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Separated by space and time, the Doctor and Mel find themselves
in very different predicaments. Mel is employed on the mining
colony of Lethe, while the Doctor is imprisoned aboard an
alien spacecraft. Both situations are inexorably linked, and
at the apex sits Davros and the threat of a new force even
more powerful than the Daleks...
Individually,
the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and the Daleks usually bode
well for an entertaining adventure from Big Finish. The last
time they were together was in the magnificent Jubilee
while Baker previously went head to head with their creator
in the instant classic Davros.
Add to all these ingredients the Big Finish debut of the Mechonoids
(from the television serial The Chase and the TV21
Dalek comic strips) and we must have a winner on our hands,
right?
Well,
almost.
Newcomer
Scott Alan Woodard's script betrays his unfamiliarity with
the audio medium. Many scenes, particularly near the beginning
of the play, have the characters describing their surroundings
to us. Conversely, the Doctor fails to realise that he is
aboard a Dalek ship, despite the presence of the familiar
Dalek control room "heartbeat" effect, though this is more
likely the fault of sound man Steve Foxon than Woodard. Following
such master works as the Dalek Empire series, Jubilee
and Davros, this story seems a little lightweight by
comparison.
In
its favour, however, the narrative makes good use of Mel (Bonnie
Langford), a character who, even more so than the Sixth Doctor,
has been dealt with better by Big Finish than she ever was
by the original television series. Woodard treats her like
an adult, allowing her to exhibit the kind of technical prowess
that you would expect from a much-vaunted computer expert,
and to toy with the idea of a mature relationship with one
of the Lethean colonists. Langford makes the most of the opportunity
she is presented with.
One
of the objectives of this adventure is to bridge the gap between
the television serials Revelation of the Daleks and
Remembrance of the Daleks, by suggesting how Davros
(Terry Molloy) escaped from his Dalek captors to become enmeshed
in the casing of the Dalek Emperor. This it does, to an extent,
though the ending might lead some to wonder how Davros could
survive to become Emperor - well, he's escaped from such situations
before... The drama steps on the toes of the similarly themed
Doctor Who Magazine comic strip Emperor of the Daleks,
though we can always assume that the strip took place afterwards.
The writer also makes the mistake of referring to the anti-Davros
Daleks as "renegades", even though there is no evidence that
Davros' Daleks have become the dominant faction as yet. They
can't be renegades if they are still the dominant force.
As
usual, Terry Molloy delivers the goods in the role of Davros,
as does Nicholas Briggs as the Dalek and Mechonoid voices.
Between them, Woodard, Foxon and Briggs get the sounds and
eccentrically coded speech patterns of the Mechonoids just
right.
Their
excavation by a mad scientist also brings to mind another
'60s six-parter: The
Power of the Daleks.
Despite
its flaws, The Juggernauts is a very entertaining escapade,
full of crowd-pleasing elements.
Richard
McGinlay
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