Sunday, 22 July 2012

Doctor Who Lost Stories-S2.01b The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrence

"Fragrance is a paradise world – a utopia that the travellers are loathe to leave after a relaxing stay. But the way of life is different here. And so is the way of love – as Barbara discovers when the Fragile Yellow Arc is broken..."
I listened to this story, expecting it to fill the two hours that I had to kill, in between meetings. A half hour later, I felt lost. A one episode story felt unusual, but according to Big Finish, the author only intended this story to be one episode. Mainly because this episode was written before the show had actually evolved its “standard” lengths.
I quite liked this story. It was part of the “lost stories” section. One of my favourite things about this story was the fact that the connection between Susan (Carole Ann-Ford) and Ian (William Russell) was as strong as ever. This was their first official professional engagement since 1964. It’s a shame this audio lacked the voice talents of Jacqueline Hill, due to her death in 1993. It’s an even greater shame that we didn’t get to hear William Hartnell (the First Doctor) discuss love to the inhabitants of the planet. Hartnell had a voice that could inspire, and is not easy to forget. I’ll never wipe the sound of the first Doctor saying to the third and second doctors “Oh, it’s you. The dandy and the clown” in the Three Doctors.
Since the first Doctor appeared much older than his future selves, he was much more willing to sit back, take a break, and stay on one planet for a bit, instead of hopping around in his TARDIS. The Doctor, Ian, Susan and Barbara have obviously been on the planet Fragrance for a while, since they’ve developed relationships with the inhabitants.
Some part of me wishes that this would have been an episode. Because watching Hartnell explain that there is such a thing as moving on from love was not only inspiring, [and quite helpful, personally] but it would have also been great television.

In conclusion, it’s a better than average story. But there are better places to start in the “Lost Stories” section of Big Finish. But more about that later.

6/10

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