34. Spare Parts.

4 episodes. Approx. 120 minutes. Written by: Marc Platt. Directed by: Gary Russell. Produced by: Gary Russell, Jason Haigh-Ellery. 


THE PLOT

The TARDIS materializes on the planet Mondas - the homeworld of the Cybermen. Though the Cybermen have not yet replaced the human race, Mondasian humanity is in its dying days. The surface of the rogue planet has frozen over, driving the survivors underground. Only one human city still stands, its population afflicted with illness. Crews are selected from the sickest of the residents. They are processed, "augmented" with cybernetic technology in order to work on the otherwise uninhabitable surface, building a planetary propulsion system to return them to their home sun.

Once the Doctor realizes where they are, he insists that they cannot interfere and should leave immediately. But Nyssa has already befriended the Hartley family, recognizing them as good people undeserving of the fate that awaits them. She pushes the Doctor to at least intervene a little... and that little is enough to mark them as outsiders, with the Cyber-augmented "planning committee" ordering them arrested and brought in for interrogation!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Recognizes very quickly that this is Mondas before the Cybermen, something he tries to conceal from Nyssa. When she confronts him at the end of Part One, he insists that neither of them can change this world's fate. Even so, he can't stop himself from making multiple attempts to wake the people of Mondas up to what is happening around them. The future may be inevitable, but when the horror is right in front of his face, he will make an attempt to shift its course. Peter Davison has rarely been better, compassion, sarcasm, and an angry ferocity he was too often denied by his television scripts all perfectly balanced.

Nyssa: While the Doctor makes an inevitably doomed attempt to alter the future on a large scale, Nyssa helps on a smaller one: Helping to fix Mr. Hartley (Paul Copley)'s mechanical heart, for instance, or bringing food to the Hartley family to repay what she has eaten. She continues to feel pain at Adric's death, and seeing the birth of the Cybermen makes that all the stronger. When the Doctor urges that they should leave at the end of Part One, she wields Adric's fate like a weapon against his arguments. 

Cybermen: Several of this serial's Cybermen are first seen as human characters. One is plucky and likable, another officious and humorless, yet another rather shady and potentially dangerous. All are fully human creations, which makes it that much more effective to see them reduced to machines by the story's end. Nicholas Briggs voices most of the Cybermen, and offers a different sound for each stage. The recognizably human police are presented as semi-Cybermen, with a light electronic treatment given to a voice recognizably Briggs' own. The full Cybermen, little heard in the story's first half, have the full Tenth Planet voices. The lead Cyberman, Commander Zheng, also has that voice but with a deeper tone. This makes it easy for the listener to differentiate one "class" of Cyberman from another, aiding visualization while showing each successive generation moving further away from human and toward machine.


THOUGHTS

Spare Parts is Doctor Who's best Cyberman story. I make this statement without any equivocation. It is not merely the best Cyberman story on audio. It is the best Cyber-story across all media and all incarnations of the Doctor Who franchise.

I did enjoy the new series' Rise of the Cybermen, which recycled a handful of the ideas from this audio into an effective television action story. But this is a much more meaningful piece, with far greater emotional impact. Writer Marc Platt hasn't turned out an action story, though there's certainly action in it. As he explains in his author's notes, he rejected the idea of having a "Cyber-Davros" (something this story's television counterpart did indulge in), and instead crafted a human tragedy.

The most memorable scene comes in Episode Three. A power outage has interrupted a Cyber processing line, and one of the half-processed Cybermen has enough of its human memory to find its way home, to a reunion with its family. The reunion scene is genuinely devastating, one of the most vivid single moments in all of Doctor Who.

Russell Stone contributes another terrific score, starting with a jaunty patriotic tune accompanying a newsreel, then distorting that same tune into something discordant and mournful. The score gradually moves toward the mechanized as the Cybermen move from the periphery of the narrative to the center of it, until we get a full Cyber-score backing the action of the final episode. 

Guest performances are mostly excellent, in well-realized roles. Special mentions go to Sally Knyvette's Doctorman Allen, taking refuge in heavy drink and cynicism as she sees her good intentions transforming into something monstrous; Paul Copley's warm but defiant Mr. Hartley; Darren Nesbitt's grasping, deceitful Dodd; and of course, Nicholas Briggs' Cybermen. The only weak link in the cast is Jim Hartley as young Frank Hartley, who starts out sullen and resentful before emerging as an ally. Hartley's wooden line readings contrast sharply with the outstanding performances surrounding him. Fortunately, it's a decidedly supporting role and his relative weakness does little damage to the piece.

Released in 2002, Spare Parts remains not only a highlight of the Big Finish audio range but one of the entire Who franchise. It is fortunate that when the new series produced Rise of the Cybermen, the decision was made to set it in a parallel reality so as not to conflict with this story. If the two Cyber-origin stories had conflicted, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would have chosen this one over its television counterpart.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

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18. The Stones of Venice.

4 episodes. Approx. 111 minutes. Written by: Paul Magrs. Directed by: Gary Russell. Produced by: Gary Russell, Jason Haigh-Ellery.

