THE TIME RING TRILOGY: PART 1 – Benny discovers her mission has a complication that she never dreamed of – romance.
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Tom Swift
on May 8, 2016 at 2:50 AM
Bernice Summerfield
Walking to Babylon
After ‘Beyond the Sun’ introduced Jason Kane and then gave him hardly anything to do, this adaptation of Walking to Babylon gives him exactly twice as much material, and a far better script to work with. Unfortunately there’s an almost exact repetition of the ‘Jason in trouble, gets mixed in with wrong people, kidnapped, Bernice must rescue’ story. However whereas the alien ‘Sunless’ were hardly explored in the previous novel, here his captors are the heart of the story.
I gather that there was some trepidation about ‘The People’ appearing in this audio, as it could be potentially confusing for new listeners. Fortunately this worry was unfounded, as it takes only two minutes to explain who and what they are, and there’s plenty of new material to explore. It neatly toes the line, setting up a situation of extreme peril without delving into unnecessary detail. Joining Bernice on this quest is the Barnaby Edwards, now playing John Lafayette, a familiar voice that fits in very naturally as the new reserved companion character. Initially scared of Bernice, Barnaby Edward’s warm voice and natural performance quickly endear him as the heart of the story.
As seems to be a theme for this series there is a familiar voice from Doctor Who playing a key role, and Elisabeth Sladen seems to mesh perfectly with the role of the lady Ninan-ashtammu. She and Steven Wickham are probably the main characters of note in Babylon. The city, and the play, successfully capture a strange, otherworldly, but extremely ambient location. This is partly from the good direction but also thanks to the music and sound design, it really feels like a living exotic city. The sense of fun and innovation from ‘Oh No It Isn’t!’ is back, and the exotic combination of this ancient world and the threat of destruction from the future gives a credible threat.
The story follows two paths, with Jason attempting to work his way free from the People who have brought him here. It’s unusual for a play to have such unthreatening villains, but it suits the mood of this piece perfectly, and the banter between them is excellent. Whilst Bernice and Lafayette attempt to mingle with Babylonian society in their search, the People show an inability to learn from their experiences. Slightly odd is the inclusion of their drone, who strangely is an almost exact clone of Joseph, who provides much wit and menace to the proceedings.
Walking to Babylon is a very strong release, with an equal measure of danger and great characterisation. Although it starts with a few, annoying moments of Bernice talking herself and once again remonstrating Jason Kane’s many failings, it very quickly matures into an excellent adventure set amongst one of the ancient wonders of the world.
“I’m scared of letting all these people down. At least if I get blown up as well they can say I died heroically. Assuming I ever existed at all.”
So far we have had a madcap adventure and a serious one played straight but no real grounding for the series yet. Tom Swift says in his review of Beyond the Sun that a middle ground between the zany and the heartfelt would be a good direction to try next, and Walking to Babylon seems to be trying to achieve this, as well as being the first attempt to have an arc running through several stories.
And so we embark on the first story in the Time Ring Trilogy, where Benny and Jason are catapulted from location to location, the first being ancient Babylon.
Having not read any of the books I am considering the audios purely from their own perspective, therefore I cannot comment on how well they have been adapted or what shortcomings they suffer compared to the original novels.
This one starts, as does Beyond the Sun, with a visit from Jason. The love-hate relationship Benny has with her ex-husband continues as he annoys her further, this time by bringing along one of the People. I know nothing about the People but the audio gives enough of an explanation to be going on with. This technique will become a common feature of the Benny range, as new situations are casually thrown in at the start with the briefest description, but they are introduced succinctly and naturally enough to get across the salient points of the plot without feeling like clumsy exposition. Oddly, it doesn’t irritate me not to know all the details, whereas in Dr Who I might want more explanation. Perhaps it’s the pace, the different structure of the Bennys, the different parameters it can operate within compared to Who, I don’t know, but with the Bennys I am much more likely to go with the flow and assume that if I need more back story I can read the books.
Anyway. The People are clearly immensely powerful and that’s all we need to know for the story to move on. After Jason leaves Benny she meets two more People, who ask for her help. The one Jason brought with him has, along with his accomplice and their droid, kidnapped Jason and used him to go back in time. There is now a time path going all the way back to Earth’s ancient history but the People as a whole have agreed not to time travel as part of a peace treaty, so they dare not risk going themselves. Benny realises that Jason has stolen her Time Ring to help the renegade People do this, so she will be safe to travel along it and agrees to go and deal with them – and, with a bit of luck, give Jason a thick ear.
