The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Professor Bernice Summerfield

Stephen Cole's second Bernice Summerfield audio, The Dance Of The Dead, follows on from his first, The Plague Herds Of Excelis, in that it sees Benny smuggled aboard a spacecruiser leaving the Queen's peace conference on her way home to the Braxiatel Collection. While this audio is very much a standalone title, it does assume that the listener has knowledge of Benny's Excelian adventure as there is little attempt to explain why the Queen was having the peace conference or its history. This story is also significant in that it sees the first appearance of the Martian Ice Warriors in Benny's audio universe.

Cole describes the story in his author's notes as a "sci-fi equivalent of The Poseidon Adventure" and this idea really sets the tone for the story and is evident quite soon as disaster strikes the Empress liner. This enables the script to be played very dramatically with plenty of claustrophobia befitting a disaster story, which gives the story a darker edge than some of the more overtly humorous adventures Benny has been experiencing lately. Conversely though the fact that Cole is tapping into the disaster genre there is always a sense that there should perhaps be more to it than just following Benny and the limited group of survivors she encounters which the very small cast doesn't allow, but this doesn't adversely affect the drama which keeps a tight focus on Benny herself.

To add character to the drama, Cole introduces a subplot involving Benny and Grand Marshall Sstac becoming possessed by the memories of alien Colgarian lovers. This is done very subtly and cleverly, so much so that it's development is a real surprise when it first occurs as the listener isn't always aware that the possession has begun until it's too late. The full nature of the relationship between these two is teased out a little at a time and the danger that the possession poses to Benny and Sstac gives their own situation a different perspective as they are forced to worry about whether they will survive another bout of possession as well as finding a way off the disaster-struck ship.

The return of the Ice Warriors is well handled, with the mistakes of their audio Doctor Who appearance Red Dawn not repeated here. The Ice Warriors of The Dance Of The Dead are quite a revelation in that Cole springs an interesting and unexpected perspective on them by showing them as progressive rather than dwelling on their history and the cliché of their honour. With only two main Ice Warrior characters, Cole contrasts them perfectly and he subverts the listeners expectations by investing them with ideologies unanticipated. Sstac is very much pro peace and not interested in upholding the glorious honour of the Martian people, while General Azzar, who by the fact she is a female Ice Warrior the listener expects to be the more progressive one given that she wouldn't be in the military had not the Ice Warrior culture evolved and changed, is far more from the old school of Martian politics, seeking a return to the Martians warlike ways. Sstac's outlook is shown perfectly when he says "I do not care for the old world and it's pits of ghosts. The past is dead. We have fresh goals and glories on New Mars!" which typifies the change of emphasis and the advancement of the Ice Warriors as a whole contrasted with the stereotypical Martian outlook of rejoicing in their glorious past.

If The Dance Of The Dead has a major flaw, then it's in the way that Cole chooses to resolve the story of the spacecruiser. It seems as if he's reached a point in the drama where he has to finish it, and he's chosen the easy route of having a last minute rescue which deprives the story of something more interesting. A final postscript scene of Benny writing to Sstac is a nice touch, showing that there are still unresolved issues emanating from the story and possibly indicates some foreshadowing of future adventures too.

The performances are uniformly excellent. The rapport between Lisa Bowerman and Matthew Brenher is believable, particularly during the scenes of Colgarian possession where both put in sympathetic displays allowing the listener to really understand the depth of feeling between these two aliens and follow their relationship as it developed. Bowerman is particularly good during these scenes as she's very convincing at showing the depth of feeling her Colgarian character has and the frustration she feels at being trapped in a failed marriage. Brenher played the Ice Lord in Red Dawn previously and given that there is no attempt to change his vocal mannerisms, Sstac does come across as being reminiscent of Lord Zzaal initially but given the difference between the characters provided by Cole's script, this doesn't become a significant problem. Vivian Parry's performance as General Azzar is memorable for both what the character does and how Parry plays her while Francis Magee injects his character Karter with just the right amount of ambiguity for his actions to be plausible.

David Darlington really picks up on the claustrophobic nature of the script to give the sound design a sense of confinement and enclosed spaces which helps to emphasise the mood and setting while his musical score moves very quickly and ominously to create the feeling of panic as disaster strikes whilst keeping this element of danger closely running beneath the surface of the drama.

The Dance Of The Dead is a gripping slice of drama, which is let down by a slightly anticlimactic resolution. Cole improves on his previous Benny script by keeping a much tighter focus on the characters and the two main areas of the plot, the disaster and the alien possession, come together to form a thoughtful and dramatic story.