Crime of the Century [AUDIO/2011.5.18]

★★☆☆☆

  How do you make a Dr. Who heist adventure with warrior aliens talking in a multitude of corny accents quite boring? Ask Andrew Cartmel, writer of Crime of the Century, because I have no clue. A bit of research will let you find out that back in the Good Old Days, all they really came up with this was the opening few minutes with Raine Creevy opening the safe door to find the Doctor cramped up inside; maybe that's an indication, because script (story) wise, this feels like an incredibly rushed effort. It feels like after the opening segment of Part 1, we get so many different elements -- interesting elements that would usually get together to make an interesting adventure -- at such a dizzying pace that also happens to drag on at times because they only seem to linger on the boring bits. It seems like the cast is invested enough in the production, and the soundscape is pretty good, but that's really about it. This could've been much more interesting -- alien artefacts, a prince from Kafiristan fighting bug monsters with swords, Ace in a swordfight with the sword controlling her move and all -- but I really don't think Cartmel (who was probably wracking his brain trying to make a story out of all this) was all that interested. My theory is that he just sort of stacked these elements next to each other, wrote a bit of filler between them (hence the boring bits) and hoped for the best. I remember feeling much the same way I do now back when I first listened to it; it's a tiny bit disappointing that I still find Crime of the Century boring. Perhaps the planned Season 27 was better off not being made...? Raine Creevy's a fine addition, but we don't get to see her all that often, now, do we?