An Autist Reviews: Better Watch Out (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous 2.2)
*All Reviews Are Spoiler-Free Aside From Any Spoiler Sections*
Salzburg is a magical place when it’s covered in snow. Tonight is December fifth, Krampusnacht, tonight the Krampus run, and tonight everything is going to go wrong. The Doctor tells Hugo of the events that unfolded before Salzburg was lit aflame, meanwhile an old woman speaks to a holy man about the same events, looking for help. This time of joy and charity was originally going to be ruined for some by a greedy landlord, but it seems that something far more sinister is going to be ruining it for them instead. Krampus is coming. You are a sinner. And, as you should know, Krampus has all sinners dragged to Hell. Every. Last. One. Happy Krampusnacht.
Part one of the two-part Christmas special, HERE WE GO! This story has grown on me so much. My original feelings were negative, the second time I listened I enjoyed it more, and now it is safely one of the best audio dramas I’ve ever listened to. The emotional core is grand, the humor is on point, and the horror, the sheer cruelty, is beyond terrifying and enjoyable. The lovely lesbian couple and their son are adorable, the landlord is despicable, the Doctor is almost cringeworthily into the holiday spirit and wants nothing more than to make the world perfect by spouting some Christmas rhetoric, and imps are dragging people away to hell. This story is being told to two different people, Bruno by the Doctor, and an unknown old man by an unknown old woman, so you occasionally get them poking in for some fun and some seriousness. The beginning is absolutely chilling with a horrific short story about Krampus, too. The story is very slowly paced, but that’s not bad, it’s actually really nice, it lets you get connected and invested. The fun and Christmas activities quickly turn to monsters hunting people down though, and that’s fantastic. Liv not understanding Christmas whatsoever is amazing too! I really could go on about why I love this story for days, but it does have some flaws. Some exposition on what’s surrounding the characters is forced in
God the acting makes me feel all warm and fuzzy when I listen to it. Seriously, it does. The main cast is perfect, flawless, they’re just amazing in every way, from their joy to their terror it’s all perfect. The side characters are almost perfect, but Christophe is rather weird-sounding in general and some side characters have one or two lines that maybe should have been redone once or twice, still, the sheer amount of amazing side characters is something to gaze in awe at. The imps are my biggest issue with this story since while they can be completely and utterly terrifying, they can also be really dumb sounding and funny, which isn’t great. Sometimes they are some of the best-voiced enemies ever, and sometimes they’re some of the dumbest-voiced ones. Krampus himself is certainly average sounding, but aside from that he’s still intimidating and well-acted. The narrators, the Doctor and the old woman, both do amazing jobs, with the Doctor’s beginning story being one of the highlights of the story because of just how fun it is to hear THE DOCTOR tell a story instead of Paul McGann.
The effects are, like every other part of this story, phenomenal, but the action effects certainly have their flaws. While you can hear the crunching of every footfall in the snow, imps dragging people to hell has no effect attached to it, people seem to be sucked into vortexes from the effects given but it’s never commented on if that actually occurs, and when the Doctor drives a car into an imp there is no sound effect at all to tell you what happened. Still, the sheer detail in most of the effects makes up for those errors, but they do drag down the rating. The music is Christmas music mixed with intense horror music, which means that it honestly deserves to be 10/10, but I take too much issue with the fact that the music overshadows at least one major scene, making it almost impossible to tell what’s happening. It’s good music, but covering up a scene with it is a major no-no to me. The voice effect on Krampus is one of the iffiest parts of this story, largely because it’s nothing special. Krampus’ voice is just deep and echoey and that’s about it. The effect is great, but it’s uninteresting, hence why the rating isn’t a 10/10. The backgrounds are another amazing part of the effects, with crowds screaming and cheering, hell itself opening up, and a city burning all well portrayed through these fantastic effects. They are a little on the impressionistic side and occasionally lack in diversity, but that hardly matters when you’re so sucked into the story. The transitions are a sticking point for me occasionally in this story as well, with them often just being Christmassy music and nothing more, also I believe I recall one or two transitions that were just poorly done. Still, none of that keeps the effects from being fantastic, especially the music. Who could hate Christmas music? Aside from people with trauma around this time of the year of course.
This is a story you MUST listen to multiple times. And unlike Colony of Strangers, that’s not a compliment. Each time you listen to it, you will fall in love more and more, you’ll learn more and more, but you won’t understand the story properly before that. Unless you pay close attention to EVERY detail, as I already mentioned, the first time through won’t make sense, and even on later listens it won’t make complete sense if you haven’t listened to the rest of Ravenous. Still, this isn’t much of
This story is now close to my heart, it’s John Dorney, what do you expect, a bad story? It’s so warm and so fun and so scary, it really is a lovely listen during the holidays and the entire cast makes it feel so natural and real that you just get sucked into it. The effects are grand, the music is top-notch, and the witty writing rarely misses its mark. Now, get over to the next half of the review, because things are about to get a lot more serious and a lot more interesting!
“The ground shook and broke beneath our feet. The whole city trembled. And then, suddenly, the entire hillside was torn apart as a clawed hand ripped itself out of the ground.”
Original Guesstimate - 8
Total - 10 (This story has grown on me SO much! I love it so much now, honestly, unless Chimes is better on a second listen, this is gonna be my fave Christmas Doctor Who story EVER.)
Plot - 9
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Story - 9
Pacing - 10
Dialogue - 9
Narration - 10
Exposition - 9
Enjoyment - 10
Twist/s - NR
Resolution/s - NR
Ending - 9
Acting - 9
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MC/s - 10
SC/s - 9
BG/s - 8
Narrator/s - 10
Effects - 9
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Music - 9
Voices - 9
Actions - 8
Background - 9
Transitions - 9
Replay - 9
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Re-Enjoyment - 10
New Details - 8
-=- If you want to see more of my reviews, some of my craziness, my thoughts on stories I've experienced but not reviewed, and the important libtard things I share around because I'm a filthy liberal snowflake, check out my Instagram page @deadmainmanmax -=-
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