What's it about: The TARDIS brings
the Doctor, Romana and K9 to the Rock of Judgement; a court, prison and place
of execution built into a rocket-powered asteroid. When involved in an
investigation by the system's finest lawman, they find they must seek answers
to some disturbing questions.
Teeth and Curls: 'Me? Wear your face? Not on your Nelly!'
So daft and so smart, the Doctor of the 17th season is simply a joy to be
around. He'll trick you into thinking that he is as mad as a hatter and no
threat at all and then when your guard is down he will make his move and
destroy the foundations of your dastardly plan so they are irreversibly
damaged. He's sly, madly intelligent and very funny. He's the ultimate Doctor.
According to K.9, the Doctor is 2.9% more likely to need assistance when
leaving the TARDIS. I can well believe that. The Doctor is so used to people
suspecting him of whatever sabotage/murder/fill in your own word that when
Spiggot offers him in automatic cover story he is momentarily befuddled. He's
soon in investigative mode, excited by the challenge to walk around
unquestioned. When he can't read he can sure read an awful lot (remember when he
flicked through that novel in City of Death?). If there is one thing he hates
it is a lot of guards jogging somewhere together in unison - that suggests
something's afoot. Strangely enough I find the fourth Doctor of his latter
seasons far more easy to take seriously when he declares that something
terrifying is afoot because his warnings are a slap in the face after all the
comedy. He jolts you back to reality with a shock unlike the moodier fourth
Doctor of the Hinchcliffe years who was pretty much a walking black cloud. The
Doctor calls himself a willing amateur but I'll bet a Talmar to a toffee he
runs rings around Spiggot. He talks about the horror of immortality as though
it is something that he himself would not want to experience. Xais can see right
through him, talking like an idiot when it is clear that he is not. Romana
wonders whether the Doctor enjoys being interrogated, he has made it an
occupational occurrence.
Aristocratic Adventurer: I can't think of anything more
joyful than reuniting the fourth Doctor and Romana II (if not Tom Baker and
Lalla Ward if rumours about them recording their dialogue separately are true)
and them having further adventures in the season seventeen mould. The Graeme
Williams era is one of my favourites in the shows original run for so many
reasons but high up on that list is the incredible relationship between these
two and the chemistry between the two leads. I was not on the same page as JNT
at all when he wanted to tear apart this trio to bring in Adric, Tegan and
Nyssa claiming that it had all gotten a bit smart. What he did was to
underestimate the audience whereas Williams treated them with respect and
assumed we would be able to keep up with two dazzling Time Lords at the height
of their powers, rattling around the universe, desperately in love and having
jolly scrapes. Despite the budgetary restrictions, it was a very happy time for
the show. Big Finish manage to tap into that beautifully and the first scene
featuring the Doctor and Romana playing games in the console room (the Doctor
losing terribly, of course) took right back to the holiday spirit of season
seventeen. When they land it means there is twice the brains figuring out where
they are...although the Doctor is far too busy being facetious to truly help
out and it is mostly left to Romana to do the deductive work. Very
season seventeen. She's described as having pert lips, a noble brow and
milk-white skin...to which the Doctor objects. Well of course he does, he's
head over heels for her. She's resigned to the fact that they are always in
danger. Romana gets lumbered with Stokes as her unwitting companion in the
latter episodes, a fawning imbecile that she nonetheless takes it upon herself
to look after. His bumbling nature and her razor sharp wit makes for a very
enjoyable combination. Romana takes objection to the Doctor stating that he is
the only person who can stop Xais. How nice to hear Romana acknowledge the
influence the Doctor has had on her life.
Standout Performance: Given that she has just been cast as
the sixth Doctor's latest audio companion now is a good time to listen out for
Miranda Raison's turn as Margot. Not an easy role to play, a character having a
nervous breakdown in a Doctor Who story because the urge is to overdo it
(especially given the tone of the era) but Raison offers a sympathetic and
twitchy turn, a character that it is awkward to be around because you're not
quite sure how she is going to react. To her undoubted amusement, she gets to
chew the scenery outrageously as Xais too. Of interest is also Michael
Troughton, an actor with a very discernable lineage. Clearly the note he
received was to play down the role of Menlove Stokes because he hits so many
subtleties as he is climbing the walls, raving about his death art and accusing
the entire universe of being jealous of his talent. 'You are several degrees
closer to cretinessness than I had previously credited!' Lalla Ward delights, especially when she
gets all bossy and maniacal which gets me all hard and soft at the same time.
Oo-er.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'Don't worry, I'd imagine you've induced
several nervous breakdowns in your time' 'Oh really? How kind of you to say
so.'
'Either he's too clever by half or he's very, very stupid.'
'Child prodigy. I never liked early achievers.'
'From the look of these scene of crime photos the
devastation does seem total. The cost of that damage must run into pennies!'
(Upon seeing K.9) 'This is your weapon? Do you expect the
Nisbitt's to die laughing?'
'We're all going to die!'
'I'd rather be scattered into the ether than have my spleen
squeezed until it pops by a gang of psychopaths! Farewell my angel, I wish your
sanity was equal to your attractiveness! Doctor, you're as mad as you appear!'
