📝6/10 → ACCEPTABLE!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

THE DARK FLAME, or NOT ANOTHER WITCH CULT!

The Main Range makes another sidestep into the Virgin New Adventures continuity with Trevor Baxendale’s The Dark Flame, a dark adventure of cults, creatures from other dimensions, and a coming apocalypse. It sees Seven, Ace, and Benny land in the middle of a dark and twisted plot to spread the dark flame across the universe.

After a messy opening sequence, Part 1 slowly settles down and begins building on its atmosphere and plot—one that is very preoccupied with various scientific ideas. It's also a bit weird how this story jumps between a perfectly straightforward tale and an occasionally confusing mess of sound and strange visions plaguing our characters. It also slowly builds up the tension and danger, with the visions and the discovery of a murdered friend of the Doctor’s.

Part 2 separates the bunch. Benny throws witticisms around her while discovering an ancient dig with Victor and his robot, while the Doctor tries to figure out what is going on and why. And Ace just sort of pops in and out but isn’t given a lot to do. When the cult leader returns in a new body, the story sort of reaches a standstill without growing much.

What we get is a perfectly fine adventure that lacks hooks to stand out. It does its more exciting moments well, but the stuff in between is very standard. The story is perfectly interesting to begin with but gradually loses steam as the atmosphere flattens out, and the overlong Part 4 just goes on and on with no end.

This audio certainly taps into the dark and demanding atmosphere of the VNA novels without committing to it fully. This is particularly noticeable in the dark cult that plays a central role and in the process of bringing the cult leader back to life in the body of a murdered man or in the malevolent force from another universe trying to enter our universe. They could’ve easily gone much darker here, though, and while the atmosphere helps to make this sound interesting, it doesn't improve it much.

Sylvester McCoy is really on top form here, though fairly minimalistic and not quite in his most scheming mood. His final encounter with Vilus is pure McCoy gold. Benny and Ace get along famously, and both Lisa Bowerman and Sophie Aldred are great as expected. It’s a pity that the story doesn't do more with Benny’s possession, though.

Steven Wickham provides a fun double bill as Victor, the archaeologist, and his assistant robot, Joseph. Andrew Westfield is a pretty typical whispering villain type, but I rather enjoy his performance (and Vilus Krull is a pretty nice villain name).

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

The creepy skull referenced throughout the story reminds me of the skull that plays a pivotal part in Image of the Fendahl.