The BF Time Warp 003: Whispers of Terror

[Anthony Williams]

For week three, we move on to Whispers of Terror, starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant...

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?

Tell us your thoughts on this play. Did you enjoy it? Have your thoughts on it changed over the last 11 years?

As usual, the poll with this thread will be open for two weeks, even though we'll be moving onto the next play after a week.

Ant x

[stuartdg]

This is a definite favourite,the concept of a sound creature is perfect for audio,Colin and Nicola are on superb form and Lisa Bowerman is fantastic as Beth Pernell,the villain of the peace...

If anything my only complaint is not about the CD itself but rather the yellow inlay radio times style listings which is impossible to read

[Anthony Williams]

For me, this is the first truely excellent Big Finish audio. Whilst The Sirens of Time sounded rather hastily put together, and Phantasmagoria was a re-tread of far too many familiar ideas, this was truly different, utilising the audio format to its fullest advantage.

It's difficult to believe that this could ever be realised on television, and that is why I believe that this works so well. The notion of a sound monster is truly genius, and is truly quite scary here, whilst the method by which it was created is an extremely creepy concept. The way in which the production was dealt with is great, with sounds jumping from one speaker to the other. Brilliant!

Another huge plus point for me on this one is the relationship between the Sixth Doctor and Peri. All too often on television, they were reduced to simply bickering, whilst the Doctor treated her extremely unfairly. Whilst the Sixth Doctor is still rather bold and arrogant here, he has a much more compassionate side than was ever seen during Season 22. The dynamic between the Doctor and his companion works so well here, and it's a delight not to hear the Sixth Doctor bullying Peri the whole time.

In terms of the other actors, they're all absolutely brilliant. Lisa Bowerman makes an excellent villain, and plays the cold politician very well, whilst the supporting cast are all solid.

All in all, I find this story to be a great success, and is the first really promising play that Big Finish produced, so I give this 5/5.

Ant x

[SiHart]

I agree Ant. This remains one of my favourite BFs. Very clever and very involving and a lovely dark atmosphere. An early triumph.

Si xx

[Lissa]

I've just finished listening to it and all the way through I couldn't rid myself of a few minor but incredibly off-putting niggles. Firstly, the "best actor of all time" is nothing of the sort. Leaving aside that he sounds just like the Ice Lord from "Red Dawn", he's a bland, cod, Shakespearian ham. Why this man is adored is completely ignored except that they tell us he is. Secondly, this society seems to value audio over video - a possibly unintentional bit of Big Finish propaganda - and yet none of these valuable, rare archive recordings is backed up in any way, shape or form. Tamper with the original file and that's it - no way of going back. It seems too far fetched that a society that has created the disc as a portable storage medium can't extend to safely saving copies of their late hero's great speeches. Thirdly, if Crane knew that Beth was a bad sort - and he did because she doesn't try to hide it - why did he give her any credibility while he was alive? He was going to disown her but how did it get that far in the first place?

There is a lot I like - including one of the most imaginative torture sequences in Dr Who - but these silly little things just ruin it for me.

[MacNimon]

Firstly, the "best actor of all time" is nothing of the sort. Leaving aside that he sounds just like the Ice Lord from "Red Dawn", he's a bland, cod, Shakespearian ham.... Secondly, this society seems to value audio over video - a possibly unintentional bit of Big Finish propaganda - and yet none of these valuable, rare archive recordings is backed up in any way, shape or form. Tamper with the original file and that's it - no way of going back. It seems too far fetched that a society that has created the disc as a portable storage medium can't extend to safely saving copies of their late hero's great speeches.

There is a lot I like - including one of the most imaginative torture sequences in Dr Who - but these silly little things just ruin it for me.

Again, I haven't heard this in ages but I can clearly remember that I was in total agreement with both these above points (I can't remember enough of the plot to comment on Lissa's third one)...minor (and annoying) points, to be true, but still a bit of a distraction from what was overall a very good story. And it was a joy to hear Colin and Nicola working together again, they made a great team here.

The range appeared to be getting off to a solid start...the above annoyances were enough to drop it down a notch from Phantasmagoria, though...I'm rating this as a 'good'.

[Jon Masters]

Pretty much in agreement with Lissa and Kenny on this one - it is another good story with a clever central idea, and some interesting things to say about politics and manipulating the public, but.... about every scene or so there's something that just upsets the rhythm or sets your teeth on edge. Sometimes its a really naff line - the breaking the sound barrier, or the double whammy with extra cheese. Sometimes its not clear what's going on - are the sounds in the person's head or out loud ? Is the creature using the intercom or making it sound like it is ? Is it replaying its own memory of events, or is it accessing the security recordings somehow ? Unusually for Justin Richards some of the writing is a bit clunky - Berkeley is a pretty wasted character as a detective, something he realises himself when he offers to help carting equipment about.

Again there are bouts of excessive music and noise, and some oddly constructed scenes - cliffhanger 2 builds to a climax, and then the repeated name is barely audible. The whole thing is saved by very good performances all round, although the older 6th Doctor-Peri relationship jars a bit having heard how both characters develop in later audios.

Still, a good continuation of the range (but its downhill for a while from here....)

[MacNimon]

(but its downhill for a while from here....)

Oh, I don't know about that...there's only one truly awful early one imo, although they do struggle to maintain consistency. There's some good stuff to come...

[MacNimon]

I've just listened to this again for the first time in about a decade, and have to say that I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Granted, the above points still niggle but they didn't detract from my enjoyment of a great story, which I find rather strange because I expected them to mar the story for me. Perhaps it was because I was expecting them this time round...

I've changed my mind a little regarding this story now, as I found it so enjoyable despite it's faults. I actually enjoyed it more than Phantasmagoria this time round...

[Lissa]

(but its downhill for a while from here....)

I would say (and probably will say) that once Land of the Dead is out of the way, there is a run of excellent plays - the Fearmonger, the Marian Conspiracy, the Genocide Machine, Red Dawn and the Spectre of Lanyon Moor are all better than anything that went before them.

[Jon Masters]

I would say (and probably will say) that once Land of the Dead is out of the way, there is a run of excellent plays - the Fearmonger, the Marian Conspiracy, the Genocide Machine, Red Dawn and the Spectre of Lanyon Moor are all better than anything that went before them.

You may say that; I'll probably say that while Marian is tolerable and Spectre a brief bright spark, it's going to be around 10 weeks before I'll get very enthusiastic again.

[SiHart]

I didn't like Red Dawn much, but the others were fine.

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

We're getting a little ahead of ourselves aren't we... but since we are, I'll join in by saying I really liked Fearmonger and Marian, but wasn't that taken on Spectre. Although it's amazing what wonders a relistening can do, so you never know!!

Er, what happened to The Fearmonger this week BTW?

[MacNimon]

We're getting a little ahead of ourselves aren't we... but since we are, I'll join in...

Well, why not?!

I'm not a fan of the Fearmonger or Red Dawn but I enjoyed most of the others to varying degrees...