The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Mary Shelley to the continent of Zelonia, on the frontier world Draxine – where, many moons ago, the twin citystates of Garrak and Stronghaven bore testament to mankind’s colonial spirit.
That was before the sinister death cult of Garrak’s President Harmon took hold – and Garrak annihilated itself, utterly, in an apocalyptic explosion. Before the bones of Garrak’s dead came back to life, and its skeletal citizens began marching, marching, marching on Stronghaven itself.
But what do they want, this army of death? And can anything stop them? In search of answers, the Doctor and Mary must journey into the dead heart of a dead city to face a terrifying adversary, whose ambitions transcend the stuff of life itself.
ARMY OF DEATH
The relaunched eighth Doctor and companion Mary Shelley reached the conclusion of their (first?) trilogy with Jason Arnopp’s “Army of Death,” a story that attempts to combine political intrigue with B-movie action. Unfortunately, this attempt to meld styles falls incredibly flat, and its attempts at characterizations fail to support the other aspects of the play.
I mentioned this briefly in my review of “The Witch from the Well,” but at the start of “Army of Death,” we learn through Mary’s narration that she is developing romantic feelings for the Doctor, finding his exuberance appealing. This revelation comes out of nowhere, as this relationship has not even been hinted at in prior releases. In fact, given that the Doctor and Mary were separated for almost the entire running time of “The Witch from the Well,” when were these feelings supposed to have developed? The answer, of course, runs headlong into an ongoing problem with new Big Finish trilogy companion characters: development through implication. No time for Mary to develop romantic feelings for the Doctor? That’s okay, just say that they’ve had lots of adventures together since the last release – then you can say whatever you want! This is terrible storytelling. It would be one thing to start a relationship like this in the previous story and leave some of the development to unseen adventures – but you can’t make it up out of whole cloth and chalk it up to something nobody’s actually written. The increased reliance upon her narration also jars, but at least this isn’t the first time we’ve ever seen that.
The conclusion certainly makes it sound as though the Doctor’s travels with Mary are at an end, which is a shame. For one thing, Julie Cox has been a breath of fresh air, bringing a completely different dynamic to the eighth Doctor’s TARDIS. She’s fantastic in this story as well, using her combination of pragmatism and optimism to secure her relationship with Nia (Eva Pope). But she spends a good portion of the play separated from McGann, and falls too easily into a generic companion role in the second half. While McGann is on top form as usual, it only serves to remind that he and Cox haven’t spent nearly enough “screen” time together. I’d like to see more of this Doctor/companion pairing and not class it as a missed opportunity.
As for the story itself, it’s a relatively straightforward story of two warring city-states. Arnopp skillfully weaves the web of intrigue, stacking twists on twists in a consistent, logical manner. Sure, it’s obvious, but it’s effective nonetheless. David Harewood in particular sells the role of President Vallan as a conflicted man divided between love, duty, and paranoia. Even the skeletal army referred to in the title is intriguing – not scary, per se, but its resemblance to worker ants piques the interest. The problem comes in the final episode, where Karnex’s (Mitch Benn) plan comes to fruition – the dead president resurrects himself as a massive skeleton and refers to himself as the Bone Lord. He then stomps around smashing people, roaring, and ranting like a deranged psychopath. Benn goes so far over the top it almost stops being funny, but why is it funny at all? The story to that point hasn’t contained an ounce of humor, save for Benn’s similarly OTT performance as Raynar. It’s utterly jarring and out of place with the rest of the script.
It’s a shame that there’s not much to commend with the story, because the production is generally quite good. Sound design, handled by Fool Circle Productions, is excellent, with a fine score. Barnaby Edwards directs with the flair he used on the rest of the trilogy – for all my complaints, the story never flags or bores. But ultimately, “Army of Death” is a mess – the writing is flat, the characterization questionable, and the tone abruptly abandoned midway through. The Mary Shelley trilogy had a lot of potential, but after a promising start it came to a crashing halt.
Disappointing.
4/10