| THE DARK FLAME by Trevor Baxendale |
| Story 42 Synopsis: On their way to Orbos to collect Benny, the Doctor and Ace experience a psychic message from his old friend, Remnex. Soon, they arrive on Orbos and learn of Professor Slyde's experiment to create a controlled black-light explosion. The Doctor is sceptical, and when Remnex is murdered and talk of the long-forgotten Cult of the Dark Flame is mentioned, then he fears Slyde is up to no good. But in a struggle, Benny is teleported down to the acidic surface of nearby planet Marran Alpha. Ace struggles to recover from attack, and Benny finds herself alive, beneath the planet's surface, but a prisoner of Slyde. Slyde murdered Remnex, and brings the corpse down to act as a body for the Emissary of the Dark Flame, Vilas Krull. The Doctor heads down to the planet, into a trap. Ace finds herself trapped with Slyde. She manages to keep hold of the relic, the skull of Krull, and threatens to destroy it. The Doctor is forced to go and persuade her to give it up, whilst Benny is kept hostage. They return to Marran Alpha, but the Emissary has taken over Benny's mind, and when they give her the skull to destroy, she hands it over. Krull, Slyde and Benny return to Orbos to detonate a star in a black-light explosion that will allow the Dark Flame to control the universe. The Doctor and Ace manage to follow, by which time Bernice has triggered the explosion, and recovered her own self-control. The Doctor taunts the Emissary that the Dark Flame is merely a neutral energy, given direction by Krull. By taking Krull on, the Doctor is able to divert the energy, alter time into a small paradox, and end the Cult's chances forever. |
| Review:- Bernice rejoins the Doctor and Ace just in time for the final resurrection of an ancient evil with dastardly plans for the universe (oh no, not again)... Baxendale keeps the story fairly simple, with just the two main locations of Orbos and Marran Alpha, and has fun with the transmat that binds the two for narrative purposes. There is also a small cast, which keeps this focussed, although by the time that the cast are either dead or surviving followers, things get a bit strained. One big problem which is hardly the script's fault, is that it bears some similarity to Nekromanteia, which was released the month before this. An ancient evil bound with a mysterious relic and an immense evil power... thankfully there are more differences than similarities. The small cast are fine, with guest Michael Praed shining as the nasty Slyde. Without hamming it up too much, he convincingly sounds sincerely evil, which rather outdoes his master, Krull. Elsewhere, Lisa Bowerman brings a welcome balance to the Doctor and Ace, so it's rather a shame she hasn't been given another run with them since (presumably Hex was created for that role). Her vulnerability to being got at by the Emissary is more believable (and bearable) than if it had been Ace in the same boat, and her subsequent vicious attack on Ace is all the more stunning for the apparent reversal of their usual characters. Ace getting violent would not be news, sadly. The idea of the Dark Flame allows for a lot of amusing gubbins in the last part about cold heat and other reversals of the norm. That the nefarious force should actually be harmless allows for a rather cunning finish, where the Doctor puts himself on the line to prove that Krull is the only problem. The character of Joseph is familiar from Bernice's solo New Adventures, and it's rather a surprising origin for him/it. Whilst one of the more difficult things to visualise in the play, the character makes a welcome addition at times, allowing ultimately for the rather twee self-sacrifice that allows the Doctor to fix the transmat. If it weren't so mawkish, it would feel less obvious that the problem was made just for that solution to be used. The ending is quite surprising, as once the Doctor has adjusted time, it seems just a matter of getting Slyde to find some other hobby (unrealistic given his character) and fixing Joseph. His final line "I love this job" seems rather out of character and hardly a summation of the story. More a defiance. Still, as four-part runarounds go, this is fair enough. Though far from faultless, it entertains adequately enough, and Praed, in particular, deserved to be used again. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |