Crime of the Century review [Andrew Cartmel]

Cat burglar Raine Creevy sneaks upstairs at a garden party and cracks into a safe containing an object she'd been contracted to obtain. But that's not all that's inside. There's also a short man in a brown jacket and a hat.

When and Where: We're in London and Kafiristan in October 1989. This takes place between Thin Ice and Animal for all involved.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "Lock-manipulation is safe-cracking in its purest form. No specialist tools are required, just a notebook, a pen and the stethoscope I got from a nice medical student I once met at a party in Holland Park."
• "The dogs? Now that really is uncivilised."
• New companion Raine is the polar opposite of Ace. She's more mature and sophisticated and from a far different background, making her a breath of fresh air. She speaks in an upper-class accent and has an appreciation for art, and dislikes her father whilst Ace disliked her mother. Big Finish have the Seventh Doctor travelling with Ace all the time, with a handful with Elizabeth Klein or Mel, so this new dynamic is a joy to listen to.
• Raine cracking open a safe to find the Doctor inside was pretty much all that Andrew Cartmel knew would happen in the planned episode that became this audio drama, and it's realised very well. Raine talking about safe-cracking in an almost sensual way is fascinating and finding the Doctor in the safe more so. Timey-wimeyness is a rare thing with the classic Doctors, so the Doctor knowing what Raine was going to do from her diary in the future is cool. It's easily one of the best companion introductions and would have made a great scene had it been filmed.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
  
• "Come back and fight, you sexist Metatraxi!"
• The Doctor and Raine work beautifully as a pair in a way wholly different to him and Ace. Unfortunately, Ace is still here holding him back from diving into a fresh relationship with a new companion and the beginning of a new era in the Seventh Doctor's life. Ace is a great companion and easily amongst the best of the classic series, if not the series as a whole, but the Seventh-and-Ace Era has become tired with very little new things to be said about them. Ace should have left in Thin Ice and her presence in this story is unwanted. It's mentioned early on that Raine has some skill at fencing, yet for some reason it's Ace who uses the artefact to fight the Metatraxi at the end. Ace is a thunder-stealer.
• The plot of this story is ever so slightly better than Thin Ice, but it has very little substance to it, failing to interest or develop in interesting ways.
• The Metatraxi are a dull villain. The translator gag isn't remotely funny and their code (yawn) is reminiscent of the Ice Warriors, who only just appeared in Thin Ice. Otherwise, they're quite similar to the Sontarans.
• If the score is trying to sound like it really could have belonged to a season 27, it does a poor job of it.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: The first episode is a promising start, introducing the refreshing character of Raine Creevy in a hugely memorable scene that earns a place amongst the best companion introductions. After this episode, however, the story falters. Ace is a relic of an era that should have ended with Thin Ice and the Metatraxi (who take a long time to make themselves known) are unoriginal and uninteresting. Cartmel's script suffers from the same trap-falls as the previous story: there's not that much plot and a change in setting doesn't equal plot development. Aside from Raine's great introduction, Crime of the Century is very bad, and that earns it an E.

The Lost Stories (Series 2)

Thin Ice  |  Crime of the Century  |  Animal

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