Night of the Vashta Nerada [AUDIO/2017.7.27]

★★★☆☆

  Just like the term 'popcorn flick' is used to describe a film mainly produced for entertainment for the widest demographic, Night of the Vashta Nerada is popcorn Dr. Who; it's not especially deep, it's exciting enough and it reaches all the familiar plot points fairly succintly and on time for the sweet one-hour mark. Shame on you for looking for something more interesting in a Classic Doctors, New Monster boxset, I guess.

  That's not especially nice to the audio drama, now, is it? Well, if I'm being completely honest, this one fares a lot better than most of its peers solely because John Dorney manages to capitalise on the fear factor of the 'piranhas of the air', setting up a potentially fun Dr. Who setting (a theme park in space) and giving us a bunch of characters who embody the tried and true 'incidental characters used for the plot one way or another' trope: the morally dubious leader who makes the ultimate sacrifice, the sympathetic young girl who dies, the greedy businessperson who does something really stupid, and the monster man. Fortunately, with Annette Badland at the helm, the whole crew turns out to be rather agreeable. 

  What else can you say, really? Not every Big Finish adventure -- not every Dr. Who story, for that matter -- has to be this genre-defying/defining behemoth. Sometimes all you need is a tight little thrill ride to invest your hour in, and Night of the Vashta Nerada is just that. It does its job, it leaves you entertained and shunts off. With a pretty invested Tom Baker as well, it's quite good.