STORY PLACEMENT THIS EPISODE TAKES
PLACE BETWEEN THE BIG
"RENAISSANCE OF THE
PRODUCTION CODE 6C/J
WRITTEN BY DANIEL O'MAHONY
DIRECTED BY BARNABY EDWARDS
RECOMMENDED PURCHASE BIG FINISH SPECIAL#VI (ISBN 1-84435-252-4) RELEASED IN DECEMBER 2007.
BLURB
It's
been hundreds of
years
and several
regenerations
since
the
Doctor last
visited
the insect
world
of Vortis.
Much
has changed
during
his absence,
but
not necessarily
for
the better.
This
now green and
pleasant
land isn't
the
paradise it first
appears.
Something
malevolent
is living
out
in The
Desolation...
And the
Doctor
and Nyssa
must
solve the
mystery
before the
City
of Light is
overrun. |
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Return to the Web Planet DECEMBER 2007 (50-MINUTE EPISODE)
Last Christmas, Big Finish rewarded their subscribers with a bonus release that served as a spectacular, avant-garde trailer for both their flagship Doctor Who monthly range and its acclaimed Dalek Empire spin-off. This Christmas, however, Big Finish take us back in time as the Doctor returns to the planet Vortis, where hundreds of subjective years earlier he encountered the Animus and its deadly, termite-like slaves – the Zarbi.
The Doctor’s first visit to The Web Planet ranks amongst my least favourite Doctor Who serials, and as a result its literary sequel, Twilight of the Gods, was ruined for me as I couldn’t help but picture the Menoptra as men in unconvincing suits and the Zarbi as some of the most feeble props in the history of television. The incredible (and I mean that pejoratively) 1965 television production had effectively compromised my ability to conjure Vortis in my mind’s eye.
But now it seems that Vortis has found the medium through which it can be most credibly expressed. Steve Foxon, the sound designer for this fifty-minute episode, has done the most extraordinary job of creating a credible web planet. The Zarbi may sound exactly as they did back in 1965, but here they swarm in droves of thousands and the listener hears the devastation that follows. When I closed my eyes and listened to the Zarbi eating their way through acres of forest, I didn’t visualise unconvincing props - I saw monsters. In such a dramatic soundscape, Vortis is every bit as vast and horrifying as it should have always been.
Of course, to be able to craft such a vivid aural vista, Foxon had to have the words to base it upon, and Daniel O’Mahony’s meticulous script abounds with vibrant images both literal and metaphorical. The dialogue’s descriptions are every bit as evocative as the sounds that underscore it, and the narrative brings out the best in the Doctor and Nyssa as they are each paired with well-rounded and well-played Menoptran foils: Acheron (Sam Kelly) and Hedyla (Julie Buckfield) respectively. The latter is a particularly memorable character whose journey here is marked by both hope and tragedy. There is something about a butterfly having her wings clipped that feels fundamentally abhorrent - even more so when we learn that those who took her wings were her own kind – and O’Mahony riffs upon this brutal atrocity with his customary dark deviance, but this time to an end that’s surprisingly uplifting.
Return to the Web Planet nevertheless maintains quite a traditional flavour, if not so much in terms of the content – I don’t think anyone would argue that a Zarbi orgy is ‘traditional’ – then at least in terms of the story’s structure, pace and themes. Don’t be fooled by Anthony Dry’s striking 60s’ annual artwork though - this remarkable episode is about as far removed from that retro, sixteen-colour world as you can get.
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Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2007
E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. |
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