Doctor Who Mega Review - Big Finish's July Releases
Monthly Range 175 Persuasion
rating: 4
The Umbrella Man is back. But when the Doctor recruits UNIT's Scientific Adviser Elizabeth Klein for an off-the-books mission to the apocalyptic final days of Hitler's Germany, he isn't expecting Klein's hapless young assistant, Will Arrowsmith, to be joining them too. The Doctor isn't the only alien creature seeking to loot a very particular secret from a Nazi base in Dusseldorf, however. Strange and sinister beings are converging on the same time/space location in search of the scientist Schalk, whose experiments are the key to a devastating power... The power of Persuasion.STARRING: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Tracey Childs (Dr Elizabeth Klein), Christian Edwards (Will Arrowsmith), David Sibley (Kurt Schalk), Jonathan Forbes (Lukas Hinterberger), Paul Chahidi (The Shepherd/Bondsman Tango-Veldt), Miranda Raison (The Shepherdess/Acquisitor Prime), Gemma Whelan (Casta/The Sylph/Khlecht) Theres a fascinating sense of dread that hangs over any of the audios that feature Klein. Shes an excellent character who often steals away focus from the Doctor and occasionally presents the image of a barely-caged animal. Perhaps its that latter part that creates the dread. In this story, where I kept asking myself, Sure, but wheres Enlightenment?, we have the Doctor going toe-to-toe with some especially powerful near-gods. Standard stuff for the Seventh Doctor, but the addition of Klein, and her companion, Will Arrowsmith, make for some interesting complications. Further complicating the mix is a Nazi scientist who seems know who Klein is, or rather, who she once was. Sort of. In another timeline. Nice as it was to have Klein back, and nice as it always is to have the Seventh Doctor running around doing stuff, I must say that I thought Arrowsmith was a bit of a disappointment. He just isnt interesting, and the look how quirky I am! quirk of him recording all his thoughts on a tape recorder isnt very interesting, either I will say that I liked the story here quite a bit. The idea of a corporation that goes around selling off planetary assets was fun, and the perky computer voice put me in mind, at several points, of Eddie, the computer on the Heart of Gold. As for the acting, Childs and McCoy were both up to their usual standards. Edwards does the best he can with what hes given. In many ways this feels like just the start of something bigger. Im sure in later stories well see quite a lot more to like with Arrowsmith, plus well see what the Doctor is playing at, and whats going to happen with Klein. But thats all in the future.