Scaredy Cat

Principles should be seen and not heard.

Eunis Flood

Synopsis

Yaranaa – it means literally, the soul of the vengeful – those whose lives have been cut short early and died with empty hearts.

Millennia ago, the people of the planet Caludaar pledged never to set foot on their sister planet Endarra. But what secrets does the planet hold? There are laws even the Doctor won’t break. And while C’rizz learns that some tragedies can’t be averted, Charley must decide who the enemy actually is.

For death walks on Endarra, and this time she won’t be denied.

Review

The news of the television show’s return in 2003 threw Big Finish’s plans for the Eighth Doctor into disarray. Keen not to have this Doctor, the most recent one that had been seen on screen, to be as accessible as possible, it curtailed the Divergent Universe arc to allow for a jumping on point with this incarnation returned to the main universe. This obviously had an impact on the planned storylines that they had for a third block.

I think that Scaredy Cat really shows this. The fact that there are four parts, but none of them reach the 25-minute mark, it seems to betray that this story was heavily edited down to remove aspects possibly related to that continued arc. Ultimately it feels as though it has been edited to remove the plot progression in the Divergent arc, but then no one has gone in to think about what could be put in to replace it. The cliffhangers don’t really make much sense and I felt that they were forced into the story out of necessity rather than anything organically arising from the story.

That might make you think that Scaredy Cat doesn’t really have any ideas or anything to say, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Will Shindler poses questions and ideas throughout the story that he doesn’t seem too confident about answering or resolving any of them. The story seems to want to focus on the nature of evil and whether or not there is anything that can be done to rectify this. There are also more interesting ideas on the concepts of beauty and parallel evolution and development, but it feels as though the writer Will Shindler doesn’t really write any of these ideas with any real conviction and that causes the story to suffer massively. Consequently, the idea that the story presses ahead with a new planet and scientists experimenting on the native’s life seems uninteresting by comparison. It takes a lot to manage to make a story that lasts an hour and a quarter feel as though it is dragging, but that is certainly something that I felt while listening to Scaredy Cat.

The guest cast manages to be utterly forgettable, which is also part of the problem. Of any of them, Eunis Flood does make an impression as the piece’s villain, but he feels like he’s walked in from playing Hannibal Lecter. I feel that I must say that the performance of Linda Bartram stands out for all the wrong reasons, as her character is meant to be a child but never convinced as such, which further detracts from the immersion of the story. Otherwise, I could not have told you the names of any other character in this story. I feel as though a lot of this is due to the fact that they don’t really get any development beyond the fact that their experiments are unethical. It is, sadly, another element that suffers from the shorter run time, as even the regulars don’t get very much to do here either. If the story does not have time to give

I’ve seen a lot of other reviews of Scaredy Cat state that Paul McGann, India Fisher and Conrad Westmaas sound particularly bored here. I think to lay the fault for this solely at the door of the actors is perhaps a bit unfair as they aren’t given enough to do and can hardly be seen to have enough to do to get their teeth into. I understand how it may seem as though the actors are on autopilot, but they rarely get anything that really furthers their characters. C’rizz, perhaps, gets an insight into the Doctor not interfering in history when they go back in time, however, doesn’t really seem to learn from this and ultimately, the fact that he gives out medicine doesn’t change anything in the story. Charley draws the short straw and has the least to do except be menaced by Flood. McGann only really sounds energised by the script when he’s talking about the blue tits, and this is possibly the most Doctor-ish piece of dialogue he is given. Perhaps Scaredy Cat‘s biggest flaw is that it doesn’t really feel like a Doctor Who story at all.

Verdict: Scaredy Cat somehow manages to outstay its welcome despite a truncated run time. The story does not feel like it knows what it is trying to say or do and does not give any of the characters much to do either. 2/10

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charley Pollard), Conrad Westmaas (C’rizz), Michael Chance (Eunis Flood), Arthur Bostrom (Arken), Spencer McLaren (Bronik), Rosalind Blessed (Niah), Ellis Pike (Eldrin) & Linda Bartram (Galayana).

Writer: Will Shindler

Director: Nigel Fairs

Producer: Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery

Composer: Andy Hardwick

Parts: 4

Main Range Release Number: 75

Release Date: October 2005

Behind the Scenes

• Producer Gary Russell’s original intention was for this story to take place in the Divergent Universe, however, this story arc was cut short when the television show was revived so as not to alienate new listeners.
• This is the shortest four-part story in the Main Range with a run time of 1 hour and 13 minutes.

Cast Notes

• Michael Chance has also appeared in Catch-1782 and Previously, Next Time (The Eighth Doctor: Time War.

Best Quote

You’re playing God on an unknown world – time to pay the piper, I’d say.

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