Big Finish Main Range
ID is an excellent adventure of the classic ADVENTURE type of Dr. Who. The Dr. shows up, wanders through the environment/lives of the people living in the Lonway Clinic and solves a major crisis. This is definitely a very, very good audio from the writer who also brought us Memory Lane, which was good except felt like a bit of a repeat of other plots. More on that when I get to reviewing that particular audio drama.
The story moves along nicely, with Dr. Marriott of the clinic turning out to be more greedy than sensible. Most of the time the Dr. can save these people from themselves but this time he’s too busy saving most of the people from the androids to be able to. It also rushes along at a reckless pace, winding up with the Dr. getting to show off his genius by completing the work of another genetic genius. I really enjoy when the Dr. gets to show off something of his mental powers, whether it’s his intelligence or extra mental powers. Just why people trust him is still one of those mysterious things to me… He slips in, solves the problem by bypassing the usual personnel security, and heads off into the sunset again. That “power” alone amazes me and yet, it seems to be part of a dark side of his personality. He could use that for evil, which he doesn’t, but it doesn’t seem like something that’s ultimately good. He uses it for good but could so easily not use it for good. Perhaps it’s just in the use that judgment of a “power” comes about but the power itself is neither good nor bad.
As totally enjoyable as ID, Urgent Calls isn’t as well done. It really like what Robson did with this as it’s a totally audio medium recording a totally audio storyline. But I’m glad it’s short as it isn’t nearly so strong and interesting as ID. Interesting idea and well performed and written, just not as good as the first story of the disk. If the Doctor has to stop this virus that causes wrong number calls because of the potential for evil, what else is out there that he should be eliminating the he’ll never find? Perhaps the potential lies in what’s not said as much as what he does say about the virus. A virus transmitted by voice over telephone wires. Pretty wild stuff!
There’s not one entity that’s the bad guy in either of these stories. There’s a person’s research gone bad and an alien virus that’s gone good but with the possibility of dire consequences. But neither are person with evil intentions looming over everyone. I like to hear these kind of stories, to see what a writer can do with the scenarios and Eddie Robson has done a fine job with these two stories!
Colin Baker
writer: Eddie Robson
director: John Ainsworth
Release: April 2007