Doctor Who Big Finish – Sympathy for the Devil

Doctor Who Unbound – Sympathy for the Devil

Written by: Jonathan Clements
Release date: June 2003

The Unbound series of Big Finish’ Doctor Who audio adventures is an impressive what if scenario that takes the legacy of the series in different directions with new actors playing the Doctor, such as David Collings, Derek Jacobi, Arabella Weir, Geoffrey Bayldon (once up for the part) and David Warner. It’s a great idea and opens the door to new interpretations of the classic series while giving fans the opportunity to hear new actors playing the Doctor.

Sympathy for the Devil is set in 1997 Hong Kong on an alternate Earth where the U.N.I.T. fought the numerous threats from space and beneath the planet with the aid of the Doctor. Discredited, Lethbridge-Stewart runs a seedy pub that appeals to the few remaining British subjects milling about on the even of Hong Kong’s independence. The Doctor arrives just as a stealth plane crash-lands bearing a British scientist who had betrayed secrets to the Russians. In actuality, it is the Master who has been meddling with the humans during his exile.

The plot meanders about with soul jars, zombie soldiers, the Keller Machine from Mind of Evil and a monastery under siege but the real charm of the piece lies in the interaction between David Warner as the Doctor and Nicholas Courtney as Lethbridge-Stewart. The script often gets far too fan-ish, dropping in references to other programs such as the Doctor complaining that his shoes don’t fit but to be honest only a die-hard fan of the program would be interested in this audio, so that’s kind of fitting.

The plot itself never really comes together for some reason and by the time Mark Gatiss appears as the regenerated Master, it’s all a bit strange. Personally I’m a fan of Gatiss and enjoy his work on these productions so I was keen to hear his take on the classic Master. To be fair, it is a bit too camp, but when compared to John Simm, he’s on par with Derek Jacobi. When the Master and Doctor finally have a battle of wills, it’s more of a histrionic bitching session than a confrontation of equals. The Doctor gets called out for not being where he’s needed like some deadbeat parent. This murders the slick devilish persona that Gatiss was shooting for, unfortunately.

As an author, Clements is more well known for his contribution toward the study of manga, but he also wrote the Big Finish 2000 AD audio adventure Strontium Dog. His script here is a mish-mash of good and bad. He perfectly nails many key components of Classic Doctor Who and creates a strange modern slant on the Third Doctor channeled through David Warner, but the story lacks any real content. The real attraction here is the variation from the accepted continuity and how the world went wrong without the Doctor serving with U.N.I.T. throughout the 1960′s. That in itself is very interesting, but… that’s it.

Part One

Throughout Sympathy for the Devil, there are references to televised adventures gone wrong such as Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Ambassadors of Death. It’s all very thrilling until you realize that there are these exciting stories that happened in the past while you’re stuck in this rather mediocre one. Everything cool is off-screen (or the audio equivalent).

Playing Lethbridge-Stewart’s replacement, Colonel Brimmicombe-Wood, is one-time Doctor Who, David Tenant. A big fan of science fiction in general and Doctor Who in particular, Tennant has starred in several Big Finish Productions with similarly poor results as he is not a great choice for voice acting. On screen, Tennant has a habit of screeching his lines and going over the top. In audio format, he is a full blown disaster, shouting nearly every line of dialog. This is even more painful to experience as many of his shouty lines are delivered to elder statesman actors Warner and Courtney who both sound magnificent. It makes Tennant out to be a maniac.

Despite my negative criticism I do recommend Sympathy for the Devil if only for the performances from Warner and Courtney. Luckily a sequel was also recorded, reuniting the pair in an adventure against the Daleks… but that’s another story.

Doctor Who Unbound – Sympathy for the Devil can be purchased directly from Big Finish Productions and local retailers such as Mike’s Comics.

Richard E. Grant- The ‘Other’ Doctor Who

REG in Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death

In 2003, Doctor Who fans were desperate for a comeback of their favorite program… and so was the BBC. After the 1996 pilot failed to launch a series, the franchise began to appear as a multi-media project. Starting with ‘Death Comes to Time’ starring Sylvester McCoy as Doctor #7, the new webisodes combined limited animation and radio drama-style performances from some big names in UK entertainment including Stephen Fry.

