The BF Time Warp 002: Phantasmagoria

[Anthony Williams]

We move on to the second adventure that Big Finish produced, written by Mark Gatiss and starring Peter Davison and Mark Strickson...

The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Turlough to the London of 1702 where a mysterious highwayman roams the streets, a local occultist has made contact with the dead and gentlemen of fashion are disappearing, only to find themselves in a chamber whose walls weep blood...

The time-travellers become enmeshed in the hideous plan of Sir Nikolas Valentine, a gambler at the mysterious Diabola Club who always seems to have a winning hand...

Tell us your thoughts about this play. What did you make of it at the time? Have your opinions changed?

As before, there is a poll, with 5 options. The Sirens of Time poll is still open this week, although it will close at the end of the week. The poll for Phantasmagoria, like that for The Sirens of Time, will remain open for two weeks, even though we'll be starting Whispers of Terror next week.

Ant x

[stuartdg]

I still enjoy this play and like the atmosphere,my biggest gripe is Mark Strickson's performance,which is out of sorts,but it's a great play otherwise

[Andrew Curnow]

I have to hold up my hand and say I've never been the biggest Big Finish fan, being far fonder of the books as an alternative to TV Who than the audios. That said, my recollection of Phantasmagoria (and I'm just here trying to work out when I listened to it before - certainly pre-new series, so I guess 2003?) was that it was pretty amateurish...

...but I'm certainly wrong about that. I listened to parts 1 & 2 yesterday and, especially for a first 'proper' release, it's actually pretty good. I'll give some more thoughts when I've finished the story later, but so far it's a thumbs up. Like Stuart I sort of agree that Turlough doesn't sound quite right, but then I guess BF may have been trying to widen the character a little - Davison sounds very good indeed, almost recapturing the breathless youthful delivery he used to have. David Ryall is brilliant, and my only real gripe so far is the cliffhangers - tricker to do on audio, I guess, since you can't just zoom in to some bloke's face, they do seem a bit of a mess. Part 1's I more or less got, but part 2's just seems a load of noise and Hannah yelling "Doctor".

Much better than I remember though!!

[Lissa]

I've also listened to it again - for the first time since the New Series came upon us - and my opinion has changed slightly. I always knew it was fine but that the voices and language were more entertaining than the story. Gatiss has a flair for that period and his rich dialogue combined with some fruity early 18th century accents makes for a fun hour and a half.

But hearing it now I think it's better than his TV episodes and would've made a great 45 minute TV story. The historic setting, the organic science imagery and the undoubted fun of shenanigans on horseback would've made a great Season One adventure.

I've voted neither good nor bad because I like the wrong parts more than the right parts.

[Andrew Curnow]

For some reason I'd always thought that Flowers & Jasper were played by Wallaims and Matt Lucas - it was only when I looked up the cast list yesterday on t'net (to see who was playing the doctor) that I realised it was Mr Gatiss playing Jasper.

The 'sound design' is quite good, isn't it, there's a strong sense of place whether it's on the street or in the club or at the theatre. And I'm enjoying the 'running gag' of Turlough & food.

[Anthony Williams]

And so we move on to the first single-Doctor play, which is the first time I've heard this one...

The first thing that I noticed was just how absolutely bored Mark Strickson sounds. Certainly older too, but also thoroughly bored. Like this is above him and he's only doing it for the paycheck. I'm not surprised that BF preferred the 5th Doc/Nyssa combination!

The thing I find with Phantasmagoria is just how much better it could have been. Certainly, I think it's better than Gatiss' tv attempts, but I can't help but feel that it's a wasted opportunity. It has a fantastic cast, with a fantastic premise, in a fantastic setting. Yet, it somehow misses the spot for me. There's a little too much padding.

Perhaps because it's essentially a meandering version of the tyrant-who-has-escaped-execution plot that the Seventh Doctor faced in the previous story, where it was done far more succinctly. I just can't help but feel that it's incredibly lazy to recycle a plot from the first play, when you're only doing the second! Personally, I think that something revolving around the occult, which is mentioned numberous times within the play, could have made a far more interesting and effective story. Perhaps something along the lines of aliens interfering in the 18th century through occult rituals? But I'm getting presumtuous there!

Frankly, if I had been listening to these at the time, I probably would have given up with this one, which I find really disappointing. Thankfully, I know that far better stories are up ahead!

Overall, I agree with Lissa that this would be a lot better were it condensed down into the 45-minute format. Whilst the plot is by no means more original, this would be a LOT better without the padding.

Overall, this is bad for me, scoring 2/5.

Ant x

Ant x

[Andrew Curnow]

That's interesting. I didn't think Mark sounded quite like his TV self (which I'm guessing would have been his brief) but I didn't think he sounded bored at all - he had the 'Turloughy' voice & air very well, but the character wasn't quite as 'cynical' as on TV. Although there was the moment where he wearily resigns himself to rescuing Hannah, as the Doctor's not there.

