Respond to All Calls: Fright Motif

"You're a man who lost your music."

Writer: Tim Foley

Format: Audio

Released: August 2021

Series: Ninth Doctor Adventures 2.02

Featuring: Ninth Doctor

Synopsis

In post-War Paris, musician Artie Berger has lost his mojo, but gained a predator – something that seeps through the cracks of dissonance to devour the unwary.

Luckily for Artie, the Doctor is here. Unluckily for everyone, he needs bait to trap a monster...

Verdict 

Fright Motif was a decent audio adventure to continue the second season of Respond to All Calls Ninth Doctor Adventures! It really is excellent to have Christopher Eccleston back performing in the role of the Ninth Doctor and five stories in now and I think my appreciation of his return is growing. This story wasn't amazing, but it was far from bad and was still a thoroughly enjoyable 52 minutes. It was pretty simple as far as the plot went and it provided another example of the Doctor posing as an inspector, something I don't think will ever get old! It's just so much fun and it doesn't really matter which incarnation of the Doctor takes on that guise. I liked the idea of the Doctor being mistaken as a piano tuner and him suggesting that he could have a go at fixing it up was a lot of fun. The comment about him having the ears for it was also very amusing. The character of Artie was good and I liked how he was a musician. That felt right in the post-War setting of Paris. However, he had lost his perfect pitch and his gift for music and the ear he had for recognising talent was gone. The fact that this terrified him was great. I also liked Zazie as a character and her wanting Artie to play for her brought the basis for a predictable conclusion, but it was still one that was satisfying. I thought it was important for Artie to highlight his fears for being black in a France after World War Two and it was a stark reminder of how recent something resembling equality has been occurring. The Doctor assuring him that things will work out and naming the black musicians of the future was really nice and well handled. It was important to address. The idea of a creature feeding on grief seems to have happened many times before, so it made sense when Artie told of how his mum in America had died and he had missed the funeral because he couldn't afford to get there. That was pretty emotional and explained a lot of what was going on. No wonder he was terrified! Morris was a fun character and his not believing in a creature provided a good way to reveal it was real. He was quickly convinced once things got moving! Morris and Zazie had quite a feisty relationship which was fun to hear. The theme of sound worked well and I loved the image of the Doctor using the phonautograph! It's a big shame he left it behind, that just felt wrong. The usage of the snow and it being soundproof was good and a great improvisation from the Doctor to use the natural surroundings to aid the cause. The idea of bottling up the creature with discord worked well and the Doctor's reaction to Artie mentioning how he'd risked the lives of everyone at the club was definitely the highlight. It was a welcomed reminder that we weren't that far removed from the Time War. Artie playing again to aid the bottling up of the creature was predictable as mentioned earlier, but it was always going to end that way. And that was absolutely fine. Overall, a solid audio! 

Rating: 7/10