, while Ken Bentley’s direction nonetheless gives the story its own unique feel. David Darlington’s score deserves special mention as well. Overall, “Spider’s Shadow” is a very strong story — I still haven’t heard a one-parter that has really made me sit up and take notice, but this is the closest Big Finish has yet come.
8/10