Doctor Who Audio MR 051: The Wormery
Mar 11, 2014 20:48:41 GMT -5
dοΌ¬α΅, Jon Pertwees Shameless Gurning, and 1 more like this
Post by π cahusserole π on Mar 11, 2014 20:48:41 GMT -5
Doctor: Sixth
Companion: None
Continuity notes: This audio takes place pretty much directly after Trial of a Timelord, and references the trial and the Valeyard. I didn't know Iris Wildthyme before this audio, but she shows up in a few novels and a couple non-main range audios before this episode. The Wormery introduces her well enough without knowing these, though. She is voiced by Katy Manning, better known to Doctor Who fans as Jo Grant, companion to the Third Doctor. Interestingly, the first time Iris met the Doctor was when he was moping around after Jo left him to go off to the Amazon with her Welsh hippie husband. From a bit of research, it looks like before this adventure was released in 2003 she also met up with the Fourth Doctor in Old Flames (short story) and the Fifth Doctor in Excelis Dawn (Big Finish audio, although not in the main range). Iris is a fellow Time Lord (this is apparently disputed according to her Wikipedia page, but it seemed like this audio made a reasonable case for it), and her TARDIS appears as a London double-decker bus. She is... well, quite the lush.
Onto the story.
This audio is told long after the fact, as a former barmaid named Mickey plays audio surveillance tapes recovered from Bianca's, a club that she used to work. The tapes relate the Doctor and Iris's visits to Bianca's and the subsequent destruction of the club. Over the course of the story, it comes to light that Bianca is basically Iris's version of the Valeyard, a future regeneration grown disgusted with her past, who wants to steal her lives for herself. The club is what remains of Iris's TARDIS, precariously stabilized in the Vortex with doorways reaching out to worlds across the universe. The very last line in the story is from the mysterious Mr. Ashcroft, the silent gentleman for whom Mickey has been playing the tapes. He turns out to be the Seventh Doctor. Why is he there? What are his motivations? Why does he need to research his own past? I do rather doubt we'll find out the reason why, given that the next Seventh Doctor audio in the main range is The Harvest.
There's also a plotline about tequila worms.
The most hilarious part about the whole story is when Bianca and Iris end up fighting over the Doctor. The Sixth Doctor. The one with the most garishly eye-searing costume in the history of all space and time. I mean, I guess they're seeing his true self through the ages, and technically both women are the same person, but still. Throwing yourself at that? The mind, it boggles.
My favorite part is the Doctor talking about a school assignment from his youth:
I should say though, Colin Baker is pretty damn good in this. I haven't listened to all that many of his yet (only 4), but he really is so much better in audio.
Katy Manning is fine as Iris, but she has to affect a drunken slur throughout the entire audio. It gets a little tiresome to listen to. I was cringing preemptively, leading up to the singing bits, but thankfully they're short. And they're supposed to sound awful, so thumbs up?
The worst is James Campbell's performance as the physicists, Allis and Ballis. I'm not sure why Big Finish decided to cast one person as two halves of a romantic couple, but it was not a good idea. Campbell super-camps it up, and it's really distracting every time either one of them is in a scene.
Bianca (Maria McErlane) is not great, either. It makes sense for her character, being a self-obsessed lounge singer bent on revenge, but she reminded me of the alien lady in Stones of Venice, whose ponderous monologuing brought the whole thing down.
The Wormery is available here from Big Finish Productions. I don't think it's worth $12.99, but if you can get it for $5 or less, I'd vaguely recommend it, if only for Baker's performance.
Companion: None
Continuity notes: This audio takes place pretty much directly after Trial of a Timelord, and references the trial and the Valeyard. I didn't know Iris Wildthyme before this audio, but she shows up in a few novels and a couple non-main range audios before this episode. The Wormery introduces her well enough without knowing these, though. She is voiced by Katy Manning, better known to Doctor Who fans as Jo Grant, companion to the Third Doctor. Interestingly, the first time Iris met the Doctor was when he was moping around after Jo left him to go off to the Amazon with her Welsh hippie husband. From a bit of research, it looks like before this adventure was released in 2003 she also met up with the Fourth Doctor in Old Flames (short story) and the Fifth Doctor in Excelis Dawn (Big Finish audio, although not in the main range). Iris is a fellow Time Lord (this is apparently disputed according to her Wikipedia page, but it seemed like this audio made a reasonable case for it), and her TARDIS appears as a London double-decker bus. She is... well, quite the lush.
Onto the story.
This audio is told long after the fact, as a former barmaid named Mickey plays audio surveillance tapes recovered from Bianca's, a club that she used to work. The tapes relate the Doctor and Iris's visits to Bianca's and the subsequent destruction of the club. Over the course of the story, it comes to light that Bianca is basically Iris's version of the Valeyard, a future regeneration grown disgusted with her past, who wants to steal her lives for herself. The club is what remains of Iris's TARDIS, precariously stabilized in the Vortex with doorways reaching out to worlds across the universe. The very last line in the story is from the mysterious Mr. Ashcroft, the silent gentleman for whom Mickey has been playing the tapes. He turns out to be the Seventh Doctor. Why is he there? What are his motivations? Why does he need to research his own past? I do rather doubt we'll find out the reason why, given that the next Seventh Doctor audio in the main range is The Harvest.
There's also a plotline about tequila worms.
The most hilarious part about the whole story is when Bianca and Iris end up fighting over the Doctor. The Sixth Doctor. The one with the most garishly eye-searing costume in the history of all space and time. I mean, I guess they're seeing his true self through the ages, and technically both women are the same person, but still. Throwing yourself at that? The mind, it boggles.
My favorite part is the Doctor talking about a school assignment from his youth:
Wrote a treatise on the chromosomal origins of love once, when I was a small boy. Proved categorically which gene began it, which enzymes carried it, which electrochemical receptors translated it. Took all the fun out of it. Got a rubbish grade, tooβmy tutor told me I'd missed the point. It's held no mystique for me since, so don't talk to me about love.
Katy Manning is fine as Iris, but she has to affect a drunken slur throughout the entire audio. It gets a little tiresome to listen to. I was cringing preemptively, leading up to the singing bits, but thankfully they're short. And they're supposed to sound awful, so thumbs up?
The worst is James Campbell's performance as the physicists, Allis and Ballis. I'm not sure why Big Finish decided to cast one person as two halves of a romantic couple, but it was not a good idea. Campbell super-camps it up, and it's really distracting every time either one of them is in a scene.
Bianca (Maria McErlane) is not great, either. It makes sense for her character, being a self-obsessed lounge singer bent on revenge, but she reminded me of the alien lady in Stones of Venice, whose ponderous monologuing brought the whole thing down.
The Wormery is available here from Big Finish Productions. I don't think it's worth $12.99, but if you can get it for $5 or less, I'd vaguely recommend it, if only for Baker's performance.
