The First Doctor Adventures: The Demon Song

 

The First Doctor Adventures: The Demon Song

Perhaps this will veer on the controversial but I find The Demon Song to be much better than it has been given credit for. The reception to the volume was a lukewarm “ehhh,” at least within my circles, so I was quite surprised to find how delightful the ultimate result was. Sure, it's not flawless, but I really do find what Big Finish is doing with Stephen Noonan as the First Doctor delightful, and hope that he goes on to further his craft for many years to come. 

So, what's the deal with this particular volume?? 
Picking up where The Outlaws left off, in at least a rough sense, we're continuing to explore the gap in The First Doctor's timeline where Steven has left him and he and Dodo are travelling together. This is such an underrated gap, more than worthy of exploration. I know I commented on that as such in the Outlaws review, but The Demon Song really continues to allow Lauren Cornelius to shine as Dodo - and I think having the lack of a male lead outside The Doctor - a rarity for the Hartnell era - makes Stephen Noonan's ethereal turn as the character seem all the more important. The Demon Song as a boxset, is two random First Doctor and Dodo stories, the shorter one of which, is amusingly called The Demon Song. I sort of like the "named" Big Finish boxset approach, but oftentimes I find their naming scheme for the sets a little laughable, especially when the stories don't have thematic consistencies, it's really difficult to name them. I understand that you don't want to make it seem necessary to purchase volume one to enjoy this set, but this is one of the most "volume two" sets out there.

The Demon Song by Bob Ayres

The Demon Song, being the titular story of the set, is one of those stories that actively weaponizes the audio medium. Some of my favorite stories and writers do this - We Always Get Out Alive, Scherzo, Whispers of Terror, and Tropical Beach Sounds all do this particular thing to great success. The Demon Song is a story about earworms - which is a delightfully insidious word - and while over time perhaps it gets far too busy, the overall result is fairly successful.

Taking place in the modern day, Dr Who and Dodo discover everyone's playing the same song in Camden. When Dodo disappears, One has to take center stage to try and rescue her while he contends with a self processed "demon-hunter" who is an absolute manchild. The story, as said, takes some minor influence from Torchwood, but that's only because of the way the story satirizes the modern day in a similar way to stories like The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood. It's obviously less cynical, but both Torchwood and The Hartnell era have a stronger tinge of creepiness to them than other eras, so it creates quite an interesting mixture. The creepiness is definitely in the forefront thanks to the repetitive sound design which makes the entire piece feel claustrophobic - you cannot get away from the threat of the tale wherever you go. 

Ultimately, The Demon Song doesn't quite feel like a typical Hartnell story because of the modern day environment, but it also gets around this by never mischaracterizing One and Dodo and keeping them entirely 60s based in sensibility. While the First Doctor is forward thinking in the expanded universe, I do like how The Demon Song portrays him as absolutely infuriated for instance, with modern grammar. As said, I like this one, but it really falls apart at the climax, where another threat is introduced quite suddenly in a way that would work if the story was three parts long but is much more difficult to work with at two. There's some really great atmospheric work here though that makes you start to feel a part of the story, and I think that's this particular story's strongest point - the fact that the titular Demon Song, through all the repetition, is stuck in your head long after the episode ends... 

The Itcherton Incident by Nicholas Briggs

I love a good old conspiracy. It's fun when stories make you look this way and that, trying to find out what exactly happened here, while the men in black try and cover up whatever you try to see. It's a very good starting point for a piece, and The Itcherton Incident was atmospheric, well-paced and well-acted. I'm not quite sure why some of my friends didn't care for it.

Taking place on the windswept shores of Coastal England in the 1940s, something lands in the town of Itcherton-by-Sea, and The Doctor and Dodo try to investigate - but they might be responsible for what's happened here. It's a hell of a hook, and I like that The Itcherton Incident is atmospheric, a slow build and very intriguing. I also like that the story purposefully avoids typical cop-outs of the genre it's going for. No monsters from the deep suddenly appear in the Itcherton Incident, but you always feel like they're just around the corner, and what actually shows up is just as interesting.

Seriously like this is a very solid and consistent Hartnell story that works very well, it feels like it comes straight from the 60s without being a mindless retread, and I definitely like it more than Demon Song. Probably one of my favorite Briggs scripts in years. 

Overall, it's hard to beat The Outlaws, and I don't think this set does, but it's still really solid and I don't know what everyone's on about. There are lots of problems with modern big finish and this definitely isn't one. Absolute king shit. I am a lifetime member of the Noonan gang.