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| PLANET
SF HOME | DOCTOR
WHO HOME | BIG FINISH AUDIOS
| 8TH DOCTOR NOVELS | EPISODES
| MISC REVIEWS |
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It's been 29 regular releases since Big Finish's only previous Doctor/Ace/Benny story, Paul Cornell's 'The Shadow of the Scourge'. Cornell is a writer who is immediately associated with Virgin's New Adventures. Not only was he one of the range's most prolific authors, but he also created the first original post-TV series companion, Bernice Summerfield. Trevor Baxendale isn't a writer who's immediately associated with the NAs. Hardly surprising really since he never wrote for it, although apparently that is what Big Finish were after. Despite being written by Bernice's creator, I found 'The Shadow of the Scourge' a disappointment, while Baxendale's BBC novels haven't really set the world on fire either. Consequently, my hopes for 'The Dark Flame' weren't great, but how did it actually shape up? It's a bit of a mixed bag. The plot is nothing particularly new, with the all-too-familiar elements of cults, relics and a long-dead evil. On the plus side, Baxendale's more traditional approach means there's none of the gratuitous pop-culture references that some "Who" authors pepper their work with. Some of the dialogue nods its head at previous stories ("sleep is for Chelonians"), but 'The Dark Flame' is hardly the worst offender on this score. The performances are also a bit variable. I'm not the greatest fan of Sylvester McCoy here, but although he has some annoying moments here, he's generally pretty good. I still think he has a tendency to overdo the rolling of his Rs, and there are some unconvincing moments (such as the first scene), but this is one of his better audio performances. The same can't be said of his two companions. Benny's sarcasm and smug comments got on my nerves in 'Scourge', and they do the same here. At one point Slyde even tells her what I was thinking ("I'm so tired of your feeble witticisms, Summerfield") and asks if she can think of anything serious to say. As she demonstrates, she can't, and her comments quickly start grating. Sophie Aldred's Ace is one of my all-time least favourite companions. Aldred wasn't particularly believeable as a teenager back in the late 1980s, and even though Ace is now a few older (thanks to spending a couple of years fighting Daleks before being reunited with the Doctor in 'Deceit'), her performance here fails to convince. Of the guest stars, Michael Praed's delivery of Professor Slyde's lines telegraphs him as a villain from the start. It's just a shame that the story is littered with bad guys as we don't really get a Doctor/villain face-off. Steven Wickham gets to play two roles - Victor Farrison and his robot, Joseph (who later crops up in Benny's post-'Dying Days' adventures), and does a good job, especially in scenes where his are the only two characters present! Also worth praising is Hannah Smith, who makes the revelation about Professor Lomas all the more surprising. It's been two and half years since this particular TARDIS team were last given a Big Finish outing, and after this fairly average adventure, I wouldn't be disappointed if we had to wait the same length of time until their next. McCoy is a bit of a surprise, but Aldred's rather inconsistent performance and Benny's tedious sarcasm dragged the whole thing down somewhat. BACK TO THE TOP |
THE DARK
FLAME |
