|
Kriegeskind has been the site of a military fortress ever
since the days of the Roman Empire, but now it is a secret
facility in the service of UNIT. Summoned by a cryptic message
from an ailing comrade-in-arms, Brigadier Alistair Gordon
Lethbridge-Stewart arrives at the gothic castle to discover
a base under siege, a conspiracy of silence and an invasion
from the past. For the Brigadier and the Doctor, honour and
duty collide with a deadly phantom enemy that can only be
stopped by making the ultimate sacrifice...
Set
during the aftermath of Doctor Who and the Silurians,
with the Doctor still seething at the Brigadier (Nicholas
Courtney) for his actions at Wenley Moor, this story mentions
but doesn’t feature Liz Shaw, the narrator of the previous
Third Doctor Companion Chronicle, The
Blue Tooth. Her absence here is not an unprecedented
situation - indeed, it ties in rather well with the first
three Third Doctor comic strips that appeared in TV Comic
(issues 944-959), which were similarly Liz-less. Unlike last
month’s Helicon
Prime,
though, which pictured the missing Victoria in the “Who’s
Who?” section of the sleeve notes, Liz is (very sensibly)
not illustrated in the booklet of this release.
At
first, I thought the Doctor was going to remain absent too,
as the Brigadier heads off alone to respond to a call for
help from an old friend and colleague, German base commander
Konrad (Toby Longworth). However, the Time Lord shows up eventually,
when the Brig in turn requests assistance. Courtney “channels”
Jon Pertwee effectively enough, though not as successfully
as Frazer Hines’s impersonation of Patrick Troughton
in Helicon Prime - apart from the exclamation of “Success!”
during track 18, which sounds remarkably like Pertwee. Success,
indeed!
Writer
James Swallow makes good use of the Brigadier, peering beneath
the veneer of military efficiency to explore the man’s
inner feelings about the burdens of responsibility. Meanwhile,
the German setting lends a real sense of UNIT as an international
organisation, an aspect that was missing from many television
serials.
The
supporting voice artist, multi-talented Big Finish stalwart
Toby Longworth, plays two roles here, Konrad and his younger
subordinate, the abrasive Schrader, who doesn’t exactly
see eye to eye with the Brigadier.
Success!
Now, Big Finish, how about some double-disc Companion Chronicles,
to help even up the score for those sadly under-represented
old soldiers, the first four Doctors? Splendid chaps, all
of them.
Richard
McGinlay
Buy
this item online
We
compare prices online so you get the cheapest
deal! Click on the logo of the desired store
below to purchase this item.
|
All prices correct at time of going to press.
|
|
