The Fourth Wall

"Death isn't entertainment."

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: February 2012

Series: Monthly Adventures 157

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Flip

Synopsis 

Business is bad for intergalactic media mogul Augustus Scullop, whose Trans-Gal empire is on the rocks. But, having retreated to his own private planet, Transmission, Scullop is about to gamble his fortune on a new show, made with an entirely new technology. And the name of that show... is Laser.

Back in the real world, far from the realms of small screen sci-fi fantasies about monsters and aliens, the Doctor is interested only in watching Test Match cricket... but finds himself drawn into Scullop's word when his new travelling companion, Flip, is snatched from inside the TARDIS.

So, while the Doctor uncovers the terrible secret of Trans-Gal's new tech, Flip battles to survive in a barren wilderness ruled over by the indestructible Lord Krarn and his pig-like servants, the Warmongers. And the name of that wilderness... is 'Stevenage'.

Verdict 

The Fourth Wall was another excellent audio to make my way through the Monthly Adventures from Big Finish! I’m really enjoying this early run for the Sixth Doctor and Flip, with the latter really making a strong impact as the new companion. The way things started here set the media theme with Chad Walker news bulletins and I liked that Scullop was angered at the leaks of a screening on Transmission. The use of the time and space visualiser in the TARDIS was magnificent and Flip showcasing her humorous qualities in complaining that the images were in black and white was glorious. She wanted excitement in the TARDIS which was understandable! The interference in the visualiser was intriguing as reality itself was being warped and phasing, literally pulling itself apart. So it was no surprise that Flip vanished from the TARDIS. She didn’t seem to go far though as she was communicating with the Doctor through the visualiser which was quite fun. The debut of the new Laser tv show was pretty good and having to delay the premiere didn’t sit well as Shepherd was blamed for malfunctions caused by the TARDIS. She was a really strong character. Flip encountering the Warmongers after saving Jancey was well done and her pork chop line was tremendous. She was confused by the TARDIS translation not working but it turned out that she was on Earth amidst the rule of Krarn the dictator. The overly descriptive explanation of the situation from Jancey was amusing and from there it was clear just where Flip had ended up. She was trapped in a television programme! The concept of it being simultaneously fiction and really was brilliant and I loved how it was referred to as reel life. The Porcians were an amusing race with their uselessness and causing interference, but their knowledge of the Doctor provided some good commentary. They were essentially wannabe invaders and that was a siding. The idea of reality being based on acting was interesting as we had essentially doppelgängers with Matthew being the actor playing Krarn and Kenton as the actor playing Laser. That would cause later confusion, as did Flip with her questions on the reality she was within and the struggles for improvisation. Shepherd revealing that her technology wasn’t quite original provoked a great reaction from Scullop! She was dealing with something dangerous through despite the security measures of the bubble being a couple of seconds ahead in time. That was why they could be viewed but it also allowed the Doctor to combine bubbles and get Flip out in the TARDIS. Chimbly was a decent character as a Porcian and his apparent killing of the Doctor was a shock, but the batteries weren’t fully charged so he was fine. Flip spitting a continuity error as she blurted out that she knew her surroundings were fictional. She challenged Krarn to use her weapon and that resulted in her being dead! The security protocols were down and the Warmongers were free to leave their fictional reality and wreak havoc in the real universe. Quite the cliffhanger! Kenton being confused for Laser was superb and despite awkwardly not knowing the details, Krarn was angered at losing his wife. Jancey thinking her actress Olivia was an android was amusing and I loved the fictional elements still coming into play as the Warmongers were helpless against Laser. We couldn’t have our hero killed! Scullop offering Krarn a deal was a nice shock, and the ridiculousness of the Porcians being angered at their intellectual property being used was good stuff. The revelation that it wasn’t actually the Porcians who took the security device that freed the Warmongers was kind of expected with it actually being Scullop who wanted to enlist Krarn to kill his old business partner! The dictator wasn’t best pleased with the writer who created him giving him the pain of his wife dying just for drama. That got him killed and I loved how due to the inconsistencies in the writing and series details not being fleshed out, that Krarn was going to kill everything proudly with no motive and for no reason. That was comically silly and yet it worked. Matthew pretending to be Krarn was a logical thing to do and the multiple versions of the Laser show bringing several duplicates was a bit silly and confusing, but I still enjoyed. The use of ludicrous weaponry only possible from fictional writing was tremendous as the Doctor wanted to create new weapons from the reality generator. His weapon was to be an anti-fiction but reality un-affecting bomb. The fantasy nullifier was born! Krarn seeing the duplicates continue an endless chain of death was good and him finding out Matthew as a fake was fantastic. But then the bomb worked including an emotional death for Laser in quite a fitting conclusion! Shepherd was rather distraught that her life works were destroyed and it was nice that the Doctor had little sympathy for her interference with reality. The way the Doctor cheated death for Flip in going back and including a ludicrous scene that would just have her awake after an hour of being shot was close to being ridiculous, but with a reality generator who could argue with it? Overall, a superb audio!

Rating: 9/10