An English Gentleman: John Dorney has a gift for bringing
the fifth Doctor to life vividly and that’s not something to be sniffed at as
it has alluded many a writer. The nearest comparison I can make is that of Robert
Holmes in the Caves of Androzani because Dorney injects him with a lot of
energy, wit and a degree of helplessness whilst also accentuating that this is
an old man in a young mans body. In his safe hands, this incarnation really
comes alive. I really like the idea of fifth Doctor having an adventure on his
own. It feels like an age since he has had the chance to be the central figure
of his stories, burdened with the overweight companion load of Nyssa, Tegan and
Turlough. Dorney immediately sets the date of this adventure too which avoids
any fan argument over where in his personal timeline it takes place – the
Doctor has left Tegan and Nyssa in Amsterdam following the events of Arc of
Infinity and is on his way back to collect them. He’s becoming something of a
cynic in his old age, expecting to be greeted by guards as soon as he departs
the TARDIS and looking forward to languishing in whatever passes for the local
dungeon. He has the sort of effect on people that they never believe him to
begin with but the more he talks, the more he wears them down. When the shit
hits the fan the Doctor is instantly commanding, taking control of the chaos
and trying to ensure that casualties are kept to a minimum. Peter is starting
to become the Angela Lansbury Doctor, the one you least want to show up because
you know that it will all end in murder! His awkward attempts at discretion
when Kylo and Aliona want to show how much they missed each other really made
me chuckle. Its suggested that the Doctor is a pacifist because he hasn’t lived
his whole life in wartime but looking back over his previous lives its hard to
think of many times when he is not locked in battle – he just chooses to
try and be a better person. The Doctor plays along with Aliona’s deception but
as soon as he spied a gun on the wedding galley his suspicions were piqued.
He’d make a fine consort for an Empress. The Doctor snaps at Tegan because he
expects to be criticised by her theses days – even though she isn’t there. A
nervous reaction because she hasn’t been around much and he is heading back for
her. Wonderfully he suggests that he should make the journey back more of a
round trip to delay their reunion. He asks at the climax if it would have been
too much for him to have just been able to save one person. Oh Doctor if only
you knew what was coming…
Standout Performance: The last time Clive Mantle appeared in
a Big Finish adventure he commanded the attention in the role of the violent
and unpredictable Oliver Cromwell. Here he provides some gorgeous comic relief
as the situation goes from bad to worse and all poor old Tuvold wants is to lie
down and rest. There is a world of difference between the two characters – you
would never believe they were brought to life by the same man. Does Peter
Davison have a cold or is his pinched nose sounding dialogue in episode two
supposed to be a result of the numerous punches to the face he received? Just
listened to the extras – it was a cold. I had read online (always a danger)
that the Prince was the most annoying character but I found that George
Rainsford gave quite a measured performance, occasionally tipping over into
melodrama as the script dictates but channelling an inner fire and managing to
engage my sympathies as well. Even if he does blub a little too much in the final
episode.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘You fell for the pretty girl – oldest
trick in the book!’
‘Hatred is irrational. It’s a law unto itself.’
‘Principles cost. You can afford them if you’ve got nothing
to lose.’
Great Ideas: I wouldn’t need to be told that this saga would
be spanning several generations and a myriad of locations and casts because
John Dorney has instantly gone for the epic jugular, building up a situation
where an intimate relationship (the marriage of Kylo and Aliona) will have far
reaching consequences if it fails (bloody warfare). It doesn’t feel as though
it is setting up an epic, more like we have already walked in on one. The
Igriss are eight foot tall bipedal killing machines with sabre teeth and deadly
claws. Kylo talks about the creature knowing that he is there and responding to
him and the response that he get that all it knows is that he brings food is
something I have heard more often than not about my cats! Shira’s death feels
important because it really isn’t important…it takes place before the end of
the first episode and not positioned nobly at the end of the story which tells
the listener that there is going to be a great deal more death to come. If most
developed character buys it early on, life is going to be a pretty cheap
commodity in this tale. Unfortunately her choice of suicide (blowing herself
into space) takes the TARDIS with her. The Doctor is saved, but also trapped.
