Brave New Town [AUDIO/2008.3.?]

★★★☆☆

  I do so love adventures that take time to set up an intriguing mystery, and Brave New Town is a good example of that. It's the kind of story that drops the leads off in an unknown location full of stange people and stranger phenomena, letting the audience follow the narrative by listening to the Doctor and his companion ask questions, discover things the locals either don't know or choose not to acknowledge, and even get kidnapped by military forces. The first half of Brave New Town does this so well, with great sound design and quirky characters played by talented actors. 

  The second half goes the way most stories beginning with intriguing mysteries go: crises, villain revelations and clever solutions. In following that path, it loses a bit of its initial luster by becoming a bit generic... but I can't fault it too much. With the one-hour format, compromises are bound to be made to stories that feel as if they'd suit a three-parter, even a four-parter more. At the very least, Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith remain excellent throughout; heck, Smith is always a joy to listen to whenever her character's taking the mickey out of everyone who means her substantial harm.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  A village frozen in time, people who seem to be unaware of their actual time and place, a dried up sea and the return of Autons — despute my misgivings for the second half, these still tick all the boxes for an hour of solid Doctor Who fun. If you've any doubt in the notion that the Nestene Consciousness and its plastic goons would work on audio, stop what you're doing and check Brave New Town out.