Bernice Summerfield

#4.01. The Bellotron Incident ~ 5/10

◆ An Introduction

I’m still somewhat shocked that we’re already onto the fourth run of Benny stories, but it’s time to begin what is commonly thought of as this range’s “Monster Season”… and our favourite professor is about to be flung into the Sontaran/Rutan War!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

Two aggressive alien races. A war that has raged for centuries. A planet that orbits through no man's land.

The Rutan/Sontaran conflict has started to endanger the Terran trade routes, but when the Captain of the battlecruiser Rites of Passage finds an energy signature of artificial origin on the primitive planet of Bellotron he is duty-bound to call in the assistance of a qualified academic.

Confronted by savage predators, fiendish traps and the unexpected involvement of an opportunist thief, an unwilling Benny finds herself caught up in a conflict where neither side plays by the rules – and no-one is quite what they seem…

◆ Prof. Bernice Summerfield

Lisa Bowerman kicks off the fourth series with an extremely average performance.

General Quilby needs an expert with a cool head, someone who can follow orders, and someone with tact… so why the Hell would you send Benny? I love her to bits, but the woman is the embodiment of sarcasm.

◆ Bev Tarrant

Louise Faulkner is joining the main family of characters in this range. You might recognise Bev from her appearances alongside the Doctor and Ace in two of Tucker’s previous adventures. She does a decent enough job in ‘The Bellotron Incident’, but we wont hear Bev Tarrant at her best until the end of this series.

◆ Story Recap

The Rites of Passage is a battlecruiser working on behalf of Earth Alliance, and it has been monitoring the Rutan/Sontaran conflict to make sure that they don’t endanger human trade routes. Not far away from the cruiser is a primitive planet whose nomadic, matriarchal society is based on religion and suspicion. Due to how primitive the world is, it’s protected by a non-intervention treaty… and it appears that the Rutan Host may have broken said treaty!

A strange energy signal has been detected on the surface of Bellotron, and this quaint little world may be far more valuable to the Rutans, or the Sontarans, than Earth Alliance realise. Professor Bernice Summerfield has been called in to investigate.

◆ Cave Dwelling

Mike Tucker is a returning writer for this range, and you may remember that I had slightly mixed feelings on his previous adventure – I definitely enjoyed ‘The Stone’s Lament’, but it was just a little too average. I’d love to sit here and tell you that he’s improved with his second script for Benny, but the exact opposite is true!

‘The Bellotron Incident’ is one of the most boring stories I’ve listened to for a while. The story keeps trying to convince you that this is going to be a tense scouting mission to a primitive world, to stop a rather unfriendly Rutan… when the story actually amounts to “here is a Rutan, and it’s hiding in a cave”! What a complete waste of an hour.

◆ Sound Design

‘The Bellotron Incident’ features the same post-production duo we concluded the last series with. Andrew Swann’s soundscape was extremely bare bones: it bored me senseless, like most things in this play!

Barking wolves, the roar and crackle of a campfire, in the tundra wasteland of Bellotron. Bleeping electronic equipment and scanners aboard the Rites of Passage. The growling and howling of several packs of Brill: the natural predators of Bellotron. The icy winds howling in the tundra. I hope I wont be the only one to point out that the Rutan in this story just sounds like a discount Dalek!

◆ Music

Darlington’s music is alright. I’m reminded a bit of Jesper Kyd’s work on Hitman: Contracts, specifically the Bjarkhov mission with the Siberian submarine… and I keep thinking about how much better that piece of music is.

◆ Conclusion

“Damn those devious lumps of sushi!”

Mike Tucker got the opportunity to write for one of the most intriguing and underused species from the Whoniverse… and he completely wasted it.

‘The Bellotron Incident’ is such a non-entity, and all I remember from the episode is that I wanted something, ANYTHING, to happen. About as bland as a wallpaper paste sarnie!