The Chase
The Grel Escape
A Benny Audio Adventure
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The Chase |
Big Finish The Grel Escape A Benny Audio Adventure |
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| Author | Jacqueline Rayner |  |
| Released | 2004 | |
| Cover | Adrian Salmon |
| Synopsis: Young children can be difficult. Tantrums, toy-throwing, not wanting to go to bed, whisking their mothers on dangerous journeys throughout all of time and space. Jason wants Benny's son Peter to have a normal childhood. Peter has other plans. And unfortunately, Peter also has Benny and Jason's Time Rings. And knows how to use them. Even more unfortunately, the fact-obsessed, tentacle-faced Grel have built a time machine, and they're after Peter. |
"Fact: Highly amusing!" by Joe Ford 14/9/04
Woah they sure pack a whole bunch into sixty minutes don't they? Jacqueline Rayner has managed to steer the Benny series of into another new direction and one that could see it running for some time yet. Whilst this is yet another accomplished story for the sister range it did feel a little too packed at times, the short running time forcing the story forward much quicker than it deserved.
Let me ask you a questionn... if you were going to choose any Doctor Who story to base your own original piece on would you choose The Chase? Hehehe... the real genius of The Grel Escape lies in looking out for the moments where Rayner effortlessly parodies that much loved Doctor Who story and mines its inadequacies for a rich vein of comedy.
I love seeing Benny out and about in the universe again, getting into mischief and relying on her wits. The series has pretty much become a sitcom now because regulars Jason and Peter are along for the ride and special guest star Sophia (who triumphed in Rayner's novel The Glass Prison) joins the crew. Thanks to the dire parenting skills of Jason Peter manages to get hold of the time rings and whisk the lot of them through various landscapes and perils... but wait! The Grel, those squid faced fact obsessed monsters have built a time machine and are hot on their tails. as the back cover reveals you could almost call it... a Chase!
My personal favourite steal was when the Grel attempt to steal Peter away from Benny by sending in a fake android to fool Jason. It says something about this series that it can actually get away with something this daft and make it convincing but then the Benny series has always managed to pull off comedy better than Doctor Who. The obvious joke that Benny and the android should meet and both try and convince Jason they are the genuine article is played out with some riotous dialogue (the android almost convinces Jason by saying "I have no boobs!").
Whilst the story whizzed past in a blur I have to admit I haven't laughed this much at an audio since The One Doctor. I may be alone but I really like the Grel and find their factual way of talking highly amusing... at one point a Grel informs "Warning! I am about to fire my gun!" but there are loads of other instances when they cock up spectacularly. This is their fourth appearance but they still make me smile. Even the tacky ending where there is a Grel family reunion works because it is played with such silliness.
Jac Rayner wisely does not play the story entirely for laughs and includes some character development for the Benny-Jason-Peter family, newly formed since Death and the Daleks. He might have been a bit of a prat in the past but Benny is still treating Jason as though he is going to run off at any minute and he deservedly snaps at her about it. Benny seems to have grown into her role as mother quite well and the scene where she shows Peter the inside of a Pyramid is really sweet. But it is Peter that the story is devoted to... why are the Grel so interested in him? Why does the God Anubis tell Bernice her son is unworthy of access to the Underworld? Both of them tell Bernice they can see into the child's future and give the impression that it's not pretty. What horrors are in store for Benny as her child grows up? Better stick with the series to find out...
The story is certainly well presented with a realistic flavour given to each of the locations they visit. I particularly liked the mock Egyptian and Parisian music. The sound FX have come a long way since those amateurish days of season two... here you really believe the characters are being whisked through time, that birds are soaring through the sky, that they are being pursued by ghoulish monsters! And the Benny android voice was brilliant! The direction was just urgent enough to make it work but there were moments where I didn't believe the tension of the situation (in particular the argument before the first time jump felt very stilted) but that could be down to the overall comic tone of the piece.
I really appreciate the end of the story though that doesn't see our motley crew returning to the Braxiatel collection in time for tea but stranded on a planet except for a Grel spaceship that could take them to anywhere in the universe. Here is a chance to tell some proper space operas with all the regulars involved... the rest of the season should certainly be a treat.
Not the best Benny story ever because its clownish tone will undoubtedly put some people off but I found it a laugh riot, a genuinely diverting story in the Greatest Shop in the Galaxy mould (although more involving than that) that kicks of the season with some fun and frolicks before the serious stuff arrives.
Fluffy!