Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *
Cast: Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Eve Karpf, Amy Ewbank, James Hayward, Jonathan Forbes, Ben Porter, Phil Mulryne, Francesca Hunt.
It is worth remembering that Big Finish have been producing Doctor Who audio dramas now for almost 15 years, nearly 200 separate adventures in the main canon as well as the plethora of spin offs involving the very best of companions, so occasionally you listen to a story, in this case Tomb Ship, and you nod your head with great understanding that it didn’t just miss the mark, it hit the larger target next to it and disturbed all the arrows that seemed firmly in place.
The latest of Peter Davison’s three story jaunts might well have listeners and fans reaching the conclusion that if filmed, if placed within the dynamic of a 45 minute episode, then it would have been a tremendous adventure, a look at the way the Doctor could manipulate people into getting the job done so that might stand a chance of living, in much the same way that the David Tennant era story 42, written by the excellent Chris Chibnall, or The God Complex with Matt Smith was able to do. They were also gave the viewer the understanding of confined space, the cramped area in which a monster can lurk. Some stories require that, no matter how good the imagination of the listener, to visualise the obstacle in the way is not a cheat or cop out, the brain just needs that extra push to know that something cannot just be overcome with a sonic screwdriver set to the right frequency.
This is where unfortunately Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby’s script falls down. The idea on paper would have been something very interesting to play along with but when you have the Doctor and Nyssa placed in mortal danger within the walls of a mausoleum carrying a dead King and the obstacles which stand in theirs and the fortune hunters they come across depends on understanding how they got out of the predicament, then rather than being told, it is one of those cases in where showing is better than actually telling.
Whilst Peter Davison’s incarnation of The Doctor usually has some great moments in, especially with the equally clever Nyssa, played as always with such style, this is one of the very few moments in which you wonder where they are taking The Doctor too. A mixture between one of two good sequences, especially with the confrontation between Eve Karpf and Amy Ewbank’s characters, which remind you of Raiders of the Lost Ark swallowed up in the randomness that befuddled fans of Indiana Jones in the disturbingly poor sequel.
As Doctor Who stories go, it’s not the finest hour available.
Doctor Who: Tomb Ship is available to purchase from Worlds Apart, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall