Spin-off Review 1: The Daleks - The Destroyers, written by Terry Nation (2010) - 7/10

Released: December 2010

Cast:

Sara Kingdom/Narrator – Jean Marsh

Mark Seven – Alan Cox

Jason Corey – Chris Porter

The Daleks – Nicholas Briggs

David Kingdom – Alex Mallinson

Other characters played by members of the cast

Main Production Credits

Producer and Script Editor – David Richardson

Writer – Terry Nation (adapted by Nicholas Briggs & John Dorney)

Director – Lisa Bowerman

Incidental Music and Sound Design – Jamie Robertson

Recording – Toby Hrycek-Robinson at Moat Studios

1960s Dalek Sound Effects – Brian Hodgson and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Executive Producers – Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery

Story Summary (SPOILERS!):

A newly established human colony on the M5 asteroid, Explorer Base One, is attacked by a mysteriously large and unknown force of Daleks. A trio of Space Security Agents, including the feisty Sara Kingdom have been surveying the asteroid during their visit to help the new colony settle in. On their discovery of the massacred human base, they attempt to seek out and rescue Sara Kingdom’s brother, David, the sole-surviving member of the colony left alive, but missing.

David is a prisoner of the Daleks, kept alive for interrogation and to supply intelligence on Earth and its human civilisation. The Daleks are secretly planning an attack on Earth, and currently lie in waiting within an underground base on the asteroid. Sara and the Security agents, through their wits and cunning, successfully penetrate the underground Dalek base, but are just too late. The Daleks have evacuated the asteroid in a rocket, to join a bigger Dalek force elsewhere, as their Earth attack plans advance, taking David with them.

Story Placement

Possibly before Mission to the Unknown (TV Serial), but most likely outside of known Doctor Who continuity.

Favourite Lines

‘These tubes glow with a soft, pulsating green light, eerie and luminous in quality’.

‘The metallic tube jerks up at him. It flares with energy. Carson is blasted, engulfed in a merciless glare so bright that it would burn the image of his helpless writhing form as a negative onto the retina of any human onlooker’.

Review:

I have a confession to make. I still have yet to enjoy the pleasures of Nicholas Briggs’ acclaimed Dalek Empire audio series. BIG Finish have produced so much great material, that even for those of us who have followed their work since The Sirens of Time, it’s been hard to catch up with it all. The Destroyers though gives a helpful taste of what it might be like. Of course I’m fully aware that Terry Nation is a much different writer to Nicholas Briggs. For a start, Nicholas Briggs can get to the heart of a character, and help make a story come alive with imaginative touches and interesting dialogue, whereas Nation’s forte was all about the big ideas. Fortunately in this production, we are blessed with both, although Terry Nation’s work doesn’t always deliver on the promise that the impressive entrance hints at.

The first thing about The Destroyers that leaps into your attention is the gloriously evocative descriptions written for the narration. From every tense extermination to every shadow and plant, the attention to imaginative detail here is astonishing, making the world of the lonely asteroid feel so very alien. Harking back to Terry Nation’s own past work, the asteroid feels just as creepy as the planet Kembel from The Daleks’ Masterplan, full of weird creatures totally unlike life on Earth, such as the sponge-like rock creature and the Spider-like ghostly spectre in the Dalek cave. One almost expects a forest of Varga plants to be lurking nearby. The behind-the-scenes material informs us that a lot of this great descriptive material actually comes from Terry Nation’s own stage directions. This was a happy surprise considering Nation’s infamous history of pragmatically-written scripts like The Keys of Marinus, The Chase, Death to the Daleks, The Android Invasion and Destiny of the Daleks (The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth were substantially script-edited by David Whitaker, while Genesis of the Daleks was script-edited by Robert Holmes). However, a fair amount of credit for the narrative passages also has to go to Nicholas Briggs and John Dorney. Being two of BIG Finish’s strongest writers at this point of time, I have no doubt that they improved the script for The Destroyers immensely.

The story of The Destroyers is an intriguing, but overall inconsequential one. Sadly it feels a lot like a missed opportunity for Nation as the plot consists of a string of set pieces without a substantial storyline to make it all feel worthwhile. We have the early Dalek attack on the human colony, weird alien creatures attacking our ‘heroes’, humans hiding from Daleks, humans attacking Daleks, and then suddenly that’s it. There’s no indication of Dalek intent or motivation, other than the fact that they’re planning to attack the Earth...again. I know this story was supposed to take place outside of Doctor Who continuity, but the lack of substance seems to hint at a lack of inspiration and imagination on Terry Nation’s part, which seems rather paradoxical considering some of his great prose in the script. The rescue attempt of David Kingdom, by Sara and the other Space Security agents is a reasonable plot in itself, helping to keep the narrative moving and interesting. However, the fact that they fail at the end of the episode, coupled with the fact that we know that the Daleks will exterminate David shortly once they’ve extracted what they can out of him, makes the whole endeavour ultimately feel a bit like a waste of time, both for the listener, as well as the characters. Of course I fully realise that this was supposed to be a pilot into a whole bigger adventure series, but it’s hard to see where the series could have gone, except into a more downbeat and protracted rehash of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, without the Doctor.  There are certainly no indications to suggest the contrary. To be fair though, the set pieces are truly magnificent and atmospheric; it’s just a shame there doesn’t appear to be much of a story to go with it.

