Softer Six: Sixie is played by Colin Baker (well duh)
who rarely lets any actor get the better of him in these Big Finish plays
because he is simply too good at hogging the limelight. But in Christopher
Benjamin and Trevor Baxter he has his work cut out for him, for once the
companions are every bit as interesting and loved as the Doctor. Rather than
fight the affection the audience has for them, Matthew Sweet has him joining in
with them and the result is a team of equals that stands tall as one of the
finest sets of regulars Big Finish has ever presented. Such a shame that there
are only going to be two hour long stories that feature them. Getting into the
spirit of the times, if the Doctor wants to seek out the island of Croaton to
find his friend Henry Gordon Jago then he finds a reason for that in claiming
it for good Queen Bess! There’s a great example of the gravity that Colin Baker
brings to a Doctor Who audio during the sequences where he reads aloud John
White’s journal. I cannot imagine any other actor in the part dictating with
quite this skill. Although he prefers to shoot and score with acerbic wit, he’s
not above pointing out the fashion equivalent of penis envy. With a puzzle to
unravel, he bursts into life and displays formidable intelligence. Piloting the
TARDIS is like pouring a good pint, you have to do it at the right speed, the
right angle.
Theatrical Fellow: Poor old Jago always seems to get the
rough edge of the adventure and this is no exception, kidnapped and heckled and
frightened so badly he can’t even get out a rousing statement before he faints
away. Its wise to not exploit this character for comic effect all the time and
Sweet shrewdly chooses Jago as the feverous victim of an assault and one who is
slowly slipping away before his friends eyes. There’s something very painful
about losing a character as marvellous as this and it continues the Big Finish
tradition of entering into the Christmas spirit with a touch of poignancy (I
was reminded strongly of the tone of Death in Blackpool, another favourite).
Trapped and alone on Croaton, Jago is far from the bumbling fool of repute but
instead asks intelligent questions to get his bearings and try and figure a way
out. After Venus and the New World, returning to the comfort of the Red Tavern
feels slightly mundane. Always the reluctant hero but a hero nonetheless.
Posh Professor: I never thought I would hear George Litefoot
use the words ‘fagged’ but I’m glad I have now because it nearly reduced me to
tears! When Litefoot thinks he has lost Jago he is quietly shaken, unable to
quite believe that he has slipped away. He’s always wanted to say ‘Land Ahoy!’
and manages to generate a great spirit of adventure when pursuing the mystery
of what has happened to Jago.
Standout Performance: Christopher Benjamin deserves the
plaudits here. Abandoning the insistent alliteration and goofy comedy routines,
he delivers a perfectly gripping straight performance. Its not the sort of spin
on the character I would have ever expected which makes it all the more
enjoyable. I guess being within a cats whisker of death and winding up on a
ghostly island will do that to a fellow! Mind you, this is an exceptional cast
overall with nobody letting the side down. All the guest performances are superb.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Beastly fellows, Red Indians! Present
company excepted…’
‘My child? But I’m a single gentleman! A confirmed
bachelor!’
‘We are on the edge of the world and I feel compelled to
write these few lines in case we fall off it..’
‘Can you imagine anyone eating Henry Gordon Jago?’
‘Travel confuses the mind!’
‘The people of the New World know their masters…and they
know they must obey!’ THWACK! – very satisfying!
‘Victorian Britain’s finest – the pair of you!’
Great Ideas: One of my favourite covers to grace a Big
Finish Adventure…its just gorgeous. Its amazing how quickly I have
become accustomed to Jago & Litefoot travelling in the TARDIS and the
simple thrill of Sixie and the pair of them materialising somewhere mysterious
and exploring really makes my heart sing. Without turning this into a New
Series rant (because I am rather fond of the New Series myself) but this was a
period of Doctor Who where he could simply gather some friends together and
have an adventure by simply arriving somewhere and finding trouble rather than
forcing a lavishly extended prologue featuring a wealth of locations and times.
