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The Demons

of Red Lodge

and other stories

DECEMBER 2010

(4 EPISODES)

  1. THE DEMONS OF RED LODGE      2. THE ENTROPY COMPOSITION

3. DOING TIME      4. SPECIAL FEATURES

There’s been a buzz about this release for almost a year now. Big Finish’s annual anthologies always seem to prove popular with listeners in any event, but The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories is a particularly exciting offering as, just like 2008’s Forty-Five, its four stories have been written by authors new the range - and in one notable case, new to professional writing.

Earlier this year, Big Finish opened themselves up to unsolicited submissions for the first time in several years, prompting an assault on script editor Alan Barnes’ inbox from almost twelve hundred would-be Joseph Lidsters. These submissions were then brutally whittled down to just one: “The Entropy Composition” by Rick Briggs. The disappointed pitchers (of whom I was one) could initially amuse themselves with the fact that the selected story’s author’s name was just one letter away from being the Big Finish executive producer’s, but now they can take even greater delight in hearing Briggs’ story finally brought to life - there is a reason it was selected out of over a thousand, after all.

Right from its opening riff, it isn’t difficult to see what made Briggs’ story stand out from the crowd. Not only is it full of stimulating ideas - a planet-sized mp3 player, for instance - but its villain is borne of sound itself, making it ideal fodder for an audio production. What’s more, Briggs’ plotting is tight and surprisingly disciplined - of all this release’s contributors, Briggs is the only one whose story runs to time - and his characterisation is even better still. Peter Davison’s Doctor and especially Sarah Sutton’s “groupie” Nyssa have springs in their steps here, Briggs skilfully perching the pair atop the tightrope that separates comedy and drama.

“The Entropy Composition” shares the anthology’s first disc with the eponymous tale, which I’m sorry to report is altogether less rousing. Penned by Jason Arnopp, who’s recently authored The Sarah Jane Adventures’ tale Deadly Download and has an eleventh Doctor audio book due out in March next year, “The Demons of Red Lodge” is a competent but colourless Blair Witch pastiche that does what it says on the tin, but little besides. Arnopp tries to give his story a bit of an edge by making his Doctor discernibly terrified, but this is to no real effect as it’s made explicit from a very early stage that the reason for his fear is artificial, thus taking all of the sting out of it.

“Doing Time” is a far superior caper, but again it does lack the originality of Briggs’ submission. Journalist and dramatist William Gallagher’s blithe piece sees the Doctor serve a lengthy stretch in a prison that he knows will soon be blown up - indeed, it was his many warnings about the impending disaster, misconstrued as threats, that earned him his detention in the first place. The episode pays homage to innumerable prison movies and series and is tremendous fun throughout - the Doctor even starts a cricketing team. It’s far from being the Seeing I-style gritfest that I was expecting, but pleasantly so - the only thing it’s lacking is the late Ronnie Barker.

It is the anthology’s final episode that really steals the show though. Written by Big Finish’s golden boy of 2010, actor turned author John Dorney, “Special Features” is a truly inspired piece of work. An extension of one of the most pre-eminent ideas found in Steven Moffat’s superlative Blink, Dorney’s episode takes the form of a DVD commentary being played out over a decades-old portmanteau film, Doctor Demonic’s Tales of Terror, which just happens to feature a young, unknown actress by the name of Nyssa Traken - and just so happens to be cursed. Amongst the commentary’s contributors is the film’s historical adviser, Dr John Smith, who seems a little more open-minded than his curmudgeonly colleagues about this curse that has apparently seen many of the cast and crew perish in the most macabre of ways…

Dorney’s keenly-observed script mocks the commentary format with decidedly deadly wit, yet is injected with just enough peril to prevent the proceedings descending into farce. For me, this little nugget is probably Dorney’s finest offering to date – it’s even more impressive than the acclaimed Solitaire, even. My only complaint about it is that it’s wreaked havoc with the mp3 tagging system that I use on my mp3 player - it’s almost proved as problematic as that mischievous little pop group, Various Artists.

On the whole, The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories is another charming collection to add the four already in the Big Finish arsenal. Its stories range from creepy to comic and from traditional to avant-garde, and while its title track is a little lacklustre, this is more than made up for by the freshness of “The Entropy Composition” and especially “Special Features”, which bludgeon as much creativity and verve into twenty-odd minutes as I think is possible without over-egging the pudding.

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2010

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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