Doctor Who: New Series BBC Audio Books
Thursday, December 4, 2014
The Price of Paradise.
2 episodes. Approx. 145 minutes. Written by: Colin Brake. Produced by: Kate Thomas. Performed by: Shaun Dingwall.
THE PLOT
The planet Laylora is something of a myth, a paradise planet mentioned in the diary of a dead space explorer that has become something of a futuristic El Dorado - with its rich natural resources standing in for the fabled city's gold. Scientist Petra Shulough, owner of the SS Humphrey Bogart, has studied the diary for years, and believes she has found Laylora's location. She has accounted for every variable - except for the planet's reaction to being discovered. A violent EMP pulse knocks out the ship's systems, and trainee crew member John Hespell barely manages to send out an SOS before the ship crashes.
The Doctor and Rose pick up the distress signal and materialize on Laylora. While following the smoke trail to the crash site, they pass through a city badly damaged by a recent earthquake. Rose meets Rez, a young human whose escape pod crashed on Laylora when he was an infant. He has been raised by the natives, and considers himself one of them, taking the prayers of tribal shaman Brother Hugan far more seriously than native teens do.
While Rose gets to know the villagers, the Doctor finds himself captured by a search party sent out by the Humphrey Bogart. Not the reception a rescuer would expect - But it all makes sense when he learns that the ship has been attacked by monsters, creatures the Laylorans refer to as "the Witiku." They are the planet's protectors, emerging only in times of great distress... And the arrival of outsiders has summoned them in greater numbers than ever before!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Though technically taken prisoner by the spaceship crew, he takes complete charge in no time at all. While Hespell ostensibly "guards" him in his cabin, the Doctor questions the young man about the Witiku attacks. Very soon after, he is given free run of the ship. When another attack takes place, he stops the crew from interfering once it becomes clear that it is the ship's generator, rather than the people, that is being targeted. By the story's midpoint, both Hespell and crew member Ania Baker are basically acting as the Doctor's lab assistants, with even Shulough deferring to his judgment.
Rose: Quickly befriends Rez and the villagers, her open nature making it easy for them to connect with her. When attacked by a Witiku, she reacts quickly, throwing the only weapon she has at it - a hot beverage made with a local plant - which reveals the creatures' one weakness. Outside of that, she's largely in a "generic companion" role, though writer Colin Brake does make sure that she is used enough to come across as more than just a sidekick.
THOUGHTS
The Price of Paradise was the last of the 10th Doctor/Rose novels published during Series Two... and unfortunately, it is also the least of them. The audio version benefits from an excellent reading by Shaun Dingwall, whose Doctor and Rose voices capture the characters perfectly. Too bad the story itself is so by-the-numbers to offer much to hold the attention of either a reader or a listener.
The story feels more like something out of the middle Jon Pertwee era, with an environmental message delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer blow to the head. The Doctor even spends a chunk of the story studying results of tests on tissue samples - which feels a lot more like the 3rd Doctor than the 10th.
Which wouldn't bother me, save that the story does little to distract me from the sense that it's been written for the wrong Doctor. The pace is slow, even with the audio abridgement cutting the text in half and jettisoning one entire subplot (a background romance between Hespell and Ania). There is a lack of imagination, the story proceeding steadily in a very predictable line. There isn't even any imagination to the action sequences. In need of a human villain, the story brings in a tribal shaman who - as tribal shamans living near a temple are required to do - wants to use Rose as a human sacrifice. Because the perfect paradise planet has a tradition of human sacrifices in its past, as is required of all tribal cultures in science fiction.
I will grant the story one positive: That unlike many of the Pertwee stories it resembles, the humans do not come with ill intent. They are interested in the planet's natural resources, sure, but there's no indication that they plan to strip-mine the world or enslave the natives or any of the usual hocum. Kendle, a member of the crew who is career military, is thoughtfully characterized, rather than being the stock trigger-happy moron one might expect. He's the focus of what may be the story's only good character scene, in which he talks with the Doctor about Dr. Shulough's past. He is willing to use deadly force, but not as a first resort. Long before the end, he's emerged as the one truly well-rounded character among a collection of cardboard figures.
