On a research station near a black hole, time keeps standing still. Investigating the phenomenon, the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria discover a power far greater than any of the monsters that have challenged them on their travels… The Doctor’s own people.
With the safety of thousands balancing out the need to flee, and a policeman from his home planet working at his side, the Doctor reluctantly finds himself involved in a race against time.
But nothing is ever as simple as it appears. And if you can use the Doctor’s compassion against him, you have the makings of a perfect trap…
THE EARLY ADVENTURES: THE BLACK HOLE
The most disappointing element of the Early Adventures to this point has been their general reluctance to stand apart from the pack. Unlike many of the Companion Chronicles, the first six Early Adventures haven’t attempted anything particularly ambitious – at least not in storytelling terms. This changes quite drastically with Simon Guerrier’s “The Black Hole,” a story that gleefully flaunts continuity and tells a very modern-feeling story set in the midst of season 5.
The Patrick Troughton/Frazer Hines segments of “The Two Doctors” are difficult to explain on their own: not only does the progression of time mean that our beloved characters look decades older, but the Doctor is consciously doing work for the Time Lords, something that would have been utterly unheard of in Troughton’s era. The “season 6B” theory sprang up around this: that the second Doctor, after his trial but before his enforced exile, ran errands for the Time Lords, who reunited him with Jamie (and possibly Victoria) for this purpose. Guerrier evidently has no time for this idea as, in the middle of “The Black Hole,” the Doctor and Jamie head off to meet Dastari on the bidding of a Time Lord, Stattenheim Remote Control in hand, and return later talking of Sontarans. This isn’t particularly relevant to the story, but I do love the audaciousness of it, and to see that idea worked into a 1960s-themed story is quite refreshing.
Even more interesting, though, is the way Guerrier completely disregards accepted limitations on the era. We can’t have a story involving Time Lords prior to “The War Games,” right? Well we’ve got one here! Admittedly it involves some convenient memory wipes prior to the conclusion, but it’s fascinating to hear the second Doctor interacting with one of his fellow Time Lords.
The Monk! I had no idea this was coming, and for good reason: Guerrier stages the revelation that there is another Time Lord around as though it’s the story’s grand twist, then later reveals that same Time Lord is actually the Monk. It’s a simple, tricky bit of structuring that certainly paid off to me. I also like that we’re seeing more Monk stories popping up – he was the first recurring individual villain in Doctor Who, and I see no reason why he can’t pop up to menace the second Doctor. Rufus Hound is excellent in the role, coupling the Monk’s gleeful love of interference with a surprisingly sympathetic side. We don’t get to spend a lot of time getting into his character – though we see a lot more of that in the Eighth Doctor Adventures – but it’s also commendable that he isn’t an out-and-out villain.
Additionally, not only do we have a third Time Lord, Pavo, involved in the story, we get to see that Time Lord regenerate and change sex in the process! I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that this came out right around the time that “Hell Bent” first aired on TV, but that’s a mind-blowing continuity step for any Doctor Who story, never mind one from the Troughton era.
The biggest problem with “The Black Hole” is that, despite the fun continuity elements, it doesn’t really dig into its characters. There’s a potentially interesting bit with Victoria being traumatized, but while it sounds disturbing, the script never explores it. This is surprising, since Guerrier is normally all about that sort of thing, but fortunately it doesn’t detract significantly from the story, which is solid enough, if a little confusing.
As for the casting, whoever decided to have David Warner narrate the story deserves some sort of award. He’s a brilliant narrator, of course, and it really saves on confusion to have someone narrate who isn’t otherwise in the cast. Frazer Hines, meanwhile, is playing both Jamie and the second Doctor again, and yet again the problems with his Troughton impression are flagged up: he can really only capture one of Troughton’s many moods, and the more you hear it, the more you realize it’s just Hines putting on a funny voice. Lastly, Deborah Watling returns to the role of Victoria, and while her performance is considerably better than her dreadful turn in “Power Play,” it’s still not that impressive.
The production is fantastic, from Lisa Bowerman directing to the sound design and score from Toby Hrycek-Robinson. Overall, “The Black Hole” is a strong release, the best of the Early Adventures thus far, and well worth hearing. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’ll nonetheless stick around in your mind for many reasons.
Highly recommended.
8/10