Torchwood: torchwood_cascade.cd_rip.tor

 

I think this is Tropical Beach Sounds and Other Relaxing Seascapes #3

torchwood_cascade_cdrip.tor By Scott Handcock

My immediate thoughts are to Tropical Beach Sounds, and my feelings towards cascade are similar, as they are both incredibly unique stories that I believe are worth picking up, simply because you won't get anything like them elsewhere. cascade.cdrip.tor is unique in that alone. I love stories that screw around with story structure, which this one definitely does. How does it line up to Tropical Beach Sounds? I'm not sure.

The audio immediately has a lot of problems. I don't like how it urges you to not listen to it, and the sudden jump into the audio corruption is very jarring. It gets more understandable and easier to follow as it goes on, but even so, I think some of the early scenes lean a little too hard on the looping and sudden cuts aesthetic. A decent chunk into it, it introduces Max, who is a little bit of the classic Torchwood "the rest of this story is mature simply in the thought exercise and themes, but lets' throw in a bit of shock value just so you REALLY know it's mature", a problem the TV show had that most of the audios had sort of escaped. There's no reason for Max to be a dude watching porn or whatever, it doesn't add anything to the themes of the story. It's just there. Those are the problems.

But even despite all of these gaping problems, cascade is also very brilliant. It uses Tosh's character very deftly and sets up a really fascinating threat and mystery, most of which fortunately remains clouded, and just enough is revealed about it to be defeated (I love these...See We Always Get Out Alive for another example) and every single part of the story is part of the narrative. That may sound obvious, every story does that...No. Every story does not. When have you heard a Big Finish story incorporate the Coming Soon Trailer at the end of the story into the Narrative? It's wonderfully audacious. The way it cuts between past and present makes the emotional beats that I wouldn't ordinarily care that much about hit hard. And I especially love the utilization of the small cast. The cascade virus at first speaks through Nikki, whose warnings are from her mp3 player, then it speaks through Max when he's taken out, and finally utilizes Stephen and Tosh. Even stock bits of Yvonne Hartman are interjected briefly whenever Torchwood One is mentioned. And..I may be wrong about this, but I think it also interjects with Tosh's will recording from Exit Wounds. It's a small cast, but it feels absolutely humongous the way it intertwines. It's very planned out.

So what's the verdict? Still not sure, but rather liked it. I feel like it could have done with an extra polish, and that Tim Foley or John Dorney or James Goss would have absolutely killed this one even more, but even so, it's still better than every other TV Tosh appearance. 

I mean, I'm always going to say yes to more Tosh, she was criminally underused on the show. 

What I will say though, is I can't imagine what people who pirated the audio thought of this one when they heard it. I almost want to know.

You should definitely try Torchwood Cascade, because it's a story that almost everyone I've heard comment on it has a different response to it. It's quite flawed, with it's creepypasta "don't listen to me" angle - which can make the audience feel like they're being asked to do something else with their time. However, the high quality gimmick and outstanding sound design make it an incredibly immersive experience, that you should try because in earnest, if you like this, you'll probably REALLY like it. It's a solid 7/10 from me, chief.