It appears that Terry Nation’s prose is also significantly better than his characterisation, which I discovered was also true during The Destroyers. The lead, Sara Kingdom is a happy exception. Resourceful, brave, courageous, and yet vulnerable, Sara is every bit of the inspiring and wily modern-day heroine that viewers experienced during The Daleks’ Masterplan. Inquisitive and intelligent, she examines and takes in the alien environment around her with due caution, and when trouble strikes, can put up a fair fight. When Sara learns that her brother is missing and prisoner of the Daleks, we see her vulnerable and emotional side show, as a tragedy close to home reveals cracks in her usual calm and focused manner. This is partly why I’m glad Nicholas Briggs made David Kingdom the Dalek prisoner, rather than Sara just running around the jungle and becoming the prisoner, as it was in the original script, because it now means we can enjoy a more layered interpretation of one of Doctor Who’s strongest companions, rather than waste her in a more thankless role. This now means of course that David Kingdom is an even more thankless and dull character, because we know next to nothing of him, and all he does is throw a couple of protests at the Daleks, and that it’s entirely up to Sara to sell the loss of David to us. The other characters are only marginally better. Mark Seven is a clever and strong android, with a very casual and almost monotone delivery, and is actually supposed to be a one-note character, whereas Jason Corey is a stereotypical soldier type, who also has no depth in character to interest us. So once again, it is entirely up to Sara to sell the whole drama of the story. Even the Daleks fail to impress. Although every utterance in Dalek voice is usually music to my ears, they seem to spend the majority of the story just doing rather mundane duties, and appear to be just waiting for the call to evacuation. It really is a shame that even the stars of the show feel like a shadow of their former selves.

Fortunately though, The Destroyers is backed up by some wonderful production from BIG Finish at their usual high standard, and a good cast to match them every step of the way, with some more positive, dynamic direction from Lisa Bowerman. Jean Marsh delivers a masterful performance throughout the production, especially considering the 45 years that have passed since she played Sara Kingdom on-screen. Jean really brings the description to life with a brilliantly-judged reading, full of wonderful expressions; and also is able to perform young enough to make the character of Sara believable. A difficult feat indeed; and Jean Marsh pulls it off splendidly. Nicholas Briggs also continues his superlative Dalek voices with ease, although I just wish he had greater lines to say. The rest of the cast, namely Alan Cox, Chris Porter, Alex Mallinson, also perform well, doing their best, with what is fairly weak material for them to voice.

Meanwhile, supporting Terry Nation’s (and Nicholas Briggs and John Dorney’s) lovely prose is a great music soundtrack by Jamie Robertson. Beautifully simple and very effective, his score perfectly captures and reinforces the creepy atmosphere set out in the script. At times it sounds positively Dudley Simpson-esque. Even the Daleks have their own action motif. However, the style of the ‘title’ music is rather questionable. It’s good, but sounds more like The Incredibles than an adventure sci-fi series. No doubt Robertson had a brief to make something James Bond-like, to reflect the space security agents, but in this case I think it’s just unnecessary and rather brash and unsubtle in comparison to the rest of the brilliant score.

The Destroyers is an impressive and interesting example of what could have been. It succeeds as a pilot, in so far as it feels like the beginning of a setup to an epic Dalek adventure, and that there are many unanswered questions that would help intrigue potential viewers in the coming weeks. However, I’m not sure if it would have the substance to last the duration of a proper series well. I feel there are almost too many unanswered questions. What was the Daleks’ purpose in being stationed on the asteroid M5, and what was there that was worth protecting? What are the Daleks’ true intentions, or are we experiencing just another re-write of The Dalek Invasion of Earth? It wouldn’t matter so much if we hadn’t had any concrete answers, but surely there should’ve been some hints that this was a story that would be worth following. This lack of storyline, particularly for the Daleks, is certainly a important flaw, even if it does succeed as a pilot episode.

However, this is in some respects, all in the past, because a new and arguably better audio series was born out of inspiration from this unmade script, Dalek Empire (by Nicholas Briggs). What we can do though, thanks to BIG Finish is enjoy this missing adventure for what it is – a lovingly produced string of glorious, adventurous and atmospheric set pieces, tied together with expert narration, performed by a great cast, and set to an imaginative score. From the Dalek attack to the sponge-like alien predator; hiding in a living forest to the creepy spider-like spectre creature; these are all moments that we can sit back and savour with delight.

Score: 7/10

Audio Review 5: Prison in Space, written by Dick Sharples (2010) - 3/10

Released: December 2010

Cast:

Jamie McCrimmon – Frazer Hines

Zoe Heriot – Wendy Padbury

Chairman Babs – Susan Brown

Story Narration and other characters voiced by Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury

Main Production Credits

Producer and Script Editor – David Richardson

Writer – Dick Sharples (adapted by Simon Guerrier)

Director – Lisa Bowerman

Incidental Music and Sound Design – David Darlington

Recording – Toby Hrycek-Robinson at Moat Studios

Title Music – Ron Grainer, Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

TARDIS Sounds – Brian Hodgson and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Executive Producers – Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery

Story Summary (SPOILERS!):

The TARDIS trio arrive on a future Earth, ruled over by a predominantly female dictatorship, instigated and overseen by the 122-year old leader, Chairman Babs. Here, men are labelled and treated as inferiors, while women are taught and conditioned to believe in their own superiority. Despite the Doctor’s polite reasoning, Jamie’s barbaric and chauvinistic views get the two of them sent to a correctional space prison, while Zoe is forced to be conditioned into supporting Chairman Babs and believing in female superiority.

The Doctor and Jamie manage to successfully escape their cells and start a revolt from within the prison. After early success, Chairman Bab’s forces eventually outwit them. However, on Chairman Bab’s return to Earth, where the Doctor, Jamie and their allies are to be trialled, the more free-thinking female council stage a revolt of their own to overthrow the Chairman, inspired by the Doctor’s earlier attempt. Jamie breaks Zoe’s conditioning by repeatedly smacking her bottom.

Story Placement

Between Foreign Devils (Telos Novella) and The Krotons (TV Serial).

Review:

There are some unmade Doctor Who television stories that were clearly unmade for good reason, a point sadly proven by Prison in Space.

The story appears to be a failed attempt at a Doctor Who twist on the type of comedy tale spun by the Carry On... or Ealing comedy film series. The sexism, both in the script and characters, is so blatant, that even its obvious uses to attempt satirist humour fail to make any impact. The story itself of a future Earth dominated by a mainly female society where men are the inferiors just reeks of male paranoia. It’s unclear whether the story is trying to support the liberation of women and their political rights, or is trying to suggest that the rights, roles and freedoms of men are under threat by the growing feminism movement during the 1960s. The script certainly seems to be critical of the idea of ‘superior’ or independent women, frequently referring to it as “unnatural”; and through Chairman Babs ludicrous lust for the Doctor, promoting the value of ‘masculinity’. Sure, the idea of men not being the child-giver, or the bread-winner in society is a prescient one for the time, as it is certainly a reality now, but the script misses the point of what really matters. In fact, the removal of these roles could almost be said to make relationships purer as they are more about the mutual love of each other, and less about a marriage of personal convenience. If the story’s premise had occurred on an alien or parallel world, minus the overt sexist script, meanings and dialogue, than it may have just passed muster. However, the poor characterisation and some awful plot resolution, betrays the writer’s old-fashioned views.

The awful plot resolution I am referring to is the ludicrous and outrageous method that Jamie uses to successfully free Zoe from her conditioning by putting her “across his knee”. Such is the outrageousness of the event that it’s clear that the writer intended it to be a joke, albeit a chauvinist one in bad taste. Don’t get me wrong, the Ealing and Carry On film comedies may not be among my favourite comedy media, as a child of the 1980s and 1990s, but I still find them amusing. The ‘humour’ in Prison in Space though, falls almost completely flat for me.

Of course none of this is helped by the weak characterisation either. The women are stereotyped as either butch shouty types (that take exception to anything that remotely hints at gender equality) or overly nervous and indecisive types, whereas the men are stereotyped as slightly yobbish, (at times weirdly mockney-like) and at times equally sexist too. In other words – paper thin. This is a real shame as the total lack of depth in characterisation takes away any need to care about what happens, and turns any satirical elements into a total farce. The central characters don’t fare much better. Chairman Babs is nothing more than a croaky pantomime witch that sounds more like a villainous Beryl Reid than the fearsome tyrant who we are supposed to hate. When conditioned, Zoe appears to turn into Chairman Babs’ personal propaganda-spouting robot, and becomes very whiny and annoying during part four. Jamie meanwhile is either the butt of almost every other joke, or the voice-box for the majority of the chauvinistic insults that the writer felt he could get away with, given that Jamie was from the 18th Century. It didn’t feel as bad during The Invasion, because the occasional chauvinism on display was a script device that helped to highlight the strengths of Zoe as a character, but in Prison in Space it is usually a bad attempt at humour. Even the Doctor has an odd moment when he very vocally champions male rights during the prison revolt.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the narrative has problems of its own. For one thing, Prison in Space has probably one of the most basic plots and storylines ever made for Doctor Who, and sadly is the epitome of all the negative excesses of Doctor Who that occurred during the Patrick Troughton era in the 1960s. There is padding to the hilt, a near-endlessly meandering plot that develops at a snail’s pace, far too many corridor scenes, and a convenient last minute plot device to resolve the story (the female councillors stage a last minute revolt on Chairman Babs, inspired by the Doctor’s efforts). I lost count of how many escape and re-capture sequences there were, and each cliff-hanger takes a painfully long time to assert itself (episode one in particular spouts out paragraphs of dialogue when only one or two lines would suffice). Even the Doctor’s gadget that helps the first revolt to work is a contrived one that appears at a convenient moment, having supposedly to have been acquired during The Dominators when the camera wasn’t looking. The result is to take an already badly-written story and turn it into a tiresome and often tedious listen.

