| THE AXIS OF INSANITY by Simon Furman |
| Story 56 Synopsis: The TARDIS is drawn down to land in the Axis, a strange zone where reality is fluid. The Doctor sets out alone to visit the Overseer. Peri and Erimem rescue an unfortunate, Tog, who wants them to head to his world, Pangorum. The Doctor finds the Overseer dying, and a strange Jester taking over. Erimem stays in the TARDIS, whilst Peri and Tog try to find the Doctor. The Jester impersonates the Doctor, Erimem lets him in, and they head for Pangorum. Peri and Tog meet up with the Doctor, but they arrive in time to see the TARDIS leave. They find another way to Pangorum, but are nearly killed in lava fields. The Jester, aka Jarra To, had created a timescoop experiment that drew the attention of the Time Lords. One was sent to shut her down, but she killed him, without learning where his TARDIS was. She now wants the Doctor's TARDIS. Erimem gives her a runaround, until the Doctor, Peri and Tog arrive. He thwarts her, and Tog sacrifices himself to kill her. The Doctor takes the dead Time Lord's TARDIS away, and sets off to get a new Overseer appointed, before the Axis collapses completely. |
| Review:- A world of the weird, greed and madness... business as usual? Fantastic realms have rarely cropped up in Doctor Who, perhaps because their very natures dooms them to wind up all the more ordinary and unsatisfying. The Celestial Toyroom is just an excuse for the Toymaker to play his silly games. The Land of Fiction was a curious zone that merely delayed the Doctor's business offer. Here, the Axis is given some depth by its realisation as a place created by the Time Lords to put troublemakers out of harm's way. Like the Source of Traken, the immense power is entrusted to a single, noble being, and like the Source, that power is usurped by a bad lot. So far, so OTT. But the sideshow on Pangorum slowly takes centre stage, and the origin of the Jester proves to be really quite sensible. Indeed, despite the superficial gloss, the basic story is really quite straightforward. Scientist Jarra To's time experiments caught the attention of the Time Lords, and when they sent someone in to shut her down, she struck back, and found her way into the Axis, where she made short work of the Overseer. But failing to learn where the Time Lord had hidden his TARDIS, she lured the Doctor into a trap, to take his. The problem with this, though, is that it sets up the fantastical idea of the Axis, and then does nothing terribly interesting with it. Change the names, and it could be anywhere, and any old super-power. Whilst the Jester/Jarra To is a fairly solid baddie, there's no depth to suggest that the Doctor's doing anything other than sticking up for the Time Lords. Indeed, despite his poetic speech about the ephemeracy of the Time Lords, he's still acting almost as avenger for his fallen fellow, as much as righter of wrongs and all-round good egg. His initial lack of trust in his companions seems rather mean, too, especially as Peri has to save his neck, and Erimem works out that the Doctor she thinks she meets is an impostor. She comes across as distinctly changed from her earlier appearances, and despite ideas like being unable to read (which comes up in the plot), seems almost ordinary. Peri, by contrast, is sympathetic to Tog and her initial character seems a long way behind. The situation on Pangorum is only lightly shaded in, but perhaps that's all that matters. Tog gets his vengeance on Jarra To also, though the future for Pangorum and the Axis is left up in the air at the end. Which is perhaps in the spirit of the series, but is here indicative of a story with only just enough plot to reach the end of the story, and to blazes with what comes next. It works quite well as a story, but the amazing elements soon become humdrum and the villain rather unimaginative. Small beautiful moments do bring some joy, but they don't make up for the rest of it. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |