Doctor Who: The Fearmonger by Michael Blum (audiobook)

Doctor Who: The Fearmonger
by Michael Blum [Compact Disc Blum]

I’ve been a Whovian — a Doctor Who fan — since first seeing the series on our local PBS television station back in the early-to-mid-1980s. For a series that has had 13 different actors portray the main character over the course of 55 years, I still find myself drawn to the versions of The Doctor from the series’ original run (1963-1989). One Doctor I haven’t really seen in many episodes, the 7th, Sylvester McCoy, never aired in our local TV market, and the libraries unfortunately do not have any of his adventures on DVD. However, I was able to enjoy this original audiobook, featuring McCoy recreating his role in a full-cast audio recording.

Original Doctor Who audiobooks are a huge thing — there have been dozens of them produced over the years, primarily from a company known as Big Finish Productions, almost all of which bring back the original actors to have portrayed The Doctor, as well as many of their co-stars (i.e. their “companions” on the series). These are always extremely well-produced and performed, and The Fearmonger is one of the better ones I’ve had a chance to sample. Originally released 16 years ago in 2002, the topics and tone of The Fearmonger eerily presage the divisive political climate we currently live in. The Doctor and his human female traveling companion Ace find themselves in a hostile political landscape, in which outsiders are being treated as villains, and shock radio hosts are capitalizing on social divides. However, in this case, the natural human drama is being amplified by an interfering alien presence.

The full cast on this one makes The Fearmonger a far more entertaining listen than with a single narrator, and the sound effects and music make this a much richer listening experience overall. I highly recommend the entire series of Doctor Who audio adventures, especially those by Big Finish, and I enthusiastically recommended this specific entry in the series!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the many, many Doctor Who novels, in both print and audiobook, available through the libraries!]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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