Equilibrium
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Big Finish Productions Equilibrium |
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| Written by | Matt Fitton |  |
| Format | Compact Disc | |
| Released | 2015 |
| Starring Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Mark Strickson |
| Synopsis: Still looking for a way out of E-Space, the TARDIS crashes to Isenfel - a realm of snow and ice. Snarling beasts stalk the frozen plains, a feisty princess leads the hunt, and a queen in an ice palace rules over her loyal subjects. But this is no fairytale kingdom, and everyone in Isenfel knows the price of survival. While Nyssa and Tegan uncover deadly secrets hidden in the palace, Turlough flees for his life across the tundra. And as for the Doctor... he only ever wants to change things for the better. But in a world such as Isenfel, such a hope may not even be possible. |
A Review by Thomas Tiley 29/9/25
The second part of the return to E-Space trilogy finds the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough pursuing Pik Solus (from the previous adventure) to try to get back the part he stole form the TARDIS. Unfortunately, the unstable TARDIS crashlands on the icy world of Isenfel. There they are escorted by the princess Inger (Joanna Kirkland) to the castle where they meet Queen Karlina (Anette Badland) who holds a feast to greet the strangers, only to discover that Isenfel is a world where everything must be kept in perfect equilibrium (a life for a life) and people must be sacrificed if the new arrivals are to stay.
When I originally listened to this release, it didn't really impress me (plot holes, dumb parts, et cetera) except for the cover and some strong performances, but on returning to it to write this review I have re-evaluated it.
The planet is sort of all right, an icy Viking sort of world. It does have an interesting idea about musical instruments made of ice that melt as you play them. The central premise that for every new life an old one must be taken is somewhat interesting. It certainly made for a good cliffhanger to part one, and the play does explore the idea fairly well. It would have been braver for the story to carry the idea through, I think. It would have been interesting to see the cast's reaction to someone trading their lives for them. It is undermined by the fact that the rule has been broken for some time by the time the TARDIS team arrives, with several newborns being kept in the Palace. (Rather implausibly I thought, how in a society with everything is carefully rationed and measured out could the extra food be found to feed them or in a close-knit community how were the pregnancies' concealed and the babies delivered? The whole subplot falls apart under scrutiny.) Apart from filling up the time and providing a cliffhanger, the subplot goes nowhere.
The cast is kept busy. The Doctor trying to figure out the main plot, Tegan and Nyssa investigating beneath the palace (the dumb baby subplot) and Nyssa helping out the in the main plot while Turlough goes hunting with the sporty princess (mostly filler and cliffhanger bait). There is an good idea of Tegan going out to find Turlough only for him to make his way back in after she has left. Nyssa gets to use her technical knowhow to help out, and her status as a mother lets her make a few obvious points.
Anette Badland does a fantastic turn as the Queen, being almost flirtatious with the Doctor to start with. There are some melancholic moments when she reminisces about her family and lost child, and she is regretful when she discovers the truth of her world and her actions in it. She is overall brilliant in her role. The only downside is she doesn't have much to do in some sections other than ask questions. The ending where she resolves to march to the end of the world is wonderful in its sadness. Kirkland is fine as the princess, but other than fancying Turlough and being a warrior princess isn't given much to do; her farewell scene with the Queen is rather stupidly given off camera, so to speak, which deprives both her and Badland from having an emotional scene that could have stretched the actress. Nikolas Grace plays the balancer, the individual in charge of the sacrifices, and it's a basic role competently played for the most part: an obvious official type of role, then after his robotic reveal a mechanical sort of performance. Only just before the end does the actor get to stretch his role and give a good performance of a man discovering the truth about himself, but by then it's a little too late, and in any case it's hard to relate to discovering you're actually a robot in charge of a science project.
There is a lack of threat for the most part; black snow falls that is supposed to be threatening and then later on huge black wolves appear, but the story lacks a real villain (not that every story needs one, but it does mean everything comes across a bit lackluster and unurgent). The Doctor messes with the control room and ends up triggering the apocalypse; the forcefield around the edge of the world starts to shrink, and black wolves and storms ravage the land. The part where blames himself is all right, but it does feel self-indulgent, especially when he should be busy trying to help. There is a great part where the wolves try to get into the TARDIS (weakened and unstable), their great big snapping jaws phase right through the walls to snap at the Doctor, and it's a great image only spoiled by how easily it is resolved (the Balancer gives up his dial to the Queen and then it suddenly lets her control and lead them away).
The section when a servant gives her life up to the storm in order to buy time is a good one, even if it reminds me of all those female guest stars who end up sacrificing themselves for the Doctor that populate the post-2005 series.
There are some strange plot choices. The team ask for help recovering the TARDIS, but the locals don't help dig it out until Part Three, where it has been relocated underneath the ice palace (conveniently drawn in there). The Doctor asks about Solus in Part One but isn't told his fate until later, and the missing TARDIS part vital for the ship isn't returned to him until Part Four. Considering the plot of E-Space and the experiment in this story revolves around the Laws of Thermodynamics (set up by scientists wanting to study the lifespan of E-Space), it's a bit odd that the robot is run by an almost perpetual power source (the moment it was mentioned, I knew it would come up to save the day later) that provides the solution to the crisis: a perpetual-motion machine in a story about entropy like this is bizarre. The Doctor comes up with the plan to save everyone by getting them into the TARDIS rather late, and the reveal that no one wants to leave their homes in the end comes across as unbelievable. Their world almost ends, they were prepared to evacuate and then they get a sudden reprieve, which is only temporary according to the Doctor. Anyone rational would want to leave; I get some would want to stay but not even one person take sup the offer to go? Very stupid. The story ends on a cliffhanger (Tegan kidnapped), which I found pointless.
It is not fantastic, but it's not awful. If you compare this to its counterpart in the TV series trilogy, State of Decay, it doesn't do so well; space vampires beat black snow and giant wolves. So it's a solid 5/10, unless you want to add a point for Annette Badland's brilliant turn as the queen; in that case it's a 6/10.