Reviews

‘Trapped in the Vortex’ Returns

Glenn’s blog is back and has a new home. You can now find it by simply going to www.trappedinthevortex.com. Below is a post from 2014. It’s just a sample of some of the things Glenn posts in his free time. Enjoy!


Staging an Adventure

On the podcast, Traveling the Vortex, we recently reviewed the Big Finish audio adventure, Jubilee. The story is set in an alternate dystopian250px-Ultimate_adventure3 timeline in which the British Empire, with help from the Doctor, has defeated a Dalek invasion and as a result, has conquered the world in the process.

The audio play begins with a trailer for a fictional story called Daleks: The Ultimate Adventure. This reminded me of a stage play I have read about called Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure a musical stage play that ran in the U.K. from March 23 to August 19, 1989.

Jon Pertwee first starred in the adventure reprising his role as the Third Doctor. The rest of the show’s run had Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.

During Pertwee’s run, he was sick for a few of the performances, and his understudy, David Banks (best known for playing the Cyber Leader on television) briefly played a unique incarnation of the Doctor.

ultimate-adventure_cover_mediumThis is a piece of Doctor Who’s history, lost on those of us who never had the opportunity to see it. However, in 2008, Big Finish recreated the performance in an audio production that can now be heard by everyone.

Colin Baker revises his role as the Sixth Doctor in the story. He is joined by David Banks who played the mercenary, Karl on stage as well. Other actors and actresses who did not appear in the original, fill out the rest of the cast in this superb story.

From BigFinish.com:

The Daleks have allied themselves with the Cybermen and a deadly band of mercenaries. The future of Earth depends upon a vital peace conference. And Mrs T knows that only one Time Lord can save the world.

There are epic battles. There are betrayals. There is love, and there are even songs.

Take your seat for… Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure!

The story, written by veteran DW writer Terrence Dicks who also wrote the stage version, is aimed at a younger audience, but the jokes and the humor appeal to a vast age of fans. It explores a story set in several locations and borrows heavily from previous televised stories. Not the plot specifically, but rather a few of the devices used in some Dalek tales.

It’s quite enjoyable to see the Cybermen team with the Daleks in this outing, however the prior feel mostly like hired thugs utilized by the Daleks, whose ultimate plan is world domination.

Colin Baker is his usual best and performs the Doctor with the passion and delivery that has made him popular, especially in recent years with his portrayal of the character in the audio range.

The rest of the cast does a wonderful job with the unique characters created for the story. Noel Sullivan’s Jason and Claire Huckle’s Crystal make excellent companions to our hero and are really in step with the spirit of the many assistants created for the television series.

Something I found quite interesting was the use of three musical numbers that also appeared in the stage production. The use of the songs is not d6-w081jarring in the least, and fits into the narrative, without pulling you out of the story. It’s unusual for a Doctor Who story, but the production pulls it off very well.

I found it easy to imagine how this story might have played out on the stage. Except for a few obvious cues about the action going on, it feels as though the crew stayed true to the original material, and it has the same 1908’s feel that would have been prevalent at the time.

Overall, this is an enjoyable story, and the production is top-notch, as we have come to expect from Big Finish.

I should also note that this is the third release in the company’s “The Stage Plays” series which also includes 1965’s The Curse of the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday which came out in 1974. The latter was also penned by Terrence Dicks.

If Big Finish’s production of these shows is anywhere near the quality of recording as TUA, I will certainly be reviewing those shortly.

Originally Posted here on

In the Beginning – A Doctor Who – Season 1 Review

Greetings and Salutations Vortexers,

Hope that everyone is doing well as everything continues opening up. This is the first of a potential review series on Doctor Who. I’ve already done some Big Finish reviews for Traveling the Vortex and am considering a new series where, off and on, I hope to review (and potentially discuss) various topics within the Doctor Who universe. This might be a one-off or the beginning of a series.

Anyway, today’s topic of discussion is Season 1. That’s the first Hartnell season from 1963-1964, not Series 1 from 2005. Off and on, I hope to discuss a season (or arc or something similar) of Doctor Who. Hopefully, this can either lead to an Episode of TTV focusing on a broad discussion of the featured topic or to a discussion on the Facebook forum. As this is the first of these, this may get a little long-winded and rambling, though hopefully not too much.

So Season 1. Eight stories spread across forty-two episodes that ran between November 23, 1963, and September 12, 1964. It introduces us to the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Susan Foreman, the TARDIS, and the Daleks. Of the eight stories, one is completely missing and one is partially missing with a total of nine missing episodes from this season.

For reference, I have seen all of these (or, in the case of Marco Polo, listened to the audio) at one point and have been working my way through the novelizations as availability allows (I get them through my local library’s Inter-Library Loan service). I will briefly discuss the ones I’ve read where relevant. Also, while I have experienced all of these stories, I have not done so recently. As such, I don’t plan on going into as much detail on these as I have in my Big Finish reviews.

The Stories

An Unearthly Child. The first Doctor Who story and famous in its own rite. This one is packaged as a four-part serial that introduces us to everything and then settles into a run-of-the-mill caveman story. However, as the blog (and later book series) TARDIS Eruditorum puts forth, this is actually two different stories: the one-part “An Unearthly Child” and the three-part “100,000 BC”.

Part 1 is great. Atmospheric, high concept, and just some really good drama. I have watched this episode quite recently and it really stands up well. It introduces us to the four leads and lays out the mystery of the Doctor and Susan. Ian and Barbara are great characters who really do act as the audience surrogates into the Doctor’s world.

The rest of the story (100,000 BC or “The Tribe of Gum” depending on where you’re getting your alternate titles) is okay with good character development for the leads but not much else. The cavemen get pretty old, pretty quick. The sets are decent enough and when looked at this being akin to a televised stage play, it works well. I’d rate this story at 10/10 for An Unearthly Child and 6/10 for 100,000 BC. Traveling the Vortex reviewed the TV Story in Episode #41 back in October 2011.

The novelization was published in October 1981 and written by Terrance Dicks. It’s good, not terribly meaty in greatly expanding the story, but it’s very readable. It follows the TV episodes quite faithfully and for a young reader (especially one who’s never seen the actual episodes) it paints a good picture of the landscapes and surroundings, expanding them past painted background and a few pieces of set dressing. As it stands, this was also my introduction to the Target novelizations. Something that really stood out to me in this was a couple of little historical clarifications for the readers of 1981 (and today) about Police Boxes (which were commonplace in 1963 but nearly extinct in 1981) and the UK adopting a decimal system for a currency which was a major point in making Susan seem alien. Dicks writes: “At this time, the early 1960s, Britain was still sticking to her uniquely complicated monetary system…” which he then breaks down briefly for the reader. (For the record, the UK adopted a decimal system for currency in February 1971.)

