Doctor Who Paul McGann returns in Dark Eyes 2

Building off the stunning Dark Eyes in which a troubled and battle-scarred Eighth Doctor sought revenge only to find himself a pawn in a much larger scheme, Dark Eyes 2 is full of surprises and returning characters (such as the excellent Alex Macqueen as the Master (uh… spoiler alert).

Official Synopsis

When the Doctor defeated the Dalek Time Controller and its Time Lord ally, the timelines shifted and events changed… but the danger is far from over. And new threats to the continued safety of the universe are emerging.

Molly O’Sullivan carried on with her life as a nursing assistant in World War One. She probably thought she would never see the Doctor in his ‘Tardy-box’ again…

From the Dalek occupied planet Nixyce VII through Earth’s history and to the very edge of the universe, the Doctor’s footprints across eternity are being tracked by foes old and new. But when did it all begin and when will it end? Living his life through the complexities of time travel, the Doctor can never be quite sure if he’s experiencing his life in the most helpful order. The only certainty appears to be the advance of the powers of evil and the oncoming threat of a fight to the death against forces that would destroy everything the Doctor holds dear.

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The return of the Eighth Doctor Who?

Back in 1989, Doctor Who died an awkward silent death on TV. A new series was planned with returning monsters and a new companion, but the program just dispeared. In 1996, a TV Movie closed the era of the Seventh Doctor Who played by Sylvester McCoy and introduced an Eighth Doctor who would echo some of the program’s past while paving the way for a big bright future. Unfortunately, that did not happen as the project was less successful than was hoped for.

The elusive and obscure Eighth Doctor Who, Paul McGann in the 1996 TV Movie

Since then, there have been comic strips, original novels and Paul McGann has played the Doctor in over 60 audio adventures released by Big Finish, earning him the rank of one of the most popular of the ‘classic’ Doctors. When the program returned in 2005 it was still a bit unclear if it was connected to the previous 1963-1989, 1996 one. As the years progressed the connection between the two was cemented several times over. Yet… the Eighth Doctor remains the only incarnation to not have a regeneration story.

That’s right, due to the fact that the Ninth Doctor’s beginnings are off-screen previous to 2005’s Rose, fans have never gotten a final adventure for the Eighth Doctor. Now, there are some rumblings that situation may change.

The Eighth Doctor Who as he appears ‘now,’ with new sonic screwdriver and costume

Via BleedingCool

I’ve got it on very good authority that eighth Doctor Paul McGann has filmed something for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary, but haven’t been able to verify exactly what.

Indeed, there are two particularly exciting possibilities, and it could actually be both. Or neither.

So, for one thing, I’ve heard repeated, low-level talk that all of the Doctors* will make some kind of appearance in the main 50th episode. I’m not taking it for granted, but if it did happen, this may have required some new filming from McGann.

Or maybe it didn’t, because… well, I was first told months and months and months ago of one way that old Doctors would appear in the episode that wouldn’t require any new filming on their part or the use of any old footage. More on that later at a later time, I think…

Concerning another McGann prospect – and this is the more interesting possibility, I think – I did, some time ago, get a tip-off that the actor will appear in a minisode prologue to the 50th special, and that this little film would feature his regeneration into John Hurt’s form. The idea, I heard, was for this to drop sometime in early November, either on TV, in cinemas or on the BBC website. Or all of the above.

At the time, I was sceptical, but more information has come to light recently which firms up McGann’s involvement in… something. And that something could very well be the minisode.

I’ll keep digging.

Alongside Colin Baker, Paul McGann is one of the Doctors most deserving more attention and respect. Sadly, since the TV Movie he has had no communication from the BBC, Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat. It would be so rewarding to see McGann finally get some recognition.

Retrospective on the 1996 TV Movie

It would also be interesting to see the connection between the Eighth and Unknown Doctor played by John Hurt.

Doctor Who Big Finish- The Creed of Kromon

‘The Creed of Kromon’

Story 053
By Philip Martin, Directed by Gary Russell
Released January 2004
“I saw and felt enough. I glimpsed the soul of the Kromon. It was like a vision of a pit of deepest hell.”

The Doctor and Charley find themselves in the Interzone, a connected system of spheres ruled over by an entity known as Kro’Ka. Forced through a series of tests and tirtured by their memories, the Kro’Ka learns of the Doctor’s origins and is intrigued by the notion of travel outside of its small universe. It allows the pair of travelers safe passage through the Interzone, but is clearly watching them carefully, as a scientists observes an experiment.

