Future Britain is bankrupt, its corporate owners facing financial ruin. Fortunately, the Universal Monetary Fund, and its slimy representative Sil, are willing to give its President a multi-billion credit bail-out… but terms and conditions apply, and Sil’s proposed austerity measures go far beyond mere benefit cuts.
Responding to a distress call, the Doctor and his companion Flip land in a London whose pacified population has been driven largely underground. But the horrors down there in the dark are as nothing to the horrors that await them at ConCorp HQ, where a young biochemist in Sil’s employ is working on a permanent solution to the nation’s terminal unprofitability.
Because in the final account, Sil plans to make a killing…
ANTIDOTE TO OBLIVION
With the 50th anniversary year in the past, Big Finish entered 2014 with a main range trilogy featuring the sixth Doctor and new audio companion Flip. The first story in this trilogy was, for some reason, given to Philip Martin, whose “Antidote to Oblivion” is basically the same story that Philip Martin always tells and is all the worse for it.
For as much as I criticize his Doctor Who audio work, I enjoyed both of Martin’s television episodes. “Vengeance on Varos” is an obvious satire, yes, but as it satirizes its own medium there’s a lot of room for smart metatextual humor. “Mindwarp,” meanwhile, is largely muddled and confused, but I really admire its ambition – it’s the only story of the classic series to attempt unreliable narrative, for example. Sadly, it seems the intervening 25+ years have bled away Martin’s ambition, for “Antidote to Oblivion” is a boring, paint-by-numbers collage of everything he’s done before. Obvious, overstated satire? Of course. Characters being transformed into monstrosities? Naturally. Sil sliming his way through every scene? Who else? But even that’s not so bad – that’s pretty much all you get in the first half, and while it’s predictable, at least it isn’t intolerable. When episode three begins, however, Martin tries to introduce armies of sentient viruses, and the proceedings change from dull and predictable to head-slappingly stupid.
I often criticize Big Finish releases for lacking theme or meaning, so it may surprise that I’m attacking this story for actually trying to say something. The problem is that the satire is so ludicrous it defies belief. I can accept an embattled government pacifying its people by tainting the water supply with psychotropic drugs – that’s quite reasonable, actually. But when Sil suggests reducing the “surplus population” by 90% – that’s NINETY PER CENT – and nobody bats so much as an eyelid, it crosses the border into lunacy. This is mustache-twirling villainy of the worst kind, and even the heroic characters don’t respond appropriately – Cerise (Mary-Ann Cafferkey) doesn’t even react when she hears, for heaven sakes.
The acting was enjoyable, at least, though the characterization is all over the map. Colin Baker launches into the role with his usual gusto, though Martin has him spiky in one scene and kindly in the next with little consistency. I’m not even sure Martin knows who Flip is – Lisa Greenwood is basically reading “generic companion #3” lines. Nabil Shaban returns to the role of Sil, and he’s easily the best thing about the story, as the script and his performance perfectly recapture the memorable villain. Lastly, there’s Dawn Murphy as Cordelia, a character that could have been fascinating but winds up one-note and boring. It should also be noted that this story features a link to “Mindwarp,” but that isn’t interesting either. I’m curious to see if the Doctor’s vow at the story’s end will be followed up or if we can just leave it alone and let “Bad Therapy” cover that ground – I suspect I will be disappointed.
The production was solid. Nick Briggs sits in the director’s chair, and the fine performances across the board are a testament to his success. The sound design from Fool Circle Productions is solid, while the score is nicely evocative of the music of the period. Overall, though, I’m forced to wonder why this was made in the first place. Why are we still asking Philip Martin to contribute material if he isn’t going to come up with anything original? Why are we still making drawn-out runarounds with multiple scenes of capture and escape? Why must any attempt at satire be this obvious? I’m not going to give this a terrible score, because I liked the performances and I could listen to Sil read the phone book, but make no mistake: this is not at all good.
Dreary and pointless.
4/10