I can see why kids loved these. It moves along at a good pace, this story at least is a faithful recreation of the TV story. It’s an easy read that’s well written. You get into the heads of the characters a little and you don’t have to rely on low-budget BBC effects. In my mind, because I have seen the TV episodes, I still see at least some of the sets in my mind. The voices of the main cast are perfectly in line with the show, and I can somewhat hear the guest cast in my head as I read. I rate this at 8/10.

The Daleks (aka The Mutants – though this easily causes confusion with a Pertwee story of the same name). It’s good, but could easily have been fewer episodes. At seven episodes, it drags quite a bit in the middle. As an introductory story for the Daleks and Thals, it’s good. Too long, but good. I credit this story and the way the Daleks took off as what saved Doctor Who from becoming a forgotten relic of the 60s. My rating would be 7/10. Traveling the Vortex reviewed the TV Story in Episode #10 in March 2011 as part of an Adversary Archive. On a side note, I have not seen the Cushing film adaptation of this.

The novelization, the first Doctor Who book ever, was written by David Whitaker and released in November 1964 as “Dr. Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks”. A re-release in 1973 led to the creation of the Target range (at least according to Tardis Wiki). This is an interesting little novel. I read the 2011 edition titled Doctor Who and the Daleks which has some background notes and an introduction by Neil Gaiman.

First, let’s talk briefly about the author. David Whitaker is up there among the people who majorly shaped early Doctor Who. He was the show’s first Script Editor covering the period from An Unearthly Child through The Dalek Invasion of Earth and wrote eight TV stories including both Power of the Daleks and Evil of the Daleks.

Because this was the first Doctor Who novel written, it’s first couple of chapters retell the events of An Unearthly Child, sort of. First of all, this is written in the first person from the perspective of the companion Ian Chesterton. Instead of he and Barbara being Susan’s teachers, he is a scientist who is on his way home from a failed job interview and encounters Barbara (who’s described as being in her early twenties) at the scene of a car wreck on Barnes Common. Barbara is Susan’s tutor, having been hired by the Doctor.

Once we get to the actual events of The Daleks however, it follows the TV story fairly faithfully. As it’s told in first-person, there are scenes in the TV story where Ian isn’t present that are dropped or told secondhand. Whereas the TV version tends to drag in the middle, this clips along at a decent pace and the environment and descriptions aren’t limited to a TV budget. The chasm scene, which tends to drag in the TV story, is thrilling and the death of a secondary character carries more impact here. On the whole, it was enjoyable. Just, a bit unusual. I’d rate this a 7/10.

The Edge of Destruction. Not really much to say here. A nice little two-parter where the TARDIS tries to tell the crew that something’s wrong. It feels like an improv session in some ways. Not bad, but not great. The best part about it is that it establishes the TARDIS as a character in her own right. I rate this 5/10. The novelization was published in October 1988 and written by Nigel Robinson. Traveling the Vortex reviewed this in Episode #41 back in October 2011.

Marco Polo. The only serial this season that’s completely missing, this is potentially a great lost classic. It’s a seven-part road trip story with history, science, intrigue, and action. This is possibly the story that best fills the educational remit of the original show before it devolved (or regenerated if you will) into a straight sci-fi show that always had to have a monster even if the story didn’t really need one. I’d love to see all the missing episodes found or at least animated, as this is quite high on my list of missing stories to recover/animate. Not only would it allow for a Season 1 Blu-ray boxset, but it’s also just a good story. I rate it at an 8/10 or 9/10, but being able to see it might bring it higher, or lower though that’s unlikely. The novelization was published in April 1985 and was written by the TV Story’s author, John Lucarotti. Traveling the Vortex reviewed the half-hour recon of this that was included on “The Beginning” DVD set in Episode #41 back in October 2011.

The Keys of Marinus. A six-part quest story by Dalek creator Terry Nation and one of two stories Nation wrote for the show that doesn’t feature the Daleks. It’s decent enough. The different location every episode helps keep it fresh (though it’s still too long). Three or four parts really is the ideal length for Doctor Who. Not too long and dragging (though it sometimes is), and not too short so that they can fit a good story in there and let it breathe. The Voord is an interesting villain when the story does them well, though I vaguely remember them being worthless in some scenes. I rate this a 7/10. The novelization was published in August 1980 and was written by Philip Hinchcliffe. Traveling the Vortex reviewed this story in TTV #76 back in June 2012.

The Aztecs. There’s a reason this was picked for the First Doctor Revisited. Yeah, there are other stories I might’ve picked, but this a great story. It’s four parts, it’s the first surviving historical and it’s just a really good story. It shows the Doctor’s (and really Gallifrey’s) take on time travel. “You can’t rewrite history, not one line.” It’s really Barbara’s story, though we get good stuff with the Doctor, Ian, and Susan as well. The supporting cast is excellent and gives us a good taste of life in the Aztec Empire. I easily rate this a 10/10. Traveling the Vortex reviewed this story in TTV #17 back in April 2011.

The novelization was published in September 1984 and was written by the TV Story’s author, John Lucarotti. It’s good, a quick read that follows the TV story well without much expansion. It does make the Aztec city feel more real than a few sets and a visibly painted backdrop. So far, the Target novels I’ve read (I don’t count The Daleks) have been enjoyable and it’s easy to see how they captured a generation of young readers. I’d rate the novelization 10/10.

The Sensorites. This one is okay. It’s a sci-fi piece with weird-looking aliens and a small crew of space explorers. It’s also two episodes too long and kinda takes a left turn halfway through. The first episode is really atmospheric and creepy. The rest is, okay but not great. I rate this at 5/10. Traveling the Vortex reviewed this story in Episode #214 back in February 2015.

The novelization was published in July 1987 and was written by Nigel Robinson. It’s surprisingly really good. Reading it, what first stood out was the descriptive prose that just seemed to flow really well. Compared to his Timewyrm novel (Apocalypse) in the Virgin New Adventures which I just found to be an average middling Doctor Who story, this was really good. I’m not an expert on the Target Novelizations having only read the four featured here, but this is possibly the best so far. The Daleks is the worst, but by no means bad, just really different in its writing style and the way it handled the first few chapters (very loosely based on An Unearthly Child). This book on the other hand, while not really adding much to the TV story, really made a middling story enjoyable for me. I’d rate this at 10/10.

