Humanity is emerging from a long, exhausting war. Against an enemy so powerful, so implacable, it seemed unstoppable – right up until the moment it stopped.
Now, despite its ‘victory’, the human race is on its knees. The Doctor and Mel join its struggle for survival to try to ensure it has a future.
A race against time takes them from the Great Tower of Kalsos to the Reliquaries of Earth. In an epic journey across the ten systems, their fates are intertwined with one family. The Tevelers are to feel the effects of war more than most…
The Doctor has a plan. Mel is sure he can save the day. But something is lurking. Watching. Waiting. A presence the Doctor knows of old. But just how far does its influence pervade?
The Eminence awaits…
THE SEEDS OF WAR
The third main range release of the anniversary year, Matt Fitton and Nicholas Briggs’ “The Seeds of War,” serves a twofold purpose. Not only does it close the first trilogy of the year, it introduces a new recurring villain to the Big Finish ranges. And while the story is well produced and well told, with several compelling set pieces, it does absolutely nothing with three episodes’ of setup, ending on an unimpressive anticlimax. It’s almost a microcosm of Big Finish’s traditional trouble with endings.
I’ll start with the first episode, though, and it’s absolutely fantastic. The Doctor and Mel aim to dine atop a tower that reaches into the atmosphere of Kalsos, but land just as the Earth Alliance prepares to demolish it. Mel compares the situation to a disaster movie, and it’s an apt comparison: surrounded by explosions, the characters struggle desperately to find a way out of their situation. Director Barnaby Edwards expertly ratchets up the tension, the Doctor (as ever) barely finding a solution in time – and the introduction of the Eminence in the middle of this is shocking, especially given the Doctor’s reaction. As first episodes go, this is up there with any of the best you can name.
As the story progresses into episode two and beyond, Briggs and Fitton wisely draw down the tension, introducing an Earth Alliance brought to its knees by the prospect of mass starvation after a devastating war with the Eminence. The script focuses on one family, the Tevelers: Helgert (Stuart Organ), the elder scientist trying to synthesize artificial food; Barlow (Ray Fearon), the war hero returning home after years away; and Sisrella (Ony Uhiara), who struggles to keep everyone sane and healthy despite the stresses of their situation. These characters are easily sympathetic, all well-drawn, and all well-performed. It’s easy to overlook the effectiveness of a skillful family dynamic, but as they form the bulk of the supporting cast it’s impossible not to notice. The story also performs admirably in presenting a sense of scale: with multiple locations, the extent of the Earth Alliance and the famine plaguing it becomes readily apparent.
The problem, then, comes with the Eminence (voiced by David Sibley) itself. As recurring villains go, there’s a lot of potential here: as the Eminence is a gaseous entity, it can go anywhere, and as it inhabits the minds of its victims, it is nearly impossible to defeat. As the Doctor states, a war against them can never truly be won as they can simply infect the minds of the victims. The Infinite Warriors certainly sound creepy, though the one we meet does little more than stomp around and growl its lines. But after the fantastic (if predictable) episode 3 cliffhanger, the villain rapidly loses its luster. Despite apparently hosting the Eminence in his mind for countless years, the Doctor is able to defeat them through an act of simple deception and able to conceal Mel using a simple coded message. For all his fear of this seemingly unstoppable foe, his victory is remarkably straightforward, even simple – if not for Colin Baker’s convincingly terrified performance, it would be difficult to see why the Eminence poses much of a threat at all relative to other Doctor Who villains.
This lack of tension is the other major concern with the play. While the authors present the Teveler family effectively, and present the effects of famine throughout the Alliance, there is rarely a sense of compelling urgency once the first episode concludes. Any appearance of a race against time disappears when the characters can hop aboard a two-month flight to Earth without a second thought and barely recognize the time lost upon their arrival. And if the Doctor has that much time to work, is there really any doubt that he’ll save the day? It almost seems as though the authors were so eager to introduce this new villain they forgot to make them an urgent threat in the short term.
The production, as usual, is first-rate. Andy Hardwick’s sound design is sweeping in its scope but always effective, complemented by a suitable score. Barnaby Edwards is always a good choice to direct these more “epic” stories, as he understands how to keep a story moving while still drawing great performances from his actors. Overall, “The Seeds of War” is a guarded success: all of its pieces are strengths, but they assemble into an unrewarding whole. Get it for the first episode alone, but don’t be surprised if the ending leaves you scratching your head.
Not bad.
7/10