| FAITH STEALER by Graham Duff |
| Story 61 Synopsis: When C'rizz has another vision of killing L'da, the Kroka suggests that the Doctor and Charley take him to the Multihaven, a thriving citadel where various religious movements compete for superiority. They have to claim to be Tourists to get in. The Church of Lucidity seems to be a cause for concern, its leader Laan Carder espousing the wonders of Miraculite. He manages to usurp the majority of faiths and worshippers in the Multihaven, even influencing C'rizz. The Doctor confronts Carder, identifying Miraculite as a form of energy parasite that used Carder as a conduit to suck the life energy from all the worshippers. By destroying Carder's faith in himself, the Doctor breaks Miraculite's hold, leaving it to disperse, and the survivors of the Multihaven to start to recover. |
| Review:- The opening story of the 2nd short season of stories in the Divergents universe is a charmless little runaround that has a go at religions. C'rizz provides the way in to the story, still upset at having to murder L'da. Strangely, despite this seeming quite a clear cut event, even the Doctor now seems less sure it was the right thing to do. Anyway, the Kro'ka points them in the direction of the Multihaven, and despite only C'rizz being in any way devout, they blag their way in and start causing havoc. Though not as much havoc as the Church of Lucidity. It's a simple enough plot for a story, and one which in our multi-faith society, has quite some resonance. Though there are many religions, what if one suddenly gobbled up all the others? This is not as silly as it sounds, because the basis of many religions is to convert anyone and everyone, if possible. Here, it's the lure of Miraculite which proves decisive, taking over C'rizz, and teasing Charley and the Doctor with the lure of the TARDIS. Though the eventual explanation takes the gloss off it, it's still an intriguing idea, and since gods and super-beings have cropped up in the show many times over the years, all too plausible a part of the story. Of course, Miraculite cannot do all the work, and uses Laan Carder as its emissary, and a suitably compelling villain he turns out to be. Given the feckless way in which the Bordinan keeps control in the Multihaven, it's almost a surprise that no-one with the right chutzpah hasn't previously tried such a coup. Perhaps the other religions were too wishy-washy? With C'rizz pushed to the forefront when he is subjected to mind control, Charley is left rather at a loose end. Her lowpoint comes when she's deluded into thinking she's back in the TARDIS, and asks the Doctor to take off, forgetting C'rizz altogether. As for the Doctor, he is careless with C'rizz's condition, trusting too much to the locals, but when it comes to the crunch, he brings Carder's illusion down around him, and gees up the prospective new Bordinan. The continuing puzzle of the TARDIS remains baffling - far from being destroyed, it seems to have instead been taken. This is strange and silly. But none of this covers the fact that this seems a rather drab runaround of a play. Besides some development for C'rizz, and the frankly anti-religious message (and surely that's preaching to the converted anyway?) seems like a cheap attempt to be offensive, there's not much here. On the plus side, though, the episodes aren't too long for once. And the punning title's okay by me. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |