Written By: Bernd Perplies & Christian Humberg

Read by Alec Newman

Released by Big Finish July 2018

I had been pretty disappointed in the first Star Trek Prometheus audiobook, Fire With Fire.  It felt like a lot of wasted time before finally starting to get into an interesting story and mystery...and then it just ends and leaves you waiting for the next book.  So I went into The Root of All Rage expecting it to be more continuity and back references, and a real lack of anything fresh...but luckily, that nugget of mystery and story prevailed, and this second entry in the Prometheus tale builds wonderfully, and actually becomes a fresh new story.  And though it still doesn't have a complete ending, the cliffhanging tease in this story is more satisfying than the end of the first book had been.

While the references and returning characters from Trek lore aren't completely missing, they aren't as overwhelming as they had been in that first book.  Sure, Lwaxana Troi and Picard make an appearance in this one, and there are references to past episodes and characters, but the actual story of the Prometheus and the new characters are all expanded on in far greater detail.  The mystery of what is going on in this region of space and why the once peaceful race has turned to fanatical terrorism begins to unravel...and I found myself far more engrossed in the story this time.

I will admit I was a tad disappointed that the big reveal that the being that may be causing all the havoc might be a reference to a single episode of the Original Series...but they left it open enough and added a more interesting major detail that left me quite interested to see it all end.

This second book turned me around on the series.  The first book spent too much time showing off it's Trek history knowledge, but this one spends that same time building it's own characters and story.  Instead of referencing other Trek works, it adds to the vast Trek lore.  And that is a good thing.There are still some issues. I still don't think this series is accessible to newcomers.  If they could skip all the reference garbage from the first book and pair it down, then launch into the story of the second book, it might actually work as a fun new jumping on point.

Beyond that there is still the issue of Star Trek phrases being mispronounced, which is not terrible, but it does leave the audiobook feeling like slightly less Big Finish love was poured into it than some of their other ranges.  Still…story-wise this is a vast improvement on the first book, and I am actually quite interested to hear the conclusion in December.  It may not be great for newcomers, and big Trek fans may be annoyed with some of the mangled Trek words, but there is a good story at the heart of this book. 

Written By: Roy Gill, Natasha Gerson, Louise Jameson, Phil MulryneDirected By: Ken Bentley

Cast

Louise Jameson (Dr Anne Reynolds), John Dorney (Adam Dean), Natasha Gerson (Morag), Alan Cox (James Doyle), Lucy Goldie (Claire McTeal), Roberta Taylor(Olivia Kirkland), Leighton Pugh (John Gardener), Orion Ben (Adhara Rahul / Nurse), Jamie Newall (Professor Peter Shand), Miranda Keeling (Lucy Williams), Gunnar Cauthery (Edward Milton), Elizabeth Payne (Grace Roberts), Ben Porter(Professor Stephen Wright). Other parts played by members of the cast.

Producer David RichardsonScript Editor Matt FittonExecutive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

 

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As I began Omega Factor series three, I must confess to feeling a little of what I can only call trepidation. With the quality of  the first two series being so high and after proclaiming them to be my favourite Big Finish products EVER, well one starts to wonder if ANYTHING can live up to those expectations. Not only that but series 2 ended on such a bizarre (but wonderful) cliff-hanger, that the challenge seemed two-fold. Of course, I forgot the immortal words of Yazz; ‘The only way is up…’

Under Glass- Roy Gill

Returning after the superb, The Changeling, Roy Gill’s opening script wisely keeps the Omega conspiracy and various dangling threads from the last series in the background. Instead it chooses to concentrate on the relationship between Louise Jameson’s Anne Reynolds and John Dorney’s Adam Dean. They’ve come a long way since season one and the chemistry between them allows Gill to experiment with introducing elements such as a potential love interest for Adam Green, whilst at the same time making it perfectly clear that he’s also developing a closer relationship with his daughter. Both of these facts send a clear message to the audience but also make perfect material for an opening story, particular when Adam’s new love interest is directly connected to the demonic threat. The guest cast are of course superb, with Roberta Taylor delivering a wonderful performance as Olivia Kirkland.

