Amidst the excitement that is
Series 8, it’s easy to forget that Big Finish is still releasing Classic Doctor
Who audio dramas monthly.
Although I will admit that the wait between the
previous release and this one feels more than a month. What made 2014 truly
unique is the fact that Doctors 4-8 are each getting a box set full of their
own classic romps. From Dark Eyes to The Worlds of Doctor Who, but for now,
let’s harken back to 1981 and join the original Fifth Doctor TARDIS foursome…
It’s been decades since Adric has
been heard. Barring the less than villainous representation of him in The Boy That Time Forgot where he was
voiced by Adrian Scarborough, Adric has been one of the riskier companions to
bring back. This is partly due to fans having a somewhat marmite feel towards
him. You either love or hate him. Rarely is there any sort of middle ground.
Reuniting Adric with the rest of the TARDIS team also revives the original dilemma
that forced writers to delete him from the show in the first place: An overcrowded
TARDIS!
The idea of having four
protagonists in a story puts an enormous strain on the author as everyone has
to be given something to do. This isn’t so much an issue for the other foursome
in Peter Davison’s era (Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough), but for most of
Peter Davison’s first season onscreen, one of his team would occasionally be
sidelined: Adric in Castrovalva,
Nyssa in Kinda, Nyssa again in The Visitation, Adric in Black Orchid and unsurprisingly Nyssa in
Earthshock. Going into this box set,
one of its defining traits would be the ability to use all four characters
expertly without dumping one in either a prison or the TARDIS console room.
The box set features two 4-part
stories. The first is penned by veteran Johnathan Morris and is called Psychodrome. Now some of you already
know that one of the key factors that decides whether or not I watch/listen to
something new (that is most likely outside of my usual comfort zone) is the
title. As a title, Psychodrome sounds
epic! It is set shortly after the events of Logopolis.
Stop! Wait! Let’s start here! This is a fantastic idea people. This gives Peter
Davison the chance to really harken back to his roots by giving us a very
(let’s say that again for emphasis) VERY (and uppercase it) fresh Doctor.
Hearing this portrayal again feels like a post-regeneration story in its own
right.
Not only that, but Psychodrome might just be the best
Johnny Morris story I’ve listened to and that is saying something. So many
foreshadowing, ironic echoes, running gags, callbacks – call forwards! Just
talking about the lipservice we get here, this story is like Day of the Doctor, but then we get to
the story and you’re like ‘wow’. Best of both worlds! Wish we had something
like this following on from Castrovalva
as opposed to the abhorrent Four to
Doomsday. Even if you like Four to
Doomsday, after listening to Psychodrome,
9/10 times you’re going to find yourself agreeing with me. Morris creates a
story that is so rich with character development, but manages it in a way that
doesn’t change who these characters are by utilizing the fact that at this
point, these characters don’t really know one another. Nyssa has nowhere to go
but the TARDIS, Tegan never wanted to travel in the TARDIS and Adric doesn’t
quite recognize the Doctor as himself, more as a pale imitation who isn’t quite
as prepared or planned as his scarf and curls Doctor. Remember this is Five at
the very beginning. These concepts are all explored in a very unusual setting
populated by very unusual factions that like the Aplants from the Angels
two-parter has a way of hiding their true importance.
The second story is written by
John Dorney who has written some of my personal favorite stories such as The King of Sontar, The Burning Prince and The Crooked
Man, so I was expecting more than just a haunted house The Island-esque story from him. Something on par with The Crooked Man. Iterations of I delivers! Well mostly! It’s quite the clever
script, but also combines out-of-the-box ideas and mixes them with the haunted
house genre of storytelling. The fright factor is present and very infectious.
The sound design team really did their homework on this piece. It can easily
give Night Thoughts a run for its
money.
Onto the other aspects of this
box set, one of the treasures comes in the form of the original 80s radiophonic
workshop tracks playing throughout the story. Doesn’t get more 80s than that!
You can tell no expense has been spared. Big Finish really wanted to bring back
the early 80s vibe and they succeeded amicably. This genuinely feels like a
radio drama preformed in 1981, except the quality of the microphone is still
that of 2014 thank goodness. Anyone who’s ever listened to Slipback will understand where I’m coming from.
A jarring aspect was the old-ish
sounding Adric which is justified as Matthew Waterhouse is 52, but it feels odd
when hearing him act alongside the mildly gruff sounding Peter Davison, the
virtually unchanged Sarah Sutton and the accent disguised Janet Fielding. Perhaps
it’s because I’m already used to them. Whatever the case may be, it takes a
little getting used to, but by the second story, you should be completely used
to him – no biggie!
Another issue fans might have with
the second story is that the ideas used might go over their head. It’s very
abstract in a sense and hard to wrap your head around it if you’re not used to
it this level of creativity. It’s clever, but also teetering on the verge of
being too clever for its own good.
This leads to a decline in episode three with the inclusion of a plot twist
that is…I’ll be honest: Pathetic! Given how smart and unique this story started
out as, pulling a plot twist this mundane and lackluster is a sore topic for
discussion, made even worse by the fact it was pulled out of thin air with no
setup, some kind of hint or foreshadow. Bonus points for the fact that it’s
also obvious that inclusion of this particular subplot was only added to pad
the story another twenty minutes when it wasn’t needed at all. This I feel is
this story’s biggest flaw. Consistency is equal to/or greater than the sum of
the writing. This means that it is okay for a mundane story to get better or
stay the same, but it cannot be allowed to get any worse. This I feel is what
happened here.
The time placement for these
stories: Psychodrome is set shortly
after Castrovalva, but before Four to Doomsday, while Iterations of I is set after some time
after Black Orchid since Nyssa
mentions the Doctor starting to read the book he received in the book’s
namesake episode.
Rating Psychodrome: 9.5/10. Powerful from start to finish in every category available to score.
Rating Iterations of I: 7/10. On the verge of being too clever even for it's audience.
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