‘So, this is the blue planet you’ve forgotten about. But take another look. You helped us once. I know you can help us again.’
On Earth, civilization has ended and time is running out for the Doctor and Charlotte Pollard.
Will the mysterious Viyrans really help?
‘Without you, the human race will die out. And Planet Earth will surely be our tomb.’
BLUE FORGOTTEN PLANET
When Paul McGann joined the Big Finish range of Doctor Who audio productions, a new companion was created for his eighth Doctor: Charlotte Pollard, played by India Fisher, a self-described Edwardian adventuress with a love of excitement and a soul driven by emotion. She traveled with two Doctors, another companion, through alternate universes; she battled the Daleks, Cybermen, and other famous foes; she starred in some of the greatest Doctor Who stories in any medium as well as some of the worst. Finally, 110 releases after “Storm Warning,” her final adventure comes in Nicholas Briggs’ “Blue Forgotten Planet” – and, for better or worse, it’s a perfect summation of her era, mixing brilliant scenes with confusing decisions.
We’ll start at the end: Charley’s departure is generally brilliant, forcing her to part company with the Doctor without his knowledge and even ensure that he cannot remember her presence. It’s not an exaggeration to state that this is probably Fisher’s best performance: the emotion she brings to her final scenes is honest and heartbreaking without ever becoming melodramatic, juxtaposed against some of Colin Baker’s quietest, sincerest work. The inevitability of a departure like this has been evident since the first meeting of the sixth Doctor and Charley, but it’s a credit to writer/director Briggs and his actors that the departure is as effective as most we’ve seen on television.
The setting is generally excellent as well. The post-apocalyptic Earth is perhaps becoming overused as a plot device, but the opening – a tearful plea for help revealed as a clever documentary – is surprising and the setting is reminiscent in all the best ways of Russell Davies’ “Utopia.” The “infected” humans draw sympathy in that they are not merely defined as one-dimensional killers but rather people unable to draw entirely upon their higher reasoning. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that Briggs did nearly enough with this fascinating setup: the characters are every sort of cliché, and while JJ Feild, Andree Bernard, Alec Newman, and Sam Clemens deliver effective performances, it’s already difficult mere minutes after finishing the final episode remembering which character was which.
Furthermore, I can’t escape the feeling that Briggs is relying far too much upon plot devices. The scenes on the ruined Earth don’t feel especially important, something underscored by the Doctor coincidentally discovering that time travel cures the virus in question at the same time he realizes he can build a “time sphere” that will revert Earth back to a point in history such that Viyran intervention will never take place. I don’t normally complain about issues like this, but when the Doctor himself takes time to remark that the coincidence is almost unbelievable, what am I as the listener supposed to think? There’s little thematic resonance: why is nothing about the ruined earth reflected in the relationships between the Doctor and Charley or the Doctor and Mila?
Speaking of Mila, Briggs engages in a total rewrite of her character in order to justify the conclusion of the script. We are reminded in this very play that Mila endured years of torture at the hands of the Daleks, something which brings to mind the unbalanced individual seen in “Patient Zero” and the woman desperate to travel with the Doctor in “Paper Cuts.” Since the last story, however, we are asked to accept that the Doctor and Mila have traveled together for years, experiencing many adventures and turning Mila into a virtual duplicate of the woman whose body she stole. It’s one thing to use a flash-forward to move a character or a plot to a natural point of development, but to my mind it is unacceptable to use a flash-forward to completely change a character’s inherent nature. This story uses the first Charley/Mila encounter as a cliffhanger – and then promptly packs Mila into storage for two episodes, bringing her out only for Charley to realize that she’s an honorable companion as well. I can understand Mila sacrificing herself for the Doctor, but where did the rest of it come from? What caused Mila to change her very nature? To Briggs, it seems not to matter, which gets back to the plot device point: Charley had to be erased from the sixth Doctor’s memories, but leaving a hole in his memory would just stimulate his curiosity, so Briggs came up with Mila to plug the gap. That her character development makes next to no sense is apparently a small price to pay to tie a neat bow on the plot.
The Viyrans, meanwhile, are surprisingly effective. Michael Maloney gives a fantastic performance, imbuing the aliens with brief hints of emotion and sympathy. They’re not villainous at all: they’re pursuing a noble goal and using the most logical pathway to reach it. Unfortunately, they don’t recognize this pathway as immoral, but such is their nature – and notice that Briggs generally has the Doctor respond with disbelief instead of anger to the Viyran threats.
Special mention must go to Jamie Robertson’s sound design, and especially the score – this is one of the best that I can remember in a Big Finish play, giving the production a truly epic feel on par with the best scores from the television series. Many Big Finish scores are content to remain in the background, but work like this is just as important from time to time. Briggs’ direction is pacy and effective, bringing out some fantastic performances.
“Blue Forgotten Planet,” as a vehicle for Charley’s exit from the series, is reasonably effective, with a wonderful final scene. As a story in a continuing series, it is considerably less so: Mila is inexplicably changed, the long-awaited revelation of Charley’s story passes entirely without reaction from Colin Baker (!), etc. As a script, it’s up and down: fantastic settings and framing stories are kept separate from the character drama, written out abruptly when no longer necessary. And yet, as a whole, “Blue Forgotten Planet” is a guarded success, a testament to the ability of fantastic performances and excellent design and direction to lift a passable script to a higher level of achievement.
A necessary story to own, regardless of opinion – just don’t think about it too much.
7/10