Doctor Who - The Apocalypse Element

STORY PLACEMENT

THIS STORY TAKES

PLACE BETWEEN THE BIG

FINISH AUDIO DRAMAS

"THE SIRENS OF TIME"

AND "BLOODTIDE."

PRODUCTION CODE

7C/C

WRITTEN BY

STEPHEN COLE

DIRECTED BY

NICHOLAS BRIGGS

WORKING TITLE

APOCALYPSE

RECOMMENDED

PURCHASE

BIG FINISH CD#11

(ISBN 1-903654-01-7)

RELEASED IN AUGUST

2000.

BLURB

TWENTY YEARS AGO,

AN expedition

disappeared on the

planetoid Etra Prime,

including the newly

inaugurated

President of

Gallifrey, one Lady

Romana. Some time

later, many of their

dead bodies

materialised on the

planet Archetryx.

Today, Archetryx

hosts a delagation

from the many

planets who have

time travel

capabilities,

including the Monan

Host and Gallifrey.

However, as the

Doctor finds Himself

drawn to Archetryx,

it becomes evident

Etra Prime is being

used as a weapon to

destroy Archetryx.

But why?

And just why does the

incumbant President

of the High Council of

the Time Lords allow

a Dalek Task Force to

land on Gallifrey?

| | | | | | | |

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NEXT (DALEK EMPIRE)

The Apocalypse Element

august 2000

(4 EPISODES)

I found Big Finish’s much maligned eleventh release, dismissed by many as a steaming great pile of fanwank, really quite good; in fact I would go so far as to use the word ‘epic’. Unfortunately, therein lies the problem. “The Apocalypse Element” is a massive, sweeping, cinematic affair… on audio. The result is a brilliant and bold story that assaults the aural nerves and makes the listener’s brain bleed.

Stephen Cole’s story is a sequel of sorts to “The Genocide Machine,” but only from the point of view of the Daleks - Big Finish even subtitled it “Dalek Empire – Part Two.” The reason

for the Daleks’ invasion of the library in “The Genocide Machine” - which, thanks to the beauties of Time Travel, has not yet happened from the Doctor’s perspective – becomes clear as the Daleks sought knowledge of the ‘Apocalypse Element’ which in this story they use to “set the universe alight," destroying an entire galaxy before the Doctor and Romana can stop its path of destruction. The Daleks, at their Machiavellian best, plan to invade this destroyed, empty galaxy and use it as a base for a new Dalek Empire – a base from which they can start to systematically conquer the entire universe.

The story is ambitious in the same way as “Logopolis” in that the entire universe is at stake. As the Doctor puts it himself, “…more than you could possibly comprehend…” Colin Baker is at his pragmatic best, and the Daleks are finally living up to all their nasty potential.

However, the story also succeeds on the personal level – Lalla Ward puts in a brilliant performance as Romana, taken shortly after her inauguration as President of the Time Lords and held prisoner by the Daleks for over twenty years. Suffice it to say she is not the same Romana the Doctor left behind in E-Space all that time ago, she is not even the impressive Time Lord President of the New Adventures… yet. This no doubt got under a lot of people's skin, but frankly if after twenty years in a Dalek prison Romana was still the bubbly, witty, know-it-all that we all knew and loved (and probably fancied) it would be a bit far-fetched, even for Doctor Who!

Of course, the story is notoriously full of many ‘fan friendly’ notions, ironically the cause for so much of its loathing from fandom. And here's me thinking that fanwank is named as such because fans are supposed to like it!

The ideas themselves are fantastic; we have Daleks existing independently of their travel machine, their invasion of Gallifrey, and even Romana’s return to the show. The main problem is that there is too much going on for a four-part audio adventure; were this a television story it would have easily been a six-parter, that is if it could even have been made at all on the show’s budget, something I seriously doubt as there are scenes with more than three Daleks together at any one time. There are other problems too – Evelyn is awful. Surrounded by death and destruction she maintains her cheery, ‘chocolate-cake for all’ personality which is so far out of place that it hurts, and as I mentioned earlier, this play should only be listened to within reach of some painkillers. 'Very loud' just does not do it justice.

It is loud, it is large and although some of the ambitious plot is somewhat lacking (the ‘Trojan Horse’ of a Monan Timeship springs to mind), one thing this story certainly does not lack is action.

A must.

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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