 | Doctor Who Big Finish- The Maltese Penguin |
The Maltese Penguin
Story 33.5
Written by Robert Shearman
Released on November, 2002
The Doctor's companion, the shape-shifter Frobisher, has left the TARDIS to find himself. Operating as a private detective, Frobisher is failing to make a living on his own and spends most of his time answering wrong numbers. When the Doctor arrives with wild tales of time-tossed adventure, it takes every bit of conviction to turn his good friend down. Determined to live his own life, out from under the Doctor's shadow, Frobisher is soon visited by a beautiful and mysterious femme fatale, entangling him in a web of intrigue straight out of a dime pulp novel.
I quite enjoy these short audio adventures from Big Finish. Running at just over an hour, The Maltese Penguin is the ideal length, allowing for the right amount of humor, drama and references. Robert Shearman is a terribly talented author with a gift for comedy and bizarre plots. Written in a style reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, The Maltese Penguin is littered with so many gems of narrative dialog that it is almost entirely quotable.
Voice actor Robert Jezek trades places with Colin Baker in an ingenious flourish of artistic license when Frobisher takes on the form of the Doctor in order to track down his prey. Baker takes on Jezek's NY-style affectations with hilarious results, yet maintaining enough dignity that it never goes over the top. For many Doctor Who fans, Baker is only known for his egocentric and bombastic Sixth Doctor, so it's nice to hear the actor branch off into a new kind of character.
The vocal cast is top notch and only slightly put off by the incessant public domain 'film noir' sound track playing behind every second of ever scene. The plot is a bargain store pulp style with enough flourishes such as the elusive mcguffin that drives the story onward as the danger thickens around our hero like a noose. The Doctor's occasionally re-appears to help Frobisher at the right moment, but is driven off as the shape-shifting gumshoe must prove that he can live his own life.
The Maltese Penguin is an amusing little story that serves as a stop gap between the more epic and grand audio adventures that Big Finish is known for, but it also addresses the question of what happens to one of the Doctor's companions after they part company, something that rarely comes up in print or on the TV program.
Doctor Who Big Finish- The Maltese Penguin can be purchased directly from Big Finish Productions.
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