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Out of the previous two years' worth of Big Finish audios, my least favourite ones have almost invariably been Seventh Doctor ones, especially when he's paired with Ace. Steve Lyons' previous contribution to the Big Finish audio range, THE FIRES OF VULCAN, saw a surprisingly sombre Doctor paired with one of the weakest television companions. Like that story, there's a time paradox at the heart of COLDITZ, but sadly the result is nowhere nearly as good. The plot itself is fine (although the first couple of scenes with the Doctor and Ace start off like a bad version of GHOSTLIGHT and proceed to get worse), and Lyons gives most of the cast good material to work with. The only criticism you could make is that it plays up the aspects of the Doctor and Ace that don't allow weaker aspects of McCoy and Aldred's acting to come through. On television, the Seventh Doctor was always better in a quieter, more contemplative mood, but on occasions when his anger level rose, many of us were cringing with embarrassment at McCoy's overacting. That's a big problem with his performance here - when he's required to be angry or given some explanatory dialogue, McCoy is appalling. Ace is no better. The character was a bit of a joke in the first place - about five years out of her time and played by an actress that didn't look or sound the age the character was supposed to be. Of course, Big Finish can't really develop the characters massively since their CDs are designed to fit into specific eras, but the treatment of Mel in FIRES OF VULCAN shows that there is room for manoeuvre. However, here she's at her worst, with terrible lines about "Nazi dirtbags" delivered badly which make Ace's scenes almost painful to listen to. Fortunately, the rest of the cast are up to the usual BF standards. Tracey Childs' Klein is a good villain, and most of the cast playing the British and German soldiers are good too. The same can't be said of the music, with is over-the-top and has a tendency to drown out the dialogue on occasions. COLDITZ is apparently set just before Ace's departure in the New Adventure LOVE AND WAR. Unless BF plan more audios with Benny (and after THE SHADOW OF THE SCOURGE, I can't say I'd want to hear them) then perhaps they should confine any subsequent Seventh Doctor audios to the period just prior to the TV Movie, which would allow the scripts to avoid McCoy's limitations as an actor. A good story, a good villain, but a poor Doctor/companion team giving sub-standard performances means this is one of the weaker Big Finish releases as far as I'm concerned. BACK TO THE TOP |
COLDITZ |
