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mrcoldstream's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
✅84% = Great! = Mildly recommended!
Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time: Bennie joins Seven and Ace as scary monsters invade your ears.
The 13th Main Range release sees Big Finish tackle the Virgin New Adventures continuity for the very first time. The story is set between the novels All-Consuming Fire and First Frontier.
Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time: Bennie joins Seven and Ace as scary monsters invade your ears.
The 13th Main Range release sees Big Finish tackle the Virgin New Adventures continuity for the very first time. The story is set between the novels All-Consuming Fire and First Frontier.
STORY:
This story mixes an interesting hotel setting with a cross-knit convention, a time experiment, and a Planet of the Spiders-esque cult trying to summon the titular Scourge. And dead bodies are coming back to life as well, because why not? This is a memorable and exotic mix that quickly turns scary and tense.
As we follow the three separate events through the three main characters and begin piecing everything together, the narrative slowly builds tension.
By the second half, we realise that the Doctor has made a terrible mistake as the monsters get the upper hand (this is where Cornell delivers one of the most effective Big Finish cliffhangers as the Doctor's painful transformation into a critter begins).
Part 4 develops the story into something even stranger as the Doctor finds a way to take control of the situation.
All the cliffhangers are fantastic; they make you want to continue listening!
POPULATION:
Sylvester McCoy brings out his manipulative Seven here, as evidenced by the cliffhanger in Part 1, where we learn that the Doctor has called the Scourge to Earth for some reason. McCoy delivers an exceptional performance, particularly when he is under the influence of the Scourge.
In this story, Bernice Summerfield, a companion from the Virgin New Adventures novels, seamlessly integrates with Seven and Ace. Listening to this one doesn't require you to be familiar with her. Lisa Bowerman is great in the role, and Cornell seems intent on giving her the upper hand over Seven’s usual companion Ace, especially in the second half.
Speaking of Ace, she feels like herself here and takes good charge in the second half once the Doctor is out of action. The story gives both companions clear roles, enhancing their value.
The guest characters aren't very interesting.
The Scourge are well-established monsters—more than simply murderous aliens. They effectively gain the upper hand and entrap the Doctor, which makes them very formidable. I also appreciate their connection to our negative emotions and their constant presence in our consciousness.
PRODUCTION:
The sound design and music here successfully build an uneasy and tense atmosphere. The chanting is unnerving, and the monster voices are scary, not to mention the effective, gross sound design capturing the transformations that occur throughout this story.
ATMOSPHERE:
While Part 1 is a slow build-up establishing the setting and characters, Part 2 unleashes full chaos once the Scourge arrives. Part 3 then slows things down a bit as the narrative stops moving before the big finale in the concluding part.
Cornell effectively moves the story from something that feels grounded to something much more high-concept and bizarre. This is the type of story that fits this Doctor very well.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
This story has one of my least favourite Big Finish covers. It looks fan-made, rather than official!
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Paul Cornell delivers a tense and creepy Doctor Who adventure, with a delightfully manipulative Doctor and well-established monsters, but a slightly confusing second half.
mistwhisper117's review
adventurous
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Weird morals to be advocating an affair.
jennykeery's review
5.0
"We are tired of this dance, meat puppet!" is my new go-to phrase when I want something to end.
faiazalam's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
nwhyte's review
At one point in this story I thought, Hmm, the characters are all trapped in a building in which religious rituals have been taking place and are under siege by creatures from another dimension. I wonder who wrote this? And I was right. Actually it was striking to listen to two consecutive stories featuring dark!Seven taken from opposite ends of his timeline. I enjoyed this one rather more; the story is rather better constructed, the characterisation of the hotel guests caught up in the horrors of alien invasion rather well done. Slightly annoyed by the Doctor trying to appear villainous and conniving - although Ace calls him on it, she is right to point out that this is getting old by now. For once, I found Sophie Aldred not too annoying, and very much liked Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield. And Paul Cornell has a "cross-stitch convention" taking place in the hotel, a nice and recognisable spoof of sf conventions.
meganmargoking's review
4.0
Super funny. Loved all the characterizations. Memorable quotes. Got really cheesy towards the end though.
kmccubbin's review
3.0
"Why did they make the carpet of this hotel’s corridors so rough that you can’t haul a body along it? Actually, I think I may just have answered my own question." — Bernice Summerfield.
Finally Paul Cornell, who is the architect of what is most great about the Virgin "New Adventures" Doctor Who novels, gets a turn... and he plunks us right smack into the center of the "Virgin-verse". We get the grim, Machiavellian Seventh Doctor, the angry, post-Dalek Wars Ace and Cornell's companion invention, Dr. Bernice "Benny" Summerfield.
If you haven't read the New Adventures, trust me, this is a very good thing.
Then, he traps this dream team in a hotel in Kent where a sinister plot is being hatched by manipulating, I kid you not, a physics sales demonstration, a New Age convention and a gathering of cross-stitch enthusiasts. This is all a lot of fun... for about 2 episodes. After that, there's a lot of running and screaming and blowing stuff up. Not in a good way.
It feels like a story that was an explosion of creativity that resolved in shrapnel instead of fireworks. The production values are a little odd with Big Finish falling back to some of their old issues with being unable to delineate certain characters from others and difficulties in visualizing the stage in which the characters are playing.
And by the end, you probably won't really care.
Finally Paul Cornell, who is the architect of what is most great about the Virgin "New Adventures" Doctor Who novels, gets a turn... and he plunks us right smack into the center of the "Virgin-verse". We get the grim, Machiavellian Seventh Doctor, the angry, post-Dalek Wars Ace and Cornell's companion invention, Dr. Bernice "Benny" Summerfield.
If you haven't read the New Adventures, trust me, this is a very good thing.
Then, he traps this dream team in a hotel in Kent where a sinister plot is being hatched by manipulating, I kid you not, a physics sales demonstration, a New Age convention and a gathering of cross-stitch enthusiasts. This is all a lot of fun... for about 2 episodes. After that, there's a lot of running and screaming and blowing stuff up. Not in a good way.
It feels like a story that was an explosion of creativity that resolved in shrapnel instead of fireworks. The production values are a little odd with Big Finish falling back to some of their old issues with being unable to delineate certain characters from others and difficulties in visualizing the stage in which the characters are playing.
And by the end, you probably won't really care.
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