An Autist Reviews: Feast Of Fear (Doctor Who - The Monthly Adventures 257.2)

*This is an older review, it is not as detailed as my more modern reviews*

*All Reviews Are Spoiler-Free Aside From Any Spoiler Sections*

The carnival has come to Ireland in the midst of a famine, but with entire towns going missing in their wake, it’s clear that something’s amiss. Tegan and Marc are searching for their friends, and all the while the mysterious ringmaster is running her dreaded show as the mad soothsayer rambles on about things that make no sense.

So, this is a massive step up from that horrendous last story! We start right in the action, with what occurred before the story starts being clearly laid out, but not in a way that feels wedged in. This story has lots of humor which gets juxtaposed quite well with the horrific scenes they’re often paired with. The base story is honestly a great idea, if not the most creative or original around, and the writing works well, even if it does dip in and out of quality quite often. Quite often we get great character moments and heartfelt scenes, but they do often suffer from less than great writing. During the second half of the story, one of the side characters explains how things got to be as they are and it was done quite interestingly and in a really natural way, but later on it seems like parts of the story are contradicted, which could just be me misremembering, but I got confused even in my notes. I also made a note about some lines that don’t quite pay off, and there are moments where it seems like knowledge is randomly gained, but those are easily forgivable. All in all, a heartfelt and enjoyable script with some great eerie scenes and an adorable ending.

The acting in this is also a massive step up, even if you can tell the directing failed at many points. Honestly, I think it’s because the cast had a somewhat decent script and because there were more than 2 side characters that the acting in this is so good. The main characters are great, as usual, but they do go from 10/10 to, like, 6/10 often, but it’s usually for such a short amount of time that it’s inconsequential. The side characters, despite being a large part of the story, have the worst acting, but even they are usually amazing, it’s just that they have drops in quality more often and for longer… Emotional scenes in this story also often come off as being on the wooden side, but not so much so that it’s unenjoyable. As for the bad guys, Nyssa is my biggest complaint since she often seems monotone and unenergetic, but that’s honestly fine, it’s not too annoying. As for the Spae Wife, well she’s just brilliant. I mean, 10/10, maybe she has a few bad lines here and there, but who doesn’t in this story? Great acting all around, even if it dips often!

The effects in this are pretty darn good, but let’s start with the bad. I hope you weren’t expecting an amazing score for this episode, because the music is basically only in scene transitions and extremely heartfelt or horrifying moments, and even then the music is very quiet and simple, if not still enjoyable. Next, the voice effects. They’re great, my only real complaint is that I personally don’t like the Spae Wife’s voice, but that’s honestly just my opinion. Next, the other effects… These range from amazing, like the background ambiance of so many scenes, to not so great, like when the Doctor is dragged away in his cage near the beginning of the story. Honestly, this dichotomy of great and bad is why the action rating is so low. Oh, and by the end, there are some great death sounds and throughout the story, the Spae Wife’s draining is just an amazing effect!

So, the replay value… It’s good. I’d listen to this again, I’d listen to it over and over again, honestly. I mean, you don’t really get anything extra out of it, but it doesn’t leave you empty or something like that, you just get to listen to a fun and creepy story.

So, I’d say this is a solid improvement from the hot mess that was interstitial. Also, this provides so many more amazing character moments, so many more great effects, and much better writing! While the quality of everything in this release will fluctuate quite often, it is rarely actually intrusive, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still flawed. The bottom line is that this story is eerie, it’s atmospheric, and it’s hilarious and heartwarming when it wants to be. This is the writer from this release that should already have written for them again… not that other hack.

           P1 P2 Both

Total - 8 / 8 / 8

Plot - 9 / 8 / 9
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Story - 10 / 8 / 9
Writing - 8 / 6 / 7
Enjoyment - 9 / 9 / 9
Twists - NR / NR / NR
Ending - 9 / 8 / 9

Acting - 8 / 8 / 9
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MCs - 8 / 9 / 9
SCs - 8 / 7 / 8
BGs - 9 / 8 / 9

Effects - 7 / 7 / 7
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Music - 4 / 5 / 5
Voices - 8 / 8 / 8
Actions - 8 / 7 / 8

Replay - 8 / 7 / 8
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Re-Enjoyment - 10 / 9 / 10
New Details - 5 / 5 / 5

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