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vivdunstan) wrote2024-11-07 01:07 pm
vivdunstan) wrote2024-11-07 01:07 pm
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Bernice Summerfield: Death and the Daleks
On to the extra long final audio in season 4 of Big Finish's Benny audios. And this one is rather unusual, starting in media res, following a dramatic setup only covered in print in the Big Finish book of short stories Life During Wartime.
The Braxiatel Collection has been invaded by Fifth Axis forces (rather like Nazis), and much has happened. The audio does a "previously on Bernice Summerfield" recap at the start covering relevant points of what had happened in the book, but this is far too condensed. I had to replay to catch that it was Bev that Benny and Jason needed to rescue from the Fifth Axis forces. Bev who has been brutally tortured, but it's difficult to relate to that properly, with such a compressed recap, even though the actress played the relevant lines she was given strongly.
Now that amount of unheard back story should have really annoyed me on principle, even if to be fair I do have the book in house, but am too ill to read it now. I just don't think the recap was handled as well as it could have been. However the setup does what it needs to, and is well played by the actors working the emotional beats. And the adventure that follows is gripping.
As often there are archaeological elements, as Benny and Jason go off on an archaeological investigation. But it's all a ruse to let them rescue Benny's father, who is being held - it's complex! - by the Fifth Axis forces on another planet. Again here we have more book references, with hefty call backs to events in Benny's first Doctor Who New Adventures novel Love and War and later book Return of the Living Dad, neither of which I've read - falling away completely from Doctor Who fandom between 1989 and 2003 did have big implications that I've only partially been able to address since! However I was surprisingly ok about these call backs to the past. The script was strong and the actors' performances powerful enough to deliver the necessary feels. It also helped build a sense of history, and a wider world.
There are big reveals, though the first is revealed by the audio title, at least at this distance since release. The Fifth Axis - though they don't know it - are just the front face to Daleks controlling from behind. I must admit that, as is pretty normal for me in Big Finish audios, I got rather weary of hearing Nick Briggs's Dalek voices. But the terror felt by the characters was palpable.
The other big reveal in the audio was that Benny's boss Irving Braxiatel has a TARDIS as his office in the Braxiatel Collection. He is such an enigmatic character, and very well played by Miles Richardson. This season has been extremely effective for building up his mystery further. Though I do already know a lot of his story, from future audios.
One thing I struggled with was that a number of voices here were overly similar. This can be a particular problem if you're listening on audio. The actresses voicing Bev and Collection administrator Ms Jones were sometimes difficult to differentiate. And Fifth Axis's Marshall Anson sounded alarmingly similar to Nick Briggs. Who was in the audio, not just on Dalek duty, voicing the Collection's gardener Mister Crofton. However these were minor complaints.
Overall a really strong audio, though I think the book/audio mix wasn't fully effective, even if it was far less of a problem for me than I expected it to be.
The Braxiatel Collection has been invaded by Fifth Axis forces (rather like Nazis), and much has happened. The audio does a "previously on Bernice Summerfield" recap at the start covering relevant points of what had happened in the book, but this is far too condensed. I had to replay to catch that it was Bev that Benny and Jason needed to rescue from the Fifth Axis forces. Bev who has been brutally tortured, but it's difficult to relate to that properly, with such a compressed recap, even though the actress played the relevant lines she was given strongly.
Now that amount of unheard back story should have really annoyed me on principle, even if to be fair I do have the book in house, but am too ill to read it now. I just don't think the recap was handled as well as it could have been. However the setup does what it needs to, and is well played by the actors working the emotional beats. And the adventure that follows is gripping.
As often there are archaeological elements, as Benny and Jason go off on an archaeological investigation. But it's all a ruse to let them rescue Benny's father, who is being held - it's complex! - by the Fifth Axis forces on another planet. Again here we have more book references, with hefty call backs to events in Benny's first Doctor Who New Adventures novel Love and War and later book Return of the Living Dad, neither of which I've read - falling away completely from Doctor Who fandom between 1989 and 2003 did have big implications that I've only partially been able to address since! However I was surprisingly ok about these call backs to the past. The script was strong and the actors' performances powerful enough to deliver the necessary feels. It also helped build a sense of history, and a wider world.
There are big reveals, though the first is revealed by the audio title, at least at this distance since release. The Fifth Axis - though they don't know it - are just the front face to Daleks controlling from behind. I must admit that, as is pretty normal for me in Big Finish audios, I got rather weary of hearing Nick Briggs's Dalek voices. But the terror felt by the characters was palpable.
The other big reveal in the audio was that Benny's boss Irving Braxiatel has a TARDIS as his office in the Braxiatel Collection. He is such an enigmatic character, and very well played by Miles Richardson. This season has been extremely effective for building up his mystery further. Though I do already know a lot of his story, from future audios.
One thing I struggled with was that a number of voices here were overly similar. This can be a particular problem if you're listening on audio. The actresses voicing Bev and Collection administrator Ms Jones were sometimes difficult to differentiate. And Fifth Axis's Marshall Anson sounded alarmingly similar to Nick Briggs. Who was in the audio, not just on Dalek duty, voicing the Collection's gardener Mister Crofton. However these were minor complaints.
Overall a really strong audio, though I think the book/audio mix wasn't fully effective, even if it was far less of a problem for me than I expected it to be.