The last time we heard from the Sixth Doctor and Peri was in the modern classic The Reaping which was a 140 minute adventure which had everything that a Doctor Who story should have. Here we don’t. The first time I listened to this story I found it to be a slow boring affair. The second time I listened to it I had a different response. It was an enjoyable piece that whilst not up to the levels of enjoyment I had with The Reaping was still worthy of a listen.
Essentially the problem with this story is that its slightly too long. At nearly two and a half hours the story is stretched to breaking point and thus has a lot of padding which ruins it slightly. It’s a fun Christmas type of story which sees the Doctor interact with a talking pig. The story takes an awful long time to actually get going but once it does it moves along at a fair pace.
The most notable name of the supporting cast is Maureen O’Brien. She played Vicki during 1965 alongside William Hartnell’s Doctor. In this she plays Miss Alice Bultitude who is quite a posh upper class figure that is desperate to capture Toby the Sapient Pig. Another big name is Adjoa Andoh who played Martha Jones’ mum during the 2007 series. She was very impressive as Nurse Albertine who is Toby’s butler/carer.
Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are as usual very good. Following from the emotionally draining story in The Reaping, Peri and the Doctor are given a slightly more emotionally stable story which is a typically normal (elongated in length) story. In particular Colin Baker gives a really nice performance and seems to have a wonderful time throughout.
At the end of the day this story has the unfortunate points of being about 45 minutes too long and also being at the tale end of some fine stories to be made from Big Finish. As I stated earlier I really didn’t like this story on my first listen but on a second listen I viewed it in a different way and saw the positive points.
Essentially the problem with this story is that its slightly too long. At nearly two and a half hours the story is stretched to breaking point and thus has a lot of padding which ruins it slightly. It’s a fun Christmas type of story which sees the Doctor interact with a talking pig. The story takes an awful long time to actually get going but once it does it moves along at a fair pace.
The most notable name of the supporting cast is Maureen O’Brien. She played Vicki during 1965 alongside William Hartnell’s Doctor. In this she plays Miss Alice Bultitude who is quite a posh upper class figure that is desperate to capture Toby the Sapient Pig. Another big name is Adjoa Andoh who played Martha Jones’ mum during the 2007 series. She was very impressive as Nurse Albertine who is Toby’s butler/carer.
Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are as usual very good. Following from the emotionally draining story in The Reaping, Peri and the Doctor are given a slightly more emotionally stable story which is a typically normal (elongated in length) story. In particular Colin Baker gives a really nice performance and seems to have a wonderful time throughout.
At the end of the day this story has the unfortunate points of being about 45 minutes too long and also being at the tale end of some fine stories to be made from Big Finish. As I stated earlier I really didn’t like this story on my first listen but on a second listen I viewed it in a different way and saw the positive points.
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