I should stress that The Price of Paradise isn't actually a chore to wade through. The audio gets a boost from an excellent reading, and the story does hold together. It's just too generic, and too slow-paced, to feel like a worthwhile addition to the series. It comes across as a mediocre mid-season filler episode... Only much, much longer.
All of which makes it my pick for the weakest of the 10th Doctor/Rose audio books. Tolerable if you must read/watch/listen to absolutely everything... but one I'd consider as for completists only.
Overall Rating: 3/10.
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Monday, September 26, 2011
The Art of Destruction.
2 episodes. BBC Audio, Approx. 140 minutes. Written by: Stephen Cole. Produced by: Kate Thomas. Read by: Don Warrington
THE PLOT
An alien signal brings the Doctor and Rose to Africa, about 100 years into Rose's future. For the Earth, the 22nd century is a time of famine. Corporate sponsorship has set up agricultural units in Africa to help to feed the starving... principally, the starving in places very far away from the continent where the food is actually being grown.
Fynn is the director of an Agri-unit that is experimenting with fungus grown inside a dormant volcano. The fungus is poisonous, but Fynn believes it can be genetically modified into an ideal food source. What he has no way of knowing is that the volcano is actually the site of a spacecraft, the final vault for the art treasures of the extinct Valnaxi. The Valnaxi were destroyed in a war with the Wurms, war-like beings who exist only to destroy. When an alien art expert determines that the volcano genuinely is the site of the Valnaxi treasures, the Wurms come - and Africa becomes the final battleground of a centuries-old conflict!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Has the technical knowledge to take Fynn's research and use it to create a counter to the Valnaxi defenses - though it takes Rose being claimed by their technology to make this into his top priority. His aversion to outright violence is shown by his attempts to reason with the Wurms, even when doing so jeopardizes his efforts to save the humans and Rose.
Rose: Easily befriends Adiel and Basel, and shows genuine empathy at their desire to find a way to benefit their own people, rather than watch while Africa subsists on crumbs and handouts. She is forceful enough to convince Basel to take her into the caves to find the Doctor, and resourceful enough to help both of them survive once they are there.
THOUGHTS
The Art of Destruction is read by Don Warrington, an actor with a long string of television, theatre, and audio credits to prove his credentials. Warrington's reading is very good to excellent roughly 85% of the time. The deep timbre of his voice helps to evoke the African setting. He captures the various African guest characters well; he is even better at capturing the harsh but slimy voices of the wurms; he is downright outstanding at bringing to life the self-serving, vaguely cowardly art expert-for-hire, Faltato. A brief interview at the end of Disc Two makes clear how much thought he put into his voices for the Wurms and for Faltato, which shows in the final product.
Warrington's reading only fails in one area. Unfortunately, it's a rather important one.
He just can't do the Doctor.
This is particularly true in scenes featuring both the Doctor and Rose. He can Anglicize his voice and suggest some of Billie Piper's accent for Rose. But he cannot make the switch from that to the Doctor in the midst of conversational scenes. Disc One has many scenes featuring both characters together. In these scenes, I often had no idea which of them was speaking at any given time.
He improves in the story's second half, which has the Doctor separated from Rose for the most part. He still can't do much to suggest Tennant, but he does manage to suggest some of the Doctor's energy. This, combined with Warrington's skill with the alien voices, helps the second disc to be far more enjoyable than the first. Even so, there is little question in my mind that he was the wrong reader for a Doctor Who audiobook.
This is a pity, because The Art of a Destruction is rather a good story. It has a spark of imagination that was missing from The Feast of the Drowned. It starts out like a fairly typical Doctor Who story, with something nasty lurking in caves and corridors. Then Faltato and the Wurms arrive, and everything goes insane.