The final story of the season is The Reign of Terror. It’s another historical with two missing episodes. However, these have since been animated so it’s available to watch again (at least on DVD as I’ve noticed that as far as I can tell, Britbox, which I don’t have a subscription to, doesn’t have any missing episode stories even if they’ve been animated). I like the animated episodes. I’ll take them over recons any day even if the animation is a bit stilted. I don’t remember much about the specific details of the animation since it’s been years since I’ve watched this one.

The story itself is okay. The group arrives during the French Revolution, gets split up, and plays catch and escape for six episodes while meeting famous people. It’s okay, but not a favorite. I don’t remember any of the historical figures being very distinct. As with most historicals, it does a good enough job of making the viewer want to look deeper into the subject matter. I rate it a 6/10. The novelization was published in August 1987 and was written by Ian Marter. According to Tardis Wiki: “The novel was one of several completed by Ian Marter shortly before his death in October 1986. It was published posthumously.” Traveling the Vortex reviewed this story in Episode #114 back in March 2013.

 

The Main Cast

So that’s the stories, what about the main cast? We have to start with the Doctor. He’s definitely not the hero we know and love. He’s violent, arrogant, and suspicious of everyone, possibly to the point of being paranoid. Yes, Hartnell does have that twinkle in his eye and he has a soft side and a fun sense of humor but it takes those a while to surface. We get bits of it in the Aztecs, but it’s not really until season 2 and the arrival of Vicki that that sense of humor really surfaces. The building blocks are there for our Doctor, but they’re still being refined. Tardis Eruditorum (which is definitely worth checking out) puts forth that Hartnell’s Doctor is very much a background figure rather than a leading man and I tend to agree.

As for William Hartnell, he does well in the role. His “Billy fluffs” make the character a bit more endearing. I watched a little bit of This Sporting Life where Hartnell plays a supporting role. It’s not a bad film, just not my cup of tea. What I saw of Hartnell was very good and I can see why this prompted Verity to suggest Hartnell for the role of the Doctor. I also watched Carry On Sergeant and thoroughly enjoyed it despite its slow start. I saw bits of the Doctor in Hartnell and understand his enjoyment of the character after playing gruff army types. On the whole, I think this is my least favorite incarnation. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t like him.

I want to like Susan, and the older Susan we see in the Eighth Doctor adventures from Big Finish is likable. But here, the weirdness that was portrayed in An Unearthly Child is very much dropped and Susan just becomes an annoying girl who screams at everything. We get a glimpse of her telepathic (or is it psychic) abilities in the Sensorites (as well as a brief description of Gallifrey), but that’s it. It’s not necessarily the actress’s fault, Carole Ann Ford does fine with what she’s given, she’s just not given that much to do. And while part of it may be the time it was made, it looks bad in today’s eyes. She’s excellent in the Susan’s War boxset from Big Finish. As for any roles outside of Who, I haven’t seen any, so I can’t comment on her acting abilities in other roles.

I love Ian and Barbara, easily the best characters this season and very much a couple by the end. It’s hard to separate them when doing things like companion rankings. Ian’s the man of action that disappeared after Troughton and Barbara is a very capable woman. Yes, she gets the damsel-in-distress moments at times, but she’s written well and for the most part, is resourceful and enjoyable. At this point, this is more their show than the Doctor’s. Even when compared to the great companions of later eras, they still rank quite high. As with most of the Classic Who actors, I haven’t seen anything with William Russell or Jacqueline Hill outside of Who, though seeing Hill in a very different role many years later in Meglos gives me a slight indication of her acting ability and range.

That leaves the TARDIS, who even at this early stage is very much a character in her own right, especially after the two-part Edge of Destruction where her telepathic abilities and semi-sentience become apparent, and then easily forgotten by most fans. We get a bit more of the TARDIS in these early years than just the basic classic console room. We’re introduced to the fault locator, the food machine, and the weird beds where the early crew sleep. Despite the trope of losing access to or being separated from the ship, she’s still very much a part of the show.

 

Other Thoughts

I thought about talking about the unproduced stories and extra media (books, comics, audios) that fit in and around this season. However, as this is getting long enough already, I plan to make that the subject of a different article (at some point).

I will, however, talk about potential returning concepts (monsters, species, characters, ideas) from this season that I’d like to see on TV in the New Series (whether in Jodie’s run or beyond, I’m not too picky). First, I’d like to see the Thals return. The last time we saw them on TV was in Genesis of the Daleks and while they’ve shown up off and on in books and audio since they’ve never returned to TV. I feel that bringing back the Thals could add a new dynamic to a Dalek story and help keep the overused pepper pots fresh.

I’d also like to see what the New Series can do with the Voord (who may or may not be precursor Cybermen) while keeping the basic design. Bringing back the Sensorites (who finally made their Big Finish debut in Susan’s War) might be fun too. Maybe have them interacting with their cousins the Ood. The other story I’d like to see (and whether this is on TV, audio, book, or comic, I’m fine with any of them) is a return to the Aztecs after the Spanish Conquest. I think that that’s a place ripe for good storytelling. Put the Doctor in the middle of the Spanish Conquest and you have plenty of potential for action and moral dilemma.

So that’s Season 1 of Doctor Who. It’s a bit of a rocky start and isn’t one of the all-time greats, but it got Doctor Who started and does have some good stuff like the first episode and the Aztecs. The strength of this season is in what it introduces to the lore, establishing the Doctor, TARDIS, companions and the Daleks. I’d love to see Traveling the Vortex take a look at the season as a whole. Maybe revisit Marco Polo with the novel and a full recon/audio. I’d also love to hear their takes on the novelizations of these stories and how they compare with their TV counterparts. Anyway, that’s all for now. I may have more reviews/discussions like this in the future, we’ll see. If you want to discuss anything to do with this article or Season 1 in general, hop over to the “Traveling the Vortex Listeners Forum” on Facebook. I’ll include the link here.

~ Jamie

Big Finish Reviews – Doctor Who Monthly Range 41-50

Welcome back travelers of the Time Vortex,

My name is Jamie and I will be your guide through the Worlds of Big Finish. In this installment, I will give my thoughts on releases 41-50 in the Doctor Who Monthly Range from Big Finish Productions. These are all available from the Big Finish website for download only at $2.99.