Obviously, not having heard the first play I didn't pick up on it being a similar plot - I agree, it seems an odd thing to do.

[MacNimon]

Again, I haven't listened to this for a long time but I remember being really impressed by this after that patchiness of Sirens. I felt that it was really atmospheric, and that Davison instantly was the Doctor again...it was as if he had never been away. I thought that Mark Strickson's performance had sounded slightly strained, or forced, it was as if he was struggling to remember the character after all those years. It wasn't enough to spoil the story for me though, I remember thinking that if they had produced stories as good as this for the tv series years earlier then it would never have been cancelled!

Of course my views might change if I give it another listen these days, but for now it lives in my memory as one of my favourite Big Finish plays.

[Jon Masters]

FACT~! - I received my CD copy of Phantasmogoria as a prize at a DWM convention in London, from the hands of Garrrrrry Russssselllll himself.

I'll post more when I've finished listening to it tomorrow

[Jon Masters]

A historical London setting. A number of mysterious Vanishments in a small geographical area. The Doctor and companion, assisted by a man of learning, and a colourful verbose character of dubious courage, face a wanted war criminal who abducts people and uses their bodies in his vile plan and who is ultimately hoist on the petard of his own technology.

Yes, Talons of Weng-Chiang is a great DW story (ba'dum tish )

Although, seriously, this may be why I like Phan... I'm not going to type it out every time.. so much as a story. True, there are significant differences to Talons, but it feels like an old comfortable story we've heard before. The pacing works well, the interlocked stories play out nicely, and there are some deft touches (like the 5th Doctor's habit of letting all and sundry into the TARDIS). The only odd bit is where Hannah accuses Valentine of killing dozens of people - surely he needs to be more excessive than that.

The perfomances are tremendous - Peter picks up the 5th Doctor like an old coat, and although Turlough seems slightly off kilter the character changes are not displeasing. Gatiss and Walliams ham it up for all their worth, in all of their roles, as does BF staulwart Jez Fielder, but it is David Ryall who soars over them all, making Valentine a villain worthy of the TV series.

There are still some sound issues - overload effects make some subtleties disappear (like the ringing bell in the seance), and again silly vocal effects are a distraction (in fact, the whole alien bit makes very little sense, talking about 'their client' and interrupting things). It was only recently that I realised the Lovemore-Fry transformation wasn't a whole body swap a la Zygons, but just regugitating some voice changing device (and either way, sounds very unpleasant). Like Sirens, the volume level has a nasty habit of suddenly shooting up when the action gets going too.

Perhaps I'm biaised as this was the first BF I ever heard, but its still one of my favourites, and it encouraged me to get many more.

[MacNimon]

Although, seriously, this may be why I like Phan... I'm not going to type it out every time.. so much as a story. True, there are significant differences to Talons, but it feels like an old comfortable story we've heard before.

I think that this was exactly why I enjoyed this one so much in the first place, Jon. I think it simply had such a traditional feel about it which made it so easy to listen to.

[MacNimon]

I just listened to this one again yesterday, and it simply reinforced my positive opinion of it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although with it being an audio I found that it wasn't always totally clear what was going on (sound effects are no substitution for the luxury of being able to see something happening, as on tv) and even after listening again, I still didn't pick up on the fact that there wasn't a full body transformation between Billy and Hannah (although I remember a comment about her feet/boots which was probably the scene which Jon referred to).

Those were my only complaints, though. It was the type of story I love in Doctor Who, even if not particularly original. It would have made a great original series tv story imo, and listening to it again reminded me of why I like Mark Gattis' pre-new series DW work so much. Sadly his tv episodes all pale in comparison with this and Nightshade, his excellent early Virgin NA.

[Andrew Curnow]

in fact, the whole alien bit makes very little sense, talking about 'their client' and interrupting things

I've finally got around to listening to the final two parts of this one today, and I agree with Jon's comment above. Unless the aliens were being established for future appearance(s) in BF stories, I can't really see the point of that at all - at least, not in the story. I guess on a practical level they were there to avoid Hannah having to talk to herself at the end of part 3?

Having finished the story, I can only reiterate what I said after the first two parts - Davison is great, and David Ryall is perfect casting as the villain. A nice little story, nothing ground-breaking I guess but solid and entertaining enough.

[Nyder]

Just finished listening to Phan. I preferred this story to Sirens. David Walliams & M Gatiss gave really energetic performances. Which is more than can be said for Mark Strickson. Why was he so WOODEN? Thought the cliffhanger for Ep 3 worked well. Like others have said, very Talons in atmosphere, but there's nothing wrong with that. And was for Peter Davison - well it was like he'd never been away. 5th Doctor rocks!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I don't remember being that impressed with this one and I think it might have to be the least convincing Turlough performance Mark Strickson has given to date if only because I can visualise all the subsequent plays he's done and they've all been pretty good. I can only guess this was a case of struggling to rediscover the part he was playing for the first time in 15 years.