‘The Elite’ (Audio)

‘THE ELITE’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

For the Glory of the Elite with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan

Tim Bradley’s CD cover of ‘The Elite’ signed by Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton

Tim Bradley with Peter Davison at the ‘Stars of Time Film and Comic Con 2016 @ The Tropicana’, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016

Tim Bradley with Sarah Sutton at the ‘Stars of Time Film and Comic Con 2016 @ The Tropicana’, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016

Tim Bradley with Sarah Sutton at the ‘Stars of Time Film and Comic Con 2016 @ The Tropicana’, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016 – photo courtsey of James Kitto

Tim Bradley with Sarah Sutton at the ‘Stars of Time Film and Comic Con 2016 @ The Tropicana’, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016 – photo courtsey of James Kitto

‘The Elite’ is the first of this ‘Lost Stories’ trilogy with the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa.

I’m a massive fan of the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’, especially with Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton as the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. So I was pleased to hear that a trilogy of unmade stories from the TV series was to be adapted into Big Finish audio dramas with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan.

I was looking forward to listening to this trilogy when it came out before the Christmas holidays in 2011. I managed to receive the first two stories including this one ‘The Elite’ and ‘Hexagora’ as Christmas presents. The third story ‘The Children of Seth’ was delayed in post-delivery from Amazon.

I’ve had the CD cover of ‘The Elite’ signed by Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton at the ‘Stars of Time Film and Comic Con 2016 @ The Tropicana’, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016. I’ve enjoying sharing to Peter and Sarah how much I’ve enjoyed these Big Finish audios with them as the Doctor and Nyssa and they appreciate my support.

The cast of ‘The Elite’. From left to right: Joe Coen, Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, John Banks, Sarah Sutton, Derek Carlyle, Ryan Sampson, writer John Dorney and Ellie Burrow.

‘The Elite’ is a four-part story and was conceived by Barbara Clegg, who wrote ‘Enlightenment’ for TV. I didn’t know that Barbara had submitted several story ideas to the ‘Doctor Who’ office in 1980s. Big Finish decided to adapt this one with the Doctor; Nyssa and Tegan as the first story in this trilogy.

The story was adapted for audio by John Dorney, who has now become a Big Finish supremo writer following his writing/acting success. This includes some of his recent work for the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa, especially since he wrote ‘Special Features’ in ‘The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories’.

‘The Elite’ has the Doctor taking Tegan and Nyssa to the planet Florana. On the way, the TARDIS gets caught in a time distortion and they end up in a domed city on an unfamiliar planet. They find a society scared by warfare. The Doctor knows something is wrong and the High Priest is behind it all.

The society of the Elite is very much like a Nazi dictatorship. Having studied Nazi Germany in GCSE and GCE History at school and at college, I knew how this society worked. The Elite has echoes of the Hitler Youth in this story and it was I horrifying and sickening to listen to, as well as very well-written.

Joe Coen, Joannah Tincey and Derek Carlyle in ‘The Elite’.

There is a division of two factions between the military and the church at the Cathedral of Power. This set up between the church and the state sadly echoes what society can be like today. It’s left vague about what this society’s religious beliefs are, but I found them very intriguing and disturbing.

This story is set in between ‘Arc of Infinity’ and ‘Snakedance’, not long after Tegan recently re-joined the Doctor and Nyssa in the TARDIS. But Nyssa and Tegan were left behind in in Amsterdam from ‘The Waters of Amsterdam’, while the Doctor was off elsewhere in stories like ‘Omega’ and ‘The Burning Prince’.

I enjoyed Peter Davison as the Doctor in this story, as he puts in so much energy into his performance. Peter’s Doctor is clearly disgruntled for having Tegan back in the TARDIS with him and Nyssa. He found it quiet when Tegan wasn’t around and he wonders how he’ll cope with her back.

I liked how Peter’s Doctor is written in this. John Dorney captures the mannerisms and character traits of Peter’s Doctor so well. He also adds lines of humour in Peter’s Doctor that make him flippant when he’s defying and making fun of the Elite members and Peter performs those lines so superbly.

Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison in ‘The Elite’.

