A new adventure for the Fourth Doctor as told by his companion, Leela.
2 Comments
sneakyangel
on May 8, 2016 at 2:20 AM
Empthy Games is the latest in the Companion Chronicles series, featuring Leela. It starts with ‘present day’ Leela who is being held prisoner even though her captors are dead. Leela is dieing and she tells a story of the bravest warrior she knew, the Doctor. The story shows the Leela we all know and love, a true warrior. She gets chosen as a champion to compete in a hunting game. It was interesting to see Leela forced to hunt for sport, something that she did not like and seeing Leela’s vulnerable side, especially at the end when she realises who the crying person was.
Louise Jameson did an amazing job as Leela and several other characters. It was a lot of fun listening to. The extras were interesting. Empathy Games is the second in a trilogy of Leela CCs. However, from what they said in the interviews, I think the third Leela CC will have Leela dieing at the end.
The twelfth Companion Chronicle and the fourth of the third series, Nigel Fairs’ “Empathy Games,” marks the first time that a narrator has been re-used as well as the first sequel in the range. And while the framing device is certainly effective, the main story is standard, average Doctor Who.
The framing device picks up where “The Catalyst” left off: an elderly Leela has been captured by the Z’nai and imprisoned in a massive complex. At the conclusion of “The Catalyst,” the pathogen she carried wiped out her captors – but now, with them dead, there is nobody to free the prisoner from the complex, and Leela is thus stuck to the machines that are preserving her life. This is easily the best part of the story, as Fairs uses an elegant piece of misdirection to make the listener think Leela is narrating to a fellow prisoner – but her tears are revealed as Leela’s own, and we learn that Leela is repeating these stories to herself to combat her own loneliness and desperation. It’s remarkably downbeat, and it sticks in the mind for some time after the story concludes.
Unfortunately, the story that Leela tells isn’t particularly interesting. The Doctor and Leela land following a TARDIS fire (that destroys the secondary console room!) and rapidly find themselves embroiled in local conflict. While the Doctor recuperates in a self-induced coma, Leela is drafted into the Empathy Games, ordered into the tunnels beneath the city to hunt and kill the dangerous rodents that stalk the city. This is Doctor Who, of course, so it’s obvious from the beginning that the rodents aren’t uncontrollable savages, nor will the story allow Leela to go on a murderous rampage. That means we have to learn that the rodents are sentient, and that is indeed the big revelation – that the citizens of the city implant their negative feelings into the rodents and then hunt them to achieve a universal sense of tranquility. Oh, and while Leela is pursuing the hunt, the Doctor is off screen, solving the entire problem. Nothing about this is bad – Fairs is talented enough to make it interesting in spite of itself – but everything here has been done better elsewhere in Doctor Who. The arena combat element (featuring Leela, no less) in particular was a big part of Chris Boucher’s “Match of the Day” near the end of the PDA range.
Louise Jameson is a saving grace for the story, as she is able to disappear into several convincing voices that occasionally make the story sound as though it features more than two actors. Her Tom Baker is gruffly unconvincing as usual, but since the Doctor barely features, it’s hardly noticeable. David Warner co-stars, and he’s naturally great, but he’s also in the stereotypical role of alien bureaucrat doing what he thinks is right – there’s nothing compelling about his character. The production is successful, the sound design and the direction, both from Fairs, effective. Overall, though, “Empathy Games” is best represented by its framing sequence – and as good as it is, it’s hard to give particularly high marks when the best part of a play only lasts about five minutes.
Empthy Games is the latest in the Companion Chronicles series, featuring Leela. It starts with ‘present day’ Leela who is being held prisoner even though her captors are dead. Leela is dieing and she tells a story of the bravest warrior she knew, the Doctor. The story shows the Leela we all know and love, a true warrior. She gets chosen as a champion to compete in a hunting game. It was interesting to see Leela forced to hunt for sport, something that she did not like and seeing Leela’s vulnerable side, especially at the end when she realises who the crying person was.
Louise Jameson did an amazing job as Leela and several other characters. It was a lot of fun listening to. The extras were interesting. Empathy Games is the second in a trilogy of Leela CCs. However, from what they said in the interviews, I think the third Leela CC will have Leela dieing at the end.
THE COMPANION CHRONICLES: EMPATHY GAMES
The twelfth Companion Chronicle and the fourth of the third series, Nigel Fairs’ “Empathy Games,” marks the first time that a narrator has been re-used as well as the first sequel in the range. And while the framing device is certainly effective, the main story is standard, average Doctor Who.
The framing device picks up where “The Catalyst” left off: an elderly Leela has been captured by the Z’nai and imprisoned in a massive complex. At the conclusion of “The Catalyst,” the pathogen she carried wiped out her captors – but now, with them dead, there is nobody to free the prisoner from the complex, and Leela is thus stuck to the machines that are preserving her life. This is easily the best part of the story, as Fairs uses an elegant piece of misdirection to make the listener think Leela is narrating to a fellow prisoner – but her tears are revealed as Leela’s own, and we learn that Leela is repeating these stories to herself to combat her own loneliness and desperation. It’s remarkably downbeat, and it sticks in the mind for some time after the story concludes.
Unfortunately, the story that Leela tells isn’t particularly interesting. The Doctor and Leela land following a TARDIS fire (that destroys the secondary console room!) and rapidly find themselves embroiled in local conflict. While the Doctor recuperates in a self-induced coma, Leela is drafted into the Empathy Games, ordered into the tunnels beneath the city to hunt and kill the dangerous rodents that stalk the city. This is Doctor Who, of course, so it’s obvious from the beginning that the rodents aren’t uncontrollable savages, nor will the story allow Leela to go on a murderous rampage. That means we have to learn that the rodents are sentient, and that is indeed the big revelation – that the citizens of the city implant their negative feelings into the rodents and then hunt them to achieve a universal sense of tranquility. Oh, and while Leela is pursuing the hunt, the Doctor is off screen, solving the entire problem. Nothing about this is bad – Fairs is talented enough to make it interesting in spite of itself – but everything here has been done better elsewhere in Doctor Who. The arena combat element (featuring Leela, no less) in particular was a big part of Chris Boucher’s “Match of the Day” near the end of the PDA range.
Louise Jameson is a saving grace for the story, as she is able to disappear into several convincing voices that occasionally make the story sound as though it features more than two actors. Her Tom Baker is gruffly unconvincing as usual, but since the Doctor barely features, it’s hardly noticeable. David Warner co-stars, and he’s naturally great, but he’s also in the stereotypical role of alien bureaucrat doing what he thinks is right – there’s nothing compelling about his character. The production is successful, the sound design and the direction, both from Fairs, effective. Overall, though, “Empathy Games” is best represented by its framing sequence – and as good as it is, it’s hard to give particularly high marks when the best part of a play only lasts about five minutes.
Still worth hearing.
6/10