Review: Big Finish - The Reaping, Whispers of Terror, and Year of the Pig
Reviews for three audios featuring the Sixth Doctor and Peri: The Reaping, Whispers of Terror, and Year of the Pig. It's just the three; I eventually had to recognize that if I tried to review all I've heard at a go, I'd simply never do it at all.
Because it's the flavor netgirl_y2k requested, these are "faintly spoilery but aimed not to diminish entertainment value." I've tried to include enough detail to explain my preferences, so that hopefully anybody who bothers with these will be able to tell whether they'd be more likely to enjoy what I did-or what I didn't.
Title: The Reaping
Team TARDIS: Six, Peri
Chronological placement: Between Revelation of the Daleks and Trial of a Time Lord. Audio continuity not specified.
Big Finish's Synopsis: On the morning of 9 May 1984, Peri woke up. She was expecting to spend the day relaxing in Lanzarote and, that evening, leave her mother and stepfather to go travelling with some guys she'd only just met.
But things don't always go as expected as her friends and family discover when, four months later, she returns home having travelled further than anyone could have imagined.
Meanwhile her friend, Katherine Chambers, mourns her father and Peri finds herself meeting some other familiar faces.
Elliptical Rating:
/ 5
The short version: A good Cybermen adventure in the spirit of a ghost story that overreaches itself in its character-driven elements. Very much worth listening to, especially for Six, who's excellent, but it has its faults. And, yes. The accents are that bad.
The long version:
The Doctor and Peri travel to a vast archive on Earth's moon far in the future. When Peri keys up the news for Baltimore, 1984, she's shocked to learn that a close family friend is dead--murdered in the graveyard where he was undertaker. Their fantastical holiday is over. She's got to go home.
The Reaping is very Peri-focused. She deserves a story that does what this one tries to do: give the character an origin, let her confront some of the consequences of her travels, and suggest something of how her dynamic with the Doctor could have evolved from what we saw in Season 22 to what saw in Trial of a Time Lord. The execution here is hit-or-miss, however.
One of the strong points is Peri's mom, Janine: She's a strong-willed figure who's not above vindictiveness or even being catty with her own daughter, and she seems to fit for Peri. The fights and bickering between mother and daughter mostly feel genuine; Howard, the impact of Peri's abrupt departure and long absence on the marriage, Peri's father, and the various ways in which Peri's ex-best friend and her brother, Katherine and Nate Chambers, have replaced her in the life she left behind are just a few of the issues fueling tempers. It avoids falling into an interminable catfight by virtue of the simple, quick-moving plot, much of which follows the Doctor separately, and by actually telling us something about Peri.
Janine: I might have known there was a man involved.
Peri: Like mother, like daughter.
Peri's interaction with Katherine, and with her old life by extension, is outstanding, too. Peri spends a lot of time sniffling-but that's precisely what Peri would do. There's nothing like getting slapped in the face with the reality that the world moves on without you to bring you up short, and The Reaping nails that one. It goes a long way toward giving Peri more of an inner life.
It's when it tries to tell us all about the new, improved Peri that things take a nose-dive. Travel with the Doctor changes companions, that's what we expect. Seeing the ways in which it does so is half the fun. But The Reaping often reads more like essay (or hopeful LJ meta) than fiction. We get lines Wherein the Author Will Now Pinpoint the Nature of the Doctor/Peri Relationship for Us (which sounds about as natural coming out of Peri's mouth as you'd expect). Or the Obligatory Regurgitation of the Opening Paragraph of the Doctor Who Wiki-Peri's friends and family won't know this stuff, true, but we do, and if you can't find a way to fill them in gracefully, the resulting stilted dialogue is going to grate. Also, having all the companion's auld acquaintance stand around and marvel at how different she is could perhaps be made to work, but only if the brand-new toughness and thirst for adventure they're boggling at are actually traits we've seen the character acquire.