Insane in a good way, I mean. This isn't The Stone Rose, taking a left turn into being a completely different story in its final Act. Exposition about the Valnaxi/Wurm conflict is carefully layered into the early parts of the story, so that when the Wurms arrive, it still is organically one piece. But it's a piece in which giant alien worms (called Wurms, no less) with cybernetic implants are splattering deadly mud at gold-coated birds and insects, which continue to swoop in and attack them. There's a cowardly, multi-legged, multi-eyed, multi-tongued(!) art expert selling everyone out left and right, and everyone is dismissing the Doctor and the humans as feeble "bipeds." Even with Warrington's less than ideal reading, the story is so completely nuts that you really can't help but enjoy it.
It's just a shame it couldn't have been read by somebody who could capture the Doctor's voice. For all the alien insanity, a Doctor Who story should never have the Doctor himself as its weakest element. If I was reviewing the print version, I'd probably give this a "7." But with Warrington's poor Doctor, I really can't go higher than...
Rating: 6/10.
Rating: 6/10.
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The Nightmare of Black Island.
2 episodes. Approx. 138 minutes. Written by: Mike Tucker. Produced by: Kate Thomas. Read by: Anthony Head.
THE PLOT
Nightmares have come to life in the Welsh village of Ynys Du. Every night, as soon as the children begin to sleep, the monsters come out - hideous creations which stalk the woods and the coast near the disused lighthouse on Black Island. The villagers shut themselves in their homes or the local pub in each night, waiting for daylight to grant them sanctuary.
Mutterings from the locals lead the Doctor and Rose to the private nursing home of Nathaniel Morton, an old recluse who does not take kindly to questions from strangers. Morton and his nurse, Peyne, bar them from the home - but not before they get a glimpse of several slumbering figures, all attached to machinery that is clearly alien.
As the night draws close, the monsters begin to emerge once more - and with the plans of Peyne and Morton nearing completion, this may just be the final night for Ynys Du!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Anthony Head does a terrific job of capturing the 10th Doctor's enthusiasm, and he does it without compromising the Doctor's inherent intelligence. His voice may not be anything like David Tennant's, but he gets the intonations just right. This makes it very easy to "hear" Tennant in the reader's line deliveries.
Rose: Head does a fantastic Rose, capturing her personality even better than Tennant did in his three audio readings. The story is a strong one for Rose, with writer Mike Tucker splitting her up from the Doctor and giving her a strong role with a young companion of her own. The bond Rose develops with Ali Hardy, a genuinely well-written child character, is one of the freshest and most enjoyable parts of the book.
THOUGHTS
The Nightmare of Black Island is one of many (too many) new series audiobooks that feels like something straight out of the classic series. Its setting, a sleepy Welsh fishing village with a nearby lighthouse, with aliens hiding in the home of a wealthy recluse, would fit right in with the Jon Pertwee/early Tom Baker period of the show. With only the most minor touch-ups, you could replace a few character names and seamlessly place this same book anywhere between Seasons 8 and 15. In fact, it feels more like something that belongs there than with the new series.
It also happens to be a good story.
Mike Tucker's story may follow a familiar template, but he writes it well. He takes the trouble to address the usual logic gaffes of such tales. Why don't the villagers get help? Or take their families and get out? It turns out there is an explanation which makes sense within the story. The Doctor's psychic paper gets him into Morton's home once... but when he clearly isn't acting the part, he doesn't get to stay for long and doesn't fool anyone into thinking that he actually is whoever the paper claims him to be.
Characterizations are above average for a Who novel, with well-drawn backstories for critical guest characters. Nathaniel Morton's background is largely delivered in one chunk of exposition. This could be deadly - but the story infuses enough emotion into it that it becomes arguably the best scene in the book, transforming a one-note villain into a fully formed character. Bronwyn, a local eccentric who helps the Doctor, has a backstory that is revealed in more gradual bits and pieces. Her story is also infused with emotion, and linked to Morton's in a way that lifts both characters' tales.
A well-written book, seamlessly abridged for audio and given a terrific reading by Anthony Head. It's not in the top ranks of the new series Who books, its formulaic storytelling and over-easy resolution working against its best elements. Still, it's well above average for the range. Well worth a listen.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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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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Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The Feast of the Drowned.
