From the worst of the
second season of the Divergent Universe Arc, we go to the absolute best of the
second season as it actually feels like there is nothing in this story that
could be done in the regular universe.
The plot sees the Doctor tricking the Kro’ka into taking them to the
administrative area of the Divergence which is its own planet connected to the
Interzone which is where the TARDIS is being held. This is Caerdroia which is at some points is
a labyrinth while at other points is a maze and is basically a parody of the
Matrix on Gallifrey as seen in The
Ultimate Foe. It is trying its
hardest to keep the Doctor and the TARDIS separated, but of course the TARDIS
is clever, it splits the Doctor into three persons based on the three aspects
of the Doctor’s personality while the Kro’ka in one last chance is trying to
bring the Doctor in to his masters and gain access to his mind. Rose’s plot and writing style allows for an
experience that can almost be described similar to the effects of a
Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster. That of
course is in a good way as the experience, much like the writings of Douglas
Adams, made me laugh out loud at several points. There are hearing gags and even a few
cleverly done sight gags and forcing Paul McGann into three very distinct
versions of the Doctor only adds to the clever dialogue and great performances.
The Doctor is split up
into, as he puts it, the Brains, the Brain-Dead, and the Manners and I could of
course go on for hours on how it is a dissection of Freud’s id, ego and
superego in many subtle ways, but that really isn’t important. What is important is that it seems Paul
McGann has finally gotten over being bored with the role and actually has a
script to sink his teeth into. From the
beginning of the story the Doctor, while not quite happy, is getting his
revenge on the Kro’ka and the Divergence by taking a nap in the Interzone in a
sequence which is just hilarious on so many levels and it brings a smile to my
face when I realize how well the team works.
By the end of Part One the Doctor has split into the three persons and
this allows McGann to pull off an incredibly layered performance. There are several points where it is the Doctor
arguing with himself which get extremely crazy as each of the Doctor’s make
good points that conflict each other.
Now you may be thinking that doesn’t make much sense and no it doesn’t,
but at the same time it sort of does. I
just don’t know how to explain it but Lloyd Rose knows exactly how to write for
the Eighth Doctor and the big shame is that this is her only audio drama, but
she has written a few Doctor Who novels which I look forward to reading.
Now let’s talk Charley
and C’rizz who are both on top form here.
Starting with India Fisher as Charley who feels for once like the
developed version of the character seen in the first two seasons of Eighth
Doctor adventures. She is very similar
to the one seen in Seasons of Fear
while here she seems to have a lot of fun teasing the Kro’ka in some hilarious
scenes. She is also paired off with C’rizz
for most of the story which helps with a lot of the character development. While it isn’t a romantic relationship there,
Charley and C’rizz are beginning to become closer friends which is really what
both the characters needed to continue with their respective character
arcs. While in Faith Stealer and The Last
we did get a lot of development with C’rizz, it often felt like it was trying
to make up for lost time while in Caerdroia
it all feels done very naturally. This
story also has C’rizz begin to come to terms with the concept of time which is
a nice way to segue into his reaction to the TARDIS at the end as yes they get
the TARDIS back and C’rizz doesn’t realize just how massive the ship actually
is and what it means for the Doctor to have it back. Conrad Westmass gives his absolute best
performance yet and it is just amazing to see C’rizz get some interesting
things to do.
Before I conclude the
review there are a few things that I have to mention that are of note. First off the sound design of the TARDIS at
the end is amazingly done as the famous hum of the control room is
missing. This signals in a clever way to
the listener that something is wrong without the Cloister Bell, that being of
course that there is no time in this universe which the TARDIS is suffering
from. Even though there isn’t time
however the Divergence have set things up as a way to imitate time as it seems
they wish for their universe to have the concept of time. In Caerdroia, there is a giant cuckoo clock
at the center which doesn’t have hands, but has a cuckoo. The area takes subtle influences from the
pasts of the characters. Signs are in
English, Gallifreyean and Eutermese. The
bureaucracy of administration reflects the experience in the Matrix from The Ultimate Foe. Even the torture of the Doctor by the Kro’ka
uses clock tower bells to imitate time as an extra taunting. It’s all done quite brilliantly by Lloyd Rose
which I just love.
To summarize, Caerdroia is a fascinating story that
continues to increase the quality of the arc leading up to what might just be a
brilliant conclusion. The story has the
best portrayal of its characters for a while and the writer is a brilliant
storyteller with some great ideas for the exploration. 100/100
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