Light At The End (Big Finish's 50th Anniversary Story)

I'll make an initial admission. I've been looking forward to this more than I have The Moff's TV 50th. Why? Because much as I enjoy New Doctor Who, I'm a Classic Who boy* and I'm a fan of Big Finish's work in general so I was convinced it would be good.

And it is.

Fanbloodytastic in fact.

There.

Review done. No spoilers.

In fact I'd say if you were thinking of testing the Big Finish waters this would be the perfect story to begin with. You get all the first Eight Doctors**. Yes, all of them. No, I'm not going to tell you how you can work it out for yourself. Like I did. That's part of the fun.

You also get a lot of familiar companions to join the fun. In fact the only oddity would be the presence of Charlotte Pollard with the Eighth Doctor as she is - so far - a non-television companion but that just provides you with an excuse to go back and listen to Storm Warning and begin the Eight Doctor's adventures with Big Finish.

Seemless.

That's not to say this is uninfluenced by New Doctor Who. I'd suggest that the story might have had a far different ending if the New series hadn't already led the way with...ah...spoilers.

I think the reason this works so well is that there is only one villain. There's no attempt to crowbar in the usual suspects and over-stuff the villainous pudding. We mainly deal with one main villain here and it is The Master, played with oleaginous malevolence by Geoffrey Beevers. (That's not a spoiler btw. He's in the trailer and on the cover of the CD for heaven's sake.) And it allows the Doctor's to shine. It's a lesson in how to do a multi-Doctor story without losing the stories shape.

And this really is all about the Doctor's.

Each gets some time to do his thing. Each gets some juicy lines, although Colin Baker gets the best big speech and Peter Davison gets the spookiest and darkest moments.

In fact at points towards the end of Part One when the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa are investigating an 'incident' it is genuinely creepy as hell. There's a dawning realisation about what is to come - or at least I had one - and that just adds to the darkness. It's incredibly powerful and possibly the highlight of the whole thing for me.

But fundamentally it's a wonderful tribute to my favourite television series. There's call backs to old stories with some lines - even Battlefield! There's Tom Baker's voice. There's Sylvester McCoy's rolling rrrrrrrrrrrr's. There's whispers of voices fondly remembered. There's Colin Baker's sparkling indignation and Peter Davison's soft power.***

It's a fine celebration made by people that obviously care. The Moff will have to work bloody hard to make me feel as happy after I've watched The Day of the Doctor and I hope he does.







*42 year old boy but when it comes to Doctor Who still that fascinated, geeky and mildly terrified 7 or 8 year old boy
**Or whatever number they're going to be once The Moff's taken his pet theory out for a run in The Day of the Doctor
***I know what I mean by this even if you don't. If you buy me a pint, I'll explain.

The Eight Truths - World Wide Web

The Eight Truths and Worldwide Web (8TWW) bring the third season of Eighth Doctor to an end. They also mark the end of The Headhunter's (Katarina Olsson) story arc. I have raved about Katarina Olsson's performances before. She's fantastic and The Headhunter is an interesting character, although I found her a little annoying in Orbis but I wonder if that is the story more than the character.

8TWW in fact brings a close to one outstanding thread from Orbis so hopefully I shall never have to mention that story again.

The Doctor and Lucie are on Earth. The Doctor has gone off to help with a dodgy Mercury probe and Lucie is going shopping. It's whilst she's shopping that she bumps into a familiar old face, Karen (Kerry Godliman) associate of the Headhunter or former associate. She's now involved with a organisation helping people to find their true potential. Lucie is entrapped and made to cut herself off from the Doctor.

The scenes around the Eightfold Truth are great. The understanding tone of voice adopted by the people involved, the treacle language of self-help gurus regurgitated and the dash of spiritual frippery all make it rather convincing. I like the fact that the Eightfold Truth is headed by Stephen Moore's Clark Goodman.

Stephen Moore is, of course, best known for being Marvin (The Paranoid Android) in the original Hitch-hikers Guide To The Galaxy Radio Series and there's something about his voice that's both mildly melancholic and mildly comforting. To me at least. And he's a very British choice of Cult leader. No Showbiz Messiah complex here. Just a plain old-fashioned conman.

He's being professionally scoffed at by journalist Kelly Westwood (Sophie Winkleman) who is out to debunk the whole Eightfold Truth Cult. Kelly and the Doctor link up.

However Goodman is being manipulated by someone...and that someone is The Headhunter who is in possession of the Stellar Manipulator she palmed all the way back in Orbis and working for some familiar - well, familiar-ish - Doctor Who foes.

All of this is gradually revealed. The Doctor's story gradually pulls itself towards Lucie's. The Mercury probe, looked after by Dr Avishka Sangakkara (Sanjeev Bashkar), has ceased working and the Doctor's help makes him realise that there's Gallifreyan technology at work here. Then there's the crystals...

The cliffhanger is an excellent on with both Lucie and the Doctor facing dangers of their own. How will our heroes escape?

 

When we start Worldwide Web the Doctor's been in a coma for 28 days. Things have moved on. Plans are afoot. Or afeet one should say. On Eight Legs.

 

The villains are the Spiders of Metabelis 3 headed up by their Queen (Beth Chalmers). Applause here for Big Finish getting the Spider voices to sound just right. Sorry, the Eight Legs. They so hate being called Spiders.

 

Lucie has been taken over by the Queen. But lucky for us the baddies think the Doctor is dead, which is rather foolish of them and the strain of the operation - and keeping her minions happy - has allowed Lucie to get out of her own mind. A bit.

 

The scenes between Lucie Lucie and Queen Lucie are great and Sheriden Smith does a wonderful job of make Queen Lucie perceptibly different to Lucie Lucie by flattening her voice and taking all the warmth out of it. It's rather lovely.

 

I also like the fact that the Spiders have their arguments too. They're broken into factions and the Queen can't entirely trust everyone. Then there's Goodman, who has realised what he's let loose, and finally Karen who having been 'spidered up' against her will has something of a grudge against the Headhunter.

 

It's all leading to a rather interesting climax. The Doctor does his thing, Lucie does hers and the Headhunter suprises everyone in a rather brilliant little sequence. The Eighth Doctor's 'I never really understood her' almost being an echo of The Fifth Doctor's 'There should have been another way.' There's some weird stuff inside and around the Stellar Manipulator and some philosophising on what it means to be alive.

 

This is a fun end to the third season of Lucie Miller and Eighth Doctor adventures. The two leads get to have a lot of fun, various story arcs come to their end and they're off to Blackpool for Christmas. What could possibly go wrong?