An English Gentleman: I’m going to say something that might stun people rigid simply because it opposes what I usually say about Peter Davison on television but I think that overall he has had the most consistent run of stories in the last couple of years. Colin will always be my favourite (and has probably had higher highs overall); McCoy has suffered of late and McGann is propping up the interminable boxsets about the Time War. Davison has quietly, successfully carved a niche out of the main range where he and his fellow regulars have produced some really solid work, especially in the last five years of the main range. Equilibrium, The Entropy Plague, The Secret History, The Waters of Amsterdam, Aquitaine, The Peterloo Massacre, The Memory Bank & Other Stories, Cold Fusion, Dalek Soul, Time in Office, Ghost Walk…all excellent and most of the stories I haven’t mentioned that are part of these trilogies are all fairly decent too. It might sound dismissive to say this but he is a Doctor you can rely on; Davison will always give a fine performance no matter what the quality of material and those involved in his line of late (Scott Handcock) are the best that Big Finish has at the moment. He’s going to depart the main range on a high.
The Doctor has a massive geek on for Cicero and has brought his companions to this place and time just so they can meet him. He’s like a dreadful fanboy when he finally catches up with him, completely star struck. When his mind is turned against him the Doctor sees the Cybermen and shouts out ‘there was nothing I can do!’ The death of Adric obviously lingers on. There is some marvellous tension between the Doctor and Cicero in the second episode where they discuss the people who have died as a direct result of their actions and then they conflict on who should be leading their journey. The Doctor is used to being the one who makes most of the decisions, and so is Cicero and neither of them is happy to abandon the position. When they need to play a flute to continue, the Doctor admits that he used to play the recorder and Tegan shuts him down immediately. The Doctor’s conversation with Cicero at the end is very telling; Marc has gone off on adventures with the TARDIS crew but when asked how he is doing by Cicero the Doctor’s tone grows dark and he suggests travelling with him can be dangerous. If we never hear any of Marc’s adventures it is enough to know that he had some time with the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan and met a sticky end. This coda to his adventures rather avoids the trouble of having to tell those stories.
Mouth on Legs: She’s on form at the beginning of this adventure; pointing out inconsistencies like some terrible online reviewer. Tegan is immediately suspicious when she hears that the Doctor has brought her to within 30 miles of Pompeii and Vesuvius but he soon assuages her concerns. She wonders why they have never worn clothes to fit into the historical period when it has never bothered them before (think of The Visitation when she walks around 16th Century England in that ghastly air stewardesses’ uniform). Finally, she makes the point that that when they usually take a dive into history it is when something important is going to happen and she wonders what that might be this time. She’s been at this malarkey too long now. In history, Tegan finds that she cannot bite her tongue when it comes to the subject of slavery and her objections. The most blasphemous thing that Tegan could say in this time period is that there is no such thing as the Gods and so of course, she says it. ‘Is she always like this?’ asks Cicero. ‘Yes!’ cry the Doctor and Nyssa. She’s the only member of the group that doesn’t talk absolute gibberish, apparently.
Alien Orphan: Nyssa and Tegan have a quiet moment when they ponder the last time the Doctor mentioned Adric and think it is healthy to see him smiling and enjoying himself. At one point Nyssa thought him very cold hearted for not mentioning Adric, but instead she knows now that he shields how he feels. It’s Nyssa who first touts the idea of Marc coming with them and freeing him from the life of a slave. Of course, she does, she’s the most humane of all of the Doctor’s companions. I love how everybody is smart enough to think themselves around this environment but it is Nyssa who picks up the most clues and starts to use her observations to their advantage. It’s Nyssa that manages to lure a bull into a pit and a great bull fighting sequence.
