Long ago, the planet Pavonis IV was saved from certain destruction by the Doctor. Now it is dead, laid waste by environmental catastrophe, but a few survivors and their precious race bank survive on the starship Myriad. Their mission: to scour the universe for the fabled dimensionally transcendental obelisk in which their saviour travels, and persuade him to save their world again.
THE COMPANION CHRONICLES: THE PYRALIS EFFECT
The fourth series of Companion Chronicles continues with a story from steampunk (and Time Hunter) novelist George Mann. “The Pyralis Effect,” set between seasons 17 and 18, reunites the fourth Doctor with Lalla Ward’s Romana – but comes across as a confused mix of the two seasons, failing in the process to do anything particularly interesting.
The biggest problem with “The Pyralis Effect” is that it revolves around a threat that is never explained or, for that matter, even shown to be threatening. An ancient Time Lord artifact is discovered on a planet, and a group of well-meaning but misguided people unlocks it, freeing the ancient and deadly Pyralis from their eternal prison. Romana describes their escape into the universe with a desperate, breathy terror, something that shakes her Time Lord mind to the core. One Pyralis is seen on the ship, but it’s listed as a low priority because of the thousands that are escaping the void. And yet we’re never told about why they’re so dangerous, nor do we see them do anything particularly threatening apart from saying “We will illuminate you!” and extending tendrils of light. Why am I supposed to be scared of this, again?
There’s also a murder mystery mixed up in the story: someone is stalking the ship, picking off the crew. It’s assumed to be the actions of a rampant AI named CAIN, but that’s far too obvious and indeed the solution turns out to be something much more mundane. We learn that the crew of the Myriad is searching for the Doctor, considering him a legendary hero that once saved their world from destruction. Naturally, when they meet him, they don’t believe he’s the same man that saved them before – but when they do learn it’s him, absolutely nothing changes. For that matter, do the Doctor and Romana really do much of anything in this story? Certainly not in the first episode, when the Doctor disappears and Romana spends a lot of time wandering deserted hallways in a failed attempt to build atmosphere. And as mentioned above, Mann attempts to set the story between seasons 17 and 18. He does this by having the Doctor veer wildly between flippant humor and ponderous melancholy. The humor jars, which I suppose is the point, but something jarring doesn’t really appeal to me.
There’s also no framing device whatsoever, meaning that “The Pyralis Effect” is basically just Lalla Ward and Jess Robinson reading a first-person novella. Ward’s performance is fine, even if she attempts to inject a bit too much drama into her readings, and Robinson does most of her work through vocal filters. The production is solid, though Lisa Bowerman’s direction doesn’t save the pace, but the sound design from Richard Fox and Lauren Yason convinces. Overall, “The Pyralis Effect” is the first weak offering from the fourth series of Companion Chronicles. It’s not as threatening as it thinks it is, its tone varies too much, and it never seems important. It’s not terrible, it’s not stupid; it’s just dull.
Unimpressive.
4/10