10 November, 2024

A Mondasian tragedy

There is a subset of Doctor Who fans that listen to the Big Finish audio dramas. And there is a subset of this subset that feels that Big Finish's golden era was roughly from 2000-2004. These early years saw Sixie do a panto and a musical and come down with a brilliant case of logorrhea at a conference of lexicographers; the Fifth Doctor was in a wonderful tale whose narrative threw linearity out the window and another in which he witnessed the genesis of the Cyberman; the Seventh Doctor met Benny in what was essentially a New Adventure on audio and he also had a lengthy dark and brooding conversation with his arch-nemesis, The Master. And Paul McGann brought the Eighth Doctor to life before our ears in some wonderfully challenging tales, including one that felt a lot like an episode of Sapphire & Steel and is now a Christmas classic.

As time wore on, stories became more rote, for want of a better way of saying it, and the New Series made its aesthetic presence felt with stories becoming shorter. The Third Doctor Adventures have been an antidote, of sorts, with Tim Treloar standing in for Jon Pertwee quite admirably in stories that have a distinct early 70s feel. And they haven't been one hour tales either; they've been 4 and 6 parters, in the main. It's also been a hoot having Liz Shaw, the Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith, and others return. These adventures capture the Pertwee era just wonderfully.

But the most recent story, "The Quintessence", is something new. A 6-parter, it opens with Jo having a hallucinatory episode involving a girl named Emmeline who gives our companion a set of coordinates. The incidental music here is almost psychedelic with sounds quickly panning from left to right and back quickly, bringing an uneasiness to our ears. Following the coordinates, our heroes land on a seemingly empty storm-ridden planet where they improbably run across a Victorian mansion.

The mansion is inhabited by the Pepperdine family, Lucy, Arthur, and their daughter (zoinks!) Emmeline. Emmeline is ill and bedridden. But she also has potent psychic powers. It turns out the mansion is a spaceship and Lucy and Arthur have, out of desperation, been communicating with "angels" who have helped them to help their daughter.

It turns out the angels are Cybermen who want and eventually do kidnap Emmeline. Lucy is killed and Arthur follows the abductors to Mondas through a portal. Jo and the Doctor follow in the TARDIS but arrive 6 years late and find that Arthur is still alive and looking for his daughter. In addition, he has captured a Cyberman and has been conducting hideous tests on it in a search for methods that undo Cyber conversion. In one scene, Arthur tortures it and the creature cries out in bloodcurdling agony. This is one of the most disturbing scenes Big Finish has produced since "Project: Twilight".

Emmeline has been converted to a Cyber Planner and, because of her psychic abilities, she has kept more of her body than most Cyber folks. Instead of simply threatening death and/or becoming a Cyberman, she speaks more like a human and converts Jo to her cause - almost. That opening scene was just a prelude to the Jo-Emmeline relationship which begins with tenderness and mercy before getting twisted and perverted into pure Cyber manipulation.

For his part, the Doctor is his usual pushy, arrogant self but he gets what he gives. More than once he simply wants to return to the TARDIS and leave only to have Jo or Arthur convince/force him to stay. And arriving 6 years late not only shows that his imperfect skill with the TARDIS, but also, arguably, lays blame at his feet for the sad condition that Arthur is in once we meet him on Mondas.

While there are thrills and adventure to be had here, the true greatness of this story comes from the dark tone and the emotional resonance of the characters. Lucy and Arthur are desperate to save Emmeline at the start and there's a Herzogian quality to the Arthur we meet on Mondas - a man in extremis who is losing his own humanity in fighting the grand inhumanity of the Cybermen. Jo nearly betrays the Doctor and the Doctor is almost unable to make the situation right again, or as right as he is able to make it.

Writers Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle came up with some classic Doctor Who here. "The Quintessence" is a visceral, emotionally wrenching tale that takes its place with the best of Big Finish's golden age.

(And good on Big Finish for not putting the villain on the cover.)

No comments:

Post a Comment