STORY PLACEMENT

 THIS STORY TAKES

 PLACE BETWEEN THE

 BIG FINISH AUDIO
 "THE MACROS" AND

 THE NOVEL "STATE

 OF CHANGE."

 

 PRODUCTION CODE

 6Z/A

 

 WRITTEN BY

 JUSTIN RICHARDS

 

 DIRECTED BY

 GARY RUSSELL

 

 WORKING TITLES

 THE SOUND OF FEAR,

 SOUND JUDGEMENT &

 WHISPERS OF DEATH

 

 RECOMMENDED 

 PURCHASE

 BIG FINISH CD#3

 (ISBN 1-84435-068-1)

 RELEASED IN NOVEMBER

 1999.

 

 BLURB

 The Doctor and Peri

 find themselves in the

 Museum of Aural

 Antiquities, where

 every sound is stored

 for posterity – from

 the speeches of

 Visteen Krane to

 security service wire

 taps and

 interrogation tapes.

 But they also find an

 intruder, 

 mysteriously Changed

 recordings, and a

 dead body.

 

 Before long the

 Doctor realises that

 there is more going on

 than simple break-in

 or murder. How can

 he defeat a creature

 that is made of pure

 sound?

 

 PREVIOUS                                                                                  NEXT

 

 

Whispers

of Terror

NOVEMBER 1999

(4 EPISODES)

 

 

                                                       

 

 

Big Finish’s third release turns its attention to arguably the least popular of their Doctors – Colin Baker. The sixth Doctor’s first Big Finish outing teams him up with Nicola Bryant’s Peri in a story set (presumably) not long after “Revelation of the Daleks.” The result is a suitably authentic recreation of the bickering relationship between the Doctor and Peri, which unfortunately when combined with Justin Richards' rather dull plot, does not take us anywhere new, let alone interesting.

 

Both lead actors give fantastic performances; neither’s voice has aged a day, both Baker and Bryant sounding just as they did back in their days at the helm of the TARDIS. I am a great fan of Baker’s very under-rated Doctor and also must be one of the few Doctor Who fans who thought that season twenty-two was a great season – “The Mark of the Rani”, “Vengeance on Varos”, and yes, even “Timelash” were all enjoyable adventures; I would even go so far as to say that “Attack of the Cybermen”, “The Two Doctors”, and “Revelation of the Daleks” were outright classics. However, although Justin Richards has captured the tone of those stories (bar the unusual length of their episodes), his story just is not anywhere near as compelling. And this is not due to the restrictions (or freedoms) of the audio format; rather it is quite simply a below-par story.

 

Richards' premise for the story was a sound one (pardon the pun). His tale about a murdered politician being re-born as a creature of pure sound seemed to be an inspired choice for the sixth Doctor’s Big Finish debut when considering the medium, but unfortunately the play soon becomes stale and predictable. Lisa Bowerman puts in a first class performances as the treasonous Beth Pernell, but even her character, quite easily the pick of the bunch, has motives so transparent that you can see right through her from the moment that she is introduced.

 

Like “The Sirens of Time” and “Phantasmagoria”, the sound design here is excellent, the performances are fantastic, and the production values are out of this world. These are early days for Big Finish, but even so they are showing an incredible amount of promise. To achieve their potential though, they will have to work a lot harder - particularly with Baker’s Doctor who will need some good, solid stories in order to win the naysayers over. I am confident that Baker is up to the challenge - he has always said that he planned to soften the character over the many years he expected to be in the role. Well now is his chance. I just hope that they do not soften him too much...

 

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2006

 

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

 

  

This play’s blurb places it between the television stories Revelation of the Daleks and The Trial of a Time Lord. As the story offers no clues as to a more specific placement, we have made it the Doctor and Peri’s

first post-Lost Stories, pre-Trial adventure. Whilst it was released second, it features a more antagonistic Doctor / Peri dynamic than the novel State of Change, release of which preceded it.

 

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