The stories that follow are full-cast Doctor Who audio dramas featuring the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors as played by Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann respectively. The companions featured that are returning from the TV series are played by the original actors.

On a side note, I consider Big Finish to be on the same level of canon as the TV series. Especially since Moffat had the Eighth Doctor mention all his Big Finish companions (or at least all he’d had at the time of filming) during his regeneration scene in Night of the Doctor.

Disclaimer: All of the opinions expressed hereafter are my own. There are stories that I love that others may hate and vice versa. I am not responsible for any reactions others might have to my comments and opinions.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

41 Nekromanteia

Written by: Austen Atkinson
Featuring: 5th, Peri & Erimem
Released: February 2003
TTV Episode: 206

My Thoughts: This is a strange one. It starts off with a space battle between a corporate fleet and a fleet controlled by a necromancy witch cult that worships a creature named Shara. Meanwhile, the Doctor and friends visit the Garazone Bazaar (which last appeared in #17 The Sword of Orion). The Doctor is here for TARDIS parts which he acquires, but the arrival of security forces him to beat a hasty retreat.

Upon leaving the Bazaar, Erimem requests to go to the Nekromanteia system based on a Centaur model she bought from an old war veteran. They arrive on Talderun in the belly of a crashed ship. Part 1 ends with Erimem getting shot.

Erimem and the Doctor are then transported to a Corporate Fleet ship in orbit while Peri is stuck on the below at the mercy of the witches and their zombie army. We also get stuff going on at Corporate HQ that I’m not fully understanding.

The biggest problem with this is that it’s confusing and weird. And not in a good way. At least with a story like Zagreus (Main Range #50), it’s confusing but in a continuity-heavy way that’s enjoyable. This is just bizarre. There’s so much going on that has threads of connectivity, but just feels disjointed. It’s violent, in a creepy way, with both Erimem and possibly the Doctor getting injured in the first half. It feels like there are no good guys and the Doctor and crew are just bouncing through trying to survive.

Part 3 has Peri and Erimem reunited and trying to survive and at least recover the Doctor’s body, as it seems he’s dead. Meanwhile, in a sort of dreamscape of the 2060 Olympics, the Doctor watches cricket with Paul Addison (played by Simon Williams who is better known as Group Captain Gilmore). It turns out Addison is a form of Shara and they are stuck in a pocket loop in the vortex, or something like that. It turns out Shara wanted a slice of eternal happiness but didn’t think to factor in human greed.

The final part sees the Doctor returned to life as the major players converge. This actually is rather enjoyable as things come together. Unfortunately, it comes too late. Erimem’s cat, Antranak, sacrifices himself for the others and the Doctor and crew manage to escape.

This is a creepy, weird story that’s hard to follow and violent. We get cannibal necromancy witches, an evil corporate head, dark space mercenaries. There are a beheading and a possible rape. I think that if this were just your ordinary generic sci-fi, and maybe a novel, you’d be fine and have a good, dark story. But as a Doctor Who story, it doesn’t work. Project: Twilight is dark, but it has a solid story and isn’t as sadistic and adult as this is. This is one of the few true failures of Big Finish.

Rating: 3/10

 

42 The Dark Flame (Side Step)

Written by: Trevor Baxendale
Featuring: 7th, Ace and Bernice
Released: March 2003
TTV Episode: 231

My Thoughts: The Doctor and Ace are on their way to pick up Benny when they get a call through the telepathic circuits from Remnex, a friend of the Doctor who is also on the same station as Benny. Remnex warns them to “Beware the Dark Flame”. The station itself orbits a lifeless rock of a planet and is involved in Black Light experiments.

Meanwhile, down on the planet, Benny’s friend Victor and his robot Joseph discover an ancient skull that belongs to a former leader of the Cult of the Dark Flame. Victor is then rendered unconscious by his mysterious employer.

Back on the station, the Doctor inspects the Black Light apparatus while Benny and Ace are off together. Soon though, they all converge on Remnax’s quarters where they find him dead, stabbed through the eye, and clutching a key component of the apparatus. The Doctor is then accused of the murder by one of the station’s scientists (who is so obviously a bad guy) before deciding Ace is the killer.

Ace and Benny head off to get some air, Slyde (the bad guy scientist) follows. Soon, Ace is unconscious and Slyde has taken Benny beneath the planet’s surface in a one-way transmat. Once there, she is thrown in a cell. So far, Benny is the highlight of the story, her sarcastic comments quite fun and enjoyable.

Slyde brings Benny, Victor, and Joseph to the crypt where he’s also collected Remnex’s body and the Skull. The former leader returns to life and plans are set in motion while the Doctor tries to wake Ace so they can stop it. Victor manages to escape with the skull which is then given to the Doctor who gives it to Ace for safekeeping. The Doctor then goes and confronts the Emissary, the leader of the cult.

The Doctor and Benny learn more about the Cult while Ace plays hide and seek with the two surviving scientists (both of whom we learn are members of the cult). Turns out that the dead cult members who’ve been buried on the planet over the centuries, are a ready-made zombie army just waiting for their leader to awaken them.

The Doctor and Ace bring the Skull and the Doctor has a plan to destroy it. However, Benny has been converted and the cultists make their escape. The Doctor manages to fix the transmat with Joseph’s help and then he and Ace return to the station where the Black Light explosion has been detonated. The Doctor and Krull (the Cult Leader) go head to head in mind games. The Doctor wins and everything ends well. This is the final Main Range Side Step into Virgin New Adventures territory. Not having read many of these stories and none within the past couple of years, I can’t attest to the authenticity of the originals. However, despite feeling similar to the previous story with death cults, resurrections, and such, this is much more enjoyable. Overall, enjoyable tale that’s worth the listen.

Rating: 8/10

 

43 Doctor Who and the Pirates
Written by: Jacqueline Rayner
Featuring: 6th & Evelyn
Released: April 2003
TTV Episode: 188

My Thoughts: Ah, the Doctor Who Musical. We open with Evelyn returning home to see one of her students, a girl named Sally. She meets Sally and invites herself in where she tells the story of landing on a ship being attacked by pirates. After a few rehashing of details at Sally’s insistence, we get to the point where the TARDIS has been taken to the pirate captain Red Jasper’s ship, the Doctor has been conscripted into the crew and Evelyn is stuck in a barrel on a burning ship.

