A new adventure with the Third Doctor as told by his companion, Jo Grant. “Retrocausation! Events before their cause. Time in reverse.”
A new adventure with the Third Doctor as told by his companion, Jo Grant. “Retrocausation! Events before their cause. Time in reverse.”
THE COMPANION CHRONICLES: THE DOLL OF DEATH
The eleventh Companion Chronicle, and the third in the third series, is Marc Platt’s “The Doll of Death,” a return to the Pertwee era featuring Katy Manning’s debut in the range. While certainly not a traditional Pertwee story, it’s also not what you’d call terribly innovative, relying heavily upon temporal tricks and some admittedly delightful prose for its effect.
“The Doll of Death” is a time travel story straight out of the “Festival of Death” or Steven Moffat books of tricks: Platt creates an environment in which time simultaneously runs forward and backward, and throws the characters into it to see what happens. So you get the sorts of things you’d expect: characters see “ghosts” of their futures, then later become those “ghosts” and watch their past selves living through their memories. Unusual or inexplicable things happen that are later revealed to be the actions of the characters’ future selves. It’s not that this type of storytelling is unacceptable, or that Platt has written it badly – it’s just that it’s little more than a plot contrivance, and Platt spends far too much time with it when there’s more interesting material elsewhere.
Among the more interesting material is the titular doll HannaH (yes, two capital letters – subtlety, folks!), though much of the suspense and horror falls apart when you realize what’s actually going on. The sound design slowly revealing the “Mama” effect is a nice touch, but really, interviewing the Doctor and dismissing him as an establishment figure? That’s a little too nudge-wink-y for my taste. Still, I enjoyed the multiple possessions, and the voice effect on the doll was certainly creepy enough.
The biggest positive about “The Doll of Death” is unquestionably its prose. Though it’s oddly framed – Jo is blogging?! – Platt’s text is wonderful, evoking the spirit of the era while employing some entertaining turns of phrase. Granted, this isn’t the toughest era to recapture, but the characters all ring true: Jo is endearingly scatterbrained; the Doctor is uptight yet sympathetic; the Brigadier is gruff and practical; Benton is put-upon and charming, and so forth. By the time I was listening to Yates asking Jo out on a date, I was expecting the Master to show up just to wink at the camera, so to speak.
Katy Manning is great in this, too. While she’s played Iris Wildthyme for Big Finish for a while, I believe this was the first time she returned to the role of Jo Grant since the TV series, and it’s like she never left. It’s unsurprising how easily she recaptures her role; what surprises is the ease with which she portrays everyone else. She doesn’t bother attempting perfect impressions; rather, she affects lightly humorous voices that leave no confusion about who’s speaking. And considering that she’s voicing every male character in a story full of them, that’s no mean feat.
The production is largely successful. Lisa Bowerman directs effectively as always, while the sound design from David Darlington, as mentioned above, has some entertaining touches. Overall, “The Doll of Death” is a successful story. The temporal shenanigans cause it to bog down in the middle, but the joy with which it embraces the Pertwee era shines through to the surface. It’s certainly not essential listening, but it’s fun listening, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Recommended.
7/10