The Sirens of Time is Big
Finish’s fifth official release and the first release in its Doctor Who Range
of Audio Dramas. It is also the first
story they did that wasn’t an adaptation of a previously released novel. So to kick of the range and really bring in a
new era during the Wilderness Years Big Finish cofounder Nicholas Briggs wrote
the inaugural story based off an unused script from a fan audio drama for the
old Audio Visuals range of stories which had a lot of the early Big Finish personnel’s
early work. Now the problem with the
Audio Visuals range is that they were famously cheap and by many were thought
to be poor in quality. So that already
makes The Sirens of Time have a few apprehensions before the audio even begins.
First let’s look at the
plot. The audio is split into four parts
and while doing the feat of uniting the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors in the
same story, they don’t actually meet up until Part Four. The other three parts are split up between
the three Doctors with Seven getting Part One, Five getting Part Two, and Six
getting Part Three. Each Doctor’s part
is pretty much a potential Part One for its own story but it is forced together
into its own story about Gallifray being in trouble because the Knights of
Velyshaa are causing time disturbances as they work for a chronovore like
entity to take over the universe. They
are mainly represented by two characters, Lyena played by Sarah Mowat who is
the current Commander and Sancroff played by Colin McIntyre who is exiled to a
planet. They are both alright for their
purposes in the story but don’t make much of an impression.
The first part is given
to Sylvester McCoy where he meets Sancroff and his prison guard Rutherly played
by Maggie Stables. The direction in this
part is a bit underwhelming as McCoy is having difficulty with the script and
getting back into the role. Part of that
is down to Briggs not knowing how to write the Seventh Doctor, doing a darker
performance akin to the Virgin New Adventures or the lighter television
performance. It’s really a mix of both
portrayals with hints of the Season 24 Doctor we know. Sancroff is also a bit boring as a character
and the only thing standing out is the frame story introducing the well-meaning
Coordinator Vansell and Maggie Stables as Rutherly.
The second part is given
to Davison and his is the most like a Doctor Who story. It involves the Doctor getting trapped on a
German submarine that is about to sink the Lusitania and the involvement in
stopping its sinking will have consequences a la the butterfly effect. Yet I don’t remember much about the
performances which doesn’t help my ranking of Davison who is pretty low on my
list.
The third part is given
to Baker and it’s definitely the most enjoyable of the first three parts. That said it’s mainly because it seems like
the part was partially written for Tom Baker and Colin Baker is still giving
his all. He really believes in this
company and knows it will go far. And into
the final part when they meet up is the most interesting parts of the story as
the quality improves even when the story is completely dull and uninteresting.
To summarize The Sirens
of Time feels a lot like it’s a company trying to find its feet and it is a
story rank with mediocrity. The acting
is all over the place with only Colin Baker and Maggie Stables giving their
best. The direction is all over the
place and the story has so much potential if the script was edited more
starting Big Finish with a whimper rather than a bang. 50/100
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