The Wishing Beast

"She will ask for her dearest wish."

Writer: Paul Magrs
Format: Audio
Released: July 2007
Series: Main Range 97

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Mel

Synopsis

What can it mean when the Doctor and Mel are drawn to an asteroid by a message from the strange, elderly Applewhite sisters? The travellers are promised that they will receive their dearest wishes when they enter the frozen forests of this benighted shard of a world.

But the ghosts that haunt this place are desperate to warn the Doctor about the sisters' promises. Only the ghosts know the true nature of the legendary Wishing Beast.

Verdict

The Wishing Beast was a decent audio adventure but one that sadly seemed like it was going to be superb and whimpered a little towards the end. I think this was another example of the problematic format that is plaguing the Main Range at my current point of listening as I'm just not a fan of the three-part and one-part stories forming one release. It just doesn't quite work and it's a real shame. I was delighted to hear Mel alongside the Sixth Doctor as that's a pairing that I think is very underrated and we didn't get to see much of them at all with only The Trial of a Time Lord featuring them on television. They have a great relationship and I think Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford have terrific chemistry together so they were a real highlight of this adventure. I was left a little disappointed with my rating for this story mostly because I thought part one was so good. Everything was set up wonderfully and I was hugely interested in the story but the following parts weren't all that great in my opinion. I liked the mystery surrounding the Applewhite sisters and how they could help one get their most desired wish. The concept of a wish is always intriguing and a good basis for a story and I did think it worked well here but things just got a little out of hand when it came to the Wishing Beast, who the sisters had to actually remind themselves was no beast, not to them at least, devouring souls that had already been devoured. I can appreciate that this audio was quite fantasy-like but that just seemed a little far-fetched for my liking. I liked that the sisters were more interested in the travels of Mel rather than the Doctor and I thought his reaction to that was very good. He shared a good relationship with Daniel once the pair encountered one another but I can't help but feel that it was a slightly underwhelming follow-up to the Doctor being eaten by the Wishing Beast. The creature being a hybrid of a beast and Daniel, whilst being in a box and not actually existing at all, was intriguing but it all got a little much by the story's conclusion. Speaking of which, I felt the resolution for this story was far too simple. I did like that the Doctor had made a huge impact on Daniel but the way the Beast could be defeated was just too easy for me. I liked the ghosts and the fact that they had warned the Doctor and Mel about the sisters was good and they should have been a little more prominent. I've probably focused too much on the negatives of this audio as overall it wasn't bad and actually still pretty decent. Especially part one!

Rating: 7/10