Mission to Magnus [AUDIO/2009.12.9]

★★★☆☆

  While I think positively of Mission to Magnus, a part of me wishes it pushed the envelope a bit more than it does. As it is, the audio drama is certainly raunchy, juvenile and even tasteless slice of Dr. Who -- and that's perfectly fine. It's just so funny to me that Who, such a warm show at heart, could include such stuff. It's just so funny. No, I'm not saying you should boycott Mission to Magnus for having sexist characters and the climax having a "wholesome"-funny moment where a bunch of raunchy guys tell a matriachal society of women that they'll enjoy having sex and proceed to laugh at their incredulous reactions... I'm saying that Philip Martin had the opportunity to do the ultimate funny and make this even more messed up, morally dubious and pure chaotic. You want to know how I honestly feel about Mission to Magnus? I'm a bit frustrated with it because the first half feels like somebody was grabbing Martin's wrist during the writing of Episode 1 and actively reeling in the writer's more eclectic side until around the climax portion of the next episode. Considering this audio drama takes after the format of Season 22 and acts as a two-parter, that's a big missed opportunity to be genuinely fun in its entirety instead of for a small portion of the runtime.

  Then again, Mission to Magnus is very much one of those 'sum-of-its-parts' adventures, and the elements that comprise the story are great stuff indeed. Nabil Shaban has a whale of a time playing Sil, the Ice Warriors cause some mayhem and the Doctor gets one-upped in mental gymnastics by an acolyte of a mental gymnast society. Funniest thing ever here, of course, is that the Doctor gets to encounter his school bully and cower under the console (much to Peri's disapproval) -- Lord knows what people would've said if this got made for television, but Colin Baker gives such a hilarious performance that I personally enjoy it all. I'd definitely say Mission to Magnus is worth listening to at least once. Dunno about repeat listenings, though.