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 | Reviews for Classic Doctors New Monsters: The Stuff of Nightmares |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 1 September 2024 |
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| Rating: |   7 |
As with previous editions, we have four independent stories, quite varied in tone and style. The first is a 3rd Doctor + Sarah adventure involving the Hoxx of Balhoon, brother of the Moxx of Balhoon. The story takes place slightly before the 9th Doctor "End of the World" episode, and explains a bit how The Doctor knows about the end of the world. Hoxx wants to create a museum and preserve old Earth for tourism. However, we have a bit of a haunted house situation. The greatest thing about this episode is Tim Treloar and Sadie Miller recreating a favorite Doctor / Companion combination. Sadie Miller is brilliant in capturing Elisabeth Sladen's vocal mannerisms. It takes a listener right back to 1974. Next is The Tivolian Who Knew Too Much with Doctor 4 and Leela. This is a spoof of old movies that have the "guy in the wrong place at the wrong time" plot. It is quite fun and a bit funny and definitely light weight. Third is Together In Eclectic Dreams, a 6th Doctor story with a cameo from the 8th Doctor, and the first of two dream crabs episodes. The story takes us to Inception territory, where there are multiple dream levels and the listener never quite knows what is or is not part of a dream. Writer Roy Gill here writes what feels to me like a typical Marc Platt script, playing dodgems with reality. Last is an 8th Doctor and Charley story also with dream crabs. In If I Should Die Before I Wake, writer John Dorney has taken the path of likening dreams to mythical stories. The Doctor is telling Charley a bedtime story, but it keeps getting disrupted. It takes a while for the drama to arrive at what it is all about, and the twist was not very surprising to me. The drama itself is a two-hander, with India Fisher handling all the voices (including monster roars), except for Doctor 8's. The total package is entertaining. I like the variety. Nothing stands out as brilliant (apart from Tim Treloar and Sadie Miller).
