What’s it about: The Grange is haunted, so they say. This stately
home in the depths of Devon has been the site of many an apparition. And now
people are turning up dead. The ghosts are wild in the forest. But the Doctor doesn’t believe in ghosts. The
TARDIS follows a twist in the vortex to the village of Staffham in 1977 and
discovers something is very wrong with time. But spectral highwaymen and
cavaliers are the least of the Doctor’s worries. For the Grange is owned by the sinister Jalnik, and Jalnik has a scheme
two thousand years in the making. Only the Doctor and Leela stand between him
and the destruction of history itself. It’s the biggest adventure of their
lives – but do they have the time?
Teeth and Curls: ‘Hello, I’m the Doctor and this is
Charlotte from the village!’ I have complained in the past that the Tom Baker
of the Fourth Doctor Adventures sounds far less like the Doctor as he was on
telly and far more like the actor who appears at conventions; loud, gregarious,
dotty and a wee bit full of himself. So how comes the Tom Baker of The Foe from
the Future sounds exactly like the Doctor of 1977; slightly moody with joyous
twang, condescending Leela whilst admitting her and revelling in the thrill of
another adventure. What happened between this story and Destination Nerva? He
has no foul spirits on his person (although I bet Baker could have obliged at
the time this would have been made) and instead offers wine gums. The Doctor is
extremely genial until pushed and then he really shows his teeth, telling
Butler not to try his patience and sounding like he means it. He can be
quite hard when he wants to, forgetting about the niceties and delivering the
news that somebody’s family might be wiped off the face of the Earth with as
much emotion as you would asking for the Sunday paper. He’s so riddled with
artron energy he can absorb the effects of most time disturbances. When faced
with the interminably serious Jalnik, the Doctor cannot help but mock his
cumbersome appearance just to get on his nerves. He has his own inimical sense
of style and doesn’t see what is so incongruous about wearing a loud Hawaiian
shirt (the Doctor and JNT would get on famously) and considers himself a
citizen of eternity. Somebody tried to kill the Doctor within a minute of his
arrival and that is quick by anyone’s standards. The Doctor, Leela and
Charlotte make for a highly engaging threesome, listen out for the moment where
they approach the facility in a Ford Cortina and whoop with joy as they make it
through the defences. He has to remind himself that the whole of creation is at
stake in order for him to pull his finger out. There is a palpable sense of
friendship between the Doctor and Leela when they are reunited, both thinking
that the other might be dead. It wasn’t always there on screen (especially in
season fifteen when Tom Baker grew weary of this noble savage as a companion)
but it positively screams from this audio that Tom Baker and Louise Jameson get
on like a house on fire. Does the Doctor make up scientific phrases to disguise
the fact that he does not know what he is talking about? Very probably.
Noble Savage: ‘It is not wise to get into the time
machines of strange men. I know what trouble it can cause…’ Louise Jameson
proves once again (and by that I mean as another feather in her bow after
spearheading the Gallifrey series for so many years) why she is one of the best
actresses to play a companion in Doctor Who’s long history. She embodies the
part of Leela wholly, thinking all the time about interesting ways to interpret
her actions, even on audio. I adore her on screen and I adore her behind a
microphone and so to have the chance to listen to her shrug off the innovations
of the Gallifrey series and bring her original interpretation of the character
back to life gave me a genuine buzz. Leela considers ‘to be or not to be…’ a
stupid question, antithetical to the education that the Doctor is trying to
give her. She has no grasp of sarcasm and so accepts the Doctor’s praise when
he actually meant quite the reverse. A lovely mention of Xoanon, Leela linking
every disembodied voice to her ex-deity. If she thinks she is being mocked then
she will get nasty, otherwise she is willing to work with anybody as long as
they face their fears. How funny is the relationship between Leela and the Blue
Guard (sorry, Constable Burrows)? She is so rude to him! When he dies she
displays what can only be a vein of black humour (‘I wish you had died
closer to the door…’) and promises to avenge him. Leela recognises sadism
and knows when somebody wants her to experience fear before she dies, and denies
them the pleasure. When things get hairy Leela is in her element, embracing her
role as a hunted individual and outthinking her opponents. She’s intelligent
enough to understand a Grandfather paradox and to recognise that the notion
makes her head hurt. When Leela informs Geflow to close down the evacuation and
she isn’t being listened to, she repeats her instructions as though she is
going rip the flesh off her bones if she delays a second further. As much as
the last episode is a furious slaughterhouse of hybrids tearing through
humanity, I found just as much enjoyment in the struggle between Leela and
Butler, a fight to the death which was always going to end with the latters
violent demise. Her method, shooting at a church bell which crashes down and crushes
him (‘I have not yet met and insect that can survive being stamped upon’)
is glorious.
