Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest, Part 3 - The Circus of Doom

The Fourth Doctor at Nest Cottage #3

by Paul Magrs

"Doctor Who": Hornets' Nest: Circus of Doom v. 3 The circus has come to town - and so has the Doctor. Watching the parade pass by in 1832, he finds the people of Blandford strangely drawn towards the garish big top, and knows that something is terribly wrong. The only thing to do is pay a visit. Meanwhile Adam Farrow finds his sister caught up with the circus and its sinister ringmaster. Full description

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Media Tie In

Audio CD

First published November 1, 2009

Reviews

[Polly Batchelor · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There was bloodlust in the air…"

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Doctor's story continues as he goes back to the Circus of Delights in Blandford 1932. The residents of the town are acting strange and some are disappearing after visiting the circus. The hornet's plans are still uncertain but the Doctor will need to find out more in order to stop them in the future

[Gabriel Wallis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest, Part 3 -The Circus of Doom was highly entertaining to listen to. Tom Baker plays Doctor Who in this audio drama, the third audio drama in the series. The circus of doom arrives in town under the control of alien hornets, and Doctor Who must put a stop to it. Very entertaining story. Would I recommend listening to the audio drama? Yes!

[Danny Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

So the adventures at Nest Cottage continue, I'm really enjoying this first series so far, it is wonderfully atmospheric, delightfully comedic, and sometimes horrifying.

The Circus has come to Blandford, but so has The Doctor. Going down through the timelines to stop his enemies, The Doctor arrives in 1832 only to realize the hornets have put together a terrifying circus show that has the entire town enraptured. Nothing will be the same for the innocent townsfolk and a great many people will die before it's over.

Paul Magrs has written another brilliant installment that perfectly captures the consequences of time travel and further develops the threat the hornets impose. I loved the narration and world-building of this one; it is set in a controversial period in history where bigotry and superstition are common. It's a tense script with creepy scenes, plenty of action, and a remorseful Doctor.

Overall: It's another terrific installment that continues to thrill me. 9/10

[Min · Rating 4 out of 5]

Installment the Third of a jaunty romp through many dates in human history to discover the origin of the Hornets.
This segment is much more interactive with other characters rather than a narrative spoken mostly by Tom Baker-whom I cannot get enough, so it bothers me none if he is the sole speaker.
I appreciate the deepening into the past to get to the root. Each layer builds upon the former, but we don't know how--yet.
My favorite portion is discovering how very macabre the prosaic description of the Doctor's home is revealed to be with every new story.
Taxidermy, ballet shoes, a garden gnome all take a sinister turn in the play.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story. Each chapter has it's own story and continues the main story as well. A modern radio serial that provides a theater for the ears.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little audio adventure. Would probably have been better if listened to as part of the full story but works as a standalone.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third story in the 5 tale Hornets Nest series promises to be the darkest yet. After the hornet infested dolls, reanimated taxidermied animals and mummified feet in pink ballet shoes of the previous stories I had high hopes. I was however a tiny bit disappointed.

This story takes the Doctor (Tom Baker) back to the circus in 1832. We meet the original owner of the dancing shoes from the last story (a bearded lady tightrope walker), and the Doctor tries to learn the origin of the alien hornets from the freaky midget ringmaster. Maybe I'm to familiar with Victorian Circus horror (it is one of my favourite genres) but I felt the story here isn't particularly original - Margs obviously having seen Hammer's Vampire Circus one too many times as a kid - come on the circus is even named very similar "circus of delights" - and, despite the lion being taxidermy, this one's not nearly as creepy as the previous two books. Or maybe its simply too familiar, but for me it definitely suffers from middle book syndrome.

The best thing about it, other than of course mixing horror and circuses - instant winner, is the idea that the Doctor may be responsible for the Hornets and the twisting of time - The doctor is travelling backwards in time with each adventure trying to get to the bottom of things, whilst the hornets see him as an ancient enemy. Other Who story lines (like the more modern River song arc) have done this, but it works really well in Hornet's Nest. His Italian accent might be dodgy verging into Lugosi territory, but Dwarf Antonio's flashback monologue going back to 18th century Venice where he encounters the Tardis and a swarm of hornets fly out of it and infest him remains really disquieting.

There's a high death toll as well. I like the fact that he can't save Francesca - but of course we know he can't since it's her mummified feet in the previous story... And as for the husk of Antonio becoming a gnome in the garden of Nest cottage again nicely macabre.

Despite the death however, Circus of Doom doesn't feel nearly as dark as the earlier tales. It's less weird, playing it very safe and doesn't have the edge of some of Magrs' other stories.Still really good though.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this one suffered a bit from "middle book" syndrome (middle audio syndrome?) - there were a couple of intriguing revelations, but overall, it didn't feel like the story advanced very much. This may demonstrate a weakness of the story structure Magrs chose for this series - because this encounter with the hornets takes place before the events of the last audio, The Dead Shoes, much of it is just backstory to those events. Rather than doing much to improve matters, the Doctor's efforts merely serve to help create the situation he already dealt with in the previous audio.

I really enjoyed hearing Stephen Thorne in this audio, though I could wish he'd been given a larger role. (And a less problematic one than an evil possessed foreign dwarf.) The rest of the cast were good as well.

I think it's still possible that the series as a whole will redeem itself by how it all comes together, but I just couldn't get particularly enthusiastic about this installment.

[Nicholas Whyte]

"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1350176.html[return][return]Unfortunately I wasn't wildly impressed; it seemed to me too similar to the second episode, The Dead Shoes, with the added demerit of a comedy foreign disabled character (played very well by Stephen Thorne, but that doesn't really help)."

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up to listen to for entertainment during a long drive but it just really didn't capture me. The audio is fine in all aspects, but I was expecting a self-contained story and this seems to be too much of a part-three-of-five episode to stand by itself.

[Amy the book-bat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting Dr.Who "episode". Unfortunately, the library I borrowed it from only had episodes 3&4 out of 5 for the "Hornet's Nest" miniseries. I liked the circus setting for this one.

[Romana1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars-simply because I currently only have access to parts 3-5 in the Hornet's Nest series...I'm sure I would have appreciated it more if I had listened to the first 2 stories first...

[RC · Rating 2 out of 5]

A ridiculous story but Tom Baker pulls it off.