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The
TARDIS materialises in 1930 on board the doomed British airship,
the R101. But before her fiery demise, the R101
is bound for a top-secret rendezvous, one that will not be
recorded in the history books...
No
disrespect intended to Big Finish's previous audio productions
starring the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, but this is
what many fans have been waiting for! Although new performances
by Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy are always
extremely welcome, they must inevitably be set in the Doctor's
past. With this, the first in a "season" of four stories starring
the latest incarnation, we have the next best thing to a new
series on TV.
With
only the 1996 TV movie and a couple of audio book readings
under his belt, McGann - and the writer, Alan Barnes - have
relatively little source material on which to base this re-launch
of the Eighth Doctor. Yet between them they have managed to
grasp two of the character's most fundamental traits. Firstly,
this Doctor is a passionate man, as evidenced here by the
way in which his delivery switches from almost-whispers to
bellowing pronouncements upon all matters that stir his soul.
Secondly, this incarnation, even more than Davison's, has
an unwavering capacity for self-sacrifice, which is demonstrated
by his readiness to allow a hungry creature of the time vortex
to drink his blood for nourishment. McGann's opening moments
get slightly bogged down by a lengthy scene of the Doctor
talking to himself. Although the script does acknowledge this
shortcoming through the dialogue of its characters, and while
it also echoes the final scene of the TV movie, it is fortunate
that McGann does not have to wait long before he is joined
by a new companion.
Playing
companion Charlotte (Charley) Pollard is India Fisher. The
feisty Charley is noticeably similar to Fisher's earlier and
equally feisty Big Finish character Peril in Winter for
the Adept, but then it was that Adept performance
that led to her casting as the companion. Charley's introduction
involves a wavering regional accent as she adopts an assumed
identity - perhaps a sly dig at the unintentionally dodgy
dialect of TV companion Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane) back in
1966?
The
airship R101 provides as intriguing a setting as that
other infamously tragic vessel, the Titanic. Both embodied
the pride of a diminishing British Empire and symbolised a
triumph of engineering over the forces of nature, and both
met their respective ends on their maiden voyages. The historical
background is established with style and wit via an authentic-sounding
pastiche of a Pathé newsreel, while the major guest star,
Gareth Thomas, is perfectly bluff and gruff as the minister
for the air, Lord Tamworth, although his character's ultimate
change of attitude is not entirely convincing.
Also
incorporating an interesting application of the psychoanalytical
triumvirate of ego, superego and id, this marks a promising
beginning to the Eighth Doctor mini-series.
Richard
McGinlay
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