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STORY PLACEMENT THIS EPISODE TAKES
PLACE AFTER THE TV AND PRIOR TO THE DOCTOR WHO TV
EPISODE "THE
STOLEN
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? |
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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.
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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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