Huh, well this was certainly an interesting listen. The Fearmonger has a lot going on; demagogues, assassinations, backstabbing's, terrorist groups, a supernatural entity which prays off people's fear and prejudices. There's some great concepts here and it seems right up my alley so going into this one I was rather excited. I did end up enjoying it a fair amount but not without reservation. To begin with it's worth mentioning that this is the first full Seventh Doctor audio and of course the return of his definitive companion, Ace. And of course they are both phenomenal here. With some of the other returning actors it's felt like it's taken them a little bit to get back into the role again, however with McCoy and Aldred they are just straight back into it like no time has passed at all. They feel exactly the same as they did on TV, which is to say utterly perfect.

Now onto the story itself, in terms of the actual characters and plot I wouldn't exactly call it the most compelling thing in the world. Harper is sadly underdeveloped, it's fine for her to be one note as that's sort of her character but even still she doesn't get much to do and isn't particularly threatening or convincing as a charismatic leader. I find the rest of the cast similarly forgettable, I often had to refer to the wiki page to remind myself who was who, and in the middle few parts the plot does move along a little too slowly for my liking. However where I find this story really has a lot of merit is on it's political commentary. This story explores the themes of fear and prejudice, where they come from and how they affect people and in turn the political landscape. This is a very interesting theme to explore and The Fearmonger is a good way to establish fear as an actual material threat. However in the last part this story cooks up a bit of a curveball; it turns out that The Fearmonger was only inhabiting the mind of people who thought they could hear it in others. This is a very clever twist as if you're perceptive you may notice that only one person at a time "hears" The Fearmonger. First Walter, then Ace. The scene where the Doctor has to convince Ace of this is fantastic. It's very reminiscent of the "I knew" scene from Curse of Fenric, it really pushes their dynamic and trust in one another and both actors put in a wonderful performance. However, while I do like this twist, I'm less thrilled with how they tried to tie it in the theme. The Doctor makes an odd point which weirdly seems to abdicate Harper's side. "Who was doing more to scare others? The one's with the speeches of the one's with the guns?" It seems like the point being made here is that it was the violent reactions of people like Walter that was stoking fear, when in reality, Harper has just as much, if not more responsibility to bear. It was her divisive and xenophobic rhetoric that lead to people getting violent in the first place right? This seems like something the story understood very well. Both sides have responsibility for the worsening situation in this case, and to me it seemed like the story was exploring this well until this odd moment at the end. I still think this is a good story, I enjoy a lot about it, especially the themes and the commentary, it just ended up leaving me a bit confused and underwhelmed. 7/10 / 3½ stars.

15.01.2022

This one is rather brilliant. A surprisingly relevant political satire, this one argues where the fear comes from, how it works and how to fight it. A marvelous character work for Ace and the Doctor, a very well-rounded cast of secondary characters, and a conclusion I first disagreed strongly with before rethinking and accepting it for a reasonable resolution it is. 5/5

That was really fun, the view to a fascist future with The Doctor struggling against it is great, especially seeing how that sort of future makes monsters out of the good intentioned rebels, and how opportunistic it makes people as well with the rebels secretly siding with those in power.

Also the character stuff with Ace and The Doctor, especially that last part with Ace having the monster inside her, but believing it’s in The Doctor, just great. Also a perfect monster for this sort of story, and a story that’s ever relevant, some things mentioned just feel so real, you could tell me this was released 24 days ago and I’d believe you, but it’s somehow 24 years??

Actually as I’m writing this, I’m upping it to a 9, originally had it as an 8 but that fact of just how it’s more relevant now than ever, and it was written nearly a quarter of a century ago, yeah it has to be a 9.

Oh. Oh no, this is just sad. There's a monster that causes fear on the loose inhabiting a fascist politician. And an assassination attempt against said politician. Rather topical in today's world, wouldn't you say?

I thought that it was going to be a deconstruction on how right wing politics cause fear and loathing of the other. Instead, it was a South Park style "both sides are bad" argument. It sets up a radio shock jock and a terrorist group in OPPOSITION to the fascists, which is not how reality works. Both of these elements are overwhelmingly right wing in nature in reality.