The announcement that Richard E. Grant would be the Ninth Doctor struck many fans as both good and bad news. REG is a big name actor who has pull on both sides of ‘pond’ and had already played the part (kind of) in the comedic benefit ‘Curse of Fatal Death.’ A charismatic actor known for a variety of roles both dramatic and humorous, he could be the perfect fit for the part and the ideal choice to revive the program. However, REG also had a penchant for over the top performances which worried some fans that he may play it up as the Doctor.

The follow-up announcement that Doctor Who would be returning as an animated series rather than live action was a lead boot falling on the hopes of fandom. BBCi not only announced in the Summer of 03 that Doctor Who would be returning as a multimedia online animated feature but that it was the official 9th incarnation of the Doctor, following Paul McGann’s Doctor #8. This is significant because even the new Doctor Who series took its time to connect up to the classic series, in fact it was not until David Tennant took on the role that he was established as the Tenth Doctor… something that led to much confusion as there had been the animated Richard E Grant Doctor and televised Chris Eccleston incarnations before Tennant’s Doctor.

So… whahappa?

The story goes that after a failed pilot in 1996 and numerous misfires at a feature film, the BBC felt that a live action revival of the beloved icon was very unlikely. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the program, the animated series was announced and aired on November 13th. Fan favorite author Paul Cornell (Human Nature) was assigned as the writer and things started to look up. After the letdown of a cartoon series rather than a ‘real’ one settled, fans grew quite keen to see the result.

More of a Captain Pugwash animated product than a Bruce Timm production, the cartoon nevertheless was very moody and atmospheric. Lending much to the early Tom Baker ‘Hammer Horror’ episodes and the early Jon Pertwee UNIT stories, this version of Doctor Who felt very modern yet also quite safe in the confines of what you would expect from the program. The modernization of the program was quite jarring at the time, hearing the Doctor speak in slang made me do a double-take. Scream of the Shalka also introduced the first companion of color with Sophie Okonedo as Alison (beating the introduction of Martha Jones by several years).

The Doctor appeared almost vampiric in appearance yet he retained enough of the alien/English gentleman to make him recognizable as the character fans clamored for. The inclusion of Sir Derek Jacobi as the Master was a major boon until it was established that this was not really the Master but really an android facsimile… very odd. The story involved a rather reluctant and somewhat petulant and full of himself Doctor saving a small English village from the invasion of a reptilian race known as the Shalka. Nearly the entire village is struck by petrifying fear of the invaders except for a strong-willed barmaid named Allison. The reliance on a bug-eyed menace must have been a safe choice at the time, but it is still very similar in many ways to the 2005 opener of the new Doctor Who series, ‘Rose.’

Bereft of his usual gadgets, the Doctor nevertheless used a cellular phone via which he could command the TARDIS remotely, something that was quite clever if very limiting as it made the adventure firmly a product of the modern world rather than a timeless adventure. There were numerous missed opportunities in the animated adventure but it is still a rather fun piece of entertainment. A six part story, the web transmitted episodes evoked that long lost experience of watching Doctor Who on a weekly basis. Keeping in mind that the series had been off the air since 1989, a weekly Doctor Who program of any kind, even animated and on the net, was something to be thankful for.

While news of a sequel production or continuation of this new Doctor’s journeys through time and space failed to surface, there was another shoe left to drop.

A scant two months after it was announced, the wind from this new BBCi Doctor Who project was stolen by major news. Perhaps the biggest oddity of this Ninth Doctor was that no sooner had Richard E Grant been announced as the ‘official’ new Doctor Who than the BBC had granted Russell T Davies the go-ahead to produce a new televised series that would bear no relation to Scream of the Shalka at all. In a way this was akin to two holiday presents at once for Whovians worldwide but it also left many confused at what had just happened. It would take two long years for those questions to be answered and by then the animated feature had become a distant memory.