Janet Fielding returns as Tegan Jovanka in the TARDIS. I liked how this story touches upon Tegan’s return and that she hasn’t changed a bit. She complains that her room has changed and is surprised that she’s been away for so long. She also complains that she has to wear the same clothes she’s got.

Tegan does complain a lot in this adventure, but I like it that she’s the one who encourages the rejects on the planet to move forward and fighting back against the Elite. Tegan also gets worried when Nyssa has been ‘converted’ and is annoyed when someone stuns out her a number of times.

Sarah Sutton is wonderful as Nyssa in this audio adventure. I was so thrilled to hear her in a ‘Lost Story’. But I do feel though that Nyssa is rather side-lined, since this would have been a TV story and the focus would have been more on Tegan. I do like some of the moments that shone out for Nyssa.

Nyssa has a bar of ‘choc-o-late’ from Tegan. I thought it was mean of the Doctor to snatch it from her when she was enjoying it. I’m inclined to disagree that chocolate can be bad for Nyssa. I’m sure she’s had plenty of boyfriends giving her chocolate and she’s enjoyed it without the Doctor knowing of it.

Sadly Nyssa gets brainwashed in this audio adventure, which had me terribly anxious and scared when I heard it. She’s forced to be re-educated by the Elite when she doesn’t want to. This has her turning on the Doctor, believing the Elite ways are right and just and she becomes very nasty in this.

I find it very annoying when Nyssa gets brainwashed in ‘Doctor Who’, since it seems like the writers can’t write well for her. Also, as Sarah points out, Nyssa gets knocked out not once; not twice but three times which upset me. She also gets carried around a lot by the Doctor and isn’t speaking a lot.

This story guest stars Joe Coen as General Aubron. Aubron is a young man who is in command of the military forces for the glory of the Elite. He is a pretty strong-willed and ruthless individual, especially when it comes to interrogating Nyssa and Tegan on their arrival and when he deals with the Doctor.

There’s also Ryan Sampson (from ‘The Sontaran Stratagem’/’The Poison Sky’) as Father Thane. Thane works for the High Priest at the Cathedral of Power. He’s got a strong belief in the High Priest as his god and he’s so passionate and ruthless. Thane does go insane and over-the-top at end of the story.

The guest cast also includes Derek Carlyle as Alaric, Aubron’s second-in-command and Joannah Tincey as Educator Stemp who ‘re-educates’ Nyssa. There’s also John Banks as Garthak, leader of the rejects against the Elite; and there’s Ellie Burrow as Ella, a reject that Tegan meets in her prison cell.

The High Priest turns out to be a Dalek (voiced by Nicholas Briggs). A Dalek! I didn’t expect that. Nyssa faced Daleks before in ‘The Mutant Phase’, ‘Renaissance of the Daleks’, ‘Plague of the Daleks’ and in my ‘Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ story called ‘Doom of the Daleks’. Tegan would later face Daleks in ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’, so it was interesting that she meets one for the first time in this.

‘The Elite’ isn’t really a story about the Daleks. It’s a story about fascism, as the Dalek teaches the people of the Elite on this planet about how to kill. The Dalek doesn’t say ‘exterminate’ surprisingly, but Thane and many Academy trainees say it. Even Nyssa says ‘exterminate’ when she’s converted.

‘The Elite’ has been a great opening story to this trilogy of ‘Lost Stories’ with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan. I think it’s the best one out of the trilogy and it certainly terrified me when I heard Nyssa being cruelly ‘converted’ into the Elite. The presence of a Dalek in this adventure made it even more exciting.

The CD extras are as follows. At the end of Discs 1 and 2, there are behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew including Peter Davison; Sarah Sutton; Janet Fielding; etc. I enjoyed it when Sarah and Janet compared notes on being ‘Doctor Who’ companions and about them meeting the Daleks. There’s a trailer for the next story with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan called ‘Hexagora’.

‘The Elite’ rating – 9/10

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‘CHOC-O-LATE’ FOR NYSSA – IS IT BAD FOR HER?

Originally published on November the 15th, 2016.

I discussed this topic on the now-deceased Big Finish forum in 2015. Here, I’m re-introducing it for the story called ‘The Elite’.

