“The Stuff of Legend” is an odd one in that it was more conceived as a live show experience than a traditional release, though this version I listened to was a simple studio recorded version before they “took it on tour”. That means it doesn’t fit into a range or anything, it’s just a two-hour Eighth Doctor and Charley story featuring the Alex Macqueen Master… which is honestly good enough for me as I love all of those things! It also has the Daleks, which can be good or bad at this point, and some pretty generic supporting characters… So basically the story isn’t breaking any new ground at any point, but it’s fun enough. Let’s take a look!
The story opens with The Doctor (Paul McGann) and Charley (India Fisher) arriving in a small Cornish village on November 23rd 1963 (because why not, I guess…) and getting swept up in news of a series of disappearances and rumours fairytale creature “The Bucca” and of mines coming back to life despite being shut for many years. All this exposition is all delivered by our supporting cast: visiting folklore expert Emily Barnfather (Nisha Nayar), diehard sceptic and heavy-Caribbean-accented small boat captain Montgomerie Césaire (Jason Forbes) and local barman and ex-miner Foley (Barnaby Edwards, at least I think it was Foley, might have been Jory played by George Naylor… it’s been a day or two…), who of course believes all the rumours. It’s a fun little set of extras, though I could’ve done without part of the episode being narrated by an elderly Emily (played by Annette Badland) as that just means Emily now has no sense of jeopardy for the whole story, which when you know The Doctor and his companion are also not in jeopardy then it really starts to reduce the tension!
The Doctor, Charley and Emily head to a large mansion to meet a folklore expert that Emily had arranged to meet with but he too had gone missing, his butler Mr. Penrose (Also Barnaby Edwards) being the only one remaining in the house, but upon walking around they find a hidden passage that leads down into the old mine. The trio of course head down to investigate and find the missing people not only working in the mines but having been turned into Robomen by The Daleks, who soon give chase to our trio. The Doctor gets separated and meets The Bucca (voiced by Annette Badland, just to give her more to do I guess!) who tries to warn him about an evil man, while Charley and Emily end up in a cavern where the Penrose arrives and point them in the direction of a trapped man who they’re told is the folklore expert Emily wished to meet, but upon releasing him we immediately recognise him as The Master (Alex Macqueen), who is of course planning to use the power of the Bucca to gain dominance over a large part of time and/or space but was trapped by the being instead (a rather more angry and evil sounding Bucca at that).
Great cover! Check out that Special Weap… I mean, Special Drill Dalek!
Funnily enough though he had no idea the Daleks were here either, as they’d arrived since he’d been frozen, and when The Doctor turns up its all the more frustrating for him. While this is all happening by the way, the Captain and the ex-miner barman head down to the mines as well, and find the dead robo-tised body of the barman’s old friend, but otherwise they just take up airtime trying to out-stereotype each other. Everyone meets up and soon The Master shows them all his hideout but when The Daleks comes knocking everyone escapes apart from Penrose, who’s killed, and The Master, though he isn’t killed thanks to some quick thinking, and most importantly, talking…
Like I said, it’s a fun enough story. It’s great to hear the Macqueen Master again, and going up against a less cynical, more upbeat Eighth Doctor is a delight, the two bounce off each other really well. Just don’t go into it expecting to be surprised by plot twists!
The Continuity:
Oddly this isn’t the first time the Eighth Doctor has met both the Macqueen Master and the Daleks in a single story as that mix of elements first appeared in the Dark Eyes sub-series, starting with “Time’s Horizon”. Charley mentions this isn’t her first time meeting the Daleks either, as she met them during the audio story “The Time of the Daleks” that at least helps in placing this story in her timeline!
Beyond The Doctor referencing being in Cornwall during the time of Captain Pike in his past being a reference to First Doctor (entirely missing) TV story “The Smugglers”, that’s it!
Overall Thoughts:
“The Stuff of Legend” is a perfectly fine story, throwing The Doctor and Charley in with the Macqueen Master and The Daleks could’ve easily been element overload but instead it was directed into a safe but entertaining plot. Some of the extras were a little too bare-bones and stereotypical, and I didn’t like the elderly Emily narrating events, but overall I did enjoy my two hours with the story.
The Master convinces The Daleks he can use the power of the Bucca, they work together but The Master betrays them, meanwhile The Doctor finds out the angry Bucca The Master met and the friendly one he met are actually two halves of the same creature and so as The Master uses his machine to cannibalise them of their power The Doctor instructs them to reform into a complete being again, which they do and then proceed to destroy the machine and all the Daleks in the area. The Doctor, Charley, all the supporting cast and The Master all escape, but before they can keep the latter in chains he escapes in the mansion’s grandfather clock, which is of course is his TARDIS.
Oh and then we get The Doctor and Charley arriving to meet the elderly Emily to ask for her help again, to give the old woman a nice ending after spending the whole story reminiscing about the one time in her life things were exciting…
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