The Monthly Adventures #72 - "Terror Firma" by Joseph Lidster

I think I might be cursed. No really, I can’t seem to escape The Monthly Adventures at the moment. The first fifty are such an outwardly strong series of episodes with, admittedly quite a few duds, but enough variation and experimentation to keep it interesting. Here though, it’s just disappointment after disappointment. You might be wondering, “but Speechless, you’ve given this story an 8/10, what do you mean you’re disappointed?”. Well let me tell you a story folks; see, I’ve already listened to Terror Firma once before and then, I counted it amongst my favourite stories of all time. But on a relisten, not so much.

The Doctor, Charley and C’rizz have finally returned to the true universe, but they’ve not come back to friends. Stuck on a barren world with a bloodthirsty platoon of Daleks, the trio discover their reality to be much worse than once thought.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

In my review for the story Davros, I said “this is the absolute best [Davros] has ever been”. I was wrong. Terror Firma, written by the impeccable Joseph Lidster, stars a deranged, psychotic Davros as our main villain and apparently, Terry Molly actually went insane in the recording booth because he gives a… lets call it passionate performance. Even if you disagree that this is his best outing you have to agree it’s his scariest, Davros is an actual, insane, dangerous force who would kill you on the spot if he thought it reasonable.

And playing off Molloy stylishly is McGann in one of his absolute best performances; McGann can be very up and down for me, it depends on the story, but you can tell he was 100% invested in this one, every line he has with Davros is pure gold - though I suppose that can be attributed to Lidster.

Speaking of, how is the story? Lidster writes Terror Firma with style, keeping the energetic pace from The Rapture but putting it in a story with a good plot, the scenes overflowing into one another and intercutting in a way that makes them move across the soundscape like butter. There was almost a poetry to how this script flowed, which made it all the more sudden when it suddenly turns to one of the most f**ked up audios Big Finish has ever put out. It’s not quite The Holy Terror levels of 0 to 100 but it does go from a slightly comedic runaround to oh s**t, Davros has taken over the world and horrifically mutated its population into Dalek mutants! Yeah, the world kind of ends in this one but it works, the dark stuff here is genuinely impactful and works towards making me truly despise Davros by the end, which is exactly what the story wants.

However, I do have to say, I think the heel turn doesn’t work quite as well in this as it does in the aforementioned The Holy Terror, mostly because this audio is BIG on the melodrama. Characters are eccentric, the direction is bombastic and climactic moments are screamed rather than recited, it could work in a story that embraces it but in between all of the horrific, disturbing set pieces and it just makes the story lose cohesion.

Of course, if we’re talking negatives, we should bring up the most polarising element of Terror Firma - Samson and Gemma. Halfway through the audio, after some small hints and prods, it’s revealed that the characters of Samson and Gemma used to be the Doctor’s companions - just in an era we never got to see. I personally love this twist but I can see why it pushed some people away. I think Samson is written charismatically enough that I can get past it and honestly, he should’ve come back at some point, he’s a fun concept and a good character. Looking at TARDIS wiki, he only seems to show up in some short stories, so I guess we can put him with Liam from The Rapture as fun Joseph Lidster characters who never showed up again.

But what about our companions? This is Charley and C’rizz’s first time back in our universe, what are they up to? Well Charley’s doing, y’know, Charley stuff - running around after the Doctor and such - whereas C’rizz is dumped in a side plot that ends up going nowhere. This audio very much isn’t about these two, which is a shame because there’s a missed opportunity there, especially with C’rizz being in our universe for the first time. Well, actually, lizard boy does get a little bit of interesting stuff; it’s revealed that the religion he was a part of maybe did a bit of human sacrifice and C’rizz is technically a serial killer, with a hint at the end of him maybe “saving” the Doctor and Charley at some point down the line. If you think this is an interesting route to take the character, be prepared for disappointment. This is really where C’rizz starts to become wasted potential, basically amounting to cast filler up until his exit.

Whilst we’re on the subject, we should talk about that subplot C’rizz got because it turns into the absolute worst thing about Terror Firma. So, C’rizz - being an alien - is the perfect candidate for the new Dalek emperor and is very nearly turned into it before getting saved completely offscreen. Like, we see him put in the Dalek Emperor casing and then next time we see him, he’s been rescued. And this goes for the rest of the story too, there sort of isn’t a climax. Well there is one, we just don’t see it. I thought my phone had skipped a few tracks or something but no, the Doctor makes a deal with the Daleks offscreen, severs the link with Samson Davros has been using to track him offscreen and saves C’rizz from becoming a Dalek offscreen and then the story ends. Completely unengaging and disappointing, this is what really took the story down from great to just good for me because it was so utterly messy that it just reeks of behind the scenes issues; if there weren’t any, then I don’t know what the hell Lidster was on thinking this was a good idea.

It was sad coming back to Terror Firma and not loving it quite as much as I once did. That being said, it’s still a fantastic Dalek outing with some real style and thrills to it and Lidster does his thing with the character work wonderfully. Super dark, yeah, but it earns it and whilst the tone isn’t perfect, this is an impactful and scary script that I can confidently say is one of my favourite Dalek stories. Just a shame it’s not quite as big a favourite as it once was.

