115d. The Word Lord

The Word Lord

Location : Earth, Antarctica, Ranulph Fiennes Base

Date : 2045 - Second Cold War which is nuclear

The Word Lord is 25 minutes long and the 4th of 4 stories on Big Finish Main Series #115 from November 2008 which was the 45th Anniversary of the airing of the first TV episode in 1963. It is a prequel of BF#140 - A Death in the Family which was released 23 months later in October of 2010. It is good to listen to it before the full length sequel. This was the Doctor's first visit to Antarctica.

It took more than one listen to finally figure this one out and now I am convinced that it takes a strong imagination to get this more cerebral than normal story. 45 is a number not a word and to have a red switch hidden in the TARDIS that will magically save the day was a bit far fetched but fortunately that brought this story to a wrap at just the right time. The foe here was so evil that it actually made me want to see the Doctor take him out in a severe way. After he executed six innocent delegates inside the TARDIS where they were supposed to be safe, and then of course after he also punched Ace, knocking her out. A real dick of a villain. In fact at one point this bounty hunter was planning to kill the Doctor, remove his brain and seal his head back up that way he could sell the brain to the Cybermen before selling the Doctors dead body to the Daleks. He was also going to sell Ace and Hex (alive) where he was going to be getting more credit for Ace. Not sure where that was going but I did chuckle at the dark humor. He also noted that the Doctor is awfully overconfident any time a gun is pointed at him.

One of the main characters whom was killed taking a bullet for the Doctor, well actually three laser blasts, was someone whom he met before but the story never explained who she was. Very surprised that was overlooked somehow, but this was a short story and not without flaws. I still found it to be great fun and it was a nice outing for Ace to stand up and get aggressive even though it did no good.

If you like this plot and cerebral type of story you may also be interested in BF#035 ...ISH from 2002.

Contains a Star Wars reference;

"This place looks like a cross between Buckingham Palace and the Death Star." -Hex

This left me wondering if Hex has seen the actual Death Star or the movie Star Wars?

This is really good, nobody no-one is such an inventive amd original idea for a villain and he works really well in this story. The whole language as a weapon concept is also really clever and i was surprised at how well some of the characterisation was, even of side characters, given the short run time. One of my favourite seventh doctor releases.

The Doctor, Ace, and Hex land on an Antarctic base where they're captured and accused of murder, but thankfully someone there knows of the Doctor and they cut short in the wrongfully accused moment because the Doctor has forty-five minutes to find an impossible killer.

This story features a clever mystery and then a massive twist that ties together the whole box set. It also has the Doctor to make a surprising yet believable emotional connection while introducing a superb villain. Overall, a smashing conclusion to the set.

Occasionally, you come across a story that uses language or memes as a plot device - that isn't particularly unusual, but they are not usually this good. Released for the forty-fifth anniversary, 'The Word Lord' acts as a kind of sequel to 'A Death in the Family'; it features a diminutive but bravura ensemble cast that includes (but is obviously not limited to) McCoy, Aldred, Oliver and Paul Reynolds as the renegade Word Lord and hitman: Nobody No-one.

The story involves our intrepid trio trying to save delegates from a mysterious, lethal force from another dimension, in a secret military bunker beneath the Antarctic ice. The writer Steven Hall ties together a combination of concepts words having power, non-corporeal beings manipulating language as portals, and temporal grace within the Tardis being more a hindrance than a blessing. We also get to hear Ace's meaningless sounding off for what it really is: ineffectual bravado. Ace's uselessness combined with genuinely precarious predicament the Doctor finds himself in, makes this a tense, neat; well-plotted affair. This is the best Big Finish short story I have heard, yet.