The First Doctor Tarot, Seasons 3-4

I'm going to just let these speak for themselves. There are many missing episodes, and that increases the difficulty of trying to pick images; but the meanings are pretty clear, I think.

T. Galaxy 4: Tifireth
Meaning: Beauty

DC. Mission to the Unknown: The Devil
Meaning: Preconceptions, Binding, Adversarial Power

U. The Myth Makers: Judgement
Meaning: Punishment and Reward, Rebirth

V. The Daleks' Master Plan: The Hanged Man
Meaning: Sacrifice, Dedication

W. The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve: Justice
Meaning: Responsibility, Guilt, Fairness

X. The Ark: The Tower
Meaning: Upheaval, Sudden Change, Shattered Illusions

Y. The Celestial Toymaker: Kether
Meaning: Crown

The god of his own little realm...

Z. The Gunfighters: Netzach
Meaning: Victory

AA. The Savages: Temperance
Meaning: Balance, Moderation, Compromise

BB. The War Machines: Strength
Meaning: Courage, Patience, Control

CC. The Smugglers: Chesed
Meaning: Mercy

DD. The Tenth Planet: Death
Meaning: Transformation, Endings and Beginnings

And there you have it! There are a few forced correspondences, but I was actually surprised how well the majority of the stories fitted.

Next Time:
May and Isaac have both decided to skip doing reviews, having found out quite how much work it is (and with still quite a bit to fit in during the last week of the holiday), so I'm going to plough on with my own reviews.

Dust and Death.

The First Doctor Tarot, Season 2

OK, it was harder this time to find appropriate images. Last time many just fell into my lap - I mean, the Emperor and Empress are just perfect - but this time it's a case of what can I get that vaguely appropriate in a ten-minute search for many. Ah well.

J. Planet of Giants: Binah
Meaning: Understanding

A stretch, perhaps, but there is a thread running through the story that matches.

K. The Dalek Invasion of Earth: The World
Meaning: Completion, Closure, Accomplishment

Of course, it had to be really. The Earth, the World, the end of Susan's story...

Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150AD: Yesod
Meaning: Foundation

Really, the closest I could get to duplicating the TV meaning without all the completion aspect.

L. The Rescue: The Star
Meaning: Hope, Trust, Renewal

Elizabeth Sandifer used to describe Vicki as a "star child" - and she fits this card perfectly in this story.

M. The Romans: The Sun
Meaning: Fun, Comfort, Success

I could have gone for two images: Iananbarbara relaxing, which better matched the meaning, or Nero being all sun Emperor.

N. The Web Planet: The High Priestess
Meaning: Intuition, the Subconscious

Nope, couldn't find a decent image. The meaning isn't a straightforward match, but I think it works well if you look behind the obvious.

 P. The Crusade: Malkuth
Meaning: Kingdom

Um, yeah, this is me being shallow with the meaning.

Q. The Space Museum: The Wheel
Meaning: Cycles, Turning Points, Lack of Purpose

Apathy and revolution!

R. The Chase: The Lovers
Meaning: Choice, Union

Of course.

S. The Time Meddler: The Hermit
Meaning: Time, Introspection, Obstinacy

And again, what else?

Next Time:
The First Doctor Tarot, Seasons 3-4.

The First Doctor Tarot, Season 1

This is kind of a random miniseries of posts, just because the idea popped into my head one night recently while I was having trouble getting to sleep. I'm not actually a believer in divination of any sort, but I am nevertheless interested in much of the symbolism involved - and I do believe that Jan Woudhuysen got it right when he said that the tarot can be used as a mirror to give our conscious minds access to the subconscious. Basically, how we interpret a spread of cards can give us insight with no mysticism required.

This, however, isn't even going that deep. It's just a bit of fun to see if I can match up cards to serials.

The observant reader will notice that there is a fundamental problem with this, namely that there are 29 Hartnell serials and only 22 Major Arcana. What I have done is to add in the ten sephiroth of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life (which has been associated with the tarot since the days of the Golden Dawn), giving 32 possibilities; I've then split serial A into the first episode (An Unearthly Child) and The Tribe of Gum, and added the two Cushing movies. Simple.

