The Juggernauts
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Big Finish Productions The Juggernauts |
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| Written by | Scott Alan Woodward |  |
| Format | Compact Disc | |
| Released | 2005 | |
| Continuity | Between Trial of a Time Lord and Time and the Rani |
| Starring Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford and Terry Molloy |
| Synopsis: Within a small mining colony on the dark and distant planet of Lethe, events are occurring the results of which could dramatically affect things on a universal scale. For within the dingy corridors of the artificial biosphere, the lone survivor of a devastating crash has expertly wormed his way into the lives of the colony's personnel. A scientist known as Davros. |
That's My Bush by Mekel Rogers 4/3/05
The Juggernauts is Mel's story all the way, and that's a very good thing.
The script itself is rather traditional. Davros has set up a workshop and is tinkering with his experiments in mutant genetics. The Doctor meddles, Daleks exterminate, and Davros escalates from scheming scientist to ranting megalomaniac. Throw in an obscure robot menace from the 1960s such as the Mechonoids, and you'd think The Juggernauts would be good, but nothing really special.
Then along comes Bonnie Langford.
Ever since The Fires of Vulcan, Bonnie Langford has rescued Mel from from the horrid bubbly personality of her television tenure by giving the character depth, warmth, and charm, and her performance in The Juggernauts is what elevates this story to something special. The relationships she cultivates with the members of the Lethe Colony are realistic and touching, especially the friendship/romance with Geoff. Likewise her interaction with Colin Baker is very comfortable and reminds the listener of just how great a television team they could have made had they been together longer. The real kicker, however, is Mel's final confrontation with Davros after she realizes he has betrayed her. This is the type of scene companions would have given anything to play on television, and Bonnie knocks it out of the park (or hits it for six, depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on).
In the end, The Juggernauts is a good first attempt by Scott Woodard. It's not really anything new, but it is a solid traditional story with some great character moments.
Bottom Line: Buy it for Bonnie!
A Review by Richard Radcliffe 9/3/05
The return of Terry Molloy, after his excellent turn in Davros, is what excited me about The Juggernauts. It's the first Davros/Dalek story too - and they can work well together - just look at Genesis of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks for that.
Molloy's sparring partner is once again Colin Baker - and that's as it should be. The two are brilliant together - one of the best villain/Doctor flare-ups out there. No Evelyn in this story too, we have the joys of Melanie Bush - who appears (from the Big Finish schedule this year) to be the flavour of the past.
Scott Alan Woodard was given quite a shopping list when he was asked to write this one - and to his credit he largely carries it off. Inclusion of all of the above, and the Mechanoids - that's quite a lot to cram in. What he doesn't try and do is create a complicated story, where each challenges the other for supremacy, and each goes beyond what we know of them from TV adventures. This is a good old-fashioned Doctor Who story, and everything here is totally in keeping with the characters we know and like - and all the better for it.
The story fairly rattles along at first. Mel is away working on the Mechanoids. The Doctor is waylaid, but gets there eventually (a three month gap - tempting for other writers to fill). As a character study of Mel this story is pretty good. It continues the good work of previous Big Finish plays, where she is far more interesting to listen to than to look at. There was a little excitement that Mel got to do some computer programming - but that doesn't make good TV or audio. Her relationships with the scientists and miners are far more interesting.
The return of the Mechanoids give Big Finish another chance to shine in their sound wizardry. I know of no other robot/monster who sounds like these binary blobs. There voice is quite spooky - and they are a very fine addition to Big Finish's box of tricks.
Terry Molloy is brilliant once again as Davros, even though at first I wondered where he was (I gradually came to the realization of the truth minutes before it was revealed). Colin Baker, a master of these audio plays now, is magnificent once again - his plays remain the ones I most look forward to, and the ones which usually cut the mustard.
The Juggernauts is a fine return of the straightforward story, and I hope Big Finish will keep to this for the near future. If they alternate between the four audio Doctors, mixing companion teams, then each one will sound fresh and new when they appear again.
