Released: March 2013
Range: The Main Range
Range Number: 171
Starring Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford, Ray Fearon, Ony Uhiara, Stuart Organ, Lucy Russell, John Banks, Beth Chalmers, Barnaby Edwards & David Sibley
Written by Matt Fitton & Nicholas Briggs
Directed by Barnaby Edwards
Humanity is emerging from a long, exhausting war. Against an enemy so powerful, so implacable, it seemed unstoppable - right up until the moment it stopped.
Now, despite its 'victory', the human race is on its knees. The Doctor and Mel join its struggle to try and ensure it has a future.
A race against time takes them from the Great Tower of Kalsos to the Reliquaries of Earth. In an epic journey across the ten systems, their fates are intertwined with one family. The Tevelers are to feel the effects of war more than most...
The Doctor has a plan. Mel is sure he can save the day. But something is lurking. Watching. Waiting. A presence the Doctor knows of old. But just how far does it's influence pervade?
The Eminence awaits...
The Seeds Of War is a story about people. It's about human survival and triumph against the harshest conditions. It's also about the audience's first meeting with the Eminence, despite the fact that The Doctor's already met the Eminence before. And, even from this first story, it's already shaping up to be one of the best original monsters created by Big Finish. It's kept to the sidelines throughout most of the first three episodes before really making it's presence felt in the final episode. And therein lies the problem: because The Seeds Of War forms the middle part of a trilogy of Eminence stories, it doesn't really define what the Eminence is. At the end of this story, only the basic aspects of the Eminence have been sketched out, however, it shows the potential of the ideas that are there.
The main plot sees the Eminence trying to run down the human race at the tail end of a 50 year war. Pretty much every colony world is starving, the authorities are collapsing and all they have left is a network of propaganda. It's very much like the situation during the First World War, and it's no suprise that it's co-written by Nicholas Briggs, who has already shown his love of this period of history in Dark Eyes. But this is even more intresting in a certain way, because it takes those ideas and transplants them into a futeristic setting. It's just a pity that it never really makes a comment upon them, because it would have been fascinating to have seen those threads develop more. It's very much like two stories have been merged together: the Eminence plot and WWI allegory by Briggs and the human survival of war and the family aspect of the plot by Matt Fitton. While both are very interesting concepts, both never seem to really get enough of the time they deserve and instead end up fighting one another for dominance. However, the story isn't too fustrating because of it. In fact, it's extremely good. Because both aspects are so damn intresting, it's never really a problem that these aspects don't really match up. The human aspect of the story is really touching and the Eminence plot is very intresting. However, it does feel like there have been scenes cut from the script. It's not to a Steven Moffat extent, but it means it does feel like there are gaps in the logic of the story. And, at times, it does feel like we're dealing with some improbable concepts. For example, the dramatic lift 'drop' at the end of episode 1 is wonderful, but it does feel a little like these improbable concepts are what the story hangs on.
The characters in this style of story have to be strong and these are one of the best aspects of the story. Each one is a fully fleged character, with hopes and dreams and desires. The Tevelers are the best, a poor family ripped apart by the worst of the Eminence. Each are distinct, but the most interesting out of this family is biochemist Helgert Treveler, who's death is so touching that if you don't at least feel sympathy for him, then you must have a heart of steel. But all the characters are interesting, so the story is never dull. And there all acted to perfection. Ray Fearon, Ony Uhiara and Stuart Organ make up the Teveler family, making them real and relatable. John Banks, Beth Chalmers and Lucy Russell make up the rest of the guest cast, giving there characters intresting angles and making us look at them as more than just cyphers, particularly Russell as Trellak, who's character certainly could be a hard-up space Captain, but gives her character a real three-dimensional depth. A quick word about Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford, who can't really complain that there being given uninvolving scripts, as this story really puts them through the ringer: The Doctor is fighting off the Eminence and trying to keep up with Mel's promises, while Mel is truly seeing the degridation of war and it wearing down her iron will that was so prevalent during her TV adventures. It's the sort of development that I feel has been partly lacking in this trilogy, although this is more of a complaint at Spaceport Fear than The Wrong Doctors. And a final note - David Sibley is fantastic as the Eminence. I'm so glad we got to hear more of his silky voice. It's perfectly pitched for audio, and in this case it's so important that that was got right, especially considering his future significance.
The Seeds Of War shows that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It shows the triumph of humanity over the most difficult of circumstances and shows how far we could go from one planet, across the ten systems. It's also a very good Doctor Who story that will keep the listener interested and will give you a couple of hours of thrilling fun.
Rating - 8/10
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