6DA- MR 134: The Wreck of the Titan-Barnaby Edwards

Ahahahaha I never read the blurbs! Well, after I add the, to my queue, at least--which is long enough I usually forget everything by the time I listen. That said, I wasn't at all surprised by Raison or Siddig.... because I didn't actually recognize them. I feel kind of bad about that, actually. Especially the latter. I love Bashir! So much! I actually have a pretty big problem with Siddig (a matter of opinion--but in my defense he was super-wrong) but I've always loved seeing him on screen, even in bit parts. If he ever decides to join the "Big Finish crew" in a more... regular capacity, I think he could make for a fantastic companion.

So, erm, anyway.

I see you quite liked this one, eh, @causality ? Well, I can't disagree: it's a lot of fun! That said, if I ever start prescribing ratings, I'm gonna have to come up with two different 5 out of 5s: this is one of those stories that is very fun and engaging, and essentially flawless, but lacks the thematic depth or emotional resonance to push it to the very top tier. Which is not a unique qualification.

Right, so, moving on.

Quote of the story: "America's quite civilized now. Well, for the most part." -- The Doctor speaking before thinking and doing a LOT of heavy lifting with that hasty qualification.

This story almost immediately starts with the biggest plot twist in the history of the franchise: the Doctor has proper, legitimate, completely paid-for tickets. Sadly, the Tropes are Inviolable--so he's on the wrong ship. 

Random aside: was the Lusitania really an Olympic-class sister ship to the Titanic? That just feels so... weird to me.

The best thing this story has going for it, other than the obvious (Colin Baker!) is the pacing. This script does a phenomenally good job of teasing out its mystery and keeping the audience guessing. Or maybe I'm just not very clever. Every time the Doctor would speculate on what was happening, I was kind of disappointed/incredulous because he was just landing on cliches that didn't make much sense. An amusement park? Too cliched. A video game? Video games aren't like this. So I went through this story with the added anxiety of the script taking a sharp turn to the cliched and hackneyed.

But it doesn't!

And the reveal of the ink--and it's implication on the nature of this world--was really well-handled. Don't you just love it when stories lead up to these big, "Aha!" moments? It works especially well here because of the added implication that many listeners might miss: a kind of stealth reveal that the Doctor hasn't actually taken Jamie anywhere, and MR 134 is effectively just the middle act of a three-part story.

Aw, hell. Let's go with this: 5 TARDISes out of 5 TARDISes.