Doing a Box Set for the
Second Doctor is a bit of an oddity as there weren’t many stories that were
never made that could be done in a four disc box set with the fourth disc being
bonus features. Big Finish pulled
something weird by doing a four part story that wasn’t made and an unmade
spin-off from the time of the Second Doctor.
The four part story was the story that was originally going to be in the
spot of the first four episodes of The
War Games, Prison in Space. Prison
in Space was never made for two reason, Dick Sharples, the writer, couldn’t
finish the script on time as he was never sure if he could include Jamie and
second, the budget was running out and the ratings were falling. Luckily the scripts survived and were in the
hands of Frazer Hines so Big Finish could of course adapt it into its own
little audio drama. Simon Guerrier was
brought in to write the adaptation and he had his job really easy as the script
was a complete script and only had to have the more visual elements toned down.
The plot of Prison in Space has the Doctor, Jamie
and Zoe land on Earth in the far future where women have taken over and are
ruled under the fascist Chairman Babs played by Susan Brown. It paints a picture of society where all men are
suppressed as basic sex slaves and plain regular slaves. If a man has any desire to revolt from their
suppression they are sent to the OCSE a prison in space where men are
sent. There they will live in cells and
fed only nutrition pills. Of course the
Doctor, who cannot stand any injustice, and Jamie, who has the mindset of a
highlander, get themselves locked up in the prison while Zoe is reconditioned to
be a man-hater. As a plot Sharples is
making a statement about what happens when there isn’t a gender balance in
society. It’s a piece of absurdist
satire about the feminist movement and what could happen if it went too far
towards one gender in a highly unrealistic way.
Several scenes of the story are very much products of their time which
is especially obvious in the final scenes of Jamie giving Zoe a spanking to
break her out of her conditioning and a lot of the awkward scenes with Chairman
Babs and her cronies. Many of these
scenes come across as humorous even if they feel really awkward in context and
show really why this story couldn’t have been made on television other than the
extensive budget it would have required.
It really doesn’t know how to pace its satire which is honestly good
satire and a good thing to note, but gets muddled in execution.
Frazer Hines is of course
great at playing Jamie McCrimmon in the story even if Jamie is there for comic
relief. He really shines when he’s playing
the Doctor as if Big Finish credited Patrick Troughton to performing in the
story, you really couldn’t tell the difference between their voices. This is partially down to Lisa Bowerman being
a great director, but mainly due to the fact that Hines and Troughton were best
friends when they were making the show and kept up a healthy relationship after
they left. Hines spent so much time with
Troughton and observing his mannerisms, he has mastered an impression of
Troughton as the Doctor which can be translated into the audio medium so
well. Wendy Padbury is almost pushed
into the background in this story which is odd considering the conditioning
should be put into the forefront in the story, but it doesn’t happen until over
halfway into the story and even when it happens not much is done with it except
the spanking scene. Padbury does a good
job as one of Babs’s minions, and is really entertaining though. Susan Brown is over the top as Chairman Babs
as she is a leader who is still hard as nails but is subconsciously longs for a
relationship with a man which shouldn’t be surprising as she has really had
nobody to share her empire with. Her
assault on the Doctor at the end is hilarious in every way as you imagine
Troughton who is very childlike in his mannerisms, accosted by a women who
wants to have her way with him.
To summarize, Prison in Space is a highly underrated
story that actually has a lot of interesting ideas present but a story that
really doesn’t do well at pacing itself to tell a good story. Sharples does a lot of writing choices inherent
of a first time writer for science fiction in general, while being great at the
absurdist satire. The acting is good
even if Wendy Padbury is criminally underused in the story and some of the
scenes do come off as awkward, but I think it would be good if you gave this
one a second listen and reappraise your opinion of the story. 72/100
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