Released February 2001
It’s hard
to quite ‘get’ the 8th Doctor’s adventures without experiencing quite a few of
them for yourself. The TV movie, whilst providing some of the groundwork for
Paul McGann’s portrayal, is otherwise a bit of a distraction. The audio series
themselves are too, because so many early adventures he had were experimenting,
not only with a mostly unexplored incarnation of the Doctor, but the very
format of how to present Doctor Who via sound alone.
Throw the
fact that this and many of the monthly series were written and produced by
people who were essentially fans and nothing more, it’s unsurprising that the
early 8th Doctor adventures were a mixed quality. Thankfully, Sword of Orion is
on the higher end of this, even if it’s sometimes rigid adherence to the
traditional format does have downsides.
Picking up
almost right after the events of the first 8th Doctor audio drama, it finds The
Doctor and his companion Charlie Pollard, a woman the Doctor rescued even
though she should have died, investigating an Alien bazaar. Before long, they
stumble onto the events that form the majority of the audio drama, namely the
crew of the old trash liner and their discovery of a lost ship, The Sword of
Orion, and its sleeping passengers…
The first
time I listened to this, it started playing on my phone at random and I had
forgotten that the Cybermen were the antagonists of the piece. Not knowing who
the villains of the piece were greatly enhanced the tension of the opening few
episodes as a whole, before their eventual reveal. Not that this is likely to
happen often due to how proudly Big Finish advertise it as a Cyberman story
first and foremost, but if you get the chance to buy it for a friend or family
member, I recommend letting them listen to the audio with limited knowledge of
it.
Random
aside out of the way, Sword of Orion is primarily a ‘base under siege’ story,
where all the main characters spend much of the time trapped in one location,
trying to repel a Cybermen attack. It’s also a story that follows the
conventions of Doctor Who before its 2005 reboot almost to the letter. For fans
of that era it’s a welcome blast from the past, as the whole story is lain out
and set up, ready for a third, action packed, act. Like those older tales, it
does flag a bit in the second act as various characters spend time being
captured and escaping, or dicking around trying to understand things we the
audience figured out last episode.
Still, the
cast do an admirable job and managed to breathe life into what in some cases
were pretty stock characters. Michelle Livingstone as Captain Jenson in
particular, perhaps because she was doing most of the heavy lifting plot wise,
was a multi-layered character and level headed character one who I enjoyed
spending time with. Bruce Montague was an admirable baddie as Grask, even if he
gets side lined early on by the Cybermen threat.
It’s also
worth mentioning the score. The feel of it being a traditional episode is
helped immensely by the score, which links scenes with short synth interludes.
Only seconds long at most, they still manage to build tension or convey what
mood the scene coming will be bringing.
Added to
that is the more subtle things that we take for granted in an audiobook; the
sound of running, laser guns firing, the death rattle of a Cyberman. All sound
like they fit very much into the ‘old’ Doctor Who world, one of dodgy sets and
slightly dodgier costumes. Your tolerance for these sound effects will
obviously depend on your liking of the old series and older ways of presenting
science fiction in general, but I found it positively delightful.
If you are
a fan of Doctor Who in general I would say this is a must buy – we get to see
how the Doctor and Charlie react in a very action orientated setting and the
story just zips along, as each side plots and counter plots against one other
to achieve their own goals. If you are a fan of the new format Doctor Who, but
were always put off the old show by the fact that it looks like each episode
had a budget of 12 pence, consider this a faithful adaption that retains all
that was good about the old format, whilst missing out on the bad parts.
8/10
Doctor Who:
Sword of Orion is available from Big Finish as a download only file.
No comments:
Post a Comment