Who’s the Yahoos: Sometimes I think it is easy to forget
Frazer Hines’ contribution to Doctor mostly thanks to the lack of source material
available. Only an ardent Doctor Who fan is going to take the effort to seek
out the soundtracks to all the missing stories (or as my husband said to me
agog last year ‘you’re going to listen to a TV story…without pictures?’)
and tantalisingly new episodes are being discovered with painstaking
infrequency that often turn out to be William Hartnell material (an era that
already enjoys a wealth of archived episodes) rather than anything from the
Patrick Troughton era (I don’t mean that to sound as ungrateful as it might, I
go weak at the knees whenever new episodes show up I just wish the scales could
be more even in this respect). And despite my assertion that season six doesn’t
actually need Jamie (and that perhaps his story ended naturally when Victoria
left and he should have gone with her) his presence is never less than
delightful, his chemistry with Troughton and Padbury is unmistakable and Hines
has always been a fine actor and promoter of the show and always gives his all
to any material he is given. Jamie is a great character, funny when he is
allowed (or when Hines thinks he can get away with it) and serious when he
needs to be and his relationship with the Doctor is the closest to a bromance
that we have ever seen on the show (especially when compared with other
companions such as Harry, Adric and Turlough). Captain Jack might have been the
one to actually lock lips with the Doctor but its with the Doctor and Jamie
that where all the real love is. Actions speak louder than words and the way they
cling onto each other for dear life suggests a deep affection for each other (not
sexual of course) that goes beyond mere friendship.
When Jamie is asked how he and the Doctor work he replies
simply ‘however we like’ and I can’t imagine a better answer. He has
absolute faith in the man that he will win against any opponent because he
always does. Jamie has developed a great respect for the word of the underdog
over the authority figures, partly because of his own experiences back in
Scotland and partly because that is what the Doctor has taught him. He doesn’t
quite have the intelligence to figure that if a subservient population gained
in numbers then they would use that to their advantage and gain the upper
hand…they would in effect become the oppressors. All Jamie sees are people
suffering and he wants to help. The Doctor has been teaching Jamie to read but
only when they have the time. He likes this planet because its quite like where
he comes from. The Doctor has never let him down before and so its especially
disheartening to hear that it is his brilliant plan that has caused the
situation on the planet to go tits up. Jamie needs to do things whilst he
remembers because his memory isn’t as sharp as either the Doctor or Zoe’s.
Every time the Jamie asks where the Doctor got the TARDIS from he changes the
subject and he has come to the conclusion that he built it himself. They don’t
need money and the Doctor doesn’t like him using weapons when diplomacy is a
much better way to approach people. Jamie doesn’t even know how to start
talking about this puzzle in understandable terms and so working it out is a
massive undertaking for him. Jamie is the sort of person who can achieve
something in minutes that has taken a research team weeks by blundering in unawares…but
don’t ask him what he did afterwards because he wont have a clue! By the end of
the tale Jamie knows how to open each new conversation with Moran so he can
figure out where in the sequence he is. He might not be the brightest spark in
to fall from the match but he has the capacity to learn and apply that
knowledge.
Oh My Giddy Aunt: ‘You’re not that old, Doctor and it’s a
big universe…’ He used to be an interested observer. Seeing the
brute that Jamie could become given the right circumstances the Doctor refuses
to believe the evidence of his own eyes. Even though he was born and bred for
warfare, the Doctor excuses his behaviour when they first met of that of an
influential young man. Si suggests the Doctor has ‘civilised the savage’ to
which the Doctor refutes most strongly and tells him that Jamie is the most
reliable friend he has ever had and there’s a reciprocating relationship. He
blunders in and accepts the situation at face value and sometimes he gets
things wrong. Given the wealth of adventures he has had since there seems to be
some truth in the fact that there are plenty of things that the Doctor hasn’t
yet experienced. He’s still young, relatively speaking. Jamie simply accepts
that the Doctor goes around tackling other peoples problems and if he has
secrets about his origins as far as he is concerned that is the Doctor’s
business. The day Jamie sees the Doctor obeying somebody else’s instructions
would be the day that he is genuinely astonished. The Doctor often tells people
not to commit acts of violence but they do it anyway and so he gets to take a
moral stance against whilst still achieving his aims.
Standout Performance: In a story of this nature you need all
of the performances to be pitch perfect to ensure that the audience isn’t
distracted away from the plot by an unconvincing turn. Fortunately both Frazer
Hines (who is a dab hand at this sort of thing by now both as wild eyed,
innocent Jamie and the gruffer but charming Doctor) and Dominic Mafham are
absolutely on the money. I was as impressed by their contribution as Eddie
Robson’s.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘I don’t buy it!’ ‘I’m not trying to
sell it!’
