An Autist Reviews: The Side Of The Angels (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Doom Coalition 4.3)

*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*

With the future rapidly ceasing to exist, the Doctor hunts down Cardinal Ollistra to find out what she’s doing and why she’s in 20th century New York. Meanwhile, the Eleven arrives via time ring to deal with Ollistra and the Doctor, Liv and Helen try to figure out why New York seems different, and the Meddling Monk tries to weasel his way into surviving. New York is crawling with angels, and they’re starving.

This is my least favorite story of the boxset. It’s almost like Beachhead, except it’s almost purely 8/10 instead of 7/10. The story is slow, you have multiple throughlines taking you through the story. You have Veklin, the Doctor, Liv and Helen, the Monk, and the Eleven. That’s my biggest complaint, it’s hard to keep track of at times. The story is well written, with some oddly emotional moments, and some interesting character beats. It plays with many interesting ideas and has some interesting twists along the way. Most of the story, however, is rather basic and straightforward.

The acting is… interesting. It only gets better throughout the story, but the direction really isn’t great here. The American accents really aren’t bad, but you can tell that the side characters are struggling to emote in the accents. The main characters and bad guys also do well, but not as well as they should. It’s not bad acting, but it won’t hit the beats you want it to.

The effects are perfect… except for one small problem, but we’ll get to that. The music is perfect. It heightens every scene, it’s fun, and it’s loud when it needs to be, and quiet when needed as well. The voice effects are sparse but lovely, especially on the Sonomancer. As for the effects… they’re perfect except for the fact that, at a few specific moments, there are FAR too many effects being thrown on top of each other. It’s hard to hear and you will most likely need to turn down the volume. Still, the effects are very close to perfect.

As for replay value, you won’t find too many new things, but you’ll find enough to keep you entertained. It’s also a fun journey no matter how many times you listen to it, just leave some room between listens.

All in all, a solid story that is, most likely, as close to a pure 8/10 as possible. The story is fun, but the pacing is odd and it jumps around too much. The acting is certainly not bad, but I wouldn’t say it’s more than ‘good.’ The effects are seriously the best part of this story, but sometimes they’re overwhelming. As for replay, it’s fun to listen to, you’ll get a good amount of new information through relistening, but it’s not something to listen to over and over again.

Total - 8

Plot - 8
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Story - 8
Writing - 8
Enjoyment - 9
Twists - 7

Acting - 8
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MCs - 8
SCs - 8
BGs - 8

Effects - 10
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Music - 10
Voices - 10
Actions - 9

Replay - 8
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Re-Enjoyment - 8
New Details - 7

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