It's a truism that the one of the strengths of audio dramas is their ability to depict things difficult to show on screen without blowing the effects budget. Usually, this is done by simply having stories too big for the screen: epic space battle spanning several planets, long quests throughout different time periods. Another way it can be done is by having characters that simply would not work on screen. Four of the seven characters in this season's Orbis were not humanoid, which would have required CGI or animatronics or suits on screen, but with very little payoff, as they might have well been humanoids.

The Cannibalists takes this a step further, though: outside of the regulars, there are not any other humanoid characters at all. The other seven actors all play robots (or computers). Short of hiring Pixar to recreate WALL-E, this could never have worked on screen, and in this case, the characters' robotic nature is intrinsic to the story being told. In the far future, humanity built a space city called the Haven and staffed it with robots to maintain it until they arrived to occupy it. Of course, they never did. Hundreds of years later, the Doctor and Lucie turn up, and discover that things have taken a turn for the worse.

I was quite pleased with The Cannibalists; it's one of the stronger stories in this season of New Eighth Doctor Adventures. It does exactly what any good Doctor Who story should do: put the Doctor and his companion in an interesting, fantastic situation and tell an enjoyable story populated with memorable characters and villains. A space city populated by machines, a robot poet, and a mad Cannibalist are certainly no exceptions to this rule. It's not without its flaws, but it is quite enjoyable.

You can read a longer version of this review at Unreality SF.

I was very unimpressed with The Cannibalists at first: I hate cute anthropomorphic robots and this seemed to be just a story of the Doctor and Lucie saving the nice robots from the nasty ones, enlivened by Phil Jupitus' performance as the nicest of the nice ones. But there is a brilliant twist at the end which made me very glad I had stuck it out. ( )