Last of the Titans [AUDIO/2001.1.11]

★★★☆☆

  If you were to ask me to point out a Big Finish audio drama that's "cute", I'd point to this one. Don't ask me why, I'm still baffled. Maybe it's because Sylvester McCoy's incarnation is pretty adorable in both stature and personality, at least his Season 24 person (which this is most likely a story of), or maybe it's the crisp early-days Big Finish soundscape bringing to the ears a compact and small-scale story. Maybe it's Nicholas Briggs' cartoonish performance of the villain Vilgreth; for such a horrific creature with multiple homicides under his belt, the titan turns out to be such a cuddly little thing on audio, happily helping the Doctor with retrieving his TARDIS and offering him tea. I can't imagine anyone coming out of the woodworks to say that Last of the Titans is their favourite Dr. Who story ever, but at the same time there's really no reason (from what I can see) to bash on it harshly. It's a perfectly middling, albeit enjoyable, slice of Who that manages to stay cute and niche because it has a short runtime (i.e. it's got just enough of a runtime to tell its story). Doctor meets giant, giant is friendly but turns out to have monstrous past. Chaos ensues. I will say, though, that regardless of my thoughts about its quality, I think people should listen to it because a) it's a freebie, and b) it's such a novelty to hear the Seventh Doctor narrate in first person.