From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   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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