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A Thousand
Tiny Wings
JANUARY 2010
(4 EPISODES)
A Thousand Tiny Wings
is, at first glance, a straightforward base-under-siege
Doctor Who adventure. The aurally-opulent backdrop of the
1950s Mau Mau uprising and the Kenyan jungle may lend it a certain
distinction, and the manner in which the author Andy Lane goes about
disposing of his characters is certainly as innovative as it is
horrifying, but what really makes this production such an exceptional
endeavour is its brave and brilliant resurrection of a character from the
seventh Doctor’s (and indeed Big Finish’s) past: time-travelling Nazi ice
maiden, Doctor Elizabeth Klein.
Steve Lyons’ Colditz remains to this day one of my favourite Big
Finish releases, but I must admit that I’d long-since given up hope of a
sequel by the time that this one was announced. However, Klein’s fate -
and therefore the singular threat that she posed - was left deliciously
open by Lyons’ complex script, and if there is one thing that the seventh
Doctor can’t stand, it’s a loose end…
And though I didn’t find the science-fiction thread of Lane’s plot
particularly compelling, his character drama is absolutely first-rate
here. As well as the continuous clash between the diametrically-opposed
philosophies of the Doctor and Klein (as to which, see below), we also
have some stunning shades of grey such as Ann Bell’s Mrs O’Donnell – an
ostensibly odious but, in some ways, really quite admirable colonial that
in most other productions would have stolen the show.
“I’m the Doctor and this is… my
friend, Elizabeth Klein.”
Inescapably though, where A Thousand Tiny Wings truly shines is in
its exploration of the Doctor and Klein; what sets them apart; and even
what makes them similar. Lane’s script
is very clever in how it brings the two characters together in a credible
manner, whilst at the same time maintaining an open sense of mutual
loathing that does not wane even as the story progresses towards its
climax. The Doctor’s strategy will be patent to most listeners from a very
early point in the play, and so I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by
saying that it isn’t his intention to defeat Klein; lock her up; or even
bait her towards her own destruction. Instead, the Doctor intends to
minimise the danger that Klein’s survival poses to history by educating
and changing her – a task that is far easier said than done.
I
think what makes listening to the
relationship between Sylvester
McCoy and Tracey Childs’ two
characters so enthralling is that,
for all her malevolence, Klein is
fiercely intelligent. She’s not the
Doctor’s intellectual match by any means, yet throughout the narrative she
manages to tie him in knots with her unscrupulous logic, really managing
to hold her own with the Time Lord as they row over everything from the
difference between saving a few lives and altering the course of history
(“stones and rocks”, as the Doctor neatly puts it) to the merits of
amputating an infected limb or having the trains run on time (“it depends
on what happens to the drivers when they’re late”, the Doctor quips).
Klein even scores a couple of points off the Doctor – her cynical distrust
of one character that the Doctor chooses to give the benefit of the doubt
ultimately proves to be well-founded, and her cutting, but nonetheless
astute assessment of the Doctor’s manipulation of Abraham right at the
death really seems to cut deep.
Above:
Alex Mallinson's roasting centrefold
In the end A Thousand Tiny Wings concludes as we all knew that it
would, with Klein joining the Doctor aboard the TARDIS as his new
travelling companion. He is planning to show her the universe with the aim
of opening her eyes to its wonder and curtailing her capacity for evil;
she, I’m certain, is planning something altogether different – something
that McCoy’s Doctor has doubtless already foreseen and countered! The way
I see it, their conflict can only be resolved in one of two ways, but I
can’t wait to find out which and how…
All in all, A Thousand Tiny Wings is an intriguing and provocative
character piece, which Lane injects with just enough deed and horror to
maintain a surprisingly frenetic pace. Lisa Bowerman has done an
extraordinary job with her direction, and with a Kenyan jungle to play in,
Richard Fox and Lauren Yason have really excelled themselves with their
sound design and score, which is buoyed by cover artist Alex Mallinson’s
sporadic grunting. However, the most credit has to go to David Richardson
and John Ainsworth for having the sheer gall to bring back one of Big
Finish’s most iniquitous supporting characters and place her by the
Doctor’s side for 2010’s opening trilogy of adventures, and - of course -
to Tracey Childs and the unsettlingly-moustachioed Sylvester McCoy,
without whom…
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