‘Destroy the Infinite’ (Audio)

‘DESTROY THE INFINITE’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Doctor and Leela meet the Eminence

This is a very significant Big Finish audio drama in ‘Doctor Who’.

‘Destroy The Infinite’ is the sixth story in the second season of Big Finish audios with Tom Baker as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela. It also features the first appearance of a new adversary for the Doctor called the Eminence. It wouldn’t be the last. They appeared in later ‘Doctor Who’ stories.

This is a two-part adventure written and directed by Nicholas Briggs. It is the second out of three stories that Nick Briggs has contributed to this season of Fourth Doctor and Leela stories. Nick created the Eminence for ‘Doctor Who’ and it’s so intriguing how he depicts them in their first story.

The Doctor and Leela visit the colony planet Delafoss. The Doctor remembers it being a prosperous place once. Now it is under the dominion of the Infinite Warriors controlled by an alien force known as the Eminence. Industrialisation takes place and war occurs between humanity and the Eminence.

Meeting a resistance group, the Doctor and Leela find themselves on a mission to destroy the Infinite, a warship to wipe out humanity for the Eminence. The Doctor will soon face the threat of the ‘breath of forever’ and perhaps see something of the future where the Eminence rules forever…

I enjoyed listening to the action-packed thrills of this adventure. Nick Briggs creates a war movie atmosphere in this story and it feels very outer-space; rocket-powered and battle frenzied all the way through. I don’t understand everything, but it was so intriguing hearing this adventure on audio.

The Eminence are an interesting alien enemy for the Doctor. They’re this orange gaseous force that controls their Infinite Warriors by converting them to obey and follow their will. There are elements of an obsessed religion about them which was so intriguing and they have a chilling death-like voice.

David Sibley and Tom Baker in ‘Destroy The Infinite’.

Tom Baker is superb as the Doctor in this adventure. Tom’s Doctor gets to meet the Eminence for the first time. It’s interesting and scary when Tom’s Doctor is seemingly taken over by the Eminence for a short while, but it transpires it was a bluff and he was telepathically trying to bring them down.

I like how Tom’s Doctor is casual in his conversations with the Eminence before he realises something serious about them when seeing them in the future. He seems rather subdued at the end of the story and it’s something that Leela notices when she’s confronting him about it at the TARDIS.

Louise Jameson is great as Leela in this adventure. Leela gets to have her own adventure when she’s separated from the Doctor in ‘Part Two’. I liked it when Leela is silent as she waits for Moorson to calm down with his temper. Leela takes things literally when with people like Davent and Tillegat. 😀

When Leela gets separated from the Doctor, she’s anxious to find him again that she insists for Moorson and Davent to get her back to where she’d left him. She even threatens Davent with a Janis thorn to gain what she wants. Leela also uses one of her Janis thorn to kill one of the baddies in this.

David Sibley guest stars as Commander Zarith and he also voices the Eminence. David has appeared in ‘Doctor Who’ on TV with Tom Baker in the story called ‘The Pirate Planet’. I’ve actually met David at ‘Big Finish Day 6’ in Slough, January 2015. It was really great to hear David in this audio adventure.

Zarith is in charge of the Infinite Warriors and gives them ‘the breath of forever’ against their will. He’s controlled by the Eminence that are very chilling and creepy to listen to. They seem to know the Doctor since they call him the ‘Ancient One’. Will the Doctor be able to outwit them so easily in this?

Michael Fenton Stevens and Tom Baker in ‘Destroy The Infinite’.

Michael Fenton Stevens (who is a British actor and comedian) guest stars as Moorson. Moorson is a commander of the Earth Alliance forces that Leela meets. He leads the fight against the Eminence. He is someone who is under immense pressure as well as trying to deal with destroying the Infinite.

It was tense listening to Moorson as he gets angry once he discovers Leela is aboard his ship. He loses his temper before he soon listens to Leela’s plan to stop the Eminence and destroy the Infinite. I did like it when he invited Leela and the Doctor as ‘guests of honour’ to the celebration at the end.

Clive Mantle and Tom Baker in ‘Destroy The Infinite’.

Clive Mantle guest stars as Tillegat, a member of the human resistance against the Eminence. Clive is a well-known British actor, who I’ve seen in episodes of ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ and he was in ‘The Burning Prince’ with Peter Davison. It was great to hear him in this audio adventure with Tom Baker.

Tillegat doesn’t survive much in this story since he gets killed off at the end of ‘Part One’. He’s suspicious of the Doctor and Leela at first and is joined by Sarla, another resistance member. He gets separated from Sarla and he has some scenes with Leela before he gets killed by an Infinite warrior.

The guest cast also includes Hwyel Morgan as Larivan, Christine Roberts as Sarla and Ian Hallard (who I’ve met at the ‘Pandorica 2015’ convention in Bristol, September 2015) as Davent. Every cast member gives their all into these ‘Doctor Who’ audio productions by Big Finish which is so superb. 😀

This is not the end for the Eminence as they would return to ‘Doctor Who’ in later stories. The Doctor knows something about them in the future. What could that be? How will the Doctor defeat the evil Eminence again? Check out ‘The Seeds of War’, ‘Dark Eyes 2’, ‘Dark Eyes 3’ and ‘Dark Eyes 4’!

‘Destroy The Infinite’ has been a great audio adventure to listen to. I enjoyed the Doctor’s first meeting with the Eminence and Tom Baker and Louise Jameson are on top form as the Doctor and Leela. I can only wonder what will happen when the Doctor faces the Eminence for the next time. 😀

The CD extras are as follows. At the end of the disc, there are behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew including Tom Baker; Louise Jameson; David Sibley; Michael Fenton Stevens; Clive Mantle; Ian Hallard; Hywel Morgan; Christine Roberts; writer/director Nicholas Briggs; etc. There is a trailer for the next story with the Doctor and Leela called ‘The Abandoned’.

‘Destroy The Infinite’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Fourth Doctor was ‘Last of the Colophon’ (Audio) For Leela was ‘Last of the Colophon’ (Audio)	The next story For the Fourth Doctor is ‘The Abandoned’ (Audio) For Leela is ‘The Abandoned’ (Audio)
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