Planet 14 - Doctor Who

The second part of a trilogy is often a tricky business - rather like the middle episodes of a long WHO story - and one that involves a fair amount of standing still. However, since EXCELIS DAWNS got the EXCELIS saga off to a pretty average start, this second installment really needed to get things moving.

Fortunately, it is an improvement on its predecessor, although the whole trilogy doesn't look like it's going to rate alongside the classics in the whole canon.

Things have moved on in the thousand years since the Doctor was last on Artaris, both for the planet as a whole and one man in particular.

Last time out, BUFFY's Anthony Stewart Head was one of the weaker elements as the warlord Grayvorn. This time around the role of Reeve Maupassant seems better suited to him and consequently, he's much better, conveying the feeling that the minds of both Grayvon and the Mother Superior are inside his head.

There are the odd occasions when the fact that Head's lines were recorded separately is noticeable, but otherwise this doesn't have any impact on the story, and his scenes with the Doctor are amongst the story's highlights.

Colin Baker has probably been Big Finish's most impressive Doctor so far, and he shines once again. Charles Kay, probably best known to many of his for his role as Pendleton in EDGE OF DARKNESS, is equally good here as The Curator, while Nicky Goldie's Inquisitor Danby makes a decent substitute companion for the unaccompanied Doctor.

After the double CD EXCELIS DAWNS, this is a single CD story, and it's probably all the better for it. David A McIntee's development of Artaris serves up a steam-driven society, in which spiritualism has grown over the last thousand years.

Despite the audio nature, EXCELIS RISING does fall into the old WHO trap that the planet's population doesn't appear to stretch beyond the half dozen or so natives we met. However, the concept of the steampunk society is well done, and there are some interesting characters in the likes of Danby and the Curator.

Yet despite this and a less than stellar plot, EXCELIS RISING does give some hope that the trilogy as a whole will be worthwhile. The performances from Baker, Head and Kay are top notch, with some good confrontations and an undercurrent of humour throughout.

Not the best Big Finish audio, but a pretty decent one nonetheless. BACK TO THE TOP

EXCELIS RISES

Written by DAVID A. McINTEE

Directed by EDWARD SALT

Starring COLIN BAKER
with CHARLES KAY and featuring ANTHONY STEWART HEAD

BIG FINISH PRODUCTIONS

£9.99 CD

RATING: 7/10

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