Audio Review: Doctor Who: The Feast of Axos

[wshaffer]

Doctor Who: The Feast of Axos by Mike Maddox

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


As I think I've said in previous reviews, I have to give Big Finish credit for making the character of Thomas Brewster very much the "Artful Dodger in space" character that Adric was originally conceived as, but never really written as. It's a worthwhile concept for a companion, and it deserves to be done properly. And this audio does it properly.

Unfortunately, it doesn't make for a Doctor/companion dynamic that I care for much. Something about the "Oh, he's double-crossing the Doctor/No, wait, he's having second thoughts/No, wait, he really is going to betray the Doctor this time/No, actually, it was a double-bluff" plotting that it tends to produce just irritates me rather than creating much suspense. This was a big part of why I didn't much care for Turlough during his early days on the TARDIS, and it's not endearing Thomas to me either. Big Finish has done much to redeem Turlough in my eyes - maybe someday they'll sell me on Thomas Brewster.

Anyway, that may be why I felt kind of meh about this audio even though there's really nothing wrong with it. It is a joy to hear the lovely voice of Bernard Holley again (even if his Axon dialogue is rather repetitive), and the cliffhanger to part 3 is rather poignant. And I'll admit, I got a huge laugh out of one of the characters reacting to their first sight of Axos: "It's so....orange." Beyond that, there wasn't a lot that grabbed me, although it passed the time pleasantly enough.

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