The script seems to realize half-way through that the take-charge Peri we've been clobbered with is a bit of a departure from what we had onscreen. So, it has her up and lose it. Of course, Peri's gone to pieces more than once before. But it doesn't quite sell the switch; it feels like compensation. However, once we're past the grating middle, the character dynamics seem to flow much better to the conclusion.
While I'm on the cons: The American accents are terrible. Whether they're less of an issue for non-Americans, I can only guess, but the fact that each person within a family seems to have grown up in a different region is distracting. As is Daniel Woods's wooden voice.
But I said this is well worth hearing, and I meant it, so, circling back to the good bits:
SIX. He's great. He's arrogant, he's self-absorbed at incredibly bad moments, he's cutting at the right ones, he talks a Cyber-being into betraying itself and for once that silly schtick actually works, and we can really feel how dear his friend is to him, even when he's looking at the big picture because he has to, even when he's screwing up royally.
And it has atmosphere. It manages to keep a steady, morbid, creepy mood even as it skirts the absurd-and to make absurdities work in its favor. Most of this audio is set in a graveyard; all of it feels like it is. It's the right feeling.
One last note that doesn't really fit anywhere else: The Doctor creeps me out at the end of this. I have some trouble making out precisely what goes on with him there; I can think of two ways to read it, one distinctly more disturbing than the other, but neither yields a completely sensical picture. In any case, it didn't really detract for me, and a creepy note for Six isn't out of place, either. It's one of the more intriguing things about this adventure, in fact.
Title: Whispers of Terror
Team TARDIS: Six, Peri
Chronological placement: Between Revelation of the Daleks and Trial of a Time Lord.
Big Finish's Synopsis: 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 interrrogation 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 a simple break-in or murder. How can he defeat a creature that is made of pure sound?
Elliptical Rating:
/ 5
The short version: A fun adventure that exploits its medium to the fullest. It loses points, however, for failing to present its concepts well enough to earn suspension of disbelief, for some stylistic issues, and for political intrigue that isn't as intriguing as it should be.
The long version:
It's fun, if not especially memorable. The characters don't stay with you, the speechifying did nothing for anyone, and the central concept doesn't convince. But the story takes full advantage of the fact that this is a strictly audio medium and just goes to town with the sound-painting.
That's some freaky sound-painting, by the way.
It's a fertile scenario: The TARDIS lands in the Museum of Aural Antiquities, home to Curator Gantman (Peter Miles) and an earnest grad student, Miles Napton (Mark Trotman). It's soon to host political hopeful Beth Parnell (Lisa Bowerman), former agent of the late orator Visteen Krane (Matthew Brenher), for a memorial broadcast of his speeches. However, someone is subtly altering Krane's work, making small changes that for some reason are worth killing over.
Three things keep the story from getting properly airborne, though. The first is a mild case of Dungeons and Dragons dialogue: Necessary descriptive details don't find their way into dialogue quite naturally. It's a bit distracting when you expect Peri's next line to be "Roll the battle dice to attack." Fortunately, this problem is mostly left behind after the first episode.
Secondly, this audio flunks skience. Skience is that sciency-sounding stuff that's maybe-sorta plausible, or maybe not even that, but convincing nevertheless. It's what makes most sci-fi go 'round. However, the more you elaborate on your skience, the harder it is to pull off. If something is blatantly absurd (e.g., Blinovitch Limitation Effect), we may accept it on its own terms. If something is blatantly absurd, and yet appeals to the basic science we do know, it will make the listener wince every time the Doctor brings it up-especially when he deduces the whole skiencey thing in a stunningly improbable swoop.
The main "skience" in Whispers of Terror is pretty cool on the face of it. The story works well where it stays on the face of it. Too much of the plot is about unpacking it instead.
Thirdly, although half of the hook here is mystery and intrigue, I spent most of the audio waiting for a payoff that never came. Whispers of Terror gives most of its own plot away, and the rest doesn't take much guessing. The villains are predictable, and so are their machinations. As a result, the big revelations end up being more ludicrous than revelatory. You can get away with that, but only if there's enough interesting character interaction or play of ideas to fill the void. Whispers of Terror isn't very stimulating in those ways.
