The Second Doctor Companion Chronicles: Volume One

 

The Second Doctor Companion Chronicles Volume One

Ah, the Second Doctor era. An era of base under siege bullcrap, a companion that there will never be any escape from and also an era that did know how to surprise you. Just when you thought it was getting rubbish, this era throws something like The Mind Robber out at you and you remember why this show is fricking marvelous. Why am I beginning this review with such a prelude? This volume is 100% representative of it as a whole - at it's most brilliant stunning Doctor Who side of things, and then also the dull by the numbers aaaagh side of it. I'm certain that if you're the world's number one Second Doctor fan, you will definitely find a lot to love in this volume, but on the other hand, if you're like me, and you approach every tale with the skepticism of "which Second Doctor am I getting right now," you may want to pick and choose.  

This also is a set of companion chronicles. On paper. Obviously they're all companion chronicles, but they're also a varying degree of Companion Chronicles. Some of them feel kind of afraid to be companion chronicles - The Mouthless Dead, while a highlight of the set, is essentially an Early Adventure with a small cast. I'm not sure how I feel about this, as you can tell from me mentioning it in practically every review. I do think that the Companion Chronicle format is outstanding when it's done well, and truly deplorable when it's at it's worst. Narration can halt a story if not used carefully, but it can also allow insight that's hitherto impossible with the full cast format. It's a shame Big Finish are slowly abandoning it, but when it is clearly marmite to people depending on the story, I can almost understand that. Especially since, from my perspective at least, I think that the Second Doctor era may even exacerbate that, with it's variable quality. We're getting a variable quality set of what I think are two different variable quality things that hold a high regard among fans. This is certainly a way for me to murder my reputation. 

The Mouthless Dead by John Pritchard

This is remarkably efficient Doctor Who, even if it’s remarkably unoriginal Doctor Who. The primary focus is of course, imitating the Second Doctor’s era. There is very little the story has as a goal beyond that, and the plot is on paper, exceedingly dull. This almost makes The Mouthless Dead sound on the lesser side, and at first you could be convinced to think that - there’s very little hook, and the story seems unwilling to offer you much to sink your teeth into at first. The opening of the story has a lot of Jamie muttering “cor what is that Doctor” on basic concepts like trains, and it starts to push credulity. Strangely, Jamie’s narration soon departs and Anneke Wills as Polly takes up the role of narrator, and quickly the story hits into a much higher gear. The story has three actors - slightly unusual for a companion chronicle, but most of this set does retain that format. I'm not sure what to think of it - this one though, does merit it, with Frazier Hines double-billing the Doctor and Jamie, Anneke Wills as Polly and every woman in existence, and Eliott Chapman as Ben and also in a completely unrecognizable turn as The Signalmen. With this number of characters, it does indeed feel like Big Finish wanted to do this full cast, it’s not really a classical companion chronicle, even if everyone’s playing multiple characters, and there’s narration. It feels slightly negative to harp on these aspects for as long as I have however, because the second half of The Mouthless Dead is really very beautiful Doctor Who that managed to make my cold, dead heart feel things. The secondary plotline about a woman, Frances, who is convinced that her dead husband Michael is the famous unknown soldier that toured Britain is remarkably tight, strong writing, with a very deep emotional backbone to it, and the more this plotline creeps into the story the more magnificent the rest of it becomes. While the main Doctor Who plot ends up intersecting with this side plot, we manage to get a GORGEOUS climax to the story that makes the lackluster parts of the tale worthy in retrospect. It's so odd - it's like the high quality writing of an Inside Number Nine episode about a woman mourning her husband was copy pasted into a Doctor Who script. I can't ultimately fault it that though - it's - it's good writing, I'm not dissing the good writing, I love that there's good writing! It makes the story kick into really high gear, and makes me really love it a whole lot more. It's just somewhat a shock to the system that this, a unsuspecting sort of story is the one with such a brilliant section. The final result is a piece that feels traditional, but not uninspired. Frazier Hines and especially Anneke Wills really sell this material. While it’s not really a companion chronicle, it’s a damn good story, and I can’t really be anything but pleased with that, despite my quite thorough notes - 8/10

