As majestic as the Royal Beast itself/himself, AUDIOGO’s new audio production of Brian Hayles’ CLASSIC SERIES four-parter, DOCTOR WHO AND THE CURSE OF PELADON is, simply, imperious, and is as polished and crafted as the author’s original TARGET novel.
Faultless, unchallengeable and audaciously addictive to a point where you will be drawn into listening to the release two or three times across consecutive days without boredom setting in or regret that you haven’t fed the cat or, heaven forfend, undertaken daily ablutions.
Submit to the true ‘curse’ of Peladon; be a ‘couch-potato’ for five hours.
Like a time-worn Grandfather perched on the edge of his Grandson’s bed reading a dog-eared TARGET original copy, David Troughton is singularly unpretentious as reader-performer with a beguiling rhythm and genuine authority that is as comforting as a mug of warm milky cocoa. At times, he’s calming, delicate and comforting only to release a guttural passion as the narrative wheels on a Sixpence.
Perhaps, the least successful characterisation is that of the Martian Lord, Izlyr, who tends to ‘rassssssp’ verbally less like an ‘ice warrior’ and more like a bronchially challenged Sir Robin Day with a hint of Roy Hattersley.
Simply, he is, along with Geoffrey Beevers, one of the archetypal DOCTOR WHO novelisation reader-performers, and as such, in the future, would be able to make Glen McCoy’s Sixth Doctor novelisation, DOCTOR WHO – TIMELASH (1985) as thrilling as a Matt Damon BOURNE movie if he had the opportunity.
His reading-performance is supported – yet not overwhelmed – by Simon Power’s (MEON PRODUCTIONS) specially recorded sound treatment (special sound effects, voice modulation treatment and music score) that is, consistently across his contributions to AUDIOGO’s releases, restrained, astutely observed and ‘realised’ with real-world (even in a science fiction environ) truth and honesty.
From the enveloping thunder-ridden surface of Pel as the Doctor & Jo irrationally undertake ‘extreme sport, to the growling Plantigrade as it casually swipes at its prey like a cat toying with a ball of wool, to the sparking feud between the feral lunges of sword-upon-sword, to the unpredictable cascade of hurtling shards of masonry, and to the cell-shredding electronic weaponry of a disembodied alien.
However, whilst subtlety different from the televised broadcast, MEON PRODUCTIONS’ voice treatment, for both Arcturus and Alpha Centauri is a triumph as it respects the heritage of the on-screen characterisation but deftly ‘tones down’ the acidity of it. This is a prime example of the importance of collaboration between the actor, the director and the post-production producer in order to delivery an exemplary product.
Like hen’s teeth, DOCTOR WHO AND THE CURSE OF THE PELADON is a rare beast; it's joyously performed, a crafted production (overdue credit to audio producer, Dizzy Dalziel) with a masterly sound treatment by MEON SOUNDS that serves the novel with due appreciation (sadly, Hayles' original novelisation does not add value (i.e. by adding a substantial back-story or character motivation) to the original televised broadcast.
In short, authentic and faithful.
If only all DOCTOR WHO stories (and broadcast episodes) managed to reach such sublime height of authenticity and intrigue.
