The Fourth Doctor Adventures: New Frontiers

 The Fourth Doctor Adventures: New Frontiers 

[Usual disclaimer: I am not an asshole. I am reviewing a product. I wish none involved in the making of this product harm in any way, nor should my opinion be taken as the entire fact and truth of the matter - I can only speak to the feelings of myself. I wish all who read this review a good day.] 

New Frontiers is a special case in terms of a Big Finish boxset. Words fail it. Usually Big Finish boxsets will fall under one of a few categories - entirely good and high quality drama, consistent yet forgettable stories, variable quality, or the rare total disappointment. New Frontiers as a boxset somehow manages to be, stunningly, none of these.

Usually when a new companion is brought out to the forefront, there is a creative upheaval. A massive quality increase usually occurs as a new series begins, as the writers grow excited with the new toys they have in their box. It is rare a companion introduction is disappointing, and for that matter, everyone who has done the previous Margaret story, last years' stunning The Ravencliff Witch - knows that Margaret is absolutely awesome. New Frontiers in a way, indeed has this burst of energy to it - clearly it is a set that is at least somewhat aware of what it has. Baker, Jameson and Hughes are the ultimate Fourth Doctor trio and one of my favorite TARDIS teams in years. They're absolutely incredible together, each bringing out the best in each other as performers and as characters. 

Here's the rub about New Frontiers though, and what makes it different from anything else. It's a creative revitalization of a range that has the best characters ever and is somehow next to completely disappointing. Usually if we get a Big Finish clunker, it's at least probably because the original idea is inherently flawed. This is a set brimming with gorgeous potential that manages to have two utterly abysmal stories in it. What's going on? This isn't usually how these things work! New Frontiers is at both times, new, fresh, and bold, and insufferably the usual, classical Fourth Doctor Adventures with all of their life sucked out. It denies classification. It is not entirely bad, and has the best character dynamics for a TARDIS team you can ask for. Yet I could not advise you to purchase this volume at essentially any price. 

Ice Heist! by Guy Adams

That being said, Ice Heist! against all odds, may be my favorite Ice Warrior story. I know. That sounds positive. Don't be confused, Ice Heist! is terrible, and it's terrible especially because of the Ice Warriors, who are even more green meanies than usual, however, you can really love it for everything in it that isn't the Ice Warriors. Ice Heist! attaches you deeply to the characters of Leela and Margaret and their dynamic, and for that matter, Tom Baker is at his most deeply charismatic. Next to every scene the Ice Warriors are not in, you can expect some pretty decent character work and solid writing. Unfortunately, the Ice Warriors indeed are here to stay for the majority of the two hours. And for once, my distaste for the Ice Warriors as a monster in general, and not having liked an Ice Warrior story pretty much ever has very little to do with the Ice Warriors being awful in this. If not for a few elements, they would even be better than usual. It's because it tries to use the Ice Warriors to say something about racism. 

You have to be very careful about your sci-fi metaphors, especially when every sci-fi metaphor will always be prescribed meaning. There's a reason a lot of the original Star Trek is indelible in terms of the public conciousness, and that is that show's particular clever use of political allegory. It used science fiction to say something about what we are as a people. 

It did not validate racism...??!? 

Yeah, Ice Heist would be a hell of a lot more enjoyable if it didn't have this weird and frankly disturbing side-plot in which Leela's bigotry against Ice Warriors, which is directly and repeatedly stated in the text as racism, was not completely justified for some godforsaken reason, almost immediately. You'd think this would be a later twist or something, and the misinterpretation would merely be an afterthought in an effort to have a surprising final twist (like Kerblam! for instance) but no, it happens ... fairly quickly. The story cannot use this metaphor and say that "Ice Warrior" is a slur that Leela cannot reclaim and that the Ice Warriors, sorry, Martians, (I hate how doctor who has made the species name that is referred to in basically everything a slur) are peaceful and Leela is being bigoted based off of her past experiences. It cannot do this and then have Leela be repeatedly proven completely right. The story seems to insist that all Martians are intrinsically revenge-based as a species, when we also know thanks to the Peladon stories that this isn't true. It can't have Leela be treated as ultimately clever for her... bigotry. I can't believe that Doctor Who has made Leela a bigot I hate it here

