Ya’ like jazz?

• Paris, France, 1946. Artie Berger isn’t doing so well. He’s lost his musical gift, and a creature from another world is hunting him. Luckily, his moody manager, his musical partner and a strange Northern bloke are going to help him.

Fright Motif acts as the pseudo-historical story for this set. A story type that is apparently very hit and miss with this range. I will say however, Fright Motif is one of the better ones. Fright Motif excels in small character moments. Artie himself is a character you can’t help but like. And Zazie and Maurice are character’s I genuinely wanted to hear more from. Maurice is a particular highlight, especially in the latter half. Tim Foley’s bread-and-butter is drama, and Fright Motif is ultimately a story about how we deal with losing people. In that respect, this is a story perfect for the Ninth Doctor in particular. Which is weird because according to the behind-the-scenes interviews, this was originally written for the Seventh Doctor, Chris and Roz for the Seventh Doctor New Adventures box set. I do respect the story for acknowledging how grief never really goes away and it is something we just have to live with, but not ignore. Equally, the bittersweet message about how losing someone has the rather nasty habit of sometimes improving your craft.

If you glazed past that part because you’re still focused on “what do you mean this was meant to be for the Seventh Doctor New Adventures: Volume One box set” well that’s the story’s major snag. The pacing and point-to-point progression feels very stop and go. Which is good for the characters in the latter half, less so at the start. Especially in Notre Dame, the story feels like its searching for the plot itself and going in circles. It’s hard to say where and how the VNA trio would’ve slotted into this story and if it would’ve worked better, or where specifically the pacing could be tightened. All I do know is that this is an audio that’s very easy to drift in and out of. It pulls me back in near the middle and end, namely the blanket fort bit, but it doesn’t stop parts of the story feeling a bit aimless.

Fright Motif is ultimately the weakest story of the set, but really shouldn’t be written off. Tim Foley still shines when writing layered characters, the post-war Paris setting is very vivid and I do really admire the emotional core of the story. You can also tell that Tim Foley has a musical ear himself with his descriptions of music itself. I think I have a thing for Doctor Who stories about music. The Year of Intelligent Tigers, The Devil’s Chord and yes, even Fright Motif…

Decent. Can see why they stuck it in the middle of the set as the script is missing that X factor. Though I like them telling stories about sound and music. Not sure I 100% “got” the threat or motivation of the monster.

Great performances from the cast, particularly Eccleston. I like that they’re going a bit heavier with the emotions here. The 9th Doctor is sad but not letting it weigh him down - he is choosing to stay optimistic and forward looking.

Not to repeat myself every review, but my god is Christopher Eccleston charming. He really plays well with the cast here. I really like the portrayal of depression here, especially in the performance from Damian Lynch.

A.

17.09.2021

Something's there, but it's ruined by a completely incohesive story that doesn't know what or when it's trying to do. 2/5

The second Ninth Doctor box set, Respond to All Calls, includes, as it’s second story, Fright Motif – a story set in 1946, post-occupation, Paris. The Doctor crashes into the lives of Artie Berger, Zazie Vincent and Maurice Le Bon on the trail of something which has escaped through a rift from a universe of discord.

With The Devil’s Chord fresh in my mind, it was interesting to have another story based around music being lost. Here, Artie has lost his musicality. Once possessing the rare skill of perfect pitch, he now can’t even bring himself to perform his beloved jazz on stage even with the encouragement of Zazie, a fellow musician.

The Doctor eventually realises a sound creature, of sorts, is at large and enlists the help of the three humans to help capture and nullify it.

In the same way that after a stretch of World War One stories, we had a few stories which explored the shadow of that conflict being cast over people’s lives, here we have an adventure which looks a little at how WW2 affected the lives of a few people, with a particular focus on Maurice, the owner of the hotel where Artie is living.

Artie is an American, in Paris for the jazz scene. Zazie is a double-bass player working hard to counter the still-repressive opinions on a woman’s place in society and even within the music scene. Maurice works to maintain a facade of respectability but ultimately allows the Doctor’s madcap world to collide with his own and ends up sacrificing himself to save the others. Maurice also reflects on his lost love, a member of the French Resistance who clearly died at some point during the war – although no details are given. For all the dashing round Paris, this is still quite a sombre affair with Artie also dealing with the loss of his mother and being unable to return home for her funeral.

I’ll be honest and say I lost a little of the reasoning behind how the Doctor defeats the sound monster and something about this story felt quite small despite the expansive setting of Paris. I’m still struggling to tune into Eccleston’s portrayal – a Doctor who I wasn’t hugely enamoured of on TV – and I do think the lack of regular companion is limiting his character. Each story of these box sets so far has had a new character or characters filling in the companion role with the usual round of story beats and this one definitely suffers from the short run time needing not only to introduce the menace but also the three guest characters, their relationships and make sure the Doctor has introduced himself and gained their trust.

I didn’t really get a huge feel or time and place for this story and consequently the whole thing felt a little difficult to get into. The story and characters were enjoyable but there was a depth that I felt was missing and I hope the Ninth Doctor box sets manage to find eventually.