The BF Time Warp 026: Primeval

[SiHart]

Nyssa will die at dawn, and the Doctor doesn't even know why.

To save her life, he must make a desperate journey to the only place in the universe where a cure might exist.

When even that fails, the Doctor has a choice -- let Nyssa die, or make a deal with the devil.

After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions...

What do you think of Doctor Who's return to Traken?

[Rob McCow]

I remember this one was quite derided at the time as being 'dull'.

It's hardly surprising, considering that ancient Traken isn't the most inspiring setting. Here's a place that was held together by people being terribly nice to each other, so the potential for drama is somewhat limited. Combine that with a big showing for Nyssa, who sadly is not the most dynamic of characters despite Sarah Sutton's valiant efforts - and this isn't an easy sell.

However, I quite enjoyed the play and thought it was rather atmospheric. It wasn't nearly as boring as I'd been lead to believe.

[Andrew Curnow]

It's OK, but I preferred it with Douglas Henshall in it, when there were more dinosaurs.

[stuartdg]

If I remember rightly this featured Stephen Grieff as the villain(Kwundarr?) and he was vocally very distinctive,it's a Lance Parkin script and he does add to the world of Traken,the trouble is Traken as a world just isn't very interesting

[SiHart]

For a long time I thought this was one of the worst things BF ever did. Howevere I finally finshed it, ages after it came out and found it wasn't actually all that bad. Just dull. Nyssa's romance was sweet though and some good performances save it, but really I've never been in a great hurry to revisit it.

[Anthony Williams]

This was a story that I was really not expecting to enjoy. I expected it to be dull. As I said on my Eye of the Scorpion review, I find the Davison stories to be the least enjoyable of these early Big Finish stories. So, we're looking at a semi-sequel, semi-prequel story to a dull story, set on a dull planet, revolving around a dull companion. Is it any surprise that I was expecting this to be rather, well... dull?

Likewise, I was expecting this to be a mere re-tread of The Keeper of Traken. I mean, how many different things can you do with a planet that's peaceful and tranquil? And at one point, it threatened to be just that, before just turning around in time to be something else.

So, why does the Doctor go back to Traken? Well, it transpires that someone has been following him and Nyssa ever since The Keeper of Traken, attempting to influence them (despite no evidence of this whatsoever in the past) so that they'd do his evil bidding. Hmmmmm... well, we'll overlook that. Anyway, he causes Nyssa to become ill so that the only solution is for the Doctor to take her back to Ancient Traken to get her cured. Wow... that's rather contrived.

The first two episodes of this are on the surface, rather dull. They build on the culture of Traken, fleshing it out a bit. They actually reflect my impression of the planet pretty well - the two episodes come across as lethargic, meandering episodes. The two regulars really grab hold of this material, and work with it really, really well, giving the whole Traken culture great pathos. That said, even the first two episodes have their moments of drama. The cliffhanger to Episode 1 is possibly one of the greatest in the Big Finish range so far - I don't think I'd ever though that I'd hear The Doctor scream in terror/pain like that.

Of course, we get a lot of wonderful revelations in the second two parts, as Kwundaar tries to take control of the Source, fitting the Source Manipulator (nice set-up there for The Keeper of Traken). Likewise, the revelation that Kwundaar used to be the Trakenites' God is surprising, but quite logical. Likewise, the play sets up the whole Keeper system, ready for the next time we come across Traken in its chronology.

In terms of the soundscape of the story, I feel that Big Finish captured it pretty well. Traken sounds like I'd expect it to - bubbling streams, birdsong and the like, making it sound rather idyllic. Then, there are the effects on Kwundaar and his forces, making them sound like the polar opposite to Traken and all it stands for. Well played.

In the end, I really enjoyed this story. It's never going to be one of my favourites, but I liked it a lot more than I was expecting to. I found it to be above average, and it gets 4/5 from me

[Nyder]

Just finished listening to this. It had its moments, such as Nyssa teaching the charleston to her Traken buddy, and The Doctor getting ticklish when being interrogated. Plus of course Stephen Greif's wonderfully evil character. A lot of it was just average - not bad but not wonderful either. Nyssa was never my fave companion as she's too placid for me.


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