Back in 1999, when Doctor Who was not on the air, a rather unusual enterprise took off: a fan-based company, Big Finish Productions, received the rights to produce audio Doctor Who stories using any of the Doctors which had, by that time, appeared on screen (Doctors 1-8). They were able to get original actors from the show to be willing to do these audios, making them something more than a typical fan-based enterprise. Originally, the stories came out once every other month, but with their success, they quickly were able to speed things up and produce several stories a month. To be sure, the stories have been hit and miss in their value– quantity does not mean quality. But there have been some great stories, and these classics make the whole range worthwhile (as with the fact that many authors of the new television series, and David Tennant the 10th Doctor, were involved with the audio range and were recruited in part because of their work with these stories). Some of the audios are written to take advantage of the fact that they were audios not being shown on television (for example, one story takes place in the dark for much of the adventure). One which could be said to be in that category (though probably it could be done on television) is the classic Doctor Who and the Pirates (click here for an audio preview).
The (sixth) Doctor’s companion, Evelyn Smythe, a former history professor, found out that one of her students, Sally, is about to take her life. Sally, as it turns out, had just had an accident, driving too fast on ice, and in that accident, her love in life was killed. Sally blamed herself for his death because she was driving recklessly. She just can’t accept what happened. She thinks that the only way out of her sense of guilt is to kill herself. As a means of convincing Sally to push on, Evelyn shows up at her door, and forces her way in to her place so as to tell her a story – a story about her latest adventure with the Doctor, a story which is about pirates. What we get next is Evelyn’s story (eventually added to by the Doctor himself), with Sally sometimes breaking up the narrative, wondering what Evelyn is doing (and not believing her about the Doctor and his time machine), and the eventual revelation of Evelyn’s own mistake which connects her with Sally. Evelyn shows her that even though stories do not always have happy endings, one must be able to move on and not be burdened by one’s mistakes. One must be willing to accept forgiveness.
This audio adventure is many things at once, as there are many stories taking place within it. While the narration of the pirate adventure is often humorous, revealing the unreliable nature of the narrators (Evelyn and the Doctor), the overall story is a very serious one dealing with the value of life and the need to accept forgiveness in order to find peace with oneself. The whole story within a story narration provides a very post-modern approach to narration, and shows us how this approach can be used to deal with real-life issues and provide meaning to tragedy in a way a positivistic “realism” cannot. The humor, despite the fact some of it requires knowledge of Doctor Who and its rich history, for the most part can be appreciated by the general audience, because it follows with and uses caricatures of pirates as a means of telling the story. It’s genuinely over-the-top, and yet behind all the bluster, we are given a story which we can make out of all the false-starts, fake events, and purposeful misrepresentation of the facts. We are shown why narration can be riddled with errors even when telling a “true story.” We must look beyond the words to the spirit behind the words to get to that story.
As a Catholic looking to this story, I highly appreciate its take on life as well as to reconciliation. Though it does not give us a sacramental level of forgiveness, we must be open to forgiveness, to reconciliation, and this story helps present to us why.
While radio stories might not be for everyone, I highly recommend this audio story. If you know Doctor Who and like it at all, this is one of the best introductions to the Big Finish range (it is not the best story, but it is in the top ten). You can buy a download version here, or you can order it here.
5/5 stars.
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