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| I of course, pulled this artwork out of my box and replaced it with the monochrome one for extra authenticity. Waiting for my OCD to go off any second now... |
The Destination Wars is the first of an interesting new approach to the First Doctor era by Big Finish.
WRITTEN BY
Matt Fitton. Of his previous stories, I've listened to Technophobia(a Tenth Doctor adventure) and The Neverwhen(the final part of the second War Doctor volume). I wasn't terribly impressed with either of those unfortunately, but this one has somewhat redeemed him in my eyes.
PLOT
The TARDIS crew find themselves on the remarkably Earth-like planet of Destination, which is under the guidance of a benevolent, yet mysterious Inventor who essentially controls the world's development. Curious as ever, the Doctor goes snooping around, only to come across an old friend...
ANALYSIS
I still have the second part of the box set to go through, but so far, this "Bradley era" seems to be more of a marriage of the values of 60s Who with the approach of modern times, rather than a pure recreation of Hartnell's run.
The story itself, whilst adhering to the trappings of pulp fiction at the time("Space Year", "food machine", "The City" etc.), is fast-paced, high-concept and most interestingly enough, reactive to those old episodes rather than part of them. Its main theme is responsibility, and it openly questions Doctor Who's very premise - was it right for the Doctor to kidnap Ian and Barbara? Is temporal interference in a society acceptable and if so, how much? How far should one go to protect one's loved ones?
If the classic show was (sometimes) more black and white, then The Destination Wars is more shades of grey, if you'll pardon the pun. The message that I gleaned from it was that the best thing to do is "keep calm and carry on" and things will work out eventually. Which is nice and open-ended if you asked me.
Stylistically, there's some classic sound effects of course, but the soundtrack isn't anything different from what I've heard in other Big Finish audios - there was no special effort made to make it sound as if it was shot in a 60s studio room, and I'm alright with that. It's firmly a David Bradley story, not a William Hartnell one.
CHARACTERS
The original TARDIS crew is rather impeccably recreated, I'd say. The writing for them is absolutely spot-on, right down to their little mannerisms such as Ian and Barbara's hushed discussions, Susan's gleeful energy and outbursts, and of course the Doctor's hilarious snappy retorts. The spirit of them is very much alive in these new actors.
I must say I'm still not overtly fond of David Bradley's strange, declarative cadence and Shatner-esque pauses whenever he plays the First Doctor, but familiarity and the writing at least support him so it wasn't bothersome.
Robac, Reena and Tenna made for a lovely family and though we only really knew Destination through them, they felt like real people with true-to-life dynamics and were all played by convincing actors. I think Reena(the daughter) in particular formed a rather touching bond with Susan(shades of Ping-Cho there).
Of course, the main draw of the story is James Dreyfus' introduction as the Master, and seeing the First Doctor face this villain. The Master is my favourite Doctor Who villain of all time, so obviously Dreyfus had a lot to live up to as far as I'm concerned. But he managed admirably.
His take on the role borrows heavily from Roger Delgado - it's the same kind of easygoing, persuasive menace, and his cantankerous relationship with the First Doctor is very similar. The only real difference is the focus on the old-school values, the way he completely disregards Susan and Barbara and immediately uses Ian's natural proclivity to protect them against him.
His plummy voice sounds quite a lot like Ian McNeice's, actually, which made me like him more.
NOTES
*Given that Ian and Barbara frequently make it to Earth(in the wrong time periods), it's a little strange for them to declare that they're home.
*There were a few moments where I wasn't quite sure what was happening, most notably right after the TARDIS crew have dinner - there were sound effects playing like gurgling and the lash of a whip that transitioned to the crew going to the streets to listen to the Inventor's speech. I'm guessing this was meant to signify the movement of the Dalmari underneath, but it was just unclear.
*Why would the TARDIS crew assume the inhabitants of Destination aren't human, simply because they call their original planet "Homeworld" and not "Earth"?
*It's funny for Barbara to assume that Tenna can't have gone to the rubbish tip when there could be nothing there. Um, hello, remember how all this crazy time travel thing started for you?
*The fact that the Doctor heard a gunfight in the sewers and wanted to investigate seems out of character for me. The First Doctor is as curious as any Doctor, of course, but he was always eager to leave at the immediate sign of danger. He'd be more likely to alert the authorities or something like that, rather than just run into the hail himself.
*It seemed to take seconds for the Doctor and Barbara to get into the sewers, but far longer to make their way out. They could've spent a few atmospheric minutes exploring to make it feel like a bigger place.
*The Doctor's reaction to finding out the Master is on the planet was brilliantly played - I was half-expecting him to start whacking the guy with his stick at first oppurtunity, out of sheer annoyance!
*I like that the Master requires atomic energy to restart his TARDIS, or whatever's left of it. It's a nice thematic callback to the Cold War's influence on early Doctor Who(most notably The Daleks).
*Why doesn't the Master forcibly remove the key from the Doctor, once he has him tied up? And whatever happened to that specialised lock that would melt if somebody put the key in the wrong way? (I guess the Master might know how to bypass it, but a mention would've been nice)
*The Doctor perceiving Destination technology to be primitive enough for Susan to have toyed with in 1960s England is a nice hint towards his lack of knowledge of Earth at the time.
*Apparently, the Master has also privately met Harry Houdini. Interesting...
*How was the Doctor able to predict when and if the TARDIS would return to Destination after the Master took off with it? Did he just assume that Ian and Barbara could push the fast return switch?
*If the Doctor reconnected the laboratory's power grid elsewhere during his two years, how was the temporal bubble in it not disrupted? I mean, sure, Time Lord, yeah, but it still seems odd to me. Or maybe it did, for a split second, but that doesn't make sense. I always figured the Master slowly dilated the time. If suddenly the speed of time changed, you'd think it'd be pretty noticeable or could even seriously harm Susan and Renna.
*Love that classic cliffhanger. Ian's been shot!!
CONTINUITY ADVISOR
1) As Ian eats, believing he's on future Earth, he comments "it's good to know our future's in safe hands", which is a phrase often used in multi-Doctor stories. It could just be the use of a common phrase of course, but its inclusion here seemed a bit odd nonetheless.
2) Ian uses bangers(small fireworks) to stun the Master, which he apparently confiscated offscreen during the events of An Unearthly Child. That's neat. "Stock and trade of the British schoolboy".
3) Ian and Barbara tie the Master up with the clothes they got from Peking during Marco Polo, amongst other things. Again, lovely little touch.
4) In order to return the TARDIS to Destination, Ian and Barbara press the fast return switch introduced in The Edge Of Destruction. I hope the show uses it again at some point, seems like it should come in handy more often than it does.
5) The Doctor derisively refers to the Master as a "jackanapes", just as the Third Doctor later will.
6) The Master's imprisonment on Destination references both The Dalek Invasion Of Earth in the Doctor's wording("perhaps one day, I shall come back") and The Time Meddler(just like the Monk, the Master is stranded on a world he tried to advance for his own interests due to a malfunctioning TARDIS).
BEST QUOTE
"I must take responsibility. The Master is one of my own. I shall pick up the pieces and help
this world build a peaceful future. I cannot wash my hands of it." - The Doctor, taking a little step towards being more heroic.
CONCLUSION
It's an entertaining yarn, and a good introduction to James Dreyfus' version of the Master as well as the rebooted First Doctor era.
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