A long time ago in 2012, Big
Finish embarked on a mission: Push the Eighth Doctor into new territory. Take
him to the very edge of his existence. Start his journey to towards the Time
War and his eventual end in Night of the
Doctor. They emblazoned this outstanding undertaking with the moniker ‘Dark
Eyes’ and have been entertaining fans of the Eighth Doctor ever since.
So far, the Dark Eyes series has
taken various twists and turns. From encountering the Daleks, to meeting the
Eminence to taking on the Master in a massive temporal showdown, Dark Eyes 4
seeks to fuse all these elements into one and finish the Dark Eyes saga in an
epic fashion. The timelines are unstable thanks to the machinations of both the
Daleks and the Master in the previous box sets and the Doctor sets out to end
this conflict…once and for all!
A Life in a Day
Doctor Who meets Fifty First
Dates meet Groundhog Day.
This is the complete opposite of
what I was expecting from the opening story. Those of you who read my previous
review of DE3 or even listened to the last box set will understand that I am
not Liv Chenka’s biggest fan. I find the character a walking bundle of misery
that does nothing but make the atmosphere in Dark Eyes even bleaker. So imagine
my surprise when A life in a Day
focused on Liv and humanizing her character after wasting most of her presence
in the previous box sets. I do not approve of the lackluster fashion they
handled her arc, but A Life in a Day
really does wonders for Liv. For someone whose first opinion is difficult to
change with a second, I found myself enjoying Liv’s scenes during this piece.
The cast for this opener includes
Beth Chambers, who is best known for playing Seventh Doctor companion Raine
Creevey in the Lost Stories and UNIT: Dominion. Unfortunately for Liv, the
Doctor’s chemistry with Chamber’s generic character here still explodes with more Je ne sais quoi for
lack of a better word than with Liv. Also unfortunate is the plot restricting
Creevey’s character by having her just ask questions and not doing much else.
While A Life in a Day is a blatant whole plot reference to Fifty First Dates and Groundhog Day, don’t think you know
what’s going on. Like any Doctor Who story, there’s a SCI-FI twist and the
twist here is such an original spin on a very tired trope that you can almost see the new life being breathed into
this piece. For those of you who have been
getting a little worn out by the darker and more morose Eighth Doctor, take
comfort in knowing that he has chilled out a little between DE3 and now.
There’s still that Dark Eyes atmosphere about him, but he is recovering back
into the Eight we all know and love.
Rating this story: 7.5/10. The
first installment might not rank amongst the greatest DE openers or even one of
the best stories in general, but it does succeed in what it aimed to do and
that is open the book on page one of the final chapter in the Dark Eyes series,
giving us more questions than answers, setting plot points in place and
developing characters who desperately needed it.
The Monster of Montemarte
After setting things
in motion in the opener, Dark Eyes 4 goes straight to business in this second
installment. Yup! Straight to business…but at the slowest freaking pace
imaginable. In fact, I’d even go so far as to divide the first and second half
of this story because while the second half is fantastic, the first is enough
to bore even the most hardcore Doctor Who fan to death. The plot setup is
atrociously long and it takes more than half the story before the titular
monster makes its first official appearance. Everything up until then is simply
set up solely to allow the resolution for this piece to work which is something
of a waste as you don’t build a story around a resolution, but the resolution
around the story.
Okay, so first half is boring.
Second half? Wow! Business picks up in a big way with the appearance of a very
special Dalek. Yes, the monster of Montemarte is a Dalek. Not much of a spoiler
considering the cover for this story. We also finally learn the truth behind
Molly O’ Sullivan’s dark eyes and its importance to the series. This is the
real driving force behind this story. The Eighth Doctor is back to his dark
eyes self, but mixes it up when he goes head to head with the monster of
Montemarte!
Many of you know that I’m not
much of a Dalek fan, but having the Daleks appear in this story is very
welcomed. It feels like they’ve been away too long and their return is well
overdue. Yes. That’s the impression the Daleks had on me during this story.
Liv Chenka takes a bit of a
backseat in this story, in the sense that she is given something to do, but in
the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t mean much and is easily
forgettable. Instead, we concentrate on the Doctor’s budding friendship with a
young artist and later his showdown with the Daleks, both of which is quite
enjoyable to listen to.
