Doctor Who Review - "War Against the Laan"

rating: 4

Well, now. Here we are at part two of Big Finish€™s two-part Laan story. When we last saw the Doctor (Tom Baker), he and Romana (Mary Tamm) were trying to protect Earth from the twin menaces of slimy corporate CEO, Cuthbert (David Warner), and from an alien species known as the Laan, who believed that Earth was their homeworld and were going to give birth here; a process that would result in the destruction of all life. So there€™s that going on. This story is the conclusion, and it picks up right where part one left off, as the Doctor continues his struggle, this time with the assistance of Earth president Moorkurk (Haley Atwell), who was elected on a platform opposing the Conglomerate, the corporation that Cuthbert runs. Cuthbert is, not surprisingly, disinclined to help her, and simply wants revenge against the Laan for their destruction of one of his space platforms and the death of many of his employees. Of course we also have Romana dealing with the consequences of the aliens contacting her telepathically, which is especially a problem when one of them dies. This is a fairly big story, and one that€™s told in five episodes rather than the usual four for TV shows of the era, or the two that€™s become standard for the Fourth Doctor audios. The fifth episode certainly adds time to the story, but I€™m not convinced it couldn€™t have benefited from having four more tightly-paced episodes. That€™s not to say that the story is bad or that it wanders, but there are times when it feels like it drags just a bit. That complaint aside, this was at least a fairly interesting story. The Laan themselves aren€™t an especially compelling species, but the threat they presented was certainly impressive. I was also fascinated by the fact that the Doctor has no idea who Cuthbert is. There€™s a great deal of hinting that there€™s far more to his backstory than we€™ve heard so far, and the fact that he was doing some time travel experiments piques my curiosity. I do hope we see more of the character in future stories. By contrast, I hope we don€™t see Moorkurk again. Atwell is a fine actress and does what she can with the role, but really Moorkurk isn€™t that interesting of a character, and if she never comes back, I€™m fine with that. If she DOES return, I do hope she gets a bit of a rewrite. The actors are all their usual talented self. Baker sounds more and more comfortable in the role he originated almost 40 (!) years ago, and Tamm does a good job with Romana, as expected. Warner is exceptionally good, oozing just enough to be a bit menacing without going over the top. Overall this is a worthy conclusion to the Laan story, and I€™m quite keen to see where the Cuthbert story ends up next. NEXT TIME: The Doctor and Romana wind up in Victorian England with those redoubtable investigators of the paranormal, Jago and Litefoot!