In ‘The Elite’, a ‘Lost Story’ by Barbara Clegg and John Dorney, Nyssa was given a bar of chocolate by Tegan during their time in Amsterdam. However, whilst eating her chocolate bar in the TARDIS at the start of the story, the Doctor snatches it from her, saying that it is bad for her Trakenite biology.

I thought it was really mean of the Doctor to snatch Nyssa’s chocolate bar from her in that moment, since she claims she was ‘enjoying that’. I’m inclined to disagree with the Doctor that chocolate is bad for Nyssa. I’m sure she’s had chocolate given to her before by boyfriends in her TARDIS travels.

In my ‘Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series on ‘Bradley’s Basement’, the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa are joined by a new male companion called Billy Walker. I’m sure Billy gave chocolate to Nyssa when he was travelling in the TARDIS, especially before Tegan had returned to the TARDIS in ‘Arc of Infinity’.

I’m also sure that Nyssa enjoyed having chocolate bars in the TARDIS or during her travels without the Doctor noticing. I don’t see how it would affect Nyssa’s Trakenite biology according to the Doctor. Of course, chocolate is bad for you if you eat too much, but I’m sure Nyssa wouldn’t do that.

It has been suggested in ‘The Elite’ the Doctor was greedy and he wanted the chocolate for himself when he snatched it away from Nyssa. Eventually of course, the Doctor shared the chocolate with others when he was trying to encourage the Elite cadets to have it when they’re not allowed to.

It also been suggested that it’s the kind of thing Peter Davison would write into a script to get a few laughs. It was meant to be a comedic moment, as the Doctor definitely wants the chocolate for himself and he makes an excuse. However, it could be the Doctor’s getting paranoid at this moment.

The Doctor is also a hypocrite when he says chocolate is bad for Nyssa. Later on in ‘The Judgement of Isskar’ by Simon Guerrier (the first of ‘The Key 2 Time Trilogy’), the Doctor remarks to Amy (now Abby) how he recalls getting Nyssa to try chocolate. I wonder if that was before or after ‘The Elite’.

To be fair, there’s now plenty of Big Finish audios made today of ‘Doctor Who’. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if John Dorney hadn’t heard ‘The Judgement of Isskar’ before or didn’t know about the detail in Simon Guerrier’s play about the Doctor getting Nyssa to try out chocolate for the first time.

Although, I find it a surprise that Nyssa finds it difficult to pronounce the word ‘chocolate’ in ‘The Elite’. Surely if Nyssa had chocolate before that story, she would have found easy to say it properly. But then, chocolate isn’t a common consumable to have on Traken so should I be surprised by this?

Another point to mention is that the Doctor was eager to eat all the sandwiches when he was the Third Doctor with Jo Grant in ‘The Sea Devils’. Poor Jo had to help save the world on an empty stomach when the Doctor snatched those sandwiches from her, although this was a funny moment.

The Doctor was hypocritical too when he told Jo that they didn’t have time for sandwiches; took them from her; ate some and shared them with everyone except her. I would like a story where Nyssa meets Jo and they discuss their annoyance when their Doctors leave them out of the buffet.

On a side track, an off-hand comment was made by Sarah Sutton at the end of the DVD commentary of ‘Time-Flight’. The commentary track goes silent during the closing credits of ‘Part Four’. But after the credits and sonic boom at the end, Sarah decisively states out of the blue, “I need chocolate!”

That off-hand comment by Sarah made me laugh out loud for five minutes when she said it. I was so delighted to hear Sarah say that and it made my day. I chatted to Sarah about it at the ‘Cardiff Film and Comic Con’ in March 2014. This doesn’t really relate to this topic, but I like Sarah’s comment from the commentary.

What does everyone else think on this topic? Is chocolate good or bad for Nyssa?

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The previous story For the Fifth Doctor was ‘The Waters of Amsterdam’ (Audio) For Tegan was ‘The Waters of Amsterdam’ (Audio) For Nyssa was ‘The Waters of Amsterdam’ (Audio) For the Daleks was ‘Return to Christmas’	The next story For the Fifth Doctor is ‘Hexagora’ (Audio) For Tegan is ‘Hexagora’ (Audio) For Nyssa is ‘Hexagora’ (Audio) For the Daleks is ‘Nightmare of the Daleks’ (Audio)
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