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Big Finish's last two Fifth Doctor audios have been amongst the best in the series, and Lance Parkin's Big Finish debut continues this recent run of success. Rather unusually, we're pitched straight into the story, as the Doctor carries an ill Nyssa to somewhere where he thinks she can be helped. Parkin's sleevenotes mention a twist in the story's third scene, and this proves to be the location - Traken, before the time of the Keepers, but with the Source already in existence. Nyssa knows virtually nothing about her planet's past ("after all, what could it teach us?"), but we still get to explore Traken in a way that we didn't in 'The Keeper of Traken'. 'Primeval' boasts a strong guest cast. "Blakes 7"'s Stephen Greif is just right as the story's Big Bad Kwundaar. It makes a change for a god not to be given a deep resonating voice, but since there are a few hints that the character is suffering from some sort of mutation, so it does make sense. As with 'Keeper', the Doctor doesn't always see eye to eye with the Consuls and Susan Penhaligon's Shayla becomes another in the list of female characters who've built up some sort of rapport with the Doctor. On Kwundaar's spaceship, there's a good double-act between Billy Miller's Narthex and Romy Tennant's Anona. The regulars are also in good form. On television, and with a crowded TARDIS, Nyssa's illness would probably have seen her confined to bed for most of the story, but here Sarah Sutton gets a lot to do, and there's a not-quite-romantic relationship between Nyssa and Ian Hallard's Sabian. (Shame we didn't get to see a swimming sequence on TV though!) Peter Davison has had three strong audios in a row to work with, and seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself back in the role of the Doctor, and he's as good as ever. A strong story with some good cliff-hangers and with production standards that are back to the usual standard makes 'Primeval' one of the best Big Finish CDs so far, with last month's disappointing 'Colditz' hopefully just a temporary aberration. BACK TO THE TOP |
PRIMEVAL |
