Friday, August 5, 2016

Leviathan by: Brian Finch adapted by: Paul Finch directed by: Ken Bentley: Your Time Has Come to Face the Hunter

Leviathan stars Colin Baker as the Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri with Jamie Parker as Wulfric.  It was written by Brian Finch, adapted by Paul Finch, directed by Ken Bently and released in January 2010 by Big Finish Productions.

 

Leviathan is the real oddball in the first season of the Lost Stories as it was added on to the range after the production of the other seven stories were completed and the fact that it is a script that was only ever a backup as the story would have needed a lot of money to pull off a lot of the visual effects this story actually features.  As the story is a replacement in the story for Yellow Fever and How to Cure It which never would have been made by Big Finish as it never got past the initial idea, it really works well as it does something no other Doctor Who story has done before.  Leviathan is a pseudo-historical in what can be the purest sense as the plot sees the Doctor and Peri land in the twelfth century in England where Herne the Hunter is stalking people of a village and taking away the children when it is there time.  Now this is a really good premise on its own even though it reflects The Visitation in a lot of its style and story structure of the first episode as there is advanced technology sprinkled throughout hinting at something more.  Unlike The Visitation which has a historical setting with science fiction elements, the first episode cliffhanger reveals that instead of the historical setting, this medieval village and surrounding forest and manor is on the titular Leviathan, a spaceship suspended in space and Herne is a robot which is using the children for cloning.  The twist is done brilliantly and I will say no more as to exactly where the story goes following this.

 

Colin Baker as the Doctor is once again really good in this story as he gives it his all here and the writing from the Finches actually feel a lot like the Big Finish version of the Sixth Doctor.  He is extremely caring in this story for both Peri and the people of this village even though he really should just be going right onto the next adventure.  His interactions with the Baron are great as he plays the straight man for the Baron who is a comedic fop.  The Baron has this high pitched voice which is really feminine and really comedic in the story.  Nicola Bryant as Peri gets one of her better stories as Peri actually takes a prominent role in the action here as she is trying to figure out the mystery of what Herne is doing to the teenagers and why they don’t seem to have any real families to be seen of.  The supporting cast while all at least interesting, really are kept a mystery throughout which actually works for the better in this story as a lot of the cast are young people played by adult actors.  The real conflict is the Doctor and Peri just working together to figure out the mystery which is the real appeal of the story.

 

Note must be made of the direction by Ken Bently who was brought on last minute and the music which doesn’t actually sound like the period in Part One.  Simon Robinson’s score and sound design actually feels like a score used for a historical drama as it tricks the listener into thinking that the historical setting is actually a real area.  It also knows when it is not needed to actually allow the drama of the story to sink in easily.  The writing is also interesting as Brian and Paul Finch were actually father and son respectively, and you really don’t notice it in the story.

 

To summarize, Leviathan is a great story that outclasses The Nightmare Fair and Mission to Magnus in terms of quality as although there are a few problems with the matter of the characters not really being that fleshed out and a really slow start.  Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are both great in the story and are honestly all you need to pay the price of purchase to experience the story.  90/100

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