Seasons of Fear [AUDIO/2002.3.25]

★★★☆☆

  Seasons of Fear was always one of those Big Finish releases I was sure I loved, but was always a tiny bit skeptical about. You see, I absolutely love the Nimons and their serial, The Horns of Nimon. I love the adventure-per-episode style of Doctor Who à la The Keys of Marinus, and I love the Eighth Doctor and Charley this stage. I also think the villain Sebastian Grayle is played wonderfully by Stephen Perring. Do I think Grayle is, on paper, a fascinating character? Despite Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox's best efforts, no, I can't honestly say I do, and therein lies the problem I've always had (but hadn't always admitted to myself): everything else is fascinating and well-done, but the central character of the adventure itself fails to grab my interest. From the motive to general demeanor, this is a pretty bland man, isn't he? 

  Still, that doesn't stop me from enjoying Seasons of Fear quite a bit. It must have been quite the tall order to follow up two smash hits for the monthly range Eighth Doctor run, and for what it's worth, Symcox and Cornell deliver something exciting and worthy of this energetic and romantic incarnation of the Doctor. Anything that starts with the silky voice of Paul McGann narrating events is worth your time, and this is especially important for the final few moments which lay the groundwork for the season finale to come. Seasons of Fear is a great way to spend two hours of your time; despite my previous misgivings, it's still incredibly fun to join the Doctor and Charley as they visit different timezones to defeat one almost-immortal man and his masters, that one wonky Fourth Doctor era monster race you barely remember. If the locations and times of these places had been a bit more varied and better realised (the sound designs are pretty meh overall, location wise), I probably would've enjoyed this more on recent listen.