The first episode of The Wanderer has probably been the hardest
episode for me to listen to in a long while. Not due to any fault in the
story, I hasten to add: it's just that everyday life (in the form of
Christmas and New Year visits, preparing for the new term, and so forth)
has kept on interrupting. I must have heard the first five minutes at
least half a dozen times before I made it halfway through, and I
eventually gave up on listening to it in one sitting.
Actually, one of the delaying features was very welcome: during the
school holidays I never had to walk the dog on my own. I rarely had to
so it at all, and when I did there was always someone to chat to. Now
that I'm not working at the school any more the increased human contact
was very welcome.
So, having eventually heard it, what did I think?
Let's start with the oft-repeated opening. Fortunately it bears
repeating. William Russell is on fine form, the prose is decent, and the
framing (Ian reminiscing some time after he has left the Doctor) is a
safe, natural way of introducing the story. I've also tried to listen to
Vengeance of the Stones lately, and have been struggling with it
at least in part because it seems so odd for Richard Franklin to be
talking about Mike Yates in the third person. The Wanderer (like most Companion Chronicles) is more comfortable for me.
Once we get past the framing (with its obligatory continuity references,
the first of which is fine, the second unnecessary) we are into the
story proper with the TARDIS landing in Russia (well, Siberia). This is
where the sound design comes into its own. I didn't notice it
consciously, but it bolsters the descriptive-but-not-overly-expository
dialogue to make the setting particularly atmospheric. Great stuff.
Now for kind of an anti-spoiler, in that this paragraph will reveal something that isn't
in the play. I thought at this point - with shooting stars over
turn-of-the-century Siberia - that this was going to be a story about
the Tunguska incident. This idea also sent me down another blind alley: I
considered the title, which is the original translation of "planet",
and wondered if there might be something Mondaslike in the works. It was
fun speculating during the gaps between my various attempts at
listening to more of the story, and I am happy to report that I didn't
mind being wrong in the slightest.
What we get is a much more human plot. I'll ignore the umpteenth
iteration of Iananbarbara discussing how near they are to their own
time, which might have been intriguing if I hadn't heard it all before,
and note that the interactions with the people they meet - such as the
group of women they quiz about strange events - are realistic, varied,
and interesting.
Which brings me to Grigory. He is definitely a larger than life
character, both in the dialogue he is given and the way it is performed
by Tim Chipping. If he is who I think he is - something we'll presumably
find out next time - this is entirely appropriate. So far this has been
very much Ian's story, and his conversations with Grigori are an
important part of that.
Finally, an opinion tied to a very minor spoiler. When it was confirmed
that the events were definitely of alien origin, I had mixed feelings. A
pseudo-historical with this TARDIS team? There's something wrong about
that, surely? And yet, why not? This couldn't possibly have been written
at the time - there's too many references to things that occurred or
details that were fleshed out later in the show's history - but that's a
perfectly valid approach. Nothing says that Iananbarbara never
encountered the effects of aliens in Earth's past, and just because I
like to pretend it's 1964 when writing for this point in the Doctor's
history it doesn't mean everybody has to do the same. Still, the grumpy
old man in me says, it better be a good alien plot...
Rating:
5/10.
Next Time:
The Scorpion Men.
