This is from the same series of boxsets as Epoch, and like I did when I randomly selected Epoch, I'm doing just one story from it for this selection.
Bernice Summerfield: Missing Persons: Big Dig
Starring: Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield, Ayesha Antoine as Ruth, and David Ames as Jack
Format: 1 full-cast CD (or download) with no internal episode breaks, disc 1 of 4 not sold separately
Silly? There is some comical media satire, but it's not silly on the whole.
Standalone? No. The resolution to the mystery of the episode depends on Epoch, and there is a status quo change leading into the next episode.
Recommended? If you're up to this point in Bernice Summerfield's chronology, keep going; don't try to jump in here.
My reactions to this story contain spoilers for itself, subsequent parts of Missing Persons, and other Bernice Summerfield boxsets.
Before listening
This boxset ends the arc that started a couple CDs before Epoch, although there are enough inconsistencies on the way from there to here that it doesn't seem to be an arc that was actually planned out coherently. However, taking each story on its own terms and not worrying about worldbuilding problems that only exist when comparing different stories, there is some good writing, and I think I remember Big Dig being pretty good. There's an archeological dig that uncovers weird alien technology and Bernice does her usual thing. In this case, I recall the technology being planted by time travelers as part of a plan specifically involving Bernice, but I forget whether we find that out within this particular CD.I recall that the moment when Bernice figures how to save the day came across somewhat anticlimactic, but in a way that made sense given Bernice's level of experience on this type of adventure and the fact that the situation was engineered specifically for her to interact with.
I am remembering the tech and the climax but not the human-level details of the story, and I am looking forward to relistening. I think I remember Lisa Bowerman being in good form for it as an actress.
After listening
I had forgotten that this story doesn't actually exist on its own terms. The climax of the archeology mystery is entirely a callback to the events of Epoch: this world is artificial in the same way that Atlantis was, created by the same "gods". Missing Persons is the boxset in which an explanation is finally provided for the events of Epoch, although this explanation doesn't clear up continuity issues across the three boxsets in between. Big Dig kicks off Missing Persons, revealing that Bernice is still a person of interest to the Epoch and that the plans of the Epoch are ongoing.This is a possession story (not the only one in Bernice Summerfield). Bernice is on a mysterious alien planet with a livestreaming crew who've never actually livestreamed an archeological dig before, and the host puts on the helmet from a suit Bernice digs up. He gets mind-controlled and gains a limited ability to mind-control other people. Bernice is immune and does heroic stuff, though pretty much everyone in the story ends up dead. In the course of the mind control, Ruth gets to have some entertaining out-of-character moments, and relationship-drama points of Bernice's status quo are amusingly touched on without forcing any chemistry that doesn't exist.
There is a mindwipe ending in which Bernice doesn't clearly remember the events of the story, and forgets Ruth and Jack entirely. I recall how Missing Persons is structured; this loss of memory sets up a motif that runs through subsequent episodes. I will probably say more about that when Missing Persons comes up on the Selectortron again and I react to The Revenant's Carnival.
I was entertained by Big Dig, but it is a piece of a larger story, and not one that it makes sense to start with. If you're already up to this point in Bernice's continuity, you should certainly keep going with it and not skip Big Dig.
No comments:
Post a Comment