Getting a new Eight Doctor and Charley story is always special for me, they were the lead duo I loved listening to when I first got into Big Finish Doctor Who audio, but I have to say this next story in “Classic Doctors, New Monsters: The Stuff of Nightmares” was disappointing. I get where they went with it and it was well written and performed but I just didn’t get on with it for most of its runtime… Want to know more? Read on!
“If I Should Die Before I Wake” is pretty much a two hander (something Paul McGann and India Fisher are quite used to at this point!) and mostly comprises of The Doctor telling a story that features Charley in a classic legend involving the likes of the Minotaur, Cerberus or a Hydra, that sort of thing, and each story The Doctor is trying to kill Charley off in the hopes the shock of fake death will wake her up because he knows they’re in a dream induced by the Kantrofarri (or Dream Crabs!) and that the three “Fates” nearby are weaving a tapestry that will depict the ultimate and final fate of Charley, so if she doesn’t wake up in time it’ll be too late. Even upon hearing that Charley keeps altering each story by having her avoid death, normally involving string to find her way out of a problem, as she’s afraid that if she dies in the dream she’ll die in real life.
That’s pretty much your one hour runtime! It starts off interesting in a “where are they going with this?” way but you soon realise that this is all they’re doing with it and it starts to get old, no matter how good our two leads are, and they are, McGann and Fisher still have great chemistry even after all these years. Still disappointing though and definitely not enough story to pad out an hour.
The Continuity:
Just realised they needed to give McGann longer hair here. I understand the “not sure if we have the rights to the TV Movie images any more” issue but they normally cover that by putting longer hair on the recent McGann pics… Oh well, at least they got the costume right!
The only real continuity is the titular New Monster in the Dream Crabs, which first appeared in Twelfth Doctor Christmas Story “Last Christmas” and also appeared in the previous story in this boxset “Together in Eclectic Dreams”, which also features the Eighth Doctor presumably from this story. It explains how he was aware of the Kantrofarri enough to try and get Charley out of the dream, he figured it out alongside side Sixth self earlier…
Overall Thoughts:
“If I Should Die Before I Wake” had a good premise at its core and great performances from its two cast members but it got old after a couple of stories and that’s all the story is! A disappointing way for the Doctor and Charley to return and by far the least interesting story in the boxset. It’s just lucky it was so well acted!
In the end The Doctor figures out that it’s not Charley’s fate the Fates are weaving but his own, and the shock of his “death” wakes him up. He then he follows a string trail (like Charley had been using in most of her stories) to find Charley and free her from the Dream Crabs. They then fly to the TARDIS on Harpy wings, leaving Charley to assume they’re still in a dream but it’s left ambiguous… though let’s face it, they’re probably still dreaming…
Hogan Reviews 