Following the disappointing audio novelisation of DOCTOR WHO – THE RIBOS OPERATION, AUDIOGO latest (April 2011) CLASSIC SERIES unabridged release firmly places the product range back on track.
DOCTOR WHO – INFERNO delivers an evocation of Don Houghton’s 1970 television gritty and acerbic journey to a parallel universe, and, at times, it exceeds that original broadcast production due in part to the combination of a dramatically skilful performance (Caroline John) and a technical deftness of music & sound effects (Meon Sound’s Simon Power).
Terrance Dicks’ 1984 novel (published by TARGET BOOKS) expertly condenses this seven-parter into a succinct 128 pages, over-brimming with threat, guile, violence and a message that even today (a drilling project based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, is attempting to drill deep into the planet’s crust to tap it’s latent energy – read the BBC News report. The deepest ever drilled is 12,262 meters (40,230 ft) at the Kola Peninsula in Russia. However, this was a scientific project, not oil exploration) would be clearly understood; compromising our planet could lead to irreversible consequences (unless there’s an exiled Time Lord available to literally mop-up the resulting and inevitable mess). Such is his skill of knowing the target (sic) audience’s quest for knowledge, Dicks the audacity to contribute supplementary back-story to Houghton’s script, establishing more substantial character relationships and expanding on the historical differential between the two universes.
Like the AUDIOGO unabridged novelisation, DOCTOR WHO AND THE WAR GAMES, this release delivers faultless entertainment as if it could have been written for audio as the story grows organically across the four discs with “game-changing” end-of-disc “cliff-hangers” that will have you scrabbling for the next disc (or to tap & twirl wildly across your iPod’s ephemeral control panel).
Caroline John’s reading is, like that of David Troughton’s for DOCTOR WHO AND THE WAR GAMES, exceptional. I could stop there as it says exactly what it is. Reverential to the story within which, obviously, she appeared in her reading is a subtle character study yet it is electrically charged with an energy that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand upright and your palms sweat as the tension mounts.
In delineating each character with consideration not only to Houghton’s script but to the specific actor, Caroline John has created a depth to her reading that is remarkable and this is doubly so as she has created two sets of similar characters (one “real world” and “parallel universe world”). Her audio performance of the “real world” Brigadier is given gravitas and an air of authentic authority, and whilst Sir Keith Gold is suitably pompous with a hint of kindness Professor Eric Stahlman echoes (Terrance) Dicks’ description of “a gorilla in a lab coat”. Wonderful.
Admittedly, the first two discs contain “the story set-up” and, at times, can be less than inspiring, however the final two discs are a relentless roller coaster of action that sees our hero dodging paramilitary bullets, the infected talons of a Primord mutation and a research centre on the brink of total annihilation. As we know from watching DOCTOR WHO – INFERNO (either on its original broadcast forty years ago or on the 2009 DVD) is a challenging story to “visualise” but the professionalism of MEON SOUND (Simon Power) exceeds all expectations, especially across disc three and four that ensures that you are drawn inexorably into the careering maelstrom of planetary Armageddon. Multi-layering specially composed music, atmospheric & “technical” sound effects (everything from the Doctor’s “roadster”, Bessie, to carbon dioxide gas canisters, to a research centre in chaos) is mixed perfectly with Caroline John’s voice-track to create an aural tapestry of creativity & beauty that will withstand repeat listening in years to come.
DOCTOR WHO – INFERNO is distinguished, created with a level of artistry that will reassure fans that not only they will thoroughly relish listening to it but guarantees that the commitment of AUDIOGO (under the stewardship of its Commissioning Editor, Michael Stevens) to CLASSIC SERIES novelisations will continue unabated.
