The TARDIS arrives on the remote Shetland isle of Bothness and the Doctor and Leela find themselves threatened by Vikings! Only all is not as it seems. The locals are celebrating the old Norse fire festival of Up Helly Aa, so there’s nothing to be worried about. Or is there?
For, unknown to the islanders, the TARDIS crew are on the trail of an ancient artefact invested with mysterious powers that has recently been stolen and brought to this remote location.
Somewhere on this island lurks something ancient, and evil, and alien. The Doctor and Leela will have to stop it. Only on this occasion time might not be on their side.
PHILIP HINCHCLIFFE PRESENTS: THE HELM OF AWE
“The Helm of Awe” is the fourth story that Philip Hinchcliffe has Presented to us through Big Finish, and this, like the others, is based on an idea for television adapted to audio by Marc Platt. While there are certainly some fine ideas on display, and a surprising turn by Tom Baker, the story is far too cluttered to be remotely coherent.
The Doctor and Leela land in the 1970s, on a small, remote Shetland Island where the people are very devoted to their Viking heritage. Naturally, strange things start happening almost immediately: the people seem strangely violent; Leela experiences visions of a Viking invasion; and a local professor, Angus Renwick (David Rintoul), is collecting strange, ancient artifacts. From here, the story follows fairly common Doctor Who beats: the first two episodes deepen the mystery, the real threat is introduced about halfway through, the third episode could basically be dropped without a problem, and the final episode sees the Doctor and Leela save the day. As plots go, it’s solid and entertaining. Here’s the problem: the story attempts to variously incorporate Viking traditions, World War II drama, cultish behavior, family relationship drama, an alien invasion, and drama on the high seas, and doesn’t do any of them justice. Furthermore, the alien threat at the root of all the problems is rather unclear about its motivations: it’s a couple of days since I listened to the story and I’m already losing track of the threat.
Fortunately, there’s some fine character work on display, starting with the Doctor himself. The Doctor was often very intense during the Hinchcliffe era – despite Tom Baker’s eccentricities, he didn’t turn into an overtly comedic figure until the Williams era – and that attitude is on full display in this story. He’s genuinely afraid of what might happen and infuriated about the damage to the timelines, and Tom Baker rises to the occasion, growling and barking out his lines in a head-turning performance. We’re used to Baker sounding variously drunk or delighted in his readings in the Fourth Doctor Adventures; here we get a sense of the capable actor lurking under the surface.
“The Helm of Awe” is also a fine story for Leela, representing her “savage” origins while respecting her intelligence. It’s easy to write Leela as an idiot; it’s difficult to write her as a smart, capable adult with a limited frame of reference, but Hinchcliffe and Platt are up to the task. I like the Sevateem war cry – yes, it sounds forced, but that’s a matter of perspective. If they’d thought of it in the 1970s we’d be used to it by now, after all, and it makes perfect sense for her tribe to have one.
In the end, though, I don’t think the story works. An episode-long excursion to World War II and an Allied ship pursued by a U-boat works as a set piece, but as a part of a greater whole it falls flat. It’s the sort of thing that could add needed texture and diversity to a six-part story, but when it’s 25% of the whole it needs to mean more. And that’s the story in general: it’s a great showcase for the Doctor and Leela, but apart from them it’s a confused, overcrowded mess. Don’t get me wrong – I’ll always prefer a confused story with too many ideas to a boring story with too few, but that doesn’t mean “The Helm of Awe” is particularly good. The quality of these stories needs to improve. It would be difficult to justify the cost if these were brilliant; it is impossible to do so in the face of mediocrity.
5/10