‘THE DEAD SHOES’
Please feel free to comment on the review.
A Visit to Cromer in 1932 with the Fourth Doctor
Perhaps ‘Hornets’ Nest’ as an audio series will get better the more we venture further. 🙂
I suppose I could be too critical when talking about ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ of ‘Doctor Who’ audios after reviewing ‘The Stuff of Nightmares’. I’m sure these stories have their fans. It’s just I prefer the Big Finish audio stories featuring Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor compared to the BBC Audios.
With that said, ‘The Dead Shoes’, the second audio story in the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ series has been enjoyable to listen to. It doesn’t make the series better for it in my humble opinion, but I was able to appreciate ‘The Dead Shoes’ more than ‘The Stuff of Nightmares’ and I enjoyed the story and characters.
By this point, I was getting used to the format of how these audio stories worked, especially with how Paul Magrs wrote them. Again, I’m not a fan of this format, even when it has Tom Baker and Richard Franklin together, since Richard Franklin seems to have a small role in these audio adventures so far.
Following on from the end of ‘The Stuff of Nightmares’, Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Richard Franklin as Mike Yates are trapped in the cellar whilst the dangerous monsters are still upstairs. As they have their cups of tea in the cellar, the Doctor tells Mike about ‘the mystery of the Dead Shoes’.
All that Mike Yates seems to be doing in these audio stories is sitting down with cups of tea and listening to the Doctor tell him his adventures about the alien hornets. I get that Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor needs to tell Mike these stories to explain what the deal is concerning these alien hornets. 😐
At the same time, I wish more action happened, since Mike was an action man once, and it would make better use of Mike’s character in the series. You could have two stories going on at the same time, as Mike could narrate the December 2010 story and the Doctor can narrate the July 1932 tale.
In ‘The Stuff of Nightmares’, there were two narrators with Mike relating what was happening in the present day whilst Tom related what happened beforehand. Now in ‘The Dead Shoes’, we just have one narrator in Tom Baker’s Doctor. Mike doesn’t even get to interrupt Tom’s Doctor as he narrates.
Perhaps two stories going on at the same time would make the episode longer than it is (although ‘The Dead Shoes’ is five minutes shorter than ‘The Stuff of Nightmares’), but I would like Mike to have a more active role than just have him listening to Tom Baker’s Doctor tell him his latest adventures. 😐
Also, the way these stories are presented with Tom Baker’s Doctor doing most of the narration makes me appreciate the Big Finish audios more. The Big Finish audios are more dynamic and fast-paced. There wouldn’t be all this narration to slow down the action that’s going on in the adventure.
Mind you, you could argue that this is like a ‘Companion Chronicle’ with the Doctor relating events to us compared to a full-cast audio drama. And again, I stress, that ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ are handled better as audio narrations compared to ‘The Pescatons’ and the ‘Exploration Earth’ story. 🙂
And yes, the present-day story involving the Fourth Doctor and Mike Yates takes place in December 2010, as the build-up to ‘Hornets’ Nest’s finale occurs at Christmas time, with ‘Hive of Horror’ about to be released in December 2009. That’s cute, but why isn’t it 2009, not 2010 in this audio series? 😐
The actual ‘Dead Shoes’ story has the Fourth Doctor visiting the seaside town of Cromer in the summer of 1932. When I hear Cromer, I can’t help think of the Brigadier’s line from ‘The Three Doctors’ – “I’m fairly sure that’s Cromer.” 😀 I’ve yet to visit Cromer to find out what the town is like.
Susan Jameson, Tom Baker and Clare Corbett in ‘The Dead Shoes’.
In Cromer, the Doctor comes across the Cromer Palace of Curios. There he meets the curator – Susan Jameson as Mrs. Wibbsey (or is she Miss Wibbsey by this point?). This is where the Doctor meets his ‘future’ Nest Cottage housekeeper and we get to learn more about who she is as a person.
Mrs. Wibbsey still comes across as an unfriendly person when the Doctor meets her, but it also turns out she’s being possessed by the alien hornets in this story. You could say that she’s almost a villain in this episode. I say ‘almost’ since I know what will happen to her as a character later in the series. 🙂
I also sense that Mrs. Wibbsey isn’t entirely in control of her actions, much like how Percy Noggins wasn’t in control of his actions when possessed by the hornets in ‘The Stuff of Nightmares’. I did get a sense that there were two voices of Mrs. Wibbsey speaking – one benign and the other menacing.
The audio episode also has Clare Corbett as Ernestina Stott, who seems to be a ballerina dancer and the grandmother of Percy Noggins. This isn’t the first time I’ve come across Clare Corbett in ‘Doctor Who’, as she’s voiced the Thirteenth Doctor and read the BBC Books adventure ‘The Good Doctor’. 🙂
She’s also appeared in a number of Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ over the years, including ‘Ravagers’ with Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor. I enjoyed her performance as Ernestina in this audio adventure, especially since she gets to be a sort-of one-off companion for Tom Baker’s Doctor.
