"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.
No comments:
Post a Comment