The Magic Mousetrap [AUDIO/2009.4.?]

★★★★☆

  The Magic Mousetrap is the inverse of so many Dr. Who serials where the final episode loses much of the preceding three's gravitas and excitement; it instead breathes a new lease of life and pure creepy fun that one would undoubtedly expect from a Toymaker story. Just as you begin to think you have a grasp on what the adventure is about, the final part pulls the rug from under you and takes you on a pretty wild ride. Much respect for Matthew Sweet here, the revelations and payoff are priceless.

  About the only people I'd be hesitant to recommend this audio drama to would be people who absolutely despise amnesia stories. All others, I imagine, will find something to their liking here. Everyone is a little bit unhinged, the hospital setting in the Alps lends the adventure a hefty amount of claustrophobia, and there's the added scare factor that the Seventh Doctor does not know what the hell is going on -- now that's an indicator that all bets are off. The Magic Mousetrap is a pretty slow and methodical ride for at least the first half of the runtime, but there's great payoff to that and I'm not about to complain. It's one of those Big Finish audio dramas that reward multiple revisits, as you find little details scattered here and there that you failed to pick up the first time around. Everybody seems to be having fun embodying characters with their own demons, and the three regulars seem to be having a lot of fun (Sylvester McCoy acting borderline senile, Sophie Aldred and Philip Olivier donning posh accents as part of their characters). In many ways, this is a marriage between Solitaire's lowkey, two-hander thriller and Endgame's larger-than-life comic extravaganza... that's the best way to describe it. As a huge Toymaker fan, this most recent re-listen has been nothing but pure joy for me. The Magic Mousetrap is still a great slice of Dr. Who.