The Nightmare Fair

"I detest caging even the wildest beast, Toymaker, but for you there is no other answer."

Writer: Graham Williams

Format: Audio

Released: November 2009

Series: Lost Stories 1.01

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis 

The TARDIS has been drawn to Blackpool in the year 1985, where the Doctor intends to investigate a dangerous space/time vortex... while enjoying some local attractions along the way. But an old enemy is watching from his base deep within the amusement park, a timeless being who craves revenge. 

The Celestial Toymaker has returned. The game is on. And, should he lose, the Doctor will pay the ultimate forfeit...

Verdict 

The Nightmare Fun was a good, dangerous and intriguing audio adventure. It kicks off the Lost Stories range in style and I'm glad that the Doctor's promise to Peri at the end of Revelation of the Daleks is fulfilled here with a visit to Blackpool. The start of the story was fun with the Doctor and Peri overlooking the famous seaside town from the landmark that is Blackpool Tower. As the Doctor states, you can't visit Blackpool without going up the tower! I enjoyed the location as during my youth I often holidayed in Blackpool with my grandparents so the descriptions and depictions of the golden mile, the pleasure beach and the tower were terrific. But now let's get to the major talking point of this audio - the return of the Celestial Toymaker. David Baile did a good job but at first I was a bit skeptical as the voice and persona of the character, last seen encountering the First Doctor in The Celestial Toymaker, was much changed. But then as the story unfolded the change was reasoned for fantastically. I loved the idea of the Toymaker having waited for and aged millions of years to get revenge on the Doctor after his first incarnation defeated him. The revelation regarding the Toymaker was a big shock. He was from a whole other universe, a completely different space-time! So the laws of this universe didn't apply, similarly to Omega and anti-matter, to the Toymaker so his power source was revealed. I liked the Doctor's dismay at the Time Lords for not completing their research on the Toymaker as he was around long before them! Had they found out about the Toymaker's origins then things might have been a bit easier for the Doctor during the pair's encounters. Peri was wonderful in this story, as always. I really love her as a companion and she's absolutely perfect for the Sixth Doctor. She's a hundred times better than the boring Evelyn and is considerably better than Mel with the Sixth Doctor. I really like Mel but I think she suits the Seventh Doctor much more efficiently. The Blackpool, predominately Pleasure Beach, setting was very good although I don't think it was as perfect for the Toymaker as you might think. We've seen the Toymaker be famous for playing games (dice, backgammon and the trilogic game etc.) but is an amusement park really the place for him? I wasn't convinced. The galactic ride was a good name to cover up the Toymaker's new domain however and I liked how the Doctor and Peri were split up. Kevin was a very good character and I liked the time he spent with Peri and the relationship that grew between them during the story. The scenes where Kevin had been replaced by a holographic doppelgänger were tremendous! The cliffhanger of the story was pretty good with the Doctor, despite being ahead in victories over the Toymaker, agreed to partake in the ultimate game. Yet, the so called 'ultimate game' was a bit of a let down, it was just your basic arcade game! And the Doctor won with no trouble really. A little bit of an anti-climax. That was the trouble with the audio. However, the rest was superb and the scenes in the cell with a holographic wall and door were very good. The Doctor was using bits from a portable games console and an android to get rid of the hologram which was intriguing. Stefan proved to be a good henchman of sorts to the Toymaker and I liked how his specialty was backgammon. I really liked the clever references to City of Death and The Talons of Weng-Chiang and I adored the Jamie reference also! The anger shown by the Doctor here was bloody brilliant and he was disgusted with the Toymaker's actions of keeping people as basically his slave for hundreds of years just because they lost one game. But then that disgust turned to pity. He worked out who the Toymaker was and how his universe was receding which meant he had lived for millions of years and would live for millions more. He'd come to Earth, long before the Roman war games, waiting for the Doctor. But the Doctor was angry and sorry as he trapped the Toymaker in a holographic cell that was powered by his own thoughts on a loop. As long as the Toymaker was alive, the looped cell would remain. He was powering his own defeat. Sensational by the Doctor! Overall, a good plot with little ifs and buts, but a whole lot of good to compensate! I only think there's so much you can do with the Celestial Toymaker and with him appearing in two other unexplored audios, I think his recurrence should end there otherwise the quality of the villain could become stale. 

Rating: 8/10