Doctor Who – The Monthly Adventures

#046. Flip-Flop ~ 6/10

◆ An Introduction

During Doctor Who’s 40th anniversary year, BigFinish were putting out some utterly brilliant experimental audio adventures;

The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa got an adventure with a non-linear narrative, where all the characters experienced events in chronological order.

The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn got a musical adventure with pirates, inspired by Gilbert and Sullivan songs (which turned out to have a really deep and heart-wrenching plot woven into it).

But you very rarely hear people talk about the adventure that the Seventh Doctor and Mel got. A black and white disc forming a circular narrative, and a world which ends up being a pretty bleak place in both timelines. Which way will you listen to this adventure?

◆ Publisher’s Summary

Christmas Eve in the year 3060, and the planet Puxatornee is home to a prosperous human colony.

A space craft has arrived in orbit carrying the Slithergees, a race of obsequious alien slugs. Their home world has been destroyed and they are humbly requesting permission to settle on the first moon.

And if they don't get permission, then they are humbly threatening to declare all-out war.

The future hangs in the balance. The decision rests with Bailey, the colony' s president – but she has other things on her mind.

Christmas Eve in the year 3090, and the planet Puxatornee has changed beyond all recognition.

The Doctor and Mel arrive, on a completely unrelated mission to defeat a race of terrible monsters, and soon discover that something rather confusing has been happening to history.

◆ The Seventh Doctor

‘Flip-Flop’ is a story that is mired in controversy (more on that much later in the review) but one aspect where I can definitely praise it is the acting. Sylvester McCoy gets a script which really gets his character, and that is evident from the assured performance he gives… which is something we absolutely needed after the way he went on in that Eurovision parodying abomination!

The Doctor believes that it’s his duty to protect time, not fiddle about with it like some broken spin-dryer. All his life he has fought against people who believed that the ends justify the means.

◆ Mel Bush

‘Flip-Flop’ presents us with a great performance from Bonnie Langford, and it’s clear Jonny Morris really understands her character (shame this script is so notorious… wouldn’t be until 2015 when Morris would get to write for her again, in a script that is thankfully a lot less mired in bad political takes).

Mel isn’t inclined to use rude words, but if she was, she’d use several to describe how bumpy the TARDIS’ most recent landing was. She wonders why the prison cells seem to look exactly the same, wherever they go in the universe.

◆ Story Recap

The Doctor and Mel are busy fighting the Quarks on the Space Yacht Pinto when they decide to temporarily dip out of their adventure. The planet Puxatornee is the only place in the universe where they can get hold of leptonite crystals (which the Quarks are highly allergic to, exploding if they get within a mile of them). The planet was a brilliant place when the Doctor last visited in 3012, but a lot can change in seventy-eight years…

Depending on which disc you listen to first, you get a different view of Puxatornee – the “Black” timeline sees the world overtaken by a race known as the Slithergees, who came to the planet thirty years prior; armed to the teeth and demanding asylum. They’ve subjugated the human population and continue to take more and more land from them.

The “White” timeline is one where the human colonists eradicated the Slithergee warships before they even had a chance to land, but the war that occurred has left the planet scarred by radiation.

The Doctor and Mel may get off of Puxatornee with the crystals they desire, but there is one thing for certain – this world is doomed no matter which timeline you consider to be true!

◆ Möbius Strip

As I mentioned in the introduction to this review, ‘Flip-Flop’ was created during a time where BigFinish were really keen to experiment with their adventures. It’s definitely the least talked about story from that experimental era, and as for the reasons why that’s the case, we’ll get onto that can of worms in a bit… lord knows I’ve had to rewrite this review several times!

The whole gimmick of this story however is quite interesting; the decision to have a circular narrative where you can listen to the CDs in any order. For the purposes of this review, I started out with the Black CD. It means that the planet of Puxatornee is basically stuck on a Möbius Strip, as the different versions of Stuart and Reed continue to engineer different timelines. As I said, it’s definitely an interesting gimmick, but it comes with one major problem. The story doesn’t really have an ending, no matter which way you listen to it – there is no satisfying conclusion to events.

◆ Daily Mail Caricatures

‘Flip-Flop’ appears to be a lot more controversial than I first believed, after I discovered a few discussions on that cess-pool of the internet known as Reddit. I tend to stay away from forum sites like that, because us Doctor Who fans are known for being argumentative to the point of idiocy, and I don’t particularly want to stress myself out. That being said, the discussions I read on r/Gallifrey definitely gave me food for thought.

It appears that a lot of people take issue with the main villains of this adventure, the Slithergees, because they are seen as a far-right and racist depiction of immigrants. It had never occurred to me until I read the post by u/revilocaasi, but the writing for this story does feel like it’s leaning into all the Daily Mail cliches. You could argue that this is a twenty year old story and that times have changed, but that doesn’t stop it leaving a bit of a bitter taste in your mouth. It’s an issue that everyone is going to have a different stance on, and I’ve noticed very few other people have even brought it up (probably because it’s going to ruffle a lot of feathers, no matter your stance).

I really do think the Slithergees were a mistake because they are blatant caricatures written from a clear right-wing point of view. Some people will be able to look past it, but I absolutely cannot blame you if it’s something that particularly gets your goat.

◆ Sound Design

David Darlington really didn’t do all that much with the soundscape for Puxatornee. There is very little to distinguish it from any other frozen desolation, unfortunately.

Alarms signal to Slithergee patrols that the dissidents are roaming free on Puxatornee. President Bailey makes her Christmas address, whilst horrid festive music plays on a tinny speaker. The Mind Peeler is this horrible whirring torture device. Ringing alarms blare throughout the Presidential residence, as the Doctor sets the security alert in motion.

◆ Music

The music for ‘Flip-Flop’ is also being handled by David Darlington, who provides us with an electronic score that wouldn’t feel out of place in Season 24 itself. It’s quite good.

◆ Conclusion

“Any humans found on the street will be prosecuted, fatally!”

I’ve rewritten this concluding paragraph several times now because this whole review has been really difficult. It’s undeniable that the experimental format is interesting, despite the fact it basically means the story is stuck in a circular narrative with no ending. Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford put on some really great performances, and you could say that of the entire cast…

But then you get onto the topic of the main villain in ‘Flip-Flop’, and you just open a whole can of worms. Jonathan Morris has written so many amazing BigFinish adventures, but I wholeheartedly believe that this story should have been rewritten several times to just outright remove the Slithergees (and I’m shocked nobody at BigFinish pointed out the right-wing subtext that said villains carried with them).

‘Flip-Flop’ came out twenty years ago and a lot has changed since then, but does that excuse a species that is so clearly a symbol of right-wing views? I think it’s down to the discretion of the listener. I personally don’t think Morris is part of the right-wing mob, because if he was I doubt BigFinish would have continued working with him (he’s one of their most prolific contributors). This story has just aged terribly from a political stance. I really didn’t expect it, but this has been my most difficult review to write to date.