Main Range #252: An Alien Werewolf in London (Spoilers)

I didn't notice it! Where was this?

Strange one this, i enjoyed episode's 1 & 2 but episode 3 lost me while episode 4 left me feeling underwhelmed.

Alan Barnes script is tonally all over the place not knowing if it wants to be gothic horror or dark humoured audio drama & not a great story to go out on & the post credit scene at the end with the appalling aussie accents was utterly cringeworthy & pointless.

My Rating.
2/5.

Finished listening to it.
I thought it wasn't too bad and I certainly liked it better than Monsters of Gokroth (which was not really my cup of tea at all).
I also somehow did not have too much trouble following the story.
However, I agree that there was just too much stuffed into this story. There were several great ideas in there that would have worked and stood perfectly on their own.
Here, they just take away from each other instead of complementing each other.

I share these sentiments. This could have been a lot better and it is frustrating that it doesn't end up coming to much - the concept is promising and shows some potential. It is the same problem that has, in my opinion, plagued several of the MR releases though - not enough content to fill 4 episodes, leading to padding and/or unnecessary subplots. I think the decision to revive 2 x 2 parters for some releases is a wise one.

McCoy can be *excellent* - I've just re-listened to Night Thoughts and it is amazing and is, arguably, one of the best BF stories. I'd entirely forgotten it and only picked it up again to pass a couple of hours. Similarly, the NA box-set shows McCoy at his best as well. So it confirms to me that it isn't McCoy or even the Seventh Doctor that's the problem - it is the scripting for him. The character is complex and so needs clever writing. I also think McCoy needs to feel engaged with the material, which hasn't always been the case. If he goes with a story, he really goes with it.

Am hoping that the next half of the year is better. I applaud BF for taking risks with Kamelion and Mags, but they need to think about the stories as well as the plots. Mags is a decent character, just needs better writing and less 'stock' horror characters in a new trilogy - she's not a 2D character. 

I just checked the script and the ending climax at the satellite was just as misleading as I thought it was. The Doctor took Raymond and Rohesia up to the satellite ostensibly to destroy it so that a whole bunch of vampires would not be "activated." What actually happened is that he took them up there to commit suicide so that their descendant vampiric markers would all die. I guess it is more of a 7th Doctor thing, but it is a disappointing way to do it. It seems they just left the satellite working there anyway as there was a subsequent broadcast as heard post-credits, but presumably they did erase the original "now you are vampires" announcement.

Am 3 episodes in, will comment on the overall story once I finish it, but for now what struck me most was the very distinctive incidental music. It reminded me of Something Inside - not so much because the music is similar, but because of the way in which the music is so obtrusive, almost a character in its own right.

Not that I mind as I liked the music in both stories, but I keep thinking of Something Inside as I listen to this

Gave this a second listen. I agree with lidar2's comment that this is a 'marmite' release and I wanted to see whether my initial reaction to the story was justified/fair.

On a second listen, I thought the story was better. As I knew the plot, the divergence in the second/third episodes between focusing on Ace/Mags made more sense. The identity of the Sin Eater and the 'faux' Mags also was clearer second time around. Although I still thought it a rather contrived story and I still hold that there are too many plot elements for a single story (less is more methinks) it wasn't an entirely unqualified disaster. I still think Barnes is trying to be a bit too clever - the idea of a 'play within a play', misdirections and fake identities and the role of the media/video nasties is just a little bit too much for me. I would rather they focused on one idea, developed it and stuck with the Holmes/Hincliffe vibe of the first two stories in this trilogy. However, each to their own.

I still think Barnes' location of this in the early 1990s is way, way off and it doesn't fit. I get that the 1990s was more known for satellite TV (and the idea of the pastiche of Murdoch turning us into vampires is a satirical bent), but the other references do not fit. Aussie soap operas in their hay-day were definitely 1980s as were other pop cultural references. Whether this was deliberate or not, is never made clear, but it just didn't make sense. I also couldn't quite visualise Ace as being still like her teenage self in the 1990s (I imagine her more late 1970s/early 1980s than anything else). Her inclusion in the story is also not really necessary either.

Still wish the change of TARDIS interior had been explained too!!

Not entirely awful and better on a second release, but still below par with the other two release. However, on the whole, the trilogy was better than anything we've seen from McCoy in the MR for a long time.

It isn't quite as bad as Nekromanteia, no. Ambitious is a good description of this - needed either pruning some of the sub-plots or an extra episode to let things develop.

Also, needed to sort out placement - is it 1980s or 1990s? References imply the former...