2 episodes. Approx. 145 minutes. BBC Audio, 2 CDs. Written by: Stephen Cole. Produced by: Kate Thomas. Read by: David Tennant.
THE PLOT
The HMS Ascendant is lost at sea, with all hands assumed lost - including Jay, the brother of Rose's friend, Keisha. The wreck is brought back to London, but there are neither corpses nor survivors. While Rose is paying her friend a consolation visit, the image of Jay appears in front of both girls, calling on them to come to him. To save him. "Before the feast."
Friends and relatives of the ship's crew have received similar visitations all over the country. People are literally hurling themselves into the Thames, trying to reach their loved ones. The Doctor pays a visit to Stanchion House, the research facility housing the wreck under the watchful eye of Rear Admiral John Crayshaw. He soon discovers that the visitations are the result of an alien consciousness in the water, a consciousness that has taken control of Crayshaw. If the menace gets the chance to spawn, it will spread its influence all over the world!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Rose treats him like an idiot child during the opening scenes. Given his behavior, I can't say that I blame her. Sure, the Tenth Doctor is prone to intermittent streams of babble. But I don't think there's much of anything in the actual series comparable to the "Jack Dusty, the Jack Dusty" bit. It's unamusing as a gag; and given that it's directed at a woman in mourning, it is anything but endearing.
When the Doctor is investigating, or standing up to the evil alien consciousness, the characterization works much better. David Tennant's performance is also at its best during these moments, particularly when the Doctor is conveying grim determination or anger. But the flippancy, fairly well-handled by Jacqueline Rayner in The Stone Rose, spins out of control here - and brings out the worst in Tennant, as well.
Rose: Somewhere along the lines, Stephen Cole slips from a characterization of Rose as a strong, smart young woman into Rose as a Mary Sue. Within a twenty minute span, we hear the Doctor and Jay both talk about how ultra-super-special she is. I half-expected her to sparkle and levitate during the second half. Rose can be a good character, when well-written. Unfortunately, Cole has an even weaker grasp on Rose than he does on the 10th Doctor, and the characterization fails miserably.
Mickey: Cole does a very good job with Mickey, however. Mickey shows quite a bit of courage and resourcefulness in helping to deal with the Water Hive. I liked that his helping himself to a grenade is mocked by the Doctor, yet ends up being the key to solving the problem at the end. As in The Stone Rose, David Tennant does a good job of suggesting Noel Clarke's performance. Given a larger role for Mickey in this story, the results are extremely pleasing.
THOUGHTS
David Tennant is a natural-born audio book reader. Though his Doctor gets annoying in the overwritten flippant bits, he is outstanding when the Doctor is grimly focused on the problem at hand. In the narration, he has a way of increasing or decreasing his pace to reflect the beats of the story. Action scenes are brisker, character scenes slower. Tennant the reader has a strong sense of pace, which keeps the flow going. He once again brings unique flavors to each major guest character, as well. His Vida (pseudo-companion of the story) is highly appealing, brought to life with a lovely light Welsh lilt, while his Crayshaw is suitably deep-voiced and menacing.
The story has one genuinely outstanding set piece. About two-thirds of the way through Disc 1, the Doctor has infiltrated Stanchion House but has been found out. The entire sequence as he escapes is terrific. There's a vivid mental image as the Doctor pilots a ship out of the military control, through the Thames, while Rose follows his progress from the shore. It's tightly paced, highly visual, and stuffed to the brim with activity. As good as the Colisseum sequence in The Stone Rose was, this is even better. It would not be out of place in a bigscreen Doctor Who movie.
The problem with having a scene like that relatively early in the story is that it provides a challenge: How do you top it? The Feast of the Drowned never manages it. At least one later set piece, involving Mickey using a door to essentially surf over the alien-controlled water, tries for a similar level of excitement but lands more on the side of self-parody. The story remains competently-crafted and structured throughout. But after that early peak, the rest of the running time is basic, generic Doctor Who. Not bad by any means, but it never recaptures that early level of excitement.
