Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday was the second of three stage plays to be adapted by
Big Finish Productions with the title shortened to just Seven Keys to Doomsday and it is a definite improvement over The Ultimate Adventure. The story follows quite a few of the same
story beats by having the Doctor and his companions landing on the planet Karn
where they have to find the titular keys to doomsday before the Daleks do then
get on to Skaro to defeat the Daleks.
It’s a simple plot, but it is much less cobbled together than The Ultimate Adventure and this time the
Daleks feel like a threat here as they are collecting the crystals to take over
the universe. It isn’t anything new for
the Daleks, but it does still feel like something the Daleks would do to try
and become the supreme race.
What immediately jumps
out to you about Seven Keys to Doomsday
is just how much spectacle this play actually was. The planet Karn is a hostile place, not unlike
its counterpart in The Brain of Morbius,
where there are creatures that are a cross between crabs and tarantulas, an
enormous Venus flytrap like alien a la Little
Shop of Horrors in control of the planet and of course the Dalek Emperor
from The Evil of the Daleks is
featured in Act Two. That becomes the
play’s downfall as the abundance of spectacle is what caused the stage show to
stop touring as the price of moving the set pieces became too great.
Trevor Martin plays the
Doctor in the adaptation much as he played him in the actual stage show. Martin’s Doctor is a toned down version of
William Hartnell’s Doctor, but with the major difference of having the universe’s
best interests above that of his companions.
It’s a really interesting way of portraying the Doctor and Martin really
deserves to return if Big Finish ever decide to revive the Unbound range of
adventures. While on stage he
regenerated from Jon Pertwee, in the adaptation he regenerated from Nicholas Briggs’
Doctor which may place this story into the Audio Visuals range of stories. Jimmy and Jenny, played by Joe Thompson and
Charlie Hayes, are this Doctor’s companions in this story and they are the
weakest point of the story. They’re both
one-note copies of Ian and Barbara with Jimmy being the skeptic and Jenny being
the realist in the situations. They serve
the purpose of companions admirably for the most part, but the real draw to
then is the fact that Jenny was originally played by Wendy Padbury in the
original show, but now her daughter is taking on the role.
A problem with The Ultimate Adventure that Seven Keys to Doomsday manages to avoid
is that it’s supporting cast isn’t too large so that you don’t remember who
everyone is. This supporting cast are
the Daleks who are actually a threat, and four space explorers who while
without too much in way of character, they at least feel like actual
people. Nicholas Briggs of course is
great as the Daleks as he always is.
To summarize, there
really isn’t much to say about Seven Keys
to Doomsday except that it amounts to a good story with a Doctor with the
potential to become one of the greats.
Nothing too special to see here.
65/100
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