(Jamie Lawson) 4 episodes.
The Doctor must confront not one, but two ancient menaces. One, an old enemy. The other, the turmoil and darkness hidden in his own soul.
From the Back Cover:
"But isn't that dangerous?"
"There are things out there far more dangerous than drunks with guns, Doctor."
San Francisco, 1896. The opium dens of Chinatown and the rowdy houses of the Barbary Coast are traps for the unwary. But a far more dangerous trap awaits the Doctor as he visits the City by the Bay.
An ancient enemy is waiting for him... and if he fails to see her for what she is, the price will be not just his life, but his very soul...
Join us as the Doctor journeys into the very hearts of darkness... his own.
Plot:
The Doctor and Dara visit San Fransisco and immediately a bloodsucking servant of the extinct Great Vampires, Renata, detects this disturbance in the force. No sooner does the TARDIS crew discover famous magician Carter Evans is a Van Helsing wannabe then Renata sinks her teeth into the Doctor’s neck. Even Dara begins to notice the Doctor starts to act strangely, as Renata’s sale pitch about being an undead immortal of the night becomes very attractive, and she bites him again – the third time he’ll become a vampire himself. The trouble is, he likes it. Dara teams up with Evans to stake Renata before she bites the Doctor a third time, but in a moment of realism, these two ineffectual morons are bushwhacked by Renata, who hypnotizes them, ties them to a chair and prepares to eat them. The Doctor’s dark side is not to be messed with, however, and he grabs Renata and shoves her into sunlight. She turns to dust and the Doctor returns to normal... well, he’s not a vampire any more.
Story:
On the face of it, it is strange that Doctor Who would not have featured more stories about vampires. Only three stories feature anything approaching proper undead (State of Decay, The Curse of Fenric and Smith & Jones) and two of those only feature humanoid creatures that just resemble vampires, not the genuine article. Of course, the concept of vampires – inhuman creatures that drain the life out of others – is almost one of Doctor Who’s foundations, with everything from the Cybermen to the Fendahl to Axos working as a variation on the theme. What’s more curious is that the Great Vampires, established as a core part of Time Lord mythology, never appeared in the TV show again, only being referred to once more, in The Infinite Quest.
The Backbone of Night picks up on the threads left dangling by State of Decay (Terrance Dicks writing a full three sequels notwithstanding), that the human servants of the Great Vampires would be left alive even after all their masters were dead (it’s often mistakenly assumed that any servants would die with their master, but the Three Who Rule are actually killed by dawn breaking with its usual dramatic irony), faithfully waiting for new orders. The implication at the end is that other servants are still around and creating a new race of vampires, which gives the concept a nice open ending.
Jamie Lawson starred as Serena in Empire of the Daleks, and here she not only gives a similarly composed performances as Elizabeth Renata , she also writes a cleverly constructed audio drama. Limited to a few familiar stock locations on a foggy downtown San Francisco, the plot is focussed on four characters (the Doctor, Dara, Renata and Evans) and the way they interact with each other. We also have demonstrated rather than described Dara’s loyalty to the Doctor, and Evans' vendetta against Renata, and the whole plot revolves on the dynamics between the Time Lord and the vampire – they’re understandable mutual hatred compromised (on Renata’s side) by loneliness and (for the Doctor) a desire to be free. The plot also has a neat resolution as the Doctor’s darker instincts get out of control, with ambiguity over whether Renata’s seduction of the Doctor was just revenge, a genuine desire for his companionship, or one that developed into the other. The moral of the story is to accept no one is perfect, and Evans’ mindless quest for vengeance is as every bit as soul destroying as Renata’s millennia of waiting for the Great Vampires. Obsession is bad – not particularly original or deep, but undeniably true.
The Backbone of Night is also interesting in it is at no point self-aware or mocking of modern vampire stories – similarly there are no attempts to bring out ‘new sides’ to the vampire myth, or reinvent them as either warriors or the damned which it seems no can bring themselves to do nowadays. After all, in the one proper vampire story Doctor Who did, they were revealed to be mutant servants in a spaceship on another planet in a different universe. Backbone is satisfied with what it has to work with: the fact that vampires, like werewolves are archetypes of human beings giving into their baser instincts. With Fictional Hypothesis demonstrating how far the Doctor would go to forget his past, what would be more natural than for the series to tempt him with an easy way out?
This small scale adventure is hardly earth-shattering, but the high level of competence and the tight plot raise The Backbone of Night among other DWADS, while Jeff Coburn’s haunted performance proves himself one of the best unofficial Doctors around. The best story of the Eleventh Doctor’s era so far, and undoubtedly one of the best things Everlasting Films has produced.
Personal Appreciation: *****
Why the hell aren’t the DWADs bragging that they did this?