The planet they are heading for is an Igriss world, they took it over and
killed everyone – that’s the reason why there are specimens on board, they are
trying to discover their weaknesses. Episode two begins with a ten minute long
action sequence that cumulates in the ship crashing on the Igriss world – the
energy levels never falter and the sound effects drag you down from the stars
with the Doctor. Its really rather gripping to experience. Considering the
importance of the marriage it seems clear that somebody aboard the mission to
retrieve the Princess is opposed to the alliance. Half the fun is trying to
figure out who that might be. By proving the monstrous ability of the Igriss in
the first episode, stepping out onto their world in the second is a genuinely
taut act. Kylo turning out to be a pyro-kinetic isn’t the greatest of surprises
(its all there in the titles after all) but its still a fine cliffhanger as the
reveal of the death of his beloved outs his abilities in the most dramatic of
ways. Things burst into flame when he gets angry but and that is an emotion that
anybody would find hard to control. There is a recurrent genetic abnormality in
the Drashani Royal House, a mutated brain and Kylo is affected. Corwyn is the
traitor, planning on killing everybody on the ship to prevent Kylo reaching
Aliona and marrying her. Corwyn’s wife was on Morlitz V when Aliona’s people
bombed it and this is his revenge. He was offered a deal by die-hard
anti-Gadarel fanatics, a million credits (enough money to get the medical
treatment for his wife) for a suicide mission to destroy the ship carrying
Kylo. I was never convinced by Aliona’s innocence but Dorney leaves it just
long enough for her to make her move that I was starting to come around. I like
it when a writer plays with your expectations like that. Aliona proves to be such
a fabulously murderous cow you can’t help but like her despite her despicable
actions. I love the way she talks so freely and proud about the amount of
people she has murdered. Ironically the crash was real but had the fanatics
just left them alone Aliona would have done their work for them. Aliona’s
people have a larger scale version of the Pulse Gun primed and ready, the idea
was to infiltrate the royal palace and obtain a sample of Sorsha DNA and wipe
out the lot of them in one stroke. Its rather wonderful that given the
senseless waste of life the story has perpetuated there is still room for a
noble sacrifice at the climax. Of this large cast only one character comes out
alive – Saward would be proud.
Audio Landscape: Some of Ken Bentley’s most visual direction
yet with the linear storyline requiring some dramatic and clear cut
direction. As subtle as John Dorney’s
writing is (letting us know what is going on without feeling as though he is
narrating) but even without the dialogue I would have a good handle on what is
going on. Kudos to Martin Montague. Ships screaming through space, growling
creatures, pouring water, smashing glass, screaming in the distance, weapons
fire, the ship crashing, tearing through trees and landing near a swamp teeming
with life, water pouring into the ship and its weight finally diving under the
surface in a flurry of bubbles and resurfacing and bobbing on the surface, the
princes burning hands lashing out flames and there was one moment in the third
episode when the Igriss make their presence felt and I jumped out of my skin!
Isn’t it Odd: If you squint hard enough you might just see a
touch of the Big Finish’s Arrangements for War in this story, with regards to
the arranged marriage bringing centuries of warfare to a close. The way events
play out have a similar bleak inevitability too, although The Burning Prince
gets its hands much dirtier.
Standout Scene: Once Aliona’s true colours are unveiled the
story steps up into high gear and one of the better villainess’ of the audio
range takes to the stage. She’s gleefully bad, insulting her would-be suitor,
chopping his hand off for a sample of his DNA (when there are much easier ways
of obtaining it) and threatening to slaughter all of his people. We need more
psychopathic babes like this in Doctor Who. I’ve missed this kind of
unrepentable, moustache twirling breed of baddie. These days they all come with
a sob story. When she boasts about the mass slaughter of his entire people its
clear what Kylo’s response is going to be. Like all the best villains she tries
to lie and fawn her way out of her death but this is one man who has been
pushed too far.
Result: It is often said that Doctor Who is at its best when
it is pretending to be something else and The Burning Prince is no exception –
its an episode of Game of Thrones set in space with a dash of Rome thrown in for good measure. The idea of penning an action adventure on
audio might seem insane because of the hindrance of the lack of visuals but its
amazing what your imagination can conjure up with the stimulus and the
limitless budget in my head whipped up some unforgettable imagery. We get close
to the characters in the first half of the story, the Doctor enjoying some
nicely written exchanges before the slaughter begins in the second half and
nothing and nobody can be taken for granted. I loved the clean cut storytelling
in evidence here, the general unpretentiousness of the writing – it has a tone
that it is aiming for (sword and sorcery in space) and it never deviates from
that. So many Big Finish adventures can end up like my reviews, needlessly long
and complicated (and to be fair some of them work very well that way but the
recent Black and White proves how it can be a real hindrance) but this is one
story that feels perfectly paced with enough exciting incident and revelations
to see us through until the continuation of the story next month. There’s no
great depth to the story that plays out but that isn’t what this is all about;
it’s a scene setting, rip roaring disaster tale with horrible murders, icky
monsters, a gloriously over the top villain and the Doctor at the top of his
game. I would put this story on the same sort of engaging level as Enemy of the
Daleks. I was enjoying this so much it went by like a dream: 8/10
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