The Story of Extinction by Ian Atkins

It really helps to have a hardcore sci-fi story after one that was very much saved by it’s human conflict, and Story of Extinction is wonderfully atmospheric in comparison. It’s also more traditionally a companion chronicle - the story is audacious, with very bold concepts that perhaps wouldn’t have been done in the 60s, yet the atmosphere and attitude of the story makes sure to treat them as they would have been in that mindset. The story is quick for a classic who serial at an hour long, and it's quite intimate in it's characterization. The story at points seems to be having too much fun - sentient book pages that fly into the air and try and cover your eyes so you’re forced to read them. This is phenomenal- just like all the best Doctor Who monsters, this one makes you think Why Didn't I Think Of That? Ideas like that are what make this story fly, but it also has the same problem as the previous story, absolutely no focus as to who the main companion of this chronicle even is. The framing device is Victoria's, but the majority of the story's characterization and plot goes to Jamie. I would much prefer they just picked one or the other - the framing device is lovely, but it's a companion chronicle trying not to be one. This indecisive format does work, ultimately, but by leaning into it, I think we could have had something even stronger, this is a 9 or a 10 in the making, but hey. That's just what I think. 7/10

The Integral by David Bartlett

The Intergral is (and I don't relish saying this, but there's no other way to get it across) hot shit. 

It tricks you. It makes you think at first that it's doing something with Jamie's perspective of an 18th century highlander and showing how bigoted even a well meaning one would become when constantly faced with invading aliens, and you know what, props to that, it's a good character hook. The trouble is is that the story that follows alternates between ludicrously stupid and ludicrously boring. There's an alien station where psychic aliens are stopping A SUPER DANGEROUS VIDEO GAME FROM DRIVING PEOPLE CRAZY and it makes people kill aimlessly and super aggressively, and for a moment I had to pause the story to laugh because this isn't fricking Fox News. The rest of the plot is technobabble about the psychic field that the Integral is setting up and how it's fallen into a rate of exponential decay. With Zoe as the narrator, this leaves us uniquely available to get absolutely endless amounts of technobabble too. This is nothing against Zoe as a character - she's delightful, and pretty much every good part of this story is Zoe - she just lends herself to problems like that, as do most scientifically smart characters. Jamie's arc in this story, while starting out somewhat well, is predictable, and annoying, and while it makes sense, I don't like it's direction because it feels like it's giving Jamie a free pass for being a space racist. That's the thing - everything I say about the Integral sounds wild and super entertaining, but it's really not. It's so empty. It's so dead. This is one of the worst Big Finish stories I've done, and I don't feel like talking about it anymore. 1/10 

The Edge by Rob Nisbet

Without a doubt the strongest story in the set, The Edge is everything you want a companion chronicle to be. It has a singular identity, clever plotline that feels authentic to the era yet elevated by the audio format, astonishingly strong acting and music, and damn good pacing. Opening with a pretty simple TARDIS scene, you almost don't expect much as the set has sort of been on a descent since episode one, yet what follows is the exact opposite. At several points you think the Edge is going to do the easy thing and do a cop-out that would be easy to write and also less interesting... and it NEVER does it. It always keeps you on your toes, in really exciting and high quality fashion. There aren't really many ideas here, yet The Edge is so vividly realized it's like you're almost there, and this really rather ordinary Doctor Who asteroid becomes something a lot more. The description is top tier, vivid, and evocative, like something out of a proper novel rather than a random Big Finish play. It also doesn't lose itself in that gorgeous description, it's a quick and punchy audio - although maybe a little bit of the ending could be cut, that's pretty much as far as I'd go. Jamie's character work and the comparisons made between him, The Doctor and Zoe are stunning, and considering Frazier Hines is mostly the only actor present, with Robert Whitelock only really playing some incidentals and the villain, it's really impressive what he manages here, especially with a companion that, well, I'll be honest even if it hurts my credibility, I'm quite biased against. This is a story so good it didn't make me want to kill Jamie, and he's the fricking main character. That's a pretty sterling reccomendation in my opinion. And did I mention the goddamn music? It's some of the most stunning I've heard in a production, and that says a good deal. There's a particular moment where the music kicks in that made my jaw drop. Benji Clifford delivered this time, oh my gosh. I wouldn't recommend getting this set, because that would mean you'd be doing The Intergral, but if you EVER have the opportunity to grab The Edge, you really rather should. It's utterly stunning. 9/10