The story even had a few chances later on, to maybe have Leela grow from this, (the best option) or have the evil space corporation that the story seems to set up be the ultimate antagonists (and it almost seems to prepare to do this before left-turning sharply) or do anything but have a racism subplot when the story is not prepared to treat it correctly. I have no clue what Ice Heist! was thinking or what it's even trying to say, because it clearly has a political agenda, which is ultimately exceedingly nonsensical. 

Beyond that, there's just an ordinary story about The Doctor, Leela and Margaret's character which is done very nicely, padded out with ninety extra minutes of Ice Warriors shooting, running around through corridors, technobabbling stuff about air coolant, and clunky exposition. 30 minutes of beauty and 90 minutes of tapping your foot in irritation.

Antillia the Lost by Phil Mulryne 

Antillia the Lost has very little in terms of ideas whatsoever that aren't salvaged from another story. It's got the alien race who look scary but are actually decently friendly (they are not as good as Bellal) it's got a mysteriously disappeared important location, it's got an evil presence, it's got a corporation funded small expedition of side characters, it's got cliffhangers of Dr Who nearly being murdered that don't convince anyone for a single second. You have seen this Classic Who serial before. I don't care who you are, you've seen it. 

In Antillia the Lost, the Doctor, Leela and Margaret find themselves on an equivalent of Atlantis in space, a planet that has been lost into echoes of spacetime. Soon they meet a team of characters, including an Investigative Journalist played by Anji Mohindra and who is literally just Rani, greedy rich person, and gruff punchy bodyguard who dies later. Together they must find out what caused Antillia to disappear although it is obviously the evil presence that won't show up until halfway through part three. 

The central problem isn't any of it's ideas, it is how it is the skeleton of a story before it is made enjoyable. While certain Big Finish stories evoke a television's era with generic classic who ideas to make a story stronger, Antillia the Lost just has the generic ideas in them and stops there. It's the basic outline of a story without the charm. Look at The Mind Runners, or Cobwebs. The story is missing the integral joy and charm which Margaret and Leela surely should be able to supply. I would say this, but Margaret is severely shafted in this story. It may not be, but it certainly feels like this was originally a Fourth Doctor Adventure with only Leela before Margaret was added. This would be frustrating but fine if Leela was at her best, or if there was any character growth for our central team. While there's a bit of character at the start, the story peaks at two minutes in. Once the plot begins, the realization that the story is full of nothing takes hold. Our main characters remain frustratingly static and unchanged by what has taken place. 

If you are a stickler for continuity, and want to check out this boxset, I'm actually going to be blunt: The probably racist one is better. Buy Ice Heist! individually if you want to find out what's Margaret's deal before her following volume. Alternatively, please, please, do not. Buy the Ravencliff Witch and maybe nothing else. 

I had to stop for a minute when writing this to consider whether I was being too harsh, because it hurts me to do so, but I truly do believe every word I've said so far is entirely true. I find being negative a difficult thing sometimes, because too much negativity really can make you quite miserable. Accuracy, however, is important. I want to say that I think this is probably a one-off. Angels and Demons looks like a remarkably strong set, and with characters and chemistry this strong it is exceedingly unlikely that Big Finish would have a train wreck like this volume twice in a row. Still I find it very very interesting that this set is how it is. It has the most beautiful character dynamics, Margaret and Leela's relationship is immediately arresting and remarkably strong. Usually this sort of thing results in a renaissance for the characters. Look at how Constance's adventures improved when she had a dynamic with Flip. This relationship is perhaps even stronger - and yet despite this, we still have a bit of a clunker. This is not the worst set Big Finish has ever made by miles. Yet it confuses me and disappoints me the most. Despite New Frontiers being largely forgettable, I am not liable to forget it.