Big Finish Fridays: Doctor Who Audio Drama – Fiesta of the Damned

• Fiesta of the Damned  (Doctor Who—Main Range #215)
• Directed by: Ken Bentley
• Written by: Guy Adams
• Starring: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Mel), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Enzo Squillino Jnr (Juan Romero), Christopher Hatherall (George Newman), Owen Aaronovitch (Antonio Ferrando/Control Unit), Tom Alexander (Luis/Phillipe).

“We can’t all be famous. Even the footnotes are inspiring sometimes.”~The Doctor, Fiesta of the Damned.

Fiesta of the Damned isn’t only one of the best Big Finish stories, but an endorsement to the Main Range’s new direction.

Doctor Who’s greatest treasure is its characters.

Everything else—the plot, the lore, the style—is in service to that. The more a writer focuses on the characters, the greater the tale will be.

Fiesta of the Damned is one of the greatest illustrations of this fact. Its plot is serviceable; its villain is a bit goofy, and quite forgettable.

But the characters make Fiesta of the Damned one of the finest recent Big Finish releases. They sing with life, lively and developed, and  every conversation begs to be quoted. When Adams reveals new things about Ace and Mel, it doesn’t feel new—only something as perfectly natural as Ace’s nitro-9 and Mel’s health food terrors.

Of all the Big Finish companions, Ace often gets the best scripts and the best explorations of her character. Fiesta of the Damned is another episode ready-made for Ace. Guy Adams may not do anything strictly new with her character—but with a character as well-developed as she is, that’s rarely necessary. Instead, Adams wisely puts her in a place to be the prime Ace. The most purely, absolutely Ace she’s been in quite a while. This, again, shows how much she’s recovered from the emotional hell at the end of Hex’s run.

This trilogy is occupied with Mel’s morality, and what arises from spending so long with Sabalom Glitz. Life of Crime asked “Is Mel still a good person?” Fiesta of the Damned asks “Is Mel a pacifist?” She counts herself “lucky, really” she’s never had to find out the answer. A difficult proposition in a war zone, surrounded by soldiers, with Ace (who is certainly not a pacifist) on one side and the Doctor (who finds it a noble ideal) on her other.

But more than this central question, we see more of the mark living with Glitz left on her. Mel has lost some of her innocence. She tells the Doctor that “history hurts,” and struggles with the way the world—and herself—have changed.

Far better than that, however, is Mel’s relationship with Ace. As Sophie Aldred explains in the recorded interview, “You couldn’t probably get two characters more different than Mel and Ace. And that works beautifully together because there’s a real fondness for each other that was established, of course, all those years ago in Dragonfire…there’s a real tenderness which started back then. Those moments where they’re both sort of looking after each other. Ace takes on this role of, like, ‘Oh, Doughnut, I’ve got to look after you. You know, I’m the strong one.’ And, actually, Mel is ‘Well, I’m the intelligent one.’ Who’s thoughtful, and who’s emotional, and well, intelligently emotional in a way Ace isn’t always.”

The villain may be underwhelming, but that does nothing to prevent Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor from having some of his finer statements and speeches. The civil war around him provides enough context for gems like, “Every life is precious. Every death a crime.”; “[pacifism is] a noble ideal”; “If it’s not one of them it’s the other. Sticking their heads in the lions jaws! When will they ever learn?…when I do, probably”; “I wouldn’t say I was a good man either, just another misguided fool doing his best.” McCoy has found an affable, noble balance between the serious, god-killing Doctor, and the more manic Doctor from Life of Crime. But, like the previous episode’s characterization—despite the seriousness of the situation, this is not the self-serious Doctor from the latter end of Hex’s run. This is a Doctor who, like Ace, has recovered from  his wounds and drive. This is the seventh Doctor enjoying life.

When all three leads run as smoothly as this, Adams is allowed to luxuriate in their characters. Nothing is better than exchanges such as:

Ace:  “I asked for toast!”

The Doctor:  “This IS toast.”

Mel:  “With gallons of olive oil poured on it.”

Ace:  “And to-MA-toes.”

Newman:  “Did you expect marmalade?”

Ace:  “I hoped for chocolate spread. Always had chocolate spread for breakfast when I was on holiday in Spain. And lunch. And dinner!”

Mel:  “It’s very unhealthy.”

Ace:  “What, chocolate spread?”

Mel:  “Nooot this much oil. Well. AND chocolate spread.”

Ace:  “Want me t’ see if they’ll do you a smoothie? A really nice one filled with spinach and tears?”

The Doctor:  “Eat your toast. BOTH of you.”

Ace:  “It’s like someone thought about pizza…and then gave up. Tastes like it too.”

If The Doctor, Ace, and Mel weren’t so well developed—and so secure in where the last decade of characterization has brought them—this conversation wouldn’t just collapse, it would never have existed. Undeveloped characters can only discuss the plot, or very simple emotions akin to “I am very angry; yes indeed, I sure am angry.” Meanwhile, truly well-developed characters have discussions about chocolate spread, Spain, and “pizza” the chef gave up on. And rather than feeling like a distraction, the audience loves it.

Romero:  “He has no reason to trust you either.”

The Doctor:  “People rarely do, yet somehow I manage.”

Ace:  “Or get locked up.”

Seven:  “Yes. Thank you, Ace.”

Mel:  “Or shot at.”

The Doctor:  “Yeeeees. Thaaank you, Mel.”

The only meaningful negative I have, truthfully, are a handful of confusing references. In the chocolate spread scene, Ace mentions holidays to Spain. When did she take holidays in Spain? Certainly not before Dragonfire. The McShanes were poor, and Audrey certainly wouldn’t let Ace feast on chocolate spread. It doesn’t sound like she took these holidays with her professor, either. Perhaps during the Black and White TARDIS era, when she and Hex were on their own? That was the best fit a friend and I could decide.

I was a bit uncomfortable with the Spanish Civil War being presented as nearly black and white. Every other time I’ve heard reference to the war, in fiction or in school, it is described as one class of butchers butchering another class of butchers, with the Spanish citizens in the middle. I won’t pretend to be an expert on the era—but given everything I’ve heard and read beforehand, that was surprising.

Again, I wasn’t particularly enthused with George Newman as Ace’s guy-of-the-week (I propose the term Ace Guy—to rival James Bond and his almost as prolific Bond Girls), but Sophie Aldred’s interview comment is illuminating. “Oh, Ace is always doing a bit of flirting. This is not serious flirting this one.” Newman is a bit too milquetoast for my taste. I have wondered if he is a take on Henry Noone, from A Death in the Family, but he lacks some certain touch that made Noone the unforgettable Ace Guy.

All of this is to say, really, the worst problem with the script is nitpicks.

Fiesta of the Damned  deserves your time, and deserves your money. Reuniting the Dragonfire team continues to be Big Finish’s best decision since Light at the End.

If you haven’t already listened, you owe it to yourself to rush over to Big Finish and buy it. Then email Big Finish and tell them we need much more of the seventh Doctor, Ace, and Mel next year.

One last note—if you would like to hear some colleagues and I interview Guy Adams about Big Finish, writing audio stories, and Doctor Who, you can listen to our discussion right here.