2044. Earth is enjoying a Golden Age of peace, prosperity and technological advancement — but somebody is plotting to destroy all that. The Selachians, shark-like alien monsters, launch a crippling attack on Earth’s Moonbase, using deadly weapons from the future. Now Elizabeth Klein must fight to save not only the Galactic Reich but Time itself from the mysterious prisoner who has orchestrated these fateful events… the Doctor.
THE ARCHITECTS OF HISTORY
Heading into the so-called “Klein trilogy,” I was skeptical: three entire stories dedicated to a minor character from about a decade in the past? But I was pleasantly surprised by the first two stories, which embraced the ethical dilemma posed by a Nazi in the TARDIS and made sterling work of Sylvester McCoy’s strengths. I wasn’t prepared for the conclusion, Steve Lyons’ “The Architects of History,” though – despite one or two notable flaws, it’s a unique script, a stellar example of storytelling, and contains a masterful performance from the lead actor.
It’s not surprising that Klein creator Steve Lyons would be given a script in her trilogy, nor is it surprising that Lyons returns to the time-travel theme that featured in his earlier “Colditz.” But his return to his NA roots in his portrayal of the Doctor is shocking: fifteen years separate “Head Games” and “Architects” yet this is every inch the dark, manipulative bastard we saw in that novel. The explanation of how the “real” Doctor inserts his consciousness into the Doctor of the alternate reality is barely present, but it doesn’t really matter: the alternate Doctor has constructed a master plan, the “real” Doctor steps in and improves it. There’s no sudden twist where we realize the Doctor is in over his head: he’s the grandmaster in this situation with the pieces at his command. Sylvester McCoy, for his part, takes this role and runs with it: this is his best Big Finish performance, surpassing even his fantastic work in stories like “The Fearmonger” and “The Magic Mousetrap.” From his weary readings in the prison cell to his shocking anger and command during the audacious episode 2 cliffhanger, he dominates every scene – I genuinely don’t understand, after performances like these, how people can seriously attest that he was miscast in the role.
The script also takes an interesting turn away from the other parts of the trilogy. We seemed to be heading toward a confrontation of morals between the Doctor and Klein, but that’s abandoned here – her villainous turn at the conclusion of “Survival of the Fittest” was apparently enough. Instead, we get a treatise on the inherent hopelessness of time travel, and watch as Klein learns that no matter how she tries to shape history, she can never generate the precise outcomes she desires. It’s disappointing not to even have an attempt to answer the “can you rehabilitate a Nazi” question, but given where the last two stories took the question, this script is probably more interesting. Perhaps most interesting is how not even the Nazis can successfully manipulate history to their own ends, but the Doctor can: whether this is simply because he’s a Time Lord is left deliberately vague, but his ruthlessness is unquestionable. The alternate Earth is consigned to destruction at the hands of the Selachians, all so the Doctor can get his hands on the black “execution TARDIS” – and isn’t that a neat idea! – to remove Klein and her influence from the timeline. It’s also left unclear just who pushed the button at the conclusion, but it’s easy to guess – would you defy this Doctor to do anything?
Let’s not undersell Tracey Childs, whose performance also surpasses those in the previous two episodes. Klein is the ultimate opportunist in this story, shifting allegiances every time the wind blows in an unexpected direction – but she’s also tired of doing so, and Childs conveys this weariness effectively throughout. Lyons, meanwhile, brings his Selachians to Doctor Who audio for the first time from the books, and they’re little more than generic bad guys. Fortunately, the story doesn’t need them to be anything more than that.
The story’s biggest flaw comes in the third and fourth episodes, when it spends far too much time focusing on the travails of Rachel Cooper (Lenora Crichlow) and Sam Kirke (Ian Hayles) as they avoid Nazis and Selachians alike. The danger of alternate universe stories is making plots like this relevant, and “Architects” fails in this regard: the revelation that Sam is an unwilling Selachian spy is almost utterly meaningless given that he’s minutes away from being erased from history. Lyons tries his hardest to overcome this by giving Rachel a speech in which she laments not her demise but rather the lost opportunity for her “real world” self – and it might have worked had Crichlow not gone way over the top with a needlessly melodramatic line reading. But she did, and it didn’t.
It’s somewhat redundant by now to praise Big Finish production values, but I’m going to do it anyway: Jamie Robertson’s sound design and music are first-rate, especially at the play’s conclusion when the score adopts a haunting, memorable tone. John Ainsworth has been at the helm of a number of successful releases, and this is no different: the gorgeous atmosphere is often down to the director and his productions demonstrate this in spades.
It seemed, for a long time, that Colin Baker was synonymous with Big Finish: his Doctor was truly rehabilitated by the company, and most of his best stories and best performances are on CD. But this, the seventh straight superior Sylvester McCoy release, marks a golden age for the seventh Doctor, and I’m already anxious to move on to the next trilogy.
Highly recommended.
9/10