The people of Gokroth live in fear of the monsters in the forest. Creatures with scales and fur, teeth and claws. But worse than these, perhaps, is the strange doctor who does unspeakable, unholy work in the high castle on the mountain…
A doctor who is about to receive a visit from an off-worlder. Mags, formerly of the Psychic Circus. A native of the planet Vulpana… with a monstrous secret of her own.
THE MONSTERS OF GOKROTH
It’s the landmark 250th Big Finish monthly Doctor Who release, and to celebrate this milestone, they’ve done… absolutely nothing! Given their track record in other anniversary releases, it’s probably for the best that “The Monsters of Gokroth” by Matt Fitton isn’t packed to the gills with anniversary content – but unfortunately the story isn’t very good.
It may not be an anniversary release, but it’s still time to exhume yet another long-buried element of classic Doctor Who: an entire trilogy of releases featuring the return of Jessica Martin as Mags from “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy!” Even though the bottom of the barrel is getting rough from all the scraping, this still has potential: there are potentially lots of interesting stories to tell about a woman who is essentially a reluctant werewolf. Fitton has a great way to reintroduce the character: she’s traveled to the planet Gokroth to meet a scientist who may have the key to halting her metamorphoses, and the Doctor has followed her there. We never quite get an explanation of why the Doctor is doing this, but it feels like he’s tying up loose ends as he approaches the end of his seventh life. And this specific element of the plot resolves in an interesting fashion, as Mags is forced to confront her nature and decide whether her transformations can be stopped without changing her fundamental identity. If the story was all about this, it would have been fantastic, because Mags has depth rarely seen in classic series companions. Martin is great, too – her delivery feels more modern and less theatrical than most of those around her.
Unfortunately, most of the story is given over to a boring retread of any number of Frankenstein movies. A scientist’s castle up on a hill, mysterious and abhorrent experiments being performed within, and a town of backward, hostile people at the base who inevitably march on the castle with pitchforks! The scientist has an assistant named (I)Gor! There’s a carnival barker with a freak show and sinister motives! We also have monsters who irritatingly and loudly grunt all their dialogue in broken English, because how else should a monster sound? In the first two minutes of the story, Mags is given this line: “It’s not the monsters out there that scare me, it’s the one inside.” That is the level of subtlety at which the story operates: absolutely none whatsoever.
And that would perhaps be tolerable if the story was fun to listen to, but the production is abominable. The supporting cast is regularly asked to scream, growl, and bellow their lines, and it doesn’t work. The sound design is incomprehensible, all roars and transformation effects, which actually means it’s a good thing that the script is so unsubtle because otherwise you’d have no idea what was happening. I really don’t have much more to say about “The Monsters of Gokroth” – it’s too long, it’s hard to follow, it’s padded out ridiculously, and it’s irritating on the ears. Thankfully there’s Jessica Martin and some potentially interesting material featuring her character and her relationship with the Doctor, because otherwise this is hard going.
4/10