What's it about: Welcome to the
Forbidden World. This world has a secret. The problem is that no-one can
remember what it is. Time is broken here. Those trapped here must live the same
day over and over – forming alliances, lying to each other, trying to escape.
Welcome to the Forbidden World.
Archaeological Adventuress: I love the idea of a boyfriend
being dumped on Benny without her even realising who he is. Because of the nature
of the time jumps on this world she has already had a relationship with this
man one minute and she doesn't know who he is the next. If there's one thing
that Benny can't resist it is a mysterious city. She realises that sometimes
you just have to live in the moment, forget about all the baggage (this range
seems to have done a good job of that of late) and just go for it. Does Benny
question things too much?
Oh Wicked: Something about Sophie Aldred just riles me on
audio. I think she is a perfectly wonderful human being and massively positive
ambassador for the TV series even at a time when it wasn't popular to do so. I
just don't think she is particularly convincing behind the microphone and that
is something of a problem when audio is the only medium I get to experience her
in these days. There were moments on television where she would overplay her
scenes (but to be fair next to Sylvester McCoy she was always going to be
comparably subdued) and have trouble with her florid dialogue but since her
transfer to audio it feels as though she has a need to emphasise every emotion
to make up for the fact that we cannot see any kind of body language. It
doesn't help that more often than not Ace is characterised to an extreme, how
people remember her being rather than how she actually was. Is this a decent
showing for the character? Not really, this is the period of New Ace, the
bolshie, violent, gun toting version of the character who was hyper protective
of the Doctor whilst hating him and hyper sensitive around Benny whilst loving
her. She was an anathema, both vulnerable and violent. Aldred is given plenty
of opportunity over emote in this story and she enjoys the opportunity...but I
have to admit they were my least favourite moments. Ace is frustrated because
Benny doesn't trust her to get things done on her own. It makes her mad because
she thinks she has done enough already to prove herself. She wonders if she is
useless at getting on with people. All they seem to do is row and when they do
try and make up it is painfully awkward. Bernice needs a reason to trust her
because she has let her down so many times in the past. Ace resented Benny
because it was always her and the Doctor against the universe and then she
turned up and all of a sudden Ace was the weak link, the stroppy kid with two
parents. Whatever she did wasn't good enough anymore.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'That's the thing about a blank canvas.
You can paint anything you want on it.'
'Real life is cumulative.'
Great Ideas: There are some planets the universe just no
longer want to think about: the forbidden world. Time is broken on this world
and it is suffering from time jumps. You keep living the same events, making
the same mistakes. The only advantage they have is the cameras are recording
what has already happened, if they play those cameras back they will hopefully
try and figure out what has been happening and figure a way to change events. A
time bomb has been exploded. The world has been time locked, it should be
sealed away inside a space time envelope, wiping it out of history. Removing a
world from existence isn't easy so whoever did it had a very good reason. Is
art universal or something that is culturally defined and appreciated? There is
a riveting discussion about power, how it is life and knowledge, how in the
wrong hands it is a bad thing and usually the nicest people are those that lack
it. Power is strength. Science works by testing theories, modifying your theory
and testing again. The city seems to be the place where all the answers are but
it is also the place that everybody fears going. Benny explains extremely
eloquently about how fiction details love as something that can happen in an
economic space of time. In five minutes you can see two people meet, share
experiences and fall for each other. But in real life that takes place over a
much longer period of time.
Audio Landscape: What an absolute nightmare for director
Scott Handcock to assemble, so expertly handled. The introductory scene pretty
much sums up the rest of the story in a nutshell, non linear madness
overlapping to make a dramatic statement. If you listened to this story in the
correct order it would still be an interesting listen because the material is
very strong but the way the narrative is turned into glass, thrown on the floor
and shattered into a million pieces and then the separate pieces examined out
of order is quite extraordinary. It means you have to work at putting the
pieces of the puzzle together, you have to try and remember important pieces of
information and you have to put in more effort than usual into the assembling
of this narrative.
Isn't it Odd: What is the point of setting up this story as
a mystery with a whopper of a revelation in the last third about its location
if the Big Finish website is going to spoil that twist with the title of the
last story of the set? Sometimes they really do shoot themselves in the foot.
Standout Scene: The idea of the city sparking back into life
with its battered and bruised history behind it is a terrifying notion. What is
the name of this planet? What terrible secrets are hidden in the city? As soon
as that Dalek heartbeat kicked in at the climax I had chills all over.
Result: I have something a little embarrassing to admit. I
was listening to music before I put Random Ghosts on and I had my iPhone set to
shuffle and when I pressed play on this story I listened to four tracks before
I realised that I wasn't hearing the narrative being told in the right order.
And that's because for one time only that is the entire point of Random Ghosts.
It is the ultimate puzzle book audio, told out of order in a very clever way to
keep its secrets as long as possible. It's a story where the way it has been
constructed is as important and as gripping as the content itself. The story as
a whole is dramatically very satisfying but individual scenes had the ability
to take my breath away, discussing intelligent points powerfully. Random Ghosts
is near flawless in what it is trying to achieve...and that is to hold off from
letting the audience know the name of the forbidden world for as long as
possible. It achieves that by assaulting the audience with gripping
relationship drama and unforgettable performances. The weak link (as in The
Revolution where the Doctor Who elements ruined the party) is Ace, who is more
like a stroppy kid than ever and as a result comes with a typically
unconvincing performances from Sophie Aldred. However Random Ghosts compensates
with another stunning examination of Benny and another powerhouse turn from
Lisa Bowerman. Aside from The Jigsaw War I cannot think of another story that
has taken such a scattershot approach to its storytelling and as such this is a
unique story that takes a risk and succeeds. It's best to remain spoiler free
so the final scene has the impact it is going for but even if you know the
title of the next story Random Ghost still delivers magnificently: 9/10
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