Now going by the premise
of Whispers of Terror, the story
sounds like it was meant for an audio drama.
It involves the Doctor and Peri arriving at the Museum of Aural
Antiquities which is devoted to cataloguing anything in the sound medium where
there is this creature made entirely out of sound killing people. There is also political unrest as a popular
candidate for Prime Minister who had just died and his running mate Pernell
played wonderfully by Lisa Bowerman is trying to take over as like any
politician she wants power because she can do it better. Yet the story is written by Justin Richards
who is famous for writing traditional Doctor Who stories which can be a good
thing but it hurts this story. Whispers of Terror could have been a
really experimental story yet only uses the audio medium once or twice to have
some twist moments. So yeah the story is
one of the weakest elements and it is a real shame as the story could have, no
should have really dragged me in and given me social commentary on the nature
of politics and how our society views fame and fortune. With that said the audio as a whole does have
enough in it to keep it interesting.
First the sound design
and music was done by Nicholas Briggs which is masterfully done especially
considering it is still the third Doctor Who audio drama. There is a lot of pulsing in the design and
some of the music intentionally cuts out just so you can get atmospheric moments
in the story. This is helped by the
direction done by novelist Gary Russell who does some great work here as he
knows where to put in the music to make the story pop and the mixing on the
sound is perfect as well.
Second the acting is top
notch. Of course this is Colin Baker’s
first full audio drama and he was the best part of The Sirens of Time and he is the best part of Whispers of Terror. Baker is
just as bombastic as ever in his dialogue delivery and of course he is with Nicola
Bryant’s Peri which is where I have any gripes with the performance. This is because in Part One and Part Four he
is really antagonistic with her which is even worse than what we got in Season
22. Also Justin Richards doesn’t really
do much with Peri and Nicola Bryant’s performance is definitely down to Gary
Russell’s direction and Bryant being a good actress. The supporting cast is oddly where the story
shines the brightest. You have of course
the amazing Lisa Bowerman in a role as political candidate Beth Pernell who is
genuinely distinct from her other Big Finish roles. Peter Miles is back in the Doctor Who
universe who you may remember from Doctor
Who and the Silurians, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, and Genesis of the Daleks. His
voice is very distinctive from any of the other voices in the story. Nick Scovell has a minor part in the story
and he is great and the sound creature is voiced by Matthew Brehner who is
great as the creature takes the form of a politician. Brehner has a very charismatic voice yet
sounds almost introverted which is a paradox.
To summarize Whispers of Terror had the chance to be
a really experimental story, yet giving the premise to Justin Richards turns
the story into your traditional story.
Traditional stories aren’t bad but they suffer when there are ideas
presence that could have set them apart from the other stories of the
time. It makes an alright listen but
doesn’t have much to offer on multiple listens.
60/100.
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