Frontier in Space
The Draconian Rage
A Benny Audio Adventure
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Frontier in Space |
Big Finish The Draconian Rage A Benny Audio Adventure |
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| Author | Trevor Baxendale |  |
| Released | 2003 | |
| Cover | Adrian Salmon |
| Synopsis: On the fringes of the Draconian Empire, an entire planet has gone mad: twenty million Draconians lie dead - victims of an ancient, apocalyptic suicide ritual. Female and human, Benny is everything a Draconian distrusts. So why has she been invited to the very heart of the Imperial Homeworld? |
Simply the best! by Joe Ford 26/11/03
Dear Benny,
Hi darling haven't heard from you for a while! I cannot believe the
circumstances behind the birth of Pete... I dunno how you survived that!
You've always been a brave one though. Things are good this end... by the
way have you sorted out the differences between Adrian and Jason? You said
they were bickering like a pair of old women! Write soon missus, I really
miss you!
Joe
Hey Joe!
I thought being a mother would mean my life would slow down a bit;
you know the whole slippers and Bovril bit. Not a chance! Adrian and Jason
are still driving me nuts, squabbling like a pair of old women. That's
when Jason's around. You would not believe what has happened to me
recently! Brax asked me to visit Draconia... yes I said Draconia! No this
isn't a wind up! Yes I'm female and human, their least favourite alien
species. Brax is still having difficulty remembering I have a son to look
after but I could hardly let an opportunity pass like this! Could I?
Anyway, it was a nightmare of astronomical proportions, I was tortured,
insulted, involved in all number of complicated political machinations and
(as usual) found out a little something about myself on the way...
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I bought three CD's on Saturday and had a strong preconception of which ones I would enjoy the most. Davros, He Jests at Scars and The Draconian Rage. The first two were high up on my list of 'most wanted' being the return of Terry Molloy and Michael Jayston respectively. And both turned out to be utter hash, well no Davros was good but let down by some dodgy direction. Draconian Rage however was hardly going to be a spectacular success, having been written by sub par audio writer Trevor Baxendale who wrote the atrociously dull The Dark Flame.
Oh my how wrong can I be?
With Trevor Baxendale you never quite know what you're going to get. Well no actually you know exactly what you're going to get, he favours traditional stories, trying to transfer stories to novel and CD that would work just as well on the telly. I mean you can never tell what quality his work will be as he is capable of doing great things but also boring you silly.
With The Janus Conjunction and (especially) Eater of Wasps he managed to provide something very Who tasting but they managed to stand alone as extremely strong novels with lots of excitement and gross out moments. Disappointingly his other works, Coldheart and Fear of the Dark turned out to be quite underwhelming, the fifth Doctor horror was cliched (albeit sporadically fun) and the eighth Doctor tale was flat as hell, bland prose and lacking in interesting incident. I was quite bored reading that one.
But his most heinous crime against humanity (oh I really am one for melodrama!) was the four-part disaster, The Dark Flame. A turgid mess of a story that doesn't convince for one minute. McCoy and Aldred at their all time worst and a villain who lacks the grandiosity and motivation of the A-grade bad guys. And by God it was dull!
So it is my pleasure to inform you of this audio's success, another in the Benny range which is now churning out more consistently enjoyable stories than the Doctor Who range! I kid you not, with Lisa Bowerman on top form, a tight script and some powerful direction this ranks up there with the best of the Benny stuff.
Who would have thought Baxendale could write such a great script? It's a story laden with political intrigue and plot machinations, Baxendale writes the story like the climax to a game of chess, his four characters circling each other, trying to outwit each other and making some very daring moves. It is to the credit of the writer that this hour long CD manages to hold the attention with so few characters to play with.
The plot is not half as simple as it first seems and delightfully Baxendale sets about rectifying the mistakes of his last audio by including some fabulous stuff about the dark flame. This cult, with operatives in top positions around the world could be an excellent recurring nemesis for Bernice, as written here they are powerful and organised and I can see a good arc in the making. I doubt Big Finish will bother but as the story finishes the potential is most certainly there! I was much more interested this time around, some quite scary ideas bandied around about how long the cult has been around and just what they are planning.
One the best things on offer here is the chance to visit Draconia again. Although this does confirm my misgivings about Big Finish's obsession with the show's history this was a story that deserved telling. In Frontier in Space we never really got the chance to immerse ourselves in Draconian culture but Baxendale takes the time to give them some history, some rituals, describe their landscapes and delve deeper into their disgraceful treatment of women. It was a hell of a ride, Bernice is always on the move in this one and we get to see (hear) much of the planet. With this much bloodlust, hatred and noble traditions on display I would be delighted to return to Draconia for another visit.
Another powerhouse performance from Lisa Bowerman angers me, not because she's wasted, she gets some meaty material in this story but because Big Finish are exhausting her potential on small scale stories when some longer, deeper stories would most certainly work. She has earned the right to a larger cast and denser stories such as her first season again. This mini stories are continuing to be a joy don't get me wrong but I want more! Bowerman outstrips McCoy, Davison and sometimes McGann (not Colin Baker I'm afraid, he's too good to be bested) and they all get much more opportunity (and variety) to prove themselves.
Just listen to Bowerman in this, she emotes like a good'un. Her initial reluctance to leave Peter in the first scene is sweet and touching but her burning desire to see Draconia very obvious. Later scenes where she is subjected to some humiliating trails are captured in their rawest sense, Benny's pain and frustration painful to listen to. And her disbelief as the twists pop up is hysterical; some fizzing, witty lines help balance all the drama of the last third.
OH MY GOD A BIG FINISH RELEASE AND IT'S NOT DIRECTED BY GARY RUSSELL! And it's really good! Well that's quite telling, isn't it? Mr Salt does an excellent job with his limited resources, concentrating on delivering good drama from his performers rather than impressing with grand sound FX and smart arse editing (take note Russell!). Honestly, the direction was very controlled, the story had a nice slow (but enjoyably so) pace and the plot seemed to flow nicely, and the more adult moments were given weight by scrapping the music and just focussing on the actors. Good job. I look forward to other things by Ed Salt.
The acting was of a very high standard; I actually felt as though Philip Bretherton, Johnson Willis and Kraig Thornber had been forced to watch Frontier in Space as their Draconian parts sound as though they have just stepped from that story. Vasar was my favourite character because I could never, not for one second work out where his loyalties lied but the Emperor and Paranesh were both exquisitely written as to hide their involvement in the plot to the last minute. Although I must say they were all shown up by the wonderful Miles Richardson who only gets one scene at the opening but it is very funny and caught my attention straight off the mark. Great job.
Dear Bernice,
My word things have been bad for you haven't they! I'm just glad you
made it back in one piece and with your own free will and everything!
You'll have to pop by when you're next thrown back in time, I'd love to
see the baby,
Yours eternally,
Joe
P.S Isn't it true you're off to see the Sea Devils next? Can't wait to hear about that!
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