4 episodes. Approx. 116 minutes. Written by: Alan Barnes. Directed by: Gary Russell. Produced by: Gary Russell, Jason Haigh-Ellery.
THE PLOT
The R101, the ill-fated British airship that was to be the world's largest airship until the construction of the (similarly-fated) Hindenburg, sets off on its fateful voyage to Karachi. Lieutenant-Colonel Frayling (Nicholas Pegg), the ship's designer, is concerned about last-minute modifications imposed by the blustery Lord Tamworth (Gareth Thomas). Tamworth insists the ship is "safe as houses," all the while refusing to explain why it was rushed into this trip before testing was complete. He is similarly closed-mouthed about the exact role of his valet, the sinister Rathbone (Barnaby Edwards), or the nature of the mysterious passenger in Cabin 43.
The airship also carries two stowaways. Charlotte "Charley" Pollard (India Fisher) is a self-styled "Edwardian adventuress" who sneaked aboard by assuming the identity of a young steward. When Tamworth notices that the supposed boy is actually a girl, she flees - and runs straight into the second stowaway, the grinning and gregarious man known only as the Doctor (Paul McGann).
The Doctor smooths things over by passing himself and Charley off as German spies, sent by the Zeppelin corporation to uncover the secrets of the R101. Tamworth is pleased; he would have been insulted had no attempt been made, and the Doctor's obvious familiarity with the airship's workings make him an advisor with good reason to be cooperative. He reveals to them that the passenger in Cabin 43 is actually an extra-terrestrial: A member of a race known as the Triskele (Helen Goldwyn), whose ship crashed the previous year. Using a medium as a go-between, Tamworth was able to arrange a mid-air rendezvous with the Triskele mothership, in order to return this lone engineer and to negotiate with the aliens.
But that isn't the full extent of Tamworth's purpose. Should his negotiations fail, Rathbone has orders of his own. Orders that may just kick-start the Earth's first interplanetary war...
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Storm Warning marks Paul McGann's return to the role of the 8th Doctor, for the first time since the Earth & Beyond audio book in 1998. McGann jumps in with both feet, showing the same enthusiasm and joy for life that made him so instantly engaging in the (otherwise very flawed) 1996 TV Movie. He has a disarming manner that makes it easy for Lord Tamworth to accept his cover story of being a German spy, and that encourages Charley to trust him even before she believes a word that he's saying. His sense of responsibility to the Web of Time forms a major building block of this narrative, and helps to cement the arc that will spring from this tale.
The Doctor: Storm Warning marks Paul McGann's return to the role of the 8th Doctor, for the first time since the Earth & Beyond audio book in 1998. McGann jumps in with both feet, showing the same enthusiasm and joy for life that made him so instantly engaging in the (otherwise very flawed) 1996 TV Movie. He has a disarming manner that makes it easy for Lord Tamworth to accept his cover story of being a German spy, and that encourages Charley to trust him even before she believes a word that he's saying. His sense of responsibility to the Web of Time forms a major building block of this narrative, and helps to cement the arc that will spring from this tale.
Charley: When Big Finish decided to create a plucky, rebellious, upper-class girl to accompany the Eighth Doctor on his new adventures, it is little surprise that they brought in India Fisher - The role is all but identical to Peril Bellamy in Winter for the Adept, and Fisher's performance was practically the only distinguishing feature of an otherwise relentlessly bland outing. The emphasis here is to introduce Charley's major characteristics: That she is resourceful, compassionate, and courageous. She gets to show all of these traits at multiple points, with her compassionate streak particularly brought out in her interactions with the injured Treskele. Her headstrong young English girl makes a good fit with this breathless, young-ish Doctor, though any real character depth would have to wait for future stories.
Lord Tamworth: Blake's Seven's Gareth Thomas makes him Big Finish debut in this story's major guest role, and he is a delight. Tamworth, a stand-in for Lord Thomson in the real R101 incident, is full of bluster and bravado. He's not above threatening to destroy Lt. Col. Frayling's career if he interferes with his mission, and avows that he'll have Charley's "guts for garters" when he discovers she has snuck aboard the airship. But Episode Three reveals another side to him, showing how haunted he is by his experiences in the Great War and how determined he is that such a conflict never be repeated. Thomas is terrific throughout, and his enthusiastic portrayal gives the story a considerable boost.
THOUGHTS
Storm Warning was Big Finish's first Eighth Doctor adventure, and in 2001 that was a very big deal not only for the company, but for Doctor Who as a whole. There was no new series at that time, not even a glimmer of one on the horizon. The Eighth Doctor was the current face of Who; and save for Earth & Beyond, the only performed McGann story was The TV Movie. It was here that the series began moving forward again, with the then-current Doctor getting new stories carrying him forward in a performed medium. Those stories were even presented as "seasons," at a time when that was not Big Finish's norm. In a very real way, Storm Warning marked the return of Doctor Who as a current series, if not yet one that was on television.
It also stands up as a rather good story.
A quick perusal of Wikipedia turns up plenty of ways in which the story deviates from history: The real R101 received a lot more testing than is indicated the story indicates, for example, including multiple short flights before the fatal trip to India. There were also a very small number of survivors of the real crash, something Barnes' script alters for dramatic convenience. Still, it makes an ideal setting for a Who story, with a physical structure that is very easy to visualize and a confined setting that naturally thrusts characters together.
Story structure is quite sound, with Episode One quickly sketching that Lord Tamworth is using this flight to complete a secret mission, that Rathbone is helping him, and that there is something unusual about the passenger in Cabin 43. It brings the Doctor and Charley together, then ends on a cliffhanger. Episode Two expands on this, as the Doctor interacts with Tamworth while Charley interacts with Rathbone and the passenger. Secrets start to be peeled back, and it ends on a note that shifts the story's tone for the second half. Episode Three provides the major exposition, and Episode Four resolves the situation and sets up the complicated situation with Charley for future stories.
Alan Barnes' script does intermittently suffer from the bane of good audio stories: Clunky visual descriptions. The opening scenes are the worst in this regard: The Doctor talks to himself nonstop, helpfully describing a crash in the Time Vortex (which a later story would revisit to good effect) and the vortisaurs picking over the debris of the crash. This eases off for most of the rest of Episode One, but returns for the Episode Two cliffhanger, in which the arrival of the Triskele is described in far too much detail. We could have been to fill in that the alien ship is big, for instance, without having a character describe its dimensions for us.
Overall, however, the Eighth Doctor's Big Finish audio debut does a fine job of reintroducing an incarnation who had been restricted to print for far too long. Paul McGann gives a spirited performance, and he and India Fisher make for a likable and energetic team. The story itself is satisfying - and even more important, it leaves you wanting to hear more stories with this team.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Next Story: Sword of Orion
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