After having invented the threat of a left wing terrorist group, the story then proceeds to condemn both sides as causing fear and loathing in the other side. The Doctor even says to the would be assassin that he was too afraid of the fascist politician to see that maybe she wasn't a monster after all:

DOCTOR: You were already scared of Harper, even before you heard the voice, and then you were willing to kill her, to kill lots of people to get at her. If someone like that told you they were hearing voices, what would you think?

WALTER: No! It was real.

DOCTOR: You don't really want to think about being wrong, do you. If she wasn’t a monster, then you weren't justified, and maybe you’re not all right. Maybe you do need help.

The story even ends with a member of this left wing terrorist group having collaborated with a high ranking member of the fascist party. Very "both sides are bad" indeed.

It's pretty cowardly, I have to say, especially for the Seventh Doctor and Ace, revolutionaries on tv. The Doctor even goes out of his way to say that he's not going to bring down the fascist government/candidate for no real reason at all despite saying he's taken down fascist governments before. It's the type of thing that could only have been made at the time with liberal centrism as the primary ideology. Today it would be looked at as feckless and naive. And it is.

The Monthly Adventures #005 - "The Fearmonger" by Jonathan Blum

Out of all the different Doctors seen in the Monthly Adventures, I’d call Seven my favourite. His stories always seem to be interesting, his run with Hex and Ace is some of my favourite Doctor Who material ever and consistently he is given new and interesting scripts, not to mention that he’s the most thematically complex of the Doctors featured in the Main Range. And yet, I always managed to skip his first proper outing: an explosive political thriller with some stellar performances and a genius antagonist that I’d call the first truly great story of The Monthly Adventures

It’s the early 21st century and Britain is in crisis. A new, radical right leaning party is stirring up hate in the streets, and the local radio shows are loving it. With an attempted assassination fueling the media, an abstract creature of thought is pushing buttons, making the pot boil over. But the Doctor can stop it of course, that is unless he’s taken in by the fear too.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

My main worry going into The Fearmonger, despite the glowing reviews, was that the last time McCoy had acted, in the absolute mess that was The Sirens of Time, he had the acting talents of a houseplant. I am very happy to say that my theory of somebody slipping sleeping pills into his coffee that day has been proven correct as he is magnificent here, along with the rest of the cast. Sophie Aldred begins her long audio career of flexing her acting talents by playing expertly off McCoy. In fact, it’s here where we get introduced to Big Finish’s take on Ace in general, who has, for a long time, been my favourite companion in the show’s history. A brilliant, mature well seasoned traveller who acts as the Doctor’s intellectual equal, one of the most well developed and interesting companions the show’s ever had. And what a story to introduce her. A fast paced, whip smart political shakedown that begins fast - in media res - and then doesn’t stop moving for almost two hours, keeping up a fast pace but not rushing its narrative, a feat that I’ve found to be somewhat rare in the Doctor Who. Blum also manages to avoid the common decline in pace towards the end of a story by introducing multiple incredible last act twists that keep the whole thing fresh and new. The Fearmonger itself is also just a fantastic enemy for such a biting script that acts as great symbolism for the hate fueled state of politics the script depicts; an incredibly smart way to integrate commentary into an already blindingly fun audio play.

On the political side of things, whilst I love the symbolism and mirroring of news still relevant today, I think a lot of the situations seen and political language brought up lacks the subtlety it deserves, with too many on the nose statements by politicians or talk show hosts present. I also think we could’ve done with more focus on Sherilyn Harper, as she’s our stand in for the real world politicians the audio’s referring to. She’s a big part of the story, no doubt, but I wish she had been the primary focus for the runtime as I feel more symbolism and comments could’ve been done surrounding her.

A good political story can really land for me and The Fearmonger is no exception. Brilliant, fast and biting, it could do with a bit more subtlety in places to really boost its message but it’s definitely the best audio thus far into the Monthly Adventures.

8/10

Pros:

+ Great performances all around, especially from McCoy and Aldred

+ Ace is utterly brilliant here and it’s the first showcase of the amazing things Big Finish will do with her character

+ The Fearmonger is a brilliantly symbolic and inventive antagonist

+ Fantastic part 4 twist that changes up the pace of the story

+ Moves fast and doesn’t stop, very fun to listen to

Cons:

- Harper was underexplored as a secondary antagonist and we didn’t get to see enough of her rise and fall

- The politics lack a little subtlety, although it’s tolerable