Tsar Wars [AUDIO/2011.9.8]

★★☆☆☆

  Paul Magrs -- one of my favourite Dr. Who writers -- rarely misses, but I'm sad to report that Tsar Wars is an unfortunate example of my not enjoying a Magrs adventure all that much. All the more shocking, definitely, when it's the winning combination of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor and Susan Jameson's Mrs. Wibbsey in full force... and all the more heartbreaking coming right after another Nest Cottage dud, Sepulchre. 

  Biggest problem I had with this one? Magrs has an insanely zany and detailed space opera/fantasy world based on a fun little title pun, and decides to spend an hour putting listeners through a lot of bland talking... a lot of boring conversations that point out particular narrative beats that we absolutely should be remembering. The biggest appeal of space opera is that there are cheesy, incredibly imaginative sequences for me to enjoy, blocky and awkward dialogue be damned. Tsar Wars has plenty of the latter, but a staggering lack of the former... especially considering that even when Baker has a whale of a time playing this space version of Rasputin, it's less a cherry on top of an already fun romp and a singular spark in the middle of all this boring muck. Cyborg baby in need of saving? Well, we could certainly have gone down a more creative and fun route, couldn't we, Paul? Let's forget all this unpleasant business and get back to you being one of the best writers Dr. Who has ever seen, shall we?