- I could pretty much quote everything Stokes says.
'Crime isn't what it was. It's rather lost it's romance.'
Great Ideas: An asteroid housing The Rock of Judgement, not
only a court but also where they doll out judgement to the very worst
criminals. Most people here are very dangerous and very keen to get out but a
few million miles of vacuum makes for a pretty strong deterrent to escape. The
recreation area is set up for the workers with suppressants available to endure
such long spells off planet. Like
Shada, this is a dark backdrop for a comic story, resulting in some very black
comedy. It would be so easy to present a silly location with daft aliens and
lots of crazy happenings but the fact that the atmosphere of the asteroid is
one of darkness adds an extra layer of substance to the story. Stokes is the
in-house artist and has devoted himself to capturing the souls of the criminals
that will meet their end, a rather macabre affair suited to his creepy
personality. The security system on the asteroid is degrading, somebody is
sabotaging it deliberately and Spiggot has been sent in to investigate. He's
your bog standard gumshoe, married to the job and having lost his kids as a
result. He thinks he's the central character in his own noir thriller, the
dope. Xais killed over 2000 people in 2 years, all before her nineteenth
birthday. I bet Romana will have a field day psycho-analysing that one. I'd
blame the parents. Her particular talent was crushing people where they stood.
Xais saw the family killed, destroyed the man that murdered them, stole a ship
and escaped. She went on a revenge attack spree on Five, buildings, people,
random attacks. She can splat somebody to the state of a stepped on watermelon
just by looking at them. An expert in computers and bomb making, pretty much a
genius. Tying together the Stokes and Xais threads, he cast a mask out of
helicon of her face, an artistic endeavour which could very well tear a hole in
this corner of the universe. What a shame that they appear on the cover because
the Ogrons would have been a terrific surprise (it's still a great moment for
how big Tommy B pronounces their entrance so spectacularly). Appropriately Big
Finish have afforded some of the more engaging alien races that are only
featured in Doctor Who once or twice a chance to expand upon their original
appearance. In their attempt to give every story a sequel there isn't that many
species that haven't had a second airing and they usually (despite my
protestations of late) benefit from the extra attention. The Draconians (Paper
Cuts) the Wirrn (Wirrn Dawn, Wirrn Isle) and the Zygons (a superb pair of 8DAs,
Zygon Hunt) in particular. You can hardly argue with the success of the Ogrons.
Visually they were spectacular and their lack of intelligence made them the
perfect comic foil (they clashed hilariously with Roger Delgado's Master and
have a similar culture clash with the Spiggot's in this story) and yet after
Frontier in Space the show chose to ignore them as it passed on to new creative
hands. I'm pleased to see them get a fresh appearance in The Romance of Crime
and they translate to audio extremely well. Once the Ogrons struck fear
throughout the universe but now they have become the butt of every joke in the
human Empire. Cleverly the story chooses to introduce a new set of characters
in it's second half (albeit ones who are set up in the first) to keep the story
ticking over. Somebody had to be Xais' contact at The Rock of Judgement and it
comes as no great surprise that it is Pyrepoint (given he has mostly been a
background character). He used her as a walking weapon, to kill anybody that
gets in his way and she used him to satisfy her hatred of humanity. They were
going to mine an enormous quantity of Helicon together but she was arrested and
so they devised a plan to have Stokes create the mask in her image and release
some of her power into liquid Helicon.
Audio Landscape: Heavy breathing, footsteps, chatter, bar
atmosphere, the computer exploding, bullets bouncing, Ogron blasters, force
field, pouring tea, hissing gas, horrible squishing sounds as Xais does her
business.
Musical Cues: A pleasing mixture of authentic Dudley Simpson
and a more modern day pace, The Romance of the Crime took me back to the
Halcyon days of 1979 but Howard Carter still provided the sorts of thrills and
spills I would expect from a main range soundtrack. I loved the cute noirish
touches when Spiggot was indulging in some detective-based clichés and get
ready to clap your hands in delight as the tension ramps up at the end of
episode three and Carter attacks the piano.
Isn't it Odd: I have been less than complimentary about Big
Finish's obsession with nostalgia of late in their Doctor Who ranges and their
unwillingness to forge ahead with anything original. This is a note to say that
the novel adaptations get a reprieve on the grounds that their very existence
is to capture the glories of the past, that was the entire raison detre of the
Missing Adventures. But do you know what is odd? Within that remit of trying to so successfully emulate season
seventeen both Gareth Roberts (and John Dorney who adapted this) have managed
to create something that is packed full of great ideas, wonderful dialogue and
enjoyable characters. It so far surpasses tripe such as Eldrad Must Die!,
Revenge of the Swarm and Mistfall that a comparison is barely worth making.
Maybe that is because the mid seventies was an era of invention and creation
and to produce something this engaging is a given (although the 4DAs would seem
to counter that argument). Maybe it is because the Missing Adventures were
better at creating original stories within their remit to capture the glories
of the past?
Standout Scene: The thought of an Ogron failing to dock a
ship airlock to airlock made me laugh like a loon. Every time I think about it
it does the same trick.
1 comment:
When is this set, chrology-wise?
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