I'm confident that Big Finish will continue entertaining us for a good while yet. It seems virtually all our DW attention span is elsewhere these days - and there's nothing wrong with that, in fact it's completely and totally exciting - but its great to think that no matter what happens Big Finish has produced, and will continue to produce, excellent drama. 7/10
Exterminate the Daleks! by Joe Ford 13/3/05
Davros, the Daleks, the new sixth Doctor, Mel and the Mechanoids... I cannot think of a Big Finish story I have eagerly awaited this much in about two years. Only the name Gary Russell written in the sleeve niggled at me but despite the usual weak direction even he has risen to the occasion (The Wormery, Faith Stealer) in recent times.
It should be wonderful, the sort of Doctor Who story we will be talking about for years but it isn't. It certainly isn't bad and it is a great deal better than anything Big Finish have released in ages, certainly the best release since The Harvest. It gets all of the core ingredients right, provides some smashing moments but for too long the story seems to take an easy path. Episode four is excellent, the best of the lot where the struggling plot threads suddenly reach a dramatic crescendo that the story definitely needed earlier.
Let's start with the good... it is marvellous to have Bonnie Langford back in a story that exploits her character to the full. She is a star performer and it is clear now she was treated dreadfully by the TV series, the material she is given by Big Finish is far superior to anything she got in season Twenty-Four. Here we see a very different Mel from before, one who makes friends easily, who has a fantastic technical brain, who has a very moral sense and who can survive just fine without the Doctor should it become necessary. Bonnie Langford shines here with none of the annoying squeaky cleanness that made Mel so unbearable to some; she has a relaxed banter with her new friends Sonali and Geoff and she provides the climax with a real emotional core when she confronts Davros for all the horror he has caused. This scene impressed me no end, to see a once one-dimensional cipher suddenly come alive and get her hands dirty in a way even the Doctor couldn't in his past lives was very impressive. I had shivers down my back as she gave the order for Davros to be killed...
One of the problems with re-inventing the sixth Doctor's era and thus giving him a strong set of companions to work with (Evelyn, Mel) is that this gentler, kinder sixth Doctor gets shuffled to the background in favour of them. The Juggernauts is another in a long line of Big Finish stories (...and the Pirates, Arrangements of War) that put the companion first and the Doctor second but he is still a very reassuring presence, the Doctor proving a constant reminder that something very wrong is going on. The very notion of him working with the Daleks is laughable but they pull it off here with an intriguing idea of him infiltrating Davros' new life on Lethe to see what the hell he is up to. Colin Baker is typically good although I wish the writers would spend more time putting him through the wringer than his companions, Baker is never better than when he is pushed to the very limit and whilst there are a few tense moments here I never got that feeling that he has much a stake.
For someone who was getting in a terrible tizzy about the overload of continuity in Big Finish during 2003 I was shocked at how much I was looking forward to a story that dipped into the archives for ideas this much. I was under the impression that it was the continuity that was sucking all the imagination out of the releases two years ago but I have to admit I was wrong. 2004 was an even worse year for Big Finish (I counted four out of twelve releases that I enjoyed) and it is was practically continuity-free.
The trouble with the overload of past elements in The Juggernauts is how writer Scott Alan Woodard tries to put a new spin on them all. I will always salute effort and it is present in spades but by trying to give everything an interesting new spin it means the story is overly talky for its first three episodes. The Doctor working with the Daleks? Gosh! Davros trying wipe his own creations out? Never! Human carcasses installed into the Mechanoids! Yuk! The story is extremely interesting when you look at the clever things Woodard tries to do but it does seem to plod for a while whilst all the appropriate explanations are given. You would think that a Dalek/Mechanoid story would be terribly dull because of all the boring gunfights that would entail but it is not until they start blasting at each other that the story really picks up. As I have already mentioned the fourth episode is very good, where the plot moves quickly with the action not giving the audience a second to think before the next dramatic showdown takes place.
Although let's not forget it is forty years since we last heard of the Mechanoids and the bravery and vision to resurrect them now is all credit due to Big Finish. Their silky voices are perfect for audio and their new status as henchmen for Davros gives them a hook they never really had in The Chase. I don't mind continuity being used when it has a good dramatic reason and can be utilised as well as the Mechanoids are here.
