The fifth story from this third series of Eighth Doctor & Lucie adventures sees them travel to Nazi occupied Paris. Pat Mills has written this story and is his second story following on from the 2008 story Dead London. The thing about Dead London was that it was a strange story that had enough different elements to make it a good story. It was clear just from the front cover that we were going to get something different in The Scapegoats. The setting was quite strange I did find the goat idea was quite funny as the baa’s became entertaining. Also Lucie’s desire/obsession to meet Ewan McGregor leads to some funny scenes between her and first encounter with Max Paul which was a mix between humour and disappointment. The friendship between them was very sweet and well acted between Smith and Rhys.
I quite liked the idea that someone gets disfigured for the tribe was quite an interesting idea. Another good idea was that when Max Paul had his head cut off and it was able to come back on because of the technology they get the head back at a time when it was attached to his body but it leaves a time scar. The Baroque Tribe need the Doctor’s TARDIS to power up the re-animator which becomes less effective every time it is used. That was a good plot point because it added some tension and created a purpose to get the Doctor involved in the action. The reason why Max Paul is going through this is simply because it’s a tradition. It just shows that just because it’s a tradition doesn’t mean it should continue. This shows the stupidity of what is going on here. Also the moment when Mother Baroque and the Doc found Lucie & Max at the machine led to another point to prove how stupid some tribes can be. It was that their tribe would make Max’s last day a misery because of his feelings towards a human.
Paul McGann put in another great performance as the Doctor. It did take him quite a while to get really get involved in this story. It was only once he got captured by the Gestapo. Once he encountered the Baroque tribe he seemed to get back right into his usual stride of being very witty with the enemy. Sheridan Smith performs very well in this story and her reaction to Max Paul and the events at the Theatre des Baroque is similar to what we would all have. As she spends most of the story with Max Paul its not doubt expected that that is where most of the action is starting from. Paul Rhys plays Max Paul and was very good. He seems friendly and someone that Lucie instantly trusts. His character is written as some sort of celebrity with the billing of The Most Assassinated Person in History but behind that claim is the tragic reality that he has to go through to keep his family happy. As the story progresses you feel sorry for him because of what he has to endure. Christopher Fairbank is very good as Doc Baroque. His voice is very strange but what I suppose we would come to expect from anyone playing a goat. Its clear that he has some influence over Max Paul. He has a dramatic presence and delivers himself very well. There were occasions where he was very sinister which I thought suited the tone of the story.
Samantha Bond is the big name star of this story. Formally Miss Moneypenny during Pierce Brosnan’s time as James Bond and in this story she plays Mother Baroque. Her selective hearing is something that most people have in reality so its funny that someone in this story has it. Bond has a nice voice and she is a very good actress so she thrived in this role and made a change for baddies in this story. She developed a nice relationship with Doc Baroque and had some nice dialogue with the Doctor. Clifford Rose who had appeared in the 1980 Tom Baker story Warriors Gate plays Major Treptow in this story. His involvement slowly gets bigger and better as the story gets going and in part one he spends most of the episode just with the Doctor. Thorston Manderlay is very good as a Lieutenant. His character was developed to work with the Major and as such he did well. He wasn’t the most memorable character that has ever appeared in a Big Finish play but he had a purpose and he served it well.
I think that the cliffhanger is the worst that has been used for quite sometime. In fact I am struggling to think of one worst. It just comes out of the blue with very little build up and I just thought that it was very poorly written. When the story resumed there was no drama just an explanation as to what is going on. What on earth was going on when the cliffhanger was being written, even a weak attempt at a dramatic cliffhanger would have been better than what we got. I also thought that the trauma that Max Paul was going through went on far too long and was quite uncomfortable. Admittedly there is the question of why they are showing but its not a threat and there’s no real menace to it.
