The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Doctor Who

'I have a great personal interest in the history of our world.'
'My dear sir, it is so refreshing to hear that, especially coming from someone in a position of responsibility. People these days tend to forget their past.'
'Oh, some of us have a past that is perhaps more memorable...'

A thousand years after the events of Excelis Dawns, the city of Excelis has flourished, sweeping across the planet Artaris and establishing itself as a vast, unstoppable Empire. The Relic, which affected Warlord Grayvorn so profoundly, now rests concealed within the heart of the Imperial Museum, deemed too dangerous for the public at large to know about. But someone wants it, desperately enough to kill for it, and into this situation arrives the time traveller known as the Doctor...

The first thing that's most readily apparent of David A. McIntee's Excelis Rising, is how similar the initial situation established is to the earlier Big Finish drama Whispers Of Terror. In both, the opening scenes feature a Curator of a Museum talking to an assistant about the situation which acts as the backdrop to the story, then a murder occurs for which suspicion falls (inevitably) upon the Doctor on his arrival. While this type of situation may be common in Doctor Who, and indeed has become one of its conventions over the years, the parallels between the two situation is made even more acute by the fact that they both feature Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor. But happily Excelis Rising soon establishes itself as something quite distinct in its own right, returning the listener to the story of Excelis in some style.

With the first story of this series, Excelis Dawns, there was very much the feel that it was the introductory piece to something greater than itself in that there was much more to come. Excelis Rising builds on this promise by returning the Doctor to the world of Artaris and having him meet up again with Anthony Stewart Head's character, now known as Reeve Maupassant, who is quite a changed man after his experiences with the Relic in the first instalment.

Colin Baker has been consistently one of the best performers since Big Finish began their Doctor Who range, and his performance in Excelis Rising continues this trend well with yet another assured realisation of his version of the Doctor. Without a companion to play off, it does mean that Baker gets quite a bit of expository dialogue upon his arrival into the story, and Excelis Rising lacks the enjoyable banter with his companion which has become such a mainstay of the Sixth Doctor audios. To compensate for this, David A. McIntee ensures that the Doctor is surrounded by interesting characters such as the Curator and Inquisitor Danby, and of course, a worthy adversary in Reeve Maupassant, which gives this quite a different feel to most of the previous Baker audios. Colin Baker gleefully accepts this challenge, but rather unusually he's upstaged by the strength of Head's portrayal of Maupassant.

Anthony Stewart Head turns in a very different performance from Excelis Dawns, capitalising on the development of his character that McIntee has afforded him, to make Reeve Maupassant a much more sinister figure than the Warlord Grayvorn was, creating a supreme air of ambiguity about him which ensures that the Doctor's reaction to him is one of uncertainty as he doesn't know whether he is to be taken as a friend or foe. The strength of Head's offering here, which sees him steal every scene he's in virtually, demonstrates his versatility as an actor perfectly, and showcases why he was the right choice to play these roles during the Excelis series.

The remainder of the cast all perform consistently well, all suited to their roles. Charley Kay's Curator is the highlight with the character coming across as the most interesting and Kay plays him perfectly, hitting just the right notes for the part.

David A. McIntee's script on the whole is good, keeping the drama moving at pace, running a layer of humour just below the surface. While it can't really go into as much depth as would be preferable (about the manner of the changes to Excelis) because of the time limitations of the single CD release, the shorter length does make it quite a focused story with the drama all centred on the Imperial Museum and the attempts to gain the Relic from within. The exploration of the spiritualism which has engulfed Excelis during the last thousand years is intriguing, especially the idea that the Wardens can capture criminals by conversing with the spirits of their victims, which leads to some excellent scenes later in the story. There's a wonderful moment of drama where McIntee shows great restraint; one of the characters is murdered, yet there is virtually no dialogue to at all in the scene and instead of relying on contrived exposition to convey what's happening, the script leaves it up to the sound design to show, and David Darlington's work does this magnificently.

Darlington's incidental score is excellent. It reflects the feel of the new Excelis well by maintaining the motifs and themes that categorised Excelis Dawns, yet at the same time conveys that time has moved on considerably and society has developed greatly in the intervening years successfully.

Excelis Rising is an entertaining release by itself, but like the earlier Excelis Dawns, it feels like it is part of a greater whole and should be heard in conjunction with the other instalments of the Excelis trilogy to get the most enjoyment out of it. As the middle part of the trilogy, it develops the Excelis scenario through an interesting tale and sets things up nicely for the final part in Excelis Decays.