The Twilight Kingdom

"His curiosity is his weakness, and he knows it."

Writer: Will Shindler

Format: Audio

Released: March 2004

Series: Main Range 55

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Synopsis 

The blood of innocents has been spilt - a terrible sequence of events has been set in motion. The forces of darkness are on the move.

Deep underground, an army of light prepares itself for the oncoming war.

The Doctor's used to winning. Stumbling in, reading the face of the enemy, and then beating the odds... but what if this time he's got it wrong? Charley and C'rizz think he has.

Stripped of all that is familiar, just who is the Doctor? Major Koth thinks he knows.

Lost among the dark caverns of an unknown world, has the Doctor finally met his match?

Verdict 

The Twilight Kingdom was a bit of a mixed bag of an audio adventure and although it was a huge improvement on the previous The Natural History of Fear story in the Main Range, I was rather disappointed that I wasn't able to award it a higher rating. Now some people might think what I have awarded is good but to me anything that I award this number or lower to has fallen way belle expectations and that was the case here. After a bit of a mixed start to the Divergent Universe arc with Scherzo that was then followed by the great The Creed of the Kromon in which we acquired a new companion in C'rizz, I thought the arc was really going to kick on but we didn't get that. After the cliffhanger finish though, I am hopeful that things will now begin to get really good. I thought this was a much better adventure for C'rizz as companion and he was probably my favourite thing about the audio to be honest. It was a strong companion and for the first time he definitely seemed credible but also suited to the companion role which I think is important. As we've had the pairing of the Eighth Doctor and Charley, which is still something brand new, for quite a long time now since they joined forces in Storm Warning, the timing didn't seem right for a third main cast member but after this I'm more than keen to see how the trio get along. I like the banter he has with Charley by continuously calling her Charlotte to her annoyance. However, I'm not really sure he's bonded with the Doctor yet which is something I think should be happening very soon if he's going to be a long term companion. Some of the guest characters were actually very good with Janto and Quillian standing out the most in my opinion. They both had interesting backstories and I particularly enjoyed the former's scenes towards the end of part four. It was quite emotional and I could admire Janto for accepting death out of choice. He had nothing left to fight for but he wanted to ensure that the Doctor went on fighting and rescued his companions. Vayla was a good character as well and I liked how she really played the female authority figure very well. The initial confusion surrounding the identity of the Doctor was good although I didn't like how he went along with everyone thinking he was Deral. It just didn't seem much like the Eighth Doctor's style at all, something I think I am definitely in a position to judge now given the amount of audios Paul McCann has acted in up to this point. The setting of Setarus was pretty good and I must give credit where it's due for actually warranting the Divergent Universe arc, which is the first story since Scherzo to actually credibly be set in the alternate universe. There were good references to Zagreus and The Creed of the Kromon and I liked how the arc seems to have advanced a bit by offering some clarity on what is going on. There seems to be an experiment of some sort but I certainly wasn't expecting the Doctor to mention Rassilon at the close of the audio! Did he really expect to find him here? That has set up the next stories in the story arc very nicely! Sadly though, whilst the story had numerous good times it was the plot that let the audio down as a whole. I just wasn't keen on it and I thought it was quite patchy. There wasn't an awful lot of conviction which I think is important and the cliffhangers weren't really that strong to be honest which was a shame. Overall, some positives but the poor plot really does see them outweighed by the negatives. 

Rating: 7/10