The Fearmonger

Main Range #5

Released: 4 February 2000

Listened: 11/20/20

This release goes way back to the beginning of the Big Finish range; this is the first appearance of Sophie Aldred as Ace in Big Finish, and only the second for Sylvester McCoy. Both actors are pretty good at sounding like their younger selves throughout their Big Finish work, but here they do sound a bit younger, especially when the Doctor uses his low, persuading voice. As a bonus, Jacqueline Pearce plays an authoritarian politician running for office, and of course she does that magnificently. From a plot perspective, “authoritarian, populist candidate running a campaign on fear” is more off-putting in 2020 than it probably was in 2000, although they may not have known that at the time. As with a lot of early Big Finish, the writing leans into the audio medium, with the monster being a psychic force that manifests through sound, but also through the Doctor and Ace’s rapid-fire banter, to make sure the listener is following the plot. The story also leans heavily into Season 26, with Ace not really trusting the Doctor, and the Doctor, frankly, not giving her a lot of reason to. Which turns into a bit of a twist ending, but it’s not too challenging to figure out, really. If this were the first release where you’d heard this spiky relationship, it would probably be fresh, but in the middle like this, it’s kind of more of the same.