STORY PLACEMENT

 THIS EPISODE TAKES

 PLACE AFTER THE TV
 EPISODE "EXIT WOUNDS"

 AND PRIOR TO THE

 DOCTOR WHO TV

 EPISODE "THE STOLEN
 EARTH."

 

 WRITTEN BY

 JOSEPH LIDSTER

 

 DIRECTED BY

 KATE McALL

 

 RECOMMENDED 

 PURCHASE

 'LOST SOULS' AUDIO CD 

 (ISBN 1-405-68944-1)

 RELEASED IN SEPTEMBER

 2008.

 

 BLURB

 Martha Jones has

 been called to CERN

 where they're about

 to activate the Large

 Hadron Collider.

 Once activated, the

 Collider will fire

 beams of protons

 together recreating

 conditions a billionth

 of a second after the

 Big Bang - and

 potentially allowing

 the human race a

 greater insight into

 what the Universe is

 made of. But so much

 could go wrong - it

 could open a gateway

 to a parallel

 dimension, or create

 a black hole - and

 now voices from the

 past are calling out

 to people and

 scientists have

 started to

 disappear...

 

 Where have the

 missing scientists

 gone? What is the

 secret of the glowing

 man? What is lurking

 in the underground

 tunnel? And do the

 dead ever really

 stay dead?

 

 PREVIOUS                                                            NEXT (DOCTOR WHO)

                                                                            NEXT (TORCHWOOD)

 

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Lost Souls

10TH SEPTEMBER 2008

(45-MINUTE EPISODE)

 

 

                                                       

 

 

I have to confess to being quite excited about this offering. I’ve thoroughly enjoy-ed both series of Torchwood on television, particularly the second, and am also a huge fan of Joseph Lidster’s scripts for both Torchwood and Big Finish Production’s series of Doctor Who audio plays.

 

The first thing to strike me about Lost Souls was the slickness of the production. Right down to the “Torchwood is ready” opening sequence, from the start this audio play sounds exactly like a television episode, save for the notable lack of sexual references, that is. Even so, this play is as close to Torchwood as the Big Finish monthly series of plays are to Doctor Who.

 

“This proton smashing isn’t trivial stuff. Some people think it could open a gateway

to a parallel dimension, or create a black hole, or even turn the world inside-out.”

 

The story itself is impressive, albeit somewhat predictable at times. Once again Lidster fell on his feet with the brief – the activation of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (with which trans-mission of this play coincided) is really something that fires the imagination, and one of this play’s greatest strengths is that it manages to convey the size and scope of this ambitious and visceral project with nothing more than words. Having Ianto staring slack-jawed at a “jet engine the size of the London Eye” helps.

 

“I recruited them. Showed them a different sky. And now…”

 

The real heart of the story though dwells on the surviving team member’s grief at the recent loss of Owen and Tosh and, as the play’s title suggests, explores what may have happened to them post-mortem. As deliciously dark as some of the television series’ more morbid outings, Lost Souls really sticks the knife in as the team are tortured by the prospect that Owen and Tosh, and even Ianto’s old Cyberwoman girlfriend Lisa, may be out there in the darkness, enduring a fate worse than oblivion.

 

“Afternoon… So you’re the dead then?”

 

As I’ve already mentioned above though, parts of the story are unsurprising to say the least – Stephen Critchlow may give one hell of a performance as UNIT’s man on the scene, Doctor Harrington, but as soon somebody mentioned that his wife had recently died and that he had “sad eyes”, the game was up. Even so, Harrington’s tale is still a powerful one – crossing the line to save (or in this case, bring back) one’s wife is the tragic flaw of many a hero. Just look at Anakin Skywalker.

 

“You’ve opened a doorway to heaven…”

 

On the whole, with neutron-eating monsters, stellar performances from the regulars, and some terrific production values, Torchwood’s first venture into the world of audio drama is certainly an exciting and an enthralling one. Though I sincerely hope that the television series has many, many more years of life left in it, I cannot help but wonder what a company like

Big Finish might be able to do with this series were they to one day secure the license.

 

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2008

 

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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