In the vast wasteland of Eutermes, the Doctor and Charley meet C’rizz, a heart-broken man living in a society ruled over by massive insect-like creatures. Every inhabitant has a role, a purpose, and lives out a very limited lifespan in their tiny world. C’rizz was intended to be a member of the royal class, a collaborator with the Kromon over his people, but found himself exiled when the mind-control process failed on him. A strange liquid, ingested during a ceremony, failed to work on him, but transformed his lover L’da into a zombie.

The Doctor is anxious to find his TARDIS, but is driven to confront the Kromon and end their wicked regime.

I have often viewed Philip Martin as a writer of untapped potential. Creator of the post-modern program ‘Gangsters,’ (which starred the excellent Maurice Colbourne, who later turned up as Lytton in a pair of Doctor Who stories) he is the author of the Doctor Who adventures Vengeance On Varos and Mindwarp, two of the memorable TV stories starring Colin Baker. Both stories are very traditional in structure in that they feature the Doctor rebelling against systems of control and restriction. The Creed of Kromon continues this trend with the Doctor acting as one man in the face of an entire culture ruled over by the the Kromon.

Ultimately Creed of the Kromon is a rather dull story with very little to offer. This is especially disappointing after the spectacular ‘Scherzo’ just prior to this one. The landscape and world that the story is set in is very interesting and it is of course refreshing to have an alien companion for once, but all of the development that the Doctor and Charley have endured over the course of the previous tales has somehow evaporated, leaving them stock characters with little to say to each other.

C’rizz, on the other hand, receives great heaping loads of development. Teaming up with the Doctor and Charley, he tries to overthrow the Kromon who are cross-breeding with C’rizz’s people through genetic manipulation. Charley is saved from being assigned as breeding stock, but L’da has been transformed into a monstrosity pumping out hatchlings. Horrified, C’rizz grants her a merciful death. However, the experience leaves him a broken man who craves death and oblivion for his actions.

With the Doctor’s help, C’rizz overcomes his grief and takes down the Kromon, a combination of an evil monster and a corporation, giving freedom back to the population. The Doctor and Charley are allowed to continue their travels through the Interzone, this time with C’rizz who is interested in uncovering the truth behind his world and how the Kromon took control.

A tremendously traditional story, The Creed of Kromon is by the numbers Doctor Who with very few twists including the new dimensional setting and a new companion. The loss of the TARDIS and the immense power of the Kro’ka are intriguing and open up some new possibilities, but the end result is rather blandIn the end, I found myself struggling to maintain interest.

The Creed of Kromon can be purchased from Big Finish and from local retailers such as Mike’s Comics.

Doctor Who Big Finish- Scherzo

‘Scherzo’

Story 052
Written by Robert Shearman, Directed by Gary Russell
Release date: December 2003
“What good is being a Lord of Time in a realm where there is no time?”

Exiled in the Divergent Universe, the Doctor discovers to his horror that he is in a realm without time as he knows it. This is interesting as it makes the limitations of the Time Lords more implicit. As the Doctor writhes in agony, the TARDIS is reduced to ash before his eyes. Ironically, it is Charey who helps him through the experience, her reluctance to back down before a challenge and her undying love for her friend assists her in being strong enough to survive.

Part of the appeal for me of the Eighth Doctor audio adventures has been their innovation. Of all the audios, they have had the unique opportunity to chart new realms, unrestricted by continuity and mythology as seen on TV. His first era of stories was a mixture of traditional and bizarre, granting listeners a kind of nostalgic hint of the Graham Williams era along with some new ideas. The step into another universe where reality is entirely different adds a new spin… one that gets explored in great detail in Robert Shearman’s Scherzo.

To this point, the Doctor had been portrayed as an adventurous romantic with a touch of mania. In Scherzo, new facets are added and we see that he is a very very strange man. In the white void outside of the TARDIS, the Doctor cannot sense anything. The world around him is a blank slate. For Charley, however, her senses are filling in the gaps, supplying sounds, tastes, smells and even textures where there are none. Charley is overcome, but the Doctor is detached and alien, a distant stranger compared to the man that she had grown to love.

This is part of the genius of Big Finish, the transition from romance to alienation is of course the path that a relationship with the Doctor would take. It’s absolutely stunning to hear Charley realize that she has sacrificed everything that she knows for someone who ultimately rejects her, not out of callousness but out of his nature. The Doctor simply cannot love in the same way that a human being can. And like his being a Time Lord, a lack of compassion and intimacy is also a handicap for the Doctor.

Realizing that without the TARDIS, the Doctor and Charley are both going to die in a universe they should not even exist in. His act of bravery now a hollow gesture, the Doctor is furious and hurt, but also feeling new emotions that confuse him and make him more lost than his blindness caused by their surroundings.

