Oh My Giddy Aunt: The Doctor often casts an excited eye on the activity around him; he’s the observer, taking in every detail, assessing, quietly. If you’re a data archaeologist you would only have to spend a short amount of time in the Doctor’s company to realise that he could be a massive help. I love the idea of the Doctor as a monster spectacle portent of doom – Troughton especially because he gets het up in the most huffy puffy of ways (Hines captures it well here). A bit like Davison in Snakedance, trying to warn everybody of their folly feels like spitting into the wind. He tries to play surrogate father to Victoria but he’s not really that sort of person.
Young Scot: It always felt that Jamie developed an affection for Victoria simply because she was a pretty damsel in distress. Of all the female companions that he travelled around with it was with Victoria that he clearly had the most time for. Polly was far too enamoured with Ben (and with good reason) to register and Zoe was like the brainy little sister that got on your nerves to him. When Victoria left it was a moment of heartbreak for the Scot. There was a real connection there, and it feels almost like a break up when she decides to leave the TARDIS, and Jamie. This audio is punctuated with scenes of Victoria teaching Jamie how to read in some very sweet scenes and serves to remind how the companion chronicles can add shades to existing relationships. If Victoria spent time with Jamie, patiently teaching him language and grammar, those are gifts that are incalculable. He learns in a very blunt way, arguing that things should be pronounced a certain way and questioning the inconsistencies of announciated grammar. It’s easy to forget that Jamie is a companion very like Leela, an uneducated warrior because Hines quickly developed him into a much more fashionable character. It’s in moments like this where the similarities between the two are highlighted. Jamie is a fighter but how can you fight knowledge?
Screaming Violet: She’s never lied to a constable before and if her father knew, he would be appalled. She references Alice in Wonderland, the writer giving some attention to the literature that Victoria would have read. It is very easy to slip into the habit that Jamie and Victoria are contemporary characters because they are often portrayed with such brio and I’m glad that that did not happen here. Highlighting her prim and fusty Victoria values is part of her charm. Victoria is still shocked that she talks so freely about alien planets as though that were a normal thing to do. The fear that she felt when facing the monsters was a fear of loneliness; Victoria doesn’t think that Jamie ever felt it or that Doctor understood it. Her father trusted the Doctor, and trusted him with Victoria.
Standout Performance: Frazer Hines is almost too good for these audio stories now; extremely comfortable in his urgent narration, and perfectly capturing the Doctor and Jamie.
Great Ideas: The Doctor is right, intelligent monsters are the scariest. Especially when they are hiding in plain sight. I like the idea of the pages of a book unfolding into something spectacular and creepy – it feels like a deleted scene from The Mind Robber. A monster that lives in the stories we tell. A story that can adapt, evolve, grow murderous. You become so captivated by the story that you forget everything else. Even the name is genius: the Storyform.
Audio Landscape: Data archaeologists specialise in information; how it is being used and what it says about a civilisation. It’s a rare discipline and this planet must have a fascinating history for it to need so many data archaeologists.
Standout Scene: The cliff-hanger is particularly good because the menace springs from an unexpected source but one from which if you have been paying attention should be obvious. It’s a tricksy idea, a monster built out of knowledge but I thought it was pulled off quite adeptly here thanks to a sympathetic sound designer and terrific support from the actors essentially reacting to words coming to life.
Result: ‘V is for Victoria…’ An unexpected gem, quiet and characterful. If I went in to a companion chronicles expecting something as unassuming as The Story of Extinction I might be put off by the sheer lack of drama that of the first half of the story but that gives plenty of time over to the characters and on that front it scores very highly. Victoria has never been written for this adeptly on audio before and it feels particularly appropriate to listening to a story that treats her character so sensitively in the wake of Deborah Watling’s death. I’ve never been the greatest fan of her performances on audio in her later years but this proved to me that she has the stuff as long as the script gives her the right opportunities and the director gives her the breathing room to simply act. I was quite surprised at how close I felt to Victoria here, a character that has never been one of my favourites and just how it exposes that season five, for all its sunny repartee between the regulars, missed some opportunities to do more complex things. I liked the subtle use of menace throughout this story too with a very conceptual nasty that gets the creative juices flowing when you think of the many ways it could have manifested. This isn’t a story that is going for all out chills but instead wants to quietly dazzle you with its ideas, reach into your head and use your knowledge disturbingly. The direction almost fights against the drama at times, going for a gentle approach but this actually works in the story’s favour, adding a warmness to the character scenes (in particular Victoria teaching Jamie) and providing an easy listen overall. Does every Doctor Who story have to pitched at 11? Do we need overblown histrionics every week? Can Big Finish produce works that take a mild, intellectual approach to it’s writing and direction and still be very worthy of a listen. I think The Story of Extinction proves that they can. How those moments where Victoria was teaching Jamie to read was made a vital plot point was inspired. And you cannot say that the truth isn’t in the title: 8/10
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