Night of the Whisper.

1 episode. Approx. 79 minutes. Written by: Cavan Scott and Mark Wright. Directed by: John Ainsworth. Produced by: John Ainsworth. Performed by: Nicholas Briggs, John Schwab.


THE PLOT

The Doctor, Rose, and Jack arrive in the colony of New Vegas, housed within an atmospheric bubble on an otherwise uninhabitable moon. New Vegas is the classic Las Vegas, only on steroids. It is crowded with casinos, and managed by crime bosses who barely conceal their activity. The most powerful of these is Cyrus Wolfsbane, who brags that he owns New Vegas and proves it by hosting the mayor at his private casino.

But someone has decided to clean up the corruption of this Gotham in space. A masked vigilante known as "The Whisper" is exacting a lethal brand of justice on the city's criminal population, hissing: "Justice will be served." Knowing that Wolfsbane is an inevitable target, the Doctor sends Rose undercover as a casino waitress.

When Rose witnesses (and barely escapes) a Whisper attack, the Doctor steps directly into the investigation, using his psychic paper to forge credentials as an outside investigator - much to the ire of Police Commissioner McNeil (John Schwab). But The Whisper is growing bolder and more violent, expanding his targets from gangland killers to petty criminals and even graffiti artists. As the death count rises, The Whisper's catch-phrase evolves to an even more chilling statement:

"Justice will be served - for all!"


CHARACTERS
The Doctor: When Nicholas Briggs was announced as reader for this story, many Doctor Who fans were disappointed that the reader wasn't one of the companion actors, or at least one of the major recurring actors. Once the release came out, however, the complaints died. This wasn't just because Briggs does a good job as reader (though he does) - It was because of how startlingly dead-on his Ninth Doctor is. Briggs captures Eccleston's vocal mannerisms and inflections, as well as the Northern accent, to deliver a Ninth Doctor that's only a small step removed from the real thing. Assuming future Ninth Doctor audiobooks, I cast my vote for Briggs as default narrator... And I doubt many who listened to Night of the Whisper would be inclined to argue with me.

Rose: Irritated at traveling through time and space only to end up working as a waitress at a seedy nightclub. A recurring beat in the story is that the Doctor had promised Rose the "trip of a lifetime," and that serving Kronkburgers and fries to gamblers and petty criminals doesn't exactly meet that standard. Rose continues to act as a humanizing influence on the Doctor, pulling him back from his rage at the actions of the individual responsible for the Whisper. In effect, her compassion reminds him of his own.

Capt. Jack Harkness: Is delighted to be in New Vegas, instantly thrilled by the prospect of the debauchery surrounding him. He's somewhat less thrilled at playing "star reporter" at a local publication, though he consoles himself with the many pretty girls (and boys) around him. The middle of the story shows his abilities as an investigator, as he unearths some vital backstory about Wolfsbane. His part of the story is cut short when he falls prey to his own Achilles' heel - a pretty face. Briggs' Jack is the weakest of his interpretations, so loudly American that no emotion or nuance is able to break through; John Schwab, as McNeil, actually sounds considerably closer to John Barrowman's Jack than Briggs does!


THOUGHTS

Night of the Whisper is a comic book story. Which isn't to say it isn't also very true to the Christopher Eccleston season of Doctor Who, with its rapid-fire pace and fallible, short-tempered Doctor. But it also incorporates many graphic novel trappings: A masked vigilante with apparent superpowers, an untouchable crime boss who is quite literally a walking and talking wolf (with a Russian accent!). It even takes place in a domed city on a moon and has one of the regulars going undercover as a star reporter. Suffice it to say, I'm sure I'm not the only one who envisioned some scene transitions occurring in comic book panels.

This works very well for the story. Writers Cavan Scott and Mark Wright have crafted a snappily-paced piece, moving between multiple large-scale action set pieces while still finding time to give each of the three regulars plenty to do. They invoke the iconography of comic books at every turn, but it never ceases to feel like a proper Doctor Who story at the same time. The action set pieces are perfectly executed for an audiobook: Described completely enough to be coherent, but economically enough to keep the momentum going. There's a hover-bike chase in the middle of the story that would be at home in a big budget sci-fi/action movie, save that it doesn't last so long as to wear out its welcome and that it actually advances the plot.

One of the story's biggest assets is that the writing is very visual. Scott and Wright bring the setting to life, so that you can tangibly see the casinos and back alleys; the dome of the city; the apartment in which one key scene occurs; the industrial area in which the climax unfolds. In the paragraph above, I almost wrote that the action scene happened in the middle of the "movie," because it unfolds like a film and it has the visual strength of one. Appropriate for a story that so heavily invokes a visual medium, when I think back on the scenes of the story what I see are pictures, not words or plot points.

There's little here to dislike.  Night of the Whisper adds one more story to the 9th Doctor's too-slender era, and does so in style. Breathlessly paced, with some terrific action scenes and a good feel for its era, this is definitely well worth the listen.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

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