I kind of feel odd repeating the sentence “another return to the Lost Stories range” at this point, it seems it’s just constantly back just with a very reduced schedule. At least this time we have an actual legitimately “lost story” as this was pitched for Season 26 and at least partially written for Season 27, even cited to be Sylvester McCoy’s regeneration story (though that obviously doesn’t happen here…) Why it wasn’t included in the “Season 27” set of Lost Stories ages ago I don’t know, but is it any better than those mostly poor stories? Well…
The story kicks off with The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) in the middle of running away from deadly creatures and only escaping via a river of snot, something Ace is not too pleased about when they get back to the TARDIS. As a way to make it up to her The Doctor decides to take her to Alixion, a moon that has become a top-class spa, though his insistence that she not drink the galaxy-famous cordial immediately rings alarm bells in Ace’s head. She’s soon proven right at both her and The Doctor begin hearing voices and being shown memories they really don’t want to remember, like Ace seemingly burning down a corner shop belonging to the lovely Mr. Patel (Shri Patel) due to the rising racial tensions of the late 80s, and The Doctor trying to stop an interstellar war but only causing more death. These flashbacks are woven into the plot in a rather haphazard way, with Episode 2 in particular being a bit hard to follow, but it was still very Season 26 to focus so much on Ace’s backstory. While this is happening Ace is trying to help a man called Larkin (Jon Edgley Bond) find his daughter Isabelle (Ali Bastia) who is just one of many people who checked into the spa but never checked out again, but The Doctor is instead insisting they just leave.
There is one friendly voice in their heads though, belonging to someone called Colin (Shri Patel as well, doing a less stereotypical accent!) who tries to guide them though the catacombs of the spa moon. You see, the moon is infested with a rare type of beetle that thanks in-part to the effects of the cordial can control your mind, and as it turns out everyone is already under the influence, the spa guide Mathilda (Beverley Longhurst) seemingly acting as the voice of the Queen Beetle and even Larkin is fully under control, though he did send his daughter away before completely falling under the spell. Soon Ace is captured and The Doctor seemingly abandons her to her fate…
Originally this was a three-parter, so why writer Robin Mukherjee decided to add a fourth episode thirty-odd years later I have no idea, it really didn’t need it. Good chunks of the middle episodes are repeated flashbacks or walking around caves with Colin giving them guidance, it could’ve easily been condensed into one episode to make the three. Ah well…
The Continuity:
A good cover at least, better than the mostly white original Season 27 Lost Stories ones anyway…
Not much, really. I can think of plenty of TV, Audio and Comic DW stories that start in a spa or holiday resort and then it turns out something evil is working behind the scenes, so that’s not really specific enough to work here. I guess the Tenth Doctor TV story “Turn Left” features a beetle-like alien that latches on to you and manipulates your brain… that’ll do!
Overall Thoughts:
Alixion was an… interesting story. I did like some ideas and the focus on Ace and her early life was good and very in-keeping with the time period, but I found it really dull in the end, to the point where I had to re-listen to the some bits when I realised my attention had drifted so much I didn’t understand something that was happening, and that basically NEVER happens with these full cast audios. I can’t say it was bad, but I won’t be listening again, which I guess allows this to fit right in with the other Season 27 Audio Lost Stories, sadly…
Thanks to the advice from Colin Ace manages to essentially throw the mental influence back at her captors and convince the drones that freeing her will make the Queen happy. As she does that The Doctor tracks down Isabelle and actually brings her back to Alixion to try and pull Larkin out of it, but it doesn’t work. The Doctor is soon captured and we find out that not only have a lot of a memories been fictionalised (so no, Ace didn’t burn down a corner shop due to racial hatred, in fact quite the opposite!) but also that the “Queen Beetle” and the main psychic driving force of everything was the moon itself, making it a universe-threatening being.
The Doctor manages to do the old trick of using his own vast grief and Time Lord brainwaves to give the “Queen” a taste of her own medicine and “overload” it, destroying itself in the process. The Doctor is soon freed by Ace, who uses the same trick she used to free herself to free him, and then they escape along with Isabelle, who has to watch her father give his life for his beloved Queen. A short while later The Doctor and Ace meet Colin, who ends up being a Time… damn, the name escapes me, but some sort of small Time Elf thing that lives in between the folds of reality, or something, and who got caught by the Queen’s power but is now free. Back in the TARDIS Ace confronts The Doctor and he confirms that he knew all along what was happening on Alixion and went there to stop it, putting himself and Ace in danger, even admitting he didn’t really know if he’d be able to win, just that he felt like he had to try. A good example of the manipulating Seventh Doctor that rears its ugly head from time to time…
Hogan Reviews 