Okay,
because this came out all of a day ago I'm trying to keep this as
spoiler free as possible but I do mention some plot details so anyone
wanting to go into this Tenth Doctor Adventures box set totally
unspoilt should look away now (and also for the next two evenings and
then I'll go back to rambling about old stuff the statute of
limitations has expired on).
Doctor Who:
The Tenth Doctor Adventures 2.1:
Infamy of the
Zaross
written by
John Dorney
Its bloody
weird listening to this and getting a genuine nostalgia rush for
2006. If nothing else that's a measure of success in itself. The
moment Jackie sighs and greets the Doctor with “Hello, trouble.”
I knew this was going to at least be a comfortable, familiar listen.
Is that a
criticism? It sort of sounds like one and if there's one thing that
concerns me about this box set is that the writing team is
practically a list of Big Finish's current old faithfuls: John
Dorney, Guy Adams and Matt Fitton. To be clear, I like all these guys
and I've no reason to think their stories will be anything but good
however I would like to see some more experimentation. Big Finish
listeners are a pretty captive audience, after all.
Anyway, plot
wise we're in familiar RTD-era territory: there's an alien invasion
going on with a satirical twist. Its not a twist I'm too fond of as
its about “Millennial fame culture”, a subject that rather tends
to get an overly critical reception. There's also what should be a
touching moment of Rose telling a young woman that whatever she does
she'll always be special which would be a great sentiment if it
didn't come from a character who has always been presented as the
best of the best as far as the Doctor and the fan base is concerned.
There's a
lot to love here despite those criticisms. The alien invasion is led
by a set of brilliantly observed office manager types whose every
line of dialogue is comedy gold. Jackie gets a rather more
sympathetic portrayal here than she did for a lot of her two series
on the show though for those craving an authentic RTD nostalgia buzz
I assure you there is an Awful Mother elsewhere in the story so tick
that one off the list. Actually, if you thought that Jackie running
around with a big gun at the end of series four was out of character
then John Dorney has you covered as he perfectly works out a scenario
for Jackie to do exactly that again but funnier and with more
exploration of character.
You know,
listening to this I think that either I underestimated Camille
Codouri's skills or Russel T. Davies did because she's fantastic.
All in all
its not Earth-shatteringly innovative but it is an excellent
distillation of the RTD era, especially his season openers. Here's
hoping that distillation continues and we get something a little more
involved for the next two stories.
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