But frankly, I don't think it's meant to be. What it is is a good, spooky trip-a sort of audio-only funhouse. And it's pretty great at being that.
The compensating factors for all my gripes? Well, I like my Six/Companion bickering, and there's some lovely bickering between the Doctor and Peri here. It's important that they should bicker; how else will we know it's them? Whispers of Terror's best feature, though, is that fabulous "audio funhouse" quality of it. Definitely, definitely listen to this with stereo headphones in a dark room if you can.
Then trade it to someone for a copy of …ish or Year of the Pig.
And speaking of Year of the Pig…
Title: Year of the Pig
Team TARDIS: Six, Peri
Chronological placement: Between Timelash and Revelation of the Daleks. Which is neat in itself, I think, because all the others are between Revelation and Trial.
Big Finish's Synopsis: Ostend, 1913. War is coming. A war in which millions will die. And the guest in suite 139 of the Hotel Palace Thermae knows it. Which is odd, considering he has trotters,
a snout and a lovely curly tail.
Toby the Sapient Pig is a swine on the run. Two peculiar strangers have been hunting him across Europe. The first, Miss Alice Bultitude, is an Englishwoman and collector of obscure theatrical ephemera. The second, Inspector Alphonse Chardalot, is a celebrated member of the detective police - the man who brought the trunk murderess of St Germain to justice.
This was supposed to be a reading week for the Doctor and Peri. Now they must do battle with a villain who wants to wipe every last human from the face of the earth - once he's had just another dish of truffles. And maybe a valedictory glass of fizzy lemonade.
Elliptical Rating:
/ 5
The short version: Buy it now.
The long version:
I had never heard anybody mention this audio, positively or negatively. The summary on the Big Finish site didn't sound like much, either. I got it mostly for completeness' sake; I'm fond of Colin Baker's run, and it couldn't be worse than Timelash.
Well, no, it isn't. It's fantastic.
It is that good. Why hadn't I heard about it before? Fandom has failed me. Failed me, I say!
The Doctor and Peri have stopped off at the Hôtel Palace Thermae, a little place at the Belgian seaside in 1913. It's just a holiday: A secret admirer is showering Peri with the romantic gift of taxidermy; the Doctor is falling asleep over reading Proust; the eccentric Miss Bultitude (Maureen O'Brien) is waking him up to have the pleasure of his company because she's a circus enthusiast, and she knows a performer when she sees one. But Toby the Sapient Pig (Paul Brooke) sits upstairs in his room, guarded by Nurse Albertine (Adjoah Andoh) and convinced that the Doctor is coming to assassinate him… while the Doctor and Peri must save the life of the Parisian Inspector Chardalot (Michael Keating) who literally, logistically cannot be quite what he seems…
I expected this "sapient pig" story to be giggle-worthy-cheesy at best-or plain idiotic at worst. But it's sublimely absurd. It's like if Wodehouse took up sci-fi. It's so lighthearted. And funny, definitely: Not so much the brilliant one-liner humor of The Holy Terror, but blithe, and light, and gentle, and lovely, and oh.
Year of the Pig is so good, in fact, that I literally sat here trying to think of something negative to say about it to balance out the review. The best I can come up with is that there's a brief conversation in there where the Doctor refers to his own last incarnation almost as if "Five" were a different person. But even that isn't exactly out of character for Doctor v. 6.0, and it's a matter of seconds.
None of the stylistic problems of Whispers of Terror here; not only are the physical details-and there are lots of details-worked naturally into the dialogue and/or sound effects, but they do double- or triple-duty, fleshing out the characters as much as the surroundings. I can really see this audio, and it's a lovely picture. The score, which is perfectly suited, underpins the moods nicely.
Six or Peri: Hands down my favorite audio characterization of either, so far. Doctor v. 6.0 is pompous, and clever, and sarcastic, and curious, and graceless, and kind, and a repository of odd knowledge, and I just generally want to hug him. Peri actually has the kooky mixture of smarts and not-smarts that she has in on-screen characterization; it really feels like her, and Ms. Bryant turns out one of her better performances, too.
