 |
| Image (c) Big Finish Productions Ltd. |
The Doctor takes Leela to meet an old friend, and to see his trophy room. Why would the centrepiece of the Doctor's collection be a living being? What really happened to the Z'nai? And what will that mean for Leela in her future?
The Catalyst is easily the darkest of the Companion Chronicles to date. The framing device has Leela, not merely old, but dying, her life - artificially extended by life on the now-destroyed Gallifrey - ebbing away at a year each day; not merely dying, but imprisoned and tortured, yet facing her fate with calm acceptance.
The story within the story is also dark, with hints of the Doctor's past misdeeds in the service of the Time Lords, and a great deal of death surrounding our protagonists. As ever, the companion spends about half of the play apart from the Doctor, and uses this as an opportunity to explore the doubts that Leela has about the Doctor, a man with more life and secrets than her young self could imagine. It is also another claustrophobic tale, the action essentially limited to a single house.
Louise Jameson's vocal range is impressive, although even she struggles to match the Fourth Doctor's depth of tone, and Timothy Watson is by turns appealing and terrifying as the Z'nai.
The Catalyst is the first part of a trilogy of stories told by the dying Leela, and the ending feels like a to be continued, not just for the framing narrative, but for the story itself. It is a good opening, however, and the TBC is compelling enough.
This brings us to the end of the experimental phase of The Companion Chronicles, a mixed bag so far and, interestingly, stronger on re-listening than I had recalled. Next time, we begin the first full series of Chronicles with Here There Be Monsters.
No comments:
Post a Comment