Softer Six: The Doctor is still trying to get Constance home to Bletchley Park but the TARDIS is stubbornly refusing. He’s seen a lot of throne rooms in his time but to see one carved from a mountain with so many beautiful frescos and intricate tunnels of light amazes him. When Colin Baker enthuses, the Doctor is at his most awe-struck. Like Pertwee before him, he manages to charm nobility with ease. This stretches right back to The Marian Conspiracy, his very first solo audio. The coat is ‘a little hard on the eyes’ for bird people with keen eyesight. Is the Doctor still a vegetarian at this point? He is confronted with a feast and we only hear of him tucking into the side dishes. His ship is not the latest model and the guidance systems are a little off. As ever. I like it when the Doctor stands up to Jabule, rams the idea of different cultures getting along down her throat and reminds her that she isn’t even taking responsibility for her own actions. I like the moral indignation that this incarnation comes with. He sums up the Ice Warriors beautifully: ‘They have honour, nobility, art and culture but they also have a deep jingoistic arrogance about their status and place in the galaxy.’ There’s a possibility that at this stage in his life that his reputation precedes him. He doesn’t believe in mythical beings because on most worlds he ends up meeting them and they turn out to be perfectly tangible. Queen Vextyr is a direct descendant of Lord Slaar, who the Doctor was directly responsible for bringing down in the eyes of his people and indirectly responsible for his death. In a wonderful moment the Doctor cries ‘When I say run…’ to which his companions cry in unison ‘We know!’ They really are an effective unit at this point. The Doctor doesn’t trust his own people to take their responsibilities seriously and feels he is often wandering the galaxy mopping up their dirty work. He’s not wrong. The Doctor says that he rarely meddles and both of his companions fall about laughing. I joined them.
Flippin’ Heck: Once derided and now celebrated, Flip has seen a complete shift in popularity over the past 16 stories. I have always enjoyed this character but since she has been paired up with Mrs Clarke even more so because there is a really interesting dynamic happening in the TARDIS. You have the sixth Doctor, who can be both cuddly and imperious hanging out with two strong minded women who are more than a match for him; Mrs Clarke who is the very modicum of British manners and wartime spirit and Flip, who exemplifies the best (and occasionally the worst) of a contemporary miss, all mouth and impulse. Their first trilogy together is easily the most celebrated of recent years and judging by the trailers for their return this year it sounds like things might be even more interesting. Lisa Greenwood is clearly quite the talent, and she’s a fine advocate for the audios as well. Both Flip and Mrs Clarke have lives to get back to and the Doctor is aware of that but at the same time they are having so much fun together that they are quite happy to continue having adventures together, for the time being at least.
Constant Companion: It’s almost as if the TARDIS wants Constance to stay. Since their experience with the Static, Mrs Clarke feels normal but at the same time she is perfectly aware that this isn’t the body she was born in. She isn’t sure she can go home just yet, until she feels herself 100% The Doctor trusts her completely to look after herself. If there’s one thing that he has come to rely on about Constance it is that she is far more resourceful than either Flip or even himself. She’s very charming and respectful, even when being insulted, and thus manages to inveigle herself into the head of the rebels. She was quite the rider in her younger days and even won the odd rosette. Constance is fabulous in the climax, refusing to let the Doctor face danger on his own.
Standout Performance: It’s quite a coup to attract the attention of Adele Lynch, who played the Ice Warrior Empress in the TV episode Empress of Mars so memorably. It’s a role she initiated and can now take to the next level in a story that presents an Empress as less of a villain and more of an ally. The Doctor and Flip are alone together for the first half of the story and it is worth noting just how effortless the chemistry between Baker and Greenwood is.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Human? That’s a name with a ring of weakness to it.’
‘Where have you been?’ ‘Let’s see; a royal palace, an alien feast, a deep dungeon and a Time Lord tech cave’ ‘You have been busy!’