Character Stuff:
The Doctor, desperate to learn some magic skills, decides to seek out famous magicians from Earth history to teach him how to do it and he’s willing to pay cash (very different from other incarnations, who would refuse point blank to admit they could be taught anything). His olfactory senses are more powerful than a humans, and he disapproves of opium use. Further evidence that he is a future Doctor is that he has experienced the events of State of Decay (or a story very like it). He has a personal key to the TARDIS databanks, meaning that only he can access certain areas. He has no qualms about following Rassilon’s jihad on the vampires, is mature by Time Lord standards, and he seems to think claiming he was attacked by a wild rat would convince Dara that he wasn’t bitten by a vampire. He’s done things he’s not proud of, and the long-buried memories of them are starting to return under Renata’s presence, and he knows what it’s like to be hated and feared by all he meets...
Dara’s snobbery and dislike for non-pristine environs has not left her even after all her time travelling in the TARDIS. She recalls the events of Dark Dreams, proving to be unusually quick on the uptake, though she automatically rubbishes the idea that vampires are real despite the fact the Doctor has just TOLD her that he believes in them cause they are an ancient enemy of the Time Lords, and he’s not normally wrong about these things. The Doctor taught her to use the TARDIS medical unit and she can just about work it in an emergency, so she’s not utterly useless this week. She really seems to be worried about him for once as something other than a chauffeur. For once Dara actually seems to be from London rather than America and she not only recognizes a retina print scan-lock, she knows the accurate name for it. Her dad is a great fan of the James Bond films, and loves car maintenance. In her most surprising moment, she decides to dwell on the nasty side of the adventure rather than forget about it.
Observations:
That is, hands down, the best damn title for a vampire story I’ve ever read.
Right. So, it’s 1401 years, six months and 11 days for Renata to start a diary? You think she would have found something worth writing down after the first few centuries...
“I may be any number of things...” Oh God. Seriously, new dialogue can’t be that difficult to write, can it? Is it in the writer’s guide to have nonsensical quotes from The Five Doctors in every story?
Man, I dunno where that woodwind music is from but is one hell of a good tune, and a lovely cynical counterpoint to Renata’s psychosis. The honkytonk piano tunes work pretty well too. And the seduction scene at the end of part two... the phrase “Big Up, Rachel Sommers Since I Assume You’re Responsible!” springs to mind.
I’d love to see David Tennant react to Renata’s offer of immortality. I might have seen it already in School Reunion, but I’m prepared to take the chance.
Thanks for that narration, Dara, I’d never have guess you’d disobey orders and follow the Doctor...
Jeez, that is one long recap for part three... three and a half minutes. Long time... or short episodes, I forget which.
A monk’s outfit in the TARDIS wardrobe? That sounds ominously fanwanky, and in any other story I’d be worried that David Segal would be about to arrive, credited as “Peter Butterworth”... but I’m seeking help about that. Don’t worry.
Odd that the soulless Doctor sounds just like Trent Lane from Daria...
“It even looks like something out of a gothic novel!” Thanks for that Dara. We’d never have suspected.
Smooth talker, that Evans. I now know whenever I’m putting the moves on a chick in a school girl outfit to discuss the cannibalistic consumption of spiral fluid, it’s bound to get them in the mood...
“Not while I’m eating.” It’s a complete non-sequiter... but a scary non-sequiter.
I am really not sure if the infodump in episode four as Dara points out to Evans he’s standing in a dimensionally transcendental alien time machine fighting ancient alien bloodsuckers is really good writing or really bad. Either way, Jym DeNatale’s wasted acting suits Evans’ burned out character.
Hmmm. You wander up to a vampire nest, very loudly chat about how you’re here to kill the vampire, kick down the door, discuss very loudly kicking down the door, then act surprised when the vampire has realized you’re at the front door? Did Dara and Evans stop for some opium on the way there?
“You owe me everything!” OK, I am officially freaked out. Burn With Me has nothing on this, and the Gregorian chants in the background... dear God, this is actually better than some Big Finishes I can name!!
Preposterous Plot Points:
Renata apparently manages to drain all the blood out of her servant in less than three seconds. While talking loudly as she does it. On a similar theme, a few hours seem to pass during a minute between the Doctor and Dara chatting about Chinatown.
Why isn’t the Tong words for vampire translated into English?
Notable Dialogue:
Gratuitous use of the title:
EVANS: Every culture has its own name for the stars, there’s even different names for the Milky Way... The Chinese call it The Backbone of Night.
DOCTOR: Immortality is a trap – a curse!
RENATA: Not if you have someone to share it with.
You didn’t forget that bit from Fictional Hypothesis, did you?
DOCTOR: So much has come to mind. All the things I’ve... tried to forget. All the things I’m not proud of. It’s all coming back to me at once...
DARA: Oh, come on, Doctor! What have YOU got to be ashamed of?
DOCTOR: More than you will ever know. You think you know me, Dara? You don’t. I only show you what I want you to see.
RENATA: Do you have any idea what it’s like, to know only people who hate and fear you?
DOCTOR: I...
RENATA: You do, I know it. I know you, Doctor, I know your whole life through your blood.
DOCTOR: What?! No... So long ago...
RENATA: The blood remembers, Doctor. It always remembers.
DARA: How can you say that? You’re a good, kind person...
DOCTOR: So I fooled you too... It’s not true. You don’t know me, Dara, not a bit. The past is littered with my sins.
DARA: What could you have possibly done that was so awful? You’re a friend to people all over the world, the galaxy, all through time!
