What's it about: The actions of Mr
Rees have alerted the Time Lords of Gallifrey, and Romana has assigned her best
warrior. Independently, the Sixth Doctor has arrived on Earth. A power from the
dawn of the Universe is about to be unleashed once more…
Softer Six: With the Space/Time Telegraph you never quite
know who is going to turn up and Mike Yates is quite perturbed to see the sixth
Doctor arrive, rather than either of the two Doctors that he is most associated
with. Full of bombast as ever, old Sixie tells him he should be grateful that
it is him. We get a nice insight into how the Doctor sees the universe when he
revisits places that he has been to before, sometimes they thrive and sometimes
they decay but they always change. Normal remains the same, even people too. At
UNIT shindigs they expect people to have names as well as titles which makes
the Doctor something of an anomaly. He strikes up an immediate rapport with
Mike Yates and the interplay between Colin Baker and Richard Franklin is
instantly listenable - impressive given they have never worked together on
audio before. His skills with the TARDIS have never been in doubt he'll have
you know.
President: Lalla Ward can turn up in any Doctor Who story as
far as I am concerned, whether it requires Romana or not. Even when Gallifrey
reached its nadir in seasons four and (especially) five, Ward always delivered
a powerhouse performance and knocked my socks off. Given she hasn't appeared
alongside Colin Baker since the genesis of Big Finish (way back in The
Apocalypse Element) it is surprising to see them so smoothly pick up where they
left off. The Doctor and Romana talk in short hand with each other and
understand the severity of the situation and how to reduce the technobabble and
myths to a level that Mike would understand between them. I was laughing my
head off when they rushed at Leela, screaming some kind of off-putting war cry.
The promises to get Romana and Leela back to Gallifrey safe and sound in no
time...but there is always the question of his ability to navigate. Oh how I
would love a series of adventures with Sixie, Romana and Leela.
Mike Yates: Nice to see that this is a direct continuation
of the story set up in The Screaming Skull.
Noble Savage: Leela is being sent on dangerous missions by
Romana because she knows that she is more than capable. This time she has been
dumped in exactly the right place, right into the hands of Rees. We all know
what Leela is capable of and so the thought of having Rees inside her mind
manipulating her actions is quite a frightening one. She takes the opportunity
to get to know her enemy, to understand him. The more she gets to know him, the
easier it is to hunt him down. The Doctor understands Leela, if she doesn't
want to be found she is a born survivor who is an expert at dodging her
hunters.
Rees: Ultimately Rees is just a sadist who got lucky, who
was in the right place at the right time and managed to extend his life through
supernatural means. I rather like the idea that he is some grand super villain
or God from the Dawn of Time, just a casually violent man who enjoys watching
people suffer and has had the opportunity to make it happen for over a century.
He likes the screams best, it isn't the same when they don't let you know how
much it hurts when they die. We get a sneak peek into the past at Rees as a
little boy, his mother dying, killing his father and mending the music box that
she gave to him. The gift that the Doctor bestows upon Rees is probably more
than he ever deserved given the terrible atrocities he has committed but it is
a touching close for the character and ties up his story very satisfyingly.
That is all I ask for.
Standout Performance: Colin Baker. Lalla Ward. Louise Jameson.
Richard Franklin. An odd bunch to throw together but an engaging recipe for
success.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'I may have cheated just a teensy weensy
bit...'
Great Ideas: Oversight is a multi-national scientific
project, a huge transmitter in the middle of the Peruvian rainforest that is
designed to send messages into deep space. Peru? Is that what the Brigadier was
up to when he missed out on the Sontaran attack when they tried to turn the
planet into a clone bank? Romana sent Leela to recover the music box,
containing the mind of Rees. The art is a relic from an unknowable time, a time
when even Rassilon was young, an age before records and memory. A universe
where the higher races strode across the stars and bent existence to their will
- their power matched only by their arrogance. Some of the battles raged for
thousands of years and burned galaxies and the lesser races were caught in the
crossfire. Isn't it amazing that as soon as script starts talking about
mythological battles from the dawn of time that the scale of the piece sudden
broadens exponentially. These are just throwaway lines that add substance to
the relic but I can see entire stories, entire seasons taking place in the
early days of the universe, the Doctor caught up in the battles that left their
footprints on time. It's ironic to hear the Doctor and Romana talking about
devastating Wars that consume so many lesser races given what is coming up in
their future. If only they knew how shatteringly history is going to repeat
itself. The art was a defence, certain individuals developed a skill, a psychic
power that enabled them to project a shield around their whole world. Gradually
chaos became order and the wars ended - the art wasn't needed anymore, the
ability lost. Rees has survived death by planting his mind into an inanimate
object and only those particularly adept at the art would be able to achieve
such a feat. Oversight not only transmits data to the stars, it also receives
information too. UNIT systems receive surveillance data, using the Oversight
technology to monitor every phone call, security feed, radio signal, network
CCTV camera in the world. Rees can hijack that system, sending his mind along
the same pathways as the data comes in to transmit his chaotic malevolent influence
into every receiver. He can possess practically anyone.