The Water Hive, as the alien consciousness is eventually named, is an intriguing villain. An alien with total control of the water is a terrifying concept, one which the television series would eventually play with to good effect. Unfortunately, this is one of those stories in which the aliens are far too easily defeated. When it becomes time to wrap things up, the Doctor yanks some Time Lord voodoo out of an unspecified orifice while Rose and the story's requisite pseudo-companion use a MacGuffin against the water. As for all those pesky physiological changes caused to the aliens' victims? Turns out that, with the alien dead, they're self-healing. Convenient.
Stephen Cole is a good writer, and The Feast of the Drowned has a strong pace and a solid story structure. But aside from one great set piece, this is Who-by-Numbers. Briskly paced and well-read by Tennant, it will certainly pass the time. For non-completists, though, I don't think it's worth the purchase price. Maybe worth the price of a cheap second-hand copy, but certainly not full retail.
Rating: 5/10.
Rose: Somewhere along the lines, Stephen Cole slips from a characterization of Rose as a strong, smart young woman into Rose as a Mary Sue. Within a twenty minute span, we hear the Doctor and Jay both talk about how ultra-super-special she is. I half-expected her to sparkle and levitate during the second half. Rose can be a good character, when well-written. Unfortunately, Cole has an even weaker grasp on Rose than he does on the 10th Doctor, and the characterization fails miserably.
Mickey: Cole does a very good job with Mickey, however. Mickey shows quite a bit of courage and resourcefulness in helping to deal with the Water Hive. I liked that his helping himself to a grenade is mocked by the Doctor, yet ends up being the key to solving the problem at the end. As in The Stone Rose, David Tennant does a good job of suggesting Noel Clarke's performance. Given a larger role for Mickey in this story, the results are extremely pleasing.
THOUGHTS
David Tennant is a natural-born audio book reader. Though his Doctor gets annoying in the overwritten flippant bits, he is outstanding when the Doctor is grimly focused on the problem at hand. In the narration, he has a way of increasing or decreasing his pace to reflect the beats of the story. Action scenes are brisker, character scenes slower. Tennant the reader has a strong sense of pace, which keeps the flow going. He once again brings unique flavors to each major guest character, as well. His Vida (pseudo-companion of the story) is highly appealing, brought to life with a lovely light Welsh lilt, while his Crayshaw is suitably deep-voiced and menacing.
The story has one genuinely outstanding set piece. About two-thirds of the way through Disc 1, the Doctor has infiltrated Stanchion House but has been found out. The entire sequence as he escapes is terrific. There's a vivid mental image as the Doctor pilots a ship out of the military control, through the Thames, while Rose follows his progress from the shore. It's tightly paced, highly visual, and stuffed to the brim with activity. As good as the Colisseum sequence in The Stone Rose was, this is even better. It would not be out of place in a bigscreen Doctor Who movie.
The problem with having a scene like that relatively early in the story is that it provides a challenge: How do you top it? The Feast of the Drowned never manages it. At least one later set piece, involving Mickey using a door to essentially surf over the alien-controlled water, tries for a similar level of excitement but lands more on the side of self-parody. The story remains competently-crafted and structured throughout. But after that early peak, the rest of the running time is basic, generic Doctor Who. Not bad by any means, but it never recaptures that early level of excitement.
The Water Hive, as the alien consciousness is eventually named, is an intriguing villain. An alien with total control of the water is a terrifying concept, one which the television series would eventually play with to good effect. Unfortunately, this is one of those stories in which the aliens are far too easily defeated. When it becomes time to wrap things up, the Doctor yanks some Time Lord voodoo out of an unspecified orifice while Rose and the story's requisite pseudo-companion use a MacGuffin against the water. As for all those pesky physiological changes caused to the aliens' victims? Turns out that, with the alien dead, they're self-healing. Convenient.
