Seven Keys to Doomsday by: Terrance Dicks directed by: John Ainsworth: A Glimpse into an Alternate

Seven Keys to Doomsday stars Trevor Martin as the Doctor, Joe Thompson as Jimmy and Charlie Hayes as Jenny featuring Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks.  It was written by Terrance Dicks, directed by John Ainsworth and released in October 2008 by Big Finish Productions.

 

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