He Jests At Scars

The Doctor has been destroyed. The Valeyard has won and is free to roam and plunder time and space in the TARDIS. At his side is companion Ellie Martin, a bewlidered young woman dumbfounded by the callousness and cruelty she sees him inflict. But the Valeyard's freedom has come at a terrible price; he alters history at a whim and sets in motion chains of events that shatter the web of time. Mel is sent by the remaining Time Lords to try to appeal to whatever shreds of the Doctor's character that may remain, but with reality collapsing all around them, is it too late?

Another of Big Finish's Unbound series, He Jests at Scars goes farther than previous installations and looks at the Universe without the Doctor. Michael Jayston reprises his role as the malevolant Valeyard with Bonnie Langford carrying on as Mel, but a more hardened Mel who has been changed by all she has seen. She's more determined, the's angrier, she's reconclied herself to the fact that she may have to kill, and best of all, she doesn't scream (imagine that din through headphones - no thanks). As far as the collapse of reality goes, Mel herself becomes a temporal anomaly here; she was only at the Doctor's trial as a result of being brought back in time, and with the Doctor gone, he will never meet her - a circumstance the Valeyard goes out of his way to ensure.

As a replacement companion, Ellie Martin is not exactly a good match for the Valeyard; she doesn't really get the implications of what is going on util it's far too late, despite the fact that she is witness to her terrorizing ways and she herslef is put in direct danger for him to achieve his goals. The actual character of Ellie Martin was originally created for Big Finish's spin off audio series Sarah Jane Smith - and you can guess who the star of that one is.

It can only be assumed, then, that the Valeyard managed to do away with everyone who was witness to the Doctor's trial; the Inquisitor, the Keeper of the Matrix, the jury, Glitz, the Master and even the pair of twit guards who ran out the door at the first sign of trouble. It can also be assumed that Mel was protected from the carnage as she was within the Matrix, and she was pulled out by the Time Lords to help them fight the monster they had created. Typical, as the Doctor would say.

But of course it didn't really end like that. As I said before, it ended with the Doctor and Mel leaving in the TARDIS and presumeably he was off to return her to her proper place in space and time - to his future - and then carry on. And carry on he does, even if the adventures in print and audio are not officially regarded as canon. Luckily the guardians of the series who kept the books and audios coming are still a bit driving force behind the new televised adventures and they keep in mind what was done during those lean years where there were no new episodes on television. The further adventures of the sixth Doctor during this span are by far the most interesting of any range, as there is potential all over for him to go anywhere and meet anyone. Colin Baker went on record when he took the role as wanting to remain in the role of the Doctor for longer than namesake Tom Baker's seven years, and with all the material produced by Big Finish, Virgin Publishing, and BBC Books there is at least enough published material to seem as if he achieved it.

The televised series would return 9 months later with a new Doctor, Colin Baker being released from the role early (which is French for he was fired), but as far as this blog is concerned he's still got a long way to go...

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