Great Ideas: A planet where avian life is the dominant lifeform. The power of the cry comes from the ability to kill with a scream. An attack on Parliament failed and the Queen survived. The Vultriss are bird people but they cannot fly, although they have ambitions to do so again. I love the idea of The Feast of Worlds, a party that brings together humans, Martians and the Vultriss. The TARDIS fell down a rip in the space/time vortex…and it needs closing before it does any more damage. Time Lord technology is on Vultriss, attempting to stitch up the rip in space and keep it closed. The Doctor guesses it was an early time travel that went wrong is what caused the tear and the Time Lords in their divine wisdom attempted to heal the wound in space/time. They were more lackadaisical in those days, shirking their responsibilities even more than they do now. Ultimately the rip will grow and consume this region of space, freezing it in time forever. An eternal, living end. It will continue to expand across half the galaxy consuming everything that it encounters. How wonderful that for once the rebels don’t continue to fight their lost cause, which is defeated in episode three but instead are smart enough to turn their attention to the real danger that is threatening their lives – the tear in space. I do enjoy a smart guest cast.
Audio Landscape: There’s a really exciting TARDIS dematerialisation in the first episode that is worth keeping an ear cocked for. These clichés can be a little wearying in the audios but when they are pulled off this dynamically it is worth celebrating. Birds scream overhead and insects chirrup in the scrub. We’re on an alien world and so anything goes. The Doctor and companions are attacked by a creature that caws with alarming frequency. Boomerangs swoop through the air to murder them. John Ainsworth stages an impressive action set piece on audio – the Vultriss versus the Ice Warriors. With epic music smoothing things over, it is easy to visualise the carnage that is going on. It’s called Cry of the Vultriss and so I would have been mightily disappointed if we hadn’t had at least one murderous cacophony. It’s saved for the end of episode three, rightly so.
Isn’t it Odd: There’s something delightful about audio Who following in the footsteps of classic Who by having the returning alien race of the story appearing on the cover but still arranging a cliff-hanger around their arrival. It’s less ‘oh look the Ice Warriors!’ and more ‘ ahh, here they are…’ Kontron crystals are an unpleasant reminder of a classic Doctor Who story.
Standout Scene: I’m always saying how I hate moments of false jeopardy in the audios, just for the sake of a cliff-hanger. Especially when it involves the Doctor who we know at this point that he does not regenerate. Cry of the Vultriss shows how it can be done effectively, however, by having the moment of danger arise very quickly and to barely give either the characters or the viewer time to register before they are flung off a cliff to their doom. Also, Flip and Constance are both original Big Finish companions and so any cliff-hangers involving them are fair game. Maybe this will be the last of their characters. As you can imagine the get-out is less than thrilling, but for a moment there my pulse was racing.
Result: I generally prefer Doctor Who stories that are set on Earth or ones that have a distinctly domestic feel to them and Cry of the Vultriss is going all out to give you an alien experience. That would normally be a problem but this is written and directed with such panache that on this occasion I really didn’t object. Episode one plunged me straight into Vultriss reminded me of one of those early Big Finish adventures set on an alien world with a fully realised soundscape, internal politics and aural dangers around every corner. It’s a real departure from the here and now and right now that can only be a good thing. It’s a colourful, easily visualised world and well sketched out by the writer and added extra dimensions by the sound designer and director. Add in the Ice Warriors and this is a pleasingly exotic piece. When this is pulled off this well it should be applauded because these ‘all alien’ stories can be dreadfully dreary (remember Jaconda and Karfel?) but Vultriss is kept entertaining and atmospheric. Darren Jones includes plenty of action in his story and has the knack of conveying that through dialogue without it feeling forced or as though it is being described for our benefit. My only complaint about this story is that I would have cut it down by a single episode. All two-hour Big Finish stories are too long in my book and whilst there are plenty of complications in this story, it still feels a little padded in places. It allows for lots of charming character scenes and extra layers to be added to this world but this would have made an even tighter 90-minute story. I really like how the script is playful with who the villain is, using the affability of the Ice Warriors in Curse of Peladon as a hook to throw suspicion elsewhere and then doubling back when they have fallen in action. The best aspect of this? The return of Sixie, Flip and Constance. An awesome combination that are spearheading the main range at the moment. This reminds me of Memories of a Tyrant, which kicked off the previous sixth Doctor trilogy. A strong science fiction tale with lots of lovely twists and turns, a fine production and excellent performances. I’m not sure if the last episode ties everything up satisfactorily but I had had such a good ride until then that for once I didn’t really mind. It’s not top tier Doctor Who because it won’t rock your opinion of Doctor Who, but that doesn’t stop it being excellent listening: 8/10
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