 | Doctor Who Big Finish- The Juggernauts |
"Of course, Daleks... I should have known." 
The 23rd series of Doctor Who was a turbulent time for the program as The Doctor was literally and fictionally on trial for his life. It also introduced a new companion, Melanie Bush, played by stage actress Bonnie Langford. Bonnie acted opposite Colin Baker in the final two adventures of the year and continued on for the following year, seeing in the seventh actor to play the Doctor on screen, Sylvester McCoy, in Time and the Rani. A computer programmer at a time when the audience had a less-informed knowledge of such a thing, Mel was meant to be an addition to the lighter approach demanded by the BBC Controller Michael Grade. She certainly was bubbly and spritely, appearing downright diminutive in contrast to Baker, but to be honest I never really took to her. In this adventure, however, she is positively sparkling! I have heard that Mel is also quite good in her other audio adventures such as Bang-a-Bang-Boom! with Sylvester McCoy and I look forward to that. Aside from her personality working well in this script, Mel's computer skills are also put to use in this story. One wonders if there had been additional time on screen to develop Mel and the 6th Doctor if they would not have been more successful.
While his incarnation of the Doctor was disliked by many fans, it has been said even by his detractors that Colin Baker got robbed by only appearing in two year's worth of adventures (the second of which was both abbreviated and of questionable quality). He has enjoyed something of a revival in the Big Finish audio adventures. On screen, he may have been a bit too jarring for some, but in the Big Finish productions his verbose and egocentric personality comes across as perfectly charismatic and eccentric, in short 'Doctor-ish.' Personally, I always liked Colin Baker's brash and maniacal 6th Doctor. I didn't really take to what I perceived as a 'watering down' of his performance in series 23's Trial of a Time Lord, as I felt that it removed the performance's edge. I was expecting more of that gentler version of the Doctor in the Big Finish audios and to a large extent I was correct, but it works so well with higher quality scripts (something each classic Doctor Who actor has remarked on as being a major improvement regarding the audios compared to the classic serialized adventures.).
In The Juggernauts, we also have Terry Molloy, who played Davros on screen in Resurrection, Revelation and Remembrance of the Daleks. Following his capture by the Daleks on the planet Necros, Davros crash-lands on the planet Lethe where he starts his life over again with one aim, to wipe out his inferior creations, the Daleks. Renaming himself Dr Vaso, he is heading a project on the planet Lethe where a new race of robotic servants based on the discarded Mechanoids (last seen in The Chase) is being developed for private enterprise. I greatly enjoyed Molloy's version of Davros on screen, finding that it at least met the level set by Michael Wisher in Genesis of the Daleks. A conniving and brilliant mind, Davros' persona humanized the Dalek's alien sense of morality that often failed to come across in some of their appearances.
This story shares a few similarities with the 1966missing story Power of the Daleks by David Whittaker. Both stories are set on alien worlds colonized by the Earth Empire and both involve outside parties attempting to use Dalek technology to their own ends. I'm not sure if the similarities are intentional, but I find it interesting enough to note. The three 80's Dalek stories strove to bring back the menace of the creatures that had gotten far too cuddly and familiar over the years. The Juggernauts re-introduces the brilliant tactical minds of the monsters and their creators who play with the humans as a chess player would move pieces across the board. The story is one of survival at any cost which is of course horrifying to the human characters in the tale who are much more concerned with their own lives, relationships and needs. Even the Doctor comes across as alien as he works with the Daleks to undo Davros' scheme. The Juggernauts is a wonderful exploration of alien morality as it relates to the human condition.
Written by Scott Alan Woodard (who also wrote the Eight Doctor Audio adventure Absolution), the Juggernauts is a taut and well-written adventure in which the main cast are given room to move and develop, the villains enough space to be truly menacing and old ideas made new by inspired decisions. In short, it's a damned shame that this story was not produced for TV transmission, but given the dubious production values of classic Doctor Who, maybe it's for the best. As an audio tale, the Juggernauts is fantastic and comes highly recommended.
Doctor Who - The Juggernauts can be purchased at local retailers and online from Big Finish.
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