Immortal Beloved review [Jonathan Clements]

There is a planet ruled by two gods, whose divine chariots are helicopters and whose magic wands are guns. A couple are ready to jump to their deaths to escape them before two new gods appear in a blue box.

Where and When: This story takes place in a colony in the 34th century. For the Doctor and Lucie, this is after Horror of Glam Rock and before Phobos.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "I am Lucie of... the M62. And this is my bumbling assistant, the Doctor."
• "She was operating the brainwashing, clone-swapping machine, all bent over and horrible." / "That's my wife." / "... I'm sure she has a lovely personality."
• "I missed out on a snog. Kalkin's really fit."
• The premise is an interesting if not entirely original one - transferring one's mind into new bodies so as to live forever, seen relatively recently in Tomb Raider. Here, however, the transferers are posing as gods and the transferees are clones. The ethical dilemma is similar to that presented in The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People but is explored in a far better way, with clones on both sides of the debate.
• The cast is wonderful. Ian McNeice and Elspet Gray do a fantastic job as Zeus and Hera and are definitely the show-stealing guest stars of this story. It's a testament to Big Finish that so far this series they've had Bernard Cribbins and now McNeice and Gray appearing in major roles.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• Kalkin and Sararti aren't the most engaging characters and it's difficult to buy their love when they spend so little quality time together aside from their planned lovers' leap at the beginning. They're majorly overshadowed by Zeus and Hera, who are far more interesting.
• With the shorter running time of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, there's less room for depth which is certainly a problem with Immortal Beloved. If this had been a Main Range release, we could have learnt more about Kalkin and Sararti, the world that Zeus and Hera have been ruling over and how their ritual began. 

Witness Protection: There's no appearance by the Headhunter in this story, which is for the best. It would be silly to have her walk in at the end of every story.

His Constant Companion: General Ares is shot by Prince Kalkin, but his mind is then transferred into a clone of his called Tayden. The elderly Hera dies before she can be transferred into Sararti, who repeatedly stabs Zeus.

I'll Explain Later:

• Didn't the Doctor and Lucie decide at the end of Horror of Glam Rock to travel the universe together? Immortal Beloved begins shortly afterwards, with the Doctor trying to get her home.
• Why does the mind have to be transferred into an identical brain? Crozier managed to transfer Lord Kiv into Peri in Mindwarp. Perhaps it's a case of differing technologies.

This Reminds Me...:

• An old man reclaiming his youth is also the main plot point of The Lazarus Experiment.
• In the previous Eighth Doctor Adventure, we listened to Bernard Cribbins, AKA Wilfred Mott. In this release, we listen to Ian McNeice who will go on to play Winston Churchill in The Beast Below (briefly), Victory of the Daleks, The Pandorica Opens and The Wedding of River Song and later have his own Special Releases - The Churchill Years. In the Behind the Scenes feature, McNeice expresses a desire to play a bad guy on the show.
• The late Blackadder actress Elspet Gray played Thalia in Arc of Infinity and Jake McGann will later play the Doctor's great-grandson in An Earthly Child, Relative Dimensions, Lucie Miller and To the Death.
• The Doctor mentions his granddaughter, who he hasn't seen since the Fifth Doctor watched the First return her to the 22nd century in The Five Doctors. He'll be seeing her again soon, in An Earthly Child.
• A young-looking Doctor mentions having a granddaughter in passing in The Rings of Akhaten as well.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Immortal Beloved presents a moral issue about what makes us human but doesn't explore it that much: Zeus and Hera see their clones as little more than clothes that they have to don every thirty years in order to continue ruling over the colony, Kalkin and Sararti see themselves as individuals and that they should be allowed to have a life together, and Ganymede sees becoming Zeus's new body someday as his reason for existing, declaring his life to have been ruined after Zeus is thwarted, but this is all skin-deep. Ultimately, there's very little going on so, whilst it's an okay story with an interesting premise, it's not as enjoyable as the first two Eighth Doctor Adventures. It is okay, which earns it a C.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

Horror of Glam Rock  |  Immortal Beloved  |  Phobos