📝5/10 = MIXED!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time: they took a pill in Ibiza.

With The Rapture, Big Finish goes for another experimental approach for a Doctor Who story, as evidenced by the opening scene pretending to be a radio program and the setting being the ultimate party island of Ibiza, complete with clubbing, drugs, alcohol, and the like. This memorable setting and the constant flow of club music we hear in the background instantly help The Rapture stand out.

This story also mixes in God’s heralds, or his angels, who are on the island to judge everyone’s souls. This brings a strange quasi-religious element to this but also adds effective tension. The overall atmosphere in this audio makes me suspect that Big Finish tried to go for a Virgin New Adventures approach with this story by going a bit experimental and a bit mature with it.

Sadly, this story turns very messy and overly ambitious partway through Part 2, mostly down to the sound design. It’s difficult to follow, but also oddly eerie and bizarre. Things improve slightly in the last part, though, and The Rapture certainly makes for a different experience that stays with you for a while after listening.

The Doctor feels somewhat forgotten here, but Sylvester McCoy is in great form. Sophie Aldred is also great, but Ace is unusually angry and annoyed throughout this. All this nonsense of her wanting to call herself McShane now just feels stupid.

A big part of Ace's story sees her come face to face with her younger brother, who’s revealed in a nice twist in Part 2. I look forward to hearing where this development is taken in future audios.

The supporting cast’s performances (mostly the ones voicing the partygoers) frequently sound unnatural and wooden, and that’s distracting.