In part two we learn of One-eyed Trent and how he was the only man who knew where Captain Bones’ treasure was located, buried on the Ruby Islands, and that Red Jasper now seeks the treasure. Meanwhile, Evelyn is rescued by Gem, the cabin boy, and son of One-eye. Together with the ineffective Captain Swan, they escape the burning Sea Eagle on a raft and make for the Ruby Islands.

While the Doctor tells of Red Jasper, who is quite mad, shooting anyone who won’t tell him where the Ruby Islands are, Evelyn has trouble going on with her bits. Apparently, Gem doesn’t survive the adventure and his death is hard on Evelyn. When Sally mentions a line from a musical, it gives the Doctor an idea. While debating with the first mate about whether the Doctor qualifies as a Pirate, he begins to break out in song, thus ending episode two.

And now we get the musical. All Gilbert and Sullivan tunes. Some of the amended lyrics are rather clever and fun. Musicals usually aren’t my thing, but it works and the more times I listen to it, the easier to handle it seems. It’s amongst the music that we come to the heart of the Doctor and Evelyn’s visit to Sally. Sally accidentally killed someone close and is now considering suicide. Evelyn has come to distract her and talk her out of it.

Back on the seas, the raft comes upon the pirate ship while the Doctor and first mate see who’s the better sailor. Evelyn and crew arrive and, after another song, Evelyn is captured while the Doctor is thrown in the hold. The Doctor goes after Evelyn and is forced to walk the plank, thus ending part 3.

The Doctor survives thanks to Captain Swan and the raft. He then, at Evelyn’s bequest, makes for the Ruby Islands. Meanwhile, Red Jasper enters the cabin and Evelyn mentions the Ruby Islands. This sets Red Jasper off and when Gem doesn’t know where the treasure is, Jasper kills him.

On the island, the Doctor discovers the map inside Gem’s compass. Once they have the map, finding the treasure is easy. The Doctor and Swann then return to the ship, send the pirates after the treasure, and maroon them there. Then, the Doctor takes Evelyn home. An enjoyable story with catchy music. Humorous at times but with a dark underbelly. Really good and well written. Colin shines as usual, but really the whole cast is wonderful. A good story and one that’s made better if you like Gilbert and Sullivan.

Rating: 9/10

 

44 Creatures of Beauty

Written by: Nicholas Briggs
Featuring: 5th & Nyssa
Released: May 2003
TTV Episode: 210

My Thoughts: This is the one told out of order. It’s kinda surreal. We get a short scene about government-funded research, then the Doctor and Nyssa in a truck heading somewhere that’s four days away and then we get a police interrogation of Nyssa, observed after the fact by the interrogator and his superior.

The planet, Veln, has suffered an ecological disaster, leaving the natives disfigured mutants. Then there are the Koteem. It’s rather confusing and hard to follow. Nyssa is rescued by the Doctor and I think a Koteem, though they’re aided by Brodlik, the interrogator. The episode ends with what I think is a flashback, but again it’s confusing.

Part 2 opens on Lady Forlean’s estate with the Doctor being captured. He’s taken to Lady Forlean while Nyssa is captured by the locals, presumably leading to the interrogation in Part 1. Lady Forlean talks to the Doctor who wants to warn them about the radiation poisoning their world. Forlean’s guards recover the TARDIS and are surprised as its appearance.

The Doctor is then shown a picture of Nyssa’s capture and we soon cut to the Doctor and Nyssa in a truck or cart or something that we’d seen early in Part 1. The owner/driver of the vehicle appears to be one of Lady Forlean’s staff. So, if I understand this so far, the Doctor and Nyssa arrive on Veln and get separated, plus a Koteem girl gets killed in the process. Nyssa is captured and interrogated but is then broken out by the Doctor. The two of them are then taken somewhere by Lady Forlean’s staff. This is still quite confusing.

The Doctor and Nyssa are taken to where the TARDIS is, a camouflaged bunker hidden in a snowy landscape behind a force field. Inside, however, they are scanned and then taken to the Koteem. Meanwhile, one of the cops from Part 1 is at Forlean’s estate and is conducting a search for the Doctor and Nyssa, I think. Here we get a lot more talk of beauty and ugliness.

The Doctor and Nyssa meet the Koteem and things begin to fall into place. We learn about the ecological disaster. While Forlean’s secret basement is discovered and blown open. We learn that the Koteem are at least partly responsible and that the “beauties” aren’t surgically modified but naturally beautiful.

At the half-way point, things are becoming clearer and this is becoming more enjoyable. Some of the ideas behind this are interesting and well thought out. However, it’s hard to get into, especially Part 1. If you can get past that, it’s actually pretty enjoyable. Still confusing, but enjoyable.

Part 3 opens with a bad reaction to Forlean’s experiments involving the girl who died when the Doctor and Nyssa arrived or is it arrive. It almost feels as if we’re moving backward through events. We return to the two from the interrogation who are discussing the events on the estate revolving around the Doctor’s arrival. Returning to the bunker, it appears that the Koteem, who are revealed to be arthropods and extinct, are using Veln bodies as their avatars on the planet. The Doctor doesn’t approve. We keep going back and forth between the planet and estate and meeting the Koteem, who at this point have let the Doctor and Nyssa go. Part 3 ends with the Doctor and Nyssa discussing whether their visit made a difference to the people of Veln or not.

Part 4 opens with the Koteem ship skirting Veln with their toxic waste. We then have the Doctor and Nyssa in the TARDIS and having power issues. They materialize briefly in the space around Veln. They pick up the radiation that had infected the planet and dematerialize quickly. They make an emergency landing on Veln a century later. The Doctor leaves the TARDIS to effect its repairs leaving Nyssa with the ship.

We then seem to jump to the Doctor being brought to Lady Forlean. Which I thought we’d had before as Nyssa is still in prison. But the Doctor now knows about the Koteem simulacrums. I know I’ve said this already, but this is confusing. Now we learn about the cure to the poisoning and how the Koteem got involved. Finally, we learn that the TARDIS, materializing in the space above Veln, caused the damage to the ship carrying the waste which had its containment shields down. In an ironic statement, the Doctor says, “As for making a difference, I don’t think we really influenced anything at all.”

