 | Doctor Who Big Finish- Embrace the Darkness |
Embrace the Darkness
Story 31
Written by Nicholas Briggs
Released April 2002
A planet plunged in perpetual darkness, Cimmeria IV is also a treasure trove of rare minerals, something that the Earth Empire is in dire need of. A small group of company employees; the garrulous chief Orllensa and chummy draughts enthusiasts Ferras and Haliard are hard at work on a survey before the process of planting devices designed to illuminate the planet can begin. Suddenly they are assaulted by an alien life form and dropped into total darkness. Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor and Charley witness the death of the Cimmeran System's sun in reverse. Looking to uncover the mystery, the travelers become involved in the event. Nothing much is known about the system which greatly intrigues the Doctor who is always hungry for knowledge.
The TARDIS is intercepted by the robotic rescue servant ROSM which is en route to rescue the survey team. ROSM identifies Charley as a threat due to her being from another era and the Timelord has to embark on some quick thinking to save his companion's life, only to lose her in an escape pod also set to the base below. Once inside the base, Charley encounters Orllensa and Ferras (Halliard has run off mad somewhere). She is horrified to discover that their eyes have been removed.
The Doctor struggles to get ROSM to understand that he and Charley are not threats with little success due to the robot's restrictive programming. Charley meets one of the Cimmerians and manages to communicate with it, finding that no harm was intended when it he removed the survey team's eyes. It was attempting to hide them in the darkness from an unclear threat. Even though their intentions are benign, the Cimmerians' intervention causes physical pain for the human members of the team and numerous problems in ROSM's logic circuits. As Orllensa and Ferras become more terrified, ROSM loses touch with reality and a swarm of more Cimmerians are on their way. Desperate for a solution, the Doctor attempts to remotely activate the devices on the planet surface that will push the Cimmerians away. Unfortunately, the Doctor's plan is possibly the worst possible course of action.
Written by the impeccable Nicholas Briggs, I quite enjoy Embrace the Darkness but have to admit that it requires listening sessions separated by at least a day. This is due to the repetition of the phrase 'embrace the darkness,' the limited dialog of the base crew and the annoying sound of the Cimmerians doing... whatever it is they do. After an impressive opener, for much of part two it seems that the story has stalled and is in no hope of getting started again. The Doctor argues with ROSM, Orllensa acts like a bitch and Ferras acts like a goof or bursts into tears about losing his eyes... then some weird sound effects occur. It's frustrating that these moments become so boring because with some proper editing Embrace the Darkness could be a real stunner. It just seems like several characters are on train tracks that lead irrevocably to and from the same points.
That said, there are several bright points. The guest actors are very good, if Nicola Boyce as Orllensa gets more than a little irritating at times. McGann is charming, witty, brilliant and very compassionate while Charley is her usual lovely self. The ideas behind Embrace the Darkness are terribly interesting and the mood very evocative. The soundscapes crafted by the Big Finish crew are very effective from the sounds of the various mechanoids to the simple audio of conversation in a hallway. Like many of the McGann stories, Embrace the Darkness has an unusual blend of comedy and drama reminding me again of the best stories of the Graham Williams era. Another enjoyable adventure of the Eight Doctor, I recommend Embrace the Darkness, but with the advice to not listen to it all in one sitting.
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Doctor Who- Embrace the Darkness can be ordered directly online from Big Finish Productions and from local retailers such as Mike's Comics.
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