Standout Performance: Of course it is a delight to listen to
Tom Baker and Louise Jameson reprise their roles as the Doctor and Leela but my
plaudits are heading for Paul Freeman in The Foe from the Future. A dazzling
villainous turn, he understands perfectly how to capture the essence of a great
Doctor Who bad guy without ever going seriously over the top. He’s playing the
part of a man who was insane before he took a trip through time and melted his
face clean off, who sings in the wake of total devastation and who proudly
declares his madness to all and sundry…and Freeman still manages to give the
man a thread of dignity so he remains believable.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘The Midnight Goblins of Shepton
Mallet!’ – let’s have a sequel!
‘What’s that when it’s at home? What a pointless question!
It’s exactly the same whether it’s at home or whether it’s anywhere else!’
‘Are you mocking me, Doctor?’ ‘Yes, I am. I’m so glad you
noticed.’
‘And the current Prime Minister of Britain is…Bruce
Forsyth?’
‘On the contrary, some of my best friends have been
swallowed! I remember saying to this chap, Jonah…’
‘What’s that noise?’ ‘It sounds like a Ford Cortina!’
‘You’ll never be able to go undercover in 20th
Century England if you don’t know how to make a cup of tea.’
‘Anyone who decides not to kill me is alright in my book.’
‘You haven’t asked what I’m eating…’ – a brilliantly
grotesque line.
‘Perhaps it will be a marriage made in Devon!’
Great Ideas: A young couple walking along a country lane
talking about ghosts and ghouls and being besieged by something unearthly…does
it get more Doctor Who than that? A strange eccentric rich bloke at the Grange
only aiding by a handful of sinister staff. Locals informing the Doctor of the
situation. It’s like a delirious hybrid of The Seeds of Doom and Image of the
Fendhal, perfectly capturing the mixture of domestic and other worldliness from
both stories. Can you imagine how horrendous chronological displacement would
be? Experiencing an entire life simultaneously? Birth, life, death…all in a
moment. The feeding sequence where Jalnik tears through two chickens and then
devours his butler when that isn’t enough is quite grotesque, recalling some of
the grislier moments of the Hinchcliffe era. Somebody has accelerated the
deterioration of the tear to part temporal energies and use the rupture to
their own ends. Jalnik had been studying the Pantofagan for years, trying to
find a way to defeat them. In doing so he was careless and a trace of their DNA
found its way into his blood stream and when his atoms were rearranged during
transportation through time the machines wasn’t able to isolate the two
species. He was merged through unshielded time travel and now he is a
terrifying hybrid of man and beast, overwhelmed with gnawing hunger. A training
camp in the future, learning how to go undercover on other worlds and times.
The Doctor has been to the year 4000 before and it isn’t anything like the
version that he is visiting here. You’ve got to makes some leeway for cultural
errors in the future but I haven’t heard this many since Russell T Davies’
Voyage of the Damned and Jac Rayner’s Earthworld! Brilliantly, Charlotte is the
perfect individual to infiltrate the camp because she is the real thing when it
comes to a 20th Century local. Jalnik is hardly a great
advertisement for the transportation process, his face mangled by his trip
through time. The Doctor is appalled at the idea of vast swathes of the human
race heading backwards in time and interacting with their own ancestors. It
could cause catastrophic changes to the timeline. Suppose just one person
decided that they didn’t want to have to be in the position to go back in time
to escape their hell in the future and chose to change things. It would created
a paradox of destructive proportions. Suppose two did. Or three. Or all of
them. The Pantofagan are creatures from the time vortex, having broken into
the future because of the time experiments. The Jalnik/Kostal relationship is
fascinating because where there may have been some affection between them once,
his trip through time and subsequent disfigurement has put paid to all that.
