Snake Bite

"Technology can be repaired. Your flesh cannot." 

Writer: Scott Handcock

Format: Audio

Released: December 2012

Series: NSA 21

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis

Doctor Elehri Mussurana has spent a lifetime on her work. She's guarded her pet project close to her chest, letting only one person share her secret – her husband and lab partner Ernst Wharner. As their experiment reaches its final, glorious fruition, they watch in awe as sparks fly in a sealed chamber and specks of sapphire light begin to join together into a shining haze. A wormhole in time and space is being created... 

But then something unexpected appears inside the swirling vortex: a tall blue box with the words 'POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX' on the side. The TARDIS has arrived in the far future, in a scientific research facility – just as reality is ripped at the seams and the universe tears in two...

Verdict

Snake Bite was a decent conclusion to the Eleventh Doctor Tales collection of original audio adventures! Thankfully I was able to use another eLoan on BorrowBox to complete this set after an initial expiry and this tied things up nicely. I thought I was going to get the return of the Mara from the CD cover and the title of the story, but of course not everything that features a snake in Doctor Who has to be the mind-boggling and infiltrating creature we first met with the Fifth Doctor. I thought this one started quite amusingly with the Doctor and Rory together after leaving Amy a little behind. The relationship between the former pair was fun and I think they work really well together, especially when it comes to not feeling the wrath of a certain Amy Pond. Frances Barber did a pretty good job in the role of narrator but I did think that her Amy impression was a little too deep of a Scottish accent. I appreciate that is quite an acute criticism, but it was noticeable throughout. The writing of the Eleventh Doctor was good with Matt Smith's likeness decently captured and the feeling was definitely one of being within his era which was what you wanted. I enjoyed Elehri as a character at the start and her reaction to the arrival of the Doctor and Rory in the midst of her experiment was great. I thought the whole focus on wormholes was very good and as they are a concept I really enjoy exploring and am genuinely intrigued by, I liked the premise of the adventure. I thought it was a bit easy for Amy and the TARDIS to be separated on the other side as that was quite predictable and I just don't think snake-like creatures fitted in with the feeling and setting of the audio. I did like that something different was done in the form of them being snakes but having limbs as that was quite a unique dynamic and something that was a little difficult to imagine, but it was something I enjoyed exploring. Amy needed to be a bit more boisterous but it was interesting to see her a little scared when alone. The revelation that Elehri was actually a serpent was unexpected and didn't make a huge amount of sense to me, but the utilisation of a wormhole to escape the looming danger for the planet was decent at least. I thought the Doctor's proud brandishing of the psychic paper when questioned was magnificent and I love how he so confidently takes on the mantra of an investigator. He really does have a lot of fun! I think a somewhat common theme with the BBC original audios is that they have a tendency to go a little long. When it takes the audiobook approach instead of audio drama I think 72 minutes is probably a little bit much for this kind of tale. Why not go for an hour and condense things and add some pace as the speed for this audio in particular was definitely methodical. It was lacking that excitement factor which was a shame because the actual premise was good. I thought the ending was pretty decent but again it just seemed to come around a little slowly and didn't seem emphatic which is what I usually like from a conclusion. Overall though, this had a solid premise and an intriguing concept at its heart with the wormhole but for me the snakes didn't make huge sense and things needed more excitement. Regardless, this was still a decent listen!

Rating: 7/10