What's it about: Trapped in a citadel swarming with Daleks, the Time Lord rescue force must find a way to overcome insurmountable odds. With the Daleks apparently planning to rule the Null Zone, perhaps their thirst for universal conquest and victory has been quenched… The War Doctor doesn’t believe so — but how can he prove it without destroying any chance of peace? As the countdown to the destruction of Keska proceeds, a deadly choice must be made... A choice that will define this Doctor, and perhaps forever cast him in the role of ‘monster’.
Damaged: Given Hurt's involvement and the fact that the War
Doctor is supposedly the living embodiment of what the Doctor is not about I
would have thought this set would have taken more time to explore his
character. It pays lip service to his 'monstrous' characteristics (if you can
really call pushing a button for the greater good a monstrous act...I guess you
can in historical context) in a scene at the climax where somebody has to
commit the act of devastation bit beyond that there was little to distinguish
him from the others. Perhaps that is still to come. If it were any other race
in the universe I am sure the Doctor would be an advocate for peace but he
knows that you cannot make a deal with the Daleks. His incredibly sarcastic
delivery of the shock news that the Daleks want to win the Time War after all
is delightful, probably the most Doctorish thing he has said in the entire set.
Doing what is necessary to save lives does not make you a monster. At least
that is what the Doctor wants to tell himself. Ollistra taking the Doctor to
Keska in the future is a kind of reward for his efforts throughout this set. He
might not have been able to save everybody but thanks to his efforts the planet
keeps turning.
Standout Performance: Celia Imrie delivers a very powerful
speech about the horror of the Daleks. Oddly me it reminded me of the moment
when her character went off on a mad rant in Dinnerladies and was similarly
impressive and unexpected.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'The Daleks are not your glorious
Overlords! They are simply your executioners!'
'Where can I find you Doctor. When I need you again?' 'At
the heart of the battle where the blood of the innocents flows and only the monstrous
survive.'
Great Ideas: It has a great cover and a great synopsis,
after two less than motivated adventures there as every chance this could be
the highlight of the set. A very important question is posed early in this
story; would you sacrifice an entire race to destroy your enemy? The Time War
can never be won and so Ollistra has put plans in place to negotiate peace with
the Daleks. My jaw might have hit the ground when I heard that. Not because it
was an unexpected development but because I had no clue how such a advance
could be implemented. I mean, we're talking about the Daleks. It would have to
be extreme circumstances to convince the Daleks to stop killing, peace could
only be brooked at the threat of total annihilation. An inner sanctum of Time
Lords who have come to the much more tasteful conclusion that peace has to be
made with the Daleks. The Time Lords gave the Daleks the Null Zone weapon, a
piece of hardware of their design from the Omega arsenal. It was supposed to
obviate the loss of their main space time fleet and give them a chance of a
bolt hole, a contained area of a thousand worlds where they hope the Daleks
will be content. It's a bold idea, if a little deluded. If you think you are
the ultimate example of racial purity in the universe you are not going to be
happy with one small corner of the universe. You are going to want to spread
and conquer. And what about the people on those thousand worlds? Sacrificed to
the Daleks to slaughter them as they please. Why are the Daleks drilling into
the cores of all these planets? Moveable bases from which they can administrate
their new Null Zone Empire. A section of space with moving worlds like
spaceships? That's pretty awe-inspiring. I've never heard anything quite like
that before.
Isn't it Odd: Now I can see the comparisons with Dalek
Empire that people have been making. Instead of the Dalek Empire just call it
the Null Zone Empire. There is a terribly confused action sequence where the
Doctor and his friends attempt to take on a Dalek that is firing with gay
abandon. Nick Briggs has directed enough Big Finish action commendably for this
to be a little bit embarrassing. It was all the voices that were thrown into
the fracas, it's all a bit of a kafuffle.
Standout Scene: The Daleks want to fire a thousand planets
at fifty times the speed of light at Gallifrey. That's a hell of a punch in the
face. Talk about being hoisted by your own petard, Time Lords! I tell you what,
Nick Briggs knows how to think BIG. This is a terrifying, Star Wars scale
notion or the sort of thing that Douglas Adams might think up if he was having
a particularly sadistic day.
Result: The box set could have been re-branded The Story of
Keska rather than Only the Monstrous because it charts the development of that
planet from one story to the next with far more clarity than it does it's
characters. I take back what I said in my previous review about the opening
story being irrelevant, this is very much a three part story where part one
introduces Keska and it's local problems, part two visits the planet years
later under Dalek rule and part three charts how the planet takes its place in
the great Time War. It's bloated and full clichés along the way but the journey
has at least been going somewhere. The Heart of the Battle has some enormous
ideas at its heart, ones that have the potential make some very exciting
storytelling. However those ideas need to be explored through its characters
and in engaging scenarios...what happens here is the big concepts are dumped on
the audience in one enormous gulp of exposition. You want to know what has been
happening in this box set? Well prepare yourself for fifteen minutes worth of
explanation! The answers should emerge naturally from the narrative, rather than
being dumped upon it. This whole set could have done with an edit to ensure
that the conclusion felt like a natural extension of events rather than a
lecture explaining what it has all been about. I really like Nick Briggs as
both a writer and a person, I think he has talent and he is a very good
ambassador for Big Finish. Lately though his efforts are being hampered by the
fact that his finite talent is being stretched in too many directions. His
fingers are in so many pies that only his thumbs are left to use the keyboard.
Creatures of Beauty is what I always come back to because it is the yardstick
to which I compare the rest of his work to. That was his ultimate achievement
and it came at a time when he wasn't encumbered with stories to write for two
dozen ranges. Only the Monstrous isn't a disaster. If you have never heard a
Big Finish story before this would be an exciting place to jump in because of
Hurt's involvement and the added thrill of the Time War. But for seasoned audio
listeners there is little that is new here...and that is rather what was
promised. I can tell you without doubt that the second set will be more
enticing - Dorney, Fitton and a new writer. Tasty. The Heart of the Battle gets
a thumbs up for a truly mind-boggling and devastating Dalek plan. It's just a
shame it couldn't be less of a lecture and more of a drama. A point removed for
the pointless suggested murder at the climax. She'll be back. Just call her
Molly O'Sullivan the Second: 5/10
1 comment:
I really enjoyed this first three-part story.
A lot of listeners have complained that the War Doctor they got here isn't the morally compromised warrior they thought they were promised, but I think the first episode establishes that the character has become exhausted with that role after having spent this lifetime fighting the Time War. It's why he wanted to make that sacrifice at the opening of the tale. He wants to be the Doctor again.
Anyway, I agree that most of it wasn't particularly novel. Honestly my favorite parts were the quiet moments in the first chapter where the Doctor and Rejoice are chatting. The actual adventure was less gripping, but it wasn't bad, and most of the actors were terrific, especially Hurt and Carolyn Seymour.
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