THE PLOT

The Doctor takes Charley on a trip to Venice - specifically, to Venice in 2294, on the eve of its final sinking. 100 years previously, the ruling Duke Orcino (Michael Sheard) gambled away his beloved wife, Estella, in a game of chance. Shocked at his betrayal, Estella cursed Orcino and his city to 100 more years of life, followed by destruction. In the decades since, a cult has developed worshipping her as one would a goddess, insisting that she will return to save them all.

The Doctor has little interest in obscure cults, sinking cities, or old curses. But he is interested in saving the duke's art collection, presided over by the long-suffering Churchwell (Nick Scovell). His eye is captured by paintings that don't belong - paintings that literally should not exist on Earth.

Meanwhile, Charley is drawn to Pietro (Barnaby Edwards), a gondolier who observes that she and the Doctor seem less frivolous and more thoughtful than most of the gentry. The gondoliers have evolved into an amphibious underclass, awaiting the waters will close over the highest of Venice's spires and the city will become theirs. Pietro fears that Orcino may yet find a way to break the curse, but Charley's arrival presents an opportunity - one he takes by drugging the girl and presenting her as the reincarnation of the Lady Estella!

CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Separated from Charley, pursued by cultists, and faced with the prospect of confronting a corrupt and apparently deranged Duke... and this Doctor is all but flying on the joy of it. He exults to Churchwell about the exhileration that comes with the danger, seeming genuinely surprised that the other man doesn't share the feeling. He remains protective of Charley, clearly feeling responsible for her well-being - but his evasive response to her comment about eventually returning home shows that he still hasn't decided what he's going to do with her.

Charley: Feels genuine compassion for the gondoliers, oppressed for centuries by a decadent ruling class. But her headstrong nature makes her easy prey for their plan to distract the duke. She sneaks away as soon as she sees an opportunity, and to her credit is able to talk Pietro into seeing the pointlessness of his attempted distraction, but quickly changes gears when the Doctor arrives. Gets possibly her best scene to date in Episode Four. When Orcino barks threateningly at her, she doesn't get behind the Doctor, but instead stares the aristocrat down, pointing out how this entire situation is the fault of his own moral weakness.

Duke Orcino: Michael Sheard, who guest-starred in Who stories in the '60's, the '70's, and the '80's, gives his final series bow in the only form in which it existed in the early 2000's: audio. The dissolute Count Orcino wallows in his own guilt and depression - in the words of the waspish Miss Lavish, wasting all the extra years cursed upon him by his beloved Estella. That curse could as easily have been a gift: With an extra century of life, a more driven or ambitious man could have accomplished much. All Orcino has done is pined after the woman he lost through his own foolishness, lounging uselessly on his meaningless throne. The rising waters are irrelevant - This man has already drowned himself in a dingy sea of self-pity: The story's theme of corruption and decay in human form.

THOUGHTS

"The hands of the clock are meeting... And the clock chimes out for the death of Venice!"

-The Doctor, realizing that time has run out for the sinking city.

The Stones of Venice has long stood as easily my favorite of the four stories making up Paul McGann's first Big Finish "season." It's another wonderful production, the soundscape bringing to life the canals of the gondoliers, the gaudy palace of the duke, and the catacombs in which the cult makes its lair. McGann is at his most enthusiastic, and writer Paul Magrs' script is a wonderfully literate modern fairy tale.

It is easy to see that this may not be for all tastes. With a story involving what is essentially a witch's curse, foregrounding themes of corruption and decay in a city that's perpetually sinking, this is much more a modern fable than science fiction. The narrative voice is best personified in the character of Miss Lavish (Elaine Ives-Cameron), a waspish crone who observes the city's final night and the actions of the characters (Doctor and Charley included) with sardonic disdain:

"Crazed aristocrats, madmen, inveterate revelers, all of them here for the final carnival of all... Expecting to see the place rise to its former glories all of its own accord, magically. There isn't any such thing as magic... Nothing is going to happen here. The pattern is set, more's the pity!"

Mind you, that very sardonic distance undercuts any sense of threat or tension. Much as I enjoy this story, I can see why some find it slow going. The actual narrative is paper-thin, with the characters largely just waiting for dawn and the death of Venice. The closest thing to a villain the story has is the cult: A generic bunch, whose bearing and masked garb is mocked even by the Doctor. There's an end twist of sorts, but I have difficulty believing anyone hadn't figured it out by the end of Episode One, let alone by the time it finally comes to fruition in Episode Four.

But narrative drive isn't the focus, and it isn't the very basic plot that provides the pleasure in listening. It's the atmosphere. Paul Magrs' characters don't speak to advance plot points: They soliloquize, building pictures and moods with their words and lending flesh and form to this fairy tale future Venice. Russell Stone's score adds further layers to the ambience: light and sprightly when following the Doctor and Charley, so vivacious that they seem to all but dance as they speak; slow and melancholy when enveloping the dissipated Orcino or the embittered Miss Lavish, as if they are standing witness to a funeral in heavy rain.