Stephen Cole is a good writer, and The Feast of the Drowned has a strong pace and a solid story structure. But aside from one great set piece, this is Who-by-Numbers. Briskly paced and well-read by Tennant, it will certainly pass the time. For non-completists, though, I don't think it's worth the purchase price. Maybe worth the price of a cheap second-hand copy, but certainly not full retail.
Rating: 5/10.
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Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Stone Rose
2 episodes. Approx. 140 minutes. BBC Audio, 2 CDs. Written by: Jacqueline Rayner. Produced by: Kate Thomas. Read by: David Tennant.
THE PLOT
The Doctor and Rose return to London for a short visit, and are stunned when they see one of the exhibits in the British Museum. It's a statue of the Roman Goddess Fortuna... and it looks exactly like Rose!
Rose is excited at the knowledge that she will be a model for a Roman statue, and the Doctor is all too willing to take her back to ancient Rome to fulfill the demands of history. There, they encounter a wealthy Roman citizen whose son vanished after the sculptor Ursus was commissioned to make a statue of him. The Doctor soon finds that Ursus doesn't carve stones into human likenesses. Instead, he transforms people into stone - and Rose is his latest victim!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: He has become very attached to Rose, to such an extent that he is haggard and frantic in his attempts to save her. It takes him a while to piece together the source of all the strange events around him. Once he does realize what is happening, he is able to place the background behind it instantly. He ultimately stands back and lets Rose decide how to proceed, though I suspect he'd have stepped in had Rose's decisions led in the wrong direction.
Rose: Not surprisingly in a story titled The Stone Rose, young Miss Tyler gets quite a lot to do in this story. In fact, the story very nearly splits structurally between the two characters. Rose is removed from the action for much of the first disc, while the Doctor acts alone to deal with the situation. For a decent chunk of Disc Two, those roles are reversed. Once she gets past being overwhelmed by her circumstances, Rose collects herself and thinks through everything that has happened, searching for a way to put all the disparate pieces together again.
Mickey: His inherent decency has led him to doing volunteer work with kids at the museum. But it's not something he really wants people to know - particularly the Doctor. When he discovers that Rose is the statues, he is furious at the Doctor, crying out that he "should've taken better care of her." And when the Doctor reveals that he can restore Rose - but only in her current condition, chipped and missing one arm - Mickey wonders how likely Rose is to agree that this is "better than no Rose at all."
THOUGHTS
The Stone Rose was the first new series audio book commissioned, part of a release of three abridged audio books. To give this new range a maximum push, all three of these initial releases were read by David Tennant.
Tennant proves to be a splendid reader. He uses his natural, Scottish-accented speaking voice for the narration, but can instantly turn to his English accent when the Doctor speaks. He also does an excellent job of suggesting the other recurring characters, capturing a certain sound for Rose's lines that suggests Billie Piper's delivery and a huskiness for Mickey's lines. He creates distinct voices for each of the guest characters, as well. I never had any trouble figuring out who was speaking at a given time or picturing the characters.
The book itself is not quite as good as Tennant's reading, but it's not bad. I've always liked Jacqueline Rayner's work, particularly her 6th Doctor audios for Big Finish. The first disc is really quite good. The first half of the story strikes a nice balance of humor and history, runs at a brisk pace, and features a genuinely exciting action set piece with the Doctor evading deadly animals and Roman guards inside the Colosseum.
The second disc isn't as good, though. About two-thirds of the way in, Rayner gives the plot an unexpected turn. I'll grant that it's unexpected. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work. There are some nice visual elements, such as Rose being transported into a realm of nothing and having to navigate it. But it lacks the texture of the ancient Rome setting, and forms a somewhat uncomfortable fit with the first two-thirds of the piece. Worse still, it takes the plot out of Doctor Who territory, instead running through a story that plays like a retread of an old X-Files plotline... one The X-Files actually did better.
David Tennant's reading remains spirited throughout. The scenes in ancient Rome are quite strong, and the story remains at least moderately entertaining even after the plot takes a wrong turn. I'm not going to slate The Stone Rose. It's just a shame that it doesn't end up being even half as strong a story as it starts out.
Rating: 6/10.
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