4. The Land of the Dead.

4 episodes. Approx. 114 minutes. Written by: Stephen Cole. Directed by: Gary Russell. Produced by: Jason Haigh-Ellery, Gary Russell. 


THE PLOT

Strange energy emissions draw the TARDIS to 1964 Alaska - where the Doctor hurriedly dematerializes to avoid a collision with a light aircraft. The timeship reappears in the exact same place thirty years later, following the same energy trail.

The Doctor tracks the readings to a building under construction by the wealthy Shaun Brett (Christopher Scott). This is no home, but instead a monument celebrating Brett's father, who died in disgrace after being the sole survivor of an Alaskan archaeological dig. The only other residents are Brett's employees: Monica Lewis (Lucy Campbell), a sardonic interior designer; Gaborik (Andrew Fettes), a local tribesman acting as a liaison with the Inuit; and Tulung (Neil Roberts), a half-white, half-Inuit who shares a past with Brett. 

The Doctor and Nyssa have only barely begun absorbing the tangled relationships among these four when a new arrival makes itself known: A skeletal, dinosaur-like creature from the Permian age, freed from the ancient ice by Brett's disruptions. The Permian is as fast as it is deadly. It also absorbs the intelligence of its prey - making it all the more dangerous once it has its first taste of human flesh...


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: The 5th Doctor's acerbic side is on fine display, as he maintains a perfectly pleasant tone even when making swipes at those around him. In Episode Two, when the first Permian starts to emerge, he takes charge. This prompts Brett to chastise him for being awfully quick to give orders in Brett's own house - to which the Doctor replies, "Aren't I just?" - with a perfectly pleasant tone and without missing a beat.  He has some very funny exchanges with Monica, who acts as a surrogate for Tegan, assisting him around whines and sarcastic comments. She is the story's most human character: vain, interested in money and fame, with a healthy sense of self-preservation. The Doctor betrays not even the slightest fondness for her, and his quiet jabs make their scenes the most fun part of the serial.

Nyssa: As entertaining as the interplay between the Doctor and his surrogate companion is, the real joy is in the interactions between the Doctor and his genuine companion. It's easy to see why Peter Davison always championed Nyssa as the ideal assistant for his Doctor. This was the first Big Finish story to reteam the 5th Doctor and Nyssa, but you wouldn't know there had been any gap at all. Nyssa's calm patience makes an effective contrast with his Doctor's frustrated sarcasm. Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton have a natural rapport, one which comes across strongly even when they are restricted to the audio format. 


THOUGHTS

Big Finish detractors looking for amateurish visual writing will find it in The Land of the Dead. This early audio play has some of the most blatant examples of characters describing action in the company's entire catalog. The Episode Two cliffhanger is a particular offender. The Doctor is on the phone with Nyssa when the story's monster attacks. Instead of fleeing (as Nyssa tells him to), the Doctor stays on the phone describing in detail how the creature appears:

"The skeletal creature, it's broken free and we can't stop it! And now it's moving towards me! (It's) 12 meters (away) or so, but it's changed. It looks bigger than before... And the skeleton looks different. It's moving more upright, the tail is less pronounced!"

And so it continues, right up to the cliffhanger. It's so very bad that it becomes quite funny.

Performances are variable. Christopher Scott is enjoyably hammy as Brett, milking the character's vanity and insecurities for all they're worth. One of the story's best scenes is essentially a monologue, as Brett tells Tulung about the native stories his father used to tell him. Lucy Campbell is good as Monica, keeping us just on the right side of liking a character who had the potential to be insufferable.

On the other side of the scale, Neil Roberts can't do much with the collection of cliches that is Tulung, a "half-breed" trope of a character who would be entirely at home in a 1950's "B" western. But Roberts is outright brilliant compared to Andrew Fettes, who is so awful as Gaborik that his sheer badness becomes a kind of art in itself. "It is bad," he intones in Episode One, describing both his character and performance perfectly. Every line is written as a declaration and delivered in a flat monotone. 

For all of these faults... I actually rather like this story. The characters are more stock types than people, the plot is silly, and the editing is much slacker than would be found in later Big Finish offerings. But it's also quite enjoyable, making up for in exuberance what it lacks in polish.

Writer Stephen Cole has clearly done some research into Alaska's native people, and his script does a good job of weaving that research into a recurring theme about the present being haunted by the past. Every plot element and character conflict boils down to that. Brett and Tulung are tied together by a past event that defined both their lives. Brett's father sparked all this by digging for the past. Gaborik is obsessed with traditions from the past, to such a degree that he is incapable of being rational. Brett's edifice is a monument to the past, a carefully-constructed artifice that, like its owner, is cold and uninviting. And, of course, the Permians are creatures from the distant past, tearing their way violently into the present.

The theme works, and the plot and character stands bind together with surprising effectiveness. Anchored by a terrific Doctor/Companion pair, played by two actors who seem to be enjoying their return to their old roles, and the story works more often than not. It isn't a highlight of Big Finish's range by any means, but it passes the time well.

...And given that a download of it is now almost comically cheap ($3.00 as of this writing), I can confidently say that I got my money's worth out of it.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Next Story: Winter for the Adept 


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