Starring Paul McGann, Hattie Morahan, Nicola Walker, Alex Kingston & Mark Bonnar.Written by Matt Fitton & Directed by Ken Bentley.
On the other side of the galaxy a mining company is exploiting the already unstable planet of Syra for every precious mineral it contains.
River Song is attempting to save the native people. She needs the Doctor’s help, but she also knows he mustn’t yet discover her true identity.
The final confrontation sees the Doctor once again face his enemy the Eleven in an attempt to prevent the destruction of Syra and the genocide of its inhabitants.
I'm really not sure where Doom Coalition's going at this point. We're eight stories in, and I've no idea what to make of the whole thing. The Sonomancer is possibly the ultimate expression of that: there are some really great ideas here, and a really doom-laded tone to the whole piece, but the whole thing feels really perfunctory, and there are a billion loose threads everywhere. In many ways, this fulfils exactly the same role as The Satanic Mill in that it seems to set up a whole load of threads to be explored, but it doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence for the remaining two sets. Certainly The Sonomancer is better than Satanic Mill, but it unfortunately pails in comparison to most Doom Coalition stories so far, like The Eleven, The Red Lady, Scenes From Her Life, or even Beachhead or The Galileo Trap.
One of the most interesting points about this story is the inclusion of River Song. Of course, Big Finish are now in possession of the new Doctor Who licence, and so they want to use that to the fullest degree. And, unlike some who have reviewed this set, I don't mind the fact that River is in this set. Matt Fitton continues the excellent work that was done with River in the first series of The Diary Of River Song here, with River coming across perfectly competently and able to handle herself without the Doctor's assistance. However, this box set does build up a meeting between the eighth Doctor and River that never actually happens, as River is kept off doing stuff with Helen, while the eighth Doctor faces off against Caleera. It's one of those rare occasions where Big Finish tease something that doesn't actually happen, and it's all the more disappointing because of it. I mean sure, River and the eighth Doctor meet in The Rulers Of The Universe, but, because of all the timey-wimey reasons that have been stated ad-nauseum in past River stories, they don't technically meet. Sure, they get around that in that story (interestingly also written by Fitton), but here it's a real hindrance. For the first fifteen minutes of the story, River is in the driving seat, and gets some lovely scenes investigating the mystery of Syra. But as soon as the Doctor turns up, River is pushed out of the way to allow the Doctor to take up the bulk of the investigating. And then, while the Doctor is side-lined trying to talk down Caleera, River gets to take on the Eleven with Liv. Everything feels oddly unbalanced, and it just seems to not quite mesh together that well. It doesn't help that this story is just a generic runaround, with nothing really inspiring to it. A mining company are unscrupulously hollowing out a planet for profit, but they are inadvertently helping an evil force... It feels like Colony In Space, but without all the intrigue. Added to that, there is little to no reason for either the Eleven or Caleera (who is now the Sonomancer - what?) to be there, and no real explanation as to what is going on either. I'm not sure about leaving such huge plot threads unanswered in this story either, because, while Big Finish might be holding back answers for a later date, that approach is a bit of a poisoned chalice, especially if the answers turn out to be deeply unrewarding. I keep coming back to this, but what is actually going on? In Scenes From Her Life, we at least get a sense that certain psychotic and dangerous Time Lords might be being brought together for some reason, but here, we're back to wondering what's going on. Now, while I can understand Big Finish wanting to be guarded with some elements of the story (and the box set's CD extras seem to indicate that answers are going to start coming), but I feel that each box set should significantly advance the mystery. And while this box set provides hints, I don't feel Doom Coalition 2 has advanced the story significantly enough. That's a problem highlighted strongest of all in The Sonomancer: it's all just hollow questions, while not providing enough individual closure for the story being told here.
