thoroughlymodernreviewer's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
"The Nightmare Fair" is a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, it makes much better use of the Celestial Toymaker than his first serial did. But on the flip side, the plot just doesn't work at all on audio. It's easy to see how this story might've been quite excellent on TV - although its slow pacing combined with the budgetary restraints of the 1980s probably would've hindered it quite a bit. But as an audio drama, it's just kind of strange. The first half is very slow, with the Sixth Doctor and Perri spending a lot of time exploring the theme park. And the story waits way too long to reunite the Doctor and the Toymaker. But once that reunion happens, things pick up quite a bit. It's just a shame that an audio drama with a video game as its central threat just doesn't work all that well.
While we do get to learn a lot more about the Celestial Toymaker's backstory, "The Nightmare Fair" doesn't really do anything with the character. He's a lot less conniving and devious this time around. In fact, we don't really get to witness any of the elements that made the character enjoyable here. Removed from his Toyroom, he feels less unique. Here, he's largely reduced to a pretty standard evil mastermind. And his ultimate plan, to murder a bunch of people with a video game (or something along those lines), never really comes together. That said, I enjoyed revisiting the Celestial Toymaker here, and I remain convinced there's a lot of potential in this character - as evidenced here by his origins inching him closer toward the realm of Unknowable Horror. I just wish the story had leaned further into that sense of unknowable horror instead of retreading familiar Evil Genius territory.
All that being said, "The Nightmare Fair" is enjoyable enough. If nothing else, it's a fun "what if" scenario, exploring a previously unfilmed "Doctor Who" story. On its own, it's not particularly memorable, nor does it live up to the promise of its premise. But it's a fairly fun ride, all things considered.
While we do get to learn a lot more about the Celestial Toymaker's backstory, "The Nightmare Fair" doesn't really do anything with the character. He's a lot less conniving and devious this time around. In fact, we don't really get to witness any of the elements that made the character enjoyable here. Removed from his Toyroom, he feels less unique. Here, he's largely reduced to a pretty standard evil mastermind. And his ultimate plan, to murder a bunch of people with a video game (or something along those lines), never really comes together. That said, I enjoyed revisiting the Celestial Toymaker here, and I remain convinced there's a lot of potential in this character - as evidenced here by his origins inching him closer toward the realm of Unknowable Horror. I just wish the story had leaned further into that sense of unknowable horror instead of retreading familiar Evil Genius territory.
All that being said, "The Nightmare Fair" is enjoyable enough. If nothing else, it's a fun "what if" scenario, exploring a previously unfilmed "Doctor Who" story. On its own, it's not particularly memorable, nor does it live up to the promise of its premise. But it's a fairly fun ride, all things considered.
nwhyte's review against another edition
"the plot doesn't make a lot of sense, the Toymaker's own problems are puzzling and his fate rather incomprehensible, and I just couldn't really care what was going on.
nwhyte's review
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1287541.html#cutid1[return][return]This is a comeback story in a couple of ways: Williams had been the producer of Doctor Who in the later Tom Baker era, now returning to try his hand at writing a script for the show; and the villain is the Celestial Toymaker, who had featured in a 1966 story turning William Hartnell's Doctor invisible and subjecting companions Dodo and Steven to playing a series of deadly games. This time round the Toymaker has set up shop in Blackpool, and the Sixth Doctor and Peri have to pursue him through a deadly amusement arcade to prevent him from Taking Ovar The Wurld, helped by a young man named Kevin Stoney (who must have been named for the actor who had portrayed the two great early Who supervillains, Mavic Chen and Tobias Vaughn).[return][return]It's not hugely inspiring stuff, but no doubt would have been rescuable with decent performances and effects (and coming at the start of the season it would probably have got them). I have heard a fan-produced audio version which is utterly deflated by the poor performance of the person playing Peri, and of course didn't have the resources that Big Finish will bring to it. Fans of the Toymaker, if there are any, will probably find The Magic Mousetrap, the recent Big Finish play with the Seventh Doctor, more satisfying.
sshabein's review
5.0
I really loved this! Made me want to listen to all the rest of the lost stories with the Sixth Doctor. Blackpool, a vintage villain, good writing, yes.
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