Unbound 1: Auld Mortality

[Anthony Williams]

Auld Mortality
Starring Geoffery Bayldon and Carole Ann Ford

What if... the Doctor and Susan had never left Gallifrey?

I'm going to start off by saying something about the casting. Bayldon is not a perfect imitation of Hartnell. But that's the beauty of this whole concept - he's not meant to be. While he is the First Doctor, he's an alternate First Doctor, not the one that we know and love. So, it was interesting to hear his familiar-yet-not-familiar performance.

Anyway, onto the script. Given that this was written by Marc Platt, it was unsurprising to hear that this was VERY Marc Platt. As with many things written by him, this was very meditative, metaphysical and postmodern. With the Doctor and Susan still on Gallifrey, it was only logical that Marc Platt would bring back two of his characters from Lungbarrow.

There were a lot of nice little touches here. What with the possibility generator, we are able to see some side glimpses into an adventure that could've been - the Doctor and Hannibal on his march across the alps! There's irony in the fact that for a story set on Gallifrey, there's very little of the grandeur of the Panopticon, and no mention of the Harp of Rassilon and the like. Instead, we are mostly confined to the Doctor's house, and to the realms of the possibility generator.

Of course, as with a lot of Marc Platt's work, he tries to be far too clever for his own good. Another review somewhere else on the internet has mused that the titular character is mostly metaphor. And I can't really disagree with that. It was all going well with the machinations of Quences, but then suddenly he's this Auld Mortality character and it all gets a bit confusing. It would have worked SO much better, had it avoided going into this time immemorial nonsense with Auld Mortality.

So, overall, this was a play that I enjoyed, for the most part. It's not perfect, but it's by no means awful. Ultimately, this probably deserves 7/10!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

And a Merry Othermas to all of you at home too...

I relistened to Auld Mortality this morning. I think I'd be more inclined to give it 8/10 or at least 7.5 as I really enjoyed it (more than I can remember doing last time but that was a long time ago when IIRC I had Doctor Who coming out of my ears in the run up to the 40th Anniversary - oh dear, so much excitement and disappointment!)
The hints that Quences is not altogether what he initially seems to be are fairly well signposted as he starts quoting his shtick about night during the first scene set in the Panopticon chamber in which the Doctor shows the possibility of becoming President only to reveal that they are in the possibility generator plus it becomes quite apparent from their first meeting when Susan outs Quences as being effectively a ghost that she suspects his true motivations and not long after she talks about recognising him from Presidential records and portraits. Personally I find the character concept a lot more interesting than just an over-ambitious deceased head of the Doctor's family as this reminded slightly awkwardly of the Leekley Bible's suggested companion for the Doctor in the form of a TARDIS bound spectre of his "grandfather" Borusa as they went searching for the Doctor's long lost father Ulysses (yuck!)
A couple of other brief observations: Loved virtually all the scenes with Susan in. Carole Ann Ford gives a perfectly pitched performance, still recognisably Susan yet the revelation that she now has grandchildren of her own is totally believable. Especially love the interaction between her and Bayldon.
Love Bayldon's speeches about all the possibilities especially when he refers to having seen himself "spiralling between worlds in an old TARDIS" and then the final reveal of what his chamber really is and the ending left open to all the many possible adventures. But of course what Susan actually decided remains to be seen

[SiHart]

It was , of course, the most obvious idea for the whole series, what if the Doctor never left Gallifrey? Haven't we all wondered what that would have been like? Lance Parkin did it first in The Infinity Doctors, but the aims of that were a little different to this story.

I loved the idea and the idea of this being a different version of the very first Doctor really appealed to me. Bayldon gives a First doctor that's not entirely different to the original- there are hints of the Hartnell Doctor in him, but he's softer, less prickly but still has that wanderlust within him, as seen in his dealing with the Possibility Generator. He wants to travel, to see the universe but can't. He's being held back. It all feels very believable the way Geoffrey Bayldon plays it.

I agree with Ant that the Auld Mortality stuff is bit confusing and very typically Marc Platt stuff. That said, I still think that overall this works incredibly well.

There's a real magic in the scene where the TARDIS powers up at the end and we hear the hum of the original TARDIS and we realise where he's been all this time. Gives me goose pimples every time, along with the magical men tions of his possibly adventures at the end and Bayldon saying "Wanderers in the fourth dimension..." Super!

[Rob McCow]

I loved this little adventure. It promised great things for the Unbound range, in terms of scope and storytelling. Marc Platt was having a particularly successful period too!

[Si Hunt]

I must admit, along with "Paper Cuts" this is in the slim ranks of Marc Platt stories that I got on with.

Ant is making me want to re-listen to "Unbound" from scratch now!

Si.

[Anthony Williams]

Do it, Si! I'd love to read your thoughts on all of them!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Yes Please do Si. I'd forgotten Papercuts was a Marc Platt story. I like that one.

Vaguely back on topic, were you guys aware that Bayldon was actually offered the Doctor before it went to Hartnell... and he refused!!

Bearing in mind the old man (who I can vouch for with my own eyes has wandering hands, thankfully I was with a more attractive friend at the time who let him lift up his tee shirt!) is still alive it does make one wonder how different our beloved show's future might have been if he'd accepted!

Somehow I doubt most of us would be here if it had run for seven years with Bayldon in the role and then been cancelled. It would probably be just be another one of those shows that people talk about occasionally and watch when they're drunk like Ace of Wands.

[Si Hunt]

My Unbound Journey has begun!

"Auld Mortality" is rather wonderful. Bayldon (who may or may not have been told to "hmmm" like Hartnell, he does it rather a lot!) gives a brilliant performance, as does Carole Ann "Simple Sandwich" Ford. The sound design is so evocative. I imagine this on TV at Christmas, one of those filmed BBC things, and I pictured the Doctors house like a little hole in the ground, full of brass and bric-a-brac. Sir Ian McKellen would have played badger and the sequences in the Alps would have been big budget BBC location work, full of sweeping winds and CGI creatures.

The story itself is not to overcomplicated, and wonderfully told with a great twist in its tale. This is a great start to the range.

thankfully I was with a more attractive friend at the time who let him lift up his tee shirt!

Hmmm, would I know him per chance?

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Hmmm, would I know him per chance?

Quite possibly. I spoke to him on Sunday and he's quite hopeful of getting to the meetup next month

Oh and back on topic, welcome back the Unbound worlds Si. I love the idea of McKellen as Badger, I heard that he was the first choice to play Martin Bannister in Deadline...

[Si Hunt]

I also gave him a good bashing last night!

Si.

[Junkyard]

I can't really add much to the comments above, other to say that I found it enjoyable and somewhat sureal. Bayldon as the alternate First Doctor gives some idea of what he would have been like in the role and Carol Anne Ford is excellent.