The Monthly Adventures #047 - “Omega" by Nev Fountain

The Villains Trilogy is a notable moment in the history of The Monthly Adventures, being the first of a formula that would eventually dominate the range, being a series of three tangentially linked stories released consecutively. Eventually, trilogies would be the main format of the Main Range, with short arcs or even just sub-themes running rampant throughout the series’ schedule. However, it begins here, as a short celebration of Who’s biggest antagonists for the show’s 40th anniversary: Davros, creator of the Daleks, the Master, nemesis of the Doctor and… Omega. A founding father of Gallifrey and the main antagonist in a story only viewable through rose-tinted glasses and whatever the hell Arc of Infinity was meant to be. I guess there’s no singular figure to associate with the Cybermen (plus we’ve only just had Spare Parts) so I suppose he was the next best thing but I still wouldn’t consider him one of Doctor Who’s most iconic villains. But, I suppose one should not judge a story by its cover, only by its text.

Called to “the Sector of Forgotten Souls”, the Doctor finds himself aboard a tour shuttle belonging to Jolly Chronolidays, the tour company that treats history like a soap opera. But as they enter the last known location of a legendary Time Lord, troubling realities begin to arise.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I suppose any story’s greatest strength is its writer, so who on Earth did Big Finish choose to write an Omega story of all things. Our author for today is Nev Fountain, a recurring writer for the audios who seems to be held in pretty high esteem, penning fan favourite stories such as The Kingmaker or Peri and the Piscon Paradox. This is apparently his first foray into the audios, so how does he fair? Well, in my opinion, he fairs incredibly well. The personality this script holds is immaculate. It’s not in your face quirkiness like Bang-Bang-a-Boom! but is instead made up of subtly humorous landscapes built off  quips and big personalities, such as a hypocritical Time Lord historian who keeps advertising his book to the Doctor, or two old ladies who won’t stop criticising how unrealistic real history looks compared to the fabricated stuff. It’s a heightened reality that is only a little more outlandish than the real world, and it makes for a plot and identity that is incredibly easy to digest. Not only that, but we have a brilliant cast heading our story, with Ian Collier returning as Omega from Arc of Infinity along with his booming vocals and Conrad Westmaas making an appearance a few audios before his debut as C’rizz. They make for an excellent group of characters, all of who are interesting or fun or sympathetic or wholly insane; Fountain clearly has a strength when it comes to writing personality and dialogue. As for the story, it is the weakest link for me (which seems to be a recurring theme in these reviews) but I’d say the first half was really good. It took the form of a bizarre murder mystery with no murder, where the Doctor tries to solve the mysteries behind little oddities scattered throughout the story until somebody eventually does die and the whole thing comes to a stunning reveal. There have been a number of twists in Big Finish so far, they do seem to be a favourite of the range. Even in the very first entry, we had one of the main characters revealed as the story’s villain, and yet this might be the best one so far - it truly blew me away when I first heard it. Turns out, up until the halfway point, the “Doctor” we had been following had been the Omega from the end of Arc of Infinity, who used the Doctor’s bioprint to escape the antimatter universe. He then had a mental breakdown, and took on the Doctor’s personality, meaning this entire time, all the murders and sabotage and strange events were being committed by who we thought was our philanthropic hero. It’s a brilliant moment that is set up absolutely perfectly, every unanswered question slotting into place. It’s one of those reveals that was under your nose the whole time, especially since only the Doctor actually saw Omega (with the exception of the mad Sentia, who is on Omega’s side) so it’s perfectly possible for him to have just been switching voices. It was the highlight of the story for me and probably the thing that will stick with me longest now I’ve finished it.

However, following the big reveal, things begin to falter. I think the main problem is that Omega wanted to do too many things at once. It wants to be a fun murder mystery, but also a meditative exploration of Omega’s character, but also a dissection of insanity and the psyche, but also a high-octane countdown to disaster, but also a love story whilst having multiple Time Lords knocking about and people being psychically prompted to recreate moments from Omega’s fated voyage and historical reenactments going too far. It moves from one story, to another story, to the next, never stopping and never resting with too many ideas for its own good. And by the end, there’s so much going on, so many characters switching personalities and deceptions colliding that the whole thing gets ridiculously convoluted and you just end up going “wait, when did that happen?” over and over again. Like the day is saved because the Doctor prompts the mad Sentia to switch personalities so that she releases the hostages she’s taken, which I don’t think was set up and, if it was, it was incredibly brief. And the other thing I take issue with is Omega himself. Being the title character, you know we’re going to have to see a lot of him and the main story will have to surround his experiences, but I just don’t particularly gel with it. It grounds him heavily in reality and makes him feel far more human than he should be. Take The Three Doctors for instance, there, he is almost a legend, even when we see him, this monolith of a person, driven insane by his time in an antiverse, a mad god with no reigns. He is imposing as he is threatening, his ambiguous past helping in establishing him as a living myth. Here, he’s just another Time Lord, and went to school like any other. Not only that, but it explains that the name “omega” is a nickname stemming from a really bad grade he got once (for some reason, Gallifreyan grading systems rely on the Greek alphabet). So basically a human equivalent would be getting called “F-” - I think this is dumb and somewhat turns him into a joke, even if Fountain thought he was being clever. Making him so tangible and so life-like removes his mystique and turns him into a somewhat underwhelming antagonist, I think it misses what made him such an imposing character. I think this is where Fountain’s sensibilities as a writer actually trip him up, because giving everybody a lively personality isn’t actually a net positive and sometimes it can diminish the impact of a villain. I feel like this is the Doctor Who equivalent of Disney forcing an antagonist to be morally grey against the script's will - it just doesn’t work.

Omega was an interesting if unfulfilling time. I have heard it’s the worst of the Villains Trilogy and if it’s only up from here on out, then I’m sold. It honestly has a lot of potential and if it just bit off enough for it to chew and focused a little, I think we’d have an all time classic here. Both aided and failed by its idiosyncrasies, Fountain’s writing style seems suited to a quainter story than this, and I think things might’ve been a little different with a better premise or another writer.

7/10

Pros:

+ Written with distinct style and humour that made the whole thing incredibly fun

+ Great vocal performances lending themselves to a good cast

+ First half was an interesting mystery with good pacing

+ The third act reveal was absolutely brilliant

Cons:

- Tries to be too many things at once

- Story gets too clever for its own good and becomes convoluted

- Omega is not as imposing and interesting as he could be