July 03, 2011

Chronoclasm (2011)

The final story from this brilliant series sees the infamous Mr. Payne see out the end of the series. The story has a different feel to previous stories, as it is the final story its only right that the stakes involved are higher than what we have had before. This story is written by Andy Lane who’s previous contributions to Jago and Litefoot includes The Similarity Engine and The Ruthven Inheritance and also the Companion Chronicle that led to this spin-off ‘The Mahogany Murderers’.

The past and present melt into each other and the time leakages are getting more intense. The story sees the introduction of the Sphere who are massive creation that can wreck houses and this leads Professor Litefoot to have to stay at Ellie’s. The 2011 is a stable moment in time. It seems to be a tad bit convenient and had this story been released in 2013, they would have said the same thing. The Sphere things that appear are after Mr. Payne and we learn that they are after something from Payne. The Sphere taught Payne a trick which enables him to bring back his wife, Shania. They were orbiting an event horizon and she was pulled through it. He is trying to get her back by basically ripping the world apart. Payne promised to help them leave the black star to roam the universe to ‘eat time’. We learn that she has been killed and his mission to bring her back was futile and the sphere has been playing with him.

The whole plot isnt as complicated as the previous series finale. I’m not saying that as a bad thing because I think that making things complicated at an important stage of a series is a disappointing way to conclude the series and so this story is refreshing and at no point throughout did I get bored or confused and frustrated.

I never get bored of writing this but Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter are absolutely, positively and unashamably brilliant. They give a contanst enthusiastic performance and with every scene the decision to give Jago and Litefoot their own series proves to be the right one. Louise Jameson is also brilliant and has been throughout this series. She could have been involved in the second story more but that’s not something that can be blamed on Louise Jameson.

It was set up that Leela was going to leave once the drama had ended and she goes off and it was at this point that I felt quite sad and then before I knew what was what she turns up and we are told that she is unable to leave. Then the biggest bombshell that I can recall in quite sometime. Mr Colin Baker appears at the very end and he introduces as Professor Claudius Dark. It’s a name that escapes me at the moment but I assume that in Series 4 it will come to be important. The thing about Leela is that I think that she has injected that bit of fizz to the series and I think that the series has certainly benefited from her involvement.

Overall this series has been the best. Apart from The Man at the End of the Garden which I thought was a bit weak, the whole series has been solid and has felt far better than the previous series. It feels like Big Finish have got the hang of the format of the series and found the right balance. When Series Four (cant believe were there already!) arrives in 2012, I feel that they will be able to raise the standard even higher. Well Done to everyone involve.

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