‘I would never make Jamie my assassin!’
Great Ideas: When the first survey team were sent to this
planet they found it teeming with Unheld who threatened the crew, stole the
ship and made it into orbit after beating the crew to death. What an
interesting puzzle…Jamie is Moran’s prisoner but suddenly they have exchanged
roles and he is the bully boy with the gun and Moran is his prisoner. What is
going on? Then things shift again and Moran is not Moran but another
intelligence speaking through him. In order for Jamie to escape his cell
through the door he simply has to put the sequence of experiences he is having
with a stout young officer called Moran in order. He is currently going through
them out of chronological sequence and if he puts them in order he will have
assembled a code which unlocks the door. I love the idea of the Doctor talking
through Jamie just as Frazer Hines is channelling Troughton’s performance, it
gives the whole format of the companion chronicles another meaning. Jamie
figures that the future is not fixed so the resulting sequences that he is
being shown (working for the Unheld, killing Moran, becoming the oppressor
rather than the oppressed) are only potentials depending on whether he escapes
the cell or not. There are other reasons that he might have put the uniform on
as well (spying for the Doctor, perhaps?). Wonderfully Jamie decides to break
down the segments he has been shown and write their sequence on the floor of
the cell in chalk. A good way to infiltrate is to set up a threat and then save
people from it. This has all been set up by the Unheld’s Gods, a fifth
dimensional race that needs their belief to give them power. If they grow too
numerous they will pull their resources and discover what their Gods really
are. So they have been using humans to oppress them and slow their develop,
humans like Jamie.
Audio Landscape: Rusty door swinging open, gun firing,
banging on the door, cutting through it, alarm. Its quite an economic
soundtrack for Big Finish, highlighting that this is entirely set in one room.
Standout Scene: Ultimately there is nobody outside the door
trying to cut their way in, this has all been an elaborate ruse to sway Jamie’s
opinion of how the future is going to play out. The test was never to work out
the combination but to make Jamie think that he couldn’t change the future and
he had to become the brutish thug they showed him to be. Its not a test, its indoctrination.
Absolutely chilling. I’ve read complaints that the ending is too abrupt and the
consequences aren’t dealt with but we have been so expertly guided through the
story and had all the elements explained that make the final piece of the
puzzle all we need to complete the picture. That abruptness is the proof that
this has been rather beautifully plotted.
Result: What a terrific premise; its not just the
combination lock that Jamie has to figure out, he also has to assemble the
narrative so it makes some kind of satisfactory sense to the audience. The
Jigsaw War highlights Jamie’s intelligence rather than his instincts and
fulfils the remit of the companion chronicles by exploring new facets of these
characters that we have come to know so well. The best characters are those
that keep giving even after a wealth of adventures. Listening to Jamie trying
to figure out an intelligence puzzle is a fascinating exercise because he
remains true to his character (he’s an action hero rather than a brainiac) but
he approaches the enigma slowly and carefully and looks at all the separate
elements before trying to put them all together. Zoe would have it all figured
out in seconds…but where would the fun be in that? That’s why they have swapped
roles of late; Zoe experiencing an emotional adventure (The Uncertainty
Principle) and Jamie an intellectual one. Since the Troughton era was one of
monsters and blockbusting invasions I always love it when the audios take a
more historical or psychological approach (of which this is a strong example of
the latter), focussing on and exploiting the strength of the regulars in a way
that the series simply didn’t do at the time (it was more of an adventure
serial). Saying that the Doctor goes through a similar horror to what Jamie did
in Evil of the Daleks (which in its psychological investigation was definitely
the exception rather than the rule), seeing him in an entirely different light
and questioning just how well he really knows the young rapscallion. I love
nostalgia but its innovative stories like this that really thrill me. Whatever
you want from a Doctor Who adventure, The Jigsaw War has it; it is morally
ambiguous (are the Unheld the victims or the villains), it’s a great mystery
(what is happening to Jamie and which future will come to pass?) and it
develops the characters in kind (you’ll understand both the Doctor and Jamie a
little better before the end). Considering its non linear and puzzling nature
this is actually very easy to listen to thanks to a script which takes the time
to explain itself as it goes and crystal clear direction from the ever reliable
Lisa Bowerman. Add in a pair of memorable performances from Frazer Hines and
Dominic Mafham and you have a really juicy psychological riddle to solve: 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment