Doctor Who - The Lady Of Obsidian

This review, and indeed all those in this set, is dedicated to the legend that is Sir John Hurt. You can read my full tribute to him here: http://fandoctorwhoproductions.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/sir-john-hurt-painter-of-thousand-words.html.

Rest In Peace, John.

 

Starring John Hurt, Jacqueline Pearce, Louise Jameson, Lizzie Roper & Chris Porter, with Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks.

 

Written by Andrew Smith & Directed by Nicholas Briggs.

 

As a Dalek Strike Fleet heads to destroy another defenceless world, the Doctor seeks help from a shadowy guerrilla force. The Time War leaves many casualties in its wake, and inside the Obsidian Nebula the monstrous Unlived are held at bay only by the ‘Lady’ and her dwindling band of fighters.

 

The War Doctor soon finds himself at the Lady’s mercy, and two old friends face new revelations…

 

Oh boy... This is going to upset a few people... But...

 

I'm not the biggest fan of The Lady Of Obsidian. I know, I know, it's receiving critical praise from every sector I can think of, and it almost feels wrong to be so negative about a John Hurt story considering that this is one of the last times he will ever be the Doctor. However, for me, The Lady Of Obsidian just isn't my cup of tea. There's plenty in there that I do like, and I can see why a story like this would appeal, but unfortunately, to me, there was just something about it that didn't click. It just didn't achieve the greatness I was hoping it would going in, and I blame myself for that just as much as the people behind this story.

 

The episode does start out promisingly enough, however, with the Doctor attempting to get passage to the nebula in order to meet with the guerrilla force of Obsidian. There's some lovely stuff here where the listener is dropped straight into the action, as we see the Doctor and Ollistra attempt to convince the leader of the planet Grend that they are in danger. It's a lovely inversion of the middle of Pretty Lies: here, the Doctor and Ollistra's platitudes fall on deaf ears. The Doctor, therefore, must try and get the guerrilla forces on side, while Ollistra brings the Time Lord battle fleet to Grend to protect it. But things aren't quite as simple as that. There's something in the nebula, something that the Obsidian fighters have been forced to attack over the Daleks, something even worse... There are some lovely call-backs to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back at points, with the scene where the Doctor and the smugglers have to land on a planetoid to repair their spaceship while hiding from the Daleks being the most notable one. It certainly interesting that the first two stories in this set have both riffed off the original Star Wars trilogy, with Pretty Lies taking the end of A New Hope as it's jumping-off point, while this story lifts certain scenes from the middle of The Empire Strikes Back and builds upon them. Despite this, however, the story always seems to struggle from a lack of momentum, and most of the time we seem to be waiting for the build-up to end. Maybe this instalment just needed more time, I'm not sure. But I just feel like the story is too obsessed with building up to revelations that never seem to come, or are mostly perfunctory. The Unlived are built up as this massive threat, but other than being generally vicious and nasty, they don't seem to be that dangerous. Leela has been affected by the weapon of a Disruptor Dalek and she now struggles to remember her past, but as soon as she steps foot in the TARDIS, she's fine. The Dalek Time Strategist wants to conquer Grend for... reasons that are never really explained. The material here could fuel a whole box set, but because of the hour-long format, Smith tries to pack all the material into a single story. It suffers, in that regard, from the same problem that a lot of latter-day Steven Moffat scripts have suffered from: there are so many great ideas in here, but they all feel unfocused and underdeveloped. There simply isn't enough time to cover them all. The middle part of the story also feels slow: a feeling not helped by the fact that the Unlived invade two spaceships in pretty much the same way. It just feels a bit same-y at points, and it's not really enlivened by anything. I also feel the Unlived were a little bit underwhelming. They certainly are a great idea: people who shouldn't exist, timelines not taken, spilling through into our reality is a great idea, and one ripe for exploration in the Time War. However, the presentation of the Unlived is exactly what you would be expecting: they snarl a lot, they shout and they're generally unpleasant. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but because of the condensed time frame that the story is working in, the Unlived aren't given sufficient time to be explored, and just end up sounding like the Taalyens from Only The Monstrous. If they'd been more benevolent, but with a nature that completely contradicts our universe, that would have just differentiated them enough to make it feel a little bit different. The work that Smith does with them isn't appalling, but they just never seem to grow as characters, and are rather just a danger our heroes have to overcome.

