Faith Stealer [AUDIO/2004.9.?]

★★★★☆

  I wish more Dr. Who adventures would be this creative with their concepts, and more willing to play around with crazy ideas that may be too out there for some. I am personally not averse to lapping stuff like this up, a fun look into a world where all religions coexist in harmony. Religious pilgrimages are something of a commodity here, turned into a proper industry, and the overseeing body in charge of keeping the peace of the Multihaven is threatened by a religion forcing its way into people's minds, turning them into converts. This is something out of Douglas Adams territory, and I absolutely love the insanity. I hear people often bring this up when discussing the failures of the Divergent Universe arc (that this could very much have happened in our N-Space), but I really don't care about that. It's imaginative enough to be plausible as a story with nothing held back, and it's fun enough.

  C'rizz, for all his bad reputation, gets a very clear character arc throughout this series and Faith Stealer is no different as a stepping stone to understanding him more fully. He was a monk, a person of religion, and his mercy killing his wife left him scarred for life. It's a bit comical that he's especially susceptible to mind control and always seems to target Charley, but since Conrad Westmaas is too good an actor to let his dignity slip away, he makes these potentially ridiculous scenes work. We really must stat acknowledging how great Westmaas was and how much he consistantly brought to the table as C'rizz. To this day, I like him a lot and consider him one of the Doctor's most interesting companions. Faith Stealer runs with its wild concepts to the hilt, and it makes for a fascianting listening experience.