Kostal’s vanity is her undoing in the end, having to chose between death or
disfigurement as Jalnik makes her pay for her infidelity and arrogance. Jalnik
is such a vengeful nutter he poisons the water supply with Pantofagan DNA,
effectively turning the human race into hybrids like himself. In a moment of jet
black humour, Jalnik informs the Councillor that his neck appears to be
detached from his neck and when he asks the villain what he means…well you can
guess, right?
Audio Landscape: I love the TARDIS being described as
sounding like an elephant in a shed – I never get tired of people thinking up
new and unusual ways of describing the materialisation of the craft. Owls
hooting, a squeaky bicycle, shock in the pub, a monk chanting, church bells
ringing, walking through a lovely, leafy forest, knocking, a screeching dog,
screams, the pulsing time equipment, stepping out onto a blustery wasteland,
the screaming Pantofagan, guards opening fire, screaming, begging crowds,
exploding time travel device, countdown and a bally big explosion!
Musical Cues: Howard Carter does a brilliant job of
emulating the melodramatic style and flair of Dudley Simpson’s work without
ever feeling as though it is a direct rip off. It is a world away from his
usual stylish oeuvre but it fits in perfectly with the era that the story is
trying to convince the audience that it is hailing from.
Isn’t it Odd: You can definitely read the influences on
Talons of Weng-Chiang in some of the imagery and plot points of this story.
Whilst tonally they are very different certain scenes (such as Jalnik and his
disfigured face after stepping through time) are identical.
Standout Scene: Kostal’s death is really horrible.
Not just because she is eaten alive by a slavering bunch of hybrid humans but
in the way that it is executed so boldly by director Ken Bentley. I was quite
put off my breakfast.
Result: Hugely enjoyable and perhaps a victim of its own
success, The Foe From the Future captures the era it is set in so well and
received such rave reviews that it is almost squarely responsible for the two,
ultra traditional and often mundane, seasons of 4DAs that followed. I realise
it is unfair to start a review of a story this enjoyable by casting aspersions
on it’s accomplishment, but the truth is this is the template for what follows
but nothing can quite match it’s piquancy. John Dorney is one of Big Finish’s
star writers and rarely puts a foot wrong and when it comes to authentically
capturing a era this could be his greatest achievement to date. There is a
giddy thrill at the very idea of bringing Tom Baker and Louise Jameson back
together that imbues this entire production with a touch of magic and coupled
with Dorney’s witty, adventurous script it is enough to leave you beaming like
a madman. This comes in at almost three hours worth of listening but it passes
by like a dream, Banks-Stewart has penned a story that consistently innovates
and surprises and Dorney ensures that the interaction between all the
characters is witty and wonderful. Because I enjoy more complicated, radical
stories this isn’t the sort of nostalgic tale I would want to hear week in,
week out but as a one-off kiss to the past there really is no finer example.
What delights especially is how you can see precisely how this could have been
filmed had it been made back in 1977, there are no concessions made to the fact
that this is an audio rather than a television production and it exchanges
budget for imagination and humour to intoxicating effect. Had I listened to The
Foe from the Future first instead of Destination Nerva I think my approach to
the Tom Baker released might have been very different indeed. The Foe from the
Future is a rare thing indeed, one of those much vaunted stories that deserves
all the plaudits that are thrown at it. Stop what you are doing, stick it on and
get whisked back to a time when Doctor Who was the most glorious television on
the box: 10/10
14 comments:
I loved this one, and made me laughand howl with delight
I was recently re watching the Talons and the Doctor refers to Magnus as a "foe from the future", curious ;)
Great review as always!!
Your review has increased my motivation to listen to this adventure, but with one caveat; see, I'm one of those old-fashioned grumpy types who prefers their Doctor Who to be PG-13 (or 12 in Britain) at most, and dislikes extreme graphic violence and gore in their Doctor Who adventures - it feels like trying to combine Pulp Fiction with Star Trek. I'm fine with pushing boundaries, but generally I try to avoid stories that would earn an 18 rating on screen unless they sound *really* interesting ("The Chimes of Midnight" is generally as far as I'll go). Plus, I like to listen to these stories with my younger brother or relatives when I can, so I have them to consider as well.
