Thursday, August 2, 2012

Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles – The Drowned World


 Now onto the second part in the Sara Kingdom trilogy! The Drowned World!




Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles – The Drowned World
Written by Simon Guerrier
Directed by Lisa Bowerman
Starring:  Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom
Niall MacGregor as Robert

Things left off with an interesting revelation in Home Truths with our lovely old story teller actually being Sara Kingdom herself, or as close to Sara as an identical copy can be. This development doesn’t just open up a wealth of possibility for our long dead companion Sara, but also adds years of depth to her already brilliant character. Big Finish is now free to go ahead and do what they wish with her! She could join one of the Big Finish Doctors for some amazing adventures, or even star in her own series “Sara Jane and the Destroyers of Galaxy 9!” There is only one tiny problem with all of these exciting ideas that could one day bear amazingly succulent fruit, Sara’s new existence is tethered to the house. She is its controller, mother, and care taker all wrapped up into one old lady who is under permanent house arrest. However, trouble lurks on the horizon for our lovely heroine! Now the old lady in the house is in deep trouble! 

Coming into the Drowned World things look a little worrisome for our lovable storyteller. The elders of the world the house inhabits have deemed Sara a phantom, a dangerous apparition that must be destroyed. It’s up to Robert, who actually works for the Elders to convince them with Sara’s help that she is not a danger and therefore should be allowed to keep on existing. Being a Companion Chronicle adventure there is only one way Sara can prove herself to be of worth. Sara will prove herself by telling a story, but not just any story. A story about her, the Doctor and Steven and their adventures on a drowned world!

Our tale opens with the Doctor, Sara and Steven landing on a world nearly completely covered by water. However, to be more precise they land inside a mining facility that’s currently home to a group of human inhabitants, an expedition party to be more precise. Now it wouldn’t be a Doctor Who adventure without some horrid catastrophe going on. Fortunate for our listener a troublesome problem quickly rears its head as the Doctor and co quickly discover that the expedition party are trapped as the water levels are rising, their oxygen is running low and a rescues party won’t make it in time to save their lives. Need I also mention that the TARDIS has fallen into the water soon after landing, preventing everyone form just going inside of it and escaping to safety? Oh, wait! There is one more piece of bad news! The water appears to be alive and quite hostile as it eats away at almost anything it touches and can form nasty tentacles that love to lash out and strike at people!  Clearly the TARDIS crew is in a very bad predicament, thankfully though we have Sara to give us her wonderful rendition of the events that happened.

Choosing to split up Sara’s tale that started in Home Truths into three separate stories was a great move on Big Finish’s part. While each of the three parts has their own separate story being told within them, the main story featuring Sara and Robert is a tale that can’t be told quickly. Slowly progressing with the story over not just three separate releases, but also throughout Robert and Sara’s own separate encounters lets us experience the start of their friendship, and the trials and tribulations they both encounter over the course of their meetings. Sara is bound to the house, but Robert is free to come and go, and fights against the Elders for Sara at the start of The Drowned World. The first half of this adventure has a cliffhanger ending that frankly would make a wonderful ending to any single adventure, but the actual ending to this tale is actually bitter sweet and goes down in the books as an ending that makes the third installment all the more needed. They’re not just expanding on Sara’s story; they’re redefining her giving her both new unique involvements and years of knowledge.

While I do feel the tale being told in The Drowned World lacks a bit in comparison to Home Truths tale, it certainly is worthy of praise. The Drowned World detaches Sara from Steven and the Doctor by mid-point allowing her to shine on her own and take matters into her own hand to help some of the expedition out of a room with no clear exit.  Sara not only shows she can help herself in a sticky situation, but is able to go above and beyond what is needed to ensure the safety of people relying on her for their life. In comparison Home Truths is unnerving and spooky, while The Drowned World is exciting and adventurous but not as amazing as its predecessor. That doesn’t make it any less of a wonderful story and a complete joy to listen to.  Not every aspect of this tale is exciting adventure though. Towards the end of this audio drama things take a dark turn. A bit of hope is shined down at the end for Sara, but a long dark shadow is cast over Robert whose life takes a turn and a twist. I can’t wait to see where things go in the third and finale part of this trilogy.

Thus far in the trilogy The Drowned World is in second place in my book when it comes to comparing the first part over the second part. Just because it sits behind its precursor doesn’t detract much from what comes off as a fine example of a great Doctor Who adventure. Sara and Robert are two characters who could carry a whole series on their own. They’re intriguing, dark and a joy to listen to. The dark overtone that’s hanging over this series is spun into every nook and cranny so perfectly it pulls me right in like a black hole. Unlike most black holes though, I definitely want to be sucked into this one, over and over again. I can’t wait to see what lurks on the other side of the void.
Rating: 5 out of 5

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