Doctor Who - The Axis of Insanity

Alternate timelines are no laughing matter in The Axis of Insanity! Review after the jump!

The Axis of Insanity

Written by Simon Furman

Directed by Gary Russell

Starring:

Peter Davison as the Doctor

Nicola Bryant as Peri

Caroline Morris as Erimem

Garrick Hagon as the Jester

                Sometimes a great story emerges with complex ideas that reimagine everything we know about our favorite series. Other times, though, a story comes along that seems good at first; then you think about it too much and that good story goes bad. The Doctor Who audio story The Axis of Insanity balances this thin line, and regardless of which side you feel it falls on, it is still enjoyable. It throws in an interesting new location of great importance to Doctor Who and an intriguing villain who at first might seem dull and cliché but quickly becomes one of the more enjoyable parts of the plot.

                The Axis of Insanity is a 5^th Doctor story, featuring Peri and Erimem as the Doctor’s companions. While Peri’s a familiar face in the TARDIS, Erimem is a Big Finish character introduced in The Eye of The Scorpion audio adventure. Being from Ancient Egypt, Erimem is just a little bit out of the loop of modern happenings and technology. In fact, as soon as they’re brought into the story, we’re given a charming and clever scene where Peri is teaching Erimem to read, which brought a few chuckles out of me. The main focus of this story isn’t about teaching Erimem to read, however; it’s about a lovely place called the Axis. The Axis is the nexus for fragmented timelines where things didn’t go right due to outside meddling. The Axis is watched over by an Overseer who keeps the place and its splintered timelines safely separated from reality. Normally the Overseer is the only person inside the Axis; however, one day, a guest arrives and things are thrown into chaos. The unusual thing is that this guest is someone who has escaped from one of the doomed timelines. This escaped entity has taken on the appearance of a wonderfully insane jester and, while he’s all chuckles and jokes on the surface, he’s got plans for the Axis and the Doctor that won’t end too nicely if someone doesn’t stop him.

                The Axis serves as an interesting setting for the first half of this audio. Not only is this the place that acts as the spindle for all these estranged timelines, but it in itself is something new and exciting for the listeners to explore: a grand dimension that acts as a container for timelines that have gone wrong. It’s exciting and fascinating, but it also makes a lot of uncomfortable questions arise in one’s head. If such a place exists, why isn’t it more prominent in Doctor Who? Adventuring time travelers such as the Doctor have had their fair share of mucking up the timeline. Colditz is a great example of this (heck, at least a fourth of all the Doctor Who adventures are great examples of this). I won’t even get started on the problems this causes with The Architects of History story, which becomes completely unimportant in the grand scheme of things if the whole mess could have just been cleaned up via the Axis. Perhaps the Axis is a graveyard for timelines which cannot be fixed by any means, although that raises a whole host of new questions about the place. Further explanation is needed on the rules of the Axis, or else its existence is going to hover over most of the important Doctor Who stories like an interfering, tension-cutting deus ex machina of godmodding.

                                                    DWM #342 art by Martin Greraghty

                 On a completely different note, I really enjoyed the Jester’s character in this story—at least, at the beginning. Now, before listening to this audio, I had heard comparisons made to Batman’s Joker, which was a bit worrying, but I know a lot of people throw that comparison around willy-nilly when it comes to homicidal yet comedic clown characters. It’s actually a very annoying and narrow-minded comparison, one which I don’t find fitting for the villain of this tale. Yes, he’s a clown. Yes, he kills people. Really, that’s all they have in common. While the Joker is an enigma and always will be, we actually get to learn the backstory behind the Jester, and unlike the simply deranged Joker, we learn that the Jester actually has a motivation behind his actions. It’s actually in learning his origin and agenda that I find a bit of fault in this story. His motives are definitely interesting, but upon learning them, it becomes clear to the listener that he will never come close to succeeding. For someone who seemed so powerful and strangely brilliant at the beginning, the magic seemed to leave him as the end came and we learned more and more about him. If not for his strong start, he’d be just another run-of-the-mill maniac that I could easily forget. I felt that a lot of what made this audio work well was the Jester himself. He carried the story along, with a little help, and while the story wasn’t always heavy on plot, his antics and personality helped keep my interest afloat. Looking back, I wonder if I could sit through it again with such ease now that I already know all of the punch lines.

                A lovely surprise for this audio was that it gives Erimem some spotlight. As stated before, Erimem is a Big Finish-created companion for the Doctor that travels alongside him and Peri. Erimem isn’t just any character, though; she’s an Egyptian princess. I always enjoy it when someone from a highly disparate time joins the Doctor on his travels. The Doctor is in a time and space machine; he really should be picking up companions from varying times and places rather than just 20^th- and 21^st-century Earth. While we have some companions like Turlough who can help the Doctor with the TARDIS, Erimem is the exact opposite. She needs to be taught not just about time and space travel but also about conventional things that are far ahead of her own timeline. The early scene where Peri is teaching Erimem to read is wonderful development for both girls. Seeing Erimem learn and get frustrated at English warms my heart and increased my appreciation for her character, while seeing Peri take on the role of teacher is not only sweet but indicative of how close the characters are becoming in their travels with the Doctor. Being able to depend on someone to teach you something completely new and frightening takes a lot of trust. In the second half of this adventure, Erimem gets quite a bit of focus and some one-on-one time with our mysterious Jester. While I worried for her safety with the mad man, it was a real treat to see how Erimem deals with being alone in the face of danger for a long period of time, putting what she’s learned thus far on her travels to the test. I have the odd feeling that she’ll be getting some more development in the near future, and I personally can’t wait.

While I enjoyed the Axis of Insanity, I wasn’t blown away by it. It’s definitely a unique story that offers up some new things, but if it wasn’t for Erimem focus towards the end, I think this would have been better as a single disc adventure. The Jester is an interesting character, definitely. He can carry a whole disc of adventure on his back alone, but two discs is asking a lot of him. It’s only the combined efforts of the Jester, the setting, and Erimem that got me through the audio. I did blank out a few times in the middle, but I really didn’t miss much from what I can gather. It’s no masterpiece in space & time adventures, but it’s fun and worth a listen.

Rating: 3 out of 5