It’s definitely an interesting story. Being told out of order makes it stand out. The ecological disaster, talk of beauty and ugliness, genocide and rebirth, are all interesting ideas. The central premise is to paint the Doctor as the villain without him ever knowing. The Doctor and Nyssa seemingly caught up in events as normal and only at the end do we learn they were the cause of it all. This is one of Nick Briggs’ better stories. However, because of the confusing nature of it all, I have to rate it a bit lower than I might’ve if it had been told linearly. The behind-the-scenes interviews don’t start appearing on Main Range releases ‘til #92. This is one though, that I feel could’ve benefited from them.

Rating: 7.5/10

 

45 Project: Lazarus

Written by: Cavan Scott and Mark Wright
Featuring: 6th , 7th & Evelyn + Nimrod & the Forge
Released: June 2003
TTV Episode: 233

My Thoughts: This one is a sequel to Project: Twilight. It’s also more of a duology of two-parters that just happened to be linked. We start off with the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn in the TARDIS where we learn that the Doctor has made a breakthrough with the Twilight Virus. He’s also tracked Cassie to southern Norway two years after being dropped off in the northern part of the country.

Upon arrival, they find Cassie being pursued by a Professor with a gun. Though it turns out that the Professor isn’t after Cassie and is instead hunting the Huldran, a creature of legend that is actually a small, blue-skinned alien with deadly blue slime and a siren’s call. Part 1 ends with the capture of one of the creatures and the reveal that Cassie has been recruited into the Forge by Nimrod and is now the operative known as Artemis.

The Doctor and Evelyn are then transported to the Forge base under Dartmoor. While Nimrod shows the Doctor around the base, Evelyn talks with Cassie. Here we learn that Evelyn has a heart problem that’s been an issue all through her travels. We also learn that Cassie doesn’t remember her son, Tommy. While Evelyn breaks through Cassie’s conditioning, forcing her to remember her son, Nimrod has the Doctor in a lab in an attempt to force a regeneration as part of Project: Larazus. Cassie then frees the Doctor and they make their escape. However, Cassie is killed in the escape, much to Evelyn’s horror and the Doctor’s anger.

Because of the nature of this release, I’ll talk about the first half before moving on to the second. This is an excellent two-part story. It’s exciting and rather adult. The Doctor trying to console Evelyn at the end of Part 2 goes a long way to show his softer side that Big Finish has brought out. It’s well-acted, well written and a very good story. Colin just shines in this, the whole cast does. This first half just hits you hard as Part 2 closes.

However, we must now continue on to Part 3 which features the Seventh Doctor towards the end of his life. Here, after detecting disturbances in the Vortex, he arrives at the Forge base in Dartmoor and becomes embroiled in an attack on the base. It turns out that the Forge is experimenting on the portal generator from the Huldran ship and the aliens are attempting to use the portal experiments to attack the Forge.

We also meet the Forge’s scientific adviser, the Sixth Doctor. Or rather, as the story reveals later, a clone that can’t regenerate and is quickly degenerating. When the “Doctor” learns the truth, he activates the Hades Protocol which is designed to destroy the base. In the end, the only people who escape are the Seventh Doctor and Nimrod.

This is a story that plays to Sylvester’s strengths. I’ve read reviews online that find his screaming and hysterics getting old fast. And while I don’t mind those performances, I do find that the stories where McCoy’s allowed to play on Seven’s quiet menace much more enjoyable. I don’t know why but it fits the Seventh Doctor’s character so much better. Maybe it just reminds me of the stellar anti-gun speech from The Happiness Patrol.

That brings us to Nimrod. Possibly the BEST original villain that Big Finish has given us. At least in the top ranks then. Amoral, driven, played to perfection by Stephen Chance (not that Rupert Booth in Project: Twilight was bad). It does seem like there’s too many secret organizations in the 20th and 21st Centuries in the Whoniverse. We’ve got the Forge, UNIT, Torchwood, Department C19 (from the novel The Scales of Injustice) all operating in the same general time period. The Forge does feel like a precursor to Torchwood, but that said, I still like the Forge as an antagonist to the Sixth and Seventh Doctors.

Anyway, this is an excellent story. Nimrod is an excellent villain, the first half with Six and Evelyn leads to a major emotional ending, and the Seventh Doctor shines in a sort of Multi-Doctor story in the second half. It’s too bad that we have to wait nearly a hundred releases for more of this arc.

Rating: 10/10

 

46 Flip-Flop

Written by: Jonathan Morris
Featuring: 7th & Mel
Released: July 2003
TTV Episode: 205

My Thoughts: So, this is another experimental story. We get four episodes told across two discs: a black disc and a white disc. The nice thing is that you can listen to the discs in either order. We get a nice little open-ended time loop on the human colony world of Puxatornee where, looking for Leptonite Crystals to defeat the Quarks, the Doctor and Mel arrive on Puxatornee at Christmas. Here, they get embroiled in the invasion/occupation of Puxatornee by the Slithergee, a race of slug-like aliens with poor eyesight that use the humans as seeing-eye dogs. The Doctor and Mel are captured as rebels, then freed by the rebels and forced to help the rebels prevent the occupation.

The Doctor and Mel get forced into helping change history, leading to a different future for the inhabitants. There are references to Groundhog Day (Puxatornee, the Time Loop) and It’s a Wonderful Life (Professor Capra). There are two sets of the Doctor and Mel and a couple main characters running around at the same, in both cases, the Doctor leaves it his other self to work things out.

It’s a timey-wimey story that deals with a bit with hate-speech (surprisingly relevant as I write this in 2020) and a time loop. A bit confusing and just kinda middle of the road for me, though it picked up a little as I worked my way through it. There’s not really much more to say without severely spoiling it.

Rating: 6.5/10

 

47 Omega

Written by: Nev Fountain
Featuring: 5th + Omega
Released: August 2003
TTV Episode: 70

My Thoughts: So, the first of the “Villains” trilogy. This acts as a loose sequel to Arc of Infinity and features a solo Fifth Doctor facing off against Omega (again voiced by Ian Collier) in a story about legends, hero worship, and the battle of which is better: books about or dramatizations of historical events.

We open with a dramatization of Omega’s historic event. It turns out that this is part of a Jolly Chronolidays tour. We get our old lady stereotypes, though they’re still enjoyable, we get a professor with a rivalry on the subject of Omega lore, and an older actor playing the fictional Omega, and a young actor playing Omega’s assistant.