Standout Performance: Big Finish continues their tradition of summoning some prestigious talent and to secure Samuel Barnett whilst his star is ascending is no small feat. It’s worth noting that Cicero has remarkably chemistry with all three of the regulars and they make a hugely enjoyable team to listen to. Barnett might not capture the fusty, scholarly tone that you imagine that you might imagine from a historical figure like Cicero but he gives a rich, funny, and utterly committed performance. It reminds me of Dean Lennox Kelly from The Shakespeare Code. Not at all how you imagine the person to be, but irresistible to be around.
Sparkling Dialogue: The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan all take a stab at trying to explain something technological…
The Doctor: ‘The maintenance panel for a battle droid!’ ‘Come again?’ Nyssa: ‘It’s the on/off switch for a giant robot’ ‘No you’ve still lost me’ Tegan: ‘It’s where the magic happens!’
‘This Australia seems most unorthodox.’
‘To have hope when you’re a slave is the worst thing of all.’
‘Very convenient having the Gods provide the solution right at the last minute! They even have a name for it! Deus Ex Machina!’
Great Ideas: Cicero is not just important to the Roman Republic and the record of his work will live on long after he meets a decidedly unpleasant end. Orator, lawyer, politician, terrible poet. Cicero writes everything down and if he even has an inkling of the truth about time travellers it could change human history forever. A scholar of many subjects that we take for granted these days; rhetoric, philosophy, politics and considered one of the greatest Roman prose stylists. For the purposes of the story, he is the celebrity historical of the week and it is important that he is exposed to a little of the future as possible. But it’s worth noting Cicero’s impact on history, how his philosophical thinking has embedded into the human consciousness and that his works are considered some of the most influential in European culture. Tartarus is the land of the tormented dead…which sounds like the ideal location for a Doctor Who story, if not the sort of holiday destination the Doctor should be aiming for. There are no real horrors where they are; it is just holographic devices that are tuned to their individual brainwaves, using their memories against them. Tartarus was sent from Zorth in the Phraxus galaxy, in the constellation of Zandrabar (can you imagine more cheap sounding SF names?). Her mission was to search for those that might lead her people because after centuries of wars the leaders grew cynical and corrupt. They needed new minds. The holograms are a series of tests, to select the new leader. Cicero failed as a leader because executed men without trial and the Doctor allowed one of his team to perish. Marc is selected to lead the Hive.
Isn’t it Odd: Creatively there doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason to make this two extended episodes rather than the standard four episodes aside from the fun of playing about with the form? There’s a perfect cliffhanger around the 22-minute mark where a character is attacked by a creature from mythology that would have served as a perfectly competent cliffhanger.
Standout Scene: Wonderfully, the climax of this story sees Cicero playing James T. Kirk and having to try and battle words with a computer. As the King of rhetoric, he is more than up to the task. Listening to one of the Greats cross logical swords with a silky voiced computer makes for an enchanting, but also satisfying conclusion to this two-hour trailer for the Cicero series.
Result: Brilliant performances all round and some outstanding direction make this an absolute joy to listen to and another fifth Doctor win. David Llewellyn has written a smart, peppy script with plenty of marvellous dialogue for the cast to enjoy and we bounce from one exciting set piece to another so things never get dull. Cicero’s narration of events (think Marco Polo) means that we can cover some ambitious ground without the story feeling rushed and it is marvellous to get his unique two millennia old perspective on some science fiction concepts that we might otherwise take for granted. The story is something of a puzzle box to be worked out with lots of aural set pieces along the way that would have made this prohibitively expensive had the script been written for television but that allows the story to have the epic nature of Greek mythos on audio. I’m not sure I understood a lot of what was going on, because this kind of Star Trek style holodeck setting is more enjoyable for the atmosphere rather than the technobabble and so I just enjoyed the romp and the gorgeous chemistry between all the leads. The direction is confident throughout (I expect nothing less from Handcock) and by the end of the story you might think that Davison and Barnett are so awesome together you might find yourself wishing the Doctor had Cicero as his companion. What actually happens is something similar, but more surprising This is the best David Llewellyn scripted story I have listen to: 9/10
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