Crime of the Century
|
|
Big Finish Productions Crime of the Century |
|
| Written by | Andrew Cartmel |  |
| Format | Compact Disc | |
| Released | 2011 |
| Starring Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred |
| Synopsis: The year is 1989. In London, safe cracker Raine Creevy breaks into a house - and finds more than the family jewels. In the Middle East, the kingdom of Sayf Udeen is being terrorised by Soviet invaders and alien monsters. And on the Scottish border, a highly guarded facility contains an advanced alien weapon. These are all part of the Doctor's masterplan. But masterplans can go awry... |
The Most Fearsome Race in the Galaxy's Weakness is Girls by Jacob Licklider 6/7/23
Introducing a new companion for the Seventh Doctor was always going to occur in Season 27, but originally it would have been the third story of the run. It had the working title of Crime of the Century to go with the fact that the companion would be a safe cracker and most likely would have been written by Andrew Cartmel. Of the four Lost Stories to be adapted, it had the least amount of work put into it. What was known is that it was allocated three episodes for the plot and could have included the Metatraxi who would be introduced in Earth Aid at the beginning of the experiment. The first scene of the story was the only portion scripted: a beautiful woman, Raine Cunningham, infiltrates a party to crack a safe where the Doctor is waiting for her inside. This scene stays beat for beat in the story, with the only change being a translation into the audio medium with a waiter played by John Albasiny to vocalize some of the thoughts. It is a remarkable scene to open the story with while Raine Creevy --- the name was changed in production from Cunningham --- introduces herself to the audience and makes an immediate impression. Cartmel has a joy writing this and the scenes that follow, as we have the Doctor and Raine escape from the estate. Raine and the Doctor have immediately chemistry together as we learn that the Doctor actually hired Raine to steal a sword from the safe. It is a genuinely entertaining sequence.
The actual plot of Crime of the Century is the Doctor, Ace and Raine infiltrating the Middle East after Black Monday to defeat the Metatraxi, a warrior race, and Felnikov from Thin Ice who have a hold on the money in the situation. The plot really isn't anything special outside of having the Metatraxi be interesting and a good excuse to revisit the characters from Thin Ice, but it really is a standard Doctor Who story, and Ace really doesn't have much to do. It honestly feels very much like Battlefield, as it is a three-episode storyline drawn out to four. Part Four is really dragged out to a conclusion that just sort of happens, while Part Three pretty much has enough material to end the story where it is. It doesn't help that Andrew Cartmel had to add in something for Ace to do last minute, and it shows. Ace has very little to do except bring Markus Creevy into the plot and fight the Metatraxi leader near the end of the story. Sophie Aldred is of course giving a good performance and has good chemistry with Beth Chalmers and Sylvester McCoy, but she is done a disservice here as there really isn't much that she has to sink her teeth into.
The story does really shine with its villains being the Metatraxi. They are the creation of Cartmel and writer Ben Aaronovitch who were originally going to have the aliens feature in their Doctor Who stage play. The Metatraxi are a very interesting species, as their gimmick is they are honor-bound to fight, but only with the weapons of their opponents. They also are honor-bound to only fight men and to fight to the death. They are introduced extremely well for a race, but aren't very fleshed out. This is mainly because this was meant to be their second appearance after Earth Aid. Beth Chalmers is great as Raine Creevy here for an introduction. We get a real sense at how she operates and how odd her life is. She hates her father for being a criminal but is a criminal herself. She justifies herself by saying it's all for the greater good, and she is extremely flawed as she doesn't have a moral compass.
Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor is really interesting, as the oddity is that he feels much more like a mixture of personas. He never gets very dark, as here he has a masterplan, but no one is emotionally scarred by it. He does act like a buffoon as he changes the Metatraxi translator to a surfer setting which is hilarious. I just cannot tell what sort of performance McCoy is going for here, if it's the manipulator of Season 25 and 26 or the buffoon of Season 24. Ricky Groves returns as Markus Creevy, and here he is much more melancholy than in Thin Ice, which really suits his character. Here he is down on his luck in almost every way, as he has become a beggar living out of his van.
To summarize, Crime of the Century is an all right story that really fails for the fact that the plot is minimal. Ace has nothing to do, and moving it up in the running doesn't really work well, as the Metatraxi should already have been introduced in Earth Aid. Raine does make a really good introduction here, with all the flaws of the story considered. The acting from everyone is all right. It is nowhere near a bad story, but it isn't a very good one either. 60/100