February 03, 2010

Terror Firma (2005)

Terror Firma is a story is the first since the Doctor, Charley and C’Rizz left the divergent universe in The Next Life. This is the first story for C’Rizz outside of his own universe and is similar to how Adric was when he left E-Space. It was a conscious effort to take the eighth doctor out of the Divergent universe because they didn’t want new fans to be confused about the Doctor in the middle of a major story arc. Ok I don’t quite agree with that logic, you don’t stop a major storyline in Eastenders or Corrie because new fans might get confused. You look back and find out what happened. This story is written by Joseph Lidster and sees the return of Davros and the Daleks. The last time Davros was in Doctor Who was back in ‘The Juggernauts’ and the last time the Daleks were properly since Jubilee at the beginning of 2003.

The story sees the Doctor and his companions land in a tunnel and are instantly captured by the Daleks. But its not long before they are freed but tragedy strikes as Charley is shot dead (or so it seems) and this leads C’Rizz down one of his gloomy moods. Whilst Davros and the Doctor are having their chat, miles above ground there is a party going on where people are singing and enjoying themselves. A much alive Charley discovers this and finds it slightly disconcerting that people are having a good time when there are Daleks below them. Of course they know that there are Daleks about. The story has quite a lot of interesting elements which never really hit home for me. I’m referring to Gemma and Samson who are former companions of the Eighth Doctor who we have never heard of before. But as well as that ‘mystery’ there is also a connection to Davros.

The main cast give a brilliant performance. I must admit I was looking forward to seeing how C’Rizz would work out of his comfort zone and to be honest I wasn’t impressed. I think that Conrad Westmaas gave a good performance but was let down by a slightly feeble storyline. Paul McGann and India Fisher are on good form especially McGann who seems to have a new lease of life with his Doctor. Terry Molloy was the star of the show. He gave a superb performance in The Juggernauts and does an even better job in this story. Molloy plays Davros as a slightly mad person and as Davros with revenge for what I think happened in Remembrance of the Daleks. Molloy’s biggest strength was how he interacted with McGann’s Doctor. He shows he can work well with Davison, Baker and McCoy and in this story he shows how good he is.

Terror Firma is a great story that manages to re-launch the Eighth Doctor adventures in the same way that the show has been re-launched so successfully on TV. Everything in this story seemed original and whilst at times I did have trouble following what was going on that confusement didn’t last for long and I was able to enjoy this story and it bodes well for not only the future of the Eighth Doctor adventures but more importantly Big Finish and shows people why they should stick with Big Finish because when the show finishes on TV there Big Finish will be waiting.

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