From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
From Address: jphalt{at}aol.com
Subject: The Feast of the Drowned (BBC Audio): my review

THE FEAST OF THE DROWNED

2 episodes. Approx. 145 minutes. BBC Audio, 2 CDs. Written by: Stephen
Cole. Produced by: Kate Thomas. Read by: David Tennant.


THE PLOT

The HMS Ascendant is lost at sea, with all hands assumed lost -
including Jay, the brother of Rose's friend, Keisha. The wreck, found
in the ocean cut up into pieces, is brought back to London, but there
are neither corpses nor survivors. While Rose is paying her friend a
consolation visit, the image of Jay appears in front of both girls,
calling on them to come to him and save him. "Before the feast."

The Doctor and Rose discover that friends and relatives of the ship's
crew have received similar visitations all over the country, and that
people are hurling themselves into the Thames, trying to reach their
loved ones. The Doctor pays a visit to Stanchion House, the research
facility housing the wreck under the watchful eye of Rear Admiral John
Crayshaw. He soon discovers that the visitations are the result of an
alien consciousness in the water, a consciousness that has taken
control of Crayshaw. He resolves to stop this menace, before it has a
chance to spawn and spread its influence all over the world!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: The Doctor's flippant side is badly overwritten. Sure, the
Tenth Doctor is prone to intermittent streams of babble... but there
is no excuse for moments such as "Jack Dusty the Jack Dusty," a cringe-
inducing bit of blather that is not amusing, and given that it's
directed at a woman who believes her brother to have just drowned, is
far from endearing. Rose treats him like an idiot child during the
opening bit... and given his behavior, I can't say that I blame her.
When the Doctor is investigating, or standing up to the evil alien
consciousness, the characterization works much better. David Tennant's
performance is also at its best during these moments, particularly
when the Doctor is conveying grim determination or anger. But the
flippancy, which was fairly well-handled by Jacqueline Rayner in The
Stone Rose, often spins out of control here - and brings out the worst
in Tennant, as well.

Rose: Somewhere along the lines, Stephen Cole slips from a
characterization of Rose as a strong, smart young woman into Rose as a
Mary Sue. I'd ay it's about when we hear the Doctor and Jay both sing
Rose's praises, and talk about how ultra-super-special she is, within
a space of about twenty minutes. Rose can be a good character, when
well-written. Jacqueline Rayner really delivered a well-characterized
Rose in The Stone Rose. Stephen Cole doesn't seem to have as good a
grasp on the regulars in general as Rayner did, and his Rose never
quite works.

Mickey: Cole does a very good job with Mickey, however. This is a
strong story for Mickey, who shows quite a bit of courage and
resourcefulness in helping to deal with the Water Hive. I liked that
his helping himself to a grenade is mocked by the Doctor, and yet ends
up being the key to solving the problem at the end. As in The Stone
Rose, David Tennant does a good job of suggesting Noel Clarke's
performance. With a larger role for Mickey, Tennant is able to bring
added levels to his Mickey, and the results are extremely pleasing.


THOUGHTS

Tennant does an excellent job as reader for all the roles. His Doctor
gets intermittently annoying in the overwritten flippant bits, but he
is outstanding when the Doctor is grimly focused on the problem at
hand. In the narration, he has a good way of increasing or decreasing
his pace to reflect the beats of the story. Action scenes are brisker,
character scenes slower. Tennant the reader has a strong sense of the
pace, which keeps the flow going. He once again brings unique flavors
to each major guest character, as well. Admittedly, his Jay is a shade
too close to his Mickey to really come across as a character. But his
Vida (pseudo-companion of the story) is highly appealing, brought to
life with a lovely light Welsh lilt, while his Crayshaw is suitably
deep-voiced and menacing.

The story has one genuinely outstanding set piece. About two-thirds of
the way through Disc 1, the Doctor has infiltrated Stanchion House,
but has been found out. The entire sequence as he escapes is quite
well-done, particularly with Cole taking a moment as the Doctor works
his way out to provide some important exposition. It becomes
terrifically exciting once the Doctor is piloting a ship out of the
military control, through the Thames, while Rose follows his progress
from the shore. It's tightly paced, highly visual, and stuffed to the
brim with activity. As good as the Colisseum sequence in The Stone
Rose was, this scene was even better, and would not be out of place in
a bigscreen Doctor Who movie.

The problem with having a scene like that relatively early in the
story is that it provides a challenge for a writer: How do you top it?
The Feast of the Drowned never tops that scene, with at least one
later set piece, involving Mickey using a door to essentially surf
over the alien-controlled water, seeming more like self-parody. The
story remains competently-crafted and structured throughout. But after
that early peak, the rest of the running time is basic, generic Doctor
Who. Not bad by any means, but it never generates that early level of
excitement again.

The Water Hive, as the alien consciousness is eventually named, is an
intriguing villain. An alien with total control of the water is a
terrifying concept, one which the television series would eventually
play with to good effect. The "body snatchers" element of the aliens
is also suitably gruesome, and I could easily see some children being
a bit frightened by some of the images the story conjures.

Unfortunately, this is one of those stories where the aliens are far
too easily defeated. When the story reaches the last twenty minutes,
and it's time to wrap things up, the Doctor yanks some Time Lord
voodoo out of an unspecified orifice, while Rose and the story's
requisite pseudo-companion use a MacGuffin against the water. As for
all those pesky physiological changes caused to the aliens' victims?
Turns out that, with the alien dead, they're self-healing. Convenient,
that.

Stephen Cole is a good writer, and The Feast of the Drowned has a
strong pace and a solid story structure. But aside from the one set
piece, it does feel a bit Who-by-Numbers. Briskly paced and well-read
by Tennant, it will certainly pass the time. For non-completists,
though, I don't think it's worth the purchase price. Maybe worth the
price of a cheap second-hand copy, but certainly not full retail.


Rating: 5/10.

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