 

And then we get to Leela. This is what the box set was building up to: the meeting of the Doctor and Leela, many years since their last meeting, and having drastically changed. I certainly think they were right to have them meet around the middle of the episode, as, for the first half, you're wondering when exactly they're going to share a scene together. It's the anticipation, and it really works. Big Finish don't just bring them together at the end for a perfunctory scene, nor do they throw them together at the first opportunity. They bide their time, and, when they do meet, your heart skips a beat. However, there's a problem. Because, for some reason best known to themselves, Big Finish have decided to saddle Leela with an illness that means she isn't sure of her memories (she was shot at by a Disruptor Dalek, you see - which, by the way, is a Dalek we really need to see) anymore. Now, I have to ask this question... why? Why did Big Finish decide to include the character of Leela, and then decided to do this to her? To me, putting Leela up against the War Doctor should involve a deep character conflict on both sides: after all, the fourth Doctor taught Leela to go beyond killing, to always find another way, and yet, here he is, doing everything he used to berate Leela for. It's like the roles are reversed: the Doctor is now the warrior, and Leela is the wise woman who knows there's a better way. But no, because Big Finish have decided to have Leela act all confused, and unsure if she knows the Doctor, but is still angry with him, because 'he' caused her to 'die' so many times on their travels. Now, this plotline just doesn't work, because it doesn't fit with Leela's character. It seems to be the only source of antagonism between the two characters, and it feels really, really forced. And then, of course, by the end of the episode, everything is resolved. Leela is her usual self, and she has 'forgiven' the Doctor. It's such a cop-out, which is a shame, because Louise Jameson gives one of her best ever performances in this story. Louise has always been one of the strongest of the companion actors, but here she is truly standout. Her performance is phenomenal: she really gets the tone the story is pitching at, and really goes for it, despite the issues surrounding her character. She sparks off John Hurt really well, and the pair of them have an excellent dynamic together. Of course, John Hurt is amazing in this story, as he is in everything he's ever appeared in. I wasn't too sure about the War Doctor's characterisation here (at points I thought it was a bit too cuddly and friendly), but John played the scenes amazingly. We've been so lucky that John came back to the role after The Day Of The Doctor, because throughout these audios he's been consistently amazing.  Jaqueline Pearce is also excellent in this story, and while, for the most part, she's involved in the story's B-plot, she is fantastic throughout. It's really nice to see Ollistra pushed to the fore throughout this box set, as she's such an interesting character, and it gives Pearce a chance to really shine. The rest of the guest cast is rather limited, but they are all excellent in their roles. Lizzie Roper is fantastic, playing a hardened smuggler who allies herself with the Doctor. She makes a nice temporary companion for the Doctor, and Roper is excellent in the role, really getting the character. She isn't too grizzled, but is embittered enough to be interesting. This is the type of role that Roper plays fantastically: she totally gets that type of character, and plays it perfectly. She had a similar type of role in The First Sontarans, and she was fantastic in that too. She also plays the High Minister at the beginning of the story, and is excellent in the part, despite it only lasting a scene. Chris Porter also plays the leader of the Unlived, Skaul (and doesn't that sound like a Sontaran), and, despite my issues with the Unlived, he plays them as best as he can. And we also get a cameo from Beth Chalmers, who returns to the role of Veklin from Only The Monstrous. It's only a small part, but she is once again excellent, with Veklin now sounding much older and resigned than before. It's just a subtle change, but suggests so much character that I hope we get to see developed in The Enigma Dimension.

The production is, once again, excellent. Nicholas Briggs directs (and, of course, voices the Daleks excellently), bringing his many years of experience to help a problematic play become at least enjoyable. Howard Carter's sound design and music consistently astounds me: he has really taken the idea of these box sets as 'mini-movies' and run with that, with a filmic score, and loud, expansive sound design. The sound of the space battle near Grend, and the smuggler's ship evading the Daleks were particularly impressive, as most of it was communicated purely through the work Carter has done with the sound design. Finally, Tom Webster provides a memorable cover, with lots of detail. I love his visualisation of the Unlived: suitably horrific and gruesome, just how they should be. Webster's work is always of a high standard, and this is no exception.

I can't deny that The Lady Of Obsidian isn't what I would have done for Leela meeting the War Doctor. I feel like it's very much a missed opportunity, and I had hoped that the story would have amounted to more than it did. That said, I can't deny that there were moments where I did enjoy it, and contrary to Pretty Lies, I enjoyed the opening the most. However, I just didn't feel it was the right story for the slot, but, as I've mentioned, I'm probably at fault as much as the producers. It might be just what you were looking for, but, for me, I just felt it could have been so much greater.

Rating - 6/10

Other Reviews of Big Finish Products:
Ship In A Bottle - COMING SOON
Songs Of Love - COMING SOON
The Side Of The Angels - COMING SOON
Stop The Clock - COMING SOON