Bernice Summerfield – Excelis

#004. The Plague Herds of Excelis ~ 7/10

◆ An Introduction

Before continuing with our journey through the third series of Benny adventures, we have to discuss this oddity which released before ‘Dance of the Dead’.

‘Excelis’ seemed like a really interesting attempt at making a tightly-nit saga, though the execution definitely fell flat. I’m quite familiar with the three main adventures, but have never heard this oddity which bookends the saga. Luckily for us, it’s a meeting between the two biggest alcoholics in the Whoniverse!

Prof. Summerfield, allow me to introduce you to that wandering reprobate, that trans-temporal adventuress extraordinaire!

Iris Wildthyme has arrived.

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The once-proud city of Excelis is a crumbling ruin in a state of siege, as barbarians catapult pestilent animal corpses into the city to spread disease among those trapped inside.

Excelis is a city clinging to life by a thread. But ancient prophecies foretell a final retribution for the past arrogance of its rulers. When the sun is eaten away from the sky, when the ancient relic of Excelis is taken from its rightful resting-place, and when strangers are discovered among the people, then shall the whole world be doomed to die.

Today, the sun is a moth-eaten shadow. Plans are afoot to steal the relic. And a very tired and very fraught Professor Bernice Summerfield just stomped into town in the company of a mysterious traveller in space and time known only as Iris Wildthyme. Pitted against a sinister prophet, the machinations of the Imperial court, and hordes of animal undead, Benny finds herself embroiled in the final stages of an aeons-old plan to commit genocide twice over, with no way out.

◆ Prof. Bernice Summerfield

Lisa Bowerman does a great job in this little side-step from her main range.

Now that Benny is alone and can think for herself, she isn’t sure she actually wants to. Once more… she’s decided to steal Irving’s private shuttle (the one with the jacuzzi that he denies exists)! Running away? She doesn’t do much else these days. Iris thinks that the name Bernice is much prettier than Benny. She’s a shagged out, grumpy archaeologist that hasn’t had any sleep for six nights in a row… so you really shouldn’t mess with her. Benny just wants to stay alive, she’s got to, as she’s got a kid back home. After hearing that the bus could be “bigger on the inside” she suddenly realises that Iris is from Gallifrey and that the bus is her TARDIS! The penny finally drops.

◆ Iris Wildthyme

Katy Manning was someone I had the honour of meeting at EM Con 2022, and what a delightful human being she is! Her performance in ‘The Plague Herds of Excelis’ was marvellous – though I’m probably quite bias, given I adore the drunken old Time Lady she plays here.

Iris didn’t spring from nuclear war and Armageddon, she came on the bus. She’s convinced that one of the local barmen has a thing for her (deluded as ever, but that’s why we love you). Iris doesn’t just know the Doctor – she’s had him, and claims that he’s her fancy man!

◆ Story Recap

Hoping to avoid bumping into a giant fleet of spaceships, Benny lands her Collection shuttle on the nearby world of Artaris. This was once a beautiful, feudal planet, with a city that sat atop a great mountain… Excelis. That was all a long time ago, long before the whole planet was decimated by nuclear war and Armageddon.

The wrecked remnants of Excelis are rife with plague, and a mad prophet claims the sun is being eaten away from the sky. But this prophet is far from mad, and they’ve been waiting for a very long time to obtain the Ancient Relic of Excelis… waiting since the first time Iris visited the city, when the Fifth Doctor was also in town.

It’s the end of the world, but who will come out on top? And just who the Hell is Iris Wildthyme?

◆ Weakest of the Bunch

Stephen Cole scripts tend to be pretty hit or miss, and he definitely missed when discussing the actual plot of this adventure. Compared to the rest of the saga, it’s the weakest by a country mile: some guff about the sun being eaten, and the return of the Ancient Relic… which is actually one of Iris’s tatty old handbags!

Where this episode really stands out is the writing for our regulars. Benny and Iris spend most of the outing apart – which is a crying shame, might I add – but the scenes they spend together are just glorious! They’re both really well characterised too.

◆ Sound Design

David Darlington is once more handling the soundscape for this saga, and he does a rather brilliant job. The city is clinging to life with its bloody fingernails, and you can tell that everyone is getting quite desperate to survive.

Angry mobs shout at the governing body of Excelis. Proximity alarms blare inside of Brax’s private shuttle. Howling winds float through the barren nuclear wastelands of Artaris (I’m picturing the Red Zones from Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars). Iris makes a grand entrance, as she rams her bus through the centre of town! Zombie animals converge on the Palace of Excelis.

◆ Conclusion

“A handbag that is not of ordinary fabric and stitching!”

This episode can be judged from two different perspectives; either as an average Benny release, or as the joint weakest instalment of the ‘Excelis’ storyline.

Lisa Bowerman and Katy Manning work marvellously together – give us a full box set of Benny and Iris going on intergalactic pub crawls, and I will be quite the happy owl – but there really is nothing to this episode.