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OK, I have just finished listening to the latest episode from DAM Audios, and I have to say that I have been totally impressed by what I heard. This time around, they have managed to play to their strengths quite a bit, while also ensuring that the deficencies the group has have also been taken into account, and thus the previous negatives don't really seem as obvious as negatives.

Apologies about the almost "stream of consciousness" form this review takes, but I have literally only just finished listening to it, and I decided I wanted to be the first person to publish a review of the episode. Before I begin, however, allow me to insert some much needed

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The episode begins with a reprise from the previous episode's extremely crappy cliffhanger. This was my biggest problem with the previous episode - the Doctor arrives in Ms Jasc's office, and without any form of explanation, she announces to all and sundry that he has outlived his usefullness, and cocks a gun - ready to pump him full of lead, and bring on a new regeneration. Now, this was bad enough, but I was prepared to give the cliffhanger a fair hearing, because it was possible its briefness was all part of the suspense, and that we'd receive some sort of explanation at the beginning of Part Two.

Sadly, we don't. What we do get is the big mistake tumbling into one of the biggest Doctor Who cliches of all time, creating a simply terrible situation - the Chief Scientist of Ms Jasc bursts into the room, announces something has happened of great import, and this causes Ms Jasc to totally about face on her previous statement of killing the Doctor. What had changed so much that caused her to not kill the Doctor now? If he really has outlived his usefullness, why did she just not kill both him and Sarah instantly, and then go on and view the information the scientist had to show her? I mean, it's not as if shooting two people in the head a couple of times is going to take longer than 30 seconds, is it?

However, despite this simply awful start to the episode, things quickly pick up and improve, which is amazing given just how short the episode really is (very close to 8 minutes, if you remove cliffhanger recap and title themes). Although the entire of Scene Two is very annoying (a continuation of the really weak cliffhanger resolution - Ms Jasc gets annoyed with the Doctor for reading about the results that are being printed off, so why doesn't she just kill him now? No - she just locks him in a cupboard without even bothering to lock it. A cupboard that just happens to be right next door to the room containing all the group's scientific machinery), it does begin to build up the tension levels nicely, and shows that David Nagel is a good dramatic writer, and perhaps should look at re-focussing his series' efforts on producing more traditional Doctor Who adventures, as I am sure his series would be much stronger because of it.

This spark of writing is further emphasised in Scene Three, with the Doctor and Sarah locked away together in a cupboard. Here, David Nagel's almost always bored delivery of his lines actually works to his benefit here, as the script requires him to give a more sombre performance, and thankfully he pulls it off nicely. It's a wonderful scene which builds on the tension and mystery established in the previous scene, and it really works in such a great way to give the listener just enough tidbits of information to really get them interested in what is going on, but also leave us wanting more at the end. Although the "escape" from the cupboard was a bit silly, I suppose would should expect such bits of flippancy from a DAM Audios story, eh?

The conclusion to the story reveals partially why the Doctor has been feeling odd since the beginning of this story, and it was this single moment which proves that David Nagel has certainly matured and developed as a writer since his first story. Plot lines and character situations are actually being developed at last, which was certainly something lacking in his first two stories. The Doctor discovers evidence to suggest that someone is fiddling around with the Web of Time, and to his horror he discovers a TARDIS - possibly his TARDIS, but this is not made totally clear - has been locked down and connected up to Ms Jasc's computerised machinery.

However, the Doctor and Sarah soon find that their escape wasn't as easy as they had first thought - Ms Jasc has been watching their every move, and as the Doctor desperately trys to dematerialise in the TARDIS, Ms Jasc triumphantly declares over the PA system that he will be trapped in the TARDIS forever. Cue closing credits...

As I've already noted, the scripting begins off rather weak, but over the 10 minute duration, quickly picks up to be rather suspenseful and quite well written from a dramatic point of view. I just hope this apparent flare for dramatic writing on David's part isn't just a one off, and that it shows he is slowly developing his series in a more solid direction, and one that would appear to be more workable than his previous mis-guided attempt to try and be all genres and once.

The acting is generally rather good, with DB Cooper once again showing a great degree of flare and sophistication as the villanious Ms Jasc. Frank Pival was extremely well cast, and had a disctinctly different voice to make him extremely listenable. David Nagel is his usual bored self, but as I note above, it actually works here for a change. Although I must admit that Michele Lee works quite well as Sarah, despite some occasionally poor acting on her part. She's certainly improved since Part One.

The post-production and sound design on this episode is once again very good, with some great high-quality samples being used to effectively realise the locations and spot effects the script demanded. At no stage was it not clear what was going on, although at times some of the levels were a bit off (footsteps being louder than paper being scrunched up, for example). However, on the whole it was all nicely done, and was certainly enhanced by a truly gorgeous original score by Ben Hammer, who is certainly proving himself to be a great find by the DAM team, and hopefully we hear more of his splendid work over the coming year.

Overall, I must admit that despite an extremely shakey start, things improved very quickly with this release, and in the end this is easily my favourite DAM Audios release yet. It shows a real growth and maturity forming about their work, and I hope that this leap is not a one off, but the first of many, because if it is the latter, then DAM Audios are going to quickly become a powerhouse of a fan audio team, because they are slowly developing a great little pool of talent who are all extremely good at what they do.

Overall Score: 4 / 5 (Good)

Witold,

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point being, you've posted your review, and if it's been received with indifference, you've still posted your review. despite seeking basic common courtesy from someone, which i suppose goes out the window when you're quoting the (already quoted) philosophy of someone from the f10 forum.

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Oh, that's not my main reason for wanting a reply from David. My main reason is that I really wish to discuss this episode with him, simply because I thought it was so good, I'd like to chat about a few of the more ambiguous areas with him, as I would dearly like some further insight into the behind-the-scenes nature of this particular production.