Tony’s unbound.
When last we heard from
the multiverse’s best time-travelling archaeologist – speak not of River Song
to us, thank you very much – she’d been borrowed by an alternate universe
version of the Doctor, battled…or at least drunk with…an alternate Master, and
was facing the imminent end of the alternate universe with no way of getting
back to her own time and place, stuck with David Warner’s ‘alternative Third
Doctor.’
So – now what? What do you
do when faced with a collapsing universe, especially when your only friend reveals
he’s been made ruler of that universe, more or less because no-one else has any
kind of hope of saving it?
Simple – you sober up at
least a little and try and make him do the job. Which is where we come in to
this second ‘unbound’ Benny box-set, with Warner’s grumpy Doctor trying to save
the universe by committee, and Benny despatched on a mission to dig up a Thing.
A Big Thing, which might just potentially save the universe.
A word of warning though –
all the previous New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield box-sets have felt
distinctly like the adventures belonged to Bernice, with occasional Doctor
interference. This one feels very much more like an alternate universe version
of Doctor Who that we never got to see, the dilemmas focused rather more of the
time around Warner’s Time Lord than they are around Lisa Bowerman’s Bernice.
Bowerman, who has been the
voice of Bernice Summerfield since she began a new life in audio, knows her
character upside down, inside out, sober, drunk and saving the universe.
Summerfield as a character is everything you could wish for in a Doctor Who
companion, and is perfectly strong enough to justify a leading role in these
adventures – sarcastic, knowledgeable, and with the benefit of experience, she
understands how the universe works. Bernice Summerfield is a breath of fresh
air and the promise of adventure in any room she enters. She’s the coolest aunt
or older sister you ever wished to have, brilliant in her own right, with a
nose for adventure and a trusty trowel to ply her trade as an archaeologist, a
finder and a figurer-out of Stuff.
David Warner, it almost
goes without saying, is an actor who, by simply breathing in and out, makes
everything he’s involved in better than it otherwise would be. His Doctor is in
the angsty vein, with a thread of childishness that makes him peevish and eager
to jump on beds by turns, especially as, in this box-set, he finds himself
ruler of his shrinking universe, charged with finding a way to stop the incipient
disaster, while attending endless committee meetings and reporting to a
parliament of all the species whose lives are in his hands. This is a Doctor
who has nowhere to escape to, forced to stay home and do the paperwork as well
as being brilliant and saving everyone he can.
That particular dilemma,
and the personal pressure it brings to bear, makes the mid-section of this
box-set unlike much else in Doctor Who or Bernice Summerfield history. The
first story though, The City and The Clock by Guy Adams, is a more traditional
rollicking adventure – there’s a big Thing buried underground, and the Doctor
sends Bernice to dig it up, because ‘the Apocalypse Clock’ is potentially a way
of stopping the collapse of the universe, despite what sounds like a ‘clue is
in the name’ negative connotation. There are weird vote-rigging robots, creepy
howling dog-like creatures, mysterious disappearing entities in protective
suits, a cast of diverse locals, some of whom give good ‘The End Of The World
Is Nigh’ prophecy, and a Doctor who really doesn’t want to stick around, en route
to a solution which leaves you with as many new questions as it answers old
ones.
The second story, Asking
For A Friend, by James Goss is an idea that feels irresistible – in the hardest
time of his many lives, the Doctor goes into psychotherapy, supposedly to clear
his mind and lift the burden of command off his shoulders. Needless to say,
it’s Bernice’s idea. Equally needless to say it doesn’t go at all as planned,
and Warner’s complex, nuanced, and above all flawed Doctor ends up causing enormous damage while striving always
to be a good man. It’s an uncomfortable listen, mostly because it teaches us
all to appreciate the consequences of our actions, rather than the consequences
of our intentions, and because Warner’s two-hander with Annette Badland as his
therapist skips from stone to stone, seeming light and airy most of the way through,
but packing a hefty emotional wallop when it reveals its undercurrents towards
the end. It’s worth mentioning that Bowerman has barely a couple of scenes in
this story though, focused as it is on getting under the skin of the Doctor’s
distraction tactics.
Truant, by Adams, moves us
along the psychological spectrum from confrontation of issues to avoidance,
with the Doctor running away from the crushing tedium and exhausting hard work
of being ruler of the universe, to have what he calls ‘an old-fashioned
adventure’ – a single interplanetary invasion. There’s some great fun at the
start of this story, with the Doctor turning up to thwart evil plans, only for
his reputation to precede him, and the baddies to give up without making a move.
It’s a fun prelude to a story of what happens if the Doctor arrives late to an
invasion, and if the villains he encounters are a bit pathetic, there’s a
fairly good reason for it baked right in, and it certainly keeps you listening
all the way through, giggling and thinking in equal measure. Bernice is rather
more effective here than in either of the first two stories, chasing down her
Doctor and then actively pursuing information that leads them to the conclusion
of the story.
Goss’ finale, The True
Saviour of the Universe (no pressure, then!) brings things full circle and
gives the Doctor a semi-traditional showdown with an old enemy, with plenty of chicanery
and shenanigans and of course a final twist from the Doctor. You’d be forgiven
for thinking there’s something of the foregone conclusion about all this, but
there are surprises enough to keep you listening, and the topper works as a
sweet, almost faith-restoring conclusion to the journey through hope, despair
and avoidance of responsibility we go on with Warner’s Doctor in this box-set,
with Bowerman’s Bernice acting as ‘Designated Driver,’ friend and almost
surrogate parent, making the Doctor knuckle down and persevere when all he
wants to do is escape. If you have nearly thirty years of experience with
Bernice under your belt, it will feel very much in character as she deals with
the problem in front of her, whether that’s a giant death machine buried underground,
a Doctor on the verge of a nervous breakdown, an alien invasion, a depressingly
calm homicidal robot, an old enemy, or the end of the universe. If you’re a
newbie to the nature of Bernice Summerfield, this box-set gives you more than
enough to become a fan and start collecting some of her previous exploits.
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