The Resurrection Casket.

2 episodes. Approx. 133 minutes. Written by: Justin Richards. Produced by: Kate Thomas. Read by: David Tennant.


THE PLOT

Starfall is a world powered by steam. There is no electricity, because nothing electrical will function. Starfall is in a region of space called the Zeg, a region of electromagnetic disturbances that simulate the effects of an electromagnetic pulse.  One so strong that even the TARDIS is put out of commission by it.

This leaves the Doctor and Rose to find a more conventional way out of the Zeg to continue their journeys. They quickly make friends: Silver Sally, a young woman who runs a pub and who is half steam-powered machine thanks to an accident; Jimm, a boy raised on stories of the legendary space pirate Hamlek Glint; and his Uncle Bob, Starfall's foremost expert on Glint.

Glint disappeared ten years earlier, leaving behind the mystery of what happened to his ship, The Buccaneer, and his treasure. Wealthy Drel McCavity is obsessed with the lost treasure, particularly its centerpiece: The Resurrection Casket, the secret to Glint's seeming invulnerability.

The Doctor senses an opportunity in this, promising that he can locate the pirate's lost ship.  The TARDIS is bundled aboard a steam-powered spaceship, and Silver Sally is quick to locate a robot crew. All is going according to the Doctor's plan, and they are quickly on their way out of the Zeg, free from its interference.

But Sally hides a secret past. McCavity has secrets of his own, and his own agenda. All too soon, the Doctor and Rose discover that the pirate past they have gone searching for is all too real in the present!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Having lost so much himself, he is quick to recognize loss in others. That doesn't require much effort when dealing with Drel McCavity, who wraps himself up in his loss as if it were a heavy (and gaudy) cloak. But he also recognizes this quality in Jimm's Uncle Bob, and shows clear empathy. These moments,  when the Doctor becomes quiet and empathetic, make this a particularly good characterization. The flippancy is there, and even a touch overdone in places - but it's not the only note used, as is the case with certain other 10th Doctor books.

Rose: Her joy at befriending Sally, a young woman close to her own age, keeps her from picking up on hints that there is more to Sally than what's on the surface. She is shocked when she overhears Sally's secret, even after witnessing the ease with which the young woman gathers a robot crew and the familiarity with which she talks about the space sharks. Despite her sense of betrayal, Rose cannot condemn the other woman to death. The Doctor seems to trust in Rose's compassionate nature, stating that she "always makes the right (choice)."


THOUGHTS

Fun.

That's the word that best describes this story. The Resurrection Casket is unapologetically constructed out of pre-owned parts. It's basically a Robert Louis Stevenson pirate yarn in space... directly transplanted into space, complete with real space sharks. I was surprised there was no scene involving the Doctor having to walk a plank. 

It's all very silly, of course, and every plot twist is signposted well in advance. But it's good-natured and sprightly. The Doctor and Rose are well-characterized, the guest cast is sufficiently colorful, and there are a handful of very well-turned set pieces.

In short, this tale is really rather good fun.

The Resurrection Casket was one of the three audio books that launched the BBC new series audio range. As with the other two titles, The Stone Rose and The Feast of the Drowned, the audio benefits greatly from the reading by David Tennant. Seemingly born for audio books, Tennant throws himself in with real enthusiasm, altering his pitch and delivery for each character so as to create the illusion of a full cast. 

As with all of the early BBC audio books, The Resurrection Casket is abridged. There are points at which you can tell there are gaps - places where material should be, but isn't. This isn't a criticism of the abridgment, which has been done with care and judgment. But when you cut a book's text in half, the odds are good that you're going to leave a few holes in the story.

The most noticeable of these occurs about a third of the way into Disc Two. The Doctor, Rose, and the various non-robotic guest characters connive their way into an escape pod. It is not the pod carrying the TARDIS, though, which leaves them at an impasse. There's a pause for a scene change - and then the pod is arriving at the Buccaneer! It feels like an entire chapter vanished into the abridgement and, while the plot itself remains intact, it is jarring. 

Despite minor issues, this pirate pastische in space is the most purely enjoyable of the early new series audio books. Boosted by a spirited reading by David Tennant, I have no hesitation about recommending it.


Rating: 7/10.


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