(DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A STORY WRITTEN BY GARETH ROBERTS, A FIGURE WHO HAS MADE HIMSELF INFAMOUS IN THE DOCTOR WHO COMMUNITY THROUGH REPEATED VILE AND NASTY COMMENTS MADE ON SOCIAL MEDIA. THIS REVIEW IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF HIM AS A PERSON, PURELY HIS WORK. DO NOT TAKE ANY PRAISE I LEVEL AT HIM HERE AS ADMIRATION TOWARDS HIS UTTERLY BACKWARDS VIEWPOINTS. ANYWAYS, WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY, PLEASE DO ENJOY).

The Monthly Adventures #039 - “Bang-Bang-a-Boom!" by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman

Perhaps the easiest and quickest way to ruin a perfectly good story is to make it a comedy. Comedy is hard to get right and, whilst something like horror is simply subjective, comedy will ruin a piece of media if not catered to the viewer. So, in an audio-only format, writing a humorous take on our favourite time traveller feels like walking a tightrope atop a pit of bad fan reviews and half-listens. The duo Clayton Hickman and, unfortunately, Gareth Roberts walked the tightrope once before in The Monthly Adventures #27 - “The One Doctor”, which, for the most part, succeeded and was a fun if sometimes over the top good time. So, having proven themselves as talented comedy writers before, can Hickman and Roberts replicate their first success in a Christiesque murder mystery set in space Eurovision?

The Intergalactic Song Contest is currently being overseen by Dark Space 8, a high tech monitoring station that’s just lost its commander. But luckily, a new commander is on his way, except upon entry, he is murdered. The Doctor and Mel, stumbling across the corpse, take the place of the commander and play detective as a mounting pile of corpses grows.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I don’t think Bang-Bang-a-Boom! is a particularly good story, I don’t think it sticks with you or makes you think or makes you weep, it is simply a good bit of fun. This is a witty and intelligent script that moves like wildfire with a lightning fast yet smart and consistent plot. There is fluff that could be cut out, which I will talk about in the negatives section, but it’s never slow, simply bloated at times and I think any story that can keep such a momentum going is worthy of some credit. And I think the primary reason Bang-Bang-a-Boom! remains so entertaining is because we have such a great set of characters to listen to. It’s a Christie-like whodunit and any story trying to live up to the mother of the murder mystery has to have a compelling set of suspects, which Bang-Bang-a-Boom! brilliantly delivers on with a group of zany and all-together odd song contestants that fit right at home in space Eurovision. They’re all convincingly real people and the way each of them interacts makes for some pretty nice and subtle character growth, not something one would expect from an oddball little murder mystery. Leading our cast is of course, our regulars, this time around Seven and Mel both of whom are delightful. McCoy once again gives it his all and is characterised in this really nice sweet spot between Season 24 Seven and Season 26 Seven, cunning and plotting but still winning Eurovision with the spoons (so, Season 25 Seven, I suppose). And, I am surprised to say, I think I like Mel now. She was never really given much of a chance in the show but here, with the opportunity to be taken even a little bit seriously, Bonnie Langford delivers a really grounded and relatable performance that makes her a great pairing with the more outwardly idiosyncratic Seventh Doctor. But, of course, Bang-Bang-a-Boom! is not primarily a mystery thriller, it is a comedy… kind of. It’s not as laugh out loud funny as The One Doctor and, surprisingly enough coming from the same writing team, the whole brand of humour comes off as completely different. The One Doctor was more absurdist and Monty Pythonian - dry and nonsensical - whilst what we have here can be described more as quirky, with bombastic, loud and very proud characters all squabbling and deliberating. It’s a series of bizarre and outlandish situations juxtaposed with a murder most foul and I think it’s a little bumpy. Sometimes, it doesn’t land at all but when it does, it’s fine, there are a couple great moments, like the aforementioned winning the space Eurovision by having Seven play the spoons. Bang-Bang-a-Boom! is not a deep story, it is a fun story with a great setting and fun cast, something to turn your brain off to.

But, that doesn’t mean I can overlook its faults. For as fast and swiftly as the script moves, I think the ending drops the ball. The reveal that alien interpreter Loozly was the killer admittedly did get me, his constant affiliation with another character caused me to sort of group them together in my head and I forgot about him, but the reveal is short lived and done with forced theatrics. And after that, the story ends, shortly before the credits are interrupted by Mel prolonging the story by pointing out Loozly was going to blow up the ship and they still haven’t found the bomb. This whole section feels like a rush job with very little tension, even if there are some fun moments (once again, spoons). I think this helps contribute to another issue of the story just being too long; it’s almost two and half hours, far longer than this silly little whodunit needed to be and because of that there’s a lot of wasted time and running around aimlessly. Also, as I mentioned before, the humour is imperfect, and I have to highlight when it doesn’t work because those parts are grating on the soul. Specifically the whole subplot of one of the contestants successfully seducing the Doctor, which was painfully awkward and not in the least bit funny. On top of this, the story makes this weird choice to constantly have 1950s sci-fi b-movie sound effects pop up for emphasis such as in dramatic moments or at the end of parts and it utterly breaks the flow of what's happening, eventually becoming a common irritant. Actually, I think the whole sound design for this audio is crap, especially with some of the voices, from the orotund and exhausting Anglia to the painfully shrill Geri (another annoyingly voiced character played by Jane Goddard surprisingly, sorry Robert).

Is Bang-Bang-a-Boom! good? That remains to be seen, but it is fun. Not as much of a triumph as The One Doctor felt (it certainly has less to say) but it’s a genuinely enthralling murder mystery with some really entertaining characters and a distinct style that separates it from other, similar audios. Idiosyncratic and imperfect, it's not hard to find something to love in this odd little story.

7/10

Pros:

+ Well paced and interesting plot

+ A cast of fleshed out and likeable characters

+ The Doctor and Mel are both at their very best

+ An imperfect comedic set but one that impresses on occasion

+ The setting of an intergalactic Eurovision is incredibly fun

Cons:

- Ending that feels rushed and all together disappointing

- Awful sound design that got progressively more intrusive as the audio went on

- Far longer than it needed to be

- The humour doesn’t always land and can be soul-crushingly awkward