Synopsis
The Doctor offers Tegan and Nyssa a trip to the paradise world of Florana, but instead the TARDIS takes them to a domed city on a planet scarred by warfare. A world where everyone is young, and fighting for the glory of the Elite…
Hidden away in The Cathedral of Power, the High Priest is watching. It knows the Doctor, and his arrival changes everything…
Review
Dorney’s writing here as a commentary and play on how people in general can become fanatical zombies under the influence of organized religion and church and, shamefully, points the finger at Christianity for the attack.
In good literature or play, there is naturally an allowance for discussion or dialogue on the matter and the usual goal of a decent playwright and writer to bring those to question.
But John Dorney has taken the other route, personal vendetta mode minus any tolerance or ability for readers to think or discuss. The Elite (is his writing/adaptation supreme under an alleged Lost Story mantle), and is strictly an exercise in condemnation, invalidation and outright hate towards religion, specific religions and a knock towards those have faith.
The analogy is simple and direct for Dorney: Nazism equals religion/Christianity and those who participate or accept it are deceived unintelligent zombies.
But Dorney and a group of his fellow writers are so ignorant that almost everything they write is totally distorted historically and politically, and this fact, the evidence are the plays, dialogue and themes themselves that any educated person in history, journalism and writing can plainly see. It’s sickness and this audioplay “loose adaptation” off an original unaired concept is a prime example. Total hypocrisy with compliments from this ‘elite’ exclusive group of Big Finish writers who have subverted intentionally the platform for wicked purposes and by the exact processes that the Nazis and Joseph Goebbels employed in their propaganda films, frankly EVEN WORSE.
The proof is explicit in story. Intolerant, hate-filled agenda written by an “Elitist.”
Yet another example of hate, radical writing agenda by yet another Big Finish writer. Examine the people, it all becomes clear of their intent.
This not Doctor Who, it’s hateful propaganda and designed as such. The story and concept, all clearly conveyed from first episode: Nazism (Elite) equals Church/high priest, who is revealed at close of episode to be (and one I actually thought due to unoriginal Nazi theme).. da da dah… a Dalek. A Dalek (alien) who, as revealed in the second episode, who drops down on this “alien” (faux) planet bringing the word of God. And the planet of course quickly adopts a Third Reich modus operandi cultivating and elite race from children and disposing of the rest.
Highly implausible plot and setup, the absurdism is something words here can hardly explicate. All this conveyed in the first 25 minutes.
Absolutely ridiculous and unoriginal and shows the low intelligence and tactless ignorance by writer with not only a hateful agenda and politic (not a universal simple commentary but a moronic attack against Christianity co-relating it to Nazism, which is absurd), simplifying to a grossly irresponsible extent any historical truth, metaphor or complexity. The real historical facts and philosophy: Adolf Hitler was an atheist and Atheism was the Nazi idealogy.. The assault against Christians as unintelligent or unempathic, as absolutely designed here, is preposterous and “hate speech” (to borrow contemporary terminology likely popular with Dorney and his ilk) hypocrisy.
Is this original author Barbara Clegg or John Dorney or both? Well from Barbara Clegg’s existent story ‘Enlightenment’ for Doctor Who and its plot I have my suspicions whether she is too blame for the explicit or metaphorical setup here. Based on what I reading regarding Big Finish writers working off of broad outlines or remaining fragments of story concepts, plus the guilty nature of some other writers on the same roster espousing subversive and selfish, classless attacks (including Dorney on the historically distorted The Wrath of the Iceni), I will have to place the blame on John Dorney..
This is a disgraceful adaptation Dorney uses to attack organized religion aligned with other instances of agenda of fellow writers in spreading their ideals and subversive propaganda of globalist politic agenda, one interest to belittle and attack Christianity, specifically.
It is more than apparent Dorney has wielded dialogue to attack. After listening to this first couple episodes alone, I am wondering if there is even any more story in the second half rather than the obvious reveal to the idiotic Elites and subsequent invasion or cult brainwash of some sort.
As far as presenting an intriguing alien planet, there is absolutely zero world-building. You would think for an audioplay and for Doctor Who, this would a natural priority for the storytelling. But it was not because Dorney and friends are more concerned with exploiting old scripts for their fascist propaganda and sorry personal politic, nevermind the source.
Nor is it clear how the high priest Dalek could be disguised in human form, deceiving the humans, skin suit?
Around 60% in, I could envision minor glimpses of this story’s outline being an episode in 1981 or perhaps the general concept Clegg might have had in correlation, notably the section when Nyssa is becomes brainwashed, but then the shady and subversive dialogue by Dorney to break any 4th wall, irritates and irradiates his overt metaphor that seems more aligned with a contemporary and direct hate agenda (rather than a subtle and more universal, non-targeted commentary or initiation towards real dialogue).
The problem does not revolve around the actual story outline or concept of blind faith, but in Dorney’s employed instances of dialogue and language that are subversively designed to attack, again, Christianity – this is inarguable as evidence of multiple repeated quotations.
The production and acting is top-notch, but ultimately the most important element here is the story and its adaptation to represent the era and series – this does not, a classic Doctor Who TV episode would have never adopted such an agenda.
There are glimpses of lost story script potential but that is natural to the simple story idea and due to the actors who of course do fit and in this case still at least adequately represent the era or what could have been.
Scriptwise in adaptation: Very poor and bigoted, lacking all tact or integrity of a truly vintage story or faithful adaptation.
The ultimate problem with the story overlooking the aforementioned: firstly how dumb (as opposed to elite in basic intelligence), gullible and naive the characters on the planet really are, and secondly just how simplistic over-the-top and implausible the story is due to one Dalek.
I suppose Dorney thinks he is clever with an allusion to Hitler is this sense, but that would only rest in accordance with a juvenile’s ignorance, not an informed or educated one. This not the first-time I’ve seen grown men from Big Finish demonstrate their lack of intelligence, any complex or accurate comprehension of history, but wallow in their own self-righteous own sense of elitism, hypocrisy and literary bigotry.
Writers like this (and other Big Finish writers) should just stop attempting to write stories or adaptations based on political story lines, it is painfully clear after dozens of releases they lack the intelligence and writing skills to produce anything in a meaningful form.
This was 1/5.
Director:
Ken Bentley
Source: Barbara Clegg (loose script/story material)
Writer: John Dorney (actual adaptation/writing)
Cast
Peter Davison (The Doctor)
Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka)
Sarah Sutton (Nyssa)
Joe Coen (Aubron)
Ryan Sampson (Thane)
Derek Carlyle (Alaric)
Joannah Tincey (Stemp)
John Banks (Garthak)
Ellie Burrow (Ella)
The Time Scales Review 