The Dance of the Dead
A Benny Audio Adventure
|
|
Big Finish The Dance of the Dead A Benny Audio Adventure |
|
| Author | Stephen Cole |  |
| Released | 2002 | |
| Cover | Adrian Salmon |
| Synopsis: Illegally smuggled aboard a spaceship, hungover to the nth degree, all Benny Summerfield wants is to curl up in a ball and die. And it looks like she's going to get her chance. |
Turbulent relationships by Joe Ford 11/6/03
After the sly domestic drama of Green Eyed Monsters and the hysterical adventuring antics of The Plague Herds of Excelis the Benny range scores another winner with the superb Dance of the Dead. Steve Cole really does improve in leaps and bounds, it appears every single piece he writes is better than the last. Vanishing Point was better than Parallel 59, Excelis was miles better than Land of the Dead (oh dear, the thought of that travesty!) and now this, one of the best uses of the audio medium I have heard since Big Finish started.
It helps that we have quite a few elements from the past involved so visualising what is happening is not difficult. The Ice Warriors were always quite an effective race because they were so morally ambiguous, depending on when the story is set you were never sure if they were ally or enemy and I enjoy that sort of uncertainty with my monsters. The Ice Warriors here are represented by Grand Marshall Sstac and General Azzar, both rock solid characters who retain that wonderful sense of danger as to their motives. Indeed Steve Cole manages to evolve the Ice Warrior race somewhat by introducing a female Warrior, something that was I was at first at odds with but I soon got used to it.
But it is the expertly written script that impresses the most, the story starts directly after Excelis (with Benny still hungover) and rockets straight into a story that tips its hat many different genres. The damaged ship reminds me of all those submarine-going-down stories, you know the sort with exploding bulkheads and dripping water, characters trapped in isolated sections facing death, that sort of thing. Brilliantly utilising the audio medium these scene crackle with tension, there is a scene in a broken lift shaft like no other done before! And then there is the brilliant hard SF notion of a race that can transplant their memories into a gas which when inhales leads to those memories blossoming into the carrier's mind. Which allows for some breathtaking drama where Benny and Sstac, both infected, start to lose their minds as dysfunctional lovers. The atmosphere is wonderful, there is a real feeling of how the hell are they going to get out of this one that is vital for this sort of suspense story.
I've said it before and I'm certain I'll say it again, Lisa Bowerman is a stunning actress and deserves all the plaudits she gets. Terrance Keenan must be on glue not to realise the potential of her character in books and with Ms Bowerman behind the wheel she just rocks, rocks, rocks! This story not only highlights Benny's strengths as a character (you know the usual... dry wit, intelligence, blah, blah...) but also Lisa Bowerman's strength as an actor. Her scenes as Benny are brilliant, urgent and very funny but her work as the outspoken wife to Sstac's husband she is just heartbreaking. Her hatred and disgust is right there, without having to see her face. Her venomous voice booms around the sinking ship and it gave me goosebumps!
Matthew Brenher is also very good, sounding scarily similar to Alan Bennions' Slaar, Izlyr and Axaxyr. How does he do that? His scenes with Benny are outstanding and the way the situation throws them together, as both lovers and friends allows us to see a new side to both of their characters that we wouldn't normally see. They both come across as vulnerable but oddly are all the stronger for it. Excellent scripting and acting.
The one thing, though, that really had me tickled was how Mr Cole managed to sneak in two twists at the end of the tale that were entirely unsuspecting. Annoyingly clever, they both left me flabbergasted!
Considering Nekromanteia left me distinctly unimpressed with the audio only genre last month I'm glad I've had an opportunity to catch up with these Benny audios, not only because they have finally found a confident voice of their own but also because my faith in Big Finish was waning somewhat. Dance of the Dead is a triumph of factors, a great script, some terrific actors and a good production... this balance is rarer to find than you would think!
And anyway, where else would you get to hear an Ice Warrior call somebody a whore?
A Review by Jamas Enright 1/11/04
On the way back from celebratory party thrown by the Queen (as discussed in Plague Herds of Excelis), Benny is on a transport ship that's taking the delegates back, including two Ice Warriors. However, not everything goes well, the ship is disabled and Benny and the Ice Warriors have to find some way to survive. Survive, that is, not only the ship, but also the memories of the two Calgarians ambassadors that have infected Benny and Grand Marshall Sstac.
It was hard to tell which part of the story is the padding, whether it's the trawl through the collapsing ship or them trying to deal with the memories overtaking them. Either way, the story drags on flipping from one sub-plot to the other, and almost only accidentally does the plot manage to advance. And despite the amount of Martian knowledge Benny has, there's almost no real interplay on that level between Benny and the Ice Warriors (indeed, one can almost point to one line as Stephen Cole's excuse for how to get away with not writing that). Not the most gripping of tales, and the end is purely a case of "tell, don't show".
Performance-wise, Matthew Brenher as Grand Marshall Sstac is in danger of being typecast as a green reptilian leader, having previously played Commander Zzarl in Red Dawn (although he always reminds me of Ian McShane from Bablyon 5: The River of Souls), but he's so good at it! Vivien Parry has the honour of being a female Martian, General Azzar, and easily fills the role, showing that Ice Warriors should have let females in long ago! Francis Magee has a lot of fun as Karter, and if that isn't his actual accent, it's a good affectation! And Lisa Bowerman, excellent as always!
Story-wise, Dance of the Dead is a dunce, but the acting is top class.