Having the feature of the
second season of the Lost Stories be Season 27 was the next logical step after
doing the original Season 23. Seasons 25
and 26 are a definite improvement and in the excellent “Endgame” documentary
shows what the stories would have originally been for Season 27. The premiere would again be written by Ben
Aaronovitch in cooperation with Andrew Cartmel with Earth Aid, a Star Trek parody involving the Metatraxi a warrior
race created by the two for a possible Doctor Who Stage Play. It would continue with Marc Platt’s Ice Time which would see the departure
for Ace to enter the Academy on Gallifrey.
Raine Cunningham a safecracker would be introduced as a new companion in
Crime of the Century to be written by
Andrew Cartmel. The finale for the
season would have been either Night
Thoughts by Edward Young or Illegal
Alien by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry.
When adapting this original season however, Big Finish started by
getting rid of the original finale and replacing it with Earth Aid, moving Ice Time
and Crime of the Century up in the
running, changing Ice Time to Thin Ice and filling the gap left by
Andrew Cartmel’s original idea for the novel Warlock with Animal.
Marc Platt adapts his own
script for Thin Ice so most of the
original plot of the story remains intact.
The Doctor and Ace land in Moscow in 1967 where the Russians are working
with a British smuggler called Markus Creevey for retrieving a Martian helmet
of one of their greatest warriors. There
is also another Ice Warrior conspiracy, a romance between Creevey and a Russian
Lieutenant who is carrying his child, and Ace being appraised by Time Lords to
see if she is fit to join the Academy on Gallifrey while the Doctor is in
charge of watching from the sidelines.
Platt’s plot as how it is adapted into audio with several ideas changed
to tone down things that would have brought up the Cartmel Master Plan which
does make the plot suffer in several places.
It really feels a bit all over the place with some threads that seem
very much like they were going to be much deeper on television with more visual
cues. It is still a very good story plot
wise overall even if some key moments are shifted and cut out. The biggest change of course is the ending
where Ace does not actually leave and decides to stay with the Doctor and many
call this a problem. I would agree if it
wasn’t for the fact that she eventually does go to Gallifrey.
The acting hinges on
Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred and they pull it off marvelously. The Doctor is nervous about going through
with his master plan as the events of The
Curse of Fenric has changed their relationship. He doesn’t want to manipulate her and is even
afraid that Ace may die in this situation.
While he tries his hardest to be out in the background, his interfering
nature comes back in as here he doesn’t have a master plan. He is not in control which causes him to act
out of character for the most part.
Sophie Aldred has to have the rest of her character arc completed here
for the most part. She is again betrayed
by the Doctor as here she feels like she’s been manipulated which the Time
Lords actually test her by revealing her presence. Ace still shows that she has the makings of a
Time Lord as she is the one to take the active role here in the story and it is
still a slight disappointment when this does not end in her leaving although
the Time Lords would have passed her.
The supporting characters
are also really interesting. The biggest
supporting character is Markus Creevey and Raina Kerenskaya played by Ricky
Groves and Beth Chalmers. Creeveey and
Raina are lovers who barely have time to see each other. The story actually gives them a Romeo and Juliet story as Raina actually
puts on the helm of Sezhyr and is possessed.
She does make it out alive, but changed as she gives birth prematurely
and the Doctor has to deliver the baby.
John Albasiny plays Felnikov a major for the Soviet Union who is the
villain along with Sezhyr and it is interesting that the story really keeps to
a human villain. His gang of bikers is
really cringeworthy as they have Ice Warrior style helmets because reasons. Finally Nicholas Briggs is Hhessh, an Ice Lord
who likes fish fingers and has a good relationship with Ace. They both admire each other as leaders which
is an interesting dynamic to be sure.
To summarize, Thin Ice is a great way to open up the
Lost Season 27. The adaptation sees
Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred give some of their best performances as their
characters complete an arc. There are
several problems mainly due to the adaptation as the story would have worked
better if actually made for television, but it is still something that should
be listened to. 75/100
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