This story also has the most relaxed Doctor/Peri relationship out of all the audios I've heard, and yet it still reminds me of the Season 22 characters the most. It's really them, taking a holiday from their native abrasiveness, but themselves. Because of this, I think someone who didn't like Season 22 could love this story as much as someone who did. One of the Doctor's lines encapsulates it (and gets perfect delivery from Baker):
Doctor: Miss Brown works with me.
Ship them, don't ship them; I don't care: That's what I want from my Doctor/companion dynamic.
(Although, on the subject of shipping them, regarding a certain watery scene: I LOLED.)
But it's not just the regulars! I adore every one of these characters every second they're on stage. Even the villain is nothing but engaging. Batty Miss Bultitude and focused Nurse Albertine were my favorites, but Toby and Chardalot definitely deliver. Everybody, but everybody in this story has some absurd quality, but it works. Every voice is distinct, and every voice is vivid-even characters that are quite literally caricatures, because they're always caricatures for a reason. And what brilliant performances from everybody. It's not just a great story; it's like having company. In fact, the whole place is so well-drawn that it really is like escaping into this gently mad little pocket by the seaside.
There are Proust jokes. Funny Proust jokes, the easiest kind to make. Yet you don't need to have subjected yourself to Lost Time before for Year of the Pig to work; they're just one of many touches that contribute to the whimsy of the thing. Even when it's horrific, this story is gently horrific. Not weakly, just… gently and lightly and absurdly, and in case it's not clear, I really do love it.
It all might have happened just like this, a curious chapter in the Doctor's travels with his friends. Or it might even have all been a queer daydream Marcel Proust had one day at the seaside.
Condensed Report:
Unexpected Winner: Year of the Pig. It's the Black Orchid or City of Death that Baker and Bryant never got. Even if you don't think you like Six, give this one a try. It's wonderful.
Unexpected Stinker: None of them! All three are enjoyable. The Reaping has the most obvious flaws, but it also tries to do more than Whispers of Terror, and I'm grateful to writer Joseph Lidster for trying to flesh out a companion who didn't get much of a chance on-screen.
Because it's the flavor netgirl_y2k requested, these are "faintly spoilery but aimed not to diminish entertainment value." I've tried to include enough detail to explain my preferences, so that hopefully anybody who bothers with these will be able to tell whether they'd be more likely to enjoy what I did-or what I didn't.
Title: The Reaping
Team TARDIS: Six, Peri
Chronological placement: Between Revelation of the Daleks and Trial of a Time Lord. Audio continuity not specified.
Big Finish's Synopsis: On the morning of 9 May 1984, Peri woke up. She was expecting to spend the day relaxing in Lanzarote and, that evening, leave her mother and stepfather to go travelling with some guys she'd only just met.
But things don't always go as expected as her friends and family discover when, four months later, she returns home having travelled further than anyone could have imagined.
Meanwhile her friend, Katherine Chambers, mourns her father and Peri finds herself meeting some other familiar faces.
Elliptical Rating:
/ 5
The short version: A good Cybermen adventure in the spirit of a ghost story that overreaches itself in its character-driven elements. Very much worth listening to, especially for Six, who's excellent, but it has its faults. And, yes. The accents are that bad.
The long version:
The Doctor and Peri travel to a vast archive on Earth's moon far in the future. When Peri keys up the news for Baltimore, 1984, she's shocked to learn that a close family friend is dead--murdered in the graveyard where he was undertaker. Their fantastical holiday is over. She's got to go home.
The Reaping is very Peri-focused. She deserves a story that does what this one tries to do: give the character an origin, let her confront some of the consequences of her travels, and suggest something of how her dynamic with the Doctor could have evolved from what we saw in Season 22 to what saw in Trial of a Time Lord. The execution here is hit-or-miss, however.
One of the strong points is Peri's mom, Janine: She's a strong-willed figure who's not above vindictiveness or even being catty with her own daughter, and she seems to fit for Peri. The fights and bickering between mother and daughter mostly feel genuine; Howard, the impact of Peri's abrupt departure and long absence on the marriage, Peri's father, and the various ways in which Peri's ex-best friend and her brother, Katherine and Nate Chambers, have replaced her in the life she left behind are just a few of the issues fueling tempers. It avoids falling into an interminable catfight by virtue of the simple, quick-moving plot, much of which follows the Doctor separately, and by actually telling us something about Peri.
Janine: I might have known there was a man involved.
Peri: Like mother, like daughter.
Peri's interaction with Katherine, and with her old life by extension, is outstanding, too. Peri spends a lot of time sniffling-but that's precisely what Peri would do. There's nothing like getting slapped in the face with the reality that the world moves on without you to bring you up short, and The Reaping nails that one. It goes a long way toward giving Peri more of an inner life.
It's when it tries to tell us all about the new, improved Peri that things take a nose-dive. Travel with the Doctor changes companions, that's what we expect. Seeing the ways in which it does so is half the fun. But The Reaping often reads more like essay (or hopeful LJ meta) than fiction. We get lines Wherein the Author Will Now Pinpoint the Nature of the Doctor/Peri Relationship for Us (which sounds about as natural coming out of Peri's mouth as you'd expect). Or the Obligatory Regurgitation of the Opening Paragraph of the Doctor Who Wiki-Peri's friends and family won't know this stuff, true, but we do, and if you can't find a way to fill them in gracefully, the resulting stilted dialogue is going to grate. Also, having all the companion's auld acquaintance stand around and marvel at how different she is could perhaps be made to work, but only if the brand-new toughness and thirst for adventure they're boggling at are actually traits we've seen the character acquire.
The script seems to realize half-way through that the take-charge Peri we've been clobbered with is a bit of a departure from what we had onscreen. So, it has her up and lose it. Of course, Peri's gone to pieces more than once before. But it doesn't quite sell the switch; it feels like compensation. However, once we're past the grating middle, the character dynamics seem to flow much better to the conclusion.
While I'm on the cons: The American accents are terrible. Whether they're less of an issue for non-Americans, I can only guess, but the fact that each person within a family seems to have grown up in a different region is distracting. As is Daniel Woods's wooden voice.
But I said this is well worth hearing, and I meant it, so, circling back to the good bits:
SIX. He's great. He's arrogant, he's self-absorbed at incredibly bad moments, he's cutting at the right ones, he talks a Cyber-being into betraying itself and for once that silly schtick actually works, and we can really feel how dear his friend is to him, even when he's looking at the big picture because he has to, even when he's screwing up royally.
And it has atmosphere. It manages to keep a steady, morbid, creepy mood even as it skirts the absurd-and to make absurdities work in its favor. Most of this audio is set in a graveyard; all of it feels like it is. It's the right feeling.
One last note that doesn't really fit anywhere else: The Doctor creeps me out at the end of this. I have some trouble making out precisely what goes on with him there; I can think of two ways to read it, one distinctly more disturbing than the other, but neither yields a completely sensical picture. In any case, it didn't really detract for me, and a creepy note for Six isn't out of place, either. It's one of the more intriguing things about this adventure, in fact.
Title: Whispers of Terror
Team TARDIS: Six, Peri
Chronological placement: Between Revelation of the Daleks and Trial of a Time Lord.
Big Finish's Synopsis: 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 interrrogation 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 a simple break-in or murder. How can he defeat a creature that is made of pure sound?
Elliptical Rating:
/ 5
The short version: A fun adventure that exploits its medium to the fullest. It loses points, however, for failing to present its concepts well enough to earn suspension of disbelief, for some stylistic issues, and for political intrigue that isn't as intriguing as it should be.
The long version:
It's fun, if not especially memorable. The characters don't stay with you, the speechifying did nothing for anyone, and the central concept doesn't convince. But the story takes full advantage of the fact that this is a strictly audio medium and just goes to town with the sound-painting.
That's some freaky sound-painting, by the way.
