Trouble in Paradise.

1 episode. Approx. 75 minutes. Written by: Nev Fountain. Directed by: John Ainsworth. Produced by: John Ainsworth. Performed by: Nicola Bryant, Cameron Stewart.


THE PLOT

The Sixth Doctor receives a message from his Eleventh incarnation, telling him that he needs to collect an omniparadox, a space-time event caused by the collision of time, and store its energy in the TARDIS, or else the universe will cease to exist. The Doctor follows his future self's directions and materializes in the hold of the Santa Maria, the lead ship of explorer Christopher Columbus (Cameron Stewart)'s famous expedition. It is 1492, and Columbus has just discovered the West Indies.

Columbus mistakes the Doctor and Peri for island natives... That is, until Peri falls overboard and a storm appears that signals the end of the universe. When the Doctor is able to stave off the storm using equipment from the TARDIS, Columbus realizes that he is far more than some strange medicine man. But when Columbus realizes that the Doctor is an explorer whose voyages make his expeditions pale into nothingness, he resolves to put an end to this imagined competition in the most final way possible: By killing the Doctor!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Any Sixth Doctor audio that doesn't feature Colin Baker is going to struggle against that. Nicola Bryant is game, but her Sixth Doctor never feels like the real thing (oddly, her Eleventh Doctor is bang on). Fortunately, the script does a solid job bringing the Doctor to life. He's excited at the thought of meeting Christopher Columbus, a notable figure in world history - but he quickly recognizes that the man Columbus is a far cry from the myth. He remains protective of his companion, feeling desolate when he fears she may be lost at one point... But once reunited with Peri, he can't help but get some digs in about how a goat makes a perfect substitute for her. Points to the script for the very funny image of the Doctor holding up a goat that has swallowed the TARDIS key and using the animal to unlock the time ship.

Peri: About a third of the way through the story, her brain falls out. There's no other explanation for her petulant temper tantrum when the Doctor balks at the thought of curing a man with a disease that should be incurable in 1492. She doesn't just try to persuade him to ignore the Web of Time - She has an absolute meltdown, screaming at him about how he would let her die for not being important. Um, how many times has he saved your life now, Peri? Including once at the cost of his previous life? I understand that the demands of the plot require the loss of the TARDIS key and Peri being separated from the Doctor. But this entire argument is too shrill to convince, even for this most fractious of TARDIS teams. Later in the story, Peri reflects that she had only intended to make a point and that things simply got out of hand... But that feels like a weak attempt to paper over a bit that the writer knows doesn't actually work.

Christopher Columbus: A complete prat: Egotistical, avaricious, and arguably sociopathic... All of which lines up entirely too well with most historical accounts. At one point early in the story, Peri recites some specifics of Columbus' brutal treatment of the natives - a list which barely scratches the ugly surface. Cameron Stewart voices him with an affected accent, emphasizing his arrogance. This might make him into a comedy character, except that he maintains his blase manner even when threatening to cut off the Doctor's hands or when resolving to kill the Doctor. That this almost comedic speech style is undisturbed when contemplating torture and murder tips him from funny to frightening, and is well-played by both script and actor.


THOUGHTS

Trouble in Paradise is a Nev Fountain story. Those who have heard Omega, Peri and the Piscon Paradox, and - most particularly - The Kingmaker will have a good idea of what to expect: Sharp wit, clever plot turns, and iconoclastic treatment of significant figures.

The figure here is Christopher Columbus. At this point, enough is very publicly available about his darker deeds that those adults who still insist on viewing him as a Great Hero are doing so out of willful blindness. Fountain's script takes care to point out that even by the standards of his day, some of his acts were considered appalling by the government that sponsored him. Suffice it to say, those who cling to a schoolboy view of The Great Christopher Columbus are unlikely to enjoy this story at all.

For everyone else, this is a fast-paced, entertaining story. Fountain incorporates the two-voice format of the Destiny of the Doctor range into his story structure. The main body of the story is read by Nicola Bryant, with Cameron Stewart performing the roles of Columbus and the Bovin, the alien of the week. But every major story beat is separated by an entry from Columbus' diary, in which the explorer gives his very egocentric view of the unfolding events. The diary entries are the source of much of the story's humor, as Columbus invariably puts events within the context of what will be best for his reputation or self-preservation.

The story's weakness is that, after the plot moves from Columbus' ship to the island, it loses some of its early texture.  Columbus' ship is brought to life in a way that the island simply isn't.  The story compensates for this with an audacious (and quite funny) final Act that sees multiple versions of the time-traveling Bovin confronting itself while the hapless Columbus looks on. Even so, the island scenes have a generic feeling that is a disappointment after the strong shipbound ones.

This, coupled with the weak characterization of Peri, keeps this from matching the best of the Destiny of the Doctor range. Still, it's a fast-paced, clever, and engaging story, one that's well worth a listen.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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