The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Professor Bernice Summerfield

"It's not the item, it's what it represents."

"Ah, indeed. And this harp represents a whole planet..."

The third release in Big Finish's second season of Bernice Summerfield audios is The Extinction Event, scripted by Lance Parkin, whose New Adventures novel Just War provided the foundation for the most satisfying of the adaptations which made up the first season. With this story, Parkin sends Benny off to an auction, named the Extinction Event as all the lots on offer are from destroyed civilisations, in pursuit of the only remaining artefact from the planet Halstad. Joining her is her employer, Irving Braxiatel, but what should prove to be a simple auction soon turns dangerous as it becomes clear that there is a murderer at large…

An auction for antiquities is not the sort of place that the threat of mass destruction that Benny so often finds herself confronted with is usually found in, and so by using this scenario as his setting Parkin plays to the medium and the constraints of a small cast well by making The Extinction Event more of a mystery story. Although saying that, there is little mystery as to the identity of the-would-be-assassin, so it is more a case of asking why? Rather than whom? By playing the story on a small scale, Parkin can focus much more carefully on the implications of revenge and on the extent people will go to in order to achieve their aims and make this very effective drama.

Appropriately for the setting, there is an incredibly leisurely feel to the drama, which refuses to hurry. After a teasing prologue featuring the destruction of Halstad, which also features a big clue about the direction the audio will take, Parkin uses a scene at an alien dig to prove a timely reminder of Benny's character and introduce Braxiatel to the listener. This scene is very effective in this last task as Benny's conversation with one of her students about Braxiatel builds up the idea of the character and Miles Richardson's realisation of the head of the Braxiatel Collection matches the expectations Benny builds up about him perfectly. Parkin also uses a lot of humour in the early parts of the story that play off Benny's natural characteristics to be humorous in a subtle manner without it being obviously tongue-in-cheek.

While the premise of the story is fairly straightforward, Parkin uses it to examine several themes regarding the nature of revenge and destruction. Hulver, the only survivor of the devastation of Halstad, seeks revenge on those he blames for the disaster and by allowing Benny to sympathise with his point of view, there is interesting conflict between her perspective and that of Braxiatel, whose views of Hulver's actions are opposite to Benny's. Indeed the nature of the situation, survivors from destroyed homeworlds, allows Parkin to make mischievous allusions to Brax's own heritage (he's referred to as "Lord Cardinal Braxiatel" at one point) and the current direction of the BBC's Eighth Doctor novels.

An interesting aspect of The Extinction Event is how the villains are motivated. While Hulver acts out of a desire for revenge against those who destroyed his world, he is not the only person to fall into the villainous category for this audio. When the reason why they have acted in the manner they have done is revealed, it is for the basest of reasons - pure and simple greed. This makes a nice change from power-crazed individuals that typically are at the heart of Benny's stories and the extent that they are willing to go to maximise their profit margins is truly shocking.

Lisa Bowerman benefits from a consistent portrayal from Parkin's script, which allows her to demonstrate well the range of emotions Benny goes through in this story. For the second story in a row, Bowerman gets to double up by lending her voice to another character, this time it is Jamara in the prologue. While it's a little off-putting for this to happen again in the story immediately after The Stone's Lament where the same device was used, here it does have a good reason in that the connection between Hulver and Benny stems from the fact that she has the same voice as someone he once loved, which gives them a more immediate association which Parkin builds upon.

The Extinction Event is the first audio to feature Irving Braxiatel, played here with aplomb by Miles Richardson. Braxiatel was originally created by Justin Richards' for his Doctor Who New Adventures novel, Theatre Of War, back in 1994, and while he featured little in subsequent Who novels, both Virgin and Big Finish's Bernice novel lines have elevated him into an important recurring character. Richardson is quite excellent in the part, bringing a real sense of gravitas to the role yet imbuing him with a degree of mystique that gives Braxiatel a slightly sinister edge.

The rest of the cast is small, but given the nature of the story, the limited number of performers is used well. Daniel Brennan gets the main action as Hulver, and he delivers a sensitive and considerate performance as the sole survivor of Halstad, while Alexis Khan is superb as Davon, the slightly obsequious yet darkly motivated Auctioneer, whose intense dislike of Benny is deliciously played out right through the audio. Mark Donovan completes the cast as the Ambassador, but while he is mostly limited to Gulfrargian grunts when his character does eventually begin interacting fully with the characters it is written in a very humorous way and Donovan shows good expletive timing.

On the production side, Toby Richards and Emily Baker are back at the helm again. Their theme music is still present here, although the vocals have now been dropped from the opening version, which gives it more impact, it still comes off as a pale James Bond pastiche and as an instrumental theme is nowhere near as effective as Alistair Lock's Benny theme. Their score for the story is good though, reflecting the pace of the adventure well while the sound design is generally good but does have the tendency to sound a bit too theatrical at times, and not realistic enough to generate an evocative background.

The Extinction Event is a thoughtful and entertaining drama, if perhaps a bit too straightforward. Lance Parkin's script strikes the right balance between humour and drama for the Benny stories and director Gary Russell encourages his cast to deliver some excellent performances that ensure that this is one of the best original Benny audios to date.