An Audio Drama from Big Finish, 42nd in the Main Monthly Range

Written by Trevor Baxendale

What a coincidence! I mentioned in my review for Nekromanteia that I would not recommend it, one of my biggest stumbling blocks getting into it was just how dark, bordering on gratuitous and edgelord-ish it was. I compared it to a review I did for a 2001 drama called The Shadow of the Scourge as well as other plays based on the timeline from The Virgin New Adventures book line. These are bits of Doctor Who that feel too dark and oppressive to me, but I could be clutching pearls here. The moment that I booted up Trevor Baxendale’s The Dark Flame, I chuckled a bit – what a coincidence! This is an audio drama based on that very same Virgin New Adventures series. That said, I have a surprise for all of you, perhaps leading to me appending my opinion on a lot of these Seventh Doctor stories, I actually quite enjoyed this one for once! While a bit more dark, full of mild body horror, and some drama, this still felt like proper Doctor Who to me.

“A thousand years ago, the evil Cult of the Dark Flame infiltrated every star system in the galaxy. In the history books the Cult is legendary, its despotic leader a terrible memory. But for some the Dark Flame still burns. For some, its horrifying power is the ultimate goal. All that is required is for the right people to be in the wrong place and time…An archaeologist and his robot are on the poisonous world of Marran Alpha, where they will uncover a hideous relic. The Doctor and Ace are on their way to the deep space research centre Orbos, where Professor Bernice Summerfield is soon to start the countdown to universal Armageddon. Four acolytes of Evil. Three mad scientists. Two companions. One Doctor.”

No matter how I feel about the tone of these, I can never really slight the acting from either Sylvester McCoy or Sophie Aldred (The Doctor and Ace), as they almost always do a great job. I have no idea if either had past radio experience, or if the tone of late era Seventh Doctor being that much more dramatic just simply lends itself to better performances, but I am always impressed. That isn’t a dig at any other groups of actors, but I find that the different productions always have slightly different vibes, and some come together better than others. The secondary cast is also pretty good, with a few actors getting chances, due to storyline reasons, to play multiple characters. Lisa Bowerman returns as Bernice Summerfield, a character so popular that they eventually got their own book series and audio drama line. I am not used to her as of yet, but so far she is up there with The Brigadier as the sort of character not scared to tell The Doctor off if he needs it, and he really does sometimes.

While the story is nothing groundbreaking, involving an ancient cult looking for a relic that will grant them the keys to the annihilation of mankind, there are some interesting tidbits to be found in The Dark Flame. The concept of a villain who enacts his plan through a spirit that jumps hosts and acts as his emissary was interesting, as was his army of resurrected followers that he keeps around. I’m sure most will find the story bog-standard, but the sheer fact that it isn’t crammed full of timey wimey silliness and crazy plot points that don’t realize themselves well in an audio format are quite refreshing.

I’ve come to realize that when reading or listening to any extended universe sort of media from Star Wars, Star Trek, or Doctor Who, it’s the stories that stick fairly close to the ideals and vibe of their source material that I like the most. The ones that veer heavily into something that is on the opposite side, which is what I can say about the recent Chris Chibnall run on the revived show, where I start having problems. A classically-paced story like this, despite all its faults, is actually comfortable for me. With Seventh Doctor stuff, I am aware that I am always at odds with that era’s fans, likely because “My Doctor” was Tom Baker due to PBS airing his stuff when I was a kid in the United States. I missed out on all the post-McCoy stuff when it was new, so going back to it shocks me a bit. To sum this up, I’m sure everyone hates this, but I enjoyed it!

Overall, I surprisingly did not hate this, and would actually like to see more of this particular TARDIS team. That is, assuming they stay away from giant bugs that chew on people’s intestines (while the foley guy mixes raw meat or something) throughout the episode as they did before. Bernice Summerfield is an interesting character, and I have been enjoying the way Ace has been growing as a character. While I’m pretty sure this is NOT in continuity with the episodes where she has been meeting family members and going by the name “McShane”, it has some of the same hits that I have liked. This was a welcome surprise after Nekromanteia, no more of those please!

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