Let us Play- Natasha Gerson

Morag herself is the author of the next story in the set and boy what a story. Let us Play uses the contemporary video game obsessions to great effect, telling the story of a mysterious game that is having unpleasant effects on the students who have trialled it. Jamie Newall steals the show here as Proffesor Peter Shand, presenting a likeable but tragic character and delivering one of the stand out moments of the entire series thus far in his confrontation with this stories villain. One of the highlights of the set.

Phantom Pregnancy- Louise Jameson

After her fantastic episode last season, Louise Jameson returns with another tale. This story concerns a refugee who has mysteriously fallen pregnant. It’s a story that confronts some difficult issues, both socially but also personally, directly targeting Anne’s role as a scientist and her attitude to her work. At points I must confess to being a little confused as to exactly what the supernatural threat was and where it was coming from, though the real joy of this episode is its exquisite character studies. I must also state that whilst I admire the teams desire to try something different with the voice of the supernatural entity, it’s far more amusing than it is horrifying. However their minor niggles with another outstanding story in a series that has never failed yet. Special mention must be made of Orion Bens excellent portrayal of Adhara and one hopes we’ll have the pleasure of hearing her again. One also hopes that there’s more scripts to be had from the superb talent that is Louise Jameson. Another highly enjoyable story.  

Drawn to the Dark- Phil Mulryne

One of the things I’ve enjoyed about this series is how it’s really tapped into the history of Edenborough and Drawn to the Dark is no exception. This story also features the return of Drexel and resolves the plot points that were left open at the end of the last series. Not only that but it offers tantalising hints into the history of Omega and provides a satisfying conclusion to three series worth of stories. The final sequence provides an epic conclusion and the story itself manages to stand alone as a great horror story, whilst also providing many treats for long term listeners.

It’s confirmed in the behind the scenes features that OF will be returning at some point for a fourth series and I for one cannot wait. OF continues to be one of the single best products put out by Big Finish and for my money the best. Highly recommended.

 

Now in its thirteenth year, Camden Fringe has become something of a highlight for any fan of the London theatre scene; on or off the west end. Featuring three-hundred performances across nearly twenty-venues, it’s gained a reputation as an exciting home of inventive and creative theatre. One of these venues is the Etcetera theatre, housed above the Oxford Arms on Camden High Street. A wonderfully intimate space that is known as a home of diverse and original entertainment it’s the home of the London Horror Festival, has been called one of London’s ‘Great pub theatres’ by The Guardian. Perhaps more importantly, it also happens to be one of the founding theatres of the fringe itself. This year one of the performances their housing is ‘Blue’, the first production by ‘Sycorax Collective’ and being the Whovian I am, that name alone immediately had me hooked (yes my mind still goes straight to The Christmas Invasion- Shakespeare reference or not!). Doctor Who referencing company aside, Blue should be of interest to readers of this site as it uses a Science Fiction, fairy tale-esque plot to tell a wonderfully touching story about mental health issues.

Blue is the story of….well ‘Blue’ a young woman who lives on the moon with her pet Lobster ‘Spock’. Using a ‘Cbeebies’ esque voiceover who explains Blue’s life to us, the first half shows Blue as a character who could of stepped right out of a children’s programme in the vein of Mr. Tumble. She spends the day collecting star-dust, fishing and playing with Spock. The genius here though is that even between all the laughs and audience participation, we are immediately made aware that something is not…quite right. Dialogue such as ‘To make the world sparkle and hide the darkness in her mind’ is wonderfully secreted in an otherwise fun and gentle moment. What’s wonderful is that Kim Scopes, who performed the role of Blue, also wrote the piece. It’s clearly a passion project for her and she does herself and her colleagues immensely proud, channelling a range of emotions in a brief space of time. In particular the final five minutes or so is incredibly powerful and Scopes really throws herself into what must have been a very challenging role. Directed by Holli Dillon, the two work wonders together and I imagine they’ll be two to watch out for in the future.

