Doctor Who - Paper Cuts - Review

This is an enjoyable story, but a lightweight one. The sort of thing I can give a lazy replay to when going to bed, quite happily, but not one that's overly gripping or challenging. As has been noted, in really suffers for its placement; it fails to capitalise at all on the arc connecting the previous and the succeeding story. This seems like a huge mistake. Whilst I'm getting that BF wanted to make a distinct, standalone story to prevent the season feeling like one huge plot, they could have developed one with greater thematic links to what was going on. As it is we get a few interesting moments between Mila and Not-Gomori and little else. In addition, the get-out from the previous cliffhanger is fairly underwhelming, and the time explosion seems to have no greater significance beyond spreading the viruses as we already knew.

Still, let's take it on its own terms. First things first: It is a play of beautiful imagery. Paper warriors, walls that echo memories, tombs in space, chess games. There is an almost poetic quality to the setting here. The visuals in my head were as rich as any I've had with a Big Finish play. Better known for clever plotting than sensual flourishes, this was an unexpected pleasure coming from Platt.

On the other hand, the story isn't quite as thoughtful and smart as Platt is known for. It's a fairly ordinary court intrigue story for the most part, with a few unexpected turns mostly in the final part. I felt that the revelations towards the end were a little underexplained, not fully set up or resolved. It didn't really detract from the story, but there was a slight non-sequitur feel. There was a hint of a 'chess game' structure in the final part, with the Sazou figures freezing when it wasn't there turn and such. This could have been developed further. I've always been a sucker for the battle of wits in stories, and would have enjoyed it more if the Sazou game had been ongoing from part three onwards as a backdrop to events. On the whole it's an amiable, unassuming tale. Enjoyable without being standout.

As others have noted, there is a bit of overacting in the performances, most notably that of Sara Crowe, who is probably the weakest link in the story. The other performances are alright, though there is a distinct lack of subtlety. The Captain, played by John Banks, is perhaps the only one exempt from this, and he makes a fairly simple character feel quite real - the Captain is the best of the Draconian lot. The Prince is a bit shouty and loud most of the time, and also has an odd habit of beginning his scenes calmly, even if he was raging last we saw him. India Fisher is a bit underwhelming here. She puts in an OK showing, but doesn't bring anything of anything much to the script than what's already there, and does nothing with the interesting Mila-Charley set up. (Admittedly, based on the interviews, it seems like Briggs might have specifically told her to act exactly like Charley, which would probably left her feeling a bit stifled, one would imagine.) As with Patient Zero, Colin puts in a good showing, but doesn't hit his A game. He does have a few more sparkling lines than the previous tale, though.

Lastly, a good word for the sound design. Whilst it's very spartan, it is quite effectively so. The rustling of paper is the key sound effect of the play, and everything else is neccesarily muted to suit it. It works well, and the smattering of musical accompaniment is quite pleasant too.

My overall impression is that things might have worked better as a three part story. As it is the pace is very slow - an intentional choice, rather than a poorly structured story, but things may have felt tighter in three parts. This would have also opened up a one-part story in order to explore Mila-Charley a little more, perhaps having Gomori accepting his ride home to Mila's chagrin, setting up a little three-hander in which Mila shows a bit more of herself when she's alone with Gomori and not happy.

As such fancies might indicate, I am a little disappointed with what was actually delivered, but as noted, it isn't so much an inherent problem with the story that prompts such, but rather its unfortunate positioning. Taken alone it's a lighthearted bit of fluff, enjoyable and very much listenable, but largely unremarkable save for some striking visual imagery. 6/10

The Doomwood Curse - Review

For those who are reading before buying this, I'll note there are some mild spoilers, and you may be able to piece together the revelations early if you read this, but it's not going to ruin anything.

This is the first audio story I decided to review. Not because it's a standout of the range, but still, it's interesting and quirky enough to merit attention. By no means a high-concept, mindbending story, but a bit unusual.

The story is a psuedo-historical featuring Dick Turpin, who hadn't previously recieved Who treatment, but the quirk is that it's also a 'psuedo-fictional'. That is to say, the Doctor and Charley don't just encounter the historical Turpin, but the fictional Turpin. The plot involves fiction blurring into reality, you see, and Jac Rayner (the ever reliable) had the smart idea of centering it on character who is both historical and fictional (as an acknowledgement of this, there's a nod to Robin Hood, who might equally have worked, but Turpin is a more interesting choice).

The story is fairly distinctly split down the middle - the first half is a bit of a murder mystery with peculiar goings on. The murders and the peculiarities are solved at the end of part two, however, leading into more of an action romp and a playing with the established concepts in the third and fourth parts.

The first disc (parts one and two) is suitably mystifying. It is a bit disappointing that we have the reveal of what's going on by the end of part two; I was enjoying being baffled. India Fisher really gets to stretch her muscles and enjoy herself in this one, and I enjoyed Geraldine Newman as the quasi-villainous aunt. (She seems to be channeling the old woman from Stones of Venice.)

The second disc I felt wasn't quite as good as the first. With both the murder mystery aspect and the weird phenomena aspect solved, some of the hook was gone. Nonetheless, I rather enjoyed the chase to York - it was quite atmospheric. I felt the climax was a bit rushed and not so strong, although the image of the particles making Turpin grow into a giant in the streets of York was delightfully weirdy B-movie. The Doctor and Eleanor dropping into the fiction in order to catch Turpin was a highlight. It had interesting ramifications and it was a logical progression of the plot. One other thing I felt didn't work too well was the explanation for the particles - they're explained as being a biological phenomena that alters your perceptions, but this isn't inkeeping with their reality warping properties. Of course it's all technobabble really, but I felt this particular explanation wasn't satisfying for the effects we were seeing. I also wasn't keen on the Grel, who are far too comical and pantomime for my tastes. The race, and the concepts, could (and have) been explored and developed further - but not every story needs to be high minded speculative fiction

Overall, enjoyable, quirky, and rather satisfying. 7/10