What this story, and this boxset, has captured perfectly is the dynamic of Tennant and Tate - the stories utilise their chemistry perfectly, to ensure that the stories are exciting, and flow. Their performances are, similar to their TV series, a highlight of what are already well paced, well conceived, enjoyable stories. This story particularly was a lot of fun - it captured the comedic elements that these characters excel at, in a story which was already well layered, and a fun romp. The supporting characters weren't quite as strong, but were still developed nicely to bring me into the world we were exploring. It captures some of the best components of Doctor Who - bringing in some dark horror concepts, coupled perfectly with the lighter comedic elements. A great story!

Death and the Queen - 7/10

The final story of this boxset was certainly a pleasant end to this run of stories, while it's not the greatest it's definitely the funniest.

I had a lot of fun with this story, it is some of the best comedy i've experienced in a Big Finish so far - it is almost entirely Tennants performance that secures this for me. I love every scene with him in this story it's excellent.

The plot is good and provides an entertaining hour, there's a few twists and turns which are all done well too. I particularly enjoy the giant cloud talking - its an amusing image to say the least.

The entire cast of characters in this story are brilliant, I really like them all but in particular Hortense. Donna and the Tenth Doctor are characterised well here and bounce off each other wonderfully throughout the story I think - they have some great moments.

The setting is super fun too in the fictional empire of Goritania, without giving anything away its an unusual place that even the Doctor himself has never ever heard of.

Overall Death and the Queen gets a 7/10 and is a very solid final story for this boxset, I do have to say its inspired me to want to listen to more of this range.

Saindo um pouco fora de minhas preferencias, decidi ouvir “Death And The Queen” um dos áudios mais aclamados e bem avaliado no catálogo do 10° Doctor na BIG FINISH. Estive diante de uma história que segue perfeitamente os padrões de composição e de comportamento de roteiro bem característicos da era RTD no New Who, dinâmico, frenético tendo como seu maior destaque pitadas certeiras de humor – No papel o enredo parece ser bem estupido flertando até mesmo com um tom cômico que gosto de intitular como "pastelão", mas na prática e a forma como foi entregue e muito bem reproduzida, nos proporciona uma das histórias mais engraçadas da BIG FINISH. Toda a sequência inicial que nos mostra como a Donna se envolveu com o Rudolph e sua preparação para se tornar realeza, suas reações, as mordomias exageradas recebidas, é incrivelmente hilário e muito engraçado com direito aquele tom ácido humorístico característico da companion. É interessante notar que inicialmente temos a “Morte” sendo uma figura totalmente amedrontadora, um provável vilão implacável, mas conforme o tom cômico surte efeito e atinge o antagonista, acaba tornando sua postura maléfica em um completo estupido constrangido – Um bom exemplo disso, é quando o 10° Doctor afronta o vilão pedindo a justificativa do real motivo de sua presença. Em resumo, eis aqui um ótimo "estupido" passatempo com uma excelente performance de todo o cast envolvido, David Tennant ainda em forma e Catherine Tate dispensa comentários. Tenha certeza que vai se divertir muito e tirar muitas risadas se entender a real proposta cômica de Death And The Queen...Caso contrário, ainda vai achar estupido, mas não no bom sentido.

Obviously Ten and Donna have a lovely dynamic in this, all the comedy works very well. Overall, really solid characters and a creative plot that very well could have been a TV episode.

Its three for three in terms of this boxset accurately reflecting the period its based on perfectly in audio. If I was to show any Big Finish to a "non-fan" it would be this, as its a great showcase for how alive and dynamic the audio format can be - and with beloved actors at the helm.

The story itself is pleasing, it has some fantastic guest characters, my favourite being Death, who is as hilarious as he is monosyllabic. It continues the amusing trope of Donna continually getting married. And you get some nice character moments between Donna and The Doctor.

I don't think I'll ever be over just how much I love this audio story. It's everything I love about Donna and her friendship with the Doctor and it's got plenty of humor mixed with genuinely emotional moments that reveal a lot about these two characters.

24.09.2021

Now that was some Doctor Who. Outside of some convoluted mechanical details, this is immensely enjoyable. Donna Noble is indeed my queen. 4/5

Cool, good and pretty goofy as well.

Ever since her debut in 2006's The Runaway Bride, Donna has always been unlucky in love. First there was Lance, then Lee in Silence In The Library/Forest of the Dead. Now she has a new love to add to that list: Prince Rudolph. And no, it's not third time lucky (she does get fourth time lucky in The End of Time though).

Death and the Queen by James Goss is basically one of those fun RTD era romps you would get halfway through a series. It brings to mind series 4's The Unicorn and the Wasp, as a mad caper with plenty of banter from the Doctor and Donna Noble. There are some truly classic Doctor and Donna moments in this tale, such as Donna's moaning that she can never have a wedding that goes to plan with the Doctor around and her frustration at her servants as future Queen doing everything for her including helping her get dressed. My absolute favourite are the early scenes where the Doctor keeps interrupting Donna and Prince Rudolph when they're trying to have romantic moments together. So Donna has finally met her prince and she's about to get married; I bet you're wondering what goes wrong this time...

Well, you see, Death has an army coming for the fairytale kingdom as it is revealed a deal was made between the people of the fairytale land and Death. James Goss plays expertly with creating atmosphere here, with Death at first being obscured by cloud making for a very mysterious and unearthly appearance for the audio's antagonist. It allows for a very powerful performance from Catherine Tate too when she delivers the line 'Death is staring me in the face'. It's a very chilling line and one that works best on audio than it probably would on TV.

Now let's talk about Death: Death is...well, obviously the personification of death as a character and is a very creepy one, especially when his true motives are revealed. The reason behind Donna's marriage is truly shocking and like something from the Philip Hinchcliffe era of Doctor Who. As you can probably tell by what I have said in earlier 10th Doctor audio reviews there's a real 4th Doctor feel going on in these three stories which seem fitting for the best Doctor of the new series. This tale in particular whilst basically as said earlier an RTD-style romp has a very gothic feel to it with some of its ideas and themes. It sort of similar to if you combined a Tim Burton film with an Edgar Wright one.

One of my favourite things about this story is Alice Krige as the Queen Mum. She's wonderfully unlikeable, more determined to hold the wedding than to even batter an eyelid at all the people dying at the hands of Death's army. She even takes a dislike to Donna and that's just not on. The Queen Mum is a brilliant villianess for David Tennant's Doctor to argue with; he, of course, is just perfect as the 10th Doctor as usual and brilliantly portrays the Doctor's desperation at wanting Donna back as a companion. Of course, she rejoins him in the end because Donna's exit doesn't take place until Journey's End and these audios take place between series four but you really feel for the Doctor when he just wants his best friend back.

Overall, Death and the Queen is a fantastic conclusion to the first Tenth Doctor Adventures box set and represents the 10th Doctor and Donna Noble at their best. Here's hoping for a volume two with Bernard Cribbins returning as loveable granddad Wilfred Mott.