Fortunately though, there are some great things about Prison in Space that make it occasionally likeable, even if they stem almost entirely from the production. The only significant good thing to come out of the script is the amusing sequence when The Doctor and Jamie first arrive at the correctional prison, and are chased around the station and even in the shower room till they finally cooperate with the prison authorities. It feels so synonymous with the amusing and fantastically fun camaraderie setup by Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines, between the characters of the Doctor and Jamie during the television series that one can easily picture it and smile, just like so many similar sequences setup in The Invasion and The Dominators.

By extension, one of the equally great parts of this audio are the main narrators themselves, Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines who like in their recent 2010 audio releases with Colin Baker, effortlessly recreate their characters over 40 years on with great aplomb and enthusiasm. Frazer Hines is particularly impressive, with a near flawless impersonation of Patrick Troughton, channelling the true spirit of the great man himself into a very believable recreation of the 2nd Doctor. One of Frazer’s other brilliant assets is his talent for great comic timing, which still comes across, even if the written jokes aren’t mostly as good as what they should of been.

Meanwhile BIG Finish’s production values, well-directed by Lisa Bowerman are even better here than in Farewell, Great Macedon and truly feels like we are listening to a genuine soundtrack to a 1960s television episode. This feeling is strengthened by the magically poetic and ethereal music composed by David Darlington in one of the best ever BIG Finish scores to date. It is also worth praising Simon Guerrier for taking out some of the worst sexist dialogue, particularly that originally spoken by the Doctor, even though the majority still had to remain in order for the adapted script to remain faithful to the original.

Sadly though, even BIG Finish cannot turn a poorly conceived story such as Prison in Space into a work of art. With the tedious padded narrative, lazy characterisation, overt sexism, and a plot so basic you could write it on a post-it note, this serial was never going to work, either as a drama or a comedy. Even the idea of the correctional prison is ridiculous, feeling positively Victorian, and even more harsh in treatment to the male offenders here than the real-life suffragettes during the first half of the twentieth century. Take away the padding, deeply chauvinist meanings and dialogue in the script and it may have just worked as a light farce. As it stands though, Prison in Space is one of the weakest Doctor Who stories ever written. Fortunately we can count our blessings that this was never made for television, as any of Patrick Troughton’s weaker television serials would be more preferable to experience, even The Underwater Menace, The Dominators and The Space Pirates. We have top class actors, highly imaginative music and sound production, but just as most Doctor Who producers have discovered, it is nigh on impossible to succeed without a good script.

Score: 3/10

Audio Review 4: The Paradise of Death, written by Barry Letts (1993) - 8/10

Released/Broadcast: August-September 1993

Cast:

The Doctor – Jon Pertwee

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart – Nicholas Courtney

Sarah Jane Smith – Elisabeth Sladen

Freeth – Harold Innocent

Tragen – Peter Miles

Jeremy Fitzoliver – Richard Pearce

President – Maurice Denham

Onya – Jane Slavin

Captain Waldo Rudley – Jonathan Tafler

Grebber/Reporter – Brian Hall

Clorinda/Sec Gen of the UN – Jillie Meers

Odun/Patrol Leader – John Fleming

Greckle – Emma Myant

Kaido/Ungar/Jenhegger – Trevor Martin

Rasco Heldal – Michael Onslow

Medan/Hunter – David Holt

Yallet/Officer of the day – Philip Anthony

Nobby/Kitson/Wilkins – Dominic Letts

Crestin – Andrew Wincott

Lexhan – Julian Rhind-Tutt

Main Production Credits

Writer – Barry Letts

Producer & Director – Phil Clarke

Incidental Music & Sound Design – Peter Howell

Title Music – Ron Grainer; Peter Howell

TARDIS Sounds – Brian Hodgson and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Story Summary (SPOILERS!):

An unusual death leads the Doctor and Brigadier into an investigation of a brand new theme park called ‘Space World’. With their new friend Sarah Jane Smith in tow, they discover it is being run by two bloodthirsty aliens from the planet of Parakon – the ruthless Chairman Freeth, and his vicious killer henchman Tragen. The Doctor’s suspicions about their true motives are raised by the technologically advanced entertainment that Freeth is trying to peddle, called ‘Experienced Reality’. E.R. is a collection of real-life recreational memories, recorded in every sensual detail, and can be re-lived by users as though they are really there. However, the E.R. transmissions can be used to control users as well as playback to them.

Investigating at the theme park alone one night, Sarah gets herself kidnapped by Tragen, who takes her to Parakon. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Brigadier and Jeremy (an assistant from Sarah’s magazine company) races off to Parakon in the TARDIS to rescue Sarah, and find an even worse truth waiting for them.

