Minuet in Hell (Doctor Who) (ISBN 190365405X)

3 1/2 Yay for the brig boo to the stereotypes:
The first 5 doctor adventure that I've head that didn't rate 5 stars in fact it could really have rated below 4 if there was a half star system. THE STRENGTHS: As always strong performances from both McGain and Fisher, the Charley character become better and better each time. An interesting set of relationships between the villians of the piece Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier. One of the favorites of the series and as usual acted very well. Losing the pet. The dueling doctors was well written. THE WEAKNESSES: Too over the top in terms of parts of the plot and some of the villians particularly the demon. The stereotypes, granted this is an English production but you might think you could do better than a stereotypical southeren senator particular since that type of senator hasn't existed in 50 years. The directing seemed off, in an audio medium directing is harder since one has to be sure the actors "see" things that are there or if they don't see things in front of them there is a reason, Russell didn't convey that for me, this is a surprise since he was the co writer of the episode. Some neutral observations: This is one episode that I suspect the teenage boys in the Doctor Who audience wish was not strictly audio. The costumes described don't leave much to the imagination, then again since it audio it leaves everything to the imagination and for teenage boys that can run pretty wild. There 20 questions bit was amusing particularly when he asked the question about Turlough, the question referenced the next episode released Dr Who Audio Twin CD Loups Garoux (Doctor Who), a neat way to bypass putting a "coming soon" bit usually at the end. Very nice little continuing plot hints toward the big problem with Charley, we see more of them later in Seasons of Fear (Doctor Who) and likely others that I haven't heard. The demon vs alien angle: The way the "demons" are played are a neat trick, although the writers couldn't know this at the time (March 2001) the contracts between demon and demon hunter might get some play in Doctor Who - The Complete Second Series. There is actually a provision in the document annexing of Texas that allows it to split up into as many as 5 states. Many Americans aren't aware of it, nice catch by our English friends. All in all you do want it, particulary for the Brig but I was expecting better. Oh and BTW Amazon you might want to get the actual image rather than the incorrect one displayed.