Set design is, due to the nature of the performance and theatre, simple but in its simplicity lies its genius. Blues moon based ‘fort’ fits in with the childish, frivolous world of the story but the surrounding black drapes with tiny glowing lights (representing stars) hint at something darker. Even the stars on the backdrop appear to have been in the shape of a smiley face, further pushing the theme of forced happiness. And the Science Fiction? Well in the plays brief run-time we get to hear the classic Howell version of the Who theme, various Star Trek gags (including a rather brilliant waving joke) and Rock Horror references amongst others. Whilst all this certainly amused me, the real joy was in the poignant way the plays message was delivered. As I left the theatre I heard someone state that for anyone who had ever suffered mental health problems, the piece ‘really got what it felt like’. I think that’s the best compliment any artist can get.

Written by: Dan Starkey, Dennis Spooner, Phil Mulryne, and John Dorney
Adapted by: Rae Leaver
Based on storylines by: Terrence Feely, Geoffrey Bellman, John Whitney and Max Marquis
Directed by: Ken Bentley
Starring:
Anthony Howell (Dr Keel), Julian Wadham (John Steed), Lucy Briggs-Owen (Carol Wilson), Stephen Critchlow (Doctor Jones),Chris Porter (Stefan),Faye Castelow (Carmelita), Alice Haig (Stella Creighton
)Music by: Toby Hrycek-Robinson
Cover Art by: Anthony Lamb
Duration: 240' approx
Originally Released January 2016

Steed and Keel are back for a fifth set of adventures. This time it feels like the show has finally settled into a groove midway between the more fantastical episodes and the dark and brooding crime investigations. In part that may be down to a solid three quarters of this set being based on some of the most lost Avengers stories of all. Only storylines survive from the original production of three of these episodes, resulting in more freedom for the adaptors to build a more consistent tone and characterization into their scripts.

Nightmare

The first of these, Nightmare, has been worked up from Terence Feely’s scant outline by the multi-talented Dan Starkey. Known to Doctor Who fans as the Sontaran butler Strax, he also appears in these episodes as Steed’s boss One-Ten and various other parts. But for Nightmare he sits behind the scenes and crafts an almost original tale of a missing scientist and Keel adopting the missing man’s identity to smoke our his abductors. It’s a story which nicely merges two sides – the nightmarish effects of the pscychoactive drugs Keel unwittingly gets exposed to, and the finely ratcheted tension when a doctor involved in the conspiracy finds Keel at his hospital’s A&E.

Starkey does a fine job with a potentially difficult task – working with fixed plot points without, perhaps, the supporting plot gubbins that made them make sense and having to put his own supports in place. Certainly, a bit where the villains essentially post themselves to Keel in a package feels like something Feely had now lost reasons for. Overall, though, Starkey’s created a perfect blend of modern storytelling standards and the old school Avengers spirit. If he did his own, completely original, Avengers scripts in the future it would be no bad thing.

Girl on the Trapeze

You’d be mistaken for thinking Girl on the Trapeze was a similar case, but here is the only instalment in this set where adaptor Rae Leaver had Dennis Spooner’s complete script to work from. It’s an atypical story from Spooner, who was always one of sixties Doctor Who’s most ironical and witty writers. But there’s little levity or humour here, in a story that begins with Keel witnessing a young woman throwing herself from a bridge into the Thames, and follows on into a Soviet plot where teenage girls are being drugged up to the eyeballs and smuggled across Europe. Well, I say ‘Soviet’, but of course in typical Avengers fashion the exact identity of the superpower to the east of Europe with its vast, and ruthless, intelligence apparatus goes unnamed. Presumably ABC were worried about getting letters of complaint from the Soviet Ambassador if they said the obvious out loud, which seems positively charming to modern eyes.

Nevertheless, the general tone is very much of the Spy Who Came in from the Cold mode and sits nicely in the Avengers canon as one of the rare stories to deal with spycraft and counter-espionage with the same grittiness as the crime stories about heroin and prostitution.