The planet’s interplanetary business, the Parakon Corporation has slowly been destroying its client planets in the pursuit of wealth and greed, through its ‘miracle’ crop, Rapine. Rapine is a crop that, once grown, (and sold back to the Parakon Corporation for wealth) can be used in any type of material manufacture, as well as food, but it takes all the nutrients in the soil without putting them back. The crop fields eventually turn into a desert, creating economic turmoil, unrest, and finally civil war on the planet that uses it. In order to replenish the soil, the Parakon Corporation takes the bodies of soldiers and refugees, and turns them into fertiliser to use on the barren deserts, from which they also make a profit. To perpetuate this process, they even sell arms to the warring planets.

Upon discovering this the Doctor and Brigadier, with help from some sympathetic Parakon natives stage a successful coup in order to enlighten the planet’s old president, who has been kept in the dark from Freeth, his son, who he has been left to manage the Corporation. Freeth is killed while attempting to kill the Doctor for his interventions and Tragen is arrested.

Story Placement

Between The Time Warrior (TV Serial) and Invasion of the Dinosaurs (TV Serial).

Favourite Lines

Freeth – “Don’t let them both be eaten. A corpse could be good publicity”.

(After Tragen has recaptured The Doctor and Sarah)

Freeth – “Congratulations. I must admit I had the utmost lack of confidence in you”.

Review:

In many ways The Paradise of Death seems to be a ‘greatest hits compilation’ of the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who. It has the mysterious unnatural death that starts off the Doctor’s involvement (The Green Death); ruthless and murderous villains (any Master episode); the Doctor coming back from the brink of death (The Daemons, Planet of the Daleks); a race against time across the stars (Frontier in Space); a short flying car chase (Planet of the Spiders); Venusian Lullabies (The Curse of Peladon); an ecological moral, and predilection on the nature of greed (The Green Death, Colony in Space, Invasion of the Dinosaurs); a heroic raid (any UNIT episode); and a gladiatorial fight to-the-death that ends with the Doctor saving his opponent’s life (The Curse of Peladon).

The result is a highly enjoyable, but fairly traditional Doctor Who adventure that finds it hard to rise above the sum of its parts. At times, particularly in the first two episodes, there are dull moments that feel shoehorned in to please the fans like the Brigadier again being outranked, not once, but twice by the UN (The Green Death); and the Doctor once again showing off that he knows the scientist’s work (The Green Death, Invasion of the Dinosaurs). However, there are some really good ideas here. ‘Experienced Reality’, for instance is a great concept, a logical extension of the fast evolution of computer games that dominate the entertainment industry today. It’s an idea that would have been rather odd back in the 1970s, but is very relevant in the 21st century, and in the 1990s it was another fantastic and prescient piece of fiction that was very much a trademark of some of Barry Letts’ best Doctor Who script work (he co-wrote The Daemons, The Time Monster, The Green Death and Planet of the Spiders).

Another good trademark of Barry Letts’ work, the humanitarian political message, is also present. The predilection on the dangers of capitalism gone mad through the Parakon Corporation and its operatives also gives the story some welcome political weight, even if its message is a simple one (give as well as take, the sanctity of life, and the exploitation of the third world). Another fascinating political message is the impact of ‘experienced reality’ on the society of Parakon itself – a warning about how a complete lack of censorship on extreme violence and death in public and commercial entertainment leads to a breakdown in moral values.

However, the edge of this near-perfect recreation of Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who is taken away, partly by some excessive padding, but mostly by simplistic characterisation and dialogue. The regulars trot out all their popular phrases and clichéd character traits, and the villains are very typical Bond-like and Pertwee-esque villains, who are far from original, although, like a soft living room sofa cushion, their familiarity is cosily satisfying in itself. The characterisation of Sarah in The Paradise of Death though feels rather erroneous, in the sense that it feels more akin to Jo Grant’s portrayal than Sarah Jane Smith. Instead of the brave, independent young adult we saw throughout The Time Warrior and the rest of Season Eleven’s television serials, Sarah seems to be at times, weaker and more emotional than we usually expect, particularly considering how early this audio story takes place in the character’s personal continuity. Then of course we come to the audio’s supporting characters, who although try to break new ground, ultimately fail. The biggest of these failures is Clorinda, Sarah’s boss on the Metropolitan magazine. It’s clear she was supposed to bring some welcome depth and development to the character of Sarah Jane Smith, but because the dialogue is so redundant, tedious and lifeless, the opportunity is completely wasted. The other unsuccessful original character is the new pseudo-companion, Jeremy Fitzoliver. An assistant to Sarah from the Metropolitan magazine, Jeremy is perhaps the most annoying companion ever created. Squeamish, rude, snooty, whiny, cowardly and very simple, the character makes Dodo and Adric seem like good companions. As other commentators have noted, I can see that Barry Letts was trying to reverse the traditional male stereotype, but the character has so many negative qualities that it’s quite hard to like him. Added to the fact that Sarah has gone against character to oddly revert closer to the usual female stereotype, means that Jeremy just ends up being a hanger-on for the entire adventure. Goodness knows why they decided to keep him on for The Ghosts of N-Space.

