Big Finish Main Range
“Isenfel be constant” is a refrain from this story that rings strange but horrific on the ears. Balancer Skaarsgard is the man in charge of keeping the balance across all of Isenfel, from animal to people and everything, energy-wise. The balance should be maintained in this experimental environment, where everything’s kept in check. Turlough wanders off with Princess Inger for a hunting session, while Tegan and Nyssa wander the halls getting into trouble, and the Doctor digs into the technology that makes Isenfel tick.
The best part of this story is the philosophical discussions around whether the meddling the Doctor does is actually helping. It appears not to be in this storyline. And I realized as well that a lot of the time, he ends up with a solution to the issue that requires a sacrifice of some kind, which the residents of the place that needs saving always seem to come up with. Usually a proto-companion is the one doing the sacrificing of some sort, too. So as he agonizes over fixing the problem, that person acts. And this is much more prevalent in the 5th Doctor stories, it seems to be. And somewhat the 8th Doctor as well but it’s conundrum to me – how does he cope with it? How can he still go on meddling, as it were? Who else would… And it is what makes him our hero. It’s a major theme of this story and is well considered within the plot, though never quite resolved. Good stuff!
Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Annette Badland (Queen Karlina), Nickolas Grace (Balancer Skaarsgard/Viktor Skaarsgard), Joanna Kirkland (Inger), John Albasiny (Jesper), Ella Kennion (Romy)
Writer: Matt Fitton
Director: Ken Bentley
Release: February 2015