Big Finish always seem to
never run out of awesome ideas. As a huge fan of Mags and The Greatest Show in
the galaxy it is a real treat indeed to be given a brand new audio trilogy
where we can discover more about Mags as a character. Jessica Martin was absolutely
brilliant as Mags in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, and for a fan of the
character such as I this trilogy is a bit of a dream come true really. It is
made even the more pleasurable by the fact that Jessica herself is willing to
come back and make the character hers again after all these years!
So, after the events of
"The Monsters of Gokroth", which I felt brilliantly gave Mags a great
intro into the audio medium, we come to what I think is a far meatier story for
her character. One is instantly hooked by the way her character wants to so
find a cure for the wolf side of her nature, and that the Doctor decides to
take her back to her own planet, but in an earlier timeline than the one she
grew up in. It’s just the kind of thing we come to expect from the devious and
manipulative Seventh Persona of the Doctor. One which Sylvester McCoy of course
as usual delivers with mesmeric zeal of the highest order. Mags need to find a
cure for her condition makes her at once so likeable and relatable too. Indeed,
there are many sides of my persona I wish I could kill and get help for but
never seem to really find.
This story truly at once
feels like it belongs in the Sylvester McCoy era. The sound design and score
suit the drama of the piece well. The werewolf clan of characters is utilised
well and all the characters are well defined. The two squabbling brothers are
rather human like in their backbiting and gnashing at each other. The Matriarch
is given her own devious thread of storyline, and in the end, one feels little
sympathy for her character's final demise after what she has done to her sons
in the story.
Mags is given some superb
scenes in this one. Her constant fears of being left stranded every time the
Doctor appears to have abandoned her in this story give her character a feel of
frailty despite her werewolf side always threatening to take her over. She is
wonderfully written, and this just adds layers and layers to my great love for
the character. Jessica and no one else could play Mags with such zeal and
conviction and make her character sound truly believable.
The old ancestral seat
setting and the aloof and fractious wolf clan are superbly realised. And their
hunting of other lifeforms is also conveyed well. There are plenty of taught and
political mincing and slanging matches of the highest order. The characters are
all 3D, and drag you well and truly into the story. And this story is not
overburdened with so many subplots so as to make one’s eyes water, so that is
also a huge plus point. Several modern era TV stories do tend to be awash with
subplots galore and one is always left gagging for the slightly simpler and
easier to grasp stories. The Moons of Vulpana is definitely easy to follow, and
is all the better for it. None of the other wolf characters in this story are
very likeable either. They are politically motivated and snobbish so that the
only character who you care for really is Mags. Its harrowing a little to see
her thrust into a feudal and bombastic era of her own past and even blackmailed
into marriage with a pious and odious and wicked wolf man. But its superb to
hear her cope with these insults and for her to emerge at the end on the
winning team.
The Golden Millennium is
upon Vulpana, and the Four great Wolf packs come together for their usual hunt.
The themes of racial purity and acceptance are at the core of this story too.
Mags embodies this totally. She is at once needing to release herself from her
darker and fiercer nature, and yet she wants to be herself. And when the wolf
is part of one’s nature, how can one keep it forever at bay? It’s a paradoxical
notion and one that Emma Reeves's script delves into superbly well in this
story.
And of course, Emma has a
totally firm grip on the characterisation of the Seventh Doctor. Just as Ace
found out before her, she is left angry and confused about how this Doctor
never informs her of his plans, and she is left upset as she has to weather his
plans through and only knows what they were after she's already been forced through
them like a cheese grater! This aspect of the Seventh Doctor is one of those
aspects that makes his Doctor so much darker and mysterious. Why is he always
so afraid to tell others his plans?!
Irfan Sanji is excellent
as the runt of the litter Jaks. His resentment at his brothers and his callous
plan of controlling the populace with a false moon makes him a meaty and
brilliant yet layered villain. The baddie role always has to be dealt with by
great actors, otherwise the role won’t succeed. But here Irfan is excellent at
making Jaks really unpleasant company and a worthy foe of the Doctor and even
more so for Mags.
Nimmy March is excellent
too as his devious and murderous Mother too. But she does get to be more than a
caricature villain in that she does at least get to redeem herself at the end
of the story. Although with her actions in the story it is still very hard for
one to feel sorry for her character. She plays the Matriarch to perfection.
Issak and Tob are the
Alpha Males. But their childish banter and tearing and trying to outdo each
other makes them rather funny. But maybe one of the stories only judders is
that they are suddenly just written out of the story and it does jar one
somewhat. I think perhaps a scene actually showing their deaths may have helped
here, but we are left bereft of one for these characters. But with the little
story they do have Peter Bankole and Sean Knopp definitely deliver the goods
and make their characters spoilt brats of the best and most delightful order.
Perhaps the only other
likeable character of the piece is Beth Goddard's Doctor Barton. She delivers a
great performance of the Doctor, and copes brilliantly when her hidden nature
is suddenly brought about fiercely by the manipulations of Jaks as he attempts
to make himself the king of Vulpana. She injects the role with true pathos and
therefore one is sympathetic to her character. I am always a fan of the decent
characters in stories, who have to cope with matters forced on them by others.
So, in summation, this
story succeeds well in all that it set out to do. Jessica Mags gets given
centre stage, and is so ripely brilliant that I just want to hear more and more
of her character. She is such a good fit for the Seventh Doctor. Stephen Wyatt
created a brilliant character in Mags and it’s so great that Big Finish saw the
potential in her character and chose to expand and build upon the wonderful
bones of the character Stephen gave us The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Emma
Reeves gives us a confident and ripely characterised story that is very
entertaining and very medieval in its feel.
Decidedly gothic and yet
with some dashes of good humour. A very good and stolid Werewolf tale. Perhaps
maybe not totally mind-blowingly original or different, but very very very
entertaining and diverting anyway. I may be very easy to please but for me
"The Moons of Vulpana" delivers on every front.
It’s also good to see the
seventh Doctor having Mags put him in his place with a little bit of her own
deviousness too at one point! It makes for a great scene in a roundly
satisfying and so yes, this story will definitely be worthy of yet another
listen. The story ends with Mags telling the Doctor to take her somewhere
new...one cannot wait to see where she takes the character in future
adventures. I seriously hope we don't just get given one trilogy with Mags!!
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