Rating this story: 7/10. A
terrible first half that is saved by a spectacular second one.
Master of the Daleks
And the prize goes to
John Dorney! Fans have been asking for this particular title utilizing wordplay
on both the Master and the Daleks for years and now we finally get it. Dorney
gives us the Master teaming up with the Daleks and boy is it a doozy of an
alliance.
Whenever Alex MacQueen’s Master
shows up, I find myself rooting for the empire (wanting the bad guy to win).
It’s a good thing that this is another somewhat Master-centric piece as it
really isn’t fair to the other characters having the Master steal every scene
he’s in. It’s an absolute delight, but not quite like The Death of Hope from Dark Eyes 3. The Doctor’s role in Master of the Daleks feels a mix of The Christmas Invasion and The Crimson Horror. The payoff to this
reduced, but still pretty much a part of everything presence is great and the
reasoning behind it doubles as a comical callback to one of the Eighth Doctor’s
funniest running gags.
The tension in Master of the Daleks really emphasizes
just how close we are to the finale. The Daleks feel fresh in this piece – they
feel rejuvenated. The script Dorney has penned for them really works even for
fans like myself who aren’t Dalek lovers.
Unfortunately, Liv’s presence in
this is completely overshadowed by the team-up that is the Master and the
Daleks. Given how many different plot threads are running through this story,
it’s unfortunate that another element that fails to stand out is the inclusion
of the Sontarans. You could’ve easily replaced them with some other alien race
and not even notice a difference which is a shame after Big Finish did such a
fantastic Sontaran story in The King of
Sontar.
Special mention goes to the last
scene which I will not spoil, but will say features such a powerful moment that
it will leave listeners on the edge of their seats, as we head into final
installment in the Dark Eyes saga.
Rating this story: 8.5/10. The
stars of Master of the Daleks are the
titular characters and with good reason as this story proves it is possible to
have two main villains on equal footing in one tale. You just can’t have three
it seems.
Eye of Darkness
The final story in the Dark Eyes
4 box set explodes from the first couple of minutes and goes on to tick every
box. Everything that makes a great Dalek story is here. There’s a Remembrance of the Daleks feel here, as
well as Steven Moffat timey-wimey trickery, specifically a Big Bang vibe. Paradoxes, alternative timelines – it’s all here and
the Doctor, Liv and a few familiar faces from the past are at the heart of it.
It’s been a long time coming, but
we finally learn all the answers Dark Eyes have been posing and some of them
are too tragic for words. Some are inevitable and maybe even predictable if
you’ve been following the arc but it is those tragic ones that really rip out
the heart strings. You read correctly. Dark Eyes 4 has no time to waste
plucking at heart strings. It’s going in for the jugular.
If I had to nitpick, I’d say it’s
Liv Chenka. I just don’t know what the writers want to do with her. Her
presence in the box set becomes ever more diminished and less important. For
the third time in a row, Chenka takes on the same plot role. The character,
ironically enough, was much more interesting in the previous box sets, now
being reduced to a generic companion who exists simply because the Doctor needs
to travel with someone. The support characters in Eye of Darkness do more than Liv Chenka does and are tremendously
more entertaining. I sincerely hope that Doom Coalition, the next installment
in the Eighth Doctor Adventures, teams the Doctor up with a more competent,
more interesting partner because this one isn’t.
Despite the Daleks taking up yet
another story, I’m not feeling Dalek-lagged yet. From good to great to awesome,
Eye of Darkness is the epitome of
Dalek storytelling. Nick Briggs sounds like he’s enjoying every second of it
and he should. This is a fantastic way to end things.
It’s also worth mentioning that
the Eighth Doctor is probably at his best in his story. I believe McGann has
reached the proverbial ‘ceiling’ and the only way further up is to smash it
because the Doctor here is perfect! Paul McGann utterly dominates from A to Z,
start to finish, it’s his Doctor shining all the way, going from funny and
wacky to hard and serious like that! It’s glorious to hear.
Ranking this story: 9/10. A
fantastic mix of all the right elements needed to end a long running series.
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