What's it about: The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Nyssa to a vast pyramid, floating in space. A tomb ship – the last resting place of the God-King of the Arrit, an incredibly advanced and incredibly ancient civilisation, long since extinct. They’re not alone, however. Another old dynasty walks its twisted, trap-ridden passages – a family of tomb raiders led by a fanatical matriarch, whose many sons and daughters have been tutored in tales of the God-King’s lost treasure. But those who seek the God-King will find death in their shadow. Death from below. Death from above. Death moving them back and forward, turning their own hearts against them. Because only the dead will survive.
An English Gentleman: Davison sounds a little more invested
in this story which is strange because it gives him even less texture to play
about with than Moonflesh. I would have loved if he would have snapped Virna's
neck, sawn it off her head with a rusty blade and then ripped out her spinal
column. I honestly wouldn't have objected. At least it would have been something
out of the ordinary. He bellows, objects and behaves in a generally Doctorish
manner...yadda yadda yadda. Just copy and paste what in Moonflesh. Davison is
not being pushed by any of this material.
Alien Orphan: I discussed in my review of Scavenger (which
is becoming more and more appealing with each successive release since then)
that it was quite refreshing (at least for me) to enjoy a companion who is
simply along for the ride rather than one that is suffering all kinds of
emotional turmoil and intense development. You only have to look at the latest
Hex story to see the kind of unpersuasive madness that leads to (let the
character go already). Back in the day many of the Doctor Who boys and girls
were simply there to prop up a story, provide some jeopardy and banter and make
the Doctor look extremely clever as he explains all the complicated science to
them. Nyssa was one of them. Irritatingly I am having the reverse reaction to
her treatment lately...which is to fulfil the function of the traditional
companion to the nth degree. Where Flip was infectiously bouncy and addicted to
danger so she could get away with an absent back story and missing dimensions,
Nyssa in the recent releases is being written in such a level headed, plain and
sensible fashion that it is impossible to find anything of significance
to grab onto. Where Flip was vacuous from the word go, Nyssa has a fascinating
back story built into her character (the destruction of Traken, the death of her
father, the alien orphan walking abroad in a dangerous universe) that is ripe
for exploitation. Frankly there is no excuse for her to be written in such a
tediously monotonous way. Sarah Sutton is ready to up her game whenever a
script emerges with the right material (Spare Parts, Creatures of Beauty,
Circular Time, The Eternal Summer, The Emerald Tiger) but she has been
particularly ill served of late. I don't know how many more Nyssa stories I can
listen to where she wanders about giving stock responses to disposable threats.
That just doesn't float my boat.
Great Ideas: The Tomb Ship is a treasure house, a repository
for all the God King's wealth. When the Tomb completes its journey it explodes
with enough power to create a new star
- a bomb. The music of the spheres are radio waves emitted from the
stars. Arit-co means slaves of the Arit, genetically engineered to live aboard
this ship and serves its occupant - the Arit God King. The Arit thought their
Kings were Gods even after they died all alone and drifting through space for
thousands of years. A God needs his worshippers until it was time for the ship
to go nova and turn a God King into a God Star. An inhabitant planetary system
with a supernova bomb heading towards them...this story is channelling the
Voyager episode Dreadnought. Jhanni is one of Virna's children who came on her
last expedition. She has been waiting for her mother to come back for her ever
since. The God King is a nine foot tall giant in funereal robes waiting on his
throne to become a living star. A cellular stasis field keeps him looking as
though he only died yesterday. Is the scrap between Virna and Jhanni the first
instance of a full blown Eastenders-style bitch fight in Doctor Who? I
suppose that's worth celebrating.
Audio Landscape: A banging door, TARDIS landing, crackling
fire, insect creatures forming a bridge, gunfire, screams in the distance.
Musical Cues: I feel as if I am being hyper critical of this
release (thank goodness this gets me up to date with this years main range
releases so I can head over to the companion chronicles next and start
spreading the love) but even the music treaded water as much as I could tell.
The trouble with one big bold action adventure after another is that they all
require the same kind of score; bolshie, strident and melodramatic. After a
while they all blend into each other. I can't remember the last time the music
in the main range genuinely surprised me (yes I can, it was Fanfare for the
Common Men but that was a special case) in the way that it used to habitually
in the first 100 releases. Remember Alistair Lock's stunning orchestral
soundtrack for The Fires of Vulcan. Or Russell Stone's romantic, melancholic
score for The Stones of Venice. Or the unnerving work of ERS on Time Works.
These days every other story sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster. It's not that
it is bad music and all of the isolated soundtracks are fairly decent in their
own right...it's just they all bleed into one another and nothing stands out as
particularly worthwhile. And I'm talking about Richard Fox and Lauren Yason
here, and I consider them the best of the Big Finish musicians. Go check out
their work on the companion chronicles, it makes this shallow action adventure
fare haemorrhage into insignificance.
