PREVIOUS
Seven Keys
To Doomsday
OCTOBER 2008
The second of Big Finish’s
stage play adaptations jumps back fifteen years to the second stage outing
for Doctor Who, the first to feature the Doctor himself. 1974’s
Doctor Who and the Daleks in ‘Seven Keys to Doomsday’ featured
Trevor Martin, previously seen as a Time Lord in 1969’s War Games,
as an alternate incarnation of the fourth Doctor, and rather wonderfully, he
now returns
to the role in the new audio version.
The production starts just as the
original did, with the cutesy device of two young types in the audience
being caught up in the adventure. The Doctor falls from the TARDIS,
desperately injured. In the original play, Jon Pertwee was shown to change
to Martin via a transition on
a projection screen. Here, stalwart Nicholas
Briggs is the ‘old’ Doctor, regenerating in front of Jenny and
Jimmy’s astonished eyes (I like to think that this is part of a strange,
stage play parallel universe, in which the Doctors run Nick Scovell; Nick
Briggs; and then Trevor Martin, following the regenerations seen on
stage / heard on CD).
Trevor Martin is a fine
Doctor. He has a wonderfully
rich, gruff, throaty voice,
bringing a real authority,
and
slight plumminess, to the
role. He has the authoritarian
confidence of Jon Pertwee; the
grouchiness of William
Hartnell; and a definite vein
of Patrick Troughton. He
dominates every scene in which
he appears, which is most of them.
Jenny is played by Charlie
Hayes, daughter of Wendy
Padbury, who played the original Jenny and,
of course,
television companion Zoe
Heriot. It’s a nice touch, and
Hayes performs well in a
limited role. Jimmy, played in
the audio adaptation by Joseph Thompson, is a rather
more
interesting character - a mouthy yet resourceful young man - and Thompson
puts in a fine performance.
Jenny and Jimmy, despite sounding like a twee
kids’
show pairing, work very well
together, and are swept
into the Doctor’s adventure
with agreeable swiftness.
Everything gets going very
quickly – there’s no chance
to get bored.
The play is set on the planet
Karn, apparently the same
world that writer Terrence Dicks used in his
later serial
The Brain of Morbius. It’s not much like the Karn seen
there – more like the radiation-addled Skaro
– but this
could easily be
another era in the planet’s long history.
We learn that it was once the
centre of a huge galactic
empire, ruled by the Masters of Karn, of whom
only one survives. It’s now inhabited mostly by
bizarre mutants; the
absurdly-named Clawrantulas, faithfully reproduced on the cover looking
something like a cross between a Quark, a Kroton and a fiddler crab. They
come across as relatively generic monsters, but serve their purpose well. There’s
nothing especially original here; there are some hard-bitten mercenaries,
on a grim, grisly planet, and the TARDIS trio get involved in suitably a grand alien scheme. At the
close of Act 1, the Daleks turn up, ably voiced, as always, by Briggs.
The Daleks are searching for the Master of Karn’s final prize, the
ultimate weapon, formed from seven crystal shards - the seven keys of the
title. These are then collected with astonishing rapidity. The second half of
the play is lighter on incident, and comes across as more a collection of
Who clichés. We have a character climbing into
a Dalek casing to infiltrate
them from The Daleks; the quest for keys to a
powerful weapon from The Keys of Marinus; the redeemed traitor from, oh,
just about every Terry Nation story ever. Indeed, it’s slightly surprising
to learn that Nation didn’t write it!
However,
I don’t wish to suggest that this
isn’t an enjoyable production.
Unoriginal
it may be, even for the 1970s,
but it’s
tremendous fun. The adaptation
from
visual spectacle to audio
drama is far
superior to that of The Ultimate
Adv-
enture, and it’s a better story too; far
more coherent. The Daleks’
plan feels
genuinely threatening, as they seek to
construct a weapon that
will annihilate all
animal life in the Universe. Briggs brings
another frightening performance as the Dalek Emperor, stealing the scene from
Martin for the only time in the play. The open ending also leaves the
possibility open for a few more adventures for this effective TARDIS crew.
The extras on these discs are
serviceable. Remembering Seven Keys to Doomsday is a diverting
little bit of history, whereas Growing up with Doctor Who explores Charlie
Hayes’ childhood as the daughter of the Doctor’s companion. Only
Remaking Seven Keys is less interesting than I’d have hoped.
Overall,
this is nothing special and nothing groundbreaking, but it was never
supposed to be. Nostalgia for some, for me this is a chance to
experience some Who that I never thought I’d get a chance to, and
a brand new Doctor to boot. More than that, it’s a good, fun romp, and
will surely remain an enjoyable bit of ‘light listening’ in future.
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