It’s a simple pleasure that I have missed. The idea of the TARDIS being in the
hands of a gentleman of the past and treated as an exhibition, an optical
illusion to thrill the masses is a potent one. Imagine getting your hands on
such a device and having to puzzle it out. How awesome is the idea of the
TARDIS trying to seduce Sir Walter into pressing the fast return switch and
reuniting with the Doctor. Within ten minutes there is a pitch battle between
English colonists and the Natives from the New World – in having to tell an
economic story Matthew Sweet doesn’t let that stop him from stuffing it full of
exciting incident. Its hard to imagine a more grisly fate than Jago finding
himself stranded on a cannibal island! The children are parasites, connected to
their hosts and a dense mystery for the Doctor to solve in order for them to
escape the Island. Generally I’m not a fan of the reset button but Sweet gets
away with it not only be skipping so cheekily over it (‘What happened?’
‘Very little of it hopefully…’) but also by capitalising on the haunting
echoes of a timeline that has been erased. The children were aliens who form a
symbiotic link with their hosts from whose characteristics they derive their
patterns of behaviour. They are the ‘mirror unto nature.’ Harmless but
sensitive.
Audio Landscape: Exotic, exciting, haunting…this is a
phenomenally atmospheric production. The ghostly children swarming and
screaming is some of the most spine tingling material I’ve heard on audio.
Lapping waters, screaming gulls, the TARDIS materialising, screaming tribes
folk, knocking on a door, a squealing mosquito, a shot, a pitch battle of clashing
steel, gun shots and screams, creatures in the night, arrows flying through the
air, flames, laughing children, quill scribbling on paper, a creaking ship,
coming ashore on creaking wooden boats, at points you might think you are at
sea, scrabbling across shingle, the TARDIS having as paddy of monumental
proportions, a honking sailing ship setting sail.
Musical Cues: A massive round of applause for Fool Circle
who provide a stirring score throughout this adventure that really roused my
spirits, especially during the action sequences.
Standout Scene: The TARDIS encrusted with barnacles and
lichen, washed up on a beach for nearly five centuries is an enduring image.
Like a Russian Doll, Voyage to the New World starts opening inwards to reveal
its secrets and it does so with stunning concepts such as this. The
cliffhanging ending is a real shocker…how will Jago & Litefoot fare in
1968? Bring on the next series!
Result: ‘Your past is drifting away on the breeze…’
You would be hard pressed to find a better bargain this Christmas than the
download of this spellbinding adventure for one pound. Richness is a word that
I so often use to describe Matthew Sweet’s work but I am hard pressed to find
another which suits him so perfectly. Voyage to the New World is like a
deliciously rich Christmas pudding; full of ingredients that are delicious on
their own (the regulars, the evocative setting, the loquacious dialogue) and
combine to make something piquant and cherishable. There’s drama and comedy,
action, adventure and mystery…there’s so much packed into one hour you might
just convince yourself that you’ve heard a full length audio but the pacing is
excellent throughout. This is beautifully directed by Ken Bentley and I hope
that the incomparably generous price of the product means that this and Voyage
to Venus are some stragglers first exposure to Big Finish because they are both
fantastic examples of what the company is all about. If they don’t encourage
you to seek out more then you are a lost cause. For some bizarre reason Big
Finish seem to have given away (or practically given away) some of their best
stories of the year (Night of the Storm Crow, Voyage to Venus, The Voyage to
the New World) and whilst you’ll get no complaints from the audience I hope to
see some of the love and care that has gone into these special releases
injected into the main range for the 50th Anniversary. This tale
feels enriched for having the Doctor Jago & Litefoot having dropped in but
in many ways it could stand up quite happily without them (although pleasingly not without the TARDIS). That is a testament
to Matthew Sweets ability to conjour a enchanting location and a dense
narrative. Triumphant, and tonally diverse to the last adventure: 9/10
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