Audio Landscape: Birdsong, doorbell, the polite chatter
between dignitaries at a UNIT function, chaos breaking out, a full scale riot,
jungle noises.
Musical Cues: Bombast gets taken to a new level when the
sixth Doctor arrives and Ding Dong Bell suddenly becomes the inspiration for
the most dynamic of soundtracks as all hell breaks loose. How Carter and Briggs
have worked the nursery rhyme into all four stories to create a unified musical
identity and yet altered the tone of the motif according to the genre has been
quite masterful. It plays out in all its serene glory over the public address
system and turns the dignitaries and guests into homicidal maniacs. I don't
think I'll ever listen to Ding Dong Bell in quite the same way ever again.
Standout Scene: Thanks a little prodding from Mike the
Doctor realises that he can head back into Rees' past and make a stand to stop
him from making a terrible decision that will send him on a path of destruction.
At first I thought this was going to move into A Christmas Carol territory with
the Doctor blatantly manipulating the mans life to his own ends. I had a real
problem with the haphazard way the eleventh Doctor tinkered with Sardick's
childhood and turned him into the man he'd like him to be rather than the man
he was destined to be. Rather wonderfully the writers take a much more
effective stance than that and a much more subtle one. It's not that the sixth
Doctor manipulates Rees, he offers him an alternative way of looking at his
father and how events played out. It's not tinkering, its suggestion and that
is a whole different thing. How he tenderly gives Rees his father back and
encourages him to listen to the man is extremely touching. People object to
Sixie being turned into a big softie but it's at moments like this when it
really brings home the emotional nuance that this version of the Time Lord can
tap in to. I was quite moved. When you realise the trick he has pulled off,
well that's even more impressive. I love any story that allows the sixth Doctor
to shine.
Result: The sixth Doctor, Romana, Leela, Mike Yates, UNIT, a
trip to Peru and a fight to the death to prevent Rees from reaching his
apotheosis. That's either absolute genius or the ultimate fanwank. Unlike any
of the other stories in The Worlds of Doctor Who, this is less of an extended
advert for their respective ranges and more a case of throwing together as many
characters from the Doctor Who universe as possible and getting them to solve a
big, bad problem. Given it's random approach (I have no idea why these
particular characters were chosen - there is no particular reason that the 6th
Doctor, Romana or Leela should be involved - the only one who deserves to be
there is Mike because of his involvement in the previous story) it is
astonishing that it works out as well as it does. Baker, Ward, Jameson and
Franklin gel together infectiously and magic pours forth. It could have just
have easily have felt haphazard and indulgent but the fluid storytelling,
joyful dialogue and express pace (not to mention a great big threat that is
beautifully conceived and delivered) all help to turn Second Sight into
something rather wonderful. I thought there was no way that four stories worth
of material could be tied up satisfyingly in the final fifteen minutes but Goss
and Richards manage to pull it off, giving Rees an emotional (if ambiguous)
send off and suggesting further adventures for Sixie, Romana and Leela (yes
please). Overall it was a strong piece, equal to the best of the rest without
pushing into the realms of the classics. The box set as a whole can be
considered a huge success though, there is enough Doctor Who here to lure
people in and a strong enough example of the three other series to leave
newcomers wanting more. A smart move and a very entertaining series of stories:
8/10
1 comment:
Great review of this story, I loved the whole box set but this one especially. I would love to hear more of Leela, Romana, and 6 as well they work so well together.
Post a Comment