The First Doctor Adventures: The Outlaws

 

The First Doctor Adventures: The Outlaws

I sometimes feel that as a reviewer, constantly grading stories can grow one to feel increasingly cynical. It’s the nature of the job - not that I see this as a job, heaven offend - that constantly looking at stories from a critical lens rather than letting yourself be swept up in them can be, well, sorta not great. That being said, The Outlaws is a beautiful, beautiful set. It’s not perfect, there are little things in it that can irk you, but it’s also a labor of love that is new, fresh, and indelible. Sets like this are why I am a reviewer.

The Outlaws by Lizbeth Myles

The titular story of the set, The Outlaws is a very good, if incredibly long four-parter that makes up the majority of the set. If I were to produce this one, I’d probably add another cliffhanger and classify it as a five-parter. The length of course, is besides the point. This is a classical First Doctor historical. It’s a special sort of genre, one that is very easily led to encouraging the same sorts of tales - for instance, Big Finish listeners are all quite familiar with the classical “oh no somebody in this historical setting looks exactly like X Member of The Cast! Egads!” Or perhaps the “wow this historical character is REALLY ANGRY AT DOCTOR WHO.” They’re stalwarts of the era, started early on, and broken out whenever needed by the writers of Pure Historicals, often by the Bradley 1DAs. The Outlaws is smarter than this, and goes for a slightly more riotous approach, while also taking plenty of cues from another First Doctor classic - The Time Meddler. This isn’t your granddaddy’s pure historical, The Monk is here to help liven things up just the right amount. Smartly too, no other aliens are present. It’s a very smart script, and one that really wants you to have fun while listening to it. This is easily accomplished because of the mood of the cast members. Stephen Noonan and Lauren Cornelius are verbal wildfire. Stephen Noonan gets much of the credit for the quality of the set, as well he deserves. He delivers an exceptional performance for a first appearance as the Doctor, much less the first appearance of the most commonly recasted Doctor. We’ve had Hartnell, Hurndall, Cushing, Purves, Russell, and Bradley previously play the first Doctor, and as such, the idea of the First Doctor is very broad in the fan’s mind. Noonan expertly takes a different approach, truly capturing the impishness and wizened attitude of the character. It’s overwhelming to have such a damn good new and bold First Doctor performance that it’s almost easy to forget about the other stars of the set doing amazing work. Lauren Cornelius effortlessly characterizes Dodo perfectly, and is one of the best recasts - she is wonderfully spunky, fun loving, and energetic, which makes her being the sole companion of the aged One all the more delightful. Dodo is probably my favorite element of the set. While I was unsure as to the lack of a Steven character to work off of, and whether that would work, the script doesn’t really miss him. There’s enough to do with the side characters, our two leads, and the Sheriff and The Monk as antagonists without the addition of a third main character running about. The Monk is of course, played by who at this point I think is probably the definitive incarnation, Rufus Hound. His timeline is confusing, and his stories are fun as heck. You could put this guy opposite any Doctor and he’ll deliver a magnificent performance - I’d love to see him face off Tom Baker or Peter Davison next. This story isn’t perfect though, as I’ve mentioned. It’s got a lot of people being captured, and then set free, and then captured again. The French Invasion is an ultimate threat for the story, yet it is faceless and the seige that propels the final act is almost completely rid of tension. As said, it’s also a five parter in four parts. Big Finish have long bloated episode runtimes previously, but this is the first time I can remember that a single part of a story has increased to the gargantuan size of forty minutes. It’s just my preference in these scenarios that they would add another cliffhanger - there were plenty of moments of jeopardy in the fourth part that could do it. Still, this is a really good story, new and fresh while not sacrificing the fact that it is a First Doctor tale. While I’ve previously worshipped David Bradley’s sets in the role, I now pray at the altar of Noonan. 9/10

The Miniaturist by Lizzie Hopley 

The Miniaturist is the perfect counterbalance, spooky and ethereal in tone, it allows us to see this same cast telling a different kind of story. I really like how well it works. This is one of those strange sixties stories where they did this surreal sort of horror thing, it has the same tone throughout of the early parts of a story where the characters are trying to figure out what’s going on as strange occurrences are happening. I usually don’t do this sort of thing, but I could really start to imagine this slow atmospheric buildup in black and white. It’s a very good story, but a lot of the joy is in that atmosphere, and figuring out all of the strange ass things going on, and as such, I do think the title gives too much of it away. The story essentially opens with The Doctor and Dodo manipulating themselves into a scientific mission to a geological quiet space. From there, they discover that the bedrock is not quiet as it should be, but actually “screaming,” and Dodo begins hearing children’s voices in the dark. As a pitch, I love this sort of thing, and the buildup is really, really, genuinely skilled. There are plenty of shocking and horrific moments - I love the bit around 22 minutes in where Dodo recognizes the child for the first time. It’s so good it could be a cliffhanger - not to say that the one we have isn’t brilliant enough. I really love that cliffhanger, it reminds me of some of the best imagery in classic who, like for instance the part one cliffhanger to the Mind Robber. There’s a LOT of good things to be said about this one. It’s set in 2019, but at no point does it ever feel actually modern, which would be an easy misstep. The cues, dialogue, etc, they’re correctly of the show’s era. I’m usually not one for being such a stickler about something like this, but it does really assist the kind of story this one is telling. The side characters in this one are probably it’s biggest weakness. It’s got so much brilliant plot to throw at you, so much scary vibes, that it doesn’t really have time to characterize anyone but The Doctor and Dodo, so Mick Huff and Medra are rather simple, but I did actually remember their names, so they aren’t actually agonizing or anything. Huff’s connection to Jacob leads to an effective moment, so I can’t complain that much. Annette Badland, the various sound design, and the child voices that ultimately form the Miniaturist are really well done though, she’s equally as intimidating when she can hardly mouth out the word “Dodo” as well as near the end when she’s actually speaking correctly. The solution to the tale works quite well too. At 70 minutes, it does feel long, but most Big Finish stories do, these days, and I don’t think I have an issue with the pacing being where it was. The amount of time dedicated to the stuff I like (atmosphere, as mentioned) versus the amount of time dedicated to, you know, actual plot, is well balanced. It’s excellent to see how well Noonan and Cornelius acquit in a more serious and ominous tale. 8/10

I’d like to close out this review with an entreaty - Noonan and Cornelius are miles above most Doctor/Companion duos already, and we literally only have two stories out of them this year. It feels ridiculous and arbitrary to me that certain ranges only get one set a year while others get three or more. I think Big Finish should recognize the lightning in a bottle they have here - and how foolish it is to not allow it to thrive further. I understand that you can only make so many productions a year - but seriously, like, scrap some that aren’t Noonan. I’m pretty sure I could live.