[No spoilers to begin with...]
After the splendid first episode, I almost failed my will roll to resist listening to The Library of Alexandria's
conclusion straight away. I still had to do the dog walking and
cooking, things I much prefer in the company of an audio; so instead I
relistened to the Companion Chronicle that I obliquely referenced
towards the end of my last review. The following day I made some quick
notes of my thoughts on the story so far, in order to preserve some of
my first-time freshness, and then put this one on at the first
opportunity.
In some ways it was a pleasant surprise, in others not. To deal with the
negatives first, this has two problems which it shares with many other
stories. One is that it is more of a large-scale action piece, which
suits my personal taste less well than the small-scale, atmospheric,
character-driven first part. There's nothing much anyone can do about
that - other people prefer the action, and I wouldn't deprive them of
it. Another is simply that this is the conclusion, and nine times out of
ten I find the set-up more enjoyable in any performed medium (though
it's not so stark in books and comics). I've not yet been able to figure
out why.
[...but minor spoilers from now until the subtopic.]
One surprise was the moment when Susan Franklyn took over the story. I'm
used to there being either a single narrator (as with most Companion
Chronicles) or two in conversation (The Suffering, for example),
but this bends the standard idea of framing in an odd direction. it's
not completely frameless because Hypatia, like Ian, refers to events
after the adventure's conclusion; but since they go their separate ways
at the end we actually have two frames. I believe this is the first time
this has happened, and it felt quite disorientating. It made perfect
sense - Ian wasn't around, whereas Hypatia could describe the events
that happened when she was off with the Doctor - but the novelty gave me
pause. Still, I recovered quickly, and won't be quite so thrown next
time.
The soundscape during the destruction of the library offers a decent
(though not perfect) impression of the large-scale catastrophe,
conjuring up images that would have been tricky in the 1960s (though
possible with modern CGI). All the travellers' reactions are spot on,
too; but perhaps unsurprisingly, my favourite part of the episode was
the dénouement, where we got a few final scenes of quiet character-based
moments. Hypatia's emotional wobble and the way it was handled was a
little compressed, perhaps; but not enough to spoil it. I also enjoyed
the later revelation concerning the Doctor's lesson, and the return to
the TARDIS, both of which considered the issue of changing history and
used the topic in new ways. Small moments, but hardly unimportant. And
then there's Hypatia's conversation with Ian concerning Barbara.
A Confused Chronology, part 12: When Do You Know?
So, let me return to the Iananbarbara relationship angle raised last
time. All of fandom "knows" that the teachers became a couple during
their time with the Doctor - and so do the expanded universe writers,
given how much time they spend on the subject. The only argument is at
what point this happened - "when do we know?", to paraphrase Ian's line
from The Rocket Men. On TV, of course, it was deliberately kept ambiguous; but it's been made explicit in several books, audios and comics since.
The trouble comes when putting them all together into a single
chronology. Ian finally recognises his feelings in multiple stories set
during their time with Vicki, which is tricky enough, but both of them
openly acknowledge it in The Time Travellers - before Vicki joins. The Library of Alexandria
is unique (so far) in that it concentrates on Barbara's feelings for
Ian rather than vice versa, and happily can be made to fit with any of
the others.
There are so many tangled paths here. The stories are being written out
of order, across different media, and then experienced by me in an order
which is chronological neither by publication nor in-story timeline. In
addition, relationships can have times when they move backwards rather
than forwards. With a little bit of massaging I think they can be made
to fit reasonably well.
Rating:
7.5/10
Next Time:
Companion Chronicle 7.10 as a whole.
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