I wish Big Finish would phone up Terry Molloy and give him his own Davros series, as he is such a fun character to listen to. He is the ultimate reason I would recommend The Juggernauts, the silky voiced monster is back and he's even sicker than ever. I love it when Davros tries to rationalise his plans to the Doctor, with numerous deaths on his conscience and utilising their remains for his own ends, as he comes across as more perverse and insane than ever. This is one of his better schemes for some time and is quite well thought out, preying on the greed of humans to advance his Mechanoid building schemes just as the Daleks have done in the past (Power of the Daleks). The fact that he could supplant one race of brutal killers for another is hilarious especially after all those rants about how the Daleks are the supreme rulers of the universe! How he expertly weaves Mel around his finger in the early episodes is unsettling, far more interesting than his usual screaming and his final decision at the stories climax allows us to see through the cracks in his insanity and see the man he once was. I would recommend The Juggernauts over Davros as a look at how he thinks, because it is a scheme that takes in his scope of vision and reveals how deep his lunacy is at the same time.
Bombastic, memorable and catchy, Steve Foxon's score is the best I've heard in a while. He certainly gives the dynamic last episode a real push and his "tingling of madness" score for Davros gave his justifications a disturbing edge.
Overall I really rather enjoyed The Juggernauts, it builds to an impressive climax that will leave feeling that you have listened to another Dalek story that actually felt different. It is a shame there couldn't be more action earlier on because I could imagine a TV audience giving up on this story before it kicks into gear. A shame because you would miss some cool Davros action, some good development for Mel and a worthy re-invention of the Mechanoids.
Flawed but well worth listening to.
A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 11/5/05
In many ways The Juggernauts appears on paper to be little more than a fanboy's dream come true complete with the inclusion of Daleks, Davros, Mechanoids and the Sixth Doctor and Mel; in truth, however, it is responsible for the rehabilitation of Bonnie Langford's Mel as this story is her own. Seperated from the Doctor at the play's beginning for three months we are presented with a companion forced to deal with life on her own. Never is this more evident than when Mel decides the best way to deal with Davros is to leave him to the Mechanoids; unfortunately the story undermines this by giving Davros a different end, setting up his next chronological television appearance. To Bonnie Langford's credit, it is a relief not to hear her in a comedic audio (The Fires Of Vulcan notwithstanding), as her performance brings out the best aspects of her character.
Colin Baker's Doctor also reverts back to his television persona as opposed to his Big Finish one, in that he is brash, flippant and overconfident throughout; although this is refreshing in itself, a mixture of both personas would ultimately work better in any future tales with Mel. The Mechanoids return, but are not overly impressive, as Davros tries to bring them into line with the Daleks; this hardly distinguishes the two and their limited vocabulary doesn't help matters greatly. Terry Molloy is also back on form and particularly vicious in his portrayal of Davros; although opposing a different Doctor (as the conclusion of The Next Life hints at) would be more welcome.
In short The Juggernauts is a missed opportunity, it makes the most of Mel but not enough of the tale's other major factors.
A Review by Ron Mallett 25/5/05
Scott Alan Woodard's new Doctor Who audio - as its title suggest - is a story with an epic feel. Still, The Juggernauts is another one of these Big Finish audios that is more than slightly derivative. However it attempts to be so in the way that the Colin Baker era was: blending old with the new. Although there are plenty examples of the old, I'm not so sure there is anything new.
Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford and Terry Molloy are superb in their central roles. The soundscape of effects is nothing less than perfect. The incidental music is particularly wonderful. So what went wrong? I think it is the story and the underlying philosophy behind it.
In a sense it's almost too easy to dig up the Daleks and the Mechanoids (remember The Chase from 1965?) and thread them into a story together, again. It comes across as bad fanboy fiction which people like myself are so often accused of writing. This is what happens when people stand on the shoulders of genius and don't contribute anything concrete themselves. In essence it's almost a fan story written to explain why Davros ended up as just a head, again (remember the Emperor of the Daleks comic from 1993?).
If nothing else it further proves what a winning combination Colin and Bonnie would have been if they had been allowed to find their legs as a team. Mel works well as a companion with a "dominant personality". I love the Doctor's declaration about hell having no fury like a Melanie Bush. Therefore I'm not saying the writing is poor but I think the concept behind it is a little lazy. Still the use of the music box as a kind of objective correlative was a bit of an obvious plant early on in the story. It should have been a birthday present or something similar rather than something given to Mel artificially by Geoff in order to remember him! By the way, did anyone ever think Terry Molloy was anyone other than Davros?