Sword of Orion

Im kinda generous with this score because im really an interesting setting kind of guy, if a story has a cool setting which i can picture while i listen, even if the story is a bit dull i can really enjoy it and sadly that is the case for this one, the market scenes at the beggining are really immersive but pretty much everything afterwards is a fuzz for me and i actually listened to the story like three times, they get on a ship alongside a crew and encounter cybermen (another reason why this story is rated a bit higher than it probably deserves, i love cybermen) a bit dissapointed by this story because it should ve been way better but the beggining and specially the final minutes are so cool to imagine that i cant just say its bad

18.05.2022
BFDW: The Monthly Adventures
e17: Sword of Orion

Dull and procedural. The main conflict is 1st-grader level and not even in the events of the story. The story in question is filler. The Doctor is dull, the companion could be cut from the story and nothing would change. Racism bad 1/5

MR 017: Sword of Orion

First use of the Cybermen... yaaaayyyyy..... Yeah, this one is fairly procedural. If you've ever seen a classic who Cyberman story, you've seen this. It's like Apocalypse Element and Genocide Machine, just standard Dalek faire that I checked out of. No surprise that Nick Briggs wrote both this and Mutant Phase, which was also pretty boring.

The Doctor and Charley go to a space station bazaar, which is definitely the most interesting sequence in the whole story... only to accidentally go onto a scrap ship that runs into a Cyberman ship. It turns out the captain of the scrap ship is a double agent in the Orion war between the humans and androids, who are trying to be treated as equals. The captain is secretly an android in disguise, looking to steal Cyberman conversion secrets to convert humans they capture in war.

It's not as interesting as it sounds. All of that comes out in the last twenty minutes. The rest of it is just by the books. There's a cybermat infiltrator and then there's a mutiny against the captain and then the Cybermen convert and mind control people ect ect ect. The bits that would make for an interesting story are not until the end, but by that point we no longer care.

It's a shame too because the idea of an android war is interesting. Like if Data from Star Trek inspired a revolution rather than tried to work legally for android rights. Ah well.

I do like seeing Charley adapting so well and so immediately to travel, though. Charley is from the early 20th century and here she is on a space station and space ship and she rides in a hovercar and she doesn't miss a beat. She adapts incredibly well, even arguing for android rights for a hot minute at the end. That's a great characterization for her as this person who has such a wanderlust that she's willing to just accept whatever. That's why we love her.

HOW IN THE HELL DID I NOT LIKE THIS ONE THAT MUCH?

The Monthly Adventures #017 - "Sword of Orion" by Nicholas Briggs

Nicholas Briggs seems to have a brand of story. Good ideas using established things from the show (Gallifrey, Daleks, Cybermen) and then writing a story void of any substance to include these ideas. There is so unbelievably little in Sword of Orion to talk about it’s genuinely impressive. I am surprised this story lasts two hours. It is fine, I don’t dislike pretty much anything here, but I also do not care about one bit of it. Not sure what I can talk about, let’s just get into it.

Exploring the grungier side of space travel, the Doctor and Charley are pulled into a fated expedition into a derelict, where the remnants of a far off war and an old enemy prepare to collide.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

This is going to be a really short one, so we’ll just begin. Nicholas Briggs is a writer whose actual writing, what’s physically on the page, is fine. The narrative is simple but works (most of the time), the dialogue sounds genuine, the characters are believable, his stories just lack substance. The one thing he seems to truly excel at is worldbuilding, his worlds all feel vast and real and it is easily my favourite thing about Sword of Orion. In the first part, we get a small section of Eight and Charley exploring a futuristic bazaar and it’s by far the best sequence. The sounds, the characters, the places we go to, the ideas we come across. It’s a world I can get invested in and once we get on the ship where we spend a majority of our time, we’re still getting bits and pieces of lore, like the war between Androids and Humans that incites the whole plot. It’s most interesting when it’s feeding us bits and pieces through characters like undercover-android Deeva, who I will mention as being the only interesting member of the cast. Usually I don’t just highlight one character but she is literally the only one I can remember the name of.

And that’s not a joke, there are about five more characters filling out the side cast, I am convinced they are all just the same person. I think one was called Ike, not sure about the rest. The elephant in the room I do have to mention is that this is the Cybermen’s first appearance in the Main Range. They do nothing. Absolutely nothing, they wander around a ship for four parts as the plot goes on around them. A lot more could’ve been done with them for their debut and we’ll have to wait until Spare Parts for a better story. Other than that, I really don’t know what to say. There have been a few stories like this, such as The Mutant Phase - also by Briggs - that just feel devoid of substance. There is nothing in the story I frankly want to talk about, it’s all fine or forgettable. And I can’t even bash that, I enjoyed it, simply because there was nothing for me to like or dislike.

