Main Range 23: Project: Twilight (spoilers)

Take a nibble of Week 3 of the Evelyn listen through!

notthebigfinishforum.freeforums.net/thread/4220/cocoa-cake-cd-evelyn-listen

I do agree about the main Female Vampire not reappearing. She really does deserve a rematch with Sixie

but other wise this story is darkly perfect. The seeds it sets up that would be played off down the line is amazing and even without all that its OMG

The best Doctor Who 'horror film' I've heard - a seriously dark vampire story which I think gains a lot from the reality of the modern-day setting. (The 'Tooting Bec' effect in action. )

Amelia and Nimrod the Hunter are outstanding characters and I liked the idea of the deadly vampire hunter being as much a villain as those he hunted, having created them in a WWI 'black ops' program before he saw the light (so to speak.)

And I liked the strong contrast drawn between them on the one hand and on the other, the compassion shown by the Doctor, and Evelyn's protective compassion for Cassie.
It's perfect that the Doctor was first distracted by his compassion and wish to help, then even when he did know what Amelia was, by his wish to overcome his Time Lord prejudices about vampires and still help her.
Before discovering that his prejudices were justified...

An excellent story which I know spawns many threads, which I'm looking forward to following.
(And oh my goodness just imagine the reaction if they'd made it for 80s TV as it's written here!! )

More's the pity... the Main Range had an edge to it back then. We still get good Doctor Who stories but nothing dark and horrific like this. Project: Twilight is a great story from a great era.

I'm not that into the whole vampire thing, but this was definitely an interesting story.

Another impressive story for the Sixth Doctor. It is remarkable how good his early stories are with Big Finish - Whispers of Terror, The Marian Conspiracy, The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, the Holy Terror and Bloodtide make up an impressive run. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Baker was poorly served by woeful stories and a generally cr** production team at the BBC. It angers me to think what could have been had his Doctor been given the same care and attention on TV as he has with Big Finish. Easily could have been better than Tom Baker - especially if Colin had got his wish and stayed for longer.

Anyway, ranting aside - what about this story. Project: Twilight is what Eric Saward was attempting to do but done properly. Arguably, this is the most 'adult' themed Big Finish adventure I've listened to in a while and certainly would not be one that could be shown on TV pre-watershed (if at all). The Doctor is thrust into a world of violence and bloodshed. The themes surrounding this adventure are unpleasant, to put it mildly, and none of the supporting characters (with the exception of Cassie perhaps) comes off well. The story starts of bleak - with the experimentations during the Great War and continues in that manner - the Doctor and Evelyn discovering disembowelled animals to eventually human corpses. However, unlike a Sawardian approach, there is some redeemable features in the story that prevent it from being almost 90 minutes of misery - the opening with the Doctor eating his favourite take away, Evelyn at Cassie's home and the ending with the Doctor in the TARDIS for cocoa. The Doctor (and Evelyn), whilst drawn into the violence, solve the situations before them without resorting to violence (which probably would not have been the case under Saward). Again, the Doctor doesn't lose his moral compass and the audience still knows he is 'their' champion. Even though the Doctor is a lot more 'shouty' and arrogant here, which makes him more akin to what is seen on TV, the Doctor doesn't come across as unpleasant - yes, he shouts at Evelyn and is rude to her, but the sheer distraught the Doctor shows at the end of Episode 3 and early Episode 4 when he thinks he's caused Evelyn's death more than makes up for this. The audience knows that the Doctor isn't a cold, aloof alien - but genuinely cares about his companions. The Doctor's apology at the end of the story is heartfelt and genuinely shows the level of respect and affection he has for his companion (and vice versa).

The introduction of vampires was a nice touch. Impressively, the writers tried to avoid the usual cliches and by allocating each vampire a specific weakness - it made for an interesting story. In particular, Reggie and Amelia were well scripted and developed here. Reggie came across as a downright nasty individual and was believable as a psychopath, with hints of far worse than just torture/violence - e.g. we hear that he beats up Cassie pretty badly but it is implied that he may have sexually assaulted her/raped her as well. His comeuppance is well deserved in the end and makes Cassie appear more than just a cowering victim. Amelia was just as repulsive and her ability to manipulate the Doctor by playing on his compassion was genius. The open question of whether she survives at the end makes for a potential return in a subsequent episode.

I particularly liked the fact that the story has a few loose threads. Obviously, we know how it works out with Cassie, but at the time this would have made for an interesting story arc. The same with the Forge/Nimrod. It is also blatantly obvious where the inspiration for Torchwood comes from and where Russell T Davies took the idea - this just shows the impact that Big Finish has had on Doctor Who. Similarly, the idea of the Doctor having 'blood on his hands' has been developed in the new series, but is directly referenced here by Nimrod.

A very good story and a rare occasion where Doctor Who steps into a more adult world. Although released in 2001, this story feels contemporary and the themes are still relevant. The idea of 'Blood Money' and casinos are still being discussed as is the treatment of women and prejudicial attitudes towards others (even the Doctor falls foul of prejudice when he learns of vampires.)

Dark, Gritty and awesome

4 brilliantly done characters, ruthless Reggie Amoral Amelia, Cassie the ultimate victim and Nefarious Nimrod.

Now people may call the Doctor gullible in this story but for money, Evelynn makes the worse mistake with dire long-term consequences.

Bonus Outake at the end of Coming Soon Trailer alternate version of "Shall I kill my Creator of Savior"

Regards

mark687