REVIEW: Doctor Who: Slipback by Eric Saward
TYPE: Audio drama
DETAILS: SB1, 6X10 minute episodes
For my last review of the year, I’m going back in time to the 89s. When Doctor Who was put on hiatus, with the original intent to cancel it, in the meantime, Eric Saward wrote a radio play that was put on during that time. I’ve read the novelisation, and now, I’m able to listen to the audio play. But how would Slipback fare?
For years, the massive ship known as the Vipod Mor has travelled the galaxy of its construction, surveying the worlds and people within it. But things are increasingly going wrong. A mysterious man-eating beast is roaming the service ducts. A pair of brutal police officers seek out an art thief. The ship’s computer is ditzy and shrill. And the petulant Captain Slarn demands that his crew pander to his whims, or suffer the illnesses he cultivates within his body through a psychosomatic form of disease synthesis. Into this mess blunders the Doctor and Peri, seeking those responsible for experiments in time-travel. But within the ship lurks a conspiracy to attain godhood, and the Doctor may not be able to stop it…
I have to say, Eric Saward has written far better stories, including, I should add, the novelisation of this story, which adds some needed background, and marks his attempts to emulate a Douglas Adams-style of writing. The story itself isn’t particularly bad, but the twist is one reminiscent of not only his own story Earthshock, but also one of the stories he presided over as script editor, Terminus. It’s also filled with incident more than plot.
Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are on fine form as the Doctor and Peri, especially as their relationship feels a lot less toxic than it did in the TV show. Of the guest characters, Valentine Dyall’s final performance as the petulant, childish and cruel Slarn is perhaps the most noteworthy, playing a very different character to the Black Guardian in the main TV series. The other characters seem like an afterthought, used to liven up the plot, aside from Jane Carr as the ship’s computer, or rather, her two personalities.
The production values are good. True, it doesn’t approach the same level of cinematic soundscape as Big Finish manages, and it doesn’t feel as good as The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, done some years before, with the sound mix a touch dodgy at times. But it’s still enjoyable and gets the job done, making this story feel a part of the era.
Overall, while somewhat subpar, Slipback is at least a decent entry into the franchise, and a wonderful swansong performance from Valentine Dyall. A shame it wasn’t better…
***
TYPE: Audio drama
DETAILS: SB1, 6X10 minute episodes
For my last review of the year, I’m going back in time to the 89s. When Doctor Who was put on hiatus, with the original intent to cancel it, in the meantime, Eric Saward wrote a radio play that was put on during that time. I’ve read the novelisation, and now, I’m able to listen to the audio play. But how would Slipback fare?
For years, the massive ship known as the Vipod Mor has travelled the galaxy of its construction, surveying the worlds and people within it. But things are increasingly going wrong. A mysterious man-eating beast is roaming the service ducts. A pair of brutal police officers seek out an art thief. The ship’s computer is ditzy and shrill. And the petulant Captain Slarn demands that his crew pander to his whims, or suffer the illnesses he cultivates within his body through a psychosomatic form of disease synthesis. Into this mess blunders the Doctor and Peri, seeking those responsible for experiments in time-travel. But within the ship lurks a conspiracy to attain godhood, and the Doctor may not be able to stop it…
I have to say, Eric Saward has written far better stories, including, I should add, the novelisation of this story, which adds some needed background, and marks his attempts to emulate a Douglas Adams-style of writing. The story itself isn’t particularly bad, but the twist is one reminiscent of not only his own story Earthshock, but also one of the stories he presided over as script editor, Terminus. It’s also filled with incident more than plot.
Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are on fine form as the Doctor and Peri, especially as their relationship feels a lot less toxic than it did in the TV show. Of the guest characters, Valentine Dyall’s final performance as the petulant, childish and cruel Slarn is perhaps the most noteworthy, playing a very different character to the Black Guardian in the main TV series. The other characters seem like an afterthought, used to liven up the plot, aside from Jane Carr as the ship’s computer, or rather, her two personalities.
The production values are good. True, it doesn’t approach the same level of cinematic soundscape as Big Finish manages, and it doesn’t feel as good as The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, done some years before, with the sound mix a touch dodgy at times. But it’s still enjoyable and gets the job done, making this story feel a part of the era.
Overall, while somewhat subpar, Slipback is at least a decent entry into the franchise, and a wonderful swansong performance from Valentine Dyall. A shame it wasn’t better…
***