With that in mind, do you think that this story would be one of those? And also, are there any other audios I should wait to experience until I've broadened my mind someday? It sounds like the Forge stories and "Red" qualify...but are there any others I should watch out for?
Thanks as always :)
The scene I mentioned is only as graphic as your mind is willing to take you but it very little is left to the imagination in the realisation. However it is the only moment of its sort in the whole story which on the whole is rather jolly and traditional.
The Forge stories are pretty graphic I have to be honest - Project Twilight features a scene with Cassie being beaten with a baseball as she begs for her life which is pretty horrific. Project Lazarus has perhaps the most agonising demonstration of a companion having a nervous breakdown after the death of a character she was close to which is also fairly horrifying to endure. And Red is more a conceptual horror but it does worm some violent thoughts into your mind, after all that is what it is about! I would also steer clear of The Holy Terror, which features a bloody massacre in the final episode and Creatures of Beauty, which does some uncomfortable things to the female characters. However I would add that all these stories are very good in their own right, I would just push them out of the reach of kids.
This is my favourite DW reviews page of the few I've visited. I've recently heard of rec.arts.drwho but not very sure about it. Any tips?
thank you
Hi there Aynara, I've never visited rec arts myself so I can't really comment but people have told me it can be a but cliquey. If you can stomach some pretty strong opinions I would suggest Gallifrey Base if you want to discuss Who. Thanks for your kind words.
@JoeFord
Thanks for finally reviewing it! :)
@Peakius: Oddly I didn't find Chimes that graphic or disturbing but that was mostly because to me it seemed to absurd to be taken seriously or to hit hard, which is why(aside from the convoluted ending)I actually rank Chimes lowest of the Shearman trio(I haven't listened to Scherzo).
Thanks for the tips, Joe! Sounds like this story is one I'll have to track down after all. Darn, I am actually intrigued by "The Holy Terror", so I might give that a shot someday soon...but yeah, "Creatures of Beauty" does not sound like my cup of tea :P
One last question on this issue: would you say that "The Magic Mousetrap" and "The Boy That Time Forgot" were alright? I've heard that they're a bit gruesome but I'm very intrigued to listen to those, especially the former...
I look forward to hearing what you have to say about the controversial "Valley of Death"! :)
What I would say is that both The Magic Mousetrap and The Boy That Time Forgot are both excellent stories and well worth checking out on their own merits. I can't remember either being overly violent, the former has a high death count in the last episode but the murders are rather fun and the latter features some scenes a little like those in The Foe From the Future, but I can't recall being overly appalled. Creatures of Beauty is probably Nick Briggs' finest Doctor Who story to date, I would definitely recommend it although as I say not when the kiddiewinks are about.
I'm not convinced you can blame the approach of the first two seasons of 4DAs on the success of this story, given they were recorded before this story was released!
Perhaps that was a little unfair, but it does seem to have created the mould for which the first two season were created from. I see that Foe and Destination were practically recorded back to back (with Nerva a few days later) - wow, what a differnce a few days makes!
I really enjoyed this review. I'd been pretty under-impressed by the first few Fourth Doctor Adventures I listened to after purchasing the first season (to the extent that I still have a couple languishing in a folder on my HD, still zipped). Big Finish have a Lost Stories boxed set on sale this weekend, and I couldn't decide whether to get it. It includes Foe From the Future. I'm no longer worried about a dull, lacklustre performance by Baker. I'm going to go add it to my basket now!
Thanks! :)
perfect a blast to listen to everyone is giving it their all. charlotte from the village is amazing. i got this om sale worth every penny and more.
This is one of the best audios I've heard, well worth the purchase. Of course Baker and Jameson were brilliant, and Louise Brealey did a terrific job. I wouldn't have minded her as a companion. I think this might be Robert Banks Stewart's best story for Doctor Who. At the very least it gives The Seeds of Death a run for its money. Both stories' villains steal the show, but Paul Freeman's Jalnik is somewhat more sympathetic, or at least I found him to be. Full marks heartily deserved.
Great review as always.
Just to point out for anyone that is signed up to Spotify: Both 4th Doctor Lost Adventures, and the first season of the 4Da's are available to listen there at any time. Also a handful of other 4th Doctor stories scattered here and there amongst the Short Trips etc.
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