Crescent Moon

Phil Mulryne’s Crescent Moon deserves a lot of credit for its authenticity when it must have been tempting to expand it. Another case where only an outline remains of the original, Mulryne keeps the Caribbean island setting restricted to what the show could actually have accomplished. So there are lots of scenes indoors, where you could imagine the location being nodded to by a ceiling fan and wooden shuttered windows, and the exterior scenes full of back projection and a couple of bushes on a set.

Where Mulryne possibly does take advantage is in easing back on the slight edge of Imperialist nationalism that’s shaded previous jaunts by Steed abroad. Yes, we’re again in a former British colony, and, yes, we’re again in a situation where the ‘good’ local leader (ie the one friendly to British interests) needs help fighting off the machinations of the ‘bad’ local (ie the one who wants the British kept out). But there feels like a better balance at play here and all the characters have their own agendas and motives beyond national stereotypes. It also helps that Steed is treating it all like a jolly holiday rather than, as on previous adventures, actively trying to leverage some nation into signing away its resources.

Diamond Cut Diamond

I’m trying to imagine what Steed actor Julian Wadham’s face looked like when he opened this script and saw that Steed adopts a broad Australian accent for much of it, but I’d say it was a picture. In fact, is was probably an echo of whatever passed over Patrick Macnee’s features opening the original, now lost, script.

Fortunately, subtlety doesn’t seem to be the intention here and setting vocals on “Putta notha shrimp onda barbie,” seems perfectly in character for what Steed would actually do while going undercover as a womanizing (of course) Australian air steward with a history of unproven accusations of smuggling. Balanced against this, though, is some of starkest and best acting Wadham has been called upon to do. Finding himself blackmailed for killing a woman in a drink driving hit and run, Steed’s blacked out memory means he can’t be sure if it’s also a frame job or if he actually has killed someone. His raw horror and angst at the possibility makes for an usually, and satisfyingly vulnerable Steed beyond the flippancy and wit he usually shows the world.

Volume Five is possibly one of the strongest Avengers sets so far due to the comparative free hand the adaptors have been given by fate. Ironically that’s likely due to the tonal inconsistencies of the original show from week to week being ironed out to create a vision that feels more like The Avengers that lives in our memories than the actual show often did. With relatively loose continuity between all these sets, you could do worse than make this one your first purchase in the Lost Episodes range.

Written By: Bernd Perplies & Christian Humberg

Read by Alec Newman

Released by Big Finish July 2018

Continuity is a tricky mistress.  On the one hand, I am a fan of sprawling continuities with lots of nooks and crannies to explore, and it is fun when those dots connect in fun and creative ways.  My fandom of both Doctor Who and Star Trek of evidence of this.  On the other hand, when writers get bogged down in the continuity of a franchise, it can become tedious really quick.  And there lies the major flaw of Star Trek Prometheus. 

The first half of this book is nothing but nods to continuity, what little plot there is in the first half is essentially the same bits of information being repeated over and over.  There was an attack, members of one race seem to be taking credit for the act, but they don't have the tech to pull it off.  It could be some other group but there is no evidence to suggest that so far.  I think that cycle of information repeated itself for about 4 chapters.  Just the same info being regurgitated to a different character. 

But in those early chapters that isn't what is important.  What is important is references!  We get a ton in the first half, and it becomes tiresome pretty quick. The novel isn't particularly interested in introducing us to the cast of characters on the Prometheus, and even when they do we have a Chief Engineer named Kirk.  And she is Captain Kirk's Grand Niece.  Give me a break.  But don't worry, he comes Alexander Rhozhenko! Miles O’Brien and Nog! And Spock for no real reason!  And Ezri Dax is a Captain.  Why does Trek's spinoff material require that all main cast members eventually be promoted to Captain or Admiral or beyond?  Ezri Dax was a Counselor with no real ambition for command.  And since they make mention that the fleet is depleted because of multiple recent wars and conflicts...why would all these characters end up being Captains?  There can't be enough ships!

