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Luther Arkwright is unique. The only man who can travel
between parallel worlds and fight against the Disruptors -
creatures who wish to create havoc across the multiverse.
Luther tries to thwart the Disruptors ultimate plan of domination
in an alternative England where many things are familiar -
but nothing is the same...
The
Adventures of Luther Arkwright takes
place in an alternate reality, one in which England did not
see the Restoration of the Monarchy after the English Civil
War and has been under the rule of the Puritan Parliamentarians
for hundreds of years. With the help of Rose, Luther must
bring down the government of the corrupted Nathaniel Cromwell
- but there are others who see their chance. England is ripe
for the taking by the European superpowers that are preparing
to invade.
Many
in England dream of past glories and an Empire ruled by the
long exiled Kings and Queens of England. A second Civil war
is brewing - its aim to bring Prince Charles to the throne
and Luther must help to ensure that the right side wins -
not just for the sake of the world, but for all worlds.
While
the exploits of Luther Arkwright may be riveting stuff when
it comes to graphic novels, the whole thing seems a little
flat when transferred to audio. After being spoiled by Big
Finish's engaging 2000 AD series of audio productions,
I was very disappointed with the end result of The Adventures
of Luther Arkwright.
There
is some very questionable acting in this production. And while
David Tennant may well have been great in Casanova,
he delivers flat line after flat line in a very nasal voice
which really starts to grate after a while. Let's hope that
his next role opposite a very different Rose (in Doctor
Who) will be better than what he offers here.
Robert
Jezek's American Karl just doesn't cut it - sounding like
he's just picked the script up that morning and not bothering
to read it through before going in front of the microphone.
And
how did Alfred Hoffman's Wittgenstein get through the editing
process? He has the following line: "No! No!... You can't
do... do this! No... no... no! But... but... but!" and
manages to turn it into a very bad pantomime performance.
Because
there are several poor performances, the question has to be
asked whether the direction is the problem? The
only standout performances are Sir O'Neal as Rose and Paul
Darrow as Cromwell (mind you, Darrow could have just read
out his shopping list and it would have sounded impressive).
But,
wait! I haven't finished moaning yet. The music is truly the
most annoying I have ever heard in any audio production. I
couldn't understand whether the composer knew what he was
writing for (because he certainly doesn't take any cues from
his subject matter) or whether this was just some stock material
that had been laying in a vault of rejected music from another
production.
The
end result is a bit of a sloppy mess - and one that had me
nodding off on more than one occasion. It's sad that Big Finish
can pull off a fantastic audio production when it comes to
some franchises (the 2000 AD series for example) but
have failed to offer anything of interest with Luther Arkwright.
Nick
Smithson
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