Creatures of Beauty
Story 44
Written by: Nicholas Briggs
Release Date: May 2003
“Sometimes if you look at a painting too long and too closely all you see are the brush strokes. The harder you stare, the more formless and meaningless it starts to become.”
Creatures of Beauty is a very unusual story in that it is purposefully told out of sequence. Apparently Davison had encouraged Briggs to hurl the script pages into the air and record the pars in the order that they fell. It’s very off-putting and confusing as listeners are immediately thrown into a situation with no explanation. The TARDIS is out of commission, the Doctor is the unwilling guest of a lavish estate on a diseased planet. Nyssa encounters a frazzled woman who cuts at herself until dead. Found alongside the body, Nyssa is taken prisoner, interrogated by a vicious man who has mistaken her for an alien called a Koteem.
I have to admit that the narrative was very hard to follow and I kept thinking I had somehow gotten the files mixed up. However, it is a very unsettling story that asks the question that the Doctor so often avoids, does he actually make things better by interfering? The situation on the planet isn’t so much politically heated as nightmarish. It often seems that the planet is in a state of war with the Doctor and Nyssa mis-identified as the enemy (as is usually the case), but the truth is far more disturbing.
The Veln who have captured Nyssa are deformed due to an atmospheric presence of dyestrial toxins. The chemicals have ravaged the population and reduced the surface to a blasted heath in most places (save the Forlean estate). Nyssa’s lack of deformity marks her as a ‘beauty,’ a label that she cannot understand and perhaps due to her lady-like upbringing avoids remarking on.
The Doctor is determined to rescue Nyssa and earns the trust of Lady Forleon to infiltrate the nearby facility and rescue Nyssa. The Doctor and Forlean’s assistant Quain use coercion to twist Brodelick to work with them and get Nyssa out of danger, but the damage is already done. Frightened and angry, Nyssa is eager to somehow stop the cruelty and violence on the planet, but the Doctor insists that they can do nothing as the entire situation is out of their control. The Koteem and Veln are living in the aftermath of a brutal ecological disaster. Their current state is somewhat worse as well-meaning genetic manipulation is producing unpredictable results. It seems that the planet’s population is stuck in a cycle of brutality and disease.
Actor David Draker is absolutely astounding as the horrible Gilbrook who repeatedly browbeats his underling Brodelik (and later physically beats him as well). Draker was of course in the Classic Doctor Who as well, playing Irongron in The Time Warrior and later as pilot Rigg in Nightmare of Eden. Former co-star of Drake’s from Boon, David Mallinson, is equally impressive as the sniveling Brodelick who always seems on the verge of breaking down into a state of nervous collapse. Their interplay carries so much of the story and firms up the feeling of unease and danger.
Davison continues to grow on me in these audio adventures. Full of charm, his performance jaggedly shifts to one of anxiety and over-wrought frustration. Sarah Sutton’s Nyssa is her usual sympathetic self, playing the innocent to perfection and understandably disturbed by this deviation into horror. It’s almost impossible to set these stories into established continuity, but this somewhat adds fuel to her decision to stay behind in Terminus and help the Lazars there.
A discomforting and horrific story, Creatures of Beauty is a well-crafted story that justifies its violent tendencies with a sober reaction from the Doctor and Nyssa, unsure if they are justified in their actions.
Doctor Who -Creatures of Beauty is available from local retailers and can be downloaded directly from Big Finish.
This is a special shout-out humbly asking for a shorty awards nomination. (this link has been fixed for anyone who tried to use it last night and encountered an error)
