Doctor Who: Nocturne

Big Finish: Monthly Range #92

by Dan Abnett, Sylvester McCoy (Narrator), Sophie Aldred (Narrator)

On the human colony planet Nocturne, there is suffering and blight, tragic symptoms of an ages-old war. Never the less, Nocturne is also one of the Doctor's favourite places in all of time and space, because it is here that a late, great flowering of human art - the High Renaissance - is taking place.

He has been back here, many times. It is a place of music and art which he finds inspirational and uplifting. It is a place he wants to share with Ace and Hex. It's always been a safe haven for him, a world of friends and laughter.

But with strict Martial Law imposed on the front-line city, and the brutal scourge of interstellar warfare vicing the system, how safe can anyone really be?

There is a note of death in the wild, midnight wind...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published February 1, 2007

Reviews

[Twainy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oddly another 7th Doctor story with Ace & Hex involving a war.

This story is off world. Nocturne is a place the Doctor loves for its renaissance artwork and music. He wants to share it with Ace & Hex.

He’s never been in danger there before but it’s currently under martial law as a war is in progress.

An adventure that I might have enjoyed more if it wasn’t back to back with another war story with these 3 characters.

I bought a chunk of 7th Doctor stories. While I’m reading them in order they are normally published with multiple other Doctors not back to back so this might not have been as noticeable if I had listened to all of the stories in publication order.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/3

[Seb Hasi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nocturne is not regarded with any fame or enamour in the 7th Doctor monthly stories and it is rather obvious to work out why. You could ask a random story generator to give you a plot and it would be this. A detestable idiot blaming the Doctor & co, the murder of side characters we barely know and who get little to no development, and a mediocre ‘abstract’ villain. This story has far too many characters and has no time for any of them bar the idiotic Overseer, substituting any character development for ‘lets spend half of each episode with her accusing someone of something they obviously didn’t do’. It’s possibly the plot device I hate most in Dr Who stories and it occupies a good third of the runtime, leaving the companions with no agency and a supposed double bluff with the also underdeveloped robots; meaning nothing. The comedic relief falls flat bar about two lines of dialogue leaving the story feeling bland and grey tonally.

Each episode is almost a carbon copy of the last, as no one seems to get any closer to solving the mystery and leaving the plot to go nowhere. Some of the dialogue is well written and relatively engaging but when the events of the plot mean nothing, all you get is the feeling that you’ve wasted two hours just find out there isn’t even really a monster/villain. Thematically all the stuff about art and music is tied to the murders but even the relevance of that feels sketchy at best when it seems to just be there to make the side characters appear more quirky. Truthfully this story has no distinctive features and the only thing that makes parts of it interesting is Philip Olivier’s charisma. Hex is so lovable and sweet that you can’t help but smile at the things he says, something that actually carried me through bothering to listen to the entire thing. I’d say this is one you can skip if you’re doing a 7th Doctor listen-through like me, you’ll lose absolutely nothing and have two hours spare to enjoy better stories.

[Shaun Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some great ideas buried in Nocturne, unfortunately, they are buried in Doctor Who tropes as old as the show itself, making for a bit of a humdrum reveal and so-so listen. I enjoy my Who predictable from time to time, but this was just a bit too much, detracting from the proceedings and leaving me cold. Also tired of Ace and Hex stories set against a war backdrop. For more, check out www.travelingthevortex.com

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I finally found a Seventh Doctor story that I enjoyed as much as I enjoy the other Big Finish Doctors! That's... not really saying much, since I've been kind of indifferent toward the Seventh Doctor audios. But this one was a bit more lighthearted than the other dark and serious stories. Of course, there's still a downer ending, thus why it wasn't a full four-stars. But enough for me to round it up for the official rating.

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anothee great adventure featuring the voice talents of Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, and Philip Olivier. Not the best 7th Doctor audio drama I've encountered, but not terrible either.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the two Seven, Ace, and Hex audios before this one. Unfortunately, Nocturne falls a bit short, despite having an interesting idea for a location.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine, but I'm getting a little bored with this group and war stories

[Jamie Revell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather more sedate story after the grimness of the last two 7th Doc/Ace stories, this nonetheless manages a fair body count in a story about an artistic commune on a human colony world in the 28th century. The story builds fairly slowly, and some may find the fact that, say, Ace spends a chunk of the story just sightseeing to be rather disappointing. I, however, felt that it helped set the scene, giving a feeling for the planet as an actual place (and, of course, it does turn out to be relevant to the plot).

Let's be clear; this isn't destined to be a true classic. But it has an unusual monster at the core of it, some good interplay between the characters, both guest and regular, and it manages to provide a sense that that some colony world we've never heard of before really does matter in the grand scheme of things. I, for one, found it enjoyable.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. Definitely a different adventure to what you'd expect from Dan Abnett. This was not Doctor who meets Warhammer, but rather reminiscent of Berlin as a society caught up in war produced wonderful art and music despite their totalitarian circumstances. It felt like one of the most interesting and realistic worlds built for Doctor Who audios. I think this was partly because, for a change, there was an abundance of older characters among the guest actors. It just gave an added dimension to the story. Rather than a big threat with a monster this was really setting and character driven, and while there was a monster killing things, that felt almost incidental. Definitely one I will listen to again.

[Nicholas Whyte]

I can't really remember much about Nocturne, I'm afraid. There was an authoritarian government with an improbably vibrant arts scene (the two tend not to go together). There was the usual running around. I didn't absorb much of it.

[Debra Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor decides to introduce his companions Hex and Ace his favorite planet which happens to be in the middle of a war that has been raging for eons. While visiting with his friends people start dying and supernatural things happen.

[Anne Barwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been a sucker for a story that works music into it, which was a big appeal of this story. An interesting idea, and I liked the fact that this was a place to which the Doctor returns, and the references to previous incarnations and companions.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex arrive on a human colony world beloved by the Doctor for its art and music.

[Paweł Dembowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty forgettable episode.