The Rapture

Main Range #36

Released: 26 September 2002

Listened: 11/25/20

Big Finish was clearly trying to do something different with this story, perhaps an attempt to be cool. The cover of the story has an unusual design, the theme music has a techno beat behind it, and some episodes are punctuated with abrupt jump cuts mid-sentence. After the events of “Colditz,” Ace (now going by “McShane”) wants a break, so the Doctor takes them to Ibiza, 1997, where there’s a pretty hedonistic crowd, but they’re all fans of a club called The Rapture, owned by brothers Gabriel and Jude, who’ve got a religious theme going. But more than that, there’s someone here who knows Ace. As with a lot of early Big Finish stories, there’s more set-up than conclusion; in fact, the story seems to end once, rather mildly, only to have a more action-based ending that feels tacked-on. The story seems to want to play with more mature themes, dealing with drug use, religion, and the disaffectedness of youth. The monsters aren’t really all that monstrous, and it has an ethereal feeling not unlike Ghost Light; it would fit fine in Season 26. Although the story hints at big changes for Ace, none of them really get followed up on. I can give it credit for being experimental, but the experiment doesn’t really come off.