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Reviews for Rat Trap

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Running around the maze

By:Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom
Date:Thursday 7 July 2011
Rating:   9

In many ways Rat Trap is a clever and original story, turning the tables on man's treatment of animals. Companions are show the best (or worst) of their character, which as times is fun in a cruel way.

There is a hint of the future for Tegan, perhaps something nasty will come back. At times a little confusing with lots of cast members running about smelly tunnels, which is the only reason its not a 10.



Squeek

By:David Layton, Los Angeles, United States
Date:Monday 20 February 2017
Rating:   7

The plot of Rat Trap involves Doctor 5, Nyssa, Tegan, and Turlough heading for a medieval joust and arriving in the right place, wrong time. It's 1983, election day, and deep under a medieval castle are the remains of WWII safety tunnels for the PM. Ah, but something is down there with them. The tunnels were taken over for use in secret experiments to augment rat intelligence, to make rats into weapons. Now, our heroes, some amateur investigators, and two pen pushers, are trapped down there with telepathic, oversized rats who just hate what humans have done to their kind, and who are planning sweet revenge against all of humanity. The story follows 1983 Doctor Who very well, with the TARDIS crew swiftly split up and following multiple trails to the same location. The small central location and tight plotting makes the atmosphere claustrophobic and tense. This story, however, never would have been done in 1983 given the sensitivities of many viewers about rats, one of the more common phobias. Each of the companions comes out strong in this one. Tegan uses sarcasm to deflect fear, Nyssa is determined to do what she believes to be right, and Turlough is clever rather than cowardly. The electronically processed rat voices get kind of annoying, though. Also, there is a cliched Doctor Who ending in which ignoble people decide to do the noble thing.



Good stuff, but a bit run-of-the-mill

By:Jared Star, Portsmouth, United States
Date:Wednesday 27 October 2021
Rating:   7

This audio has a setting and villain that are phenomenal, but it’s one of those stories where you wish the writer would play around a bit.

Starting things off on the positives: the idea presented in this story is great! It has a sort of political message attached to it, but it doesn’t poke its head too far above the water. It’s an audio that crafts a great story out of a political idea, rather than making a 2-hour lecture out of it.

Despite the fact that there are three companions, each one of them is given something to do to advance the plot. Plus, there is a large number of side characters that also function as both characters themselves and more plot advancement. It’s great that Tony Lee could make such a giant cast work without everything feeling overcrowded and no character is left out. The music was also fantastic. It sounds like a darker take on the “Aquitaine” suite (which that story is my all-time favorite Big Finish story).

Now, let’s talk about what drags this audio down: It’s very formulaic. Frustratingly so. Just like “Out of Time 1.” *Minor spoilers here, I won't name specific names* The companions get split up from the Doctor immediately, one of the companions gets kidnapped, one of the side characters is secretly in league with the villain, and another side character sacrifices himself thinking that everything was his fault. This is what drags it from a 9 to a 7. The bulk of the runtime is basically a bog-standard Matt Fitton script.

Being that Tony Lee is primarily a DW comic writer, I could see this working better in that medium. That being said, there is still a good amount of enjoyment to be found in this unique audio!



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