Standout Scene: Some amusement when Nyssa groans in pain but
it sounds like she has finally blossomed as a woman.
Result: It feels like the well of talent is starting to run
dry. If you had never heard a Doctor Who story before then this might...might
just scrape a pass on the grounds of its novelty. But with 185 main range
adventures coming before it (ranging from the ultra traditional to the boldly
radical) the sheer level of banality that Tomb Ship offers simply is not good
enough. It's another adventure that feels like it should be seen rather than
heard and fails to exploit the muscles of the audio medium; the exploration of
language, ideas, relationships and atmosphere. Whilst acceptable in their own
right, the sound effects and music are
starting to sound a little familiar too. I think script editor Alan Barnes
needs to take a step back and ask himself if these stories need to be
told because even a causal glance at efforts like Moonflesh and Tomb Ship would
suggest otherwise. The setting might have been interesting had it been a little
more incongruous and exotic. The characters might have excited if they had more
than one dimension. The plot might have surprised if it had a single twist
(especially the biggie regarding the treasure, a hackneyed concept when it was
utilized in Enlightenment) that wasn't signposted from the very beginning.
Except for that twist...which is just absurd. Tomb Ship could be made to
work if it had its guts completely torn out, extra nuances added to the family
dynamics, more spirited characterisation of the fifth Doctor and Nyssa and
extra chills added by actually making us give a damn about the guest characters
rather than wishing to see them all dispatched so we can head off and hang out
with a more engaging bunch. More importantly it needs to be shortened to a two
parter...although I still think it would struggle to fill half the length with
a plot quite this thin. It breaks my heart to see the main range churning out
such mediocrity - I can remember a time when this was the only product that Big
Finish produced and each story was so thrilling to get hold off upon release (I
travelled all the way from Crawley to London to Forbidden Planet to get my mitts
on The One Doctor as soon as possible). Nowadays I find all the innovation and
diversity in the spin off material and find myself in the unfortunate position
of praying that the main range wont disappoint. That's two clunkers from Rennie
and Beeby as far as I am concerned. No more please: 3/10
11 comments:
I've said before and I'm even started a thread about it on Gallifrey Base but Nyssa needs a good, long rest. She's the only companion that Big Finish has made me like less.
I know that she's in the already recorded Fifth Doctor Boxset but I'd delighted if she didn't appear in any more stories for two to three years at least. Her blandness and her near constant presence in Fifth Doctor stories does my head in.
Sadly the following story, Masquerade, its writer is Stephen Cole and he seems to have bad luck with the Fifth Doctor: The Land of the Dead, Kiss of Death and The Whispering Forest are examples of his mediocrity. So this trilogy is doomed.
But do not lose your faith, Joe Ford, I can feel that "The Fifth Doctor Boxset" will be a masterpiece because it features the two best writers of Big Finish, Jonathan Morris and John Dorney, not only will give the new and three dimensions Adric but Nyssa also finally mourn for the loss of Traken.
I understand why you love the 6th Doctor so much: Colin is the strongest performer of all Doctors. With bad material or poor scripts, Davison and McGann sound bored (Davison sounds dull, McGann sounds as if he's pissed off or half asleep), McCoy just overacts or babbles away and Tom Baker sounds like he's taking the piss. Only Colin tried to bring out the best he can out of poor scripts.
I love your reviews and agree with you and the two previous comments that they should give Nyssa a rest.
Thanks for the comments guys, they are much apreciated :-)
Don't worry guys, I'm sure the Main Range will be looking up soo--oh, what's that? "Revenge of the Swarm", an absolutely necessary sequel to "The Invisible Enemy", is coming out later this year? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA we're screwed
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on "Afterlife" - as soon as I heard the melodramatic acting in the trailer I knew that story was doomed for you :D
I totally agree with you that this story was horrible. My first BF story was Antidote to Oblivion, but this the first time I honestly lost interest in the story. I honestly hoped though, however badly played Hannah was, that she would stick around longer than she did.
Did the wicked, heartless Mother and her moronic sons sound familiar? I couldn't help thinking of Futurama where we find ... wicked, heartless Mom and her moronic sons.
That's a great point, Robin. Except without the wit and imagination that goes into making the Futurama characters so memorable :-)
I actually really like Hannah Bartholomew in Moonflesh, and thought she would have made a refreshing companion, with a good rapport with both Davison and Sutton. So I was hugely disappointed when they did nothing interesting or fun with her in Tomb Ship and Masquerade. Why create such a delightful and engaging character and waste her on stories this bland? Ditch Nyssa, give me some stories with just Fifth and Hannah and give them some decent scripts and I think you'd have a hit on your hands.
I'm literally typing this during the part 4 climax (Nyssa just reached the tomb), and if the writers in the interviews DON'T say this was based off someone's D&D game, it's a lie of omission.
Oh, it's the bitch fight!
Also, Hannah's player was late for the session, so the DM just dropped her in.
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