Things are strange here though, as the young actor named Tarpov, seems to be possessed by the ghost of the character he’s playing. After this, Omega speaks to the Doctor, it turns out that he doesn’t like our universe and wants the Doctor’s help to return to his.

Scattered throughout the story are mentions of the mysterious Scintillans. As we progress through Part 3, Omega descends further and further into madness. Until, by the end Part 3, we learn a surprising turn of plot. I suspected this plot twist as we progressed through Part 3, and I won’t spoil it here, but if you know the plot of Arc of Infinity, you’ll probably be able to guess.

I enjoyed this story a lot more than I expected too, based on my memories of a previous listen a few years ago. The ideas it bandies about, heroes and villains, legends, insanity, guilt, are all interestingly played with. This is a very strong outing for Peter Davison, both as the Doctor and as an actor. All around, thoroughly enjoyable.

Rating: 7/10

 

48 Davros

Written by: Lance Parkin
Featuring: 6th + Davros
Released: September 2003
TTV Episode: 227

My Thoughts: The second story in the “Villains” trilogy features a solo Sixth Doctor and a solo Davros in between the events of Resurrection and Revelation of the Daleks. Taking after the era it’s set in, it consists of two hour-long parts instead of the usual four.

It starts with a dead Davros in space being recovered by a group of people who work for a major corporation TransAllied, Inc (TAI). The Sixth Doctor is summoned to the planet where TAI is headquartered in a huge dome because of rumors of mine closures. While being briefed by TAI staffer Kim and journalist Willis, the shuttle carrying Davros arrives. When the Doctor inadvertently reveals himself, he and Davros are forced to work together. It’s really rather amusing.

The heads of TAI are Arnold and Lorraine Baynes, played respectively by Bernard Horsfall and Wendy Padbury. Arnold is an extreme capitalist and businessman, while Lorraine is a Dalek apologist and sympathizer who wishes to write the definitive biography of Davros. Intercut with the main story are flashback scenes to a pre-Genesis Davros and his experiences, something that would be explored in greater detail in the I, Davros series.

It’s also in this story that Davros sets his mind on eliminating the current famine that plagues the galaxy, setting him on his way to becoming the Great Healer. The atmosphere just oozes from this story, it’s engaging and chilling at the same time. Things continue to ramp up to a crescendo in a satisfying finale that’s highly enjoyable and exciting.

There are a lot of interesting ideas that it throws about. We get the evils of capitalism, specifically corporations, Nazi-sympathizing/apologizing, the history of Davros, and an interesting look into his character, all wrapped up in an engaging story. I would have to say that, while the cast is all stellar, Terry Malloy as Davros steals the show, something that’s rather hard to say in a Colin Baker story.

Rating: 10/10

 

49 Master

Written by: Joseph Lidster
Featuring: 7th + The Master & Death
Released: October 2003
TTV Episode: 223

My Thoughts: The third story in the “Classic Villains” trilogy features the Master and the Seventh Doctor. The Doctor, nearing the end of his life, finds a hired sniper at a victory parade and tells him the story of Doctor John Smith, an amnesiac who’s lived a happy life for the last ten years in the colony of Perfugium. It’s his birthday and his two oldest friends have arrived to help him celebrate.

I’m not going to go into plot details as this is just a really good story that needs to be experienced. The character of Death (an Eternal from the Virgin New Adventures) makes an appearance and the guest cast, which includes Who legend Philip Madoc, is excellent.

The ideas in this are wonderful. Nature vs. Nurture does a killer always need a motive, Jekyll and Hyde. The bulk of Part 2 is the Doctor and Master discussing these ideas in relation to the Master. Really well done. Well acted, well written, a small scale story that really gets into the head of the featured villain.

Rating: 10/10

 

50 Zagreus

Written by: Gary Russell and Alan Barnes
Featuring: 8 th& Charley + 5th, 6th & 7th (Sort of) + Romana II, Leela, K9, Rassilon, Brax
Released: November 2003
TTV Episode: 97

My Thoughts: Previously on Doctor Who… after preventing the Daleks from erasing Shakespeare from history, the Eighth Doctor and Charley were captured by Gallifreyan forces because the Web of Time had been stretched to breaking. Journeying to a universe of anti-time using Charley as the gateway, and into a trap, the Doctor saved the universe by materializing his TARDIS around an explosive casket of raw anti-time absorbing it into himself and the TARDIS and becoming in the process the entity known as Zagreus.

So, we’ve reached Zagreus. I’ll try to help make sense of this so it’s best to start with the basics. This was the 50th Main Range release, Big Finish’s entry for the show’s 40th Anniversary, and as of 2019, the longest Main Range release and second-longest Doctor Who release period at a duration of 3 hours and 56 minutes. This is a story that is usually either loved or hated, as it’s a narrative and continuity mess that features every Big Finish Doctor and companion to have starred with the company up to this point. If you want a cohesive Anniversary special with a streamlined plot, you’re much better off looking at “The Light at the End” or “The Legacy of Time”. Also, on a personal note, this was one of the first Big Finish stories I listened to.

We start with a “Previously on…” introduced by Rassilon which recaps Neverland. To be fair, it had been sixteen months since Neverland’s release. And, at seven minutes long, it’s almost better to re-listen to Neverland and skip the first track of Zagreus. We pick up where we left off with Zagreus chasing Charley through the TARDIS corridors. This is short-lived though, as Charley finds herself with mother going to see Dr. Zagreus while the Doctor finds himself in the TARDIS library.

It’s here that we meet the Brigadier (who is actually an aspect of the TARDIS), who becomes Charley’s guide through the rest of this, and it’s also where we start getting the blatant Alice in Wonderland parallels and references that run through the story. In the library, the Doctor/Zagreus hears the faint voice of the Third Doctor (taken here from the fan-film Devious) who leads him to the Alice Compendium, some of his memories, and a secret passage. It’s a shame that they didn’t just use an actual actor here because the repurposed audio of Pertwee is so faint and hard to hear. It works story-wise, but they could’ve gone a different route with better results.

We get a brief scene of Charley’s mother standing up to her teacher after Charley’s departure for the R-101 where we learn that we’ll be seeing a handful of holographic projections of historic events that will shed light on and help cure the Doctor’s ailment. Meanwhile, the Doctor finds a still point of positive time and converses with Zagreus where they discuss the multiverse and the nature of anti-time. Soon after this, he wanders through the TARDIS before finding a forest and meeting Schrodinger’s Cat.

