THE YEAR OF BIG FINISH
Day 6: The Marian Conspiracy
As you grow and develop your talents and skills, more and more pathways and opportunities, present themselves, or are made available to you. There are sometimes when you're dropped right into the middle of it and told to find it out for yourselves, ya little s-BACK ON TOPIC!! Simply put, certain scenarios call for different methods of teaching. And with Big Finish's first year of audios, they had taken the correct path of proving their skills with the established canon of the TV series characters, before showing their worth by making their own. And so, the task falls to Jacqueline Rayner to mould and shape Big Finish's first original companion...
Doctor Evelyn Smythe, Professor of History at Sheffield Halam University, has had an interesting day, for want of a better work. She has the beginnings of a migraine on the way, several reams worth of students work to correct, and a yobo in a knockoff Joseph coat has decided to interrupt her latest lecture. But when the Doctor discovers the facts Evelyn teaches are being rewritten, the two take a trip back to the Elizabethan Era, to learn of Evelyn's ancestor... The only trouble is, they've arrives a little bit too early... an entire reign too early... and it would be wise not to make enemies in the reign of Mary I...
And so, a story with two notable firsts. Not only are we given the first pure historical, which works just as well as the auld ones from the sixties, but as stated earlier, we are given our first original companion. Dr Evelyn Smythe is, nothing short of, a perfect creation and addition to the canon. Although a rare companion of more advanced age than average, age be only a number in the grand scheme of things as Evelyn, throughout this whole story, is shown not only able to hold her own, have reams of contagious happy energy, and be so damn likeable, but has also shown how well she works against the brash and pompous Sixth Doctor, who I'm more than certain, began his descent into the more kind-hearted and caring Sixth Doctor we know today, thanks to these adventures with Evelyn. As for the story, Rayner has beautifully reconstructed the pre-Elizabethan era full of joyous romps, kindly villagers, maniacal machination of spies and agents behind the scenes, and a good number of twists and turns to give Shearsmith and Pemberton a run for their money!
Plus, helping Rayner sell the brilliance of a pure historical are a top notch cast and crew! Building up the cast, alongside our amazing regulars of our doubly productive director Gary Russell, Nicholas Pegg, Barnaby Edwards and multi-talented sound designer Alistair Lock, we have the talents of Sean Jackson, Jo Castleton and Anah Ruddin, all breathing their heart and soul into their roles. Plus, Russell and Lock excel at their other roles, directing everyone to a pinpoint perfect tee, and crafting a spectacularly authentic soundtrack. But the true pure highlight of the release, has to be Colin Baker and the late great Maggie Stables at The Doctor and Evelyn. As said, although he is still borrowing from the TV persona of his Doctor, the seeds of the new, more caring Sixie begin to form. And Maggie, after proving her worth in Sirens, is given the full limelight here that she deserves. Contrary to any initial perception I, and I daresay others, had of her on pure appearances alone, Evelyn, and by extent Maggie, shows herself to be a bubbly, energetic, absolutely joyous character to play, and person to be around. I haven't heard much of Maggie before starting this, only really getting the chance to hear her perfect performance in Jubilee before hearing the sad news, but if all of her appearances are as enjoyable as this, she will very quickly turn into one of my favourites.
It says something when out of a near perfect cast, crew, soundtrack and all else, that everyone can not only point out a brand new, convention-breaking companion as the pure highlight of the story, but have all the rest of the people involved agree with that take. It says that you have managed to find and create something special. After learning all the lessons you can and throwing yourself in at the deep end, and getting something this good on the first shot! You know that you've done good, and that I can't wait to hear more of it! ONWARDS, DOCTOR SMYTHE!!! TO ADVENTURE!!!!
Doctor Who: The Marian Conspiracy, is available on Download for £/$/€2.99 on the Big Finish Website, and on limited CD, Cassette and Download from other stockists.
TOMORROW: Mike Tucker swaps his box of tricks for a pen and paper, and helps the Dcotr and Ace discover the beginning of something big... and the start of a very big journey for a certain Mr Briggs...
Doctor Evelyn Smythe, Professor of History at Sheffield Halam University, has had an interesting day, for want of a better work. She has the beginnings of a migraine on the way, several reams worth of students work to correct, and a yobo in a knockoff Joseph coat has decided to interrupt her latest lecture. But when the Doctor discovers the facts Evelyn teaches are being rewritten, the two take a trip back to the Elizabethan Era, to learn of Evelyn's ancestor... The only trouble is, they've arrives a little bit too early... an entire reign too early... and it would be wise not to make enemies in the reign of Mary I...
And so, a story with two notable firsts. Not only are we given the first pure historical, which works just as well as the auld ones from the sixties, but as stated earlier, we are given our first original companion. Dr Evelyn Smythe is, nothing short of, a perfect creation and addition to the canon. Although a rare companion of more advanced age than average, age be only a number in the grand scheme of things as Evelyn, throughout this whole story, is shown not only able to hold her own, have reams of contagious happy energy, and be so damn likeable, but has also shown how well she works against the brash and pompous Sixth Doctor, who I'm more than certain, began his descent into the more kind-hearted and caring Sixth Doctor we know today, thanks to these adventures with Evelyn. As for the story, Rayner has beautifully reconstructed the pre-Elizabethan era full of joyous romps, kindly villagers, maniacal machination of spies and agents behind the scenes, and a good number of twists and turns to give Shearsmith and Pemberton a run for their money!
Plus, helping Rayner sell the brilliance of a pure historical are a top notch cast and crew! Building up the cast, alongside our amazing regulars of our doubly productive director Gary Russell, Nicholas Pegg, Barnaby Edwards and multi-talented sound designer Alistair Lock, we have the talents of Sean Jackson, Jo Castleton and Anah Ruddin, all breathing their heart and soul into their roles. Plus, Russell and Lock excel at their other roles, directing everyone to a pinpoint perfect tee, and crafting a spectacularly authentic soundtrack. But the true pure highlight of the release, has to be Colin Baker and the late great Maggie Stables at The Doctor and Evelyn. As said, although he is still borrowing from the TV persona of his Doctor, the seeds of the new, more caring Sixie begin to form. And Maggie, after proving her worth in Sirens, is given the full limelight here that she deserves. Contrary to any initial perception I, and I daresay others, had of her on pure appearances alone, Evelyn, and by extent Maggie, shows herself to be a bubbly, energetic, absolutely joyous character to play, and person to be around. I haven't heard much of Maggie before starting this, only really getting the chance to hear her perfect performance in Jubilee before hearing the sad news, but if all of her appearances are as enjoyable as this, she will very quickly turn into one of my favourites.
It says something when out of a near perfect cast, crew, soundtrack and all else, that everyone can not only point out a brand new, convention-breaking companion as the pure highlight of the story, but have all the rest of the people involved agree with that take. It says that you have managed to find and create something special. After learning all the lessons you can and throwing yourself in at the deep end, and getting something this good on the first shot! You know that you've done good, and that I can't wait to hear more of it! ONWARDS, DOCTOR SMYTHE!!! TO ADVENTURE!!!!
Doctor Who: The Marian Conspiracy, is available on Download for £/$/€2.99 on the Big Finish Website, and on limited CD, Cassette and Download from other stockists.
TOMORROW: Mike Tucker swaps his box of tricks for a pen and paper, and helps the Dcotr and Ace discover the beginning of something big... and the start of a very big journey for a certain Mr Briggs...
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