DOCTOR WHO: DOOM COALITION 1 [2015] - The First Half

 "THE ELEVEN NEED YOU . . . BUT WE DON'T NEED YOUR TONGUE!" 

Embarking on the Big Finish 8th Doctor box set DOOM COALITION 1.  Warning to self:  there are 4 box sets in the DOOM COALITION series!  Struth! I'm leaping ahead from the last two Big Finish audio adventures in the early 2000s to this rather newer one.  The 8th Doctor Paul McGann has had quite a run of box sets and this follows the epic DARK EYES saga (4 box sets there too).  The storyline features one of Big Finish's excellent ideas (presumably thought up by Matt Fitton who pens the first episode) and that is a new kind of mad time lord.  His name is The Eleven and he is played with diabolical relish by Mark Bonnar.  The Eleven is suffering from a rare timey-wimey psychosis in which he retains all his previous incarnations and personalities inside his mind each time he regenerates.  Being called The Eleven, you can guess he's on his 11th regeneration so he has 11 distinct and warring personalities battling inside his head constantly.  I can understand why he goes a bit mad sometimes . . . .

DOOM COALITION 1.1:  THE ELEVEN.

Unusually for Big Finish (at least the ones I've heard), the episode opens with a pre-theme 'cold open' scene in which the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy in a surprise cameo) has captured a villainous Time Lord called The Eleven and brought him to an ultra-high security stasis prison on Gallifrey.  Cue Doctor Who theme song.  The Doctor (Paul McGann) and his companion Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) are in the middle of wrapping up an encounter with some spiders as we get into this episode.  Meanwhile on Gallifrey, a young time lord named Kilani (Bethan Walker) has applied and been granted an interview with The Eleven for her research on naughty time lords and their time crimes.  I hope I'm not spoiling anything when I tell you that The Eleven manages to escape and wreak havoc on Gallifrey.  From Big Finish's own blurb:   "The Eleven. A Time Lord whose previous personalities live on in his mind: arguing, plotting, jostling for supremacy... He is also Gallifrey's most dangerous criminal. And he has escaped.  The Doctor is recalled to his homeworld to lead the hunt. As they search the Capitol's corridors of power, the Academy halls and the cells of the highest security penitentiary, Liv realises the worst monsters may be among the Doctor's own people.  For inside his fractured mind, the Eleven has a plan. And its deadly consequences will extend through space and time... "  This first episode of the quartet sets up The Eleven nicely.  Kaili's first encounter with her interviewee is very reminiscent of a similar scene in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS where Clarice goes to the cell to meet Hannibal Lechter.  Bonnar's warring personalities are portrayed in a bewildering, swirling myriad of 11 different voices which the actor manages to pull off very well indeed.  The listener even gets to recognize certain different incarnations by their voices -- all done by Bonnar -- the violent 6, the bewildered 8 etc.  Once he escapes, The Eleven runs through the endless secret tunnels of the Capitol (with Liv in tow) cooking up his mad scheme.  This is a noisy, bang bang shoot-'em-up kind of episode which admittedly is not my favourite kind but still it's quite enjoyable.  Each story in this box set is only about an hour each so they never overstay their welcome.  Bonnar as The Eleven is suitably malevolent and threatening and his ultimate goal, once revealed, makes a lot of sense.  This episode is written by Matt Fitton and directed by Ken Bentley.

DOOM COALITION 1.2:  THE RED LADY

Another cold open where we learn about and antiquarian's art collection which all seems to feature a distant figure of a woman with flaming red hair . . . and possibly a mask.  After the theme song, The Doctor and Liv head back to 1963 London (gee, he likes it then, dunt he?) following a temporal anomaly that possibly leads to The Eleven's whereabouts.  They encounter museum worker Helen Sinclair (Hattie Morahan) who is struggling against the inherent sexism of the time in her profession.  Since the cold open, we learn that McCallum the antiquarian collector of all the art featuring the 'Red Lady' has died (along with his entire family) and willed that his art objects be locked away permanently.  His executor can't bear the thought of that and has Helen's boss Professor Walter Pritchett (David Yelland) put them in the museum where Helen works.  Later, the executor calls Helen's boss and says he's made a terrible mistake and Pritchett must destroy all the artworks.  During the phone call, it sounds like the executor is being killed . . . and that's just what IS happening.  After the murder, the sound of heavy breathing is heard coming down the phone line.  This is really creepy and effective!  Later, when Helen gets a panicky summons from Pritchett, her boss tells her what happened and shows her the tapestry with the woman in it.  However, whereas Helen sees the distant figure, Pritchett now sees the woman much closer . . . . as if she's coming nearer . . . .   This is more up my corridor:  a nicely spooky DOCTOR WHO with a creepy concept.  Who is this woman in the paintings/artworks and what will happen when she manages to come closer?   The trope of a haunted painting has been seen many times but to me it's always a winner!  For instance in the first "story" in the NIGHT GALLERY pilot where Roddy MacDowall keeps seeing the walking corpse getting closer and closer to the house.  I mean, great stuff.  And that's what this 8th Doctor story is too:  great stuff!  THE RED LADY is written by the great John Dorney and directed by Ken Bentley.

So, hit a speedbump after listening to the first half of this box set.  Guess I'll have to write about the last two stories when I get a chance to listen to dem.