Scherzo is a character piece, a wonderful and brilliant examination of the Doctor and what he relies on to exist. Shearman’s script consists mainly of Charley and the Doctor walking about in a circle, awkwardly trying to reach closure on their relationship, unable to make any real connection. Their only company is a half-mocking echo of their words played back at them. A disembodied entity has been attempting to communicate with them through sound, relying on the intonations in their words. It’s an interesting correlation to the Doctor and Charley’s lack of empathy.

For anyone thinking that this must be the most boring story ever, four episodes of two characters flapping gums in a void, I can sympathize. However, Scherzo is absolutely amazing. Their senses dwindling one by one, the travelers walk in a circle endlessly encountering a cadaver to give them sustenance, each time evolving more until they find that they are feeding off of a corpse in Charley’s image.

The pinnacle of the adventure is likely the moment when the Doctor and Charley find that they have been holding hands for so long that their flesh has become fused. At the Doctor’s suggestion, they push further and merge fully, becoming one being.

The start of what should have been one of the most amazing string of stories ever, Scherzo needs to be heard to be believed.

Scherzo can be purchased from Big Finish and from local retailers such as Mike’s Comics.

Doctor Who Big Finish- Neverland

Neverland

Story 033
By Alan Barnes
Release date: July 2002

“Doctor… of all the countless billions people in the whole of space and time, why did it have to be you?”

Desperate to protect his friend Charley, the Doctor has been evading fate, a fleet of TARDISes on his heels. But finally his debt has to be paid and the price is big. All of the Big Finish stories for the Eighth Doctor have been building to something… and this is only the first chapter.

The web of time is stretched thin to accommodate for Charley being rescued from her fated death on the R-101. The President of Gallifrey, Romana, must bring the Doctor in and not only make him face up to his actions but solve a problem that only he can unravel, anti-time. The fabled realm of anti-time is shrouded in mystery and myth, a forbidden reality that the great Rassilon had surveyed and cut off before the birth of the Time Lords. Anti-time is ‘leaking’ into reality, using Charley as a conduit. In order to stop the impending disaster, the Time Lords must journey to the world of anti-time and find the source of the emissions then cut it off. In their mission, the truth of anti-time and Rassilon is revealed as far more disturbing than the Doctor or Romana could imagine.

There’s a lot of mythology in Neverland, but it’s all played out very well. Whole heaps of history and alternate futures are explored which, handled poorly, would bore the listener to tears but the lovely Alan Barnes makes it all as massively important as it needs to be.

Rassilon is played by the sumptuously-voiced Don Warrington (seen briefly in Doctor Who as the President of Great Britain in Rise of the Cybermen). A character of great importance from his first mention in The Deadly Assassin to the frothingly mad version seen in The End of Time, Rassilon is the creator of Time Lord society. He is also the greatest criminal who has ever lived as he has made himself a god of all creation, existence and possibility. Think of a mobster with the ultimate nullifier from Fantastic Four and you’re on the right track.

Neverland presents the listener with a realm of anti-time which is short-hand for evil-land. Everything that is in it is wrong and a threat to our world. What’s worse, Gallifrey has been using it as the dumping ground for undesirables and then erasing the event from history. This allows even Romana to commit horrendous acts by sending fellow Time Lords into the ‘neverland’ without ever remembering that she did so. Creepy stuff.

But the heart of this story is the budding never-to-be romance between the Doctor and Charley. Both Paul McGann and India Fisher have accomplished what no one in Doctor Who had before. With only one TV appearance to his credit, McGann fleshed out his incarnation of the Doctor with Fisher who provided his first ‘real’ companion. The pair are magnificent and Neveralnd puts their chemistry to the test.

Paul McGann and India Fisher

The Doctor and Charley Pollard have become close friends, the best of friends in fact. The relationship between them becomes romantic in this story but not because of any ‘hanky panky’ but on account of them admitting their long held love for each other. It’s marvelously handled and I challenge the butchest of listeners to claim that he didn’t get a bit teary as the Doctor prepares to sacrifice everything for Charley, but… it’s all a bit much. The emotions become a little over-blown in my opinion, but the material is so strong that I give it a pass. A LOT of work went into this set of stories and it all led to this point, where the Doctor and Charley come clean with each other and it is so honest that it almost feels like as listeners we’re intruding.