There’s also a frequent amount of dialogue which can only be described as functional, and even some that is downright bizarre and ludicrous. One example of this being when the Brigadier shouts upon taking off on a giant Parakon bat for the first time, “If only the Quorn could see me now!” (Quorn as in the old traditional fox-hunting pack of Leicestershire). However, the most stupid line has to be: “Right Brigadier, how good are you at throwing grenades?” Seriously, did they really not see something wrong with that line? (The Doctor and the Brigadier have been friends for several years by this point, and fought more alien invasions than eaten hot dinners).

Fortunately though, however inconsistent or simple the dialogue and characterisation are, all the actors raise their game brilliantly to help bring this story to life. Jon Pertwee, Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen are on top form, so much so, that it feels like they never went away. While for some Jon Pertwee’s age may show greatly given the length of time since his era on television (1970-1974. This audio was produced in 1993), because I saw The Five Doctors before most of Jon Pertwee’s other Doctor Who serials, he doesn’t seem that much older to me at all. In fact, Pertwee’s enthusiastic performance at such a late age, just confirms how great an actor, and Doctor he always was; helping to make the audio a great entertaining listen throughout. Harold Innocent also puts in a star turn, giving Freeth a marvellously unhinged performance that helps him to stand out from other Doctor Who villains, which is a success in itself, given that the character is very basic on paper. The performances are also backed up by some outstanding sound production, courtesy of Peter Howell, one of Doctor Who’s former resident composers from the 1980s. Considering how long this is before BIG Finish started working their audio magic, the attention to detail here is outstanding, even down to the sounds of the TARDIS, specific to the Jon Pertwee-era.

Despite its clichés, padding and occasional character faults, The Paradise of Death is a fun nostalgic return trip through Jon Pertwee-era style Doctor Who. Full of great ideas and a magnificent cast who deliver in spades, it is without doubt, one of the better Doctor Who audios ever produced. Not all the ideas may work, Jeremy Fitzoliver in particular, but the high level of Barry Letts’ imagination, is more than matched by the quality of the production. In fact in many ways, The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space set down the template for successful Doctor Who on audio that BIG Finish later took up and improved upon. More poignantly though, is the fact that this was one of the last ever official Doctor Who productions that featured Jon Pertwee, Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen, who were always at the top of the game, delighting us with their brilliant work, right till the end. We shall never forget them.

Score: 8/10

Book Review 3: The Scales of Injustice by Gary Russell (1996) - 10/10

Story Summary (BIG SPOILERS!):

The existence of another awakened Silurian shelter is revealed, as in Sussex, England, a teenage boy is kidnapped, and a frightened policewoman starts drawing cave paintings. While investigating, The Doctor himself is taken, and encounters this new group, made of different Silurian races, and even Silurian-Sea Devil hybrids.

Meanwhile, C19, the British government alien defence department in liaison with UNIT, through its secret medical facility – the Glasshouse is also trying to find the truth about the Silurians. However, unbeknownst to them, a secret organisation that hides in C19, called the Vault, is searching for the Silurians to include in their inhumane genetic experiments. The Vault’s aim is to advance the military might and power of Britain over the rest of the World, through the discovery and use of alien secrets and technologies.

Back at UNIT, the Brigadier tries to prevent the breakdown in his marriage, and Liz Shaw is manipulated by the Vault into locating the Silurians. Liz finds The Doctor, once again trying to plead the case for peace between the Earth Reptiles and Human kind, without much success. An insane, powerful and influential Silurian deputy galvanises a large number of the Earth Reptiles to once more attack the Humans. Sergeant Benton and the UNIT forces manage to defeat this Silurian offensive, while Liz manages to reason and convince the remaining Silurian-hybrids to work and live with the Humans in peace.

In Northumberland, Sergeant (soon-to-be Captain) Yates, with later help from The Doctor and the Brigadier, infiltrates and thwarts the Vault organisation, while its mysterious leader escapes to fight another day. After the incident is over, Liz Shaw decides to leave UNIT and go back to Cambridge to try and forge a better career and life for herself, away from the Doctor.

Story Placement

Between The Blue Tooth (BIG Finish Audio) and The Devil Goblins from Neptune (BBC Book PDA).

(TV Episodes: Between Inferno and Terror of the Autons)

Favourite Lines

The Doctor – “If you want a war with mankind, you will certainly get one. And you will receive your wish. You will surely die”.

‘Inside a barred cage was the lower half of a cream-coloured Dalek, stained with green and pitted with bullet holes. The Doctor was sure he’d never seen a Dalek like that, least of all in the twentieth century’.

