The Seventh Doctor, Benny and Ace fight dark forces from another universe whilst staying at a small hotel in Kent.
The Seventh Doctor, Benny and Ace fight dark forces from another universe whilst staying at a small hotel in Kent.
THE SHADOW OF THE SCOURGE
With the success seen by BF in its explorations of different eras of Doctor Who, it was only a matter of time before a journey was made into the nineties version of Doctor Who: the New Adventures. After all, the company had already been producing independent audio adventures featuring NA companion Bernice Summerfield, and the Doctor Who license gave them the opportunity to explore a variety of Who that had previously been confined to the printed page. Commissioning Paul Cornell, possibly the most highly-regarded author of the range, to write the script simply pushed the script closer to the realm of automatic success.
This, unfortunately, made the play’s failures all the more shocking.
It is obvious from the opening scene that The Shadow of the Scourge was written as a truly archetypal NA; rather than simply penning a new NA it seems as though Cornell has decided to sum up everything he remembers of the range in one four-part script. Observe: the Doctor enters a situation with a masterplan that fails spectacularly about halfway through; his companions vacillate between trusting him and becoming suspicious; Ace still likes blowing things up but is much more professional and “hard” about it; Benny has a one-liner for every occasion; there is a journey into the Doctor’s mind (something which defined about one NA but is somehow perceived as definitive); and the bad guy is an anthropormorphized (well, er, insect-ized) concept. All very well and good, but the problem lies with the resolution, which doesn’t remind me of the NAs at all. I’ll admit that it’s been a while since I read through the range, but The Shadow of the Scourge concludes with everyone involved having a battle with their conscience and being restored by their friends, after which they defeat the bad guy by thinking happy thoughts.
Furthermore, while the personified Eternals seen in the NAs (Death, Time, etc.) never bothered me, the Scourge just infuriate me. Many have overlooked this, but it must be stated: as written, the Scourge are not a representation of nor an allegory for human fear and despair. They *are* human self-doubt, and, at the play’s conclusion, their defeat is the literal triumph of humanity over its failings. Yes, the Scourge feed on these things but they also create them — so remember, the next time you feel worn down or otherwise depressed, it’s only because an alien parasite is making you feel that way. It’s a shame that their true nature is so ridiculous, because had the Scourge merely fed on human self-doubt rather than causing it as well, they’d have been a classic Doctor Who villain. As it happens, they’re just weak.
Villains aside, Cornell does an excellent job with his regular characters. His Doctor is every inch the NA Doctor, scheming and failing in equal measure, and his ability to appear suddenly in the midst of chaos brings a smile to the face. Sylvester McCoy’s performance is excellent, as he’s always done very well with scripts that let him play an alternately brooding and lighthearted Doctor. His scream as he transforms into a Scourge is absolutely terrifying, and his performance as the Doctor besotted by self-doubt within his own mind is solid, if unusual. One can only imagine the facial expressions seen in studio during these scenes.
The Ace presented here is a very good later-NA Ace, combining her hardened post-Deceit exterior nicely with her enthusiastic pre-Love and War personality. There’s quite a bit of nuance available in the script, but unfortunately Sophie Aldred seems to miss the point entirely, playing the character as TV-Ace-who-doesn’t-whine-quite-as-much. The lines are those of someone who spent years alternately travelling with the Doctor and fighting Daleks on the front line; the performance is not. The eardrum-bursting, though, is quite enjoyable even as it induces cringes.
Benny Summerfield is a particular strength of the script. Created as she was by Cornell, it would not have been surprising to see her earn the lion’s share of the action, but she plays the companion role admirably, lending her own unique perspective to the action. Though I’ve never heard Lisa Bowerman’s performance in the BF Benny audio range (save for The Plague Herds of Excelis), here she sounds exactly as I’d imagined.
Production-wise, this is another strong effort from Big Finish. Alistair Lock’s sound design is excellent as always, especially in the opening scenes — without ever having heard sounds to accompany my NA-reading, the score and sound in these scenes struck me as having a perfect “NA feel.” It’s also very well-paced — Gary Russell continues to prove himself a strong director, one able to produce a tight script with fine performances. However, a better effort could have been made with the Scourge voices — their tendency to address their leader as “Leader” coupled with their voice filters makes them sound exactly like Cybermen, which is quite distracting.
I try not to guess motives behind scripts, but it seems to me as though Paul Cornell aimed to make The Shadow of the Scourge the ultimate representation of everything the NAs were about. Unfortunately, grand tributes like this are incredibly difficult to pull off without slipping into hackneyed territory, and here Cornell comes down on the wrong side of the line. Indeed, I’d thought he’d already written his tribute to the series in Happy Endings. Cornell is a strong author (even on audio — look at Seasons of Fear, an excellent offering) but The Shadow of the Scourge just seems more concerned with paying tribute than with telling a strong story. This, coupled with a particular acting deficiency, renders the play one of the weakest of BF’s pre-McGann output, and this is all the more disappointing given the rare nature of the source material over the remainder of the range.
4/10