stephen_on_a_jet_plane's review against another edition
2.0
Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman are writers with a very high opinion of their intrusive sense of humour. If you’re not digging their jokes there’s not much else for you here.
haunted_air's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
imakandiway's review
4.0
Imaginem que o Festival da Eurovisão se cruzasse com todos os clichés de Star Trek e tirão uma ideia do que se passou nesta narrativa.
faiazalam's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
nwhyte's review
This ought to be a disaster - Doctor Who trying to satirise popular entertainment usually fails dismally. But it largely works, partly due to the all-star cast - former Goodie Graeme Garden as the doomed but slightly comical professor, former Sheriff of Nottingham Nickolas Grace as the sinister Mr Loozley, and former interstellar vampire Patricia Quinn as an alien princess (so no type-casting there then). There is also an alien which can only crackle rather than talking.[return][return]And lots of piss-taking of other sf stories - the space station where the contest is taking place is called "Dark Space Eight", and the rather colourless station doctor thinks she is in Star Trek - while at the same time the Doctor is trying to solve a murder mystery - one of whose victims is this play's Irish character, Commentator WLogan, played by David Tughan (presumably the jazz musician).
cynt's review
3.0
Silly Eurovision /Poirot /politics pastiche. Could do with more songs, but we did get spoons. Amusing enough.
colossal's review
2.0
This is a seventh Doctor adventure with Mel Bush as the companion and is #39 in the Big Finish main range.
The Doctor and Mel appear on a shuttle approaching a space station, only to discover that the two people on board are dead and the shuttle is about to explode. At the last possible moment they're beamed aboard the space station Dark Space 8 and they are immediately mistaken for the new station commander and the pilot of the shuttle. Dark Space 8 is hosting the Intergalactic Song Competition and features a diverse group of crew and guests that the Doctor and Mel begin to mix with. Just in time for the murders to start.
The seventh Doctor era was a strange one for the show and this is well documented in fan history. For me personally, while there are one or two standout stories, it was mostly disappointing and not for me. In particular the seventh Doctor seemed to have two modes of story, roughly separated into his earlier stories and his later ones. The early ones were tonally off, with patently ridiculous situations, slapstick humor, yet with story-lines with substantial body-counts. The later ones got a lot more serious in terms of plot and portrayed the Doctor with a clownish demeanor that masked a Machiavellian puppet-master. This entry fits chronologically smack in the early seventh Doctor stories and this story feels exactly like it belongs in that group.
I strongly dislike the early seventh Doctor stories. Call me odd, but high body-counts don't mesh well with silly antics and clownish behavior.
As a parlor room murder-mystery this kind of works. As a spoof of 90s space station SF it kind of works (I laughed when they referred to Dark Space 8 as "the last best hope for peace", and of course the name is a reference to ST:DS9). As a showcase for the acting of Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford ... no, I'm sorry, they're both obnoxious in this one.
Another one for a very specific sub-group of fans and is highly skippable.
The Doctor and Mel appear on a shuttle approaching a space station, only to discover that the two people on board are dead and the shuttle is about to explode. At the last possible moment they're beamed aboard the space station Dark Space 8 and they are immediately mistaken for the new station commander and the pilot of the shuttle. Dark Space 8 is hosting the Intergalactic Song Competition and features a diverse group of crew and guests that the Doctor and Mel begin to mix with. Just in time for the murders to start.
The seventh Doctor era was a strange one for the show and this is well documented in fan history. For me personally, while there are one or two standout stories, it was mostly disappointing and not for me. In particular the seventh Doctor seemed to have two modes of story, roughly separated into his earlier stories and his later ones. The early ones were tonally off, with patently ridiculous situations, slapstick humor, yet with story-lines with substantial body-counts. The later ones got a lot more serious in terms of plot and portrayed the Doctor with a clownish demeanor that masked a Machiavellian puppet-master. This entry fits chronologically smack in the early seventh Doctor stories and this story feels exactly like it belongs in that group.
I strongly dislike the early seventh Doctor stories. Call me odd, but high body-counts don't mesh well with silly antics and clownish behavior.
As a parlor room murder-mystery this kind of works. As a spoof of 90s space station SF it kind of works (I laughed when they referred to Dark Space 8 as "the last best hope for peace", and of course the name is a reference to ST:DS9). As a showcase for the acting of Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford ... no, I'm sorry, they're both obnoxious in this one.
Another one for a very specific sub-group of fans and is highly skippable.
kmccubbin's review
1.0
This audio drama is for the kind of person that thinks that a woman who's name is an anagram for "vagina" and who has sex glands in her armpits is hysterical.
I am not that person.
Patricia Quinn tries to carry the whole thing on her back and is quite brilliant, but can't save this.
I am not that person.
Patricia Quinn tries to carry the whole thing on her back and is quite brilliant, but can't save this.
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