PLOTLINE  

Starfall - a world on the edge, where crooks and smugglers hide in the gloomy shadows and modern technology refuses to work. And that includes the TARDIS.

The pioneers who used to be drawn by the hope of making a fortune from the mines can find easier picking elsewhere. But they still come - for the romance of it, or old-fashioned organic mining. Or in the hope of finding the lost treasure of Hamlek Glint - scourge of the spaceways, privateer, adventurer, bandit.

Will the TARDIS ever work again? Is Glint's lost treasure waiting to be found? And does the fabled Resurrection Casket - the key to eternal life - really exist? With the help of new friends, and to the horror of new enemies, The Doctor and Rose aim to find out.

COMMENT

Shiver me timbers, landlubbers, David Tennant's extraordinary reading of Justin Richards' THE RESURRECTION CASKET transports the listener to a rich & glorious world of space-based pirates and robotic servants. Every word and every sentence is inspirational in solidifying an adventure in life and death and loss, and, of course, the Doctor and Rose at its centre.

In fact, an audiobook is too small a stage for this exponentially expanding story to be told within: an ideal 45-minute television episode.

The DNA of THE RESURRECTION CASKET story comes from the new TV series (as opposed to the CLASSIC series), and allows Tennant to demonstrate his acting versatility and emotional depth through a myriad of characters as the plot unravels and then knits itself into a cul-de-sac.

If you could relate the essence of the plot to anything other than DOCTOR WHO it would be " DOCTOR WHO meets the manic imagination of Terry Gilliam meets THE PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN meets Arthur Conan Doyle meets Hammer Horror". Hybrid humanoids, robots called Smithers and Elvis, steam-powered airships, a mysterious treasure that could reverse death itself, and a grotesque stalking monster ordinarily called Kevin.

Once the TARDIS is subject to a power-draining force (called ZEG), the Doctor and Rose have little option to become involved in uncovering the mystery of Hamlek Glint's treasure, meeting and disposing along the way of their enemies. Tennant eases through in fleshing out his television persona of the Doctor (even down aurally creating the cheesy, toothy grin) and the 'mockney" South London shop-girl, chip-devouring Rose Tyler.

However, it is his characterisation of Kevin is both superbly chilling and genuinely chilling whether he is apologising for inflicting penning death or a completing a crossword. Tennant's voice is "manipulated" (in post-production) adding to Kevin an unearthly essence.

If there were any criticism it would be that, following the BIG FINISH range of audiobooks (to which David Tennant has so ably contributed) this new range of Tenth Doctor CDs are disconcertingly "dry" (i.e. there is no incidental music or sound effects), and the audio treated for the character of Kevin adds a level of interest. Perhaps, further recordings could adopt basic sound effects (such as environmental echoes or climatic changes) to retain the listeners' concentration.

Overall, THE RESURRECTION CASKET is an enjoyable romp, complete with a range of tangible likeable characters that David Tennant expertly fleshes out.