Fun, and funny! Very nice material here, with good things for all of its characters at some point or another, and consistently lovely stuff for the main characters throughout.

The story flows nicely across all the episodes with a good sense of pacing and a particularly intriguing opening set-up for the adventure, carrying on from the preceeding story's cliffhanger in a very unexpected (but hugely inspired) direction. The main 9th Century Sudan setting is well-realised both from the script and the production itself, effortlessly making you picture the proceedings as you listen.

Lisa Bowerman does a brilliant job directing her cast, with great performances from everybody. Special mention for David Troughton's brilliant performance as the Black Guardian; I really liked this take on the character and his performance compliments the scripted material perfectly. Although perhaps the lighter take will grate with some fans, for me it gives him a lot more personality and depth than just being an evil, laughing guy with a raven plonked on his head - the TV Black Guardian is acted superbly, but in plot terms is very much one-dimensional 'evil bad guy' whenever he appears. Here, he becomes much more real and rounded and has a bit more thought about what can be done with him as a character central to the story. And handily is a brilliant foil/ sparring partner for the Doctor, far moreso than if he were just trying to kill him all the time.

Not that this is 'just' a comedy story; there are other darker things going on within the plot, with some interesting commentary on slavery and the nature of the two Guardians. It's also a solid, well-plotted tale that stands up perfectly in it's own right as a really excellent audio - not a bad feat for the middle story of a linked trilogy that could have seemed so much filler (in fact, I'd not been expecting much from this after the surprisingly average opener). For all that, it also happens to be very funny indeed!

And to throw even more praise, it also has a lovely music score - one of those I particularly enjoyed from the range. Top stuff!

Not everyone's bag due to the comedy styled Guardians, but I dug this one a lot. Thoroughly fun!

THE DESTROYER OF DELIGHTS - #5

I can see why this audio has annoyed fans, but with that said how come this audio has the highest rating out of the 3? To be honest although The Destroyer of Delights didn't beet its predecessor in terms of plot (which was week) and themes; I actually liked this audio because although it has those negatives it has some positives that are completely different to The Judgement of Isskar. I would say this audio isn't passible it is essential in many ways mainly because of its diversity from the others. On those bases I'm going to start with the negatives that I found.

Title... now I AM going to contradict myself saying that The Destroyer of Delights has nothing to do with the plot...but hear me out, surely instead of saying destroyer of delights which is a mouthful than...death! it just seems like why bother? when you can say death or some other word that rhymes or means the same thing. Anyway I'm making a big excuse out of nothing here. OH! and also destroyer of delights might mean the black guardian but the title itself has got hardly anything to do with it. It’s like naming a murder mystery book...Pizza? Because a pizza is mentioned in the book but yet the book isn't about pizza's! Does anyone get what I mean...I'm probably talking about rubbish? Anyway never the less I did enjoy The Destroyer of Delights due down to its character developments and acting. I really enjoyed the Guardian's bickering and squabbling like an old married couple it was most amusing. I also liked the development of Amy's character in the way that Jonathan Clements has pointed out that like Nisrin is a slave to Lord Cassim; Amy is as much of a slave to the Grace which I liked. Having said that I am getting quite tired of Amy's yapping that her character is consistent on doing and I fear that this will repeat in The Chaos Pool.

What I also like a lot is the mythology and actual historic information that's in the story, even Jonathan Clements says in the extras (yes I listen to the extras) that he loves historic doctor who and it is clearly shown in here.

Yet again I really liked the soundtrack it suites the theme of that style and era of music mixed in with classic 80's canned music feel from Peter Davidson's era, the Story is also very visual given the fact that it is a desert with army's and swords but it uses less imagery because everyone should already know what a desert looks like. Before, in The Judgement of Isskar I had to keep on rewinding it because I missed the dialogue because I was so busy concentrating on the settings.

Going back to the plot, yes it is week but it doesn't drag, at all in fact it is very engaging due to the acting and comical scenes. I did worry half way through that it would but nope...it doesn't

Overall this was a really good audio it pretty much had everything as before but yet it was diverse and distinguishable from The Judgement of Isskar but sadly the plot lets it down.

8/10

Yep. I can see why this one annoyed some fans.

I liked it.

I liked the reimagining of the Black and White Guardians and it made sense in the context of a story where the Key to Time is decaying and therefore their powers are being affected to. I particularly liked Jason Watkins as the White Guardian as it didn't actually seem that far removed from Cyril Luckham's portrayal in The Ribos Operation - just ramping the campness up a few notches and adding a bit more 'character' (the White Guardian in particular has always seemed a rather bland character, probably due to his limited appearances in the series).

Amy was less appealing in this story as she 'moulded' herself on the slave identity which made her a bit naive and lifeless which is a shame after she had developed past that when with the Doctor in Judgement of Isskar. That said, I can appreciate the writer's theories behind this from his comments on the behind the scenes extras.

I liked the hints towards Ali Baba such as the 'Open Sesame' cave/spaceship and references to forty thieves.

It was interesting that they decided to steer clear of Middle Eastern accents as it was something I was thinking jarred a little during the first couple of episodes but then when they explained their reasoning (again in the behind the scenes extras) it did kind of make sense.

Have to say, though, the trailer for The Chaos Pool was singularly underwhelming.