The planet Cawdor. Deep in the heart of the Drashani Empire.
The Doctor lands thirty years after the Succession of Blood brought Empress Cheni to the throne. For most of her reign there has been peace and prosperity. The Empire flourished. But five years ago, the War came. And nothing was ever the same again. Now the Drashani are at war with the mysterious alien race known as the Wrath, led by the Warlord Tenebris. As more and more planets fall to their advance events are rushing to a head.
What exactly does Tenebris want? What is the secret of the Wrath’s weapon, the terrifying Acheron Pulse? As the Doctor races to save an Empire, he may not like the answers he finds.
THE ACHERON PULSE
After a strong, action-oriented opening to the trilogy, the story of the Drashani Empire rolls on with Rick Briggs’ “The Acheron Pulse,” which picks up some strands from its predecessor while simultaneously striking out on its own. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t work, either as the middle part of a trilogy or as a story in its own right, making it the second slip-up in three tries for Big Finish.
There are some interesting conceits on display. For example, the Doctor is the only person who knows the truth about the apparent deaths of Aliona and Kylo, and in his absence a myth has flourished, leading to decades of peace and prosperity. Briggs draws attention to this, with several characters “challenging” the Doctor by recounting the myth – but when he finally reveals the truth, nothing much happens. If this is meant to be a commentary on the enduring power of myth, there’s no evidence; it appears, instead, to be a curiously unfulfilled plot thread.
In general, it doesn’t seem as though Briggs knows what he wants to do with the script. He introduces a violent, primitive warrior clan leader (Chook Sibtain), and has him rampage through the story for an episode and a half before abruptly killing him off. From there, the more sensible wife (Carol Oakes) takes over, and steps forward into a leadership role after barely having any lines to that point. What’s the point of this, exactly? The boorish Athrid is clearly there as comic relief, but he’s so ludicrously over the top even the other actors audibly have trouble taking him seriously. There’s endless discussion of the Succession of Blood, of the political struggles that evaporated in the face of a new, peaceful empire, and the oncoming storm of the Wrath threatening to destabilize it all – and Briggs communicates this through squabbles between colonists and natives? It’s like watching “The Mutants” to learn about future Earth history, without all the relevant, topical material that gave that story worth.
Tenebris (James Wilby) is an interesting character, at least at first. The post-credits coda to “The Burning Prince” makes any attempt at concealing his identity meaningless, though anyone who doesn’t immediately guess that he’s Kylo probably isn’t familiar with drama in general. Still, recasting that foolish, naïve character as a supervillain on par with Emperor Palpatine is fun, and Wilby chews the scenery with aplomb in each of his lines. He’s also recognizable as Kylo, as the Doctor manages to talk him down from his plans of galactic revenge by carefully explaining that murdering everyone in an empire or converting them into soulless automatons isn’t particularly nice, and he still thinks he’s deeply in love with Aliona. That’s not a complimentary description, of course, and Wilby doesn’t help matters by keeping his evil supervillain voice firmly in place all the way through his redemption and beyond.
For most of the story, the sixth Doctor is his usual bombastic self, and it’s always entertaining to let Colin Baker use his oratory to defeat the bad guy. But this is the middle part of a trilogy, and so, to set up the final part, Briggs turns the Doctor into an oblivious, hubristic idiot. He converts the Wrath to his way of thinking, declaring without a hint of irony that he always seeks the goals of justice and never interferes. He happily washes his hands of the entire affair at the conclusion, declaring that he deserves a party. Hell, at one point he honestly says, “What could possibly go wrong!” I understand that the Doctor has always possessed a healthy amount of arrogance, but never has he been shown with such an utter lack of self-awareness. So unconvincing was this that I spent the entire (endless) conclusion waiting for the twist to strike – but it never did.
The supporting cast isn’t much to speak of, either. Kirsty Besterman gets more depth in five minutes as Cheni than she did in an entire play as Aliona, but she’s still asked to pull off ludicrous moments like a surprise marriage proposal and can’t quite do it. The various underlings and orderlies (Joseph Kloska, Jane Slavin, Chris Porter, John Banks) all run together, none managing to stand out from the crowd. The production is better, with Toby Hrycek-Robinson offering solid sound design and music, and director Ken Bentley at least trying to keep the pace up. But ultimately “The Acheron Pulse” is a failure at script level, full of half-shaped ideas and an unsure tone. Much like “The Entropy Composition” and “The Witch from the Well,” I see what Briggs is going for here, but once again it never comes together.
Not recommended.
3/10