Because a certain writer/producer decided to explore the notion of the ‘Doctor in Love,’ I can compare the Eighth Doctor/Charley relationship to the Tenth Doctor and Rose (which obviously steals big from this material). It’s not an idea that I’m interested in exploring, but if you had to, Sir Alan Barnes is your man. The pathos and angst are all there but so too is the Doctor’s alien-ness, his other-ness that makes the mere act of being in love equal to a human being being experiencing zero gravity. He doesn’t know what it is or what to do with it. Later stories explored where this notion would go in the end, but that’s for a different time.

Throughout the Eighth Doctor’s adventures (and even in the past Doctor’s stories released during that period), the villainous Zagreus was mentioned over and over. In Neverland, the Doctor dismisses it as a boogeyman created to get children to behave. Zagreus, along with key entries in the black scrolls of Rassilon (this story is really concerned with continuity and fan knowledge) is a myth created by the denizens of anti-time in order to lure the Time Lords into their realm. As with most Doctor Who stories of old, it’s all an elaborate trap, but the punch-line is saved for the last line of dialog… which is also a tale for another time.

Neverland is a massive story of epic proportions that attempts to accomplish so much and wrap continuity into the bargain as well. The result is uneven with parts jammed with techno-babble and other moments over-flowing with emotion. I want to enjoy Neverland, but it’s just a bit too much for me in the end.

Neverland can be purchased from Big Finish.

Doctor Who jigsaw – Spearhead 1998

One of the most iconic monsters of Doctor Who, the Autons accompanied the arrival of the Third Doctor, the first colour story and the introduction of the Master. Revived in 2005, the Autons were again used as a touchstone to the classic program to connect viewers to the new era with Chris Eccleston.

Plastic automatons guided by the formless Nestene Consciousness, the Autons were the unstoppable vanguard of the alien invasion, using plastics to construct a host body. Deriving influences from Quatermass II, Lovecraft and more, the Autons remain one of the most popular and downright creepy of Doctor Who monsters.

The interactive puzzle below features an encounter between the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann, and the Autons set in 1998 (possibly set in the abandoned TV series following the 1996 TV Movie).
‘Via Tardisnewsroom:

I really am starting to get hooked on these. This one took me about 11 minutes, I’m sure others can beat my time.

Click here to begin!

Doctor Who Big Finish- Embrace the Darkness

Embrace the Darkness

“We may have solved the mystery of the Cimmerian System, but it very much looks as if that information is going to die with us.”

Story 31
Written by Nicholas Briggs
Released April 2002

A planet plunged in perpetual darkness, Cimmeria IV is also a treasure trove of rare minerals, something that the Earth Empire is in dire need of. A small group of company employees; the garrulous chief Orllensa and chummy draughts enthusiasts Ferras and Haliard are hard at work on a survey before the process of planting devices designed to illuminate the planet can begin. Suddenly they are assaulted by an alien life form and dropped into total darkness. Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor and Charley witness the death of the Cimmeran System’s sun in reverse. Looking to uncover the mystery, the travelers become involved in the event. Nothing much is known about the system which greatly intrigues the Doctor who is always hungry for knowledge.

The TARDIS is intercepted by the robotic rescue servant ROSM which is en route to rescue the survey team. ROSM identifies Charley as a threat due to her being from another era and the Timelord has to embark on some quick thinking to save his companion’s life, only to lose her in an escape pod also set to the base below. Once inside the base, Charley encounters Orllensa and Ferras (Halliard has run off mad somewhere). She is horrified to discover that their eyes have been removed.

The Doctor struggles to get ROSM to understand that he and Charley are not threats with little success due to the robot’s restrictive programming. Charley meets one of the Cimmerians and manages to communicate with it, finding that no harm was intended when it he removed the survey team’s eyes. It was attempting to hide them in the darkness from an unclear threat. Even though their intentions are benign, the Cimmerians’ intervention causes physical pain for the human members of the team and numerous problems in ROSM’s logic circuits. As Orllensa and Ferras become more terrified, ROSM loses touch with reality and a swarm of more Cimmerians are on their way. Desperate for a solution, the Doctor attempts to remotely activate the devices on the planet surface that will push the Cimmerians away. Unfortunately, the Doctor’s plan is possibly the worst possible course of action.

Written by the impeccable Nicholas Briggs, I quite enjoy Embrace the Darkness but have to admit that it requires listening sessions separated by at least a day. This is due to the repetition of the phrase ’embrace the darkness,’ the limited dialog of the base crew and the annoying sound of the Cimmerians doing… whatever it is they do. After an impressive opener, for much of part two it seems that the story has stalled and is in no hope of getting started again. The Doctor argues with ROSM, Orllensa acts like a bitch and Ferras acts like a goof or bursts into tears about losing his eyes… then some weird sound effects occur. It’s frustrating that these moments become so boring because with some proper editing Embrace the Darkness could be a real stunner. It just seems like several characters are on train tracks that lead irrevocably to and from the same points.