In the years since the Scream of the Shalka cartoon screened online, it has been theorized off-screen that this Ninth Doctor was one of three possible paths that the Doctor could have taken (the other two being the 2005 televised version and the spoof version played by Rowan Atkinson). It has since been accepted that the Richard E Grant Doctor doesn’t ‘count,’ but given that the latest series under Steven Moffat’s reign has been referred to as a brand new program… it may not be as throw-away as many have grown to believe.

Hamlet no more (or at least not for David)

From BBC News
Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Actor David Tennant will not be returning to play Hamlet “before Christmas” because of a back injury, the Royal Shakespeare Company says.

The 37-year-old, who is scheduled to have an operation for a slipped disc on Thursday, said his enforced absence was “hugely disappointing”.

His understudy Edward Bennett, who received standing ovations on Monday and Tuesday, will continue to stand in.

Tennant’s run as Hamlet at the Novello Theatre is due to finish on 10 January.

He played Hamlet 60 times in Stratford-upon-Avon in the summer ahead of the production’s London transfer.

Word is that not only is Tennant’s understudy Edward Bennet a smash hit in the role (described by critics as a more traditional take on the play in comparison to Tennant’s TV acting-style) but this may also impact the filming of the coming Dr. Who specials scheduled for the holidays. The Christmas Special, entitled the Next Doctor, is already in the can but the subsequent specials are now in jeopardy as Tennant heals from back surgery.

Not to be cold, but is it time already for a new leading man in Dr. Who?

Doctor Who- Fires of Pompeii

Doctor Who- Series Four- Episode Two

The Fires of Pompeii

The second episode of the ‘light-hearted’ fourth season of Doctor Who (RTD) is once again annoyingly close to being almost watchable.

A brilliantly shot episode on Rome‘s Cinecittà studios, it is the single episode shot outside of the English shores in this extremely expensive revival series… and it shows. The sets are great, the location work is stunning and even the premise (aliens cause the destruction of Pompeii) is a smart one. So where does this show go wrong?

The Doctor and Donna arrive in ancient Rome in much the same way they enter any situation, with exclamation marks.

Donna-”Look at me! I’m in ancient Rome!”
Doctor-”I know! Isn’t it great!?”
Donna-”It IS! I’m enjoying myself!”
Doctor-”We are BOTH enjoying ourselves! This is good!-Being in ancient Rome, I mean!”

… etc.

The writing takes a further downward spiral with the lazy writing convention that gets worse each time it gets explained, the translation circuit. I’ve been watching the program since I discovered that I’m awkward around girls, so I know that we as an audience are ‘hearing’ English no matter where the Doctor goes. I never really thought much of it and was thankful that the show cared little for it as well. Then in walks the new program and explains that the TARDIS’ ‘telepathic translation circuits’ allow the crew to hear English. Not just English, mind you, but London-accented suburban English. Since the introduction of Rose, the program has been taken from the RADA-class English accents and dropped head first into the exact same ‘do you ‘ave any bruvvers?’ London accent. Even in ancient Rome, it is inescapable.

The plot involving a cult of mystics that inhale volcanic ash that is actually microbes of alien life called the Pyrovale is pretty clever. The special effects including the interior of Vesuvius and the Pyrovile themselves are very nicely done. The double psychic duel over the Doctor’s secrets was also an interesting change of pace (but I always enjoy seeing the Doctor out of his depths).

Yet all in all… the episode is terrible.

(I’ve also read that the Pyrovile are in the story at RTD’s insistence which makes me wonder what the original script was like).

Aside from the aforementioned accents problem and the characters busy explaining who they are and how they feel in every scene, the real problem with this one is the ending. Essentially, this episode was constructed to put the Doctor in a moral dilemma where he realizes that he has to choose not to interfere with what he describes as a ‘fixed point in history.’ Donna pleads with him to do otherwise, but he stands back to let Vesuvius erupt as it was destined to. In a perfect world, this would be where the episode ended.

But, oh no.

The TARDIS returns and rescues the family of four that have stumbled through the plot as a mixture of exposition and comic relief. Why save only four people? Doesn’t that upset history? It gets worse. The episode ends with the family living the high life in Rome proper (how they did this I have no idea) and paying homage to sculptures of Donna and the Doctor as their patron Gods.

Yikes.

My only hope is that this pays off in a later story.

