1 episode. Approx. 19 minutes. Written by: James Moran. Directed by: Nicholas Briggs, Ken Bentley. Produced by: Nicholas Briggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery. Performed by: Sophie Aldred.
THE PLOT
The Doctor delays a trip to a relaxing ocean planet to investigate a top-secret research lab on the planet Talalias. The planet is in the midst of a devastating world war, and while the Doctor would normally stay out of the conflict, he has concerns about the weapons being created in the laboratory. He impersonates a government official and learns that an experimental implosion device has switched itself on. If it isn't stopped, it will not only destroy the research lab, but all life for miles around.
Despite his outrage at the weapon's existence, the Doctor agrees to help disarm it. When he and Ace begin seeing what appear to be ghosts, however, he begins to suspect that the destructive power of this bomb has been sorely underestimated...
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: The story's largest problem is the characterization of the Doctor. There are flashes of the quirky Seventh Doctor's better traits; he tells Ace to let him do the talking, and when she points out that doing so got them into trouble, he blithely replies that she won't make that mistake again. But mostly, we get a generic, rather self-important Doctor who enjoys making speeches at seemingly the drop of a hat. I'll talk more about that below, but I will observe that the Doctor's characterization ends up being the story's worst single element.
The Doctor: The story's largest problem is the characterization of the Doctor. There are flashes of the quirky Seventh Doctor's better traits; he tells Ace to let him do the talking, and when she points out that doing so got them into trouble, he blithely replies that she won't make that mistake again. But mostly, we get a generic, rather self-important Doctor who enjoys making speeches at seemingly the drop of a hat. I'll talk more about that below, but I will observe that the Doctor's characterization ends up being the story's worst single element.
Ace: Is better-captured than the Doctor, though some of that is probably thanks to Sophie Aldred making her lines work within her character. Ace is horrified by the prospect of the bomb, and the Doctor has to remind her that they are there in the guise of government officials who would already know about it (though he starts into his own speech-making all of five minutes later). Ace's recollections of how she once short-circuited a radio provide the Doctor with the ultimate solution. Her reward is for the Doctor to once again bypass the ocean planet he's been promising her in favor of another problem planet.
THOUGHTS
In contrast to many of Big Finish's audio Short Trips, Critical Mass feels like a complete story. With a script by television veteran James Moran (The Fires of Pompeii), it benefits from a strong structure. It has a contained setting and limited characters, allowing it to be properly developed within the 19-minute running time. It provides high stakes for solving the problem, and plants obstacles for the Doctor and Ace to overcome. There is even a reasonably convincing solution to the problem. Based strictly on a summary, Moran's story looks like a winner.
In practice, it is completely undone by the relentless preachiness. Did you know that weapons of mass destruction are bad? If you didn't, let this story tell you how bad they are. And then tell you some more. And then remind you just a bit more. Ace is morally outraged; the Doctor is morally outraged; the Doctor makes a speech, and then makes another. By the end, I'm almost wishing for the bomb to go off just to shut them all up!
Don't get me wrong, the Doctor should be appalled by the weapon. But it would be more effective if his disapproval was a quiet attitude, only voiced directly at the end. When he grumbles about how he has a half a mind to let the bomb go off - killing millions of civilians along with the scientists who created it - he stops being sympathetic right there and then.
Worst is the story's ending. The Doctor pretends that he failed to disarm the bomb, simply so that the scientists and maintenance people in the room will have a few seconds of terror before he reveals that he was successful after all. This is meant to be an object lesson in how very bad their work is. Because if he can convince this roomful of scientists that Weapons of Mass Destruction Are Bad (mm'kay...), then there is no possibility that such a weapon could ever be created again... Say, by any of the doubtless many scientists not in that room, under orders from the government officials who would have approved this project in the first place. The Doctor is meant to come across as the voice of morality. Instead, he comes across as a sanctimonious ass.
Overall Rating: 2/10.
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