On to the tarot associations, then, with a few comments. Enjoy!

A(i). An Unearthly Child: The Fool
Meaning: Beginnings, Innocence, Spontaneity

It is, of course, virtually compulsory to begin any tour of the Major Arcana with The Fool; but fortunately, in the figure of the unearthly child - the version of Susan that disappeared from the program all too soon - we have the perfect representation.

A(ii). The Tribe of Gum: The Magician
Meaning: The Trickster, Skill, Resourcefulness

The Magician is the next card, and happily matches up well with the figure of the Doctor in the rest of serial A. What else could the man who brings fire to the tribe and transports his kidnap victims through time be but a magician?

B. The Daleks: The Chariot
Meaning: Triumph, Control, the Will

Surely a chariot is a kind of travel machine? And the daleks are all about control.

Dr Who and the Daleks: Hod
Meaning: Splendour

This is the first of the non-tarot associations. What is most different about the film version of the story for many people, myself included, is that it is in vibrant, startling colour. Hence, splendour.

C. The Edge of Destruction: The Moon
Meaning: Illusion, Anxiety, Insecurity, the Subconscious

Seriously, with those meanings, do I need to say anything?

D. Marco Polo: The Emperor
Meaning: Order, Authority

The overt reasoning is obvious, but the story is also all about authority, about who is in charge.

E. The Keys of Marinus: The Hierophant
Meaning: Patience, Analytical Intelligence

I mean, good grief, those Marinusians have patience in abundance! And there's a fair degree of analysis going on, particularly during The Velvet Web and the last couple of episodes.

F. The Aztecs: The Empress
Meaning: Sensuality, Fertility, Abundance

I could go on about how the Aztec blood sacrifices were to keep the gods happy and keep the land fertile and abundant; but really, let's be honest, it's all about Barbara as Yetaxa.

G. The Sensorites: Chokhmah
Meaning: Wisdom

This is a cerebral story, and it's not too much of a stretch to read it as being about wisdom, who makes use of it, and who doesn't.

H. The Reign of Terror: Gevurah
Meaning: Severity

In contrast, this serial starts with the Doctor chucking out Iananbarbara in a fit of pique, in the midst of a particularly violent setting governed by people whose judgements were pretty darn harsh.

Next Time:
The First Doctor Tarot, Season 2.

Short Trips, Solar System 17.04: Mars, by Trevor Baxendale

I've experienced maybe half a dozen stories by this author, and they have been a bit hit-or-miss. In audio, neither The Dark Flame nor Something Inside have really hit the spot; but in text he has the benefit of a solidly entertaining prose style which lifts his more mediocre plots, and when the storyline sings too - as in Prisoner of the Daleks, for example - he is very, very good indeed.

The plot for Mars is exceedingly simple, and unoriginal to boot. That doesn't mean it's not a good one - in fact it's a classic, which is why it's been used so often - but it does mean that Baxendale has to work harder to make the tale enjoyable.

Structurally, the story is very sound, opening in the middle of the action and filling us in on the details of how we got to that point in a natural way as the plot progresses. It also stops in just the right place - as a writer I would have been tempted to drag it out a bit further, but this is definitely a case of "less is more".

As is common with this particular plot structure the peak of the action actually comes right at the beginning, and the rest of the drama concerns the consequences. This puts a lot of pressure on the character relationships - in this case, Steven with the alien he is trying to help on the surface of Mars, Vicki and the Doctor on Phobos Base with the crew (and an alien ambassador). None of the guest cast have much space to breathe, which is a problem, though the explicit focus on the thoughts of Steven and Vicki distracts from that.

Steven's part of the story - which is the primary plot, although similar wordcount is devoted to each - is definitely the better developed. There's some excellent visual imagery, and for once Steven actually gets to use his piloting skills! I can't remember this happening on TV, and certainly it hasn't happened in any of the audios I've heard so far in this marathon. Mars doesn't add anything particularly new to his characterisation, but it is solidly presented. The only exception is that he swears mildly, saying "damn you" more than once to his companion. This feels slightly off, since Steven comes from the clean-living Dan Dare school of space pilots; but it occurred to me that even if he was modelled on real air force pilots it would have seemed out of place, since they would use much stronger language! It's almost an 'uncanny valley' of swearing. Still, this is a nit, and otherwise this was a good use of Steven.

