CC 2.1: Mother Russia

[Rob McCow]

Another day, another new Companion Chronicles thread!

This time, Peter Purves (Steven Taylor) is back in 19th Century Russia trying not to get caught up in the Napoleonic wars. Accompanying him are Dodo (on the piano) and the first Doctor - or is it?

First the positives: Peter Purves is absolutely superb at reading these adventures. He's got a natural and warm tone, honed through years of presentation. There are some differences with his original, 60's performance but they are so slight that they don't matter. I think the original Steven was a little more incredulous at times. However, Peter's impersonation of Hartnell is absolutely wonderful!

The story is educational. There's a lot of history covered, from the Battle of Bordinio with General Kutozov getting a name-check, to the sacking of Moscow after Napoleon walks in through the front gates. If you're familiar with Russian history, or if you've read War and Peace then it's fun to hear Steven and the Doctor interacting with these events.

But there's a huge millstone around the story's neck. It's as though the writer decided that historical stories should be boring, so he deliberately included lots of boring bits. The first fifteen minutes is taken up with the Russians offering the TARDIS crew black bread and teaching Dodo to play the piano.

The sci-fi stuff turns up to save the day, but I think it was the wrong kind of story to have in this time period. When everything that is going on is so bizarre and exciting anyway, why have a shape-changing alien running around? That said, I did like the twinkly-eyed Hartnell Doctor consorting with Napoleon at the end.

The framing device was severely irritating and completely misleading. For me it is enough for a character to simply tell a story without having some kind of sci-fi explanation as to why they're telling a story. It's OK. It's fine. Steven Taylor is telling me a story. I'm happy for him to do that.

So moderately good, certainly not horrifically bad.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

They did get a bit obsessed with providing explanations for older versions of the characters to be telling these stories on some releases and as Steve says it doesn't actually add that much.
However, I can recall listening to this one a lot more recently than the first series and I really rather enjoyed it. As I recall the historical setting and characters are very well handled.

[Si Hunt]

I've not heard this one yet. It sounds dull, so hasn't been top of my list of ones to get.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

The first quarter is a bit dull, but things soon pick up and the last half of the play is rather good.

[Anthony Williams]

I actually just claimed this one as a freebie from a subscription to older titles in the main range... looking forward to hearing it, when it arrives!

[Nyder]

Peter certainly does a good job narrating this - his impersonation of Hartnell is spot on The Russian history aspect of this story has been clearly well researched by someone who is really interested in this period. Love the references to The Gunfighters in this. I'm a big fan of the "Chronicles" series - both Who and B7 ..... but I too wish they'd do a straight narration rather than use some convoluted plot device to eek the story out, e.g. having an interrogator, or the companion having memory loss and being encouraged by another character to try and re-trace their steps etc.

[Anthony Williams]

Well, this was an enjoyable release!

It's not often that people remember Peter Purves as an actor - outside of Who, he's far better remembered as a presenter, rather than an actor. And that's a shame, because he gives a fine performance here. And my God! Does the man's voice not age? He sounds exactly as he did in 1965! Good on him! What's obvious from his narration is just how much the man adored working with Hartnell - there's clear admiration there every time he says any of the Doctor's lines.

It's amazing that Marc Platt has so well associated himself with the First Doctor's era. Most of us think of him as the chap who wrote Ghost Light, Lungbarrow and other Seventh Doctor fair. Then he wrote Loups Garoux and Spare Parts for Big Finish... but his finest work has been for the First Doctor (or alternate First Doctor), writing some damned fine plays - Auld Mortality, A Storm of Angels, Frostfire and this. And I've heard good things about the likes of Quinnis etc., too.

Of course, the combination of Platt's writing, with Purves' narration makes for a superbly entertaining story. The plot is just wonderful - and the way that it's brought to life is excellent. To be honest, I'm disappointed that I didn't hear this story sooner. I genuinely love the plot - from the main setting, through to Steven re-telling the story during an interrogation. The alien's motivation works well, and the actions of the Doctor (and Doctor-impostor) make it seem like it fits in very well with the character and the themes of Season Three.

And the sound design? Gorgeous! To be honest, if they could have made this as a full-cast story, it really wouldn't have sounded out of place as a soundtrack to a missing story. Really.

Well done all round on this one, Big Finish! 5/5 from me!