Big Finish - Bernice Summerfield book adaptations
And let me introduce, stage right, Bernice Summerfield! The new professor working with the main man, the Doctor. Ace doesn’t recognize Benny so this is prior to their other adventures, such as The Shadow of the Scourge, one of my personal favorites with the Ace – Benny – Doctor team. This is actually a Virgin Books story, where Ace falls in love. Like instantly. It’s a bit disconcerting to hear, to be honest. She’s always the tough one, the girl who can’t be turned from the Doctor in his quest to keep the universe safe from the monsters.
So it’s a strange turn of tale and one I didn’t really enjoy, though it was really well done. No complaints about the acting or production in general. Just don’t really like the whole “Ace falling in love” and the fallout from that plot thing. But I could see how it’s necessary to get Benny on board. And I do love Bernice! Benny: “You’ll never play games with my life.” The Doctor: “Never. I won’t have to. You have my word.” I’m not sure how I think of that in the story… The Doctor doesn’t play with his companions lives, just depends on them doing what they do to help him keep the monsters at bay. At least that’s the attempt with the 7th Doctor, though it doesn’t always work out. Difficult to say on that promise… This one was tricky to rate as I love Jacqueline Rayner’s writing for Big Finish. But I just have a hard time swallowing a lot of the Ace plot!
Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Lisa Bowerman
Writer: Paul Cornell, adapted by Jacqueline Rayner
Director: Gary Russell
October 2012