Softer Six: Why did he ever need so many jelly babies? The
Doctor has a rainy day cupboard full of things he has picked up around the
universe for entertainment purposes when they are at a loose end. He mentions
everything from the Great Space Elevator (check out the second Doctor companion
chronicle of the same name) to the Empire State (a fantastic Benny audio) in
his whirlwind tour of the universes famous landmarks. The Doctor recognises the
voice of the Eminence (even though the audience hasn’t met them before they are
soon to appear in an adventure starring an earlier Doctor). The impossible is
right up his street. The TARDIS has survived much worse than a Tower falling on
its head. Mel has real faith in the Doctor and is willing to suggest he is
capable of anything, even if he winces quietly in the background knowing that
that isn’t the case. The Doctor scoffs the works of Professor Laskey which
places this story in context of Terror of the Vervoids for those who obsess
over such things. At one tense moment the Doctor insists that Mel stops making
promises on his behalf, especially when it is at the moment when he cannot save
a mans life. The suggestion that there is something wrong with the Doctor is
made clear fairly early on and Colin Baker adjusts his performance so, offering
a spikier than usual Sixie who fails to crack any jokes at the appropriate
times (back in his early days he did it even when it was inappropriate). The
Eminence left a taint in his mind from their previous encounter, something it
could exploit. He’s in his sixth incarnation and thinks he is at his peak (Mel
can’t disagree with him). The way the Doctor comforts Mel at the climax shows
their relationship at its best.
Computer Programmer: There is something of that gorgeous
tenth Doctor/Donna companionship between the Doctor and Mel at the beginning of
this adventure. They are clearly the best of mates, knocking about the universe
and looking up some of the most exciting spots in their time together. Like I
said in Spaceport Fear it is a very easy friendship to relax into. She’s still
counting his calories (this is the post Trial, post Evelyn’s chocolate cake
chubster) but even she might consider taking the elevator if they are visiting
a 200 storey tower! Mel certainly hasn’t lost her penchant for righteous
indignation and when she thinks she is being kept from the Doctor she gives the
Captain a good piece of her mind (so forcefully I wondered if the weary Captain
wouldn’t just pull out a gun and shoot her). It must be something about
redheads…Mel, like Donna, is perfectly willing to go along with the Doctor’s
methods to a point but she has her own mind and if she can think of a more
constructive way she will jump into action despite his protestations. There’s a
gorgeous moment when Mel tells the Doctor if he ever needs to talk to her about
how things are weighing him down she is always there for him. It’s pretty
impossible not to like her, really. She wants more than anything to rest after
their recent adventures and get her head back together but she wants to be
there to help her friend who has lost her father and brother. It shows what a
strong will Mel has and why she is a good person to have around when the chips
are down. I hope it isn’t too long before Bonnie pops back to do more Big
Finish stories, she’s been a delight in this latest batch.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Typical! He invites me out to dinner
and we end up in a disaster movie!’
‘Looks like you keep your passengers well fed too!’ – who
could he be referring to?
‘The seeds of hope for the human race will become seeds of
war…’
Great Ideas: Talk about opening with your feet running…a
very creepy voice that declares that the Doctor is returning which
immediately generates questions. As well as a miracle of construction, the
Great Tower of Kalsos is also a marvel of computer technology. The Doctor
thought that the Tower was still being constructed but he is at the wrong end
of the scale, it is now past its prime and half the systems have been ripped
out. The Earth Alliance are actually there to demolish the Tower! There’s
something very scary about the idea of being atop a very tall Tower that is
about to fall and discussing the options to survive. Parallels with 9/11 made
my heart skip a beat. There is something very Gridlock/Sally Calypso about the
news reader that encourages her audience to ‘hang on in there.’ It’s time for a
fresh new monster in the Big Finish universe (it’s about damn time, they’ve
been flirting with nostalgia for far too long now) and the Eminence look set to
make quite an impact. It doesn’t need spies because it occupies the minds of
those it choices. It is a gaseous intelligence capable of transporting itself
across the galaxy housed inside teleportation caskets. The breath of forever is
an orange mist and anyone who breathes it in is transformed into an Infinite Warrior,
an invincible walking cadaver. A cross between the Family from Human Nature and
the Flood creatures from Waters of Mars but melded together to make one
seriously eerie threat to face. In war, whichever side may call themselves the
victors there are no winners…because the Eminence will take over the survivors
and prosper. There is no food or resources in the Earth colonies, just a new
machine spreading propaganda. Fitton plants a family right at the core of this
story to make sure that the events that take place are given a human face. It’s
not a new trick (I can trace it back to Spare Parts with Big Finish, taking in
Wirrn Isle and The Reaping along the way) but it does mean that the exposition
scenes aren’t just faceless nobody’s going through the motions but living,
breathing people who you want to see
through the rest of the story with. The Eminence are a clever bunch,
deliberately exploding their ships in orbit to introduce a biological agent
into the atmosphere, doing the same thing across dozens of worlds. Control
their seeds, control their souls and every human will have ingested a trace of
the Eminence and they can force the transformation. It’s a truly insidious
method of attack, striking at them through the most basic of human needs. I
liked the idea of war heroes returning home and telling the true story of how
the war played out, turning the prosperous tone of the propaganda machine on
its head. It’s precisely what the Doctor told the Thals to do in Planet of the
Daleks. Is this the only Doctor Who adventure where the monsters are defeated
by Super Carrots?
