Ken Bentley

Reviews

The latest encounter between the Doctor and his metallic foes from Mondas ties in with Big Finish’s own Cyber mythology, as seen in the Cyberman series a few years ago. Its ongoing conflict in the Orion system was first mentioned in one of the earliest Paul McGann audios back in 2001.

James Swallow, who is currently penning a sequel to Cyberman, focuses far more on the human inhabitants of the planet than on the Cybermen. Indeed, the story could have been told without one modulated Cybervoice bar that of the only indigenous person converted.

Sylvester McCoy is clearly enjoying working on stories where his Doctor is travelling solo, picking up companions along the way. Keepsake makes a bittersweet coda to Kingdom of Silver as the Doctor learns of these particular companions’ fate many years later in a story in which he is basically passive.

Guest star Terry Molloy gets an opportunity to show that he can be far more than just Davros in the Big Finish arena, while Neil Roberts and Kate Terence both give strong performances in roles where emotion should, but clearly isn’t, alien.

Peter Quentin
Dreamwatch Total Sci Fi
★★★★★★★★★★

A refreshing change of pace, Kingdom Of Silver fits neatly into the Sylvester McCoy era with its pacey three-part story. I’ve also got to say that there’s something equally refreshing about this story involving a Cyberman threat to a planet other than Earth. Even in the history of televised Cyber-stories, it seems like the handle-eared menaces really have it in for the homeworld of humanity. Here, it just happens to be another lost Cyber-tomb, on a world that has nothing to do with Earth.

One nice surprise about both stories is that they feature actor Terry Molloy essaying roles other than the one for which he is most famous. When not ranting and raving on behalf of classic series Davros, Molloy’s kindly voice is a great one for audio, and unless you actually know his normal speaking voice, you probably wouldn’t suspect it’s him. He plays a central character in Kingdom Of Silver and does a great job of it. Neil Roberts, who has appeared in such series as Charmed, Sliders and even Babylon 5 (as the junior monk in the stopgap fourth season finale The Deconstruction Of Falling Stars), gives the character of Temeter (one of the very few characters to inhabit both stories) some weight and credibility.

Earl Green
The Log Book