February 02, 2010

The Last (2004)

After a disappointing Faith Stealer, I was fearing that this series was going to ruin all the hard work that had been done in the divergent universe. Thankfully the Last restores my faith in the series. The story is written by Gary Hopkins who is making writing his first Big Finish play. The Last is a grim and dark adventure which sees the Doctor, Charley and C’Rizz arrives on the planet Bortresoye which has been ravaged by an atomic war. We learn in this play that Bortresoye is the name of the planet where the zones that the travellers are going through.

Paul McGann, India Fisher and Conrad Westmaas all give superb performances with Westmaas getting particular praise from me for his what he has to do. C’Rizz is tormented by the death of L’Da yet again. The moment when Charley asks whether C’Rizz would do to her what he did to L’Da was quite a massive moment which was well played. McGann also had an impressive moment when he hates Excelsior which considering he’s normally a passive person and never admits he hates anyone is quite a big moment. The guest stars are all very good in The Last. Carolyn Jones (Excelsior) plays her character which has quite an egomaniacal leader. Jones gives a performance that is more suited to a Bond baddie. There is an instant pickup in my enjoyment when her character got involved. The Kro’ka also adds a nice little bit of continuity at the beginning. Stephen Perring is also just as mad as Carolyn Jones in acting terms of course.

The ending seemed to be building up to something big. The Doctor is asked effectively to commit suicide and without hesitation presses the button. For a brief moment I wondered what would happen to the Doctor. That thought I always have that nothing would happen to the lead star just disappeared for a split second. The next moment the Doctor finds himself in the street with a cheering crowd and a victorious Excelsior who seems to be nicer than what we have known before. No one apart from the Doctor remembers what happened previously. The future of Bortresoye seems to be bright as the Doctor, Charley and C’Rizz head through the interzone.

I thought that the story was a brilliant four part adventure. All the characters are strong and the people playing them put in a superb performance. The ending is leading up to what hopefully will be another adventure. With the arrival of the new series, the ending of this particular was close and it seems that things are heading to a dramatic conclusion.

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