The Magic Mousetrap

"You can't play blind man's buff on your own."

Writer: Matthew Sweet

Format: Audio

Released: April 2009

Series: Monthly Adventures 120

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hex

Synopsis

Switzerland, 1926: the Doctor finds himself halfway up an Alpine mountainside, on his way to an exclusive sanatorium for the rich and famous run by the Viennese alienist Ludovic 'Ludo' Comfort. In between bouts of electric shock therapy, Ludo's patients – including faded music hall turn Harry Randall, chess grandmaster Swapnil Khan and Lola Luna, darling of the Weimar cabaret scene – fill their time with endless rounds of Snap!, among other diversions.

But the Doctor soon suspects that someone's playing an altogether more sinister game. Someone with a score to settle...

Verdict

The Magic Mousetrap was a great audio adventure to continue my long journey of catch up for Big Finish's Monthly Adventures! I thought the atmosphere from the start was very good and eery and I was quite surprised that neither of Ace or Hex appeared at all in part one. That made for an interesting dynamic as I knew they were featured so I was constantly thinking of when they might show up. The use of games throughout, even before the reveal of the Celestial Toymaker, was really good and definitely a concept I enjoy. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think the potential on offer with an enemy like the Toymaker is endless and it worked well in audio as well. It's obviously difficult to play a number of games with the audio format, but the more intellectual games and the use of the players narrating and commenting as the games went on was very good. I loved the start with the game of what was basically Scrabble and Harry spelling TARDIS as his word, much to the chagrin of his fellow players. But I loved how that foreshadowed that the TARDIS was literally in his head for the entirety of the audio. Of course, I only came to realise that later but I was very much a fan. I was intrigued by the Doctor, in his seventh incarnation, seemingly using the sonic screwdriver but his amnesiac state meant it was not referred to by name. Perhaps a consequence of it all being a construct within the Toyroom? One element of the story I absolutely loved was the rhyming song about the Doctor and how they rhymed his liking of a girl in a frock with him defeating the Gods of Ragnarok. Tremendous! The part one cliffhanger with Bobo and Bunty, who we later learned were a disguised Ace and Hex, was decent and I was very intrigued by the whole concept of the Doctor being the one manipulated by his companions. The Seventh Doctor is synonymous with his scheming and keeping his cards to his chest, so I liked how much Ace seemed to be enjoying being the one in control. That was a nice dynamic and more probably should have been made of it. Maybe we'll come back to it in the next adventure. The relationship between the Doctor and Queenie was really good and their initial meeting within the moving cart in Switzerland 1926 was great. Swapnil and Luna also made for enjoyable characters and the setting was very much in conjunction with the characters. The idea of the Toymaker having previously been broken up into pieces by a group of humans who defeated him was intriguing as parts of him were confined into the unconscious minds of the victors. His appearance and being as a doll made of wood and paper mache along with the voice was very different to his televised appearance in The Celestial Toymaker which made for an interesting take. The questioning of baseball not being a game and instead a sport was very good, especially when her famed bat showed up! That was a brilliant moment. The revelation that everything was actually occurring within the Toyroom was excellent and I liked how gradually throughout the story, the Toymaker's grip increased. The concept of him wanting to feel what it was like to lose was good, although didn't the First Doctor hand him that during their initial encounter? The ending was a bit quick and easy for my liking with Swapnil having the power of the Toymaker and removing the Doctor, Ace and Hex from the Toyroom back to Earth. The idea of an eternal checkmate and the use of chess was good in saving the Doctor and co, but it hardly seemed like the Toymaker was defeated. I guess that's a good thing in leaving him open to return though. As a whole though, I still very much enjoyed the audio!

Rating: 8/10