Mind you, she can be berating of the Doctor at times, especially when he blames him for getting her into the trouble they share together in this story. Mind you, she was drawn into this after being stung by a few hornets and she also stole a pair of old ballet shoes from the Cromer Palace of Curios.
Yeah, the ballet shoes happen to contain mummified feet of a former dancer named Francesca. That was quite disturbing to visualise, and I suppose it would’ve fitted the macabre tone of ‘Doctor Who’ during the Phillip Hinchcliffe/Robert Holmes era. I do believe that was what Paul Magrs aimed for. 😐
The episode also features Christian Rodska as Reverend Small. This is the second of two ‘Doctor Who’ roles that Christian Rodska has had in his career. The first one was where he played Laan Carder in the Big Finish audio called ‘Faith Stealer’. I’m surprised he didn’t do more ‘Doctor Who’s. 😐
Christian Rodska also played Barney in the 1985 BBC TV production of ‘Oliver Twist’ produced by Terrance Dicks. Reverend Small is arguably a comic character in the story, especially since he’s baffled by what’s going on. But at least he helps the Doctor with removing Ernestina’s ballet shoes. 🙂
I expected Reverend Small to be a love interest for Ernestina, since he appeared in two certain sections of the story. This includes when he and the Doctor see Ernestina dance out of the theatre with her ballet shoes. And when the Doctor and Ernestina are escaping the Cromer Palace of Curios.
There is a section of the story where the Doctor and Ernestina are shrunk down to size and they find themselves in a doll’s house where they’re attacked by Peg Dolls as well as a China doll controlled by the alien hornets. I wonder if Mark Gatiss was inspired by this story to write ‘Night Terrors’ for TV. 🙂
Heck, I’m curious as to how the alien hornets are able to have the power to shrink people down to size. Did they get tips from the Master with his tissue compression eliminator? Or was Salvador (one of my ‘Doctor Who’ villains) on hand to provide the hornets assistance with matter manipulation? 😐
Apparently, the episode’s title is a reference to the film ‘The Red Shoes’, which was made in 1948. I’ve not seen that movie, but I don’t think there’s much comparison between it and this ‘Doctor Who’ audio episode. After all, ‘dead’ rhymes with ‘red’. You can’t get much comparison from that. 😀
Producer/director Kate Thomas and Tom Baker in ‘The Dead Shoes’.
‘The Dead Shoes’ concludes with the Fourth Doctor using his sonic screwdriver to bring him and Ernestina back to their proper size and thwarting Mrs. Wibbsey and the hornets for the time being. The Doctor also brings Mrs. Wibbsey to the future, where she becomes Nest Cottage’s housekeeper.
He also hopes to telepathically block out the hornets’ control over Mrs. Wibbsey. It turns out that the hornets’ have met the Doctor before, but he has yet to meet them. This is another wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey thing. Much like how River Song became a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey thing.
The Doctor and Mike are still trapped in the cellar and the monsters are still trying to get in from upstairs. The Doctor is about to pour two more cups of tea for, before he’s about to tell Mike what had occurred when he went back in time to the year 1832 and he encountered ‘the Circus of Doom’.
I did like Mike Yates’ little references to ‘The Dæmons’ as well as to the ‘good old’ U.N.I.T. days when he and the Doctor are trapped in the cellar at Nest Cottage. I also appreciate the hard work and effort put into these audios by Kate Thomas, who produced and directed the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ series.
‘The Dead Shoes’ is more enjoyable than ‘The Stuff of Nightmares’ in the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ series. Obviously, there’s a mystery going on concerning the alien hornets and how they know the Doctor already. It’s intriguing how these audio stories keep unravelling details about the ‘Hornets’ Nest’ arc.
I can’t say I’m fully gripped into these audio episodes, especially with it still being audio narration by Tom Baker whilst guest actors play characters in a similar style to a ‘Companion Chronicle’…or in this case, a ‘Doctor Chronicle’. However, I’m looking forward to what’s next in ‘The Circus of Doom’.
‘The Dead Shoes’ rating – 7.5/10
| The previous story
For the Fourth Doctor was For Mike Yates was |
The next story
For the Fourth Doctor is For Mike Yates is For Mrs. Wibbsey is |
| Return to The Fourth Doctor’s Timeline | |
| Return to Mike Yates’ Timeline | |
| Return to Mrs. Wibbsey’s Timeline | |
| Return to The Doctors’ Timelines Index | |
| Return to The Companions’ Timelines Index | |
| Return to Doctor Who Timelines | |
| Return to Doctor Who | |
| Return to Sci-Fi |
Bradley's Basement 