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Trapped on a dying world, the Doctor and Charley come face-to-face
with those responsible for the war to end all wars, while
C'rizz tries to understand what has happened. Powerful forces
are at work on Bortresoye that not even a nuclear holocaust
can tame...
Following
the religious parody that was last month's Faith
Stealer, The Last offers up its own
brand of social commentary, with this grim depiction of a
world ravaged by an atomic bomb.
The
matter of death - and how we deal with it - is at the heart
of Gary Hopkins' script. In addition to the obvious horror
and futility of mutually assured destruction (which is not
quite as topical these days as it was back in the 1950s to
the '80s), the narrative also touches on the tricky topic
of euthanasia. The Doctor (Paul McGann) has to face death
in a way that he's never faced it before. Allusions made during
early scenes to former travelling companions who came to sticky
ends are more than mere self-indulgent continuity references:
they remind us that the Time Lord hasn't always won, nor has
he always managed to save those closest to him. The events
that befall the current team of travellers fail to convince
the listener of their permanency, but Hopkins' effort is commendable.
There
are some lighter moments amid all the doom and gloom, especially
towards the beginning of the story, courtesy of the bickering
Bortresoye politicians Voss (Ian Brooker) and Tralfinial (Robert
Hines) and their staggeringly self-centred leader Excelsior
(Carolyn Jones). But these early moments of levity only serve
to emphasise the horrors that are yet to come. In particular,
Excelsior's lofty detachment from the plight of her subjects
and her obsession with her own appearance and well-being are
set-ups for some unspeakable acts later on.
The
Last certainly lives up to its name, in that it lasts
and lasts... and lasts. At 140 minutes, this is a very long
story, equivalent to six 25-minute episodes, and the narrative
does seem to drag on a bit at times.
This
is an atmospheric and unsettling tale, but it goes on for
too long.
Richard
McGinlay
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