2 episodes. Approx. 115 minutes. Written by: Brian Finch, Paul Finch. Directed by: Ken Bentley. Produced by: David Richardson.
THE PLOT
A fault forces the Doctor to materialize the TARDIS in an unknown setting. At first glance, he and Peri believe they have landed on medieval Earth. There is a nearby castle presided over by a feudal baron (John Banks), who rules over the local village of New Haven with an iron fist. But too many things don't fit: The villagers are summoned to the castle when it is "their Time," and are never seen again. Those who flee are pursued by Herne the Hunter, a figure out of Celtic mythology who should not actually exist. The few who escape hide in caves, and are scorned by the villagers as "Pariah."
The more the Doctor learns, the more clear it is that something is wrong beyond the usual oppressiveness of medieval Europe. When he recognizes the emblem of The Sentinels of the New Dawn, he realizes that the answers lie within the castle - but the only sure way in is to allow himself to be made the baron's prisoner!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: It's a shame this script wasn't produced for television, as this is the exact characterization the Sixth Doctor needed in Season 22 (for which this was originally written). He's still spiky, but he's also very shrewd. He walks into New Haven knowing full well that he will be apprehended, but he uses his time wisely, noting every anachronism: The lack of shops and merchants, the loaf of white bread. When he's taken to the baron, he baits him mercilessly until the power behind him is revealed, then shows off his own swashbuckling skills when the man draws a sword on him. He's also compassionate: Near the end of Part one, he encounters a dying "Pariah," one of the band of rebels. He pauses in his escape to comfort the boy as he dies. When the boy gasps that someone needs to stop what's happening, the Doctor announces with grim resolve: "Someone will."
Peri: This is also a good story for Peri. Much of the story sees her separated from the Doctor. In a neat departure from the norm, she is captured not by the villains, but by the rebel Pariah. She gets a particularly strong scene in Part Two, when convincing the Pariah to fight instead of hide. "I have been tortured. I know what it's like. I also know that the low-lives who do it are the sort who will only be encouraged to do it again if you don't resist!" Nicola Bryant puts tangible emotion into Peri's vehement appeal, and Peri's plan - to recruit the youth of the village - allows her a nicely proactive role in the story.
THOUGHTS
Leviathan is the first of Big Finish's Lost Stories that was not part of the original, cancelled Season 23. This story was developed for Season 22, but ultimately "written off" by script editor Eric Saward.
Fittingly enough, it's the first genuinely good Lost Story.
Really, this is the exact type of story that Season 22 needed more of. It features: a spiky but compassionate Doctor, an intriguing set up, a threatening monster based on mythology (well within the BBC's ability to create), and a genuinely terrific cliffhanger. Even I don't think Saward was deliberately sabotaging the show by rejecting good scripts while accepting bad ones, so I'm guessing Leviathan's rejection was down to the many action scenes which would have been difficult for the series to realize. Even so, this would have been worth the effort. If an action scene or two came across as clunky, that would have been a small price to pay for such an excellent Doctor characterization and such a generally well-turned piece of drama.
Credit, as usual, to Big Finish's production. This is an action-heavy story, with multiple battle scenes, including some swordplay between the Doctor and the Baron. None of it is difficult to visualize, and the Doctor/Baron encounter is both vivid and enjoyable. The music score is just enough like '80's Who to feel right for the era, but carefully designed to support rather than distract from the action and environments.
The pace is fast. Original writer Brian Finch was a veteran television scribe and clearly recognized the value of moving the characters from one dangerous situation to the next, and the first episode is particularly free of lulls. I detect some Saward influence in an unwelcome and unnecessary subplot involving a mercenary space salvage team; this strand isn't even introduced until Episode Two, and it adds nothing but clutter to a story that works splendidly without it. But the annoyance of this subplot is countered by a string of appropriately ghoulish revelations as we near the end, including a hall of tube-fed human fetuses (which doubtless would not have been allowed in the final product) and coffins housing only half-decomposed bodies.
I genuinely regret that this story wasn't made for television at the time it was mooted, as it would have formed one of Season 22's highlights. I am glad at least that it was resurrected for audio, and it's slotted into the Lost Stories range perfectly: After two weak stories that were probably best left unmade, it was time for a top-notch, imaginative work to showcase what Doctor Who is capable of.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
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Previous Television Story: Revelation of the Daleks
Next Television Story: Trial of a Timelord - The Mysterious Planet (not yet reviewed)
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