The Veiled Leopard
It's Monte Carlo in 1966 and the Doctor has left Peri and Erimem on their own to carry out a mission for him: they are to make sure that the famous Veiled Leopard diamond does not get stolen from a costume ball. An out of character move for the Doctor to assign them this sort of task, but it gets more complicated when two other guests, also sent by the Doctor - but his future self - arrive to steal it. Will it be Peri and Erimem vs Ace and Hex, or is it all part of the same agenda?
The Veiled Leopard is one of those fun freebie adventures made by Big Finish and given away with copies of Doctor Who Magazine, but for something that is free it's still given the proper production values as if it was something they were selling along with the rest of the line. The performances are very professional as always, although at times the sorority sister antics of Peri and Erimem start to get a bit ... silly. All that giggling. Bah.
What's interesting here is we have the fifth Doctor's companions on collision course with two of the seventh Doctor's friends; when listened to in a historical perspective it's all fine and dandy but from, say, the first time listener's point of view this could be a bit confusing. Ace will not actually join the show until the season finale for 1987, and Hex is a character created just for the Big Finish line, much like Erimem. But the play is done in such a way that the two sides never come into direct conflict; they pass each other in hallways or maybe overhear each other's conversations across rooms but never realize who the other pair are.
Because of the way I am doing this I have never heard a play with Philip Oliver as Hex before, so this actually serves as my own introduction to him. How do I like him? Well for starters I know what Olivier looks like, so I am not having and trouble imagining him side by side with Sophie Aldred as Ace. His accent takes a bit of getting used to; he's actually a nursing student from what we would consider "current" time and he comes from somewhere called Mersey, I believe. So you have Ace's sort-of Cockney up against his... whatever it is. But I got it. For the most part. I'll just call it a teaser for later.
Meanwhile, the Doctor is busy with some business of his own; business that will bring him into collision with his past once more, and a bit of his future as well...
NEXT EPISODE : THE GATHERING
The Veiled Leopard is one of those fun freebie adventures made by Big Finish and given away with copies of Doctor Who Magazine, but for something that is free it's still given the proper production values as if it was something they were selling along with the rest of the line. The performances are very professional as always, although at times the sorority sister antics of Peri and Erimem start to get a bit ... silly. All that giggling. Bah.
What's interesting here is we have the fifth Doctor's companions on collision course with two of the seventh Doctor's friends; when listened to in a historical perspective it's all fine and dandy but from, say, the first time listener's point of view this could be a bit confusing. Ace will not actually join the show until the season finale for 1987, and Hex is a character created just for the Big Finish line, much like Erimem. But the play is done in such a way that the two sides never come into direct conflict; they pass each other in hallways or maybe overhear each other's conversations across rooms but never realize who the other pair are.
Because of the way I am doing this I have never heard a play with Philip Oliver as Hex before, so this actually serves as my own introduction to him. How do I like him? Well for starters I know what Olivier looks like, so I am not having and trouble imagining him side by side with Sophie Aldred as Ace. His accent takes a bit of getting used to; he's actually a nursing student from what we would consider "current" time and he comes from somewhere called Mersey, I believe. So you have Ace's sort-of Cockney up against his... whatever it is. But I got it. For the most part. I'll just call it a teaser for later.
Meanwhile, the Doctor is busy with some business of his own; business that will bring him into collision with his past once more, and a bit of his future as well...
NEXT EPISODE : THE GATHERING
Labels: Ace, Erimem, Hex, Peri Brown
posted by Sean Hoover @ 4:44 PM
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