| THE ONE DOCTOR by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman |
| Story 27 Synopsis: The Doctor and Mel are playing Monopoly in the TARDIS, when they receive a distress signal from the Generios system. They have come to the 'vulgar end of time', but worse, they are too late. The Doctor has already saved the day. But he's sure he hasn't. So, investigating, they find that 'the Doctor' and his assistant Sally-Anne are faking alien invasions, then pretending to rescue civilisations for a fat profit. The Doctor is cheesed off, especially when he is accused of being the impostor. Just then, a mighty creature arrives off-planet, and threatens mass destruction unless it receives 'tribute'. 'The Doctor' is entrusted to find the 3 greatest Generios treasures, but the Doctor and Mel come along to ensure fair play. 'The Doctor' is revealed to be Banto Zame, a con-artist. Banto and Mel seek 1 treasure on 1 of the Generios planets, whilst the Doctor and Sally-Anne find treasure on a different planet. They achieve their aims, arriving on yet another of the planets for the 3rd item of tribute, a fnatastic diamond. Before the Doctor can get it, he is swallowed by a Jelloid. But by inducing a vomiting fit, the Doctor escapes. The Jelloid is quite amenable, and they get the final piece of tribute. But Banto takes Mel in the TARDIS back to Generios 1, to claim the credit. The Doctor and Sally-Anne arrive to complete the handover. The Doctor continues Banto's charade, and the off-planet creature, the Cylinder, takes 'the Doctor' to be punished. The Doctor says that he realised that the point of the quest was to prove the worth of the Doctor, so the Cylinder would know it was taking the real thing. |
| Review:- The first Big Finish 'pantomime' is, in fact, nothing of the sort, despite clues to the effect, eg Banto Zame rhymes with panto dame! Christopher Biggins plays the larger than life Banto, too, but he isn't a dame. No, The One Doctor is just a comedy, albeit with a serious twist at the end. Most of it is pleasant, although the quest doesn't kick off until near the end of part 2. The allusions to DIY and The Weakest Link are ignorable, and deadly unamusing, and the drab "oh, if I go out, my delivery will arrive" just fills in minutes dully. Not that this is all bad. The story is getting rave reviews, although largely for the wrong reasons. Colin, Bonnie, Christopher and Clare are all great, with the few others adequate. The much-trumpeted special guest stars are actually an irrelevance in a story like this. Adam Buxton is unrecognisable, though Matt Lucas does better as the Jelloid. The point I'm making is that it's all well and good to get special voice artistes in, but not if you can't tell it's them. This would be like having a famous face being hidden in a film, and giving a modulated voice-only appearance - a bit daft. Mel certainly gets a better story than the yawning dullness that was The Fires Of Vulcan, and if the only way to get her accepted by other consumers is these once a year efforts, then so be it. But I do wonder whether it is wise to make such a build-up, when these stories should be taking second-fiddle to the McGann season. Still, as someone wise once said, Time will tell... |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |