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This review contains spoilers!

I really like The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. I think it's great fun, and a rich world, one which could easily be mined for a spinoff. And despite the low score of this audio, I really wanted to like it. I wanted it to be fun and silly, for us to dig into the past of the circus and the tribulations of its creators.

However, we don't get that. We get a talent show, two relatively unengaging lead characters who want to make their circus a reality, the Doctor doing nothing but juggling, and - for some reason that is still unclear to me - the Master. And we get that going round and round for two hours. Unfortunately, this isn't even one of the shorter MR stories. It's long. And it plods along.

The closest we get to being interesting is when Juniper Berry and Kingpin disagree - it's not even a real argument - and she leaves the circus. And I thought, oh, okay cool, it's part 3 but I can forgive that, maybe this is going somewhere. Finally, a character I kind of liked and was engaged with! And then she dies immediately. And we return to the Doctor juggling.

This story isn't exactly bad. I've heard worse in this range in quality, in sound design, in acting, in every metric. But the thing is, it just doesn't really do anything. I struggle to see the point of any of it. It seems like there is no reason for any of the characters to be there, and any of the suspense they're trying to build is underwhelming because it's too long winded. I wish I had enjoyed this. But I didn't. And no doubt, I will not remember this episode in a few days time.


sircarolyn

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This review contains spoilers!

Só não farei uso da famosa frase “ninguém pediu isso” porque The Greatest Show In The Galaxy é um dos meus arcos favoritos da Era do 7° Doutor. Por esse motivo confesso que achei interessante a ideia de uma Prequel contanto o passado do Psychic Circus, mostrando como ele surgiu trazendo mais aprofundamento aos seus notáveis personagens como o Kingpin, a vidente Morgana e o Chef Clown (O Palhaço) – O problema está no monótono enredo de Stephen Wyatt que não convence seu ouvinte a existência dessa Prequel, não há nada de incrível ou surpreendente no processo de criação do circo é apenas dois personagens, o Kingpin e a Juniper Berry, viajando no ônibus (visto no arco) conhecendo e recrutando vários artistas para a criação do Circo, além disso algumas poucas informações são acrescentadas na Lore de alguns dos personagens, como por exemplo: Sabemos que o Chef Clown (O Palhaço) foi quem apelidou o Psychic Circus como o “O Maior Espetáculo da Galáxia” e o mesmo morava em Paradise Towers. São informações tão básicas e bobas que uma rápida lida na página do TARDIS Wiki sobre o Circo já bastava. Como sempre a BIG FINISH sempre vê a necessidade de enquadrar os vilões clássicos do Doutor na Lore de quase tudo – Tomamos conhecimento que a criação do Psychic Circus fazia parte de um plano do Mestre que influenciava telepaticamente os personagens principais os persuadindo a construir o Circo, o mais engraçado disso é que o áudio usa o vilão como fator surpresa, o plot twist, a grande revelação de quem está por trás dos panos no clifhanger da Parte 2, sendo que o Mestre está estampado no centro da Capa do áudio (vai entender kkkkk). Falando nele...Mas que interpretação mais superficial essa do James Dreyfus, muito fraco e forçada. E o Doutor, hein?? Ele passa as três primeiras partes na TARDIS apenas interrogando um robô mensageiro que invadiu sua nave o convidando para “O Maior Espetáculo da Galáxia” com direito a umas cenas muito chatas para depois na última parte, ter um embate psíquico genérico com o Mestre. No fim tudo termina com uma EXPLOSÃO (aff 🤦‍♂️😂kkkk) que causa a perda de parte da memória dos personagens, explicando o porquê eles não se lembram do Doutor quando se reencontram com ele no arco de encerramento da 25° Temporada. Em resumo, não tinha problema nenhum entregar uma Prequel mostrando a origem do Psychic Circus e de seus personagens, bastava fazer algo mais interessante e instigante, o que infelizmente não foi esse o caso.

I will not use the famous saying "nobody asked for this" because The Greatest Show In The Galaxy is one of my favorite arcs from the 7th Doctor's Era. For this reason, I confess that I found the idea of a Prequel telling the past of the Psychic Circus interesting, showing how it came about and providing more depth to its notable characters like Kingpin, the clairvoyant Morgana, and the Chef Clown – The problem lies in the monotonous plot by Stephen Wyatt, which fails to convince the listener of the necessity of this Prequel; there's nothing amazing or surprising in the creation process of the circus, it's just two characters, Kingpin and Juniper Berry, traveling on the bus (seen in the arc) meeting and recruiting various artists for the creation of the Circus. Moreover, a few minor details are added to the Lore of some characters, for instance: We learn that the Chef Clown was the one who named the Psychic Circus as “The Greatest Show in The Galaxy” and he lived in Paradise Towers. Such basic and silly information could have been briefly read on the TARDIS Wiki page about the Circus. As usual, BIG FINISH always sees the need to include the Doctor's classic villains in the Lore of almost everything – We are made aware that the creation of the Psychic Circus was part of a plan by the Master who telepathically influenced the main characters persuading them to build the Circus; the funniest thing about this is that the audio uses the villain as a surprise factor, the plot twist, the big reveal of who is behind the scenes in the cliffhanger of Part 2, despite the fact that the Master is displayed right in the center of the audio cover (go figure lol). Speaking of him...What a superficial performance by James Dreyfus, very weak and forced. And the Doctor, huh?? He spends the first three parts in the TARDIS just interrogating a messenger robot that invaded his ship inviting him to “The Greatest Show in The Galaxy” with a few very boring scenes, to then in the last part, have a generic psychic confrontation with the Master. In the end, everything concludes with an EXPLOSION (ugh 🤦‍♂️😂lol) that causes the characters to lose part of their memory, explaining why they do not remember the Doctor when they meet him again in the closing arc of the 25th Season. In summary, there was no problem in delivering a Prequel showing the origin of the Psychic Circus and its characters, it just needed to be more interesting and engaging, which unfortunately was not the case.

(Translation generated by AI, so mistakes are possible).


KnuppMello

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