The Brink of Death

That’s the beauty of improvising: sometimes, things can go right.

The Sixth Doctor

Synopsis

The Doctor and Mel face the final confrontation with the Valeyard – and the Doctor must make the ultimate sacrifice.

Review

With The Brink of Death, we finally reach the conclusion of the Sixth Doctor’s life. The four stories in this box set have jumped around the Doctor’s time line as we have seen events from the Valeyard’s point of view. This has meant that we have jumped around companions, but we were always heading for a story with Melanie Bush at the end to tie into the events of Time and the Rani.

I hope the footprint I leave will be light but apposite.

It’s far from being all over.

The Sixth Doctor and the Seventh Doctor

Nicholas Briggs has the task of tying the story threads together, and does so with some style. The Brink of Death is a bit of a different regeneration story, and certainly feels a bit more complex than certainly the modern ones. I’ve listened to this box set several times since its release, however, this was the first time I’d heard it since watching The Trial of a Time Lord. I think that my enjoyment of this story has substantially increased. I understood the importance of the Matrix this time, as well as the true extent of the Valeyard’s villainy. The Valeyard plans to use the Nathemus to take over the Matrix and inhabit every Time Lord, setting his scope at Rassilon. Using a device picked up from the Red House, along with the experiments conducted at Jago’s theatre, it’s a complete storyline through the box set which does cohere really nicely.

I’ve lived a good life, by and large.

Oh, please spare me the…

Why should I? You didn’t intend to spare me.

The Sixth Doctor and the Valeyard

It’s rather delightful to have the Valeyard replace the Doctor and have him travel around masquerading him. Jayston seems to revel in this opportunity. Plotting to take over all the Time Lords, and using the Doctor and his TARDIS to do so is the ultimate slap in the face to his foe. Michael Jayston’s voice lends a massive sense of doom and portent and his laugh is really sinister, especially when he reveals himself to have taken the form of first Commander Storin, and then Genesta. The Brink of Death is a fine send off for the Valeyard too. I know that there is another Valeyard story in the Time War, but this feels like a definitive end against his main antagonist.

If there is one element that doesn’t work well, it is probably Mel. Mel has to be here to tie into the existing footage of the Sixth Doctor’s regeneration, but the story doesn’t have a lot to do. She is paired up with the Valeyard for most of the story, but even he discards her. I think this would impact the story even more if Genesta, the Time Lord engineer sent to a ruined space station by the Celestial Intervention Agency was not as well played by Liz White. Genesta certainly falls more into the companion role in this story. She is a kindred spirit to the Doctor, having run away on a field trip to Earth and spent several years there. Briggs also leaves us with a mystery: the character eventually turns out to be the Valeyard, begging the question at what point this happened and whether she ever existed to begin with. Big Finish leave this ambiguous, for the listener to decide.

What about your precious moral scruples?

They died with me.

The Valeyard and the Sixth Doctor

Colin Baker really shines in what is his final story. It is almost ironic that a Doctor who gets put on trial by his own people ultimately gives up his life to save them from the Valeyard’s machinations. The script has a lot of really good lines for Baker to sink his teeth into and he does so with real relish. His condemnation of the Valeyard and his budding relationship with Genesta are particular highlights of this story. It struck me whilst writing this review that the Sixth Doctor sacrifices himself to save the Time Lords. Considering how the Time Lords have treated this particular incarnation of the Doctor, it shows quite how far he has developed.

Verdict: The Brink of Death, and The Last Adventure in general, are the send off that the Sixth Doctor deserves. 8/10

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush), Michael Jayston (The Valeyard), Liz White (Genesta), Robbie Stevens (Coordinator Storin/Nathemus 1), Susan Earnshaw (Lorelas/Nathemus 2) and Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor).

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Director: Nicholas Briggs

Music and Sound Design: Howard Carter

Release Date: 17th August 2015

Behind the Scenes

• This story depicts the events leading up to the regeneration from the Sixth to the Seventh Doctors for the first time in a performed medium with the original actors. They had previously been shown in the novel Spiral Scratch.
• This makes the Sixth Doctor the second Doctor to have the circumstances behind his regeneration explained in spin-off media after the Second Doctor, which was set out in the comic Night Walkers.
• Colin Baker, along with Paul McGann are the two Doctors to return for their regeneration after several years after they moved on from the role.
• The story bears a resemblance to the original ending of The Ultimate Foe pitched by Eric Saward, which would have seen the Doctor and Valeyard battling into the Matrix, which was rejected by producer John Nathan-Turner.

Cast Notes

• Liz White played Alice in The Snowmen.
• Robbie Stevens has appeared in a number of Big Finish audio plays, including We Are The Daleks, The Peterloo Massacre and The Helliax Rift.

Best Quote

Suffice it to say, I did something a bit like your trip to Yorkshire, except on a rather bigger scale.

You mean you travelled to London?

To London and beyond.

The Sixth Doctor and Genesta

Previous Sixth Doctor review: Stage Fright

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