As with Beyond the Sun, Jason is the instigator of this latest disaster. True to form he’s been duped and imprisoned by his partners in crime. For someone with his talent for technology and with his connections to the shadier elements of society, his overwhelming naivety is beginning to make it more unbelievable that he’s lived this long, because here he is again at the wrong end of another dodgy deal and once again Benny has to rescue him. Since this could get stale fast, there is at least more at stake this time. The actions of the renegade People may affect history, and let’s be honest – an archeologist turning down a chance to see Ancient Babylon? Not really happening is it? So, armed with nothing but her wits, a couple of universal translators and a device for measuring changes in the time stream, she’s off in hot pursuit.
When she arrives in Babylon, further complications arise when it becomes apparent that some time sensitive humans can also get onto the path and walk along it. Benny meets John Lafayette, a young man from the early 20th century who is initially out of his depth until Benny takes him under her wing, and he becomes a strong and well written temporary companion. Barnaby Edwards plays him as a dedicated man but with sensitivity, making even Lafayette’s old fashioned attitude towards sex and women seem more quaint than merely bigoted. It’s a great performance that makes the character hugely likeable. Benny’s brief relationship with him is done believably and tastefully, without coming across as the Hollywood style cliche of hero meeting someone and shagging them just to chuck a “relationship” in as a bit of gratuitous titillation between the bullets.
The other characters are all very well done too. There’s not a bad performance on show here, plus everyone seems to have had a great time doing it, which I always find infectious. Louise Morell is particularly good as the temple girl Miriam. Stephen Wickham is very funny as the drone and seems to be an early model for Joseph, the drone in the later plays. Even the small parts like the child and the traders are convincing, with everybody’s performances gelling and building on each other, but pride of place has to go to Elizabeth Sladen. Though her voice is instantly recognisable, her turn as Ninan-ashtammu is utterly committed and believable as she has a crisis of faith after talking to Jason, who manages to redeem himself somewhat in a great scene with her.
Again I must express admiration for Lisa, who has not read any of the books either, yet she remains convincing in all the plays regardless of the quality of the stories, and never feels like she’s sleepwalking through it or phoning in her performance. This play is all about the characters, who make the story special.
Bernice Summerfield
Walking to Babylon
After ‘Beyond the Sun’ introduced Jason Kane and then gave him hardly anything to do, this adaptation of Walking to Babylon gives him exactly twice as much material, and a far better script to work with. Unfortunately there’s an almost exact repetition of the ‘Jason in trouble, gets mixed in with wrong people, kidnapped, Bernice must rescue’ story. However whereas the alien ‘Sunless’ were hardly explored in the previous novel, here his captors are the heart of the story.
I gather that there was some trepidation about ‘The People’ appearing in this audio, as it could be potentially confusing for new listeners. Fortunately this worry was unfounded, as it takes only two minutes to explain who and what they are, and there’s plenty of new material to explore. It neatly toes the line, setting up a situation of extreme peril without delving into unnecessary detail. Joining Bernice on this quest is the Barnaby Edwards, now playing John Lafayette, a familiar voice that fits in very naturally as the new reserved companion character. Initially scared of Bernice, Barnaby Edward’s warm voice and natural performance quickly endear him as the heart of the story.
As seems to be a theme for this series there is a familiar voice from Doctor Who playing a key role, and Elisabeth Sladen seems to mesh perfectly with the role of the lady Ninan-ashtammu. She and Steven Wickham are probably the main characters of note in Babylon. The city, and the play, successfully capture a strange, otherworldly, but extremely ambient location. This is partly from the good direction but also thanks to the music and sound design, it really feels like a living exotic city. The sense of fun and innovation from ‘Oh No It Isn’t!’ is back, and the exotic combination of this ancient world and the threat of destruction from the future gives a credible threat.
The story follows two paths, with Jason attempting to work his way free from the People who have brought him here. It’s unusual for a play to have such unthreatening villains, but it suits the mood of this piece perfectly, and the banter between them is excellent. Whilst Bernice and Lafayette attempt to mingle with Babylonian society in their search, the People show an inability to learn from their experiences. Slightly odd is the inclusion of their drone, who strangely is an almost exact clone of Joseph, who provides much wit and menace to the proceedings.