For me, the almost literary use of language and the marvelously atmospheric production easily outweigh the sketchy plot, leaving me awarding a generous...

Overall Rating: 8/10.

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10. Winter for the Adept.

4 episodes. Approx. 94 minutes. Written by: Andrew Cartmel. Directed by: Gary Russell. Produced by: Jason Haigh-Ellery, Gary Russell. 


THE PLOT

One of the Doctor's experiments leaves Nyssa teleported to the Swiss Alps in 1963 in the dead of winter. She is rescued by Lieutenant Sandoz (Peter Jurasik), a Swiss police officer who takes her to the nearest shelter: A girls' finishing school run by the fanatically religious Miss Tremayne (Sally Faulkner). 

Most of the girls at the school have gone home to spend Christmas with their families. But a snowstorm has left two teen girls stranded: 15-year-old Alison Spears (Liz Sutherland) and her rebellious friend, 19-year-old Peril Bellamy (India Fisher). The school has problems beyond the storm. A series of incidents has left Miss Tremayne convinced that "the spirits of the dead" are haunting them. Not long after Nyssa arrives, the electric lights go out, a mirror breaks, and the glass shards of the mirror rise up to attack!

When the Doctor finally arrives, he can't help but investigate this apparent genuine haunting. But Lt. Sandoz is suspicious of his unusual arrival, Miss Tremayne is becoming increasingly irrational, and Peril and Alison are hiding secrets of their own. As the poltergeist activity grows ever more violent, the Doctor realizes that something more is at work - and that all of the humans may be pawns in a deadlier game...


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: The Doctor doesn't appear until the very end of Episode One, making him all the more dominant for the wait. Peter Davison is on terrific form, very funny in his understated way while still anchoring the story with his steady presence. I particularly enjoyed his interplay with Lt. Sandoz (Peter Jurasik). The Doctor shows disdain for Sandoz in every scene they share. Most of this is amusing, as when he belittles the other man's stubborn skepticism by noting, "You'll end up cutting your throat with Occam's Razor," or swipes at Sandoz's attempts to take charge by saying, "Yes, I thought it had been a while since you 'demanded' something." But he also bristles with moral outrage when Sandoz shoots another character - unnecessarily, in the Doctor's view, though any country's police would deem it a justified shooting.

Nyssa: When writer Andrew Cartmel got the brief to write a 5th Doctor/Nyssa adventure, did he get Nyssa confused with Tegan? That's the only explanation I can come up with for Nyssa's uncharacteristic bad temper in this story. I have no problem with her irritation in Episode One and even early Episode Two - After all, being abruptly dumped into the middle of the Swiss Alps in your street clothes would take anyone aback. But she remains irritable all the way through the story. Simply put: I don't know who it is Sarah Sutton is playing in this story, but it sure isn't Nyssa of Traken.


THOUGHTS

Winter for the Adept has the ingredients necessary to be a very good Doctor Who story. There's an isolated, near-deserted school for girls, two young girls with secrets, a suspicious and trigger-happy police lieutenant, a fanatically religious headmistress, and an increasingly violent poltergeist haunting. Mix in an excellent, atmospheric music score by Russell Stone, and you have everything needed to create one of Big Finish's best early stories.

Unfortunately, that doesn't end up being the result. The blame for that lands squarely on writer Andrew Cartmel, who fails to make full use of his very promising ingredients.

The squandered potential is evident. Early in the story, Nyssa notes how strong an impression the Doctor has made on Alison. Not long after, strong hints are dropped that Alison is jealous of Nyssa's place with the Doctor, a plot and character element that is... completely dropped, and evidently forgotten as Alison fades ever further into the background. 

Miss Tremayne's religious fixation is similarly underutilized. Much is made of it in the first episode. Then she overhears a conversation indicating that at least one of her young charges has psychic abilities and whispers,"Though shalt not suffer a witch to live." This pronouncement receives only one scene of follow-up, as Tremayne attempts to act in the most cartoonish manner possible when more drama might have been milked had she been more willing to wait for an opportunity to strike.

Instead of properly using characters from whom conflict and jeopardy could obviously have been wrung, Cartmel takes his script on a left turn into an entirely different story. To make matters worse, this happens about halfway through Episode Four, as we shift from a decent enough little ghost story to a rushed alien invasion scenario. With only about ten minutes of story left, that subplot is wrapped up almost as quickly as it's introduced, leaving the story to end on a very weak note. 

Had the alien invasion subplot been dropped entirely and the potential for conflict among the human characters been more fully explored, this might have been a first-rate audio adventure. As it stands, it's not really bad. The first three episodes are mostly enjoyable, with a sprinking of good scenes and good overall performances. It's also notable as India Fisher's first Doctor Who audio, with her performance here surely responsible for her casting as Charley Pollard in the Eighth Doctor audios. 

But the squandered potential of this gathering of guest characters, and the ill-advised decision to shift from ghost story to invasion story far too late in the narrative... I would rate these as missteps that derail the story. For three episodes, I was leaning toward awarding this a "6." The final episode, and particularly the final ten minutes, knocked my score significantly downward.


Overall Rating: 4/10.

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