The Doctor – “I realised not that long ago now that I didn’t know very much about you, Liz. As you say, it’s been all work and no play. That’s my fault. And if you’re going back to Cambridge, then the opportunities to mend that breach are going to be few and far between. But for what it is worth, I value you. Your judgements, your ideas and your ethics. You’ve been my calm in a storm. My white when I’ve been black. I don’t think either of us realised how much I’ve relied on you over the last eight months”.

Review:

It was only going to be a matter of time before I chose a book featuring my favourite Doctor, and I was already aware that The Scales of Injustice had gathered an acclaimed reputation amongst the Doctor Who book reading community; a reputation which I discovered to be very well-founded. A Doctor Who fan could be forgiven for thinking that this adventure is merely another rehash of The Silurians, (the original Silurian story made for Season 7 in 1970) just to plug in a few continuity gaps in the TV episodes. After all, the other TV appearances of these popular Earth Reptiles had been, so surely we will get more of the same, right? No. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Sure, it does fill in some big continuity blanks created by companion Liz Shaw’s sudden departure off-screen between Inferno and Terror of the Autons, and the odd continuity established in the 1984 sequel adventure Warriors of the Deep; and the events surrounding the Silurians in this story echo that of the others, but they are all written, plotted and presented in a much different, and in fact, far better developed way.

For instance, The Scales of Injustice substantially builds upon the established world of the Earth Reptiles in The Silurians, and creates a fascinating and fully-fledged society, truly worthy of them. Here we have not just a shelter, but what feels like in many ways to be an underground city where a whole community resides. Gary Russell also takes the time to give every Silurian an individual name, including the previous Earth Reptiles who featured in The Silurians, personalising them, and giving their characters depth and independence. Although this may seem a bare necessity, it is a sad truth that Doctor Who aliens weren’t always given the same level of depth on Television as their human counterparts. The simple and relatively unfeeling nature of monsters like the Daleks and Cybermen allows writers the luxury of not needing to necessarily write characters for them. The Silurians were a happy exception, but even they were still reduced to unnamed monikers like ‘Leader’ and ‘Scientist’. Now the Earth Reptiles can at last be seen as individuals, but more importantly it makes us more able to sympathise with their plight.

Throughout the book, Gary Russell helps us to see not just the superficial details to the Earth Reptiles, but also their complexity and heart, showing us for once an alien race that cannot be defined in black and white. We see their compassion as well as their hate, such as the wise and open-minded Chukk, who always takes The Doctor at his word. More interesting though is our encounter with young scientist Baal, who is experimenting both to save his own life, and that of the other Silurian-Sea Devil hybrids, who are all dying from premature cellular ageing. It is in fact through Baal that we realise (if you didn’t realise already) that the Silurians are just as much of an emotionally and mentally complex race as Humans, which of course is ultimately the point. In his desperate search for a cure, Baal’s initial prejudice and amoral values cause him to rely on inhumane experimentation upon his human captive, Marc Marshall. In the company and help of the Doctor and Liz Shaw however, Baal slowly sees the error of his ways, and that of some of his people.

Although the Silurians’ are still suspicious and afraid of the humans, in part due to the beliefs of the influential and insane deputy leader – Auggi, the Earth Reptiles finally see the best in the ‘Apes’ they previously despised due to the selfless and positive acts of both The Doctor and Liz, and finally reach a peace. How long this peace actually lasts remains to be seen, but in the long term it seems it must fail considering that in Earth’s future, the Triad (Icthar, Scibus and Tarpok, three old Silurians, who feature in this book also) try to attempt to finish off Mankind for good in Warriors of the Deep.

However, from the very first page, it’s very clear that there’s a lot more going on. Gary Russell cleverly weaves several subplots into the story, the most important being that of the Vault. In an era that was influenced by the legendary James Bond film series, what better than to feature a Bond-esque conspiracy into the proceedings. Throughout the classic TV episodes of Doctor Who, it was effectively UNIT that was at the heart of these many conspiracies, because it was their world-saving antics that were being hushed-up by the government. However, Gary Russell blows this assumption out-of-the-water by giving us a secret organisation forged within C19 (without their real knowledge) to help benefit British interests and Empire, through the use and manipulation of alien secrets and technology. In effect, this is Torchwood, thought up ten years earlier (1996), by another name. In fact, it’s an idea so good; I’m not surprised it’s been used more than once. In the context of The Scales of Injustice though, I feel the idea works even better here than in its later TV incarnation. The Vault is the black to UNIT’s burning and bold white, and the two contrast each other brilliantly throughout the book.

The mystery of the Vault is well revealed in the book too, with only visual clues at first, and only a full reveal at the climax, when The Doctor discovers the truth for himself. It helps to create an exciting rise in tension during the book’s second half, and cleverly switches to become the central plot at the final quarter, while the Silurians are gradually pushed more into the background.