DOCTOR: It... hasn’t... always been that way... I’ve done things in my life, quite dreadful things. I pretended ever since, they never happened. Oh, you’d hate me if you knew...
DOCTOR: So long ago... I swore I’d never... be like that again.
RENATA: Doctor, you may try to disown yourself, but it doesn’t go away. It waits. As I have waited.
DOCTOR: "Help"? They all said help. They were all frightened. Just like you. All over time, space... and I was there.
Sometimes people just totally miss the obvious...
EVANS: Could you come back tomorrow night, after the show? Say, eleven?
DARA: That’s awfully late. Why not during the day?
EVANS: Actually, I generally work at night. I sleep most of the day.
DOCTOR: Ah! Perfecting your latest illusions when no one else is awake to disturb you?
EVANS: ...something like that.
DOCTOR: Tea and crumpets, thank you!
DARA: Guh... You’re awake!
DOCTOR: And you were asleep.
Dunno about you, but Dara didn’t convince me and I know she’s right...
DARA: I’m not a child, Doctor, and I’m not stupid! You were bitten by a vampire last night and you’re under her influence now, aren’t you?
The Dark Side’s scary because it’s so easy to cross over to...
DOCTOR: I only show you what I want you to see – and now I’m thinking I’ve done the same thing to myself. I have to start looking at it again, face what I am. It must... I must... be free.
DARA: Letting your darker side have free reign... it’s dangerous! Didn’t you ever read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
DOCTOR: (LAUGHS) I’m not human, Dara, I’m a Time Lord! I can control my base instincts perfectly well – look at all the times I’ve defeated the Master, the Daleks, all sorts of evil across time and space! I think I can manage one pathetic remnant of a race we destroyed aeons ago...
DARA: It’s not the vampire I’m worried about. It’s you.
DARA: This isn’t you!
DOCTOR: Oh, but is, Dara. That’s the frightening part. I have... felt things that I haven’t allowed to even admit I was capable of feeling for a long time, touched a part of my soul that I thought I shut out forever, a part of myself... a part we all have, deep within... that I keep locked up, shut away because it’s so dark and ugly. I can feel it surfacing again. I can’t fight it because... because it’s... me.
Cliffhangers:
1. The Doctor is lured to Renata’s lair, and throws his cloak at the vampire. But before he can stake her, she decks him and prepares to drink his blood. “How ironic! The blood of a Time Lord shall now give life to the ancient enemy!” she shouts and bites him! You scared yet?
2. Since the Doctor needs to be bitten three times by Renata before he becomes a vampire, he can afford to let the starving woman feast on his blood once more without ill effects... and he does so. “You’ve made me very happy, Doctor,” she says and sinks her fangs into his neck, causing him to cry out in pain. You’re sure you’re not scared yet?
3. Dara blocks the Doctor’s path as he tries to leave the TARDIS. The Doctor insists that he doesn’t want to hurt her, but it’s too late for that. “Far too late,” he adds, suddenly hissing through fangs as he attacks the screaming Dara. It may be a little bit like The Keeper of Traken cliffhanger three, but I don’t care, cause I’m too busy being scared...
4. Dara reminds the Doctor that everyone has a choice about to do right or wrong, and she doesn’t think any less of him for acknowledging that choice. Reassured, the Doctor sets the TARDIS in motion.
Miscellaneous:
The plot of The Backbone of Night changed so much from development that one of its illustrations turned out to be totally irrelevant and dropped. I like to think said illustration involved an Alien Vs Predator-style all out war between the Ergons and the Myrkas. But then, I’m weird.
What Could Have Been Done To Improve It:
- Lose the info dump at the start of part four.
The Party Line:
They say that in order to appreciate the gems, you must endure the rocks. This is one of those stories that will help you appreciate the gems. What looked good on paper turns out to be a mess on air. The dialogue is terrible, the incidental music grating, and the acting is all around a crime. Even Jeffrey Coburn and Sheri Devine, who normally shine like stars in the night, turn in dreadful performances. The only saving grace is the church scene in episode four. Speaking of vampires, someone should have staked this one in the heart before it got out of its coffin.
The Awful Truth:
Proof positive that the party line is not being written by someone with both feet on the ground. The story takes the vampire genre absolutely seriously, and gives proper material for the Doctor and Dara as they try in different ways to help each other, and the small cast allows greater characterization. The music score is wonderful, and the straightforward plot is refreshingly unpretentious. Even Chip Jamison is decent in this story. What more needs to be said?
Illustrations:
The cover for The Backbone of Night. Just like a BBC Books Eighth Doctor novel... like Vampire Science... but that's probably just a coincidence...
The Doctor and Dara find the blood drained corpse played by David Segal. There'll be another one of those in the last episode. Doesn't the Doctor's hand look suspiciously hairy?
Dara and Renata. Why is it these captions are always the wrong way round. Dara is not the one with fangs. Renata is the one that actually LOOKS like she might pass for a teenage girl.
The Doctor gives in to his Inner Nosferatu. I'm not sure if it's horrifyingly disturbing or hysterically pathetic.
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