FDA 1.2 The Renaissance Man

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

To continue Leela’s education, the Doctor promises to take her to the famous Morovanian Museum. But the TARDIS lands instead in a quiet English village, where they meet the enigmatic collector Harcourt and his family. But there’s something sinister going on within the walls of Harcourt’s manor, and the stakes are higher than they can imagine.

This has now been released! Rate and Discuss!

[Si Hunt]

A good first episode; interesting central idea, an oddly demure and low-key performance from Ian McNeice. Was he phoning it in? Leads excellent. Held our attention throughout.

Si.

[Alex Me]

Another good adventure, felt it was better paced then the last one. Wondering if two part stories are too short though, the stories are not getting much time to develop. 4/5

[brandynigma]

Only a 3 from me this time- still good, and with a very satisfying twist at the end. I'm liking that Leela's education has become a motif in the relationship of the characters- it gives Tom and Louise a better relationship than we saw on screen.

What stops it from being a 4, however,

are the similarities between the Runny Sauce Man's scheme and that of the villain in House of Blue Fire.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Only 3/5 from me as well I'm afraid. I just thought it went a bit boring at the end.

[Nyder]

I liked this one - far better than Nerva. The story held my attention throughout, and Leela is just great! I thought the ending was a bit rushed - but that's a fairly common problem with 2 parters. Maybe 3 parts is the ideal length for a BF story.

But then again, I guess you can't fit 3 parts onto 1 CD......

[brandynigma]

I liked this one - far better than Nerva. The story held my attention throughout, and Leela is just great! I thought the ending was a bit rushed - but that's a fairly common problem with 2 parters. Maybe 3 parts is the ideal length for a BF story.

But then again, I guess you can't fit 3 parts onto 1 CD......

Well, a CD is 80 minutes, so if they were to stick to 25 minute episodes...

SiHart, stop bloody sniggering at me!

[Nyder]

"It was Leela wasn't it?"
Leela: "It still is"

Don't know why but that line really tickles me!

[Anthony Williams]

Well, this was a little better in terms of consistency and not just using nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. But, like it's predecessor, this audio was far from perfect.

So, what didn't I like about it? Well, the fact that I fell asleep while trying to listen to episode two on no less than two separate occasions says it all! I just struggled to engage with it. There was nothing particularly offensive about this story, I just found it to be rather dull.

However, there were some good things about it. Justin Richards clearly has a better handle on the Fourth Doctor than Nicholas Briggs does. The lines that you hear Tom Baker spout forth here are just much more well... like things that the Fourth Doctor would say. In the previous story, we had Tom once more sonically sounding like the Fourth Doctor... here, we add his character to the mix. And as a result, the dynamics between the Doctor and Leela are just fantastic. Tom is absolutely on fire, and he had me chuckling through most of the story. Really, this is how it should've been from Destination: Nerva, but sadly, this is the way that it turned out. Obviously.

The first episode here worked rather well, and was absolutely filled with intrigue as I wondered what the heck was going on. Mentions of grand museums, cow parsley and Renaissance Men piqued my interest. However, we found out what was going on really far too soon, and it turned into a rather dull story with the Doctor and Leela trying to escape having their brains drained by this Runny Sauce Man.

However, the second episode did have its moments, and I loved the ending, where the Doctor had been using his mind to funnel through absolute crap to the attempted drain of his mind. Justin Richards isn't the best writer who's ever written for Doctor Who, but he's certainly one of the more consistent writers, and his "batting average" is superb - certainly more hits than misses. Of course, I loved the revelation over Harcourt not actually being the Renaissance Man, but merely the method for collecting information - that was truly a twist that I just wasn't expecting. Brilliant!

A special shout-out really needs to go to Jamie Robertson, who marvellously provides the story with Simpson-esque music that really helps evoke the feel of 1977.

So, while I found that this story lulled a bit in the middle, it wasn't by any means a bad story, and probably slightly better than Destination: Nerva. We shall see if this range continues to get stronger with each play. I believe that this deserves a 3/5.