While Deep Space 9 is quite probably my favorite Trek series, I do wish that Trek didn't keep resorting to War arcs in all of it's media.  Exploring a longterm arc about War is what set DS9 apart.  But now it just seems like all anyone is interested in doing with Trek.  It seems that the books have been doing that for some time, and even the latest Trek TV series, Discovery, took a crack at it.  I miss sci-fi concepts and exploration in Trek!

At any rate, there is actually an interesting story hidden underneath all the continuity porn.  There was a terrorist attack, and the book works a bit like a mystery about unravelling who was behind it all. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t actually solve it.  The novel itself ends abruptly, then leads into an epilogue which only serves as set up for the second book.  It is wholly unsatisfying, and it left me rather annoyed, especially as the book had turned a corner for me and stopped being so full of itself about celebrating the minutiae of the continuity, but actually about something deeper.  And then the book just ends with "buy another one to find out how this ends!"

I do wonder what the endgame is for Big Finish.  Do they plan to continue making more Trek stuff?  Is this a dry run to prove they can successfully handle the franchise?  As the Prometheus books were originally published in Germany, and were original to a specific company...did they only get the rights to do these three novels and that is it? As it is this isn't a particularly launching point for them.  It has little crossover appeal, and only really can satisfy mega-Trekkies who love continuity and references. And not just a ton of references to the old shows and movies, but this requires a ton of homework of the novel universe as well. It is not an easy jump on point for newcomers, and if Big Finish has any plans to continue with Trek, using this to show they can sell the property has a major roadblock.  And while their Doctor Who knowledge is top notch...as a fan there were nerdy nit-picky things that were mispronounced here and there, and it took down there Trek-cred, making one wonder if they should really take on this property.  I think they really could do some cool stuff, but nothing on par with Doctor Who.  They just couldn't wrangle the casts in the same way. 

This is a hard one to recommend.  Once it gets past the references to all sorts of Trek lore, it has the makings of a decent mystery story that is contemporary and intriguing...but it doesn't have an ending, and it doesn't stand on it's own in any way.  It requires tons of homework just to fully grasp what has been going in the Federation since Deep Space 9 and Voyager went off the air...and you clearly need the follow-up books to even get the full picture of what the Prometheus is about. 

Written by: James Mitchell, Lewis Davidson, Richard Harris, and Eric Paice
Adapted by: John Dorney and Justin Richards
Directed by: Ken Bentley
Starring:
Anthony Howell (Dr Keel), Julian Wadham (John Steed), Lucy Briggs-Owen (Carol Wilson), Dan Starkey (One-Ten), Adrian Lukis (Major Harrington), Elizabeth Morton (Stella Preston),  Karina Fernandez (Margarita)
Producer David Richardson
Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
Music: Toby Hrycek-Robinson
Cover Art: Anthony Lamb
Duration: 4hrs
Originally Released June 2015 

This fourth volume of Steed and Keel’s adventures paddles more in the dark crime drama end of The Avengers pool before suddenly veering into wild fantasy towards the end.

Kill the King

In many ways a re-tread of last time’s The Yellow Needle, we again have a foreign leader (this time from an oil rich far eastern country rather than a newly independent former colony in Africa) being subject to repeated assassination attempts. Again it creates headaches for his security detail that he doesn’t care much about his own safety, and again there’s a tight deadline for an important treaty some forces in his own country don’t want signed. And unfortunaely again there’s a slight non-ending where we never even find out if the treaty is signed.

Where it distinguishes itself is in the tone set by original scriptwriter James Mitchell, who went on to create Callan, itself subject to a Big Finish revival these days. As indicated his later work, Mitchell has a much more cynical view of spy work than the average Avengers writer. Here that shows through in plot elements like Steed not genuinely giving a damn about King Tenuphon’s life or the oil he controls, but simply fearing demotion or worse if he fails in this high profile assignment. Tenuphon himself is a mean, arrogant man that Steed disdains, while the old boys network within British Intelligence coming in for the same scorn that Callan brimmed over with.

