1963: THE ASSASSINATION GAMES

Previously … The Assassination Games

And so, 1963: The Assassination Games ends with the expected running about, gunfire, explosions, etc.  Suitably epic stuff that would no doubt have looked good on the small screen.

Ultimately, though, you come away with the sense that the author got lost in his own narrative desire to “give everyone something to do”, whilst forgetting the listener, for three quarters of the story and then threw together the traditional Doctor Who episode in the final part.  More balance was required here.

The set ends with a 15 minute “music only” segment of dubious value, followed by a 15 minute “interviews” set.  The interviews are good fun because most of the cast are more interested in remembering Remembrance of the Daleks and the fun they had 25 years earlier than they are talking about The Assassination Games (probably because they didn’t really understand what it was all about either).

In the end, the highlights of this release are the abilities of Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred recapturing their characters from 1988 (neither of them sound any older than they did back then, and Sophie recaptures the youthful exuberance of Ace perfectly, which must have been tough given that they’ve both portrayed “older” versions of their characters in other stories), and Pamela Salem who always seems to sound exactly the same.

This hasn’t put me off listening to these characters again, but it has put me off giving priority to the Counter Measures set over the many other audios I have.