TRAVELLER IN TIME AND SPACE seeks male or female companion with good sense of humour for adventures in the Fourth and Fifth Dimensions.
No experience necessary.
No time wasters, no space wasters please.
TRAVELLER IN TIME AND SPACE seeks male or female companion with good sense of humour for adventures in the Fourth and Fifth Dimensions.
No experience necessary.
No time wasters, no space wasters please.
SITUATION VACANT
While the fourth season of Paul McGann stories from Big Finish technically started with “Death in Blackpool,” things formally kick into gear with Eddie Robson’s “Situation Vacant,” a story that debuts a new companion in one of the more unique ways in Doctor Who history. Much like a televised season opener, this is an easygoing, lighthearted tale – but naturally there are serious undercurrents as well as hints toward upcoming arc plots. A heavyweight masterpiece this is not, but it is what we’ve come to expect from Robson: high-quality, entertaining Doctor Who.
It’s hard not to love the central conceit of this script: four people with very different backgrounds answer a classified ad from a time traveler seeking a companion for his adventures. When they arrive, they discover the traveler has organized tasks for them to complete to judge their readiness to journey through time and space. And then, in true reality TV fashion, the competitors are eliminated in turn until a lone victor is chosen as the new companion. This is bizarre behavior for the Doctor, to say the least, especially since he seems to have no idea what he’s getting into – the “challenges” surprise him as much as the contestants! Robson plays skillfully with this motif, showing the Doctor sliding remarkably easily into the center role of an “Apprentice”-like arrangement. Such an obvious homage to television adds a metafictional element to the story as well, though fortunately the listener doesn’t actually have any input!
The four potential companions are all interesting in their own rights: none are as they initially appear and all carry dramatic revelations. While Theo’s (Joe Thomas) revelation is amusing – and his fate grisly – those of Asha (Shelley Conn) and Hugh (James Bachman) are almost identical dramatically, leading to a feeling of padding at what should otherwise be a crucial area of the play. But the final revelation about Juliet (Niky Wardley) – or, rather, new companion Tamsin – is the most affecting and the most indicative of the depth of character the audience can expect going forward. It’s interesting, though, that she was the first competitor eliminated by the Doctor: yes, she was playing a character, but it seems unlikely that she was acting when she froze under pressure, and it would be irresponsible not to bring this up again. I also like the inclusion of hotel manager Rachel (Joanna Kanska), the obvious best choice for companion who nonetheless has no interest in joining up.
This is also the first time Big Finish has overtly seeded arc continuity into this range of stories. It’s rather obvious that the Doctor isn’t responsible for organizing the events of the story, given how many people are killed, but that leaves the obvious unanswered questions: who organized it? Whom did they recruit as their companion? How do they know the Doctor? If this series follows the television style, it’ll take a few stories to come back to these arc points, so it’ll be interesting to see the direction the series takes from here.
The production front, unfortunately, seems to be trying too hard. McGann seems unusually flat for most of the story: he’s at his irritated best when evaluating the companions, but his involvement in the action feels perfunctory and his abrupt reversal on Juliet/Tamsin is unconvincing. Of the potential companions, Bachman and Thomas are hilarious, but that’s to be expected given their backgrounds. Wardley’s over the top early on but that turns out to be a conscious acting choice; otherwise she’s pretty much indistinguishable from Conn, unfortunate for an apparent new regular. Jamie Robertson’s sound design is effective but his music less so: it’s very self-consciously silly rather than lighthearted. No complaints with Nicholas Briggs’ direction, though the pace does flag somewhat as the twists are piled on near the conclusion.
Overall, “Situation Vacant” is a successful start to a new season of Paul McGann stories. It takes a novel approach to finding a new companion, undercutting many of the relevant clichés in the process. A few production niggles and an occasionally uneven script keep it from greater heights, but then one never leads with one’s best episode.
Recommended.
7/10