Finally, we get our first segment of memory that begins to tease out the nature of the Divergence and sees our first “Doctor” apart from Eight. Here we get Project: Dionysus headed by Dr. Stone at Cardington in 1951 with the help of Reverend Matthew Townsend. The TARDIS and Charley fit in as a Ministry Investigator and his driver. A heavily emphasized “For King and Country” seems to indicate that this is a Forge (see Project: Twilight and Project: Lazarus) project. Rev. Townsend is a conflicted man after the war and plans to use Dionysus to get to the stars and discover why evolution seems to favor human-like features (two arms, two legs, two lungs, two eyes, etc).

We get all of our Fifth Doctor cast members here with Peter Davison as the Reverend, Nicola Bryant as Dr. Stone and Turlough, Nyssa and Erimem playing other major characters in this segment. The fun part of this is the actor able to play roles that often go against their primary Who characters. Townsend activates the device and overloads it, opening a tear in space-time. We get our first glimpse of the Divergence before a bomb explodes destroying the equipment and killing all involved.

The next simulation is from the early days of the Time Lords in the days shortly after Omega’s sacrifice and Rassilon’s coup. The main focus here is a meeting the Great Mother and a high priestess of the Sisterhood of Karn (played by Maggie Stables and Bonnie Langford respectively) and Time Lords Tepesh and Ouida (Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant) who are secretly Great Vampires. They’ve come to learn the secrets of Rassilon’s Foundry, where he keeps all his projects and experiments. While viewing this event, Charley is put in the form of Rassilon while the Brigadier disappears.

It is here in Rassilon’s Foundry that gets a nice handy info dump via the Recorder (played by Frobisher actor Robert Jezek) on the Divergence which are the creatures (exact classification unknown) that were to rise to power after the Time Lords. We get Rassilon revealed as a xenophobic megalomaniac who seeds the humanian Time Lord form through the cosmos and anchors the Web of Time to Gallifrey. The Brig tricks Charley into releasing the Diverenge (which are powering the Foundry) causing the Foundry to purge all life within. Meanwhile, the Doctor, safe in the Zero Room, realizes that the TARDIS is infected with anti-time and the Evil TARDIS is with Charley. Soon, he encounters the Evil TARDIS and is forced to fight off a Jaberwock.

Meanwhile, Charley has entered the third simulation in which she finds herself in the role of General Mouse leading an army of animatronic animals against an army of robot humanoids for control of Cosmic Mountain and the Animator. We get Sophie Aldred and Lisa Bowerman as a Duck and Gazelle, while Bonnie Langford is Goldilocks and the Brig/TARDIS takes the role of Captain Dodo. We wake up the animator (played by Sylvester McCoy), and learn that the amusement park, Uncle Winkle’s Wonderland, has been relocated to the dead husk of Gallifrey and that we are at the end of time where the Divergence are about to break free.

The Doctor rescues Charley and we learn that six months have passed since Neverland. Rassilon appears and has made a sinister deal with the TARDIS effectively making the ship his slave. What follows is the Doctor and Charley, together with Romana II, Leela, K-9 and the aspects of the Doctor from the simulations braving the Death Zone and Dark Tower on Gallifrey before battling Rassilon, who is attempting a coup with Zagreus as his puppet ruler, and the TARDIS in the Matrix. In the end, the Doctor takes the TARDIS and exiles himself to the Divergent Universe in the anti-time is still infecting him. Leela then helps Charley stow away so that the Doctor won’t be alone.

I apologize for the length of this review, but as stated above, this is a very long audio play. As stated, this is often a love it or hate it story and I can see why. It’s long and full to the brim with continuity. It can be very confusing and seems to be a mash of ideas thrown at a page in hopes that something might stick. I don’t it. It’s got some good performances (barring the use of Jon Pertwee that you can barely hear), especially Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier/TARDIS. It seems that some of the actors enjoyed playing against type as it shows in their parts. I found lots of enjoyable moments scattered throughout. That said, it is a mess. As a multi-doctor story, it fails as we really only have the Eighth Doctor and he isn’t really himself at the moment. The other Doctors are holographic avatars and poor sound quality disembodied voice. It’s jam-packed with companions of whom only four (Charley, Romana, Leela and K-9) are themselves.

It’s packed to the brim with little bits of Classic Series references and tries to build on Gallifreyan history. Unfortunately, it’s so hard for the new or casual fan to follow, that this easily has the potential to turn people away from Big Finish. What do I think? It’s enjoyable, but way overlong and a bit confusing at times. Still worth it though for completists and die-hard fans.

Rating: 6.5/10

So, that’s my assessment of releases 41-50 from Big Finish’s Doctor Who Monthly Range. If you want to discuss anything to do with these stories, hop over to the “Traveling the Vortex Listeners Forum” on Facebook. I’ll include the link here. At some point, I may have another ten listened to, and can supply another guide for those interested in dipping their toes into Big Finish. Again, this is not a fast process so the next installment might be a while.

Happy travels,

Jamie.

Big Finish Reviews – Classic Doctors, New Monsters Vols. 1 & 2

Hello there my fellow Vortex travelers,

My name is Jamie and I will be your guide through the Worlds of Big Finish. In this installment, I’m switching things up. To give me a break from the Main/Monthly Range, I’m going to start delving into other ranges from Big Finish.

In this installment, I will give my thoughts on both volumes of Classic Doctors, New Monsters. This is, at the moment at least, two boxsets that do exactly what the title promises. It features a Classic Series Doctor (in this case Fourth through Eighth) without companions and teams them up with a monster that debuted in the New Series (2005-Present).

These are available from the Big Finish website on both CD and Download. The CD version is $42.37 and Download is $30.00.

Disclaimer: All of the opinions expressed hereafter are my own. There are stories that I love that others may hate and vice versa. I am not responsible for any reactions others might have to my comments and opinions.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

 

Volume 1
Released: July 28, 2016

 

 

 

 

1.1 Fallen Angels
Written by: Phil Mulryne
Featuring: 5th + Weeping Angels
TTV Episode: 452

My Thoughts: For the first of these, we get the Fifth Doctor facing up against the Weeping Angels. We start with a newly married couple, Joel and Gabby, on honeymoon in Rome. They seem to have met the Doctor in an unfinished Sistine Chapel and are now sneaking in to see if Michelangelo’s statue of Moses still exists. It doesn’t, in its stead is the statue of an angel, hiding its face as if it’s weeping.

They also meet a priest, who is a member