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First impressions of THE SHADOW OF THE SCOURGE are far from impressive - a badly pasted montage of the three leads in front of a couple of bug-eyed monsters behind them. It's quite possibly one of the worst DOCTOR WHO covers in years. Sadly this wouldn't be too much of a problem if the story itself was up to the standards that Big Finish were hitting a few months ago, or even last month's FIRES OF VULCAN. Set between the Virgin novels ALL-CONSUMING FIRE and BLOOD HARVEST, the story has the Doctor, Bernice and Ace in a hotel in Kent, where three apparently random groups have gathered (shame that the cross-stitch lot had to be the bunch of sad cases that most people think DOCTOR WHO fans are), and the Scourge of the title soon take possession of one of the visitors. However, after this promising opening, things take a downturn with the arrival of the TARDIS crew. I haven't heard any of Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield audios, but Lisa Bowerman just doesn't seem like the Bernice Summerfield whose adventures I followed in the NEW ADVENTURES. Still, Paul Cornell seems to think she is the personification of Benny. Perhaps it's more to do with the lines she's given than anything else - a succession of smug comments and put downs. Unfortunately, the Doctor and Ace aren't really any better. I've never been a fan of the Doctor being manipulative and he's at it again here. Ace starts off like the character Sophie Aldred portrayed on television, but quickly turns into the psycho from the New Adventures, only worse. The Scourge control people by sound, but whereas in THE AVENGERS: MAN-EATER OF SURREY GREEN Steed and Emma use hearing aids to achieve this, here Ace just gets someone to give her an ear slap instead. Even worse, this results in a 'gag' where a shouting Ace (unable to hear the other characters) repeats what someone else has just said. Of course, it's so hilarious that it's used more than once. The guest characters don't fare much better either. For a two-hour long story, we don't end up caring about any of them, which is a major failing when the solution involves one of them being pregnant as the result of an affair. Are we supposed to care when the father declares he's planning to divorce his wife when he learns of her condition? There are some nice moments in THE SHADOW OF THE SCOURGE, but the overall story is far too smug for my liking, with a bunch of characters that we don't get to know and as a result don't care about. BACK TO THE TOP |
THE
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