Turlough is in trouble again: piloting a stolen ship through a pocket universe on a mission that is strictly forbidden by the Doctor. He would be going it alone, but there is unwelcome company in the form of Huxley, one of the legendary novelisors of Verbatim Six, who is narrating and recording Turlough’s life.
THE COMPANION CHRONICLES: RINGPULLWORLD
While the Companion Chronicles have all technically been fully performed stories rather than audiobooks, they still differ significantly from standard, full-cast Big Finish plays. Companion Chronicles are much more akin to prose works than the other Big Finish ranges, yet it took until the twenty-fifth Companion Chronicle, Paul Magrs’ “Ringpullworld,” for an author to make something of this distinction, and do a brilliant job in the process.
The synopsis says that there’s a character narrating and recording Turlough’s life, something that makes the play sound conventional: that’ll be the framing device, with some sort of after-the-fact novelization of an adventure involving the fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough. But that assumption is wrong, as “Ringpullworld” is actually told in the present tense, with Turlough and his Novelisor companion discussing their current adventure. Magrs blows open the conventional format: instead of one character telling the other a story, here we have two characters arguing over the best way to relate a tale. It’s real-time narration: Huxley, the Novelisor from Verbatim Six, has access to Turlough’s mind, and so he remarks upon Turlough’s comments, elaborating upon his mental state. Turlough makes a comment, and Huxley adds “muttered Turlough ruefully,” or something similar. As you’d expect, this irritates him, feeling like a “novelized hell,” but it also serves as a fascinating commentary on the role of the narrator in these stories. Is the narrator just there to add “said the Doctor” after every line, or is more significant input required? Magrs definitely falls on the latter side of the equation, making for an implicit criticism of some of the less imaginative Companion Chronicles – what good is a simple audiobook?
While the first episode is full of great ideas – two universes separated by a ring pull, the alien race, Turlough’s relationship with the TARDIS crew – it’s the second episode that knocks “Ringpullworld” out of the park. Huxley reveals the ability to predict the future, and presents three possible outcomes to Turlough, narrated in future tense. Turlough himself narrates the final (and best) outcome, the story adapting as he grows more comfortable with the style, and Huxley sneakily takes the place of the audience, asking Turlough what it’s like to narrate in the future tense. The story ends before an outcome is decided, but with a tale actively written in real time, how could it end any other way? This is whip-smart writing from Magrs in a format that definitely seems to appeal to his prose sensibilities.
The other star of the show is Mark Strickson, who returns to the role of Turlough – and acting in general – as though he’d never left. He’s every inch the conflicted, impulsive character he played on television, but perhaps most significant is what Strickson realizes about the script: that Turlough, not Strickson himself, is the narrator. I’m sure, from his time in that part of the world, that Strickson can do a very convincing Australian accent. But I’m similarly convinced that the hilariously broad, stereotypical Tegan impression that I heard comes from Turlough’s mouth, just like his proper, fussy impression of the fifth Doctor. Some reviewers have commented that the accents took them out of the story; for my part, I was howling with laughter throughout. Alex Lowe shouldn’t be forgotten, suitably irritating – and occasionally threatening – as Huxley.
Some newcomers to the range on the production front, with Neil Roberts’ direction and Daniel Brett’s sound design up to Big Finish’s usual high standard. But the script is the real highlight of “Ringpullworld:” Paul Magrs is the first author to use the Companion Chronicles format to its full potential. It’s exciting, it’s dramatic, it’s intelligent, it’s meaningful – and it’s easily the best Companion Chronicle to this point of the range. “Ringpullworld” is required listening.
Brilliant.
10/10