Having started out as producing
audio dramas based off the Bernice Summerfield novels by Virgin (Don’t worry
those books and adaptations will be reviewed here eventually), it was only
natural to set at least one story within the run of Virgin New Adventures and
lucky for us it came very early on in the range. Set between All-Consuming Fire and Blood
Harvest, The Shadow of the Scourge
sees the first performed story bringing together these three characters and the
first audio drama written by Paul Cornell.
I view Cornell as one of Virgin’s best writers as of the four novels of
his I’ve read, not a single one of them have been lacking in quality so he has
a lot to live up to.
The plot doesn’t
disappoint with the Doctor, Ace and Benny arriving at a hotel in Kent where
giant preying mantis’s from another dimension that feed off of being’s fear and
anxiety are trying to break into ours.
Already the plot is more inventive then ten or so of the Virgin novels
that supposedly come before and the opening two scenes really drag you in with
a meeting of depressed cultists bringing the titular Scourge into our dimension
totally by accident followed by the introduction to the TARDIS travelers arriving
at the most terrifying location imaginable, a triple booked convention. From there Cornell explores a lot of the more
common anxieties of people like fear of rejection, fear of poverty and just
plain fear of the unknown to a stunning degree as he pulls people apart. Based on these elements the audio drama is
perfect at representing this era of the Virgin New Adventures. As a story however it does have a few plot
failures, mainly that the ending wraps up into such a tight little bow it comes
off as contrived as the characters who had to face there fears had everything
work for them. Yes Cornell is going for
a “your fear is only as strong as you make it” and a “be honest and everything
will go your way” message, but that only happens because that’s how the Scourge
can be defeated. Cornell wrote himself
into a corner and even suggests the Scourge will try again while they are quite
utterly and completely defeated. It
would have worked so much better if things didn’t go well for just one of the
characters.
And
speaking of the characters, Cornell shows in his script just how much he
understands the main characters and their development in the Virgin New
Adventures. The Doctor here is
manipulative to the extreme as he knows what is going on and what he has to do
with the Scourge to save not just the planet, not even the universe, but our
entire dimension from them. Sylvester
McCoy proves just how good he can be as before having more than a minute of
lines, you know the situation’s stakes and he has everything under
control. So it is just amazingly sweet
to see that the Scourge have anticipated his plans and he has to
compensate. I mean the Doctor gets taken
over at the end of Part One and spends Parts Two and Three Jon Pertwee style in
a self-induced coma. Yes he is present
in these episodes, but in true Virgin fashion he spends them in the background
while Ace and Benny have to figure everything out. Benny is played by Big Finish actor and
director, Lisa Bowerman in her Doctor Who debut. This is her seventh time playing Benny as
Bowerman has just finished the first series of her own adventures. She immediately slips into the role of Benny
and knows what she has to do. She spends
most of Parts Two and Three with the Doctor in his mind where they give
references to Timewyrm: Revelation
(allowing for a creative way to change what the Doctor’s mind is like) and the
controversial ending to The Dying Days
by looking on the Eighth Doctor and Benny making some comments. Bowerman steals the show in every scene she’s
in allowing for some of the best dialogue between the Doctor and a
companion. Rounding out our main cast is
Ace who is the weakest link of the story.
Sophie Aldred is trying her hardest to be like the New Ace of the Virgin
New Adventures and she does an alright job.
The problem with Ace is that it feels like director Gary Russell, who
hated the New Ace, interfered with the already great script.
The
supporting characters are extremely varied.
First you have the villains who are truly menacing as they don’t care
what happens to humanity, but just want to eat the entirety of humanity. They are extremely creepy especially if you’ve
got a fear of bugs. The other group is
the congoers who all have some sort of emotional baggage. First is Annie Carpenter who is pregnant with
a child out of wedlock and has been scamming people into a televangelist like
system to get rick quickly. Next is
scientist Michael Pembroke who is Carpenter’s lover and a scientist who is
studying time travel and stuck in an unhappy marriage. Finally is Brian Hughes who is a
cross-stitching enthusiast who stole two thousand pounds from his organization
out of greed.
To
summarize, The Shadow of the Scourge proves
just how great the Virgin New Adventures could actually be with a thrilling
story with some thrilling characters.
While not Cornell’s best work it’s still pretty good as it tackles all
the characters except Ace well, due to some directorial interference as Gary
Russell disapproved of Ace’s new character.
It also suffers from having an ending that wraps itself up almost too
nicely in a bow causing an almost too happy ending. 87/100
No comments:
Post a Comment