But my hopes are low.

-Doctor Who-’Fires of Pompeii’ premieres on the US Sci-Fi Channel this Friday Night-

Doctor Who- Series 4 footage

After the start of Doctor Who season 4 tonight, you can bet that Whovians are all aflutter about their favorite Timelord. But what’s a new season without the old monsters?

Caught in the act, here’s on the spot footage of Daleks in series 4. In the footage we see Daleks rounding up humans on a contemporary London street.

Watch it while it lasts…

To add to the excitement, here is a trailer video featuring dual-weaponed Daleks, the Ood and the Sontarans:

One last vid for the night, an exclusive documentary on the Adipose from the series 4 opener ‘Partners in Crime.’

Doctor Who Season 4 script leak

For what it’s worth, news from the dubious Sun regarding a script leak for the 4th series of Doctor Who with David Tennant and Catherine Tate:

“[the script sees] the Doctor and sidekick Donna Noble – played by Catherine Tate – ending up in the 51st Century in a giant library, “a whole planet of books”, that’s been abandoned for 100 years.

Ironically the library contains many books that give away SPOILERS about people’s life stories.

ER star Alex Kingston also stars as an astronaut-cum-archaeologist called Professor River Song. The library is full of sinister things such as dead bodies, “data ghosts”, the Suit Creature and the dreaded Vashta Nerada “piranhas of the air – shadows that melt the flesh”.

In later scenes, the Doc and Donna get separated and she ends up in a mysterious hospital where she meets another Doctor – Doctor Moon.

All the while she is trying to work out what is going on and what has happened to her Doctor.

New Dr. Who producer announced

I can’t believe I missed this, but a new producer for the hit BBC Wales sci-fi series has been chosen to take over from Russel T Davis in the program’s fifth series.

Piers Wenger will work on the fifth series of Doctor Who and also take over as head of BBC Wales drama in January 2009 when current boss Julie Gardner steps down, MediaGuardian can reveal.

A BBC spokeswoman said no final decision had yet been made on Davies’ role on the show from 2009.Davies and Gardener will continue to work on Doctor Who for the next 18 months, overseeing the fourth series which is currently in production and is due to air from the spring of next year, as well as three specials for broadcast in 2009.

Gardener will also continue to executive produce the next runs of Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures before she leaves BBC Wales.

Full details here.

Doctor Who Last of the Timelords trailer

Doctor Who episode 3.13 ‘Last of the Timelords’ trailer

With the Doctor captured and humanity enslaved, the Master now rules the Earth. As a new Time Lord empire dawns, it’s up to Martha Jones to save the Earth in the last part of the third season finale.

… this Saturday.

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Top Master stories at Amazon:
Doctor Who – Logopolis (Episode 116)
Doctor Who – Castrovalva (Episode 117)
Doctor Who – The Mark of the Rani (Episode 140)
Doctor Who – Survival (Episode 159)

Doctor Who Season 3 episode 12

What is he looking for, dignity?

Why did I start reviewing this series?Now I have to come up with things to say about this episode, running the risk of actually remembering 45 painful minutes that will no longer innocently lie in the land of ‘what could be’ as I awaited the 2nd part of the 3 part season finale.

Firstly, let me return John Simm into the hero Sam from the incredible series Life on Mars.

There… that’s better. I like that show. Best UK TV program I’d seen in ages. Season 2 will be airing on BBC America this summer they say.

Oh right… I have this episode Doctor Who to review.

12. The Sound of Drums

Part 2 of the 3 parter finale begins with our heroes warping into view via an escape that we then flashback to. The first sign that this is going to be a rough ride. Showing the audience the result of an event that you immediately flashback to… sigh.

We are then thrust into the arms of John Simm. When I first heard that Simm was appearing in the series, I was very excited. A capable actor, he would surely bring out the best in Tennant and the show in general. How wrong I was. Simm delivers… how can I put this… a terrible performances designed, so it seems, as a send-up to Tennant‘s ‘whee look at me!!!’ Doctor.

The Master implants the bass line to the Doctor Who theme tune into every cellular phone to hypnotize the planet and aquire the position of British Prime Minister.

That is what he did, right?

