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RED (BF AUDIO)

4 episodes. Approx. 122 minutes. Written by: Stewart Sheargold.
Directed by: Gary Russell. Produced by: Gary Russell.


THE PLOT

The Needle is more than just a luxury apartment complex. It is a
living organism, under the constant control of the sentient machine
known as Whitenoise (John Stahl). For its residents, the Needle
represents an escape from the dark side of human nature. All residents
have chips implanted in their brains. At the first hint of violence,
Whitenoise will deliver a selective "edit," purging the impulse from
the human mind before any crime has a chance to occur.

The Doctor knows full well that such a plan cannot work for long. The
suppressed impulses will simply build, until the violence finds an
outlet. That is exactly what is happening on the Needle. With
increasing regularity, the residents are "Red-lining." Their chips
malfunction, their consciousness taken over by a desire to kill.
Whitenoise cannot stop it. He can only edit the memories of the
residents, so that no one can recall that the murder victims ever even
existed.

The Doctor's arrival complicates matters even further. The Doctor's
violence is of a type beyond that of the Needle's regular occupants.
Once he is fitted with a chip, he finds himself in tune with "Red."
With each new killing, the Red signal grows stronger - and with each
death, the Doctor finds himself losing control...


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: "I have destroyed races, destroyed worlds. Sometimes I've
enjoyed it, that power. Oh, I am capable of so much more violence.
Would you like to see?" Sylvester McCoy is often the silliest and most
whimsical of Doctors. But when he's playing darker material, there's
something in his voice that makes him genuinely chilling.

This story plays perfectly on that, stripping most of his frivoulous
shell away. The cliffhangers all echo each other: The Doctor is made
vulnerable to the violence of "Red," witnessing an attack through the
killer's eyes, mentally becoming the murderer. He is appalled when one
of the murders uses a technique plucked from his own mind."When he
snapped her neck - He got that from me!" McCoy's tendency to roll his
"R's" is also used to good, creepy effect. His repetitions of "Red,
red, red" become increasingly guttural, until it's practically one
extended rolled "R." This is one of McCoy's very best performances,
one of only a handful of times across the series in which the Doctor
becomes truly frightening.

Mel: The one character in the story who is "un-chipped," making her
free to commit violence if she chooses to. This makes her an object of
fascination for the characters. The masochistic Vi Yulquen (Sandi
Toksvig) wants Mel to hurt her. The people of the city below find her
capability to commit violence equally intriguing. Draun (Peter Rae)
even refers to Mel as "Red," referencing the color of her hair but
also drawing a connection between Mel, who could kill if she chose to,
and the killer, who cannot choose but to kill. The irony is that Mel
is one of the least violent companions the Doctor has ever had, and
she is plainly disgusted at the obsession with violence permeating
this society.


THE VIOLENCE OF "RED"

Violence. The fascination with violence. The sensuality of violence.
The fear of it, the horror of it, the attraction of it.

Red is one of Big Finish's most purely disturbing stories. It's one I
doubt would be allowed to be made under theDoctor Who banner today.
Not because of its body count (far from the highest in the series),
but because its violence is so textured, with so many different
emotions tied into it.

One disturbing element is the sense of voyeurism created as we witness
the killings. We not only see the crimes. We also see Chief Blue (Sean
Oliver) and Whitenoise watching the crimes in real time. Chief Blue
studies them on the monitors as they occur, and spends more time
watching the secret "Red tape" of all the murders. He does this not to
solve the crimes, but to enjoy the pain and fear of the victims.

Meanwhile, we meet the motley residents of this society: Vi Yulquen
watches simulations of violence to attempt to feel something, and
expresses her attraction to a friend by saying, "I wish harm on you."
Draun playacts at threatening Mel with a knife; after he nearly does
hurt her while possessed by "Red," he is left both crippled and
confused by guilt. Then there is Draun's sister, Nuane (Denise Hoey),
whose past includes violence of a sort that is usually associated with
serial killers and war criminals.

None of these characters is presented as evil. They are all complex,
all clearly damaged by a society that has attempted to "make them
better" by purging them of their negative emotions. As the Doctor
observes, this has left a hole in their humanity, to the point that
they now hunger for the very things denied to them. They are depraved,
twisted, and broken, wallowing in the very thing they were attempting
to escape,


OTHER THOUGHTS

Writer Stewart Sheargold's script is extremely detailed, from the
building that rearranges itself in response to the thoughts and needs
of its residents to the lifestyle of the chipped people within.
Instead of husbands and wives, those who live together are "designated
habitat partners." There is no sex in the Needle, as Whitenoise thinks
of "physical pleasure as the precursor to violence" - showing that
purging negative emotions also leads to a purge of positive ones. The
residents are cold, almost machine-like, even as the increasingly
irrational Whitenoise is almost human in his breakdown.

Denied the visual, Sheargold evokes it by referencing colors. The
residents entrusted with the maintenance of the Needle and Whitenoise
are known as "Blues." The machine itself is "White" (along with being
"white noise," which cancels out other input). Violence is represented
by "Red," which is also the color of Mel's hair.

Merged with an expert production, it all brings this setting vividly
to life. The first three episodes are compelling, as we are allowed to
inhabit the world of the Needle and discover the cold lives of its
inhabitants.

Unfortunately, as with many stories that are strong on setting and
atmosphere, things slip when it comes time to really deal with the
story. Episode Four is by far the weakest. An attempt to raise the
stakes in the final stretch instead overloads the climax. People are
massacred on the monitors as the Doctor and Mel work to stop the
killer... but they work with no sense of urgency, pausing to explain
exposition even as we hear the screams of the dying, making them seem
uncharacteristically callous. A confused finale, as the survivors rush
to safety, is one complication too many, leaving the ending feeling
jumbled.

A pity, since the actual climax, as the Doctor confronts "Red"
directly, is very good, a well-written and well-produced scene with a
superb McCoy performance at the center of it. The story would have
done better to have trusted itself to hold interest with this
confrontation. By attempting to build up further threat, it nearly
drowns out the part that works.

The weakness of the final episode, and particularly of the last ten
minutes, keeps Red from achieving greatness. Even so, this is a dark
journey well worth taking: The ambitions of the narrative, the detail
and texture of both script and production, and the many good moments
along the way make up for the shortcomings of the resolution.


Rating: 7/10.

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