The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Hidden Depths

 

The Ninth Doctor Adventures Hidden Depths 

A wildly dissonant group of stories, Hidden Depths is a triumph for the Ninth Doctor Adventures to be quite proud of, and is probably the best set the range has done yet, but not many of those things are related to each other. Every set up to this point in the range has had at least some kind of focus. Ravagers is one story, Respond to All Calls is about distress calls, Lost Warriors is about historical stories, Old Friends is about Old Friends (duh), Back To Earth is about Earthy character drama stuff, Into The Stars is pure sci-fi and this?? Nothing, I've got nothing. I know I joke about this sort of stuff from time to time, but seriously, these stories don't have much in common at all, so I'm seriously just going to move on to the first episode here. 

The Seas of Titan by Lizbeth Myles

There's only ever been one Silurian or Sea Devil story so far, and while The Seas of Titan goes through quite a bit of effort in order to avoid being that one Sea Devil story, it doesn't quite manage. As a story, Seas almost concedes to this point and just tries to tell said Sea Devil story as stylishly as possible. The story opens with The Doctor spontaneously appearing on a deep sea diving expedition on the moons of Jupiter as scientists slowly begin to discover there's something out here that really shouldn't be. Like several other Classic Who serials, the story is pretty much better before you get to see the monster. There's some real tension in the sound design for the watery depths of Titan, the creaking of the submarine, the tentative and cautious but adventurous music. Eccleston is on particular form, and the story is very comfortably paced.

The side characters aren't particularly memorable, but I liked the chief scientist, Diana, and thought that the actress who played her, Sasha Beshar, and Eccleston had some quite nice chemistry. Part of me enjoys Eccleston having standalone romps like these, and this is a story where likely adding a companion would not end up doing much, however I do wish that Big Finish would bite the bullet and couple Eccleston up with a different character every few sets so not every story has extra work. I like that the series hasn't had a proper companion person, and I don't think necessarily we should have a long-term one. Eccleston is currently too closed off. I liked how Ravagers used Nova and I think that Mandy Litherland, Saffron Windrose, Fred, or Lenni could have served admirably for 2, 3 or 4 stories or so. 

One of the words that I'd use to describe The Seas of Titan is standard, but I don't mean that in a disparaging way in the sense that the word average has become more and more an aggressive word over time, no, The Seas of Titan is an okay story. And once again, that sounds negative, but that's more due to the way that the internet has reforged words for you to have a strong opinion on everything. Language is so strange. Long story short, Okay, I liked this one, but I didn't love it. 

Lay Down Your Arms by Lisa McMullin

For most people, Lay Down Your Arms will likely be the big hit of the set, a cute historical story set in the Turkish Baths during 1864. When The Doctor arrives, he has to avoid both marriage proposals and defeat aliens who intend to use the baths as a scale model of war. Lay Down Your Arms has thematic focus and a point to it that makes the entire story really moving when it eventually makes said point and part of the largest joy of the story is letting the bit of history that it's set in creep up on you, so I won't be discussing that much. Instead, I'll be sort of tip-toeing around what makes it so good precisely, but you still shouldn't doubt me. Bertha, the stand-in companion of the story is implemented quite well, and she's given good character development. Lisa McMullin is one of the wittiest authors in the Big Finish ensemble, and so she's careful to pen together a really clever script with punchy dialogue. A lot of the joy of Lay Down Your Arms is experiencing said dialogue and the fun ideas it has up it's sleeves. The story can slightly lose itself during some of the action scenes in the middle - always a difficult prospect on audio - but it aptly recovers itself with a really strong conclusion. This range can sometimes struggle with emotional impact, so for every Auld Lang Syne and Lay Down Your Arms we get, I'll always be happily surprised. 

Flatpack by John Dorney

Flatpack, the story you likely bought the set for if you're a Big Finish stalwart, and the story you're going to be immensely confused by if you're not, is a wonderful experience that given the correct circumstances, could have been even better. Flatpack is the first story in the range that is aggressively not a NuWho style script by any means, instead written in the style of Big Finish's original work, which tends to have it's own distinct voice when it's not trying to mimic the television program. Flatpack is designed to feel like Stranded or Dalek Universe or some of the other boxset series. This is clearly intentional, what with Flatpack objectively being an epilogue to Stranded. 

Like Way of the Burryman/The Forth Generation, having already established companions allows John Dorney to immediately get the ball rolling without having to worry too much about setting up a new dynamic. I was surprised how normal The Ninth Doctor meeting Liv and Tania felt. It was slightly odd to realize that, yes, these characters can meet, it's the same show and everything. 

Flatpack would easily be the best episode of the Ninth Doctor Adventures yet - and that's high praise that I indeed stand by - if not for several problems in it's audio design that result in the twists and turns in the plot being immediately recognizable from literally the first minute. I desperately wish that was not hyperbole. Those who have heard the story will know what I speak of. From a financial sense, not hiring a robot voice actor make sense, utilizing a small cast is a simple and lovely thing that the story can do very well. Unfortunately, by utilizing the small cast that it does, and without as much digital finagling as is required, part of Flatpack's magic is sort of shot in the foot. You do end up seeing where it's going.

Flatpack is so ludicrously good as it is - it's literally a story about consumerism eventually becoming an eldritch horror, complete with technobabble and abstract concepts in an IKEA, that it becomes all the more frustrating that a simple sound design choice renders the twists and turns of the story immediately recognizable. Think back to when the BBC advertised John Simm being in World Enough and Time. Sure, the story is great without it, but surely wouldn't you have been even more gobsmacked if you didn't already know?? It's a poor analogy, but roughly, I still think it fits when applied to Flatpack. The amazing sci-fi plot could have felt more amazing. Luckily the way the story resolves itself is so satisfying you can almost look it to one side. It's still frustrating, however. Nonetheless, this is a very impactful and pretty story that's perfect for any of you who are still missing Stranded and it's side of the Whoniverse.