Manufacturer: Big Finish Productions
Written By: Mark Morris
RRP: £14.99 (CD) / £12.99 (Download)
Release Date: April 2013
Reviewed by: Nick Mellish for Doctor Who Online
Review Posted: June 2014
“One wouldn't normally expect to find elephants, gorillas and rhinoceroses roaming free in Suffolk in the year 1911. One wouldn't normally expect to find an extra-dimensional police box at the same time/space location either. Two aliens, named the Doctor and Nyssa, exit said box, only to find themselves pursued by a hungry lioness – for they've landed in the private hunting grounds of the famous explorer Nathaniel Whitlock, who's brought together a motley group of friends and acquaintances for a weekend's shooting.
But one of Whitlock's guests isn't all they seem. One of them wants the secrets of the Moonflesh, the mystic mineral looked after by Whitlock's retainer, a Native American known as Silver Crow. Because the Moonflesh is reputed to have the power to call down spirits from another realm…
…and soon, the hunters will become the hunted.”
For whatever reason, I was put off listening to this play for quite a while. Have I been busy? Yes, but not enough to justify the delay. Do I like the Doctor/Companion combination? Very much so: Davison is one of the best doctors we’ve ever had. So, what was it? I couldn’t say. The slightly drab cover art? The premise, which did little for me? The fact it followed the events of last month’s Flip finale, which so… irked me? Maybe a bit of everything.
I do know, though, that I enjoyed Moonflesh a lot, perhaps because it stood in such contrast to some of Big Finish’s recent trilogies. It feels completely standalone and devoid of the shackles and gimmickry of recent times, which is oddly refreshing. It feels strange to say that, as historically Doctor Who does standalone more often than not, but with Big Finish increasingly linking releases and the wide and sweeping arcs we see on screen more often than not nowadays, having a standalone adventure is something that really pleased me.
The story concerns a big-game hunt, as mysterious stone, and a whole host of characters plucked from days of yore, extras in Black Orchid and adventure novels. Things move along at a cracking pace, and true to form, everything that seems to be being set-up in the opening instalment of this tale is turned on its head by the cliffhanger and leads us into new territory. Whether you prefer what comes next is a matter of personal preference, but for my money, it was a pretty solid adventure. There is a lot going on here, from the rise of Feminism to the morality of hunting, from spiritualism to alien goings on, but Mark Morris balances it all rather well, with none of the elements becoming overbearing.
I was especially impressed with his supporting characters in the main. The play stumbles slightly when dealing with Silver Crow, a character that comes perilously close to being a bit too stock-friendly-and-wise-native for my liking, but punches high with everyone else, especially Hannah Bartholomew, who feels like an older and wiser Charley Pollard in some ways but with a darker sense of morality, and the Whitlocks, who are very well drawn.
Morris has good form with regards to writing for Big Finish, with House of Blue Fire standing out especially strong, and also tackled Nyssa and the Fifth Doctor before in Stockbridge with Plague of the Daleks, and this is a stronger affair than the latter, whilst being not quite as good as the former. What it is though is a very strong start to the trilogy and hopefully the sign of some more standalone and largely arc-free releases. I do like the arcs when done well, but as I said in my review of Scavenger, they can at times lend themselves to having their cake and eating it. There is none of that on display here, and the play is all the better for it. Is it the greatest story ever told? No, but it’s a solid slice of adventure and, accordingly, I can’t imagine I’ll be holding off listening to Tomb Ship when it arrives for as long as I held off listening to this.
