Who Reviews Big Bang Generation by Tony J Fyler

Tony gets more bang for his buck.

The Twelfth Doctor meets up with Bernice Summerfield.

You need more?

Alright – take two Bernice Summerfields, a now version and a then version – or, depending entirely on your point of view in relation to the whole warp and weft of time and space of course, a then version and a now version. Both of them locked in a loop of cause, effect and dodging out of the way. And then add the Twelfth Doctor.

Big Bang Generation is what happens if you get Gary Russell, always a writer with a neat comic touch and an inherent wink, to throw Classic Who, New Who, the extended offshoot history of Benny Summerfield and every joyful piss-taking reference you can imagine into a blender, set it on high, and then get the apparently always awesome Lisa Bowerman to read it to you. Roll up, roll up, roll up, for time eddies, camp grasshoppers, dog-people, assassins in Stormcages, what happens when River Song's not where she's supposed to be, two or three Bennies for the price of one, a giant pyramid in Sydney Harbour where it’s most certainly not supposed to be, ancient aliens and bar-running hamster-folk.

If that sounds like it’s exhausting and you need to lie down, maybe Big Bang Generation’s not for you. If it sounds like a rollercoaster ride of ‘I must hear this now!’ then welcome – you’re in the right place.

There’s a sense in which this rich stew of ingredients, both serious and uproariously comical lends itself to another medium as much as, if not more than either prose or audio – you can distinctly imagine this story delivered as a comic strip or graphic novel, as Benny, whose last real experience of the Doctor was as a short, infuriatingly enigmatic, occasionally broody Scotsman, gets to re-encounter him as a tall, rangy, eyebrows-set-to-kill more viciously vocal Scotsman, as though someone’s fully inflated her version and made it cross. The imagery of an archeological dig on which she was never technically expected to be (Thank you, Professor Song!), but which has ghastly ideological underpinnings and a tag-along assassin with an interesting name, and which then goes irritatingly, time-knackeringly wrong feels like its natural home would have been in moody black and white artwork to counterpoint and highlight the comedy, but Gary Russell does an excellent job of weaving elements together to keep you guessing what the hell is going on, and Lisa Bowerman on reading duties is simply sublime, giving voice of course not only to Benny, but to the Twelfth Doctor and to the menagerie of people and creatures who make the story the busy, non-stop treasure-hunt it is.

There’s little of any particular angst or misery in this story, though it manages to treat some fairly serious story elements with their due weight while, for the most part, powering on with laughs studded along the way, both in the nature of the universe it inhabits – which, with the addition of Benny and her hamster pal Kerry becomes a little more wild and freewheeling than TV Who has been since the Graham Williams-Douglas Adams era – and the quick-witted banter than Benny always brings with her, the skewiff but realistic way she enjoys the ever-living hell out of life (and subsequently feels everything at elevated, hard-hitting levels too). This is a fun story, with lots of twanging about in time and space, Benny doing an Eliza Doolittle impression, occultish artefacts, Nazi archeologists and a Very Pompous Professor. As a result, it’s a fast listen in spite of its timey-wimey what-the-hellish story elements, that will make you smile far more than it punches you, and you’ll come out the other side of it looking for more and more from Benny, and the Twelfth Doctor, and actually, if at all possible, Benny and the Twelfth Doctor. Or Thirteenth, you won’t be fussy. More Benny in mainstream Who will be the thing you crave after Big Bang Generation. And that’s no bad thing to crave at all.

Big Finish Reviews+ The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 4 - Ruler of the Universe

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.