It's a fertile scenario: The TARDIS lands in the Museum of Aural Antiquities, home to Curator Gantman (Peter Miles) and an earnest grad student, Miles Napton (Mark Trotman). It's soon to host political hopeful Beth Parnell (Lisa Bowerman), former agent of the late orator Visteen Krane (Matthew Brenher), for a memorial broadcast of his speeches. However, someone is subtly altering Krane's work, making small changes that for some reason are worth killing over.
Three things keep the story from getting properly airborne, though. The first is a mild case of Dungeons and Dragons dialogue: Necessary descriptive details don't find their way into dialogue quite naturally. It's a bit distracting when you expect Peri's next line to be "Roll the battle dice to attack." Fortunately, this problem is mostly left behind after the first episode.
Secondly, this audio flunks skience. Skience is that sciency-sounding stuff that's maybe-sorta plausible, or maybe not even that, but convincing nevertheless. It's what makes most sci-fi go 'round. However, the more you elaborate on your skience, the harder it is to pull off. If something is blatantly absurd (e.g., Blinovitch Limitation Effect), we may accept it on its own terms. If something is blatantly absurd, and yet appeals to the basic science we do know, it will make the listener wince every time the Doctor brings it up-especially when he deduces the whole skiencey thing in a stunningly improbable swoop.
The main "skience" in Whispers of Terror is pretty cool on the face of it. The story works well where it stays on the face of it. Too much of the plot is about unpacking it instead.
Thirdly, although half of the hook here is mystery and intrigue, I spent most of the audio waiting for a payoff that never came. Whispers of Terror gives most of its own plot away, and the rest doesn't take much guessing. The villains are predictable, and so are their machinations. As a result, the big revelations end up being more ludicrous than revelatory. You can get away with that, but only if there's enough interesting character interaction or play of ideas to fill the void. Whispers of Terror isn't very stimulating in those ways.
But frankly, I don't think it's meant to be. What it is is a good, spooky trip-a sort of audio-only funhouse. And it's pretty great at being that.
The compensating factors for all my gripes? Well, I like my Six/Companion bickering, and there's some lovely bickering between the Doctor and Peri here. It's important that they should bicker; how else will we know it's them? Whispers of Terror's best feature, though, is that fabulous "audio funhouse" quality of it. Definitely, definitely listen to this with stereo headphones in a dark room if you can.
Then trade it to someone for a copy of …ish or Year of the Pig.
And speaking of Year of the Pig…
Title: Year of the Pig
Team TARDIS: Six, Peri
Chronological placement: Between Timelash and Revelation of the Daleks. Which is neat in itself, I think, because all the others are between Revelation and Trial.
Big Finish's Synopsis: Ostend, 1913. War is coming. A war in which millions will die. And the guest in suite 139 of the Hotel Palace Thermae knows it. Which is odd, considering he has trotters,
a snout and a lovely curly tail.
Toby the Sapient Pig is a swine on the run. Two peculiar strangers have been hunting him across Europe. The first, Miss Alice Bultitude, is an Englishwoman and collector of obscure theatrical ephemera. The second, Inspector Alphonse Chardalot, is a celebrated member of the detective police - the man who brought the trunk murderess of St Germain to justice.
This was supposed to be a reading week for the Doctor and Peri. Now they must do battle with a villain who wants to wipe every last human from the face of the earth - once he's had just another dish of truffles. And maybe a valedictory glass of fizzy lemonade.
Elliptical Rating:
/ 5
The short version: Buy it now.
The long version:
I had never heard anybody mention this audio, positively or negatively. The summary on the Big Finish site didn't sound like much, either. I got it mostly for completeness' sake; I'm fond of Colin Baker's run, and it couldn't be worse than Timelash.
Well, no, it isn't. It's fantastic.
It is that good. Why hadn't I heard about it before? Fandom has failed me. Failed me, I say!