8/10

Pros:

+ My absolute favourite depiction of Davros

+ McGann gives on of his best performances ever

+ I really like Samson and the twist surrounding him

+ One of the darkest Doctor Who stories but it works

+ Incredible pace, flow and style

Cons:

- C’rizz is mostly trapped in a dull side plot

- Bizarrely melodramatic

- The entire conclusion just happens offscreen.

well, that was absolutely blood spectacular!! what a story!! the style it was presented in was so swift, and flowed like you were actually watching tv. honestly, everything about this story is perfect, grim, traditionally doctor who.

CHEFS KISS

MR 072: Terror Firma

The Doctor is irresponsible with his companions, the story. I mean, that's not necessarily out of place for the Doctor. They do tend to wander off and get into danger all the time. It's a necessary part of telling a Doctor Who story. However, he's kind of grossly negligent in this one. And not towards Charley and C'rizz.

We last left off with a cliffhanger that as soon as they got back into their universe, the Doctor, Charley, and C'rizz all encounter Davros and the Daleks. That was honestly the most interesting part of that story and it's just kind of funny here. It turns out they're on Earth, naturally, at some unspecified point in time where the Daleks have taken over. Davros has turned everyone on Earth into a Dalek, with a few holdouts. It's kind of a big deal in Earth's history.

We meet a couple of other characters: Samson and Gemma who are kind of wandering around here. Gemma is part of the resistance and Samson is... just here? I guess? And their mother is throwing parties on the surface above the Dalek base. Samson is not doing well, he knows what the TARDIS key is and has memories of the Doctor while Gemma turns out to be a Dalek duplicate.

The two of them apparently used to be the Doctor's companions before Charley, but Davros erased his memory of them and captured them. This was the negligent bit that kick started the whole story. The Doctor let them go off and explore a spaceship while he sat there and read a book, without scanning it or anything. I'm not sure why he would do that. Normally he's a helicopter parent, hovering over them and telling them not to run off or they'll sprain their ankle. Naturally Davros is on board and he captures them all.

Davros wants to take revenge for the whole blowing up Skarro thing in Revelation of the Daleks. So he makes Gemma a puppet and somehow links Samson's mind with the TARDIS so he can keep tabs on the Doctor at all times. And then he erased the Doctor's memory of them entirely. He then goes to Earth to destroy the Doctor's home and convert all the humans to Daleks after the Doctor destroyed his planet. I do like the link here with the first Eighth Doctor audio story, Storm Warning. The end of this story leads directly into the opening scene of that one. Cute.

The problem is that Samson and Gemma are just very generic as far as companions go. Might as well be Ben and Polly. They used to be librarians and they follow the Doctor into his TARDIS. I do like the little montage where they have sentient guitars attacking them, though. That was funny.

C'rizz goes with Gemma and joins the resistance, which are all actually Daleks intent on resisting Davros. They want to make C'rizz their emperor because he kills to keep himself alive. Apparently that's enough to make someone a Dalek? Sure, I guess. I do like the teaser here that C'rizz could become the emperor. This was put out in 2005 and the emperor had just been introduced on tv. They used the same voice as the one used on the show. So what if C'rizz really does become the emperor Dalek? Of course he doesn't, but it's an effective tease.

Charley is hanging out with Samson the whole story and the Doctor breaks his link with the TARDIS. Samson's mother was secretly part of the resistance and is kind of a badass as well. That doesn't really go anywhere though. The Doctor makes a deal with the Daleks that they leave. Davros gave the Doctor poison that would kill everything on the planet (making him question whether it's better for everyone to live as Daleks/Dalek duplicates) and so the Doctor uses that as blackmail to get all the Daleks to leave. I feel like they'd call his bluff there. This is not the Doctor that will press the double genocide button and this story isn't serious enough to consider it anyway.

Anyway, the Daleks leave and make Davros their emperor and then the Doctor leaves without a goodbye to Samson, someone he used to travel with. I feel like that was underutilized here. There should have been a little more emotional impact, more scenes between them. It's kind of just a plot point and not used for character work at all really. And then we get a little teaser about C'rizz talking to people he's killed, hinting that he's a psycopath and that's it.

I know I'm just describing the mechanics of this plot, but that's because I didn't really feel much emotional or character weight here. The story doesn't have a lot to say, just Davros being bent on revenge and the Doctor being a little moody. Nothing unusual for either of them. Just a very standard Davros story. The twist about Samson and Gemma having traveled with the Doctor before doesn't really add that much to the story I think. It's just another mechanic in Davros's revenge plan. The idea of Davros specifically using the Doctor's companions as part of his revenge is interesting, for sure, but the weight of it is let down by wiping the Doctor's memory of them. What's the point of the revenge, then, if the Doctor doesn't know what he's lost? Also, the Earth is completely devastated. There's only a few people on it now after all the Daleks left. Not sure when this story is supposed to take place, but good luck rebuilding it last of the humans.

SUCH A GOOD STORY I NEED MORE SAMSON GEMMA STORIES IN MY LIFE