Night of the Whisper

"When people don't do what I ask, they get paid off permanently."

Writers: Cavan Scott & Mark Wright
Format: Audio
Released: September 2013
Series: Destiny of the Doctor 09

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose, Captain Jack

Synopsis

New Vegas, 23rd century - a sprawling city huddling beneath an artificial atmospheric bubble on a distant moon. Pleasure seekers flock there from every corner of the galaxy, to take in the shows and play the tables in the huge casinos. But beneath the glitz and glitter, organised crime rules the streets.

Whilst Rose Tyler works as a waitress in the Full Moon nightclub, Jack Harkness poses as a reporter for the Daily Galaxy. Meanwhile, the Doctor is helping the police department with their investigation into The Whisper, a strange vigilante that has been terrorising the city's underworld. But the Doctor is also on a mission of his own - to save Police Chief McNeil's life at all costs.

Verdict

Night of the Whisper was sadly not the best of audios and whilst it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, it did not live up to the consistency that has adorned the Destiny of the Doctor series so well. I was looking forward to a new adventure with the Ninth Doctor as they're seemingly quite a rarity but I couldn't help but feel a little let down by what I listened to. Now, I must set the record straight and state that I still thought the story was pretty decent but I think my biggest qualm was Nicholas Briggs' narration. This was nothing against him but I really don't think he was the right choice to narrate a tale with the Ninth Doctor. His impression of Christopher Eccleston's Doctor was quite awful to be honest and I was quite saddened that the Doctor was heard with the most generic Northern accent. It affected the story and sadly I didn't think the impression of Rose was much better either. The impersonation of Captain Jack was a little better though thankfully but this all had an adverse effect on the audio as it didn't capture the feel of Series 1 at all. That's something I think is crucial to a story like this. You really have to show the era your story takes place in and I didn't feel that was the case here. I did though really like the New Vegas setting and thought it was good that the Doctor had to point out that it wasn't its own planet. Rose having worked as a waitress for a month was an intriguing move and I thought it was powerful that she had to know that many of her work colleagues and those she served food to had perished at the hands of the Whisper. I thought the concept behind the Whisper was actually pretty good and the concept of Lilian being a living corpse was quite horrific. The cameo of the Eleventh Doctor was interesting in this story and I liked that he gave his predecessor a mission to keep McNeil alive but I had hoped that the Doctor talked more to Rose and Jack about who the strange man was. The Doctor revealing that the enemies in the story were called Star Marshalls was good and I thought the description of them was fantastic. That's a word that was missing from this story though, at least in its enthusiastic tone. Wolfsbane was another good character and I also liked the connection with McNeil and Lilian and the despair regarding the relationship they had with their father. Overall though, this story was just missing that special something and whilst it wasn't bad, it certainly dropped below the previous standard set in this series.

Rating: 6/10