Walking to Babylon is a very strong release, with an equal measure of danger and great characterisation. Although it starts with a few, annoying moments of Bernice talking herself and once again remonstrating Jason Kane’s many failings, it very quickly matures into an excellent adventure set amongst one of the ancient wonders of the world.
Thoroughly recommended.
9 / 10
“I’m scared of letting all these people down. At least if I get blown up as well they can say I died heroically. Assuming I ever existed at all.”
So far we have had a madcap adventure and a serious one played straight but no real grounding for the series yet. Tom Swift says in his review of Beyond the Sun that a middle ground between the zany and the heartfelt would be a good direction to try next, and Walking to Babylon seems to be trying to achieve this, as well as being the first attempt to have an arc running through several stories.
And so we embark on the first story in the Time Ring Trilogy, where Benny and Jason are catapulted from location to location, the first being ancient Babylon.
Having not read any of the books I am considering the audios purely from their own perspective, therefore I cannot comment on how well they have been adapted or what shortcomings they suffer compared to the original novels.
This one starts, as does Beyond the Sun, with a visit from Jason. The love-hate relationship Benny has with her ex-husband continues as he annoys her further, this time by bringing along one of the People. I know nothing about the People but the audio gives enough of an explanation to be going on with. This technique will become a common feature of the Benny range, as new situations are casually thrown in at the start with the briefest description, but they are introduced succinctly and naturally enough to get across the salient points of the plot without feeling like clumsy exposition. Oddly, it doesn’t irritate me not to know all the details, whereas in Dr Who I might want more explanation. Perhaps it’s the pace, the different structure of the Bennys, the different parameters it can operate within compared to Who, I don’t know, but with the Bennys I am much more likely to go with the flow and assume that if I need more back story I can read the books.
Anyway. The People are clearly immensely powerful and that’s all we need to know for the story to move on. After Jason leaves Benny she meets two more People, who ask for her help. The one Jason brought with him has, along with his accomplice and their droid, kidnapped Jason and used him to go back in time. There is now a time path going all the way back to Earth’s ancient history but the People as a whole have agreed not to time travel as part of a peace treaty, so they dare not risk going themselves. Benny realises that Jason has stolen her Time Ring to help the renegade People do this, so she will be safe to travel along it and agrees to go and deal with them – and, with a bit of luck, give Jason a thick ear.
As with Beyond the Sun, Jason is the instigator of this latest disaster. True to form he’s been duped and imprisoned by his partners in crime. For someone with his talent for technology and with his connections to the shadier elements of society, his overwhelming naivety is beginning to make it more unbelievable that he’s lived this long, because here he is again at the wrong end of another dodgy deal and once again Benny has to rescue him. Since this could get stale fast, there is at least more at stake this time. The actions of the renegade People may affect history, and let’s be honest – an archeologist turning down a chance to see Ancient Babylon? Not really happening is it? So, armed with nothing but her wits, a couple of universal translators and a device for measuring changes in the time stream, she’s off in hot pursuit.
When she arrives in Babylon, further complications arise when it becomes apparent that some time sensitive humans can also get onto the path and walk along it. Benny meets John Lafayette, a young man from the early 20th century who is initially out of his depth until Benny takes him under her wing, and he becomes a strong and well written temporary companion. Barnaby Edwards plays him as a dedicated man but with sensitivity, making even Lafayette’s old fashioned attitude towards sex and women seem more quaint than merely bigoted. It’s a great performance that makes the character hugely likeable. Benny’s brief relationship with him is done believably and tastefully, without coming across as the Hollywood style cliche of hero meeting someone and shagging them just to chuck a “relationship” in as a bit of gratuitous titillation between the bullets.
The other characters are all very well done too. There’s not a bad performance on show here, plus everyone seems to have had a great time doing it, which I always find infectious. Louise Morell is particularly good as the temple girl Miriam. Stephen Wickham is very funny as the drone and seems to be an early model for Joseph, the drone in the later plays. Even the small parts like the child and the traders are convincing, with everybody’s performances gelling and building on each other, but pride of place has to go to Elizabeth Sladen. Though her voice is instantly recognisable, her turn as Ninan-ashtammu is utterly committed and believable as she has a crisis of faith after talking to Jason, who manages to redeem himself somewhat in a great scene with her.
Again I must express admiration for Lisa, who has not read any of the books either, yet she remains convincing in all the plays regardless of the quality of the stories, and never feels like she’s sleepwalking through it or phoning in her performance. This play is all about the characters, who make the story special.
Walking to Babylon is outstanding.
10/10.