The scenes on Phobos Base, while not bad, are less successful. The Doctor's mannerisms are exaggerated - I lost count of the number of times he called someone "my boy" or "my child", he "hmm"s, grumps, and is generally something of a caricature. Vicki also comes across as slightly off. She keeps her childlike sense of wonder and hope, but displays less of her logical intelligence than usual, even going so far as to wonder out loud if, perhaps, they could get the TARDIS to work this time. It's made clear afterwards that she knows this is a vain hope, but I still can't see her saying that.

Still, I've nitpicked enough. The problems I've listed weren't sufficiently bad to stop me enjoying reading it, though they were noticeable enough that I got to thinking about what the point was of publishing the story: what does Mars add to this classic plotline, or indeed to Doctor Who?

The answer to the former is probably 'nothing', but the focus on Steven - and in particular his abilities as much as his good character - is something that was lacking from the latter.

And in any case, it was fun, and for me that's generally enough.

Published:
Date: September 2005
ISBN: 1-84435-148-3

Rating:
6/10.

Next Time:
In a change to our advertised programme, The First Doctor Tarot (Season One).

Companion Chronicle 1.01: Frostfire

"It begins here." There are many stories for which such a claim can be made, but thinking about the first Doctor, this is the only real choice in audio. It was not the first Companion Chronicle I heard - that was Solitaire, although in my mind it hardly counts since at the time it was the only full-cast release in the range - but it might have been my second. (I bought Shadow of the Past at the same time, and can no longer remember which I listened to next. The pair of them sold me on the concept, and it then became a mainstay of my Big Finish purchasing, more so even than the Main Range.). Regardless, Frostfire was both my introduction to the first Doctor on audio and the first Companion Chronicle released.

What astonishes me coming back to this is the way that almost all the staples of the range are assembled right from the start. There's the two-voice structure; a more significant framing device than we've seen in the CCs I've reviewed so far; Vicki being separated from her companions in a way that feels natural but eases the burden on Maureen O'Brien; and the sound work making it feels less like an audiobook than I had expected (it was only the strong reviews that eventually persuaded me to give the CCs a go at all). Indeed, the music here consists of short and slightly weird snatches, capturing the feel of the 60s even better than a number of the later stories.

One aspect which is different is that this release, like the others in the first series, is only available on CD rather than download - allegedly since one of the participants (most people presume director Mark J. Thompson, who has not returned since) wouldn't give permission, though I have no authoritative source for the supposition. Another oddity is that there are no interviews or other extras, which surprised and mildly disappointed me even on this listening; perhaps I thought it would be different this time? The CCs started just after Nick Briggs took over as head honcho of Big Finish from Gary Russell and introduced the idea to their Main Range, so I probably just assumed the feature was universal. I'm glad they were introduced here, too, in the second series.

When Should You Listen?
Unlike The Suffering, this story is told from Vicki's perspective after she has parted company with the Doctor; and because the frame is fairly substantial - embedded in her future history as well as interrupting the narrative at various points, rather than simply sitting at the beginning of each episode - it tells us rather a lot about events we haven't yet reached in this marathon.

That makes this the perfect time to talk about a tension in the Companion Chronicles for marathon runners. There are a number of threads on Gallifrey Base discussing cross-media story continuity, and with the Doctors for whom the CCs provide the bulk of the audio material there are two schools of thought. One is the straightforward idea of listing them by the main plot (just like, say, a sixth Doctor story that has a cameo from the seventh at the end would work best in the former's timeline). The other is to go for a spoiler-free approach, which generally means placing it by framing sequence. In this scheme I would have delayed reviewing Quinnis, for example, until after The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Both ideas have merit. I've gone for the straightforward approach so far, although that will be adjusted slightly for an upcoming trilogy. If I ever do such a marathon again - just for fun, and not with reviews! - I may try the alternative. Who knows? I may like it better!

Published:
Date: 5th February 2007
ISBN: 1-84435-263-0

Rating:
8/10.

Next Time:
Mars.