If adapting Original Sin into an audio drama was
already going to make audiences wary, but doing the same to Cold Fusion amps up the stakes. These two releases both deal with the
corruption of the Adjudicator’s Guild, but it is Cold Fusion that takes the established Doctor Who formula and confirms
that it is the Looms as the way for the Time Lords to regenerate. It also has insight into the Doctor’s past
which suggests that he is the Other and had a wife, which is why he took Susan,
the Other’s granddaughter, off with him.
The good thing about the audio is that it is Lance Parkin, the original
author, who adapts the novel into the audio drama and just like John Dorney’s
excellent adaptation of Original Sin,
Cold Fusion is a pretty straight
forward adaptation from page to CD. There
are a few references thrown in to The Day
of the Doctor and The Sirens of Time,
but the feel is definitely the same as a Virgin Missing Adventure would
be. There is one big change that slams
you in the face and that’s what Parkin does with Patience. In the novel Patience was a minor character
who happened to be central to the plot, spending most of it asleep, but the
audio adaptation has Parkin waking his creation up early. This works really well as a way of adapting
much of the internal monologue between the Doctor and Patience come across in a
form you can understand as the characters understand. Kristine Cavanagh plays Patience with this
upper class accent and makes her really feel like she’s a female version of the
Doctor, which I believe was the intention.
She’s also got really good chemistry with Peter Davison’s Doctor which
helps drive the story forward making Parkin’s decision to wake her up early a
really good one in the long run.
Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh
Doctor was mainly a background figure in the novel and I originally thought
that he didn’t really appear all too often outside of Part Five and Part
Six. I feel foolish believing that as
just by McCoy acting in every scene makes you realize how present his
incarnation of the Time Lord actually was.
McCoy gives a great performance especially when meeting up with his
former self as he can be just as nasty as he was in the book to the Fifth
Doctor. Parkin may have warmed to Davison and his portrayal over time, but Cold Fusion still points out the Fifth
Doctor’s all too human side. McCoy also
is having a blast in his first scene which was extended and expanded from the
novel just a bit so we can have more Seventh Doctor before going into the Fifth
Doctor. When the Fifth Doctor’s portion
of the plot begins in the adaptation, the mood really sets in. This is a Missing Adventure meaning to emulate
the era and that comes across in Peter Davison’s performance. Davison is playing the Doctor eerily similar
as to how he was played in Castrovalva and
Four to Doomsday, fitting considering
where in the timeline this story takes place.
He is just as bit the apologetic Doctor that we all remember him to be
and is enjoying the chance to work off his original team again. He also must be commended for handling the
more controversial material with Patience here.
He does great impressions of his earlier selves as they were featured
and works well with the references to The
Brain of Morbius.
Any Doctor is far off
without his companions and the adaptation brings us all five. Yasmin Bannerman, while starting out as Roz
with no basis for the character and pulling it off, has the character down by
now. We’ve got the no nonsense attitude
that shines through whenever she’s dealing with Adric in the story, yet she
still obviously cares for Chris Cwej and the Seventh Doctor. She’s the one to try and solve the problems
and acts as the straight man to the comedy of the piece. Adric, played by Matthew Waterhouse, returns
in this audio to be paired off with Roz for most of the story. Now I’m not a fan of Adric on television due
to some bad writing and bad performances from Matthew Waterhouse, but now many
years later he has grown the character into something new. It helps that Parkin writes the character
like pure gold, but Waterhouse at least knows how to act and doesn’t come
across nearly as awkward as he did on television.
Janet Fielding and Sarah
Sutton as Tegan and Nyssa respectively are used as a double act here by Parkin
and they fit well into the role. Sure
Tegan provides a lot of comic relief and they keep that one scene that introduces
Chris to Nyssa, but you really realize how invaluable they are as
characters. Sadly they never got that
chance to shine on television with many stories featuring either Adric or
Turlough, but here they are in there element.
Travis Oliver integrates himself between the two ladies as Chris Cwej
perfectly and we really get to see the stark contrast between companions. All three are worthy of awards for the
stellar performances.
To summarize, the Novel
Adaptations Range has ended its semi-regular run with a bang, giving us the
perfect adaptation of a book to an audio from one of the best writers of Doctor
Who in general. The acting is perfect,
nothing is lost in translation, and alterations that are made do not take away
from the overall quality of the work.
It’s just a shame that this is the end of a range. 100/100
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