Earth & Beyond: The People's Temple

1 episode. Approx. 95 minutes. Written by: Paul Leonard. Directed by: John Taylor.  Performed by: Paul McGann.


THE PLOT

While reading a book about Stonehenge, Sam gets the bright idea to ask the Doctor to take her there, to see it "when it was new, when it was a temple." But she is not prepared for the sight that awaits her. Poor villagers, enslaved by the cruel Bear Man, Coyn, labor night and day to construct the perfect temple. Human sacrifices are performed as ritual by the Deer Man, Shalin.

The Doctor warns Sam against interfering. But faced with such abject misery, the young London girl cannot make herself stand by and watch. The results of her meddling may just spark a war - and the Doctor and Sam will be lucky just to get out of ancient Stonehenge alive!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: "You look like a man who keeps lists of the people he kills." Paul McGann's laid-back delivery of lines such as this condemnation of the Deer Man, Shalin, oddly helps to emphasize the Doctor's moral judgment. It seems counterintuitive, but his light touch is far more effective than if he spluttered and shouted. It also gives his performance a place to go. The scene with Shalin, in which McGann uses a light touch for the Doctor's lines, is followed about ten minutes later by a similar scene with Coyn. In that scene, McGann does go for harsher, sterner tones, which differentiates it from the earlier encounter and keeps the performance varied.

Sam Jones: Unsurprisingly, by far the longest of the Earth & Beyond stories also offers by far the best characterization for Sam. Writer Paul Leonard neatly parallels her relationship with the Doctor to the childhood relationship between Shalin and Coyn, with her loving the Doctor's ability to take her suggestions and go a bit further with them. Sam is impulsive, which is what puts both her and the Doctor in their situation in this story to start with. But she also can think quite quickly, drawing on what she knows of people from this time period to bluff the superstitious natives. When the Doctor is held by Coyn and Shalin, Sam is thrust into a leadership role with Dorlan, a prisoner she helped to free. Sam feels guilt when her plan to help Dorlan's people goes badly wrong, and even when the Doctor points out that she isn't responsible for the actions of others, she insists on claiming responsibility.


THOUGHTS

Many of the reviews of The People's Temple from the time of this story collection's release complained about it: too long, too slow, no science fiction elements. I will say that people who found the Hartnell historicals dull probably will find this story dull as well. But I was always a big fan of the Hartnell historicals, and that may explain why I enjoyed this story so much.  The People's Temple may originally have been published within a short story collection, but it's more of a novella - and the added time allows writer Paul Leonard to present characters, a society, and a situation with some actual depth and texture.

Coyn and Shalin are particularly strong characters, complex individuals whose lifelong friendship, and growing wariness of each other, drives the story. An excellent prologue presents them as children, and Leonard's polished and careful writing (a notable step up from the prose of the previous two short stories) details that friendship as a series of negotiations: Coyn makes Shalin feels useful, Shalin makes Coyn feel brave. "That is one reason why they are friends." An epilogue brings the story full circle in a way that's highly satisfying, aided by the simple but effective sound effects used in this production.

This is definitely a story aimed at adult readers/listeners, and would probably be barely recognizable to fans familiar only with the new series. The pace is slow and measured, the violence genuinely brutal, and the tone often bleak. It presents two memorable guest characters, each a seriously flawed individual responsible for many deaths, and yet doesn't ultimately treat either of them as simply a villain. Most reminiscent of the early Hartnell historicals, it's a story I'd most recommend in its audio form (thanks to the production values and McGann's excellent reading) and one probably best enjoyed by those who appreciated the early Hartnell historicals.


Rating: 8/10.