‘CYCLE OF DESTRUCTION’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Return to ALARC for Mark Seven with the Tenth Doctor and Anya Kingdom

It’s time to venture back into the ‘Dalek Universe’ again! 🙂

After enjoying the stories in the first ‘Dalek Universe’ volume of ‘Doctor Who’, including ‘Buying Time’/’The Wrong Woman’ and ‘The House of Kingdom’, I was looking forward to checking out the second ‘Dalek Universe’ box set with David Tennant, Jane Slavin and Joe Sims playing the main leads.

The second ‘Dalek Universe’ box set continues the story of the Tenth Doctor being TARDIS-less and accompanied by his new companions Anya Kingdom and Mark Seven to find a way to thwart the Daleks and their efforts in the 41st century. This was turning out to be an epic season of adventures.

I had a sense that this wasn’t going to be a straight-forward season of ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish. And that’s not just with the Tenth Doctor being TARDIS-less in these stories. There was also a sense of there being twists and turns throughout each episode, especially for the main characters. 🙂

Anya Kingdom and Mark Seven aren’t traditional ‘Doctor Who’ companions that you’d normally find in the Big Finish audios. We have a sense of who Anya Kingdom is after she was revealed in ‘The Perfect Prisoners’, but there is still a sense of us as an audience getting to know her and her history.

This is clearly evident when we were introduced to one of her family members in ‘The House of Kingdom’ and how it’s revealed how she’s related to Sara Kingdom and Bret Vyon from ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. Mark Seven’s background is about to be unveiled, especially in where he came from. 🙂

The three episodes in the second ‘Dalek Universe’ box set are three standalone single-part stories. They include ‘Cycle of Destruction’ by Roy Gill, ‘The Trojan Dalek’ by John Dorney and ‘The Lost’ by Robert Valentine. All three episodes are directed by Ken Bentley. Would these episodes be good? 😐

The third story of the ‘Dalek Universe’ season called ‘Cycle of Destruction’ by Roy Gill continues where we left off at the end of ‘The House of Kingdom’ where Mark Seven was behaving quite oddly.

The Doctor and Anya wake up to find themselves on a strange planet before they venture out to find an isolated research base. This happens to be ALARC, the place where Mark Seven originated from. 🙂

I’ve come across Roy Gill as a ‘Doctor Who’ writer before. He’s written Big Finish audios like ‘The Creeping Death’ and ‘The Light Keepers’. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed his ‘Doctor Who’ writing.

I haven’t had much exposure to him as a ‘Doctor Who’ writer by this point, but he seems to give a good impression so far. He also delivers some decent ‘Doctor Who’ episodes when listening to them.

The case applies here and it’s interesting how he’s written the Tenth Doctor, Anya and Mark as a TARDIS trio. Mind you, I was quite baffled by the story’s conclusion and how things were resolved. 😐

This is especially when trying to understand the villain’s motives and what she was trying to achieve. I’m not sure if re-listening to this audio adventure a few more times might help me to understand it.

Despite that, I enjoyed the interaction between the Doctor, Anya and Mark in this audio story, especially when David Tennant, Jane Slavin and Joe Sims are performing their characters throughout.

It was intriguing to learn more about Mark Seven’s background, especially in terms of how he was raised up and why he left ALARC in the first place. There’s a flashback featuring him with Daleks in it.

Yes! Nicholas Briggs gets to voice the Daleks in this audio adventure, albeit in a flashback scene. Hopefully, we’ll have more proper scenes with Daleks in the present day in the next audio episode. 😀

It’s also interesting how it gets unveiled that there aren’t any humans working at the ALARC research base and that the Doctor and Anya are the only ones. Even the boss Crispin Torr wasn’t real in this.

The story’s guest cast includes Nina Toussaint-White as Mariah Six, who might be considered Mark Seven’s sister at ALARC. I’ve come across Nina Toussaint-White before in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series.

She played Mels in ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ with Matt Smith.  She’s also been in the Big Finish audio ‘Genetics of the Daleks’ with Tom Baker. I’ve met Nina at ‘Collectormania Glasgow’ in August 2012.

The character she plays here in ‘Cycle of Destruction’ is intriguing, especially when she expresses desires of freedom and how she had freed Mark Seven from ALARC on purpose in his origins phase. 🙂

Like I said, I’m not sure I fully understand the motives of Mariah Six as the episode’s villain and perhaps more than one listen of the episode could help. But Nina’s performance as Mariah is superb.

John Banks also appears in this audio adventure, playing two characters, including Crispin Torr and Jason Four. I’ve heard John Banks in numerous Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ over the years. 🙂

I’ve also met John Banks in real-life at ‘Big Finish Day 6’ in January 2015. He’s been in audio stories such as ‘Ghost Walk’, ‘Moonflesh’, ‘Heroes of Sontar’, ‘Kiss of Death’, ‘Rat Trap’ and so many more. 🙂

The story also features Avita Jay as Moran Kez, one of the androids that seems troubled about something. Avita Jay also plays Hera, who might be considered Mark Seven’s mother (if you will 🙂 ).

There are also bear-like creatures that become a threat in the episode, especially when Mariah Six is revealing her plans to the Doctor and company. I didn’t realise how significant they would be later on. 😐

It was amusing to hear the Doctor using 1970s references like the song ‘These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ to remind Anya of the other life she had when she was Ann Kelso. Unfortunately, the 1970s references don’t click for Anya. 😦

The episode ends with the Doctor, Anya and Mark about to continue searching for the scientist they need help from. The Doctor also gave Mark a hug instead of a kiss after what they had been through.

‘Cycle of Destruction’ has been an enjoyable if average episode to listen to in the ‘Dalek Universe’ season. It’s not awful, but a few mores listens might be required to understand the villain’s motives.

‘Cycle of Destruction’ rating – 7/10

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The previous story For the Tenth Doctor was ‘The House of Kingdom’ (Audio) For Anya was ‘The House of Kingdom’ (Audio) For Mark Seven was ‘The House of Kingdom’ (Audio) For the Daleks was ‘Mission to the Unknown’ (TV)	The next story For the Tenth Doctor is ‘The Trojan Dalek’ (Audio) For Anya is ‘The Trojan Dalek’ (Audio) For Mark Seven is ‘The Destroyers’ (TD) (Audio) ‘The Trojan Dalek’ (Audio) For the Daleks is ‘The Destroyers’ (TD) (Audio)
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