An ominous peel of thunder, the thud of footsteps, an unearthly voice and a gruesome murder.  The Doctor shows up on the scene thinking he will be able to solve the Jack the Ripper killings, little did he know he was the second smartest guy in the room.

Say hello to Sherlock Holmes.

This is the first of a four part audio adventure brought to us from the folks at AM Audio Media in Toronto. A couple weeks ago I had the chance to speak with Mike (MA) Tamburro and just a few days ago did an interview with Mike, Andrew ‘the doctor’ Chalmers and their audio wizard, Clayton (Claytec) Turner. In those interviews we discussed the origins of this story and the challenges behind making it. After talking, tweeting and writing about Dark Journey for more than a month, I was extremely excited to listen to episode one!

Entitled The Doctor Meets The Great Detective, it doesn’t disappoint. It sparkles with imaginative dialogue, wit and charm, everything that you have come to expect from both the Doctor Who and Sherlock franchises.

 

“I’m the Doctor. Mr. Holmes, I wouldn’t mind going with you!”

“For myself, one loyal doctor will suffice, in his absence I chose to work alone.”

The Doctor is used to being the one with all the information, so it’s great to hear Holmes reading him like an open book. Before you get concerned, let me tell you that our man more than holds his own going toe to toe, synapse to synapse with Holmes!

Mike and Andrew are both big Doctor Who fans, so much so that they timed the release so it would coincide with the Saturday 5:35 time slot the show used to occupy. The story is crafted much like any classic Doctor Who, it even ends in a cliff hanger. Overall, Clayton did a phenomenal job. The production values are good. Many of the voice actors are top notch, even some of the smaller parts like Inspector Gull feel authentic, though I’m not so sure about the New York reporter (that’s an in joke, you’ll need to listen to the interview if you want to understand).

What about the Doctor? After all, this is Doctor Who. You can’t just have anybody portraying our favourite Time Lord, right? Well, okay, I guess in reality anybody could, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to be good and believable. Chalmers is both. His Doctor is quick with the jokes and sarcasm, displaying a little of the goofiness that makes me love Matt Smith’s Doctor. He’s also dark and razor sharp when needed. Plus he has his own catch phrase, cool beans!

 

“Sarcasm, the lowest form of wit, my dear Doctor,”

“But the most enjoyable, my dear Holmes.”

So all in all, I would say that Dark Journey is a must listen for Doctor Who fans, especially if you are interested in the Big Finish adventures.  I can’t wait until we get episode two in the coming weeks