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kmccubbin 's review for:
Doctor Who: Omega
by Nev Fountain
Coming up on Big Finish's 50th story, Zagreus, the ramp up was a series of three stories featuring classic (arguably in the first case) arch villans. I decided to listen to all three before reviewing them.
These three, either by design or because that's just sorta the way you do this kind of thing now, had some common factors. They all revealed somthing about the past of the baddie that fleshed out the character (and occasionally The Doctor as well) in a way that we'd never seen before. They all had some discussion about the nature of evil (usually one on one with The Doctor). And finally, they all mentioned Zagreus in passing.
Omega - Peter Davison gets the short end of the stick this time with a "barely a villan" villan who had been a character substitution, evidently at the last minute, for The Celestial Toymaker. While it's delightful to hear the Fifth and Omega talking through their particular rebellions against Time Lord society and the story does do some interesting things with the idea of hero worship, the piece as a whole feels awfully hashed together from disparate elements.
The comedy doesn't work and the violent tonal shifts don't really either. The idea of the the actors who are doing a recreation of Omega's story for "Jolly Chronoliday" tours suddenly becoming their roles as the actual historical figures begin to actually appear, could have been a neat idea, but it just doesn't make a lot of sense.
Davison is again wonderful and his scenes with Ian Collier's Omega where they are just working and talking are worth the listen, as is the twist which truly took me by surprise, but, on the whole, the story just doesn't hold together.
These three, either by design or because that's just sorta the way you do this kind of thing now, had some common factors. They all revealed somthing about the past of the baddie that fleshed out the character (and occasionally The Doctor as well) in a way that we'd never seen before. They all had some discussion about the nature of evil (usually one on one with The Doctor). And finally, they all mentioned Zagreus in passing.
Omega - Peter Davison gets the short end of the stick this time with a "barely a villan" villan who had been a character substitution, evidently at the last minute, for The Celestial Toymaker. While it's delightful to hear the Fifth and Omega talking through their particular rebellions against Time Lord society and the story does do some interesting things with the idea of hero worship, the piece as a whole feels awfully hashed together from disparate elements.
The comedy doesn't work and the violent tonal shifts don't really either. The idea of the the actors who are doing a recreation of Omega's story for "Jolly Chronoliday" tours suddenly becoming their roles as the actual historical figures begin to actually appear, could have been a neat idea, but it just doesn't make a lot of sense.
Davison is again wonderful and his scenes with Ian Collier's Omega where they are just working and talking are worth the listen, as is the twist which truly took me by surprise, but, on the whole, the story just doesn't hold together.