Audio Landscape: Barnaby Edwards really thinks about how
these stories would sound naturally if they were taking place in the actual
locations…if that seems like an obvious thing to say then take a listen to
subtle change in the Doctor and Mel’s chatter as they leave the TARDIS and
enter the echoey hold of the ship. Its effortlessly achieved and the transition
is perfect. Climbing up a lift shaft, the lift making its presence felt destructively,
a drill vibrating and bursting through a wall, breathing through an oxygen
mask, falling rubble, riding the lift shaft down 200 floors, the building
crashing around them, a crowd applause, the entire Tower collapsing, running,
blasters, crowd scenes, gusty winds, a transporter descending and docking, the
stomping drone, . The Eminence purring in the back of peoples minds as the gas
fills the rooms of the ship is very effective…it’s just too easy to let go and
let them consume your mind.
Isn’t it Odd: Whilst each story has been very strong in its
own right there has been little variety in genre or tone over the latest sixth
Doctor trilogy. I could have really done with a good juicy historical or
something a little more light hearted at some point in this run. Three high
concept science fiction tales in a row took the risk of feeling very samey and
it is only down to the different styles of Matt Fitton, William Gallagher and
Nicholas Briggs that have prevented that from being the case. That isn’t the most
exciting cover in the world – all the constituent elements are fine but put
together they don’t make anything memorable, especially compared to some of the
latest companion chronicles. The ending of this story is massively problematic.
It feels as though the narrative is going to burst into something truly epic in
the last episode with the harvesting of all the humans by the Eminence but
instead the story just comes to a sudden stop without any sense of fanfare. It
feels like this story is going to picked up at a later date elsewhere which is
fine for whoever does get to pick up all the threads but rather does The Seeds
of War an injustice. Most of the satisfaction in the last episode comes from
the character stuff which with Matt Fitton in the driving seat is great stuff
but plot wise it is highly anti-climactic.
Standout Scene: The first cliffhanger is extremely dramatic.
I know that the Doctor and Mel have to survive this cataclysm but it still gave
me pause for thought it was so destructively realised. The second cliffhanger
sends the story in an entirely new, as yet unsuspected, but very exciting
direction.
Foreboding: The Doctor mentions a previous experience where
he was possessed by the Eminence but doesn’t want to go into any detail. But we
wont have long to wait to find out what happened…
Result: With its insidious nasties, space opera
storytelling a multitude of locations and a sense of humanity attempting to
survive against the odds, this had a feeling of a number of previous sixth
Doctor tales of late about it (Wirrn Isle and especially The Acheron Pulse
where this is similarly set up to be the middle part of a serial with a tale
featuring a former Doctor and a tale featuring a later one still to come).
However it sports a decent storyline of its own, strong guest characters, eerie
monsters and the added bonus of bubbly Bonnie. It’s quite a novelty to meet an
alien race that the Doctor has experienced before but the audience hasn’t (more
often than not we are introduced to fresh nasties at the same to strengthen the
impact) and whilst they certainly have a creepy presence the Eminence don’t
really jump out as a world-ending threat on the evidence of this story. The
story continues to develop well and as a result I really couldn’t tell where
this one was going to end up and it doesn’t always take the easy option,
bumping off characters that don’t deserve it. It’s a story that isn’t afraid to
treat the Doctor roughly either which makes a nice change from the constant
hero worship, here he is put through a mental nightmare that tests him to his
limits and Colin Baker is more than ready to add some real bite to his usual
portrayal. The Seeds of War is an engaging science fiction tale that only
suffers because it comes off the back of two other engaging science fiction
tales in a trilogy that hasn’t offered much in the way of variety. On it’s own
merits this is well written, well directed and well acted but next year I am
hoping to see a historical or something more light hearted to break away from
the spate of high concept SF tales for Sixie. My biggest problem with this
escapade was that the best moments seem to come in the early episodes leaving
the final installment (as is so often the way) lacking in incident or any sense
of climax. The story promises a more cinematic conclusion, using the seeds as
part of an menacing invasion plan but it never comes anywhere near fruition.
Bizarrely the story ends without any sense of occasion. On those grounds, it
was the least satisfying of this trilogy but it was still crafted with enough
skill to provide two hours of decent entertainment. I’m eager to see the
Eminence again, though, because I didn’t feel they were exploited to the full
here: 7/10
1 comment:
No comments on this one?!
I just listened to this yesterday... once I heard about the Trial of the Valeyard being a subscriber-only release, I decided it was time to subscribe. (Up until now, I'd picked and chose episodes, waiting for special deals and also because I'm not a huge fan of the 7th doctor) And I started my subscription with Spaceport Fear, which I listened to 2 days ago.
Anyhow, about Seeds of War - the first 3 episodes were very good. I had no idea how this could possibly finish with just one more episode to go! It felt like it was the middle of an old 6-parter to me.
But then to jump ahead a couple of months to the very end, skipping over a lot of stuff happening was, well, maybe a bit to pat for me. For Old Sixy to suddenly be back to normal... after being taken over at the end of of episode 3, just seemed to... easy. I would have preferred another episode between 3 and 4 here.
My other complaint here was the Eminence itself - what was its plan? Just to activate the "taint" inside the Doctor and see where it he would wander? It just seemed, again, too "easy" for the infected Doctor to meet the people he did in fairly short order that led him to all the knowledge and incentive to get into the seed facility on Earth, which would have allowed the Eminence total victory.
(There is, by the way, such a facility - I lived for many years in Fort Collins, CO, where the USDA National Seed Storage Laboratory is located.)
Leaving aside the nit-picks, Colin and Bonnie were wonderful here. And the sound design very good. I do some sound design work myself and know how difficult it can be sometimes - and Big Finish makes it look effortless.
I agree with a 7/10 rating.
-Andy T.
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