MR 071: The Council of Nicaea

We do love our historical settings with this group don't we? This is the fourth historical setting we've had with them. I was expecting more of the usual with it. Changing history is bad in and of itself. The usual nonsense. It is there but it does a little more than usual to try to justify it. And more besides. This one caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was.

Honestly I don't know why the Doctor keeps going to these major historical events if he's going to get all pissy about changing them. Especially this one who is especially touchy about it. He should just go back to Gallifrey and never time travel at all for risk of contaminating his precious history he cares so much about.

The actual Council of Nicaea was the settlement of a dispute about the divinity of Jesus. Arius is a priest who rejects the idea of the trinity and thus believes that Jesus is created by God and not actually God. This, naturally, is tearing the church apart. It's a precarious time for the church too, because Constantine, the emperor, has just adopted Christianity which in and of itself could tear the empire apart religiously. Never mind just the Christian church.

Erimem meets Arius who tells her and Peri about his beliefs. I really LOVE Peri's response to Arius here. She laughs and doesn't see how this is important in the slightest. How could people get so upset over little religious differences like this? I wish we lived in a world where people didn't care about religion, but here we are. Erimem sees Arius as a persecuted minority who will not be allowed to speak on his behalf and so takes up his cause.

This is where some of that changing history stuff comes in. At least the Doctor attempts to justify this a little. Changing the council of nicaea will have reverberations for thousands of years to come. However long Christianity lasts. Personally I don't really care if Christians believe in the divinity of Jesus or not. The church has done terrible things down through history. But there's no real getting rid of the church from this point. Either way it will continue from the council.

Erimem is determined to help Arius but the Doctor will throw her out and leave her here because he's an asshole I guess. Except not really because that was just a cliffhanger. I'm honestly just over the Fifth Doctor's attitudes towards time travel and history at this point.

It is interesting how this is Erimem's future. So of course she doesn't know or care about whatever bs history justification the Doctor is yapping about. It's not history for her. History doesn't exist when you're a time traveler. Every time is the past, present, and future because you can always go to it.

The Doctor manages to get an invitation to the council, bumping into the emperor by accident as he does with historical figures. And then they go, but Erimem stands up and yells for Arius which causes a whole scene and then she gets thrown out. This was pretty wild. She's doing what she believes is right and she continues to do so.

Erimem drives the plot here. She fights against Constantine and even starts to doubt that Peri and the Doctor are her friends. Since they're working with Constantine to try to find her. Peri accidentally leads the Emperor's centurians right to Arius. The twists and turns here are interesting to listen to. The bishops are also at play here as the chief opponent to Arius is doing his own the with his own spy/assassin. Erimem even manages to stir up enough support for Arius to make a public demonstration in front of the palace.

Constantine responds to this demonstration by actually going out himself and talking with the protestors, which was a pretty great climax. After the bishop wanted to send out the soldiers. Constantine essentially explains that he doesn't necessarily care which way the church rules, as long as it's unified. A fractured church will fracture the empire. As will eventually happen with Orthodox Christianity, but that's another story. The bishops will rule on it and seeing how much support Arius has might help to influence them.

That's enough for Erimem. Arius still loses the debate though and gets exiled, which is what happened in our own history. So once again we don't have to confront the implications of changing history. Still, it's a very well done story. Finally someone standing up against the Doctor’s whole changing history is bad shtick. And what better character to do it with than Erimem? She doesn't care about that, she has her morals and she'll stick to them. And she does. She doesn't back down at all and she ultimately does get Arius a fair hearing. He still loses, but at least he was heard out. I quite enjoy seeing Erimem butting up against this Doctor. She's like my advocate in these stories and I'm here for it.

