The Cradle of The Snake
The Cradle of The Snake by Marc Platt
Comparing almost anything to Kinda and Snakedance is sort of always going to come out a bit flabby. Some say that Kinda itself is the alltime classic that can never be compared to, but in earnest, I've always loved Snakedance just the slight bit more - it may be slightly more "normal" but it is in a way that makes it's more disturbing and insane elements more shocking. On the contrast, you can take this sort of direction a bit too far. Snakedance would be rubbish if it was completely the corridor stylings of Classic Who, and while The Cradle of The Snake certainly has it's moments that take it higher than some other Main Range stories to be certain, especially the entirety of Part One, I find that just generally much of it is not the kind of direction I'd like to take - especially considering this is the only time Big Finish have ever touched the Mara, essentially the Fifth Doctor's Sacred Cow.
The plot of Cradle is essentially that Tegan starts seeing the Mara again, so they go to Manussa's earlier history before the Sumaran Empire came to power to try and find a way to stop it from materializing. This is a good hook - exploring the lore set in the previous two stories. From there, we get the Mara sort of bouncing around a bit, trying to trick everyone, and we get various cast members delivering Mara tinged performances throughout Part One - Janet Fielding and Peter Davison especially carry a lot of weight and deliver really stunning performances that work super well in the audio format. Sarah Sutton and Mark Strickson struggle in comparison compared to two performers who are essentially at the top of their game, but they still come out of it dignified and well-characterized. Fielding and Davison are just that good.
The story loses itself in Part Two onwards however, when we really see that the story is actually about the Mara trying to take over the world through reality television. This is not good. It really is every "maniac takes over the world with TV" plot you've ever heard without much to make it stand out in any way. The surreal and insane dream sequences of Part One are gone, and sadly it all gets a little too dull. Peter Davison and Janet Fielding still give their A-Game but it really becomes quite a bit running through corridors and I found it really difficult to get attached to any of the guest star characters, especially the man with the ridiculously thick and fake sounding Indian Accent. There is intelligence in the script - Platt specifically points out that the idea of a Mara Empire is inherently ridiculous as order is exactly the sort of thing the Mara abhors. I like this sort of train of thought. I just wish the story was a little more insane - I miss the sort of scenes where Tegan would meet another Tegan and they'd try and figure out which Tegan was the real Tegan. That sort of thing is iconic. I don't feel the same about the evil Mara TV plan.
I don't think this story is bad, but it does suffer from the "Big Finish classic who padding problem" where really you could have done this a lot lot quicker with it being a lot lot less long and gratuitous. The story is an hour and forty minutes, and honestly, I hate to say it, but it could really be an hour and fifteen. But there's a lot more to like here than, say, The Whispering Forest, some really dignified performances that are worth appreciating. It's just all too normal, it needs moody and deranged atmosphere and crazier stuff to go around. When a story opens with essentially it's high point (Nyssa and Turlough being sheep, yes, you heard that correctly) it can be a struggle when the only way to go is down. Oh well. The story at least is a lot more competent than some other ones, while it does fail to reach the majesty of Cobwebs, it also just balances the TARDIS team really well by having it be essentially entirely companions. Some good stuff and bad - you may end up loving it a lot more than I did: 6/10
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