The Monthly Adventures #90 - "Year of the Pig" by Matthew Sweet

Wow, people really don’t like this one, do they? I’ve listened to Matthew Sweet’s work before - namely The Magic Mousetrap further along in The Monthly Adventures - but I distinctly remember struggling with that one due to a disappointing story and number of half baked tonal decisions. So, my expectations going into the rather maligned Year of the Pig were low and yet, what I got I can genuinely say I loved. But why is that? Why did I love this when so many didn’t? What separates this from my previous views on Sweet as a writer? And what exactly was going on with that pig?

A reading holiday for the Doctor and Peri is foiled when the pair find themselves wrapped up in the hunt for a mysterious circus performer. One with a ceaseless appetite, impeccably good manners, a snout and trotters.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I can fully understand why this story is disliked. It’s most definitely a matter of taste and even though I enjoyed the audio, I can admit where its obvious faults lie. This entire thing is just conversations, and I think you should know that before going in. There are one or two admittedly pretty good scenes of action but a solid 90% of the runtime is taken up by characters having pleasant chats with one another over a constantly increasing list of different foodstuffs. But even then, these are some entertaining bits of back and forth. I think the thing that really clinches it for me is the cast; these characters could so easily be unbearable if the casting on this story wasn’t incredible. The personalities are heightened, the characters characterful, a couple seem more quirk than person but then you have actors like Michael Keeting, Adjoa Andoh and even Maureen O’Brien. Each one of these impressive performers gives this decidedly unserious story their all and I think without such a strong list of people behind it, I would’ve enjoyed this a lot less.

Not to say I don’t believe it has merit of its own, quite the contrary in fact. I think the dialogue is a real strongpoint of this story and moves with fantastic pace, which is lucky considering how much of this script is dialogue. It hits that nice balance of witty and believable and each character feels equally distinct. And even though the plot mainly consists of various luncheons, I think it works incredibly well. I fully thought I had the whole thing worked out by the halfway point but then it kept on throwing twists at me. It’s not blow-your-mind crazy but it’s enough to feel like a satisfying resolution. The pacing is good, the plot is interesting, the reveals are great. For all intents and purposes, I found this whole story an incredibly solid Doctor Who adventure.

So where is it this story goes wrong for so many? I think the main thing is that a lot of people didn’t take to the structure, what with the relatively drawn out lengths of dialogue and only short bursts of action. Now, I was hardly bothered by this, but I do have to concede with a different aspect. This story is way too long, clocking in at just over two and half hours. Now, very few Doctor Who scripts should last that long, but even less so when we’re considering the actual amount of things this story had to say. By the end, we’re basically just having the same conversation over and over again and there was a point where I realised a good chunk of this could have been cut out. And yes, even though it didn’t particularly bother me like it did to others, this story needed more stuff happening. It relies far too much on its central joke of a talking pig and struggles to move past it, causing a very large chunk of the plot to take a hit.

However, even then, I feel other reviews exaggerate this point. There are still a number of really fun moments, like the halfway-point cliffhanger or the opening scene of Six saving a man from drowning. My favourite moment was probably when Chardalot tries to kill the Doctor with a “time bomb” (a bomb that literally affects time as well as space), as the scene has some really nice tension and a pretty good idea behind it. Not only that but it’s even decently set up by an earlier scene where dead cows began raining from the sky. Yeah, I haven’t mentioned how weird Year of the Pig is yet, have I? First and foremost, this is a comedy, and I really dig its style. As I said before, this story is zany and is full of tons of personality but never loses its emotional core. Sweet has some real comedic chops and I like how he never went too full on with the humour, allowing it to settle in the background. It’s a tonal balance that really aided this story in my opinion.

Whilst I can see where the dislike for this story stems from, I do disagree with a lot of the points. This is a genuinely great comedy with an incredible cast and a decent story. Perhaps overbloated at points, yes, but this has got me interested in Matthew Sweet’s other works, and I’m wondering if I’ll change my mind on The Magic Mousetrap when I eventually get around to it. Until then, I’ll just be content with this hidden gem.

8/10

Pros:

+ All star cast on top form

+ The dialogue is snappy and witty

+ Interesting plot that unfurled nicely

+ Pretty funny at times

Cons:

- Far too long for what it is

- Too much of the runtime is made up of small talk