The Doctor and Peri have stopped off at the Hôtel Palace Thermae, a little place at the Belgian seaside in 1913. It's just a holiday: A secret admirer is showering Peri with the romantic gift of taxidermy; the Doctor is falling asleep over reading Proust; the eccentric Miss Bultitude (Maureen O'Brien) is waking him up to have the pleasure of his company because she's a circus enthusiast, and she knows a performer when she sees one. But Toby the Sapient Pig (Paul Brooke) sits upstairs in his room, guarded by Nurse Albertine (Adjoah Andoh) and convinced that the Doctor is coming to assassinate him… while the Doctor and Peri must save the life of the Parisian Inspector Chardalot (Michael Keating) who literally, logistically cannot be quite what he seems…
I expected this "sapient pig" story to be giggle-worthy-cheesy at best-or plain idiotic at worst. But it's sublimely absurd. It's like if Wodehouse took up sci-fi. It's so lighthearted. And funny, definitely: Not so much the brilliant one-liner humor of The Holy Terror, but blithe, and light, and gentle, and lovely, and oh.
Year of the Pig is so good, in fact, that I literally sat here trying to think of something negative to say about it to balance out the review. The best I can come up with is that there's a brief conversation in there where the Doctor refers to his own last incarnation almost as if "Five" were a different person. But even that isn't exactly out of character for Doctor v. 6.0, and it's a matter of seconds.
None of the stylistic problems of Whispers of Terror here; not only are the physical details-and there are lots of details-worked naturally into the dialogue and/or sound effects, but they do double- or triple-duty, fleshing out the characters as much as the surroundings. I can really see this audio, and it's a lovely picture. The score, which is perfectly suited, underpins the moods nicely.
Six or Peri: Hands down my favorite audio characterization of either, so far. Doctor v. 6.0 is pompous, and clever, and sarcastic, and curious, and graceless, and kind, and a repository of odd knowledge, and I just generally want to hug him. Peri actually has the kooky mixture of smarts and not-smarts that she has in on-screen characterization; it really feels like her, and Ms. Bryant turns out one of her better performances, too.
This story also has the most relaxed Doctor/Peri relationship out of all the audios I've heard, and yet it still reminds me of the Season 22 characters the most. It's really them, taking a holiday from their native abrasiveness, but themselves. Because of this, I think someone who didn't like Season 22 could love this story as much as someone who did. One of the Doctor's lines encapsulates it (and gets perfect delivery from Baker):
Doctor: Miss Brown works with me.
Ship them, don't ship them; I don't care: That's what I want from my Doctor/companion dynamic.
(Although, on the subject of shipping them, regarding a certain watery scene: I LOLED.)
But it's not just the regulars! I adore every one of these characters every second they're on stage. Even the villain is nothing but engaging. Batty Miss Bultitude and focused Nurse Albertine were my favorites, but Toby and Chardalot definitely deliver. Everybody, but everybody in this story has some absurd quality, but it works. Every voice is distinct, and every voice is vivid-even characters that are quite literally caricatures, because they're always caricatures for a reason. And what brilliant performances from everybody. It's not just a great story; it's like having company. In fact, the whole place is so well-drawn that it really is like escaping into this gently mad little pocket by the seaside.
There are Proust jokes. Funny Proust jokes, the easiest kind to make. Yet you don't need to have subjected yourself to Lost Time before for Year of the Pig to work; they're just one of many touches that contribute to the whimsy of the thing. Even when it's horrific, this story is gently horrific. Not weakly, just… gently and lightly and absurdly, and in case it's not clear, I really do love it.
It all might have happened just like this, a curious chapter in the Doctor's travels with his friends. Or it might even have all been a queer daydream Marcel Proust had one day at the seaside.
Condensed Report:
Unexpected Winner: Year of the Pig. It's the Black Orchid or City of Death that Baker and Bryant never got. Even if you don't think you like Six, give this one a try. It's wonderful.
Unexpected Stinker: None of them! All three are enjoyable. The Reaping has the most obvious flaws, but it also tries to do more than Whispers of Terror, and I'm grateful to writer Joseph Lidster for trying to flesh out a companion who didn't get much of a chance on-screen.