That said, there are several bright points. The guest actors are very good, if Nicola Boyce as Orllensa gets more than a little irritating at times. McGann is charming, witty, brilliant and very compassionate while Charley is her usual lovely self. The ideas behind Embrace the Darkness are terribly interesting and the mood very evocative. The soundscapes crafted by the Big Finish crew are very effective from the sounds of the various mechanoids to the simple audio of conversation in a hallway. Like many of the McGann stories, Embrace the Darkness has an unusual blend of comedy and drama reminding me again of the best stories of the Graham Williams era. Another enjoyable adventure of the Eight Doctor, I recommend Embrace the Darkness, but with the advice to not listen to it all in one sitting.

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Doctor Who- Embrace the Darkness can be ordered directly online from Big Finish Productions and from local retailers such as Mike’s Comics.

Doctor Who Big Finish- Invaders From Mars

Invaders From Mars

“My mother taught me two important lessons in life; never wash taffeta with cotton and never put all my eggs in one basket. I must say that the latter has proven to be of most use to me.”
Story 28
Written by Mark Gatiss
Released January 2002

For his first series, McGann traveled to the past and saved Charley Pollard from the doomed airship the R-101, battled with the Cybermen, saw the last days of Venice and even met the Brigadier. It struck me recently that the first two ‘series’ of McGann on Big Finish are generally similar to series 15 and 16 with the variations in genre, outlandish situations and witty dialog. It’s a pleasant change from the grim NA McCoy era and also provide some much-needed depth and character to the Eighth Doctor who was only on screen for a portion of the 1996 TV Movie. A reckless romantic bubbling with intelligence, this new Doctor strikes me as just what the BBC Wales series attempted to portray in their 10th Doctor, an incarnation that never really worked for me. The second series opener for Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor is a fanciful and imaginative ‘romp’ in the comedic vein of the Graham Williams era.

Set on Halloween 1938, Invaders from Mars is a dyed in the wool radio science fiction yarn complete with dramatic explosions of horns braking up the scene transitions and fast-talking caricatures more at home in a Dick Tracy comic strip. A pair of two such characters are attempting to sell alien weaponry on the black market only to find that they have been rumbled by gumshoe JC Halliday. Halliday gets zapped for his troubles, leaving quite a mystery for the Doctor and Charley who stumble upon the crime scene. A search for clues leads the Doctor to Halliday’s office where, after meeting a leggy blond with the unlikely name of Glory Bee, he takes on the role of hard-boiled detective. Glory Bee is desperate to find her uncle, an atomic scientist. The Doctor senses an adventure and is eager to take part. When he catches a radio broadcast of the War of the Worlds, all of the pieces start to fall together for him, and he couldn’t be more pleased. As he performs the legendary broadcast, Orson Welles is unaware that his transmission contains secret coded signals and that a genuine alien arrival is underway.

Spaced stalwarts Jessica Stevenson and Simon Pegg are on hand and offer their charismatic vocal talents to perform Don Chaney and Glory Bee, a dubious femme fatale. The guest cast are quite good and the direction strong, but the mixture of drama and comedy along with the camp musical cues are a bit too much, interrupting the enjoyment of a strong series opener. Writer/actor Mark Gatiss has strong ties to pulp science fiction and the Hammer Horror franchise which shows in this story. I enjoy his material and still say that based on his acting ability in the League of Gentlemen and the short Doctor Who skit Web of Caves that he would make a perfect Doctor. Invaders from Mars thinks its funnier than it actually is, however and sometimes falls flat in the comedy department. The saving grace in this department is John Arthur as the traitorous Cosmo Devine, a character that peppers the four-parter with Oscar Wilde-like witticisms.

All the flaws aside, Invaders from Mars is a fun and light-hearted adventure with some very inspired ideas, a great cast and a thoroughly ideal setting – the ‘faked’ alien invasion scare of Halloween 1938. Some plot points continue to develop from this story based on the Doctor’s rescue of Charley from the R-101, an action that could cause havoc in the web of time, yet the Doctor adamantly refuses to accept that he cannot save just one person. The series-long thread involving Shakespeare and the alterations in the timeline is well played. Russel T Davies and Steven Moffat could both learn a few lessons from this idea.

Doctor Who – Invaders from Mars can be ordered from local retailers like  Mike’s Comics and  online from Big Finish.

Read other Big Finish reviews at the Daily P.O.P. here.