44. Creatures of Beauty.

4 episodes. Approx. 109 minutes. Written by: Nicholas Briggs. Directed by: Nicholas Briggs. Produced by: Gary Russell, Jason Haigh-Ellery. 


THE PLOT

The planet Veln has been devastated by an accident that wasn't even their doing. The explosion of a Koteem ship, which was illegally transporting dyestrial waste across the Veln system, has left their world devastated.  The radiation has horribly disfigured the population, and the Veln race is now mere generations away from extinction.

When the TARDIS materializes on Veln for self-repairs, the Doctor and Nyssa find themselves thrust into the aftermath. Nyssa is picked up by security forces, who suspect her of being a Koteem infiltrator. Meanwhile, private security man Quain (Nigel Hastings) brings the Doctor to his employer, Lady Forleon (Jemma Churchill). Forleon has a plan to save at least some of the Veln people - but her methods have put her squarely in the sights of Veln Security Chief Gilbrook (Dvaid Daker), a brutal man who despises privileged "beauties" like Forleon and has dedicated his life to purging Koteem influences by the most violent means possible!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Spends this story in a particularly philosophical mood. The first episode opens with a scene in which he and Nyssa, while escaping from the security forces, talk about all they have experienced on this planet. The Doctor muses about how both groups - Gilbrook's security forces and Lady Forleon's underground group - have points of view that are entirely valid to them. Witnessing the mess that Veln has become, he determines to just get himself and Nyssa out in one piece, and otherwise not interfere. Peter Davison is on splendid form. The Doctor is largely powerless in this story, but he never acts it. He works out the basic purpose of Lady Forleon's surgical equipment at a glance, insists that he will rescue Nyssa alone if she and Quain won't help him, and faces down the Koteem with poise.

Nyssa: Refuses to be intimidated during her interrogation. When Brodlik (David Mallinson) repeats the official line that she was violent when arrested, Nyssa firmly points out that the only violence came from the arresting officers. Her defiance gradually catches Brodlik's attention, shaking his certainty of her being a Koteem. She's arrested in the first place because of her compassion - She isn't able to stand by and watch Veline (Emma Manton)'s distress without trying to help.

Gilbrook: There are several strong guest characters and performances in this story, but the strongest presence by far is Security Chief Gilbrook (David Daker). He's a monstrous figure, defined by his brutal resentment of the Koteem. But Daker is such a strong presence that he isn't merely monstrous. There's nothing sympathetic or likable about the man, who spits out "beauty" as an insult (every time he does, I can literally picture the saliva flying). Still, there's a purity to his rage which makes him impossible to dismiss. He also gets one of the story's most memorable reflective moments, remembering his great-grandfather witnessing the original disaster and calling it "beautiful" - bringing full circle a refrain of the word "beautiful" that has bridged many moments in the piece.


THOUGHTS

"Sometimes, if you stare at a painting for too long and get too close to it, all you can see are the brushstrokes. The harder you stare, the more formless and meaningless it seems to become." 

This quote of the Doctor's could apply as well to the storytelling structure of Creatures of Beauty as it does to the situation with the Veln and the Koteem within the story. Creatures of Beauty is told non-consecutively, starting around the middle of the story and moving both backward and forward from that point until we finally step back far enough to see the complete picture.

Each episode focuses on a certain piece of the overall situation, getting in close to focus on specific brushstrokes. At the same time, each episode shows a little more of the overall picture. Each part begins with events preceding anything from the previous episodes, and each part ends with events following everything from the previous episodes. In between, we move in close again to focus on another brushstroke.

Part One focuses on Gilbrook, Brodlick, and the security forces. This focus not only gives us the "official" view of the Veln reacting to damage done by the Koteem - It also doubles as a way to ease us into the narrative style. A prologue gives us bits and pieces from throughout the story, then we get one scene from after the Doctor and Nyssa escape, presenting the idea of viewpoints and tipping us off that we're not going to be seeing events unfold in consecutive order. The bulk of the episode, however, is framed by Brodlick's report to Gilbrook on his interactions with Nyssa. All the remaining events are put into context by the Brodlick/Gilbrook scenes, which build to a climax of their own by the episode's end.

Part Two focuses on the Doctor, viewing the activities of Lady Forleon and Quain from an outsider's perspective. The level of discontinuity is increased: We pick up with the Doctor's arrival at the Forleon estate, with Nyssa's arrest occurring off-camera; then we cut forward to events that take place after their escape. Part Three then shifts focus to the viewpoints of Lady Forleon and Quain, showing their actions in the context of people desperate to do something to save their people and culture. This time, we pick up just before the Doctor's arrival and end with the Doctor and Nyssa leaving the planet, commenting on how little they actually accomplished here.

Any listener could be forgiven for thinking the story was over at this point. But the final episode snaps everything into focus. We begin just before the accident that contaminated Veln, and we end after the Doctor and Nyssa have departed. We step back to take in the full painting, and all the brushstrokes we've been examining become parts of the larger work at this point. And we see that the Doctor and Nyssa are much more a part of this than they ever would have suspected.

This is a polarizing story. Most listeners fall into two camps, between those who find it excellent and those who find it dreadful. From writer/director Nicholas Briggs, whose scripts tend toward the traditional, this experimental piece is a huge departure.

As should be very apparent from this review, I fall into the "excellent" camp. Briggs has taken care with his non-consecutive structure, making sure that the work is easy to follow at all points. He's also penned some of the best dialogue in any of his scripts, from the Doctor's philosophical musings to Gilbrook's angry rants about how, to him, Lady Forleon and his people who flout the law are "ugly." 

It lacks the significance to the larger Who franchise that Spare Parts had. But in its way, it's every bit as good a story. It's the second 5th Doctor/Nyssa story in a row to earn full marks, and really shows what a strong period in Big Finish's history this was.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Previous Story: Spare Parts
Next Story: The Game


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