Tom Baker famously was
sent the scripts for some Big Finish audios and then put them in the trash can
as he didn’t wish to participate in something he thought silly. He would later regret this and come to join
the Big Finish family, but he was not the only one. This was the case for Janet Fielding, but luckily
when the New Series came back she immediately asked to have one audio drama
which of course they obliged by making her grand return The Gathering the final part in the Cyberman trilogy and outside of
a dramatic ending where she and the Doctor get to reflect on their time
together which is great, she barely does anything in this story. It’s actually a waste of a great actress and
honestly a matured character as on television she was very much the mouth on
legs, here she is subdued. This is
really the story of Katherine Chambers and how she didn’t get the end of The Reaping and is trying to create the
Cybermen on Earth, by converting her paralyzed brother in the name of
love. Jane Perry is still great as the
character, especially now that she is older, she gets to feel the grief of her
dying brother and realizes early on that she is in too deep.
Peter Davison is great as
the Doctor and he works extremely well off Janet Fielding, especially when they
are reunited. It’s this great comedy
moment with Tegan’s reaction being extremely priceless as looking back on it
they really didn’t leaved each other on the best of terms in Resurrection of the Daleks and here we
get the fallout from that experience.
Tegan has moved on from the Doctor and doesn’t regret the decision. While her ex-boyfriend thinks she was in love
with the Doctor, she of course wasn’t and was just having her eyes opened to
the joys of life. Their conversation at
the end of the story is great as they actually have resolution to their characters
even though the Fifth Doctor in this story is honestly a wet noodle. He is really just the Doctor we saw on
television which really doesn’t work in a story that needs him to be strong to
get through to Kathy who just realizes “wait I’ve been a total idiot about
things and have to stop what I’m doing before I accidentally destroy the
world”.
There are however some
great things to enjoy in this story as you have to play spot the connection to The Reaping and The Harvest. It is implied
that Nathan became the Cybermen seen in The
Harvest and we get to see the origins of the System which is actually a
human interface. That’s actually a
pretty good idea along with having parallel opening scenes at the Gogglebox
about wanting to visit some ice caves, but that really isn’t much to see when
you have a story that needs concluding.
To summarize, The Gathering at best is a mediocre
story with the potential to actually be a great one. There is only one Cyberman in it and it isn’t
the actual villain of the story, just a side character and while the fourth
part tries making up for it, the case isn’t really helped. The return of Tegan really should have been
done with a better story with something for the Australian mouth on legs to
actually accomplish outside of a brain tumor and nice final words. 55/100
No comments:
Post a Comment