Cold Vengeance [AUDIO/2017.11.23]

★★★☆☆

  Mixing Season 24 antics (mixing up familiar settings with the alien a la Paradise Towers) with the energetic Tenth Doctor/Rose duo from Series 2 was bound to entertain me. Whichever fault I would go on to level at Cold Vengeance during the course of this review, I cannot fault it when it comes to how exciting it is. The hour-long runtime normalised by the new series is something I often have mixed feelings about, but it's perfect for adventures like this one, exciting runarounds that don't try to revolutionise the game but focus on entertaining and being fun (and, as an added bouns, even adding a bit to the Series 2 ongoing dynamic).

  Nicholas Briggs' Ice Warriors are simply such fun to listen to, hissing their way through the giant storage freezer and exacting their revenge on the humans and David Tennant and Billie Piper excel as the famed TARDIS duo; they're madly in love, and the Tenth Doctor gets to have his iconic sulking once he's not sure whether she's alive or not. These elements sure spice up the listening experience, but I'd say the most interesting part of Cold Vengeance is its surprising willingness to explore how the Doctor's lifestyle bleeds on to endanger the companion's viewpoint of the world and how they can operate within it. There's a lovely moment near the end where Rose has to admit to a dead man's mother that she encouraged him to take on the dangerous task that cost him his life, and it adds so much to the overall exciting but pretty standard Dr. Who adventure. I also enjoyed the resolution a lot, where even though the main baddie Ice Warrior still goes out on a blaze of glory, he sees the folly of his ways when he discovers that Ice Warriors and humans have learned to coexist, live together in the slums. Cold Vengeance is more than your typical Who action adventure by dipping its feet into more exciting, meaty concepts -- and this makes it perfect for beginners of Big Finish.