Eis aqui uma exímia obra prima que nos insere a um pedaço muito importante da história do Cristianismo - O Concílio de Niceia foi de extrema importância para o seu futuro, realizado no ano de 325 DC foi o primeiro evento promovido pela Igreja a discutir a fé cristã. O principal objetivo da convocação feita pelo imperador romano Constantino I era a criação de um consenso entre os representantes da instituição acerca da natureza divina de Jesus Cristo. Felizmente a escritora Caroline Symcox não segue as tendências do gênero “pseudo-histórico” que geralmente apresenta uma intervenção alienígena tentando mudar o curso da história ou algo parecido, muita das vezes visto como a uma repetição bem clichê. É fascinante como seu roteiro acaba sendo uma exploração fantástica dos conceitos teológicos cristãos da época e como eles eram vistos e afetados pela vida de todos, desde a classe dominante até os plebeus e leigos nas ruas permitindo com que cada personagem examine e siga seus próprios pontos de vista. Sendo assim temos aqui uma ideia repetida porem muito bem aplicada e inspirada no arco “The Aztecs” em termos de mensagem e ritmo. O mesmo embate ocorrido pelo 1° Doctor e Barbara acontece com o 5° Doctor e Erimem - Sendo do Antigo Egito a companion não sabe nada sobre o Cristianismo e assume o papel de Barbara Wright impulsionada pelo seu senso de justiça, Erimem se vê determinada em ajudar nos acontecimentos e se volta aos interesses dos 'hereges' liderados pelo presbítero Ário. Como conhecimento sabemos que os Livros de História nos dizem que Ário perde o debate e futuramente será exilado. Com uma postura de não intervenção, o 5° Doctor se vê na missão de impedir que sua companion mude o curso da história, assim é criado todo um conflito entre os dois personagens que facilmente se torna o fator mais interessante de seu enredo. É importante destacar que a escritora teve todo um cuidado em apresentar de forma parcial o pensamento de cada um dos lados envolvidos nesse conflito de ideias, ambos apresentam debates recebendo bastante tempo para apresentar seu caso e se posicionar de forma independente fazendo um contraste de um com o outro. Devo também trazer os destaques já rotineiros a todo trabalho de áudio e efeitos sonoros da BIG FINISH, novamente triunfando no sentindo imersivo tendo cada um de seus personagens e figuras históricas muito bem reproduzidos e interpretados apresentando uma excelente performance de seu cast. Em resumo, cada pedaço e linha de fala de seu enredo maravilhosamente muito bem escrito por Caroline Symcox vale como ouro, além de naturalmente um “puro-histórico” trazer com si relatos baseados em um rico conhecimento, ele também acaba sendo uma obra profundamente reflexiva em relação ao assunto abordado – Esse e os demais pontos positivos destacados anteriormente, são os principais agentes que tornar The Council Of Nicaea um dos melhores áudios já produzidos pela BIG FINISH.

The 5th Doctor, Peri and Erimem arrive in Nicaea at the time of a council meeting to thrash out two opposing views of Jesus’ divinity. Erimem meets Arius, a presbyter whose views on Christ are being called heretical and are the main reason the council has been called by the Roman Emperor, Constantine. Erimem feels that Arius is not being given a fair chance to have his views heard and, despite the Doctor’s protestations, plans to aid Arius’ cause and give him a voice at the council. This threatens to derail the course of history and the Doctor and Peri do their best to convince Erimem she is wrong to interfere. With much coming and going and falling in and out of favour with the Emperor, Erimem is at last able to see she may have misjudged the situation but her actions allow Arius some exposure. Ultimately, though, history returns to it’s normal course which will see Arius exiled when his views are decreed as heretical.

This is an interesting story and one which seems both typical and atypical of the series at the same time. A story involving characters wishing to change the course of history is nothing new. Nor, for that matter is a period of history which, despite its far reaching consequences, is little known. The series had already visited a similarly obscure period in The Massacre.

But the subject matter of this story feels atypical as it explores a very definite history of Christianity. Religion – at least real life religion – has been, understandably shied away from in the main series. To have the Doctor so obviously knowledgeable in the Bible and of Christianity’s torturous history seems slightly out of place for an alien Time Lord – although if any Doctor was going to be chosen for this story, the 5th definitely fits.
Conversely, I also found it odd that Erimem was described as ‘not religious’ by Peri coming from a world where religion would have been a cornerstone of the culture. Interesting, though, are Peri’s reminisces of being ‘dragged’ to church by her mum.

All of this adds up to an examination of a subject which Doctor Who is rarely brave enough to explore. It’s something I welcome, as a Christian myself, and I am aware that Caroline Symcox, the writer, is a student of theology and, I believe, an ordained minister. With the overt Buddhism of Barry Lett’s penned stories, it is a welcome balance of the religious playing field.

However, the debate about Christ’s divinity is played out quite matter-of-factly and the real core of this adventure is the dissent amongst the TARDIS crew and Erimem’s determination to do what she feels is right. This is a real character piece for Erimem and Caroline Morris is excellent in the role.

The Council of Nicaea is another strong audio for this TARDIS team and they are supported by a very good guest cast, particularly David Bamber as Constantine. Neither a hero or a villain, he behaves as a reasonable, yet ruthless, Emperor should. It is stated that he has killed in the past (or at least had killings ordered) and that he is not afraid to do away with people who betray his trust or threaten his position. But equally, as the climax shows, he is a brilliant orator who is able to command attention with his words alone and, ultimately, just wants a peaceful resolution to the argument that is dividing the church.

All told, however, this is a well paced if simple tale which makes a pivotal historical event the backdrop to a involving exploration of Erimem’s character.

In terms of history we have the usual centurions and swords present and correct in all Roman Empire stories, we have the Emperor and a variety of other real historical figures, including Constantine’s wife, Fausta (including mention of her eventual murder at the hands of Constantine when he steams her to death in her bath!), the aforementioned Arius and his main opponent (and ultimate victor) Athanasius.

There are references to Christianity’s position in the world at this time and Erimem makes the observation that this is the closest they’ve ever been to her time (although they are still nearly 2000 years out!). That said, though, her Egyptian heritage is perfectly common in the cosmopolitan society hinted at here – at least with the variety of countries and cities represented at the council.

There is good sound design depicting wooden doors with latches and the sounds of mobs tearing through the streets of Nicaea but, aside from this, there is little other detail of Roman times with the story far more focussed on the religious argument and Erimem’s ‘crusade’.

What makes a refreshing change is that the hoary old chestnut of ‘slavery is bad’ doesn’t even sniff around the heels of this story.

Looking back at what I’ve written here, I realise I’ve rambled slightly more than usual! I think it’s because this tale is both simple and unusual, complex and straightforward; depending from what angle you look at it.

Without doubt though it is one of Big Finish’s best scripts, contains some of Big Finish’s best performances and is easily one of this TARDIS team’s best adventures – which is a closely fought contest

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Three's A Crowd

While the stories of this run as a whole have been mixed, the historicals have not. Each historical so far has been excellent and this is no exception, in fact, it's probably the best. This kind of story has been done before, with a companion wanting to change history and the Doctor forbidding it but for some reason it feels different with Erimem. Perhaps it's because this history is in her future or perhaps it's down to Caroline Morris's incredible performance. Either way, it makes this story feel truly exceptional.

It's a gripping tale about politics intertwining with religion and a great character piece for Erimem. THIS is how you do character development, not throwing random traumatic experiences at a character until one sticks. The Doctor is very interestingly explored here with his tendency towards non-interference. Obviously this goes against Erimem's core beliefs and it sets up a very unique story where the companion is working against the Doctor and vice versa. Peter Davison is fantastic here.

Nicola Bryant as Peri is also really great, her friendship with Erimem is really tested and she's tricked into betraying her which leads to an equally outstanding performace. I have to praise David Bamber as the Emperor, his voice commands authority and he doesn't devolve into a caricature of an Emperor who always locks people up or executes them.

The actual plot itself is so simple and yet so magnificent, you're left on the edge of your seat the whole time as various conspiracies unfold and revolts begin. It's all tied up really satisfyingly aswell and I'm excited to see where the character of Erimem goes from now on.  Overall, it's probably my favourite pure historical since The Romans and a great outing for everyone involved.

Next Story: The Kingmaker