I love John Hurt's performance as The War Doctor, but I just wish these sets had better writing. Right now, it's decidedly down the middle and feels safe.
I thought
Legion of the Lost was going someplace it didn't go at all. I expected the Horned Gods to be the Daleks (their dome lights could be seen as "horns" by a fearful person), and when Technomage David Warner said they came from a different universe, I expected a tie-in to the old
Dalek Empire series (which, of course, involved alternate universe Daleks).
The first box set, it's been so long since I listened to it that I don't remember anything specific about it, just the impression that it was competent. "Competent" sums up Nick Briggs' work pretty well; I can't think of anything he's written that I've been "wowed" by, and there are only a few things that I thought were terrible. (Unfortunately, the 50th-anniversary
The Light at the End falls closer to the terrible end of the spectrum. It's well-made, but not very good.)
Hurt's performance is quite good, isn't it? He's charmingly Doctor-ish -- there's the occasional light twinkle of mirth, there's the sarcasm, there's the force of will underneath the grizzled voice. I don't know how much preparation Hurt put into these audios -- I imagine he's one of the rare cases where he sees the script before recording, unlike some of the other actors who see the script for the first time at recording -- but even if there's no preparation and all he has to go on are the words on the page and his idea of the character, it's enough to evoke this incarnation of the character and bring him to life.