John Simm then mistakes the role of the Master for Jim Carey impersonator and prances like a fool uttering lines of dialogue that make me dislike him more with every scene he is in.

This should not happen.

As I explained earlier, I like John Simm a lot.

But the script, direction, editing and camera angles are so dire and painful that his portrayal of the Master allows Eric Roberts’ performance in the forgettable Fox TV Movie to climb up a rank from it’s former ‘worst Master ever’ position.

The plot is almost entirely a ‘wait until next week’ affair with aliens that are not explained, a massive McGuffin called the paradox machine that is not explained and a gigantic cliff hanger that can only be resolved with the dreaded ‘magic button press’ that we as an audience have come to expect from the new Doctor Who program.

The conclusion involves an artificially aged Doctor which is a very interesting idea (so interesting that RTD nicked it from the Classic Series episode the Leisure Hive), an unexplained alien invasion (what do you think is inside the spheres??), and a villain taking the Doctor‘s place as the ‘waltzing victor.’

Y’know what I mean… the scenes where Tennant leisurely waltzes around the room while anyone could stop him but instead they all wait for him to finish talking. In this instance it was Simm as the Master who casually provided exposition and ordered the decimation of the entire human race while no one raised a finger to stop him. Saying that his ‘drum machine’ hypnotic tech stopped anyone from standing in his way is defeated by the hordes of humans on the planet running in fear and Martha who has no real reason to not be enthralled by the Master defiantly declaring that she will stop him.

Let me pause to say that I thought I was having a very bad trip when ‘Voodoo Child’ boomed out of my speakers and the heavens tore open. I understand RTD had to have three extra pairs of underwear on hand in the studio to contain his glee from this moment.

I experienced what survivors of disasters must call trauma.

The only real pay off to this episode is, of course, lovely Martha. Next week it looks like her show which I am in full approval of. Yet I smell a ‘tragic finale’ where her magic button press will eliminate her ever meeting the Doctor and the entire season.

I should be so lucky to have forgotten this season. It began quite well and had glimmers of goodness, but in the end it’s another bead in Russel T Davies’ necklace of missed opportunities.

I dislike being so negative about this series. I really enjoy Doctor Who, but this program is just… not Doctor Who.

The series I watched before 2005 was silly and oftentimes just plain boring (I use many Peter Davison tapes to cure my insomnia when I have it) but it never made me sigh with sadness thinking ‘why did they do that??’ while watching it.

I maintain that it can be saved by a new production team and from the frenzied pace and energy of this week’s half-baked attempt at story telling, I can only hope that Russel T Davies is done with Doctor Who and someone else can take over.

But then I thought I’d enjoy tonight’s episode, so I better not bank too much on that hope.

So while we wait a week for the finale, I’d like to open it up to the readers:

What is inside the spheres?

The Master offers a hint that if the Doctor knew, it would surely break his hearts, so… what is it?

1. The Timelords
2. The Daleks
3. The people from the parallel world last seen in Doomsday
4. The Futurekind
5. Earthlings from the future on their way to Utopia
6. Other (come on, give me a clue!)

My vote is for 3 because of the constant build up this season of Rose (every episode the Doctor harps on her and Martha pouts) and the irony that Martha saves the day and as a bi-product never meets the Doctor thanks to the Paradox Machine.

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Human Nature (pt. 1)

Part one of Paul Cornell‘s two part story featuring the Doctor hiding out in a completely invented persona during World War One on Earth.

I have to wonder about the timing as this is Memorial Day Weekend. The novel was very anti-war and in the televised version we have the Doctor’s  references to a ‘dark shadow’ moving across the planet. So the sentiment of the book is echoed on TV. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a pacifist by nature, but how does the average family accept this during a time when we are asked to ‘support our troops’?

It’s a stunning tale with an amazing cast and top notch performances all round. Even some genuinely spooky moments! Just like Doctor Who of the good old days!

In any case, there are lots of weird little nods and winks to the fans this time around. There are even references The Doctor’s parents as being Varity (Lambert) and Sydney (Newman), the creators of Doctor Who in 1963.

Can YOU spot the classic Doctors in his diary?

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