Torchwood: Zone 10

 

Zone 10 by David Llewellyn 

TOSH RIDING A SNOWMOBILE TOSH RIDING A SNOWMOBILE

Okay yes in all rationality Zone 10 is pretty good though solidly hits into a average, and although there is MUCH here for snowmobile enthusiasts, Zone 10 doesn’t really have great characters or concepts- the coolest bit is the “pulse” that brought Tosh there in the first place, and it’s a minor thing- I had a heart attack thinking I had put cascade.cd.rip.tor in the player for a second, but no, they just open in the exact same way. That's the issue in doing these stories out of order. One more way cascade fricks with me from beyond the grave. The story focuses on Tosh going to Russia - which is already a cool concept, because these stories don't really tend to leave Cardiff - and we watch as she begins a joint investigation into a strange energy pulse with the Russian Torchwood equivalent. It's a pretty okay hook, but the immersion of it leaves something to be desired. The immersion, by which I mean the accents. The Accents here feel like a bit of a parody. I know what someone Russian sounds like - I don’t think they got Russian actors. Either way, as the story goes on, we get more and more of Tosh and Stereotypical Russian Man dealing with the time distorted landscape and trying to figure out what's up. The fact that it's clear we're dealing with time loops though does make it pretty simple to tell where it's all going though, which is probably the story's greatest flaw. Anyway, it’s simple, and not great, but an acceptable script- predictable, and at least unique in setting. This setting's uniqueness helps to differentiate Zone 10, but it can also somewhat be a hindrance. It doesn’t always feel very Torchwood when we're dealing with a plot involving Russian Time Anomalies, it's starting to end on the Doctor Who side of things. It'd probably have been smarter to ground it within the characters and for us to really get to know Tosh's relationship with Anna and Maxim, to make us care about what's going on and the stakes outside the usual. There's ripe potential for drama here, and while there's a lot of fun generic adventure stuff, a small cast audio drama like this should use it's small scale to it's advantage. Especially considering there essentially isn't a villain and the threat is enviromental. Either way, it’s still an entertaining hour, just not on par with the previous gorgeous scripts we’ve got out of this range. The story's high point is how it deliciously builds upon The Conspiracy and other Committee stories, and leads onto Ghost Mission, a ultimately far better triumph, that this story will in all likelihood leave you much more appreciative of. 7/10