Adopting the alias of Weng-Chiang, the 51st century war criminal Magnus Greel will one day arrive in Victorian London by Time Cabinet – only to meet his doom, his plans undone by the Time Lord known as the Doctor.
The Doctor never believed he’d meet Greel again. But when a TARDIS trip to companion Tegan’s home town goes wrong, the Doctor ends up in the younger Greel’s heyday – in a world on the brink of all-out war.
With the Doctor at the mercy of Greel’s alien associate Findecker and his army of mutations, Tegan is about to learn just why they called Greel ‘The Butcher of Brisbane’…
THE BUTCHER OF BRISBANE
Big Finish has never been shy about writing “sequels” to classic Doctor Who stories, especially from the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era – and the 2012 fifth Doctor trilogy concludes with another such sequel, Marc Platt’s “The Butcher of Brisbane,” which is actually more of a prequel to the celebrated “The Talons of Weng-Chiang.” The title refers to the fourth Doctor’s memorable description of villain Magnus Greel, but attempts to predict the outcome of Platt’s script largely prove fruitless.
Robert Holmes was a popular Doctor Who writer for many reasons; one of these was his ability to provide background color to stories using casual, throwaway details. “Talons” features many of these: the Doctor mentions being with the Filipino army during their march on Reykjavik as well as the scientist Findecker’s pioneering work on double nexus particles, while Greel refers to a meeting with a Time Agent in the 51st century. Platt takes every single one of these details and weaves them into a fascinating portrayal of a future Earth, one which has fallen into disrepair thousands of years after gleaming cities of monorails and hovercars dominated the landscape. The deadly effects of Zygma radiation are seen alongside mutated creatures. There’s enough geopolitical intrigue to communicate that the world has changed drastically, but not so much that the listener has time to dwell on the likelihood of the Philippines and Iceland becoming major world powers. If you’re the sort of person that hates having details fleshed out like this, you’ll hate this story; if you’re not, rest assured that Platt does much more than pay simple homage.
The story also features a time-bending component, in which Nyssa and Turlough find themselves marooned in this future world for three years while awaiting the arrival of the Doctor and Tegan in the TARDIS. Naturally, they become involved at the highest levels of government, and the Doctor arrives just in the nick of time to save them from their own ambitions. I don’t care for plot elements like this because authors rarely make appropriate use of them, and unfortunately neither does Platt in this case. Three years is a stunningly long time, and yet the only acknowledgement we get is Turlough essentially exclaiming, “Wow, it’s been quite a long time!” when he meets the Doctor. Nyssa hardly mentions it at all – quite surprising considering she spends time as Greel’s fiancée – and as for her rejuvenation two plays earlier, it might as well not have happened for all the difference in her performance.
But if the structure doesn’t quite work, the play succeeds admirably in confounding audience expectations. You expect a world ruled over by mad dictator Greel, sustained by the life energy of helpless young women, but Platt presents Greel (Angus Wright) as an ambitious politician who aims to use time travel to place himself in a position of absolute power. He’s ambitious and utterly without conscience, yes, but he’s not the unhinged maniac seen in “Talons.” That job falls to Findecker (Rupert Frazer), Greel’s chief scientist, who finds himself crippled by Zygma radiation and requiring life energy to survive. The two make a dangerous team, but it’s only when Greel’s plans fall apart that he is forced into the future we know from television. This is Platt’s greatest success: writing a character that will believably become a maniac in the future without taking the easy option and writing him as we already know him.
Of course, the “conclusion” to this tale happened in the Doctor’s past, and Platt writes the fifth Doctor as remarkably reluctant to divulge any information. He elegantly seeds the Time Agent story himself, and communicates with his younger self to secure the battle of Reykjavik – frankly, this seems like how the seventh Doctor would act, not the fifth. But Peter Davison saves any inconsistency with his performance, in which he approaches his secrecy in an awkward way that almost seems apologetic. The other regulars do well, though only Sarah Sutton is given much to do – Mark Strickson, in particular, fades into the background after the snowy hillside and is basically never seen again.
The production of “The Butcher of Brisbane” is a particular triumph. This is a visceral, exciting story, and director Ken Bentley paces and edits brilliantly, papering over any inconsistencies with the breakneck pace. Fool Circle Productions provides fine sound design, but the score is particularly marvelous, capturing the feel of the 1980s Radiophonic Workshop scores I enjoy so much. “The Butcher of Brisbane” is the perfect conclusion to this trilogy: like its fellows, it isn’t particularly insightful or groundbreaking, but it proves to be one hell of an exciting ride – and a fascinating glimpse into Doctor Who future history to boot.
Highly recommended.
8/10