| RED DAWN by Justin Richards |
| Story 8 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands in a mysterious cold building with a green shell roof. Out on the planet's surface, the rocket Ares One touches down, on a mission to investigate the "Anomaly". They soon find it - a mysterious hill-shaped building. They get inside, where they meet the Doctor and Peri. As the temperature starts to rise, the huge frozen blocks start to melt, and the Doctor realises they're on Mars - for the blocks contain Ice Warriors. The leader, Zzaal, revives other Martians. The Doctor is all but a captive. Sstast, another Ice Warrior, is sent across to Ares One, but is knocked unconscious by Paul Webster, whose family helped fund the mission to Mars. He takes off with Peri a captive. The Ice Warriors aim a weapon at the ship, to enable Sstast has a fitting send-off. The ship is crippled, and plummets back to Mars. The Doctor is able to talk them down to a safe landing. Sstast takes Peri prisoner. Zzaal considers the humans to be dishonourable. Webster threatens an important Martian statue, and is able to take the Doctor hostage, and heads out to take the Martian ship. He then demands a Martian in exchange for releasing the Doctor. He is trying to accumulate Martian biodata, to create improved human warriors. Zzaal goes, but Webster decides to keep the Doctor. They walk on the surface of Mars. Zzaal asks to see the sunrise. Webster is aghast when the Martian dies of sunburn. Sstast, as per Zzaal's orders, blows up the Martian craft, killing Webster, but not the Doctor, who got away. Earth will have to establish proper accord with Mars. The Doctor and Peri slip off in the TARDIS. |
| Review:- It's the future, and Man lands on Mars. But Mars is not uninhabited... After the appearance of the Daleks, this story was Big Finish's second to use old monsters from the series. In the New Adventures, the Ice Warriors have been well embellished, and they prove a useful dramatic force here. But as ever, it's not the monsters who are the most monstrous, it's the human characters. Paul Webster passes as a nasty piece of work, trying to take what he wants by force, regardless of the consequences, and not ashamed to threaten anyone to get it. His angle, being to steal Martian DNA, is pretty nasty. It allows him to do some pretty dastardly things in early episodes, such as the attempted take-off, and then threatening the precious statue of Izdaal. As well as breaking his promise to release the Doctor. The child of a wealthy family, he has means, motive and opportunity. He certainly enlivens a story that needs something to happen. Sadly, most of the story is pretty dull. The Ice Warriors have been shown as good guys and bad guys over the years, but the tendency recently seems to be to have them as goodies. This means the story needs some bad guys to count as drama. This is where Webster fits in. Sadly, this means that everyone else looks rather useless by comparison. Zzaal and Sstast are more in control than any of the other humans from Ares One, Peri is sidelined, and the Doctor can't mediate between the two sides, and thus has little to contribute. The DNA plot revolves around the hidden identity of Paul's supposed sister Tanya, and the ramifications of the Brookings Report. Whilst these are nice ideas, they don't really provide much mystery for a story. The first episode suffers from prolonging the surprise appearance of the Ice Warriors at the end, which compares to many classic non-surprise cliffhangers over the years, but hardly something worth emulating. The middle episodes spend too long on the attempted abduction of Sstast, and when Paul acquires a weapon despite being a prisoner, the audience is being expected to accept too much. The final episode gives us a chance for a confrontation between Paul and Zzaal, and a welcome explanation for the story's title, which enhances the story of Mars. Sstast's revenge attack on Paul at least provides satisfying closure, as well as the prospect of Earth-Mars negotiations. Sadly, the future sounds more exciting than the present. As an exercise in showing how audio can depict the future of space travel, as well as giving a chance for some old monsters, this works. But as compelling drama, it doesn't very much. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |