The Transcendence of Ephros

To me, he was simply the Master!

Mother Finsey

Synopsis

The Doctor and Jo arrive on the dying planet Ephros, where Galactux Power Inc is exploiting the world’s remaining resources. But something is stirring beneath the surface…

Review

The success of the first set of Third Doctor Adventures led to a small change of direction for the range. Gone is the need for a narrator and instead, new Third Doctor Tim Treloar feels much more accepted.

I have no intention of dying until tomorrow, Doctor, and I have no intention of you dying full stop.

Temper

Guy Adams has written a story that absolutely fits in with the Third Doctor’s television era. The story takes aim at false religions and beliefs, whilst also having a corporation in the shape of Galactux, who are partially responsible for events on Ephros. The Doctor and Jo encounter the followers of Sortan, who believe that they are about to ascend to the next stage of life, due to take place the next day, and followed by people like Temper, and seemingly Mother Finsey. The story is very easy to visualise; a bleak quarry and the space station sets are undoubtedly what Adams was visualising when writing this story. This story features a masterful piece of misdirection. It does appear to be setting up a standard story of corporate greed, until it is revealed that something much more nefarious and deadly than that. Rather than being concerned with the extraction sphere and Galactux wanting to harvest the energy of the planet when it is destroyed, the real evil is actually found in a seemingly benevolent woman.

Mother Finsey is an interesting example of the way that the Master can be included without recasting Roger Delgado, which is something that Big Finish have been rather reluctant to do. Jon Culshaw has played him in a handful of appearances, mostly as cameos. The Master is such an important character in the Third Doctor’s run, and Guy Adams has created a character that allows us to explore what he gets up to when he’s away from the Doctor. Mother Finsey’s relationship with the Master stands as a mirror to that between the Third Doctor and Jo Grant, although it’s difficult to imagine the Doctor and Jo fighting and one of them blinding the other. Richenda Carey plays a marvellous villain, as well as disguising her ill intent, and feels extremely trustworthy. Finsey has gone around creating religions, believing them to be a very lucrative scheme, with the latest being Sortan. Mother Finsey has brought Throxian Lavaworms onto the planet, who will eventually destroy the planet.

The story does feature a small but perfectly well rounded guest cast. Bernard Holley plays the boss of the Galactux mission, Karswell with a sense of real sense of authority. At times, Holley feels as though he goes a bit too large, but that didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the story. Simon Bubb gives Temper a sense of humanity and, in giving his character a young child makes his death in the final part of the story have real emotional resonance. Nigel Peever and Karen Henson are good too as the employees of Galactux with differing views on what they are there to achieve.

Well, if you don’t like seeing the universe…

I love seeing it, it’s just that I’m slighly tired of bits of it trying to kill me.

The Third Doctor and Jo Grant

Tim Treloar continues his fine work as the Third Doctor in this story. Freed from the necessity of narration duties in this story allows him to deliver more of a rounded performance than in the previous boxset. Treloar’s Doctor is uncanningly like Pertwee’s, especially when indignant. There are genuinely moments where you forget that you aren’t listening to the original Third Doctor. This is a story where the Doctor has to kill the worms destroying the planet, but cannot bring himself to do so. Treloar embodies the internal conflict well, as he knows what is right is directly at odds with his own morals.

It is rather remarkable when you listen to Tim Treloar and Katy Manning that you never get the sense that this isn’t Manning acting opposite her original Doctor. That is testament to the chemistry between both actors and no doubt a lot of hard work on both theirs and the production team’s behalf. Their first scene in this story felt as though it could have been lifted from a deleted scene from the 1970s, and the dynamic throughout this story is superb. Manning is also good in her scenes away from the Doctor, especially with Karen Henson and Richenda Carey.

Verdict: The Transcendence of Ephros is a solid story that evokes the feeling of a Third Doctor television story. 8/10

Cast: Tim Treloar (The Doctor), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Simon Bubb (Temper/Follower 1), Richenda Carey (Mother Finsey), Bernard Holley (Karswell), Nigel Peever (Quail/Deputy) and Karen Henson (Bartram/Follower 2).

Writer: Guy Adams

Director: Nicholas Briggs

Producer: David Richardson

Music and Sound Design: Nigel Fairs

Release Date: 3 November 2016

Parts: 4

Behind the Scenes

• The story gives a name to the President of Earth that the Doctor met in Frontier in Space.

Cast Notes

• Simon Bubb also appeared in the Fourth Doctor audio story The Perfect Prisoners.
• Richenda Carey also appeared in Plague of the Daleks and Kingdom of Lies. She has also recently reprised the role of Mother Finsey in The Last Day.
• Bernard Holley played Peter Haydon in The Tomb of the Cybermen and Axos in The Claws of Axos. He reprised both roles for Big Finish in Return to Telos and The Feast of Axos.
• Karen Henson also appeared in the Big Finish stories The Apocalypse Element, The Fires of Vulcan and 1963: The Space Race.

Best Quote

Look at you all. You could have lived, you could have put all this energy and excitement into living, into the here and now, but no, now’s not enough, is it? It’s just what might come later that’s important.

Jo Grant

Previous Third Doctor review: The Havoc of Empires

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