Sword of Orion was about as fine as a story can get. Creating a pros and cons list for something like this story is especially hard because every element I’d usually highlight’s just in the middle somewhere. I can’t rate it that low because I didn’t dislike listening to it, but definitely not something you’d regret skipping.

5/10

Pros:

+ Great worldbuilding, loved the glimpses of future society

+ Deeva stood out as the one interesting member of the side cast

Cons:

- Sidecast made almost entirely of near identical characters

- The Cybermen are underutilised and a non-entity

- Void of any substance

If you're going to skip any of the Eighth Doctor's run, skip this one. It does basically nothing new with the Cyberman, and despite being fairly simple and boring, I still found it confusing at times. There are too many side characters, which appears to be a reoccurring theme in these early audios, and we don't spend enough time with any one of them to garner an emotional reaction when they inevitably die. Even the Doctor and Charlie seem completely unaffected by their deaths.

It has a nice message, but that's basically it's only redeeming quality, and other stories have done it better. It's not horrible and I didn't hate listening to it; it's just not really worth the time.

somebody LIED to me and said this story was boring and skippable. instead, it turned out to be a perfectly serviceable spooky cyberman jaunt. the worldbuilding is especially notable here, taking the Doctor and Charley from a bustling market on an interstellar backwater to a grungy old garbage-collection ship. you can really feel the rust-caked, creaking, shoddy, unglamorous side of space travel here, far from a bright sparkling future, it's grim and realistic - misogyny, petty crime, smuggling, espionage abound. and, like all the best cyberman stories, it's affirming of what it means to be human, or, in this case, the idea that 'humanity' is neither innate nor permanent. you can take on the mantle of humanity with all the sacrifice that entails, or you can relinquish it. or you could stop angsting and put the kettle on

Doctor Who – The Monthly Adventures

#017. Sword of Orion ~ 9/10

◆ An Introduction

Full disclosure: I used to absolutely despise this adventure. I used to slag it off constantly, and was absolutely dreading the thought of listening to it again for this review. Whilst I think one of my complaints still stands – which we will get to – my opinion has drastically changed on this one.

Without further ado, let’s dive into ‘Sword of Orion’!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The human race is locked in deadly combat with the 'Android Hordes' in the Orion System. Light years from the front line, the Doctor and Charley arrive to sample the dubious delights of a galactic backwater, little suspecting that the consequences of the Orion War might reach them there. But High Command's lust for victory knows no bounds.

Trapped aboard a mysterious derelict star destroyer, the Doctor and Charley find themselves facing summary execution. But this is only the beginning of their troubles. The real danger has yet to awaken.

Until, somewhere in the dark recesses of the Garazone System, the Cybermen receive the signal for reactivation…

◆ The Eighth Doctor

Paul McGann delivers a really good performance in ‘Sword of Orion’.

The Doctor believes that there is no better place than the Garazone Bazaar for finding ancient remedies and mystical tongues.

◆ Charley Pollard

India Fisher does a marvellous job in this adventure.

Charley tries her hardest to find someone at the Bazaar who is an expert on Vortisaurs, but instead finds herself coming face-to-face with an alien pervert; luckily, our Edwardian Adventuress wont take anyone’s crap… so punches him straight in the face! She is convinced that the Garazone Bazaar is a den of inequity. Her reaction to the anti-gravity pads is utterly charming: one of the great advantages of having a companion from the 1930s. Charley can’t understand why humanity doesn’t treat the Orion Androids with some respect, especially since they were made to be intelligent beings.

◆ Silver Shadows

I don’t think anyone will disagree with me when I say that quite a few people hated how JNT used the Cybermen, especially their appearance alongside the Seventh Doctor: they looked completely ridiculous in ‘Silver Nemesis’! The Cybermen are meant to be cold and ruthless: the true tyrants of logic and progress, but they just lacked that fear factor come the Wilderness Years.

‘Sword of Orion’ fixes that by having the Cybermen keep to the background until the halfway mark; having them lurk in the shadows of this gigantic and cold star-destroyer. You can hear them throughout the first two parts, but we don’t come face to face with a single one of them for a while… and I love that!

Briggsy really keeps you on your toes, making sure you’re completely unprepared for when the Cyberman reveals itself – speaking of which, this story would actually make for a really good atmospheric horror game, along the same lines as Alien Isolation.

◆ The Orion War

Androids had become commonplace in the Earth Empire by the late 25th century, but were viewed as an under-class by humanity. In 2495, the androids finally had enough and initiated a mass exodus to the relatively unused Orion system. They set up their own society and government, allowing human beings to reside there only if they accepted android rule. The Earth Empire were less than impressed and decided to attack: the event which kick-started the Orion War.

