"Dust Breeding (from Big Finish)" Published in CT Number 286
Dust Breeding, the name itself inspires a dark and brooding play. The cover on the CD even more so, with an outer space setting and a planet composed of dust, and an image of a deadly-looking alien encased in that dust.
Were these impressions wrong? No, but impressions are rarely accurate in this play. The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) travel to Duchamps 331, so the Doctor can steal a painting (so the Doctor does break laws other than the Time Laws (see what I did there?)) They arrive on this dust-ball amid a derelict fuel-station, and a dead body. They explore the rest of the dust-ball and discover … not a lot. Save for a portrait of The Scream by Edvard Munch. Yet even this piece of impressionism is not what it seems, hidden behind it is an alien power, the Warp Core (no, not the Star Trek one) that is about to be awoken. Bev Tarrent (Louise Falkner) makes a welcome return to the story, as do the Daleks. Or do they? We hear rumours of “Dalek Madness” which is causing the strange Dalekesque screaming sounds on the CD, yet the Daleks themselves do not appear, which is an impression this story sets and quickly dispels. Instead another old enemy does appear.
The Krill. For those of you who don’t have Storm Harvest on BBC books, the Krill are an invincible biological weapon created to destroy entire planets. The one thing that could kill them was used to defeat them last time, and then destroyed. So naturally, Ace and the Doctor are a little worried by their appearance. If you haven’t read the book, no worries. The Doctor explains things to Bev and the Krill are not a major part of the story anyway (a shame really as they make good enemies.)
The Krill are released on the orbiting art ship, Gallery, by the sinister Mr Seta for reasons unknown, and the Warp Core releases itself, first on Ace, and then the rest of the planet. Indeed, the Warp Core is so powerful it can control the dust that makes up the planet and it uses it to attack the Krill (which make it stronger when ingested.) The Doctor tries to attack the Warp Core, but is not powerful enough to defeat it. However, Gunthrie (Ian Ricketts) initiates an explosion on the planet, thanks to the fuel and the Dalekennium inside the crashed Dalek-ship, and defeats the Warp Core.
The story is very well written and very atmospheric with real people in real situations. I rate it at 87% and would recommend it to anyone. For those of you who like your plot twists, and this story has a huge plot twist, then turn over. If you want to continue, read on but first note that the actor and the character-name have been reversed (so you can’t skim-read down the page!)
The Doctor has faced many recurring enemies in the Big Finish CDs. Here the Daleks are mentioned, but do not feature. The Krill do feature though, and whilst not being used terribly well, make for an interesting sideline to detract from the main shock. That shock is the re-appearance of eht retsram. As Big Finish were unable to sign yelnia, we all thought eht retsram would not appear, but appear he does. This completes the idea of false impressions I began this review with- it also makes the story. The Warp Core and the Krill are deadly enemies, but are never realised fully, possibly because they are too deadly and if released the Doctor would be unable to defeat them in the time allowed. But eht retsram is another matter. The idea Big Finish utilise is wonderful, if it does go back on their word (who cares? Opinions change.) The revealing of the character is done very well with no hint of what to come, and I hope I preserved that in this review.
By Peter Witney