Another part of the story to suffer is characterisation. Sure, there's nothing terrible here, but it's hardly stuff we haven't seen before. As mentioned above, River is given plenty to do, and she's characterised as strongly as she was in the latter half of The Diary Of River Song, and that's aided by a fantastic performance from Alex Kingston. For most of the story, River is paired off with Helen, who unfortunately doesn't quite come out of this story as well as I would have hoped. Sure, she discovers who River is, and is made to keep her secret (although River doesn't tell Helen the whole truth), which could be a vehicle for some interesting storytelling in the future, but here is left very much feeling like a third wheel. Sure, Hattie Morahan is as great as ever, but it's just a shame that, in three of the four stories of this set, Helen has been left with so little to do. Liv gets a much better role, as she ends up being the major problem solver, and she has some great scenes playing off the Eleven. I also loved the little reference to Liv's life before the Doctor, something which, up until now, had been sort of left fairly vague. It helps to just give Liv's life a little bit of back-story, and sets up what seems to be a potentially interesting plot-line regarding Liv and her father. Nicola Walker is fantastic throughout, really giving Liv the chance to shine, and she seems to relish a lot of the action set-pieces she has in the second half. I've never heard an actor have so much fun taking part in a giant robot suit battle as Walker does here. Paul McGann is great, but I sadly feel that, for the most part, he's shoved out of the way while River does most of the actual 'stuff' parts of the story (which I suppose is recompense for River being side-lined in The Rulers Of The Universe). Instead, he's mostly left facing off against Caleera, and while those scenes are well-performed between both actors, they feel sadly vacuous and devoid of any good 'confrontation' material. Speaking of Caleera, I have to say I haven't been too impressed with her journey across this set. Caleera started out with this really interesting and rich backstory for a Doctor Who villain, but sadly that has fallen away, to be replaced by bog-standard villainy that's driven by a nebulous desire for 'revenge'. It's a shame, because Emma Cunniffe is as great as she has been in the previous stories in this set, with a lovely layered performance. It's just a shame she couldn't have been given stronger material to work with. Mark Bonnar is also back as the Eleven, and once again he gives a fantastic performance, although I would say that, this time around, the performance is far more restrained and controlled than in Doom Coalition 1. Now, while on the one hand this shows a development in Bonnar's performance, and it's certainly easier to tell which incarnation of the character is speaking at any given time, I actually prefer the more uncontrolled version of the Eleven from the first set. This isn't a feeling helped by the fact that, throughout this story, the Eleven is basically Caleera's henchman. Now, I'm sorry, but I thought that the Eleven was meant to be the dominant villain of the series? So why is he basically reduced to shouting and playing second-fiddle to Caleera? This is even more shocking when we consider that Matt Fitton was the only writer so far to do the character justice (apart from maybe Dorney in the small scene that the Eleven features in in Scenes From Her Life) in The Eleven, so why has he dropped the ball so badly here? As for the guest cast, well they are... there. They don't really add much to the story at all, possibly because there's so many regular characters. There's no time to develop or even expand them. For example, Ruslan could have been interesting, but sadly he's barely featured in the story. Derek Ezenagu, Laura Harding, Janet Fullerlove and John Banks feel totally wasted in the small roles they have, which is such a shame considering how strong the performances are. The roles are just so one-note and flat that I just found myself loosing total interest in any bit that didn't feature any of the regular cast.
The production on this story is as consistently strong as it has been on every story throughout the Doom Coalition saga. Ken Bentley's direction is very strong: he really gets the material that he's directing, and he puts his all into it. I suspect a lot of that is to do with the fact that Bentley is heavily involved in the conception of Doom Coalition as well, being it's script editor, but throughout this set (and, indeed, the previous set) there has been a very consistent feel and tone, helped, in no small part, by the sterling direction work. The post-production from Jamie Robertson and Benji Clifford is as amazing here as it is throughout the whole box set. These two have, very quickly, fallen into an excellent working pattern, with Robertson providing some suitably epic and fast paced music to keep the story going. However, it's Clifford's precise and layered sound design that is the most notable aspect, especially coming from a relative Big Finish newbie. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing where he goes next. Finally, the ever reliable Tom Webster provides a fantastic cover to round off a box set, which has been a solid set of covers throughout. I can't really sing Tom Webster's praises enough really, I love all the work he does for Big Finish. He brings a level of detail unmatched by his contemporises in the field, he really does.
Overall, however, I'm not the biggest fan of The Sonomancer. Sure, it has some good elements to it, it's lacking rather a lot in the interest department, and suffers from being totally un-noteworthy. It also feels rather a poor resolution to the events of the box set, and doesn't really seem to offer any long term answers that plague the series, only seeming to ask more questions. While not as weak a finale as The Satanic Mill, The Sonomancer is a bit of a damp squib, which is a shame considering the potential talent involved. I hope Doom Coalition 3 picks up, because while Doom Coalition 2 hasn't been terrible, it's not really inspired much excitement for the future.
Rating - 6/10
Other Reviews of Big Finish Products:
Vanguard - COMING SOON
Earthfall - COMING SOON
Bridgehead - COMING SOON
Armageddon - COMING SOON
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