The ending of it was good. The fact that the Baroque tribe could go back to their home world was a refreshing change. Normally the baddies would be killed or arrested and it was a nice conclusion to the story. When the story finished we had another burst of plot in the Lucie commented that the Doctor seemed sad since the events of Orbis. The Doctor comments that Orbis is the darkness but its been shown by the light and its those that he aims for the adventures which I thought was a really nice and touching conclusion cause it’s the first time that I can recall previous adventures being mentioned in this way.
Overall this was a good story. Not the best of this range but its still worth listening to again.
I quite liked the idea that someone gets disfigured for the tribe was quite an interesting idea. Another good idea was that when Max Paul had his head cut off and it was able to come back on because of the technology they get the head back at a time when it was attached to his body but it leaves a time scar. The Baroque Tribe need the Doctor’s TARDIS to power up the re-animator which becomes less effective every time it is used. That was a good plot point because it added some tension and created a purpose to get the Doctor involved in the action. The reason why Max Paul is going through this is simply because it’s a tradition. It just shows that just because it’s a tradition doesn’t mean it should continue. This shows the stupidity of what is going on here. Also the moment when Mother Baroque and the Doc found Lucie & Max at the machine led to another point to prove how stupid some tribes can be. It was that their tribe would make Max’s last day a misery because of his feelings towards a human.
Paul McGann put in another great performance as the Doctor. It did take him quite a while to get really get involved in this story. It was only once he got captured by the Gestapo. Once he encountered the Baroque tribe he seemed to get back right into his usual stride of being very witty with the enemy. Sheridan Smith performs very well in this story and her reaction to Max Paul and the events at the Theatre des Baroque is similar to what we would all have. As she spends most of the story with Max Paul its not doubt expected that that is where most of the action is starting from. Paul Rhys plays Max Paul and was very good. He seems friendly and someone that Lucie instantly trusts. His character is written as some sort of celebrity with the billing of The Most Assassinated Person in History but behind that claim is the tragic reality that he has to go through to keep his family happy. As the story progresses you feel sorry for him because of what he has to endure. Christopher Fairbank is very good as Doc Baroque. His voice is very strange but what I suppose we would come to expect from anyone playing a goat. Its clear that he has some influence over Max Paul. He has a dramatic presence and delivers himself very well. There were occasions where he was very sinister which I thought suited the tone of the story.
Samantha Bond is the big name star of this story. Formally Miss Moneypenny during Pierce Brosnan’s time as James Bond and in this story she plays Mother Baroque. Her selective hearing is something that most people have in reality so its funny that someone in this story has it. Bond has a nice voice and she is a very good actress so she thrived in this role and made a change for baddies in this story. She developed a nice relationship with Doc Baroque and had some nice dialogue with the Doctor. Clifford Rose who had appeared in the 1980 Tom Baker story Warriors Gate plays Major Treptow in this story. His involvement slowly gets bigger and better as the story gets going and in part one he spends most of the episode just with the Doctor. Thorston Manderlay is very good as a Lieutenant. His character was developed to work with the Major and as such he did well. He wasn’t the most memorable character that has ever appeared in a Big Finish play but he had a purpose and he served it well.
I think that the cliffhanger is the worst that has been used for quite sometime. In fact I am struggling to think of one worst. It just comes out of the blue with very little build up and I just thought that it was very poorly written. When the story resumed there was no drama just an explanation as to what is going on. What on earth was going on when the cliffhanger was being written, even a weak attempt at a dramatic cliffhanger would have been better than what we got. I also thought that the trauma that Max Paul was going through went on far too long and was quite uncomfortable. Admittedly there is the question of why they are showing but its not a threat and there’s no real menace to it.
The ending of it was good. The fact that the Baroque tribe could go back to their home world was a refreshing change. Normally the baddies would be killed or arrested and it was a nice conclusion to the story. When the story finished we had another burst of plot in the Lucie commented that the Doctor seemed sad since the events of Orbis. The Doctor comments that Orbis is the darkness but its been shown by the light and its those that he aims for the adventures which I thought was a really nice and touching conclusion cause it’s the first time that I can recall previous adventures being mentioned in this way.
Overall this was a good story. Not the best of this range but its still worth listening to again.
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