Lost among the dark caverns of an unknown world, has the Doctor finally met his match?
1 Comment
Styre
on May 8, 2016 at 12:08 AM
THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM
And so the third season of Big Finish’s eighth Doctor audios comes to a close, a season which saw the Doctor flee to an alternate universe to sequester himself from the familiar. Along the way, he picked up a new, alien companion and started to learn the nature of the planet on which he was stranded and the differences between its Zones. To this point, the alternate universe plot has seemed utterly pointless — there have been no explanations of how things are different here — but at least the third season finale by Will Shindler is a solid Doctor Who adventure.
The Twilight Kingdom has come under fire from some quarters for two reasons: one, it’s very traditional, and two, it evokes a Sawardian atmosphere. Part of the problem here is the Big Finish release order: first, an epic anniversary story, followed by a minimalist two-hander, followed by a large-scale ultratraditional Who tale, followed by the most high-concept, experimental Doctor Who audio ever, followed by an ‘80s action runaround. There haven’t been any intermediate steps; the tone of the range this season has shifted from extreme to extreme, and it’s disconcerting at best.
Shindler, an experienced television writer, is here new to Doctor Who writing. His author’s notes indicate that his experiences with the show were confined to seeing it on television, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that this script closely resembles a television story. This is a very hard-bitten story, with soldiers and rebels generally being nasty to one another as an alien influence lurks in the background. Unfortunately, Shindler falls into the same trap that consumed countless authors before him: not writing enough plot to fill out the running time. Much of the middle two episodes are consumed with capture/escape scenes, running through caves, and redundant philosophical discussions; this detracts from the ideas which dominate the first and fourth parts.
These ideas, fortunately, are rather good. Shindler’s foreshadowing might be a little blatant (and the cover art doesn’t help) but the concept of an organism whose digestive tract appears to be soil and water is excellent, and the first episode does a fine job of building up tension and confusion over what, exactly, is happening. Furthermore, the imagery of the organ-cave at the heart of the creature is horrifying, and Shindler manages to communicate its nature without resorting to poor expositionary dialogue. There’s very little here that’s truly difficult to predict, but it’s carried off with enough flair that the predictability doesn’t really matter.
Paul McGann gives an excellent performance in this audio, and Shindler’s Doctor is suitably dark to fulfill the requirements of the plot and the characterization established in Scherzo. Unfortunately, neither the Doctor’s behavior nor the actions of the cave dwellers manage to convince the listener that Charley’s suspicions of the Doctor are correct — but McGann himself voices the part in a manner that indicates a change in the character. His confrontations with Koth and, latterly, the Kro’ka, are excellent, and his reading of “Rassilon!” at the end sends shivers down the spine — no mean feat, considering how silly that “cliffhanger” is.
Unfortunately, I am yet again forced to criticize India Fisher’s performance as Charley. Shindler doesn’t seem to like the character, as she’s criticized for complaining too much in the first five minutes — and then spends the rest of the play complaining. Furthermore, Fisher is asked to show Charley turning against the Doctor before it’s obvious that she’s being manipulated, and instead of bringing any originality to the part she voices it in boring soap opera “I don’t know you anymore!” style. The brief “love” conversation at the end — are we ever going to get away from this? — grates, but thank heaven for the Doctor asking her never to mention it again. Maybe she’ll listen… and maybe I’ll win the lottery.
C’rizz does very well in this story, however. He’s forced to go against his nature when brainwashed, learning to accurately fire weapons, and this allows for easy, effective character development, something we haven’t really had yet with this companion. Conrad Westmaas sounds very good in the role: he presents a wonderful mix of sarcasm, politeness, and genuine emotion, all without radically altering his voice. I’m looking forward to more stories with this character — it’s just a shame it took three stories to provoke any interest.
There’s a surprisingly large supporting cast in this story, though they don’t distinguish themselves to any great extent due to the nature of the material. Best among them is Michael Keating, who goes wonderfully over the top with his villain voice as Koth — but then, when portraying a talking, disembodied head mounted on a wall of organs, how can you possibly restrain yourself? Alan Rothwell gives a nicely understated performance as Janto, and Ann Carus-Wilson is solid as Vayla — but she sounds a lot like India Fisher, which might cause confusion if you’re not paying full attention. Stephen Perring retains the slimy superiority seen in The Creed of the Kromon as he reprises the role of the Kro’ka. And I hate to sound like I’m piling on, but near the end of the play, I heard Orvik giving a radio report and was stunned at how unconvincing he sounded — so I look up the part and it’s Gary Russell. Russell has done excellent work in fill-in roles in other audios — what happened here?
On the production front, Gareth Jenkins’ sound design is up to its usual standard of greatness — the jungle effects in episode one are especially convincing. Russell Stone contributes yet another excellent score; he’s clearly wrapped up in the ‘80s sensibilities of the script and his music is suitably dominant and melodramatic to match. I mentioned in my last review that Gary Russell’s direction seems to follow the quality of the script, and this seems to be the case here as well: a solid script is given solid pacing with decent performances — but just as there’s nothing exceptional in the script, there’s nothing exceptional on display in the direction. This is not to condemn, of course.
Closing the third season with a Saward-esque violent runaround seems an odd way to compel listeners to pick up season four, but I don’t grade on a play’s usefulness as an advertisement for the rest of the range. Shindler has provided a solid yet uninspiring script with just enough ideas to keep the interest. Above average work, and worth hearing — just don’t expect the world to be changed by the experience.
THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM
And so the third season of Big Finish’s eighth Doctor audios comes to a close, a season which saw the Doctor flee to an alternate universe to sequester himself from the familiar. Along the way, he picked up a new, alien companion and started to learn the nature of the planet on which he was stranded and the differences between its Zones. To this point, the alternate universe plot has seemed utterly pointless — there have been no explanations of how things are different here — but at least the third season finale by Will Shindler is a solid Doctor Who adventure.
The Twilight Kingdom has come under fire from some quarters for two reasons: one, it’s very traditional, and two, it evokes a Sawardian atmosphere. Part of the problem here is the Big Finish release order: first, an epic anniversary story, followed by a minimalist two-hander, followed by a large-scale ultratraditional Who tale, followed by the most high-concept, experimental Doctor Who audio ever, followed by an ‘80s action runaround. There haven’t been any intermediate steps; the tone of the range this season has shifted from extreme to extreme, and it’s disconcerting at best.
Shindler, an experienced television writer, is here new to Doctor Who writing. His author’s notes indicate that his experiences with the show were confined to seeing it on television, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that this script closely resembles a television story. This is a very hard-bitten story, with soldiers and rebels generally being nasty to one another as an alien influence lurks in the background. Unfortunately, Shindler falls into the same trap that consumed countless authors before him: not writing enough plot to fill out the running time. Much of the middle two episodes are consumed with capture/escape scenes, running through caves, and redundant philosophical discussions; this detracts from the ideas which dominate the first and fourth parts.
These ideas, fortunately, are rather good. Shindler’s foreshadowing might be a little blatant (and the cover art doesn’t help) but the concept of an organism whose digestive tract appears to be soil and water is excellent, and the first episode does a fine job of building up tension and confusion over what, exactly, is happening. Furthermore, the imagery of the organ-cave at the heart of the creature is horrifying, and Shindler manages to communicate its nature without resorting to poor expositionary dialogue. There’s very little here that’s truly difficult to predict, but it’s carried off with enough flair that the predictability doesn’t really matter.
Paul McGann gives an excellent performance in this audio, and Shindler’s Doctor is suitably dark to fulfill the requirements of the plot and the characterization established in Scherzo. Unfortunately, neither the Doctor’s behavior nor the actions of the cave dwellers manage to convince the listener that Charley’s suspicions of the Doctor are correct — but McGann himself voices the part in a manner that indicates a change in the character. His confrontations with Koth and, latterly, the Kro’ka, are excellent, and his reading of “Rassilon!” at the end sends shivers down the spine — no mean feat, considering how silly that “cliffhanger” is.
Unfortunately, I am yet again forced to criticize India Fisher’s performance as Charley. Shindler doesn’t seem to like the character, as she’s criticized for complaining too much in the first five minutes — and then spends the rest of the play complaining. Furthermore, Fisher is asked to show Charley turning against the Doctor before it’s obvious that she’s being manipulated, and instead of bringing any originality to the part she voices it in boring soap opera “I don’t know you anymore!” style. The brief “love” conversation at the end — are we ever going to get away from this? — grates, but thank heaven for the Doctor asking her never to mention it again. Maybe she’ll listen… and maybe I’ll win the lottery.
C’rizz does very well in this story, however. He’s forced to go against his nature when brainwashed, learning to accurately fire weapons, and this allows for easy, effective character development, something we haven’t really had yet with this companion. Conrad Westmaas sounds very good in the role: he presents a wonderful mix of sarcasm, politeness, and genuine emotion, all without radically altering his voice. I’m looking forward to more stories with this character — it’s just a shame it took three stories to provoke any interest.
There’s a surprisingly large supporting cast in this story, though they don’t distinguish themselves to any great extent due to the nature of the material. Best among them is Michael Keating, who goes wonderfully over the top with his villain voice as Koth — but then, when portraying a talking, disembodied head mounted on a wall of organs, how can you possibly restrain yourself? Alan Rothwell gives a nicely understated performance as Janto, and Ann Carus-Wilson is solid as Vayla — but she sounds a lot like India Fisher, which might cause confusion if you’re not paying full attention. Stephen Perring retains the slimy superiority seen in The Creed of the Kromon as he reprises the role of the Kro’ka. And I hate to sound like I’m piling on, but near the end of the play, I heard Orvik giving a radio report and was stunned at how unconvincing he sounded — so I look up the part and it’s Gary Russell. Russell has done excellent work in fill-in roles in other audios — what happened here?
On the production front, Gareth Jenkins’ sound design is up to its usual standard of greatness — the jungle effects in episode one are especially convincing. Russell Stone contributes yet another excellent score; he’s clearly wrapped up in the ‘80s sensibilities of the script and his music is suitably dominant and melodramatic to match. I mentioned in my last review that Gary Russell’s direction seems to follow the quality of the script, and this seems to be the case here as well: a solid script is given solid pacing with decent performances — but just as there’s nothing exceptional in the script, there’s nothing exceptional on display in the direction. This is not to condemn, of course.
Closing the third season with a Saward-esque violent runaround seems an odd way to compel listeners to pick up season four, but I don’t grade on a play’s usefulness as an advertisement for the rest of the range. Shindler has provided a solid yet uninspiring script with just enough ideas to keep the interest. Above average work, and worth hearing — just don’t expect the world to be changed by the experience.
7/10