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The Killing Stone When was it made? 2002 Who made it? BBV What format was it on? CD – it was written as a book but then never got published. It finally made it as an audio book in the aforementioned 2002. Familiar names Richard Franklin The blurb
In a nutshell… Picking up where "Planet of the Spiders" left off, Mike Yates is "retired" from UNIT following all that business about betrayal, mental breakdown and general unreliability. He’s at a bit of a low ebb as he potters around his enormous country house (Mike Yates has a country house and several rolling acres in Yorkshire). The Brig phones up and suggests he go to Morocco to see the belly dancers and pick up some bit of ancient pottery (Mike is a renowned collector of ancient pottery). Mike, 23 (Mike is 23 at the end of the Pertwee era which, unless Franklin joined RADA when he was 12, is Franklin trying to make himself seem younger than he is) decides this is a good idea and is soon in Morocco. There he gets spider venom in his eye when a marketplace demonstration appears to go wrong. This is agony but Mike recognises the species (he’s an expert on exotic zoology and penned a paper about it) and knows it isn’t fatal. While enjoying the gyrations of a belly dancer he’s suddenly taken with intense stomach pains. A holidaying doctor suggests it might be gallstones and Mike’s father urges him to go to Edinburgh for surgery immediately (Mike’s father is an internationally renowned surgeon). When the stone is removed, it looks exactly like the ancient water jug Mike saw in the Moroccan market and suddenly people start trying to steal his gallstone. Is it any good? Mike Yates is not the most obvious hero for a spin-off play but then most of the Star Trek cast aren't obvious heroes for spin-off stories either and that doesn’t stop their actors from booking first class compartments on the gravy train. I haven’t read any of those but I can say that Franklin isn’t a bad writer. He’s a little overly descriptive at times but he captures both the familiarity of the cosy UNIT family and the exoticism of Morocco quite competently. The narrative moves around a little too much – from the mediation centre to Yorkshire to Morocco to Edinburgh and back to Yorkshire all in the first half hour – but it gives Franklin a chance to do a range of accents. The production of this audio book is very good indeed. Rather than just have Franklin read the text, they have added sound effects and ambient noise to give it atmosphere. They have also (at least this is how it sounds) had Franklin record dialogue separately so his characters really sound as if they’re having conversations rather than it being one man’s reporting of their conversations. Clearly, BBV have put a lot of time and thought into this recording and Franklin’s performance certainly matches it. It does grate a little that Mike Yates is suddenly this amazing guy. He was always the other one in Doctor Who – the one who wasn’t in charge (the Brig), wasn’t cute (Jo), wasn’t funny (Benton) and wasn’t the Doctor (the Doctor). Mike was added to keep the old soldiers happy – the ones that would write to the BBC and complain that a Brigadier would certainly be given a Captain to support him rah rah rah. When his romance with Jo never quite got off the ground (I can’t think why that might be) he was left treading water until his betrayal and final redemption. The book certainly doesn’t attempt to hide the Doctor Who elements. It uses the main UNIT characters quite freely, it has the Master as the main villain (or rather "The Master – for it was indeed him" as Franklin tells us half a dozen times, as the evil genius’s latest disguise is seen through by the readers) and there is even talk of faxing a photograph to the Doctor (Mike is one of the first people in Britain to have a new fangled fax machine). I may be wrong but I was under the impression it was considered bad taste to use Roger Delgado’s Master at a point after "Frontier in Space". Maybe I’ve imagined it. He uses the Master well – lurking in shadows, hiding under disguises but always the master puppeteer pulling the strings. No, if anyone should feel unhappy it is John Levene. Benton wasn’t the world’s best character – and I reviewed Reeltime’s attempt to make him a hero – but Franklin treats him with utter contempt. Gone is the lovable Sergeant and in comes a cretin who eats eleven potatoes for dinner, speaks with a thick bumpkin accent and who is the only person to laugh at his dreadful jokes. Benton is basically everything Yates is not – he’s not clever, he’s not cultured, he’s not gorgeous or heroic. He’s a moron. Speaking of heroism, Franklin frequently refers to Yates as "Our hero" in the narrative. I hope he does this in an ironic way but I’m not convinced. At times the love the author has for Mike Yates is a bit sickening. I won't spoil the ending but Mike Yates saves the day - the Doctor, the Brig and the Master convene in a department store and Mike Yates outwits all of them. Our hero. I will also just mention that Mike's gallstone is in fact the vital element needed to power the Master's TCE. There is plenty more - you should still get a copy, one way or another. Anything for the BBC to object to? I don’t know this for a fact but I’m guessing no one licensed Doctor Who, UNIT or the various UNIT characters featured in this audio book. But since BBV is on the BBC’s radar (since they objected to "The Professor and Ace" series) they must be fine with Franklin revisiting his old era. Did it help fill the void? Let’s be honest – no one even knows it is there. Would it work on radio? No because it is obviously written for fans of early 1970s Doctor Who and nobody else. But it is an extremely well produced audio book and both Big Finish’s "Companion Chronicles" series and Radio 4’s book readings sound a little flat after hearing it. Verdict Production 5/5 Entertainment 3/5 Whoishness 5/5 Overall 3/5
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