Eight years later, during the events of this adventure, the Earth Empire have sent agent Deeva Jansen to retrieve apparently abandoned Cyber-Technology from one of the Cybermen’s old star-destroyers. By this point, the Orion War had reached a stalemate, and both sides saw the benefits of repurposing old Cyber-Tech… but Agent Jansen just so happens to be an Orion Android double agent!

It’s a really interesting story, and I’m happy to hear that the conflict is only expanded upon in the ‘Cyberman’ spin-off series (which I got as a Christmas present, and now cannot wait to dive into).

◆ Lacking Character

My only real gripe with this adventure is that it’s severely lacking in character development for our regulars. This fact is made all the worse by having ‘Sword of Orion’ be Charley’s first trip aboard the TARDIS: realistically, we should be spending this outing getting to know her more (I have similar complaints when it comes to both C’rizz and Hex).

◆ Sound Design

Nowadays, it’s very rare for Briggsy to be so involved with a release – considering he likes to flash his creative director badge at every opportunity – but there’s no denying that his sound design for this adventure was impeccable. The Cybermen’s abandoned star-destroyer conjures up a terrifying and claustrophobic atmosphere.

Ramsay lets out a sickly whine from deep inside the TARDIS. A crackly news broadcast aboard the Silver Jackal gives information on the Orion War. A bleeping radar signals the appearance of the abandoned star-destroyer. The destroyer’s airlock depressurises; the voices of the Jackal’s crew are muffled by space-suit helmets. The sound of creaking metal echoes across the destroyer, alongside things going bang in the dark. The electronic roar of a recently revived Cyberman, accompanied by the sound of a recently fired blaster. The Garazone Bazaar is a hive of activity; dogs bark and alien horses clop around the marketplace, whilst an electronic advertisement can be heard faintly playing in the background. Punters bustle about the place, doing dodgy deals with the Bazaar’s many traders. Vibrations from inside the walls of the Vanguard signal its jump into Hyperspace. Kelsey is beaten to death by a Cyberman in quite the violent cliffhanger! Fizzing cables aboard the Vanguard, turned to molten copper and plastic by a Cybermat. The voice of the Cybermen in this story is extremely similar to that of the ‘Earthshock’ era ones, albeit more robotic and synthesised. The bleeping of a Cybermat, scuttling around the Vanguard. Cracking ice, as the Cyber-Leader is brought out of hibernation. The Cyber-conversion process sounds utterly horrifying, especially its effects on the Vanguard’s crew. The Ion Storm shakes the star-destroyer to its core, setting all kinds of alarms off in the process.

◆ Conclusion

“WHY HAS MY REVIVAL BEEN DELAYED?”

I was particularly harsh on ‘Sword of Orion’ the first time round, but it’s genuinely much better than I remember. A moody horror piece that pays homage to classics, such as the original Alien film. Perhaps its biggest achievement, though, is making the Cybermen feel frightening again!

Briggsy’s post-production work makes all the difference to this adventure. Ominous and isolating, it could give some of the best survival horror games a run for their money!

Despite its dire lack of character development, ‘Sword of Orion’ is a superbly atmospheric piece that will have you gripping the edge of your seat. Don’t let people tell you this one is garbage.

This was a fun and well-made take on the base under siege type of Doctor Who stories. I liked the characters and the danger that the Cybermen presented themselves without it relying on sheer numbers but rather just having their threat carefully built up over the course of the audio. Charley and the Doctor were both great here, but I enjoyed Deeva's character too. It really felt like they did a good job with giving her a bit of a redemption arc without dragging things out too much, either. Overall I think this is a nicely balanced Eighth Doctor entry, even if it isn't the most memorable story in the world, either.

✅68%

😃Good!

👍🏼Recommended!

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

RETURN OF THE CYBERMEN!

The opening episode has a pretty tense atmosphere; you feel that you are in deep space. At the same time, it brings you to the heat of action with Eight and Charley in top form. They already support each other like old friends, and it's lovely to listen to!

The writing here and the soundscapes are so sharp that you get a great feel for the spaceship setting, the dangers inside, and the crew members.

The Sword of Orion creates an unsettling mystery with a wider connection to the War of Orion, a recurring event in the Main Range. This becomes something of a Wheel in Space of Tomb of the Cybermen for Eight, with a pretty good scope and an action-packed latter half. The plotting can be a bit confusing at times, and it's not very easy to keep track of the various guest actors.

I love the very quick Cyberman reveal at the end of Part 1. I also like the classic style Cybermen used here, with deep mechanical voices. Their presence is effectively felt throughout, even if they aren't actively involved until the latter half.

The last part keeps up the tension and action and throws in an intriguing final twist.