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A thousand years ago, the legendary Cult of the Dark Flame
infiltrated every star system in the galaxy. But for some,
the evil flame still burns. On a lifeless planet, an archaeologist
and his robot uncover a dangerous relic of the Cult...
Way back in 1985, Michael Praed was the arch enemy of Doctor
Who, since his Robin of Sherwood series was regularly
stealing viewers from Colin Baker's Doctor. So it's kind of
appropriate that he should now play one of the Time Lord's
adversaries in this audio adventure. Praed affects a guttural
tone of voice and is appropriately sinister as Professor Slyde
(for Slyde, read "snide"), and there is never any doubt that
he will prove to be a bad guy.
But
what of the main source of evil, the titular Dark Flame, which
manifests itself in this tale? Does the concept of an ancient
force of darkness from another dimension, which is resurrected
on an apparently dead world, sound familiar at all? If you
have read Fear of the Dark, January's Doctor Who
novel from BBC Books, then it should, because pretty much
the same thing happened in that story too. What makes the
repetition even more inexcusable is that The Dark Flame
is written by the very same author, Trevor Baxendale.
I
was also a little concerned about the name of a C3PO-style
snooty robot (played by Steven Wickham), but his inclusion
here turns out to be a deliberate move.
As
a fan of Virgin Books' much-missed New Adventures novels,
it's good to hear the Big Finish team taking another side
step into that world (their previous such excursion was The
Shadow of the Scourge). Lisa Bowerman is as witty as ever
as Bernice Summerfield, readily exchanging banter with the
villains. She does mispronounce "Ogron", though - shame on
you!
This
story isn't as enjoyable as The Shadow of the Scourge,
but it will still fan the flames of many a fan's passions.
Richard
McGinlay
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