Rapid Reviews - Doctor Who: The Excelis Story

I don't really watch much Doctor Who anymore. Although I found my husband thanks to the show, it doesn't have nearly the pull on me that it used to have. Still, hubby-Eric is still enthralled and I encourage him to buy the books and audio adventures. And every once in a great while, like on a 2000 mile road trip, I take the time to listen to the audios.

For our trip this year, hubby-Eric picked a story-arc that started with the fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison, continued with the sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker, and finished with the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. The special guest star for all three adventures was Anthony Stewart Head, better known to me as Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

In addition, former Doctor Who companion actress Katy Manning played the role of Iris Wildthyme in the first adventure then returned for a bookend fourth adventure which didn't include the Doctor at all, but instead featured Professor Bernice Summerfield (played by Lisa Bowerman, who had a small role in the original Doctor Who TV series but is now best known in fandom as the voice of Bernice).

Doctor Who: Excelis Dawns: This adventure, about 100 minutes long and spread over two CDs, is basically a romp. The Doctor stumbles into an adventure with a bloodthirsty warlord on a developing planet, which is then complicated by the appearance of another time traveller and a quest for a holy relic. Peter Davison sounds older, but it was nice to hear him again and Iris was just a riot to listen to. Anthony Stewart Head does a fine job as a roaring warlord whose answer to any problem is to hack it with his sword. All in all, quite a cool story.

Doctor Who: Excelis Rising: A thousand years after the fifth Doctor first visited the planet Artaris, the sixth Doctor arrives at a museum in the city of Excelis only to find the same old warlord still alive and working as a police investigator. In an adventure that swings between murder mystery and standard Who fare, the problem of the holy relic and the ancient warlord is apparently solved. This one is simply neat, but it helps a LOT if you already enjoy the sixth Doctor. ASH starts to sound more like Giles in this one and when you put this together with the other two you get a sense of his range as a voice actor. While all of them are undeniably the same character, you can feel the weight of the years coming through in his voice.

Doctor Who: Excelis Decays: As is usual with seventh Doctor stories, this one is much darker and depressing than the others. In fact, when you consider what happens at the end of this story, you have to wonder if this really is the same Doctor that we liked so much from the TV series. Anyway, the performances were fine, with ASH putting in a less sane appearance here that is distinct from his first two portrayals. Sylvester is... Sylvester. I'd give this one a higher rating if it weren't so depressing.

Professor Bernice Summerfield and The Plague Herds of Excelis: Just when you think it's safe to go back to Artaris... this story doesn't involve the Doctor at all, but it does feature the return of Iris Wildthyme and her goofy TARDIS. Benny, just looking for a good place to get a stiff drink, gets involved in the final stages of the history of the city of Excelis. In this story we learn what the deal was in the first story with Iris and the nuns, and we learn why the relic actually ended up where it ended up. We also get to hear Lisa Bowerman and Katy Manning chew the non-existent scenery. I would gladly get some more Iris/Benny tales just to hear the two of them ripping up the universe together! While the story isn't perfect, the voice actors are, and I give this one a strong recommendation, but only if you've listened to the first three tales.

Many thanks to The Doctor Who Reference Guide for jogging my memory for some of these stories.