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Paradise of Death

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Vampyros Adric
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« on: October 21, 2011, 09:53:01 pm »

I've held off from this one as it lays open a can of worms "canon-wise". But no, I must look straight into the eye of the time vortex and think that if the movie is canon, then this story must be at least half canon. Although the "Blurb on the back of the box" man must have been paid by the word for this, I will still give you the benefit of his wisdom to set the scene


"When a horrific and inexplicable death occurs at Space world, a new theme park on Hampstead Heath, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT are called to investigate."

The Paradise of Death was like a life-belt, tossed into the barren, Who-Free waters of the early nineties. A full cast audio adventure..with Jon Pertwee... And UNIT...written by Barry Letts.... YES PLEASE!!! Therefore when you listen to this, try and see it in that context and the whole thing becomes easier to love. I must confess, although this story gets a fair bit of stick from the fans, I really enjoy it. It has a tangible beginning, middle and end. The bad guys are fairly bad and the good guys are awesome. Special little mentions must go to the three "stars" Pertwee, Sladen and Courtney who are all utterly brilliant - having been written for radio, some of the dialogue can be a little ponderous at times, but this is all necessary exposition. The pacing is generally good and the beginning and the ending of the story belts along.

To be sure, it is not without its problems. This is undoubtedly "Who-by-Numbers" with very little to surprise or shock. Lis Sladen's dialogue is especially clunky given her role of our "eyes and ears" in the Whoniverse. Furthermore, towards the middle there is a little feeling of padding. This could easily have been a four parter and had it been so, would have been perfectly paced.

Nonetheless, this is a perfectly enjoyable romp which suits being an audio adventure. It will never shake any trees, but is a great way to spend a couple of hours with some old friends.

Oh dear... having done this, it has just occurred to me that I'll also have to review Ghosts of N-Space and that will be an altogether more unpleasant experience....
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« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2011, 03:32:31 pm »

I don't think I have ever even heard of this one. The plot sounds pretty good but I just had a quick look on Google and it doesn't seem to have gone over well with the fans. Might be worth a listen though. I always seem to like the stories that others don't like.
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« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2011, 07:32:04 pm »

I don't think I have ever even heard of this one. The plot sounds pretty good but I just had a quick look on Google and it doesn't seem to have gone over well with the fans. Might be worth a listen though. I always seem to like the stories that others don't like.

If you don't look too deeply then I think its a good little story. It certainly kept my interest on countless train journeys etc. For some reason, the reviewers on other sites seem to have obsessed about Pertwee sounding old in the story, but I thought he was terrific!
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« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2012, 07:02:04 pm »

When it comes to things like this it's usually best to just make your own mind up. One of the early Eighth Doctor audios got an absolute battering from the fans when it was released and put me right off but then when I finally did get around to listening I loved it. That was a few years ago now and it's grown in popularity a lot since then, but sometimes fandom has these kneejerk reactions to things before giving them a proper chance.

This is by no means a bad story. It's not amazing either, but it came at a time when there was pretty much nothing in the way of new Who and yet fans still seemed so ungrateful towards it. The way I see it, it was better to have an average story than to have nothing at all.
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« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2012, 10:12:15 pm »

I only ever listened to this once and it was years ago. I don't remember much about it but I'm guessing I didn't enjoy it much or I probably would have listened again. Maybe it's worth digging out again and seeing how I take to it.
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« Reply #5 on: January 09, 2012, 08:51:26 pm »

It's definitely worth a re-listen. Like I said, it is pretty much "Who-by-Numbers" but it is quite enjoyable and has a definite message to it (which is maybe a bit heavy handed, but type of fayre you would expect from Barry Letts). It nicely chews up a 2 hour train journey Cheesy
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« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2012, 09:22:04 pm »

I'll see if I can get a download going Smiley
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