Mitchell also presents a rather more rounded and human version of Steed and Keel. He’s one of the few Avengers writers to remember Keel’s murdered fiancé too. Though it’s in what amounts to little more than a cameo for the good doctor (Ian Hendry clearly being on holiday the week this was originally filmed). Even Steed comes as close as he can to speaking of concern and caring for Keel, and pondering if working with Steed is what’s best for Keel, even if it’s to Steed’s advantage.

A Change of Bait

A Change of Bait is the first of these adaptations where I’m not entirely sure the originally intended tone has been captured. The combination of the story description of minor villain Potts having a very bad day, and the surviving telesnaps of the panicked performance of John Bailey (who’d later go on to play Victoria’s father in Evil of the Daleks) as Potts, makes it sound like the TV episode was a format busting comedy episode.  Instead the audio is very much a standard crime drama and while all the plot beats remain the same little is done to play up the more fanciful elements.

After all, this is a plot in which Carol’s landlord (given to having fainting fits in response to bad news) slightly accidentally ends up the owner of an entire cargo ship of bananas and the race to get them offloaded and up the length of England before they turn black. And it involves Steed doing his best impression of Peter Sellars in I’m Alright Jack and bamboozling dock workers with a bunch of pseudo-union jargon. It just feels like it’s meant to be played more ironically than it is here, where it all seems as serious as their cases about prostitution rings and heroin dealers.

It does get a huge thumbs up, however, for featuring an actual ending – rather than simply a punch up or Steed more or less shrugging that the details of wrapping up the case will be handled later. In fact, it’s a rather elegant bit of confidence trickery from Steed that winds things up in a nice sting ending.

Hunt the Man Down

Hunt the Man Down, meanwhile, is another rare case in terms of the challenges in adapting it. The original TV episode is lost. Very lost. Totally lost. In a case that should make Doctor Who fans consider just how lucky they are, there is no video, audio, or even script surviving from this instalment of The Avengers. You could argue that this gave Justin Richards, coming aboard The Avengers’ Big Finish team with this release, more freedom. But the Behind the Scenes extras give a window into just how hard he worked to make the script he worked up from the surviving single page synopsis as loyal as possible to the original TV show. Right down to calculating how much location filming they could have afforded and restricting the number of outdoors scenes accordingly. Similarly, Richards takes care that the length of any given scene kept to those typical of the time.

It’s to Richards’ credit then that this sounds so thoroughly authentic and doesn’t stick out at all on this boxset. It’s a nice little tale of cross, double cross and triple cross, with Steed, Keel and Carol trying to insert a little quadruple cross of their own. All in pursuit of a hidden stash of stolen money. It plays with the trope of the decent career criminal in conflict with out of control maniacs – but never losing sight of the fact a criminal is still a criminal.

Dead of Winter

It wouldn’t be quite accurate to say that this is The Avengers’ take on They Saved Hitler’s Brain, but it’s not that much of an exaggeration either. When the frozen corpse of an escaped Nazi turns up hidden inside a beef carcass being shipped from South America, it creates a bewildering mystery for Steed. It also gives Dr. Keel the opportunity to show off his German as he infiltrates a group of former Nazis plotting the rise of the Fourth Reich. (As usual, when in doubt The Avengers gives Keel some previously unrevealed skill to justify Steed’s need for him).

It’s only the conviction with which is everything is played that stops this from being an episode that would fit in perfectly in the colour era. With (distinctly half formed) plans to wipe out all life on Earth in a nuclear apocalypse while the Nazis wait out the radiation in a fridge. It’s all delightfully daft and also shows off Steed’s more comedic side. This most Bondian of stories start in typical Bondian style, Steed having to console his newest conquest, a Contessa no less, that he has to go as his country needs him. While later he also has to negotiate, for the second time in this set, with union workers at the docks for their help. It’s a world away from the grim civil servant fed up with the seediness of his assignment in Kill the King.

These Lost Episodes releases have always had a bit of a split personality. There’s little here for those that like their Avengers light and witty, but the one story that does fit that mould is so bizarre it might be irresistible.