Nocturne

"This is going to be a working holiday after all."

Writer: Dan Abnett
Format: Audio
Released: February 2007
Series: Main Range 92

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hex

Synopsis

On the human colony planet Nocturne, there is suffering and blight, tragic symptoms of an ages-old war. Never the less, Nocturne is also one of the Doctor's favourite places in all of time and space, because it is here that a late, great flowering of human art - the High Renaissance - is taking place.

He has been back here many times. It is a place of music and art which he finds inspirational and uplifting. It is a place he wants to share with Ace and Hex. It's always been a safe haven for him, a world of friends and laughter.

But with strict Martial Law imposed on the front-line city, and the brutal scourge of interstellar warfare vicing the system, how safe can anyone really be?

There is a note of death in the wild, midnight wind...

Verdict

Nocturne was a decent audio adventure and certainly an improvement on the two previous releases in the Main Range. Sadly, things look to have taken a little stumbling block of late as, whilst this was a pretty good story, I was maybe hoping for a little more. It was far from bad though and there was definitely a lot I did enjoy about this adventure. The TARDIS trio of the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex was excellent once again and I enjoyed the banter regarding the former's inability to disclose everything that was going on when he took them somewhere. The humour that accompanied the examples given by Ace and Hex was great. I thought the companions were very good once again and their relationship really is terrific. The setting of Glass City on Nocturne was good and I was intrigued to learn that the Doctor considered it one of his favourite places in all of time and space. It didn't seem particularly amazing but it was the lure of the High Renaissance which attracted him. The mentions of him usually returning with a different face was comical and I did like the mention of Tegan and how her visit here was an eventful affair. The theme of music and sound being present was good and I must admit that I did not see the revelation that it was the tune that was the city's deadly killer coming. It was a surprise to me and one I liked. It was different. The pun surrounding bait and Beethoven was woefully brilliant and I thought some of the guest cast were decent. Sadly though, I did not think there were any standouts which was a little bit of a shame. Will was great with Ace and I thought his story of his war experience was probably the highlight of the entire audio. Four days he'd spent at war and never took his gun off safety. It was quite a poignant speech. Lomas, his brother, was also good and I thought it was interesting to learn of the brothers meddling and how what they discovered in the archives was deadly. Will wanting to touch and die by the hands of what killed his brother was quite disturbing though and didn't make too much sense to me. Lilian was another decent character and I thought it was great that she didn't want to kill the tune. But the Doctor knew it had to be destroyed. There was no other way. The methods he used to see that occur were good and things tied up in a very nicely done conclusion. Hex had a good outing here and as a whole, I thought the story was pretty good. It was just lacking some more powerful performances and standout moments. Overall though, a very decent adventure!

Rating: 7/10