Phantasmagoria is the second regular release from Big Finish and it’s the first to have a companion from the TV series. Turlough becomes the first companion from the TV series to appear on audio. Turlough travelled with the Doctor from Mawdryn Undead (1983) until Planet of Fire (1984). Turlough isn’t the first character I would have chosen but having said that it would be have been annoying if they had chosen Mel. This story was written by Mark Gatiss who is best known for being a quarter of The League of Gentleman.
The setting for the story is a curious choice for the writer. I would have expected a story set on a planet in the year 5 million where a race of beings are being wiped out. Not set in London 1702 with ghosts. This story doesn’t rely on the actual plot but the lively characters. The story is only four episodes but there is enough room for Gatiss to set the scene and put in a lot of historical information which I found quite interesting.
Peter Davison and Mark Strickson are simply superb as the Doctor and Turlough. Whilst Turlough wasn’t my favourite companion on TV he has the potential to be a brilliant companion. He has a good relationship with Davison and it shows in this story. I wonder whether the dynamic feel of this relationship would have been changed had this been set when Tegan was on board. The supporting cast all do a good job with Mark Gatiss performing well as Jasper Jeake and David Walliams as Quincy Flowers. It is actually Walliams’ performance that seems to be the more natural. Other supporting roles including Julia Dalkin as Hannah Fry which was a nice rounded character.
The music and sound effects also deserve some praise. They help create a wonderful atmosphere which makes you believe that this all takes place in 18th Century London. It’s quite an important part of any show to have music and sound effects that help move along the story and especially on audio.
The story whilst does have some good things going for it I found that it lacked something. There wasn’t a proper sense of danger and by the end of I felt slightly ever so disappointed. As a release it is very good, there is a lot of positive things to take a way from this story. This was the first story to have a Doctor/Companion combination and it shows in this story that they don’t have to change the structure of the show for these audios because it would wreck the feeling of these stories.
This story shows that there is going to be a steady improvement in future stories.
The setting for the story is a curious choice for the writer. I would have expected a story set on a planet in the year 5 million where a race of beings are being wiped out. Not set in London 1702 with ghosts. This story doesn’t rely on the actual plot but the lively characters. The story is only four episodes but there is enough room for Gatiss to set the scene and put in a lot of historical information which I found quite interesting.
Peter Davison and Mark Strickson are simply superb as the Doctor and Turlough. Whilst Turlough wasn’t my favourite companion on TV he has the potential to be a brilliant companion. He has a good relationship with Davison and it shows in this story. I wonder whether the dynamic feel of this relationship would have been changed had this been set when Tegan was on board. The supporting cast all do a good job with Mark Gatiss performing well as Jasper Jeake and David Walliams as Quincy Flowers. It is actually Walliams’ performance that seems to be the more natural. Other supporting roles including Julia Dalkin as Hannah Fry which was a nice rounded character.
The music and sound effects also deserve some praise. They help create a wonderful atmosphere which makes you believe that this all takes place in 18th Century London. It’s quite an important part of any show to have music and sound effects that help move along the story and especially on audio.
The story whilst does have some good things going for it I found that it lacked something. There wasn’t a proper sense of danger and by the end of I felt slightly ever so disappointed. As a release it is very good, there is a lot of positive things to take a way from this story. This was the first story to have a Doctor/Companion combination and it shows in this story that they don’t have to change the structure of the show for these audios because it would wreck the feeling of these stories.
This story shows that there is going to be a steady improvement in future stories.
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