The Revolution Game

"Your reign of terror won't last."

Writer: Alice Cavender

Format: Audio

Released: July 2019

Series: Further Adventures of Lucie Miller 1.02

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Lucie

Synopsis

It's Lucie's birthday, and her birthday treat awaits. But whatever she's expecting, it's not what she's getting on the colony world of Castus Sigma in the year 3025: ringside seats for the interplanetary Retro Roller Derby – sponsored by Heliacorp ("Turning sunlight into gold"!)

It's more than just a game, though. For the competitors, it's a matter of life or death – a New Life with Heliacorp, or a living death on Castus Sigma. 

Or, on this fateful day, a very actual death. Because there are strange creatures living out on the plain, beyond the colony. Creatures with every reason to want to sabotage the games. Creatures with a grudge. 

Verdict

The Revolution Game was a decent story to continue my way through the first volume of the Further Adventures of Lucie Miller! I’m still so happy to be getting an extra boxset of adventures for the Eighth Doctor and Lucie and having this as the companion’s birthday was a lot of fun. The Doctor didn’t exactly live up to expectations when it came to throwing a celebration and to be honest, I wouldn’t have expected anything less. It was fun to hear Lucie all joyful and full of hope, but at one point as the episode spanned more than a day the Doctor was quick to tell Lucie that it wasn’t her birthday anymore! That was a bit harsh and pretty humorous. The dynamic between the pair was strong and I enjoyed the premise of the episode, but my gosh the pace was absolutely frantic. There was an awful lot to try and fit into the one hour and that became slightly to its detriment. I think if this was expanded into a two-parter or more traditional two-hour release, it would have been much better and really able to flesh out the ideas. Instead, there felt like there was no room to breathe in some instances and whilst that helped with excitement, there was little time to reflect and enjoy what was going on. Sash was a really nice character and I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship she built with Lucie. The impact George had on her was understandable and became an important aspect of the story, and it was just nice to have focus on her. The fact she took over as the Glasweigan Kiss for the games was good stuff and her punchline regarding Blackpool rock was so incredibly awful that it was brilliantly funny. The Castus Sigma setting was strong and I liked how Lucie would become the bionic women with the low sense of gravity there. She was able to utilise that to her advantage on more than one occasion which worked really well. I liked the Jengu as a concept and the way they were essentially harvested for the protein in their wings was horrifying. That was a good revelation and whilst a little predictable, Clegg’s reaction to the realisation that the Doctor knew all was very nicely done. He was a decent villain alongside Spartacus as the missing Jengu and the way everything tied together was pretty good, but I just couldn’t escape that feeling of it being a little rushed. There wasn’t anything particularly bad about the story as my rating reflects, it was just trying to do a little too much for one hour. I liked the direction and the plot twists for the most part, and there was good fun with the Roller City Derby for action and sporting involvement. Spartacus having already laid the explosives that would eventually bring about his downfall was a little convenient but did manage to tie everything up pretty nicely for the most part despite being slightly underwhelming. I just wish Lucie had a better birthday celebration! Overall, a decent listen. 

Rating: 7/10