The Vault is also a homage of, and has taken clear influences from The X-Files too, like the main villain of the piece – the scarred pale thin man, who mirrors the silently menacing ‘cigarette-smoking man’ from that show. Partially Cyber-converted like Tobias Vaughn, the pale man is a genuinely menacing (and appropriately Bond-like) villain, who is seen to inflict quite graphic harm to show off his inhuman strength. There are also a lot interestingly unresolved elements to this plot too. The pale man, interestingly escapes to fight another day (like Blofeld perhaps), as do his half-human, half-auton associates, but he also has a mysterious boss, who we get no clues for. Is this the Master? Or is there another big villain we will meet someday? I’m aware that there are two sequels to the Vault plot (already written) – Business Unusual and Instruments of Darkness, and I will look forward to reading these with great interest.

Of course a Doctor Who UNIT adventure wouldn’t be the same without either a raid or an alien assault and in The Scales of Injustice we get both. First, Benton and UNIT troops withstand a Silurian attack, including the first chronological appearance of the Myrka (in Doctor Who continuity). As a big fan of the Jon Pertwee years, it felt like nostalgia made flesh. I could just imagine the HAVOC stunt team in action, jumping about the Sussex coastline, throwing grenades, and reeling from killer explosions and heat rays. So it was almost a double ‘whammy’ when the good ol’ Brigadier and crew came rushing like the Cavalry to the Doctor’s rescue; launching an assault on the Vault.

However, what makes The Scales of Injustice stand out from many of its Doctor Who novel contemporaries is the substantial character developments of not just its antagonists, but more importantly, that of its famous and much loved regulars.

For the first time that I can recall, we get a detailed insight into the private life of the dedicated and ever affable Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. We see that while the Brigadier has a tough time trying to do his duty to the world, he also has an even more terrible time, trying to reconcile and achieve some kind of peace and normality in his home life. The BBC TV series Spooks has often well-explored and lamented, how secret service personnel could lose out on the luxury and type of life we often take for granted. In this case, the Brigadier is also facing a similar prospect, as his wife Fiona hates him for always been away at work, never trusting her with secrets, or spending enough time together as a family. Of course the Brigadier is duty bound by the official secrets act to stay silent of his work, and the national importance of it requires his constant attention. However, that doesn’t make it any less sad when Fiona inevitably leaves him, taking Kate, their only daughter with her. What’s so great about Russell’s writing here is that it shows us the real life and rounded three-dimensional person of a character that is very easily taken for granted, even by The Doctor himself. The sheer heart and strength of character here, also re-confirm that the Brigadier still is, and always has been, one of the greatest Doctor Who companions ever, and my personal favourite too in fact.

The story of The Scales of Injustice though, is ultimately that of Liz Shaw’s. The companion’s sudden departure between Inferno and Terror of the Autons needed and demanded a proper explanation; one which was both believable and true to the original character and in this Gary Russell succeeds admirably. From the very beginning of the story we realise that Liz feels underused and undervalued, fed up of not achieving anything worthwhile for herself since being enlisted by UNIT. To make matters worse, Liz is constantly patronised from all sides, and feels alienated by the Doctor, who becomes increasingly more obsessed with his TARDIS repairs by the day. Ill-treated and unrecognised, it is unsurprising that Liz decides to rebel by hunting down the C19 conspiracy alone, or feels a need to leave, a need to have a life for herself for once.

Liz’s feelings reach a climax in the book’s final chapter, which culminates in a powerful final scene, as Liz and the Doctor have a very moving goodbye. Here the Doctor displays his alien detachment, but also for the first time tells Liz of his affection and admiration for her, apologising for his earlier behaviour, and wishing her well in the future. Liz’s departure as a character is one of the most powerful, dignified and rewarding I’ve seen of any Doctor Who companion, and it was about time that the character finally achieved the proper send-off she deserved.

Although Gary Russell has filled The Scales of Injustice full of Doctor Who continuity references, ranging from The War Machines, all the way to Remembrance of the Daleks; compared to the common school of thought, I see their inclusion as being a good, rather than a bad thing. It is true that some Doctor Who writers use old continuity as a self-indulgent means just to show off how much they know, but in The Scales of Injustice, Gary Russell has used all this continuity to create brilliant story moments, adding dimensions to both the narrative and the characters especially, creating a very well-rounded and satisfying experience for the reader. In fact, the only criticism I could make about this book is that Gary Russell’s dialogue can occasionally be rather simplistic and clunky. However, because the story and characters are written with such heart and spirit, and the dialogue true to character, that it’s not something you remember for long. Younger readers may also find the first chapters quite slow-paced to start with, but that is only because of how many plots and character arcs Gary Russell has to set up at the start of the story. As for myself, I became so engrossed into the book, that for the last 100-odd pages, I couldn’t put it down.

The Scales of Injustice has definitely been one of my very best reading experiences so far, and part of that is certainly down to the care and attention Gary Russell has taken with this book and the characters he pays tribute to. However what ultimately won me over was how well judged the story and tone was considering the period it was intended to fit in. I could easily imagine The Scales of Injustice being another fantastic classic from Season 7 in 1970.  In fact, to me it feels like having just watched an episode from your favourite period of Doctor Who for the very first time, like re-living the favourite years of your childhood. It feels like nostalgia made real.

Score: 10/10