|
Post by omega on May 14, 2018 8:35:47 GMT
DOCTOR WHO - UNBOUND » 7. A STORM OF ANGELSReleased January 2005SynopsisWhat if... the Doctor really had changed History, even just the tiniest bit?1480: Leonardo da Vinci visits the stars. 1508: Vasco da Gama sets foot on Mars. 1585: Francis Drake begins charting the Asteroid Belt. 1588: Earth is destroyed by a storm of angels. The Doctor was really enjoying his freedom. But now there’s a Temporal Agent on his tail. Gloriana and the President of Gallifrey are not amused. And Susan’s none too well either. Possibilities, like the Doctor, have a habit of running away with themselves. But who cares, when the jewels are so dazzling… Written By: Marc Platt Directed By: John Ainsworth CASTGeoffrey Bayldon (The Doctor); Carole Ann Ford (Susan); Cameron Stewart (Francis Drake); Ivor Danvers (Doctor John Dee); Ian Hallard (Zeuro); Nicholas Deal (Anthony Fettisplace); Shiv Grewal (Mr Raju); Kate Brown (Queen Elizabeth); Ian Brooker (Shewstone/Bosun)
|
|
|
Post by omega on May 14, 2018 8:47:58 GMT
In one word, majestic. For an audio script it's comes of gorgeously in a visual way. English and Aztec ships in space, people with gems growing out of them while dancing, it's a wonderful sight. Marc Platt takes the idea of an alternative history and develops it so well, the separate nations taking their conflicts out into space, and it's all the Doctor's fault. This is a Doctor with no regard for temporal responsibility, whose compassion overrules a respect for the web of time and who is in denial about it. He's informed that his damage is irreparable and he's initially denying it, later not interested in fixing it and with Susan on the run with him. It's a contrast to the Valeyard from He Jests at Scars, who also has a disregard for the continuity of the universe but for a much more selfish reason. I'd have like to have heard just how much temporal collateral damage the Bayldon Doctor left in the wake of his compassion, and whether it would be tempered by ex-President Susan.
It fits that this Doctor's starry eyed fascination for voyaging the stars mirrors Francis Drake's desire for the jewels that nearly destroy the Earth. Both are faced with the consequences of their actions, and both of them are keeping a woman very important to them in the dark. The Susan at the start of the story is created by the Possibility Generator, but he doesn't know she knows, meanwhile Francis Drake has feelings for Susan despite having a wife on Earth.
Looking at other Marc Platt stories, there are some interesting connections. Some aspects of this recur in Point of Entry, a Lost Story he adapted from a storyline by Barbara Clegg. He's also written quite few stories with Susan in the Prime Universe, including one featuring Francis Drake. His knowledge of Gallifrey was used for the previous story, Auld Mentality. While it's not a Marc Platt story, one of the Eighth Doctor novels had a plot involving stones representing the brain cells of a crystalline entity being mined, and attacking the population.
|
|
|
Post by mrperson on May 19, 2018 18:02:32 GMT
Given the ending of Auld Mortality, I think that it is not clear whether the events of Storm are supposed to happen inside or outside of the possibility generator. The ending of Auld was quite vague as to whether they actually escaped at the end (and that is also why I thought the use of a such a device was such a great concept: once you enter it, you could perhaps never be absolutely certain that you've left it. Though, I suppose that rather depends on how the machine is built.).
Maybe they escaped and this episode shows the actual result of rampant tampering. Maybe the generator simply created an illusionary scenario where they left, then kept responding in its simulations to their in-machine tampering.
|
|
|
Post by Ela on Jun 18, 2018 17:17:27 GMT
I had that thought about this story, too.
|
|
|
Post by mark687 on Sept 28, 2022 9:33:02 GMT
Thread Bump in light of DL Only Collection Release
Regards
mark687
|
|