An Expanding Universe, Part 7: The Lost Stories
As mentioned before, we fans have an insatiable appetite for Who. There are many scripts that were not made for one reason or another, and in a couple of cases there are whole missing seasons, with scripts in various states of completion from "just an idea" to "ready for submission". It seemed a natural idea to recreate the stories originally intended for Colin Baker's season 23, which had got quite far before the BBC decided to "rest" the show. For various reasons not all the stories could be made, and Big Finish decided to widen the net to include scripts submitted for season 22 - and after that, once it looked like the idea was workable, to follow on with missing stories for other Doctors. This is the first such story, in a boxset containing two.
After finishing up my episode reviews for this serial but before writing up this overview, I listened to the fourth disk of the boxset. As well as the story I will be reviewing next it had some interviews with the cast and crew, like many of the Companion Chronicles. I've already made use of the sleeve notes; I'll address some of the issues raised in the discussions here.
I found it interesting that Moris Farhi was writing during the broadcast of Marco Polo, and that he watched it to get the 'feel' right. In retrospect I can see some similarities of style - particularly with the way the educational elements are included, and the emphasis on interaction over action - but the structure of the two stories are very different, so Farhi was obviously not just cribbing!
As with John Lucarotti's first missing story, I experienced each episode twice before moving on to the next; though in the absence of a recon it was audio both times for this one. On first listen I just enjoyed the experience, leaving the note-taking to the second run-through. This was just the way it turned out for The Hanging Gardens of Babylon but since it worked well I decided to carry on. I'll be doing my note-taking run for the next story when I've finished this entry.
Something I notice in retrospect is that there are not many women in the story. Unless I'm mistaken only Roxane has a speaking role (other than Susan, Barbara and the 'Greek Chorus' at the start). I can't say that it bothered me, but it does give Carole Ann Ford a harder time in the narration.
I was not happy about the view of history expounded here, particularly in light of later developments (and specifically a novel I will be tackling about 14 instalments from now). But then I thought about unreliable narrators. What if this is what Susan has been taught? The Doctor's concerned attitude upon hearing about Alexander's death date works just as well if he is worried about being caught out in a lie.
The details of the Doctor's past don't have any such get-out clause (or at least, none I've spotted). This is probably the weakest aspect of the story for me, and I suspect David Whitaker would have excised much of it.
Apparently, the intent was for the music to match the period. It does in places, but this was, I feel, not an unqualified success.
I don't really have anything else to add. It's a great story, and congratulations to all involved with finally bringing it back to life; you have my thanks. Farewell, Farewell Great Macedon!
Published:
Date: November 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84435-452-8
Rating:
As an average 8/10, but I might be inclined to boost that by half a mark since the first episode suffered unfairly from me getting used to the style of presentation. Oh heck, why not?
8.5/10.
Next Time:
As mentioned, the second story in the set: The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance.
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