The weirdest story of the
first season of the Lost Stories just has to be the fifth release as it was
taken from a rejected script from the Parts 9 to 12 spot of The Trial of a Time Lord which was
eventually replaced with Terror of the
Vervoids. Yes, Big Finish adapted a
story deemed by John Nathan-Turner as having less potential than Terror of the Vervoids, one of the worst
stories in the show’s history. Once the
story is actually listened to you immediately jump to the rather large
possibility that when making the decision to make Terror of the Vervoids, John Nathan-Turner was on strong
drugs. Paradise 5 is a strong story all about the futility of war and its
effect on the civilians all set within a space holiday camp. Yes, that may be a really weird setting to
set a war story, but it actually works in a perverted way because of what
holiday camps meant after World War I.
The plot involves the
Doctor and Peri wishing to go on another holiday by visiting yet another old
friend of the Doctor’s. This time it’s
economist Professor Albrecht Thompson who is working on Targos Delta which is a
planet that is covered in ticker tape, used as a hard copy for the
economy. Other than that interesting
image in the brain the Doctor and Peri find Thompson took a vacation to
Paradise 5, an exclusive resort that many have been going to as a way to get
away from the daily grind, often those who are prominent political figures or
public figures. It’s a day ending with
the letter y so the Doctor and Peri go to investigate with Peri becoming part
of the Paradise 5 staff while the Doctor works behind the scenes to figure out
what the secret is behind the Paradise Machine.
Now I’m going to have to go into spoiler territory for this one as it is
extremely important to know. The Paradise
Machine takes people’s minds and sends them to the higher dimensions, leaving
their bodies as cherubs, little servants in the backstage area of Paradise 5. They are to be servants of the Elohim, a race
of higher dimensional beings fighting a war and using these minds as soldiers,
simply getting them killed as pawns in their game. This shows just how futile war is as even if
the Doctor stops Paradise 5, the war will continue on and the Elohim will find
other soldiers to fight for them.
Colin Baker’s performance
in the final few scenes are interesting to note as it is a melancholy note on
just how corrupted paradise is almost always.
It has the Doctor even complimenting the Daleks for actually fighting
their own battles in one of the best speeches from the Sixth Doctor. Outside of that ending Colin Baker and Nicola
Bryant play their parts as old friends, having a good time investigating
Paradise 5 which is very odd for Peri and is a trait really meant for Mel. This makes sense of course because this would
have originally been Mel’s introduction.
Bryant does her best with the material, but in places it does feel a
little bit forced. The supporting cast
is really interesting as the guests just blend into one, but of course that is
the author’s intention. Helen Goldwyn
plays Stella and Bella, two identical unrelated characters who work on Paradise
5. Stella is definitely the more interesting
of the two as she begrudgingly ignores the disappearing guests on Paradise 5 while
Bella is there in the background. The
other host on the island is Lorelei played by Andree Bernard who is a
deliciously evil woman who is in cahoots with the owner of Paradise 5. The Elohim are defeated by Mr. Winterbourne a
man looking for a job played by Richard Earl and his character is there just so
we get a deus ex machina for a resolution.
The other two characters
are Gabriel and Michael played by Alexander MacQueen and James D’Arcy. They are the owners of Paradise 5, who are
providing the guests to the Elohim who are our voiceless villains of the
story. Gabriel and Michael have an
interesting relationship as while it is never stated, their actions lead me to
believe they are lovers. Gabriel is the
showman while Michael is the quiet sadist and this is really the way they can
be summed up. What is really amazing is
how well the story turned out considering that Andy Lane only had a completed
script for Part Two and storylines for Part Three and Part Four to work
with. He had to restore Part One and you
really cannot tell as it gets us right to where we need to be for Part Two to
work. He also added in more subtext about
the Elohim as in the original outline they were just another race of aliens.
To summarize, Paradise 5 is an interesting look into
what happens when John Nathan-Turner lets a better script get away for no good
reason. The acting is spot on and the
emotions of what is happening to the people who disappear and the sense that
the Doctor and Peri really didn’t help anyone who had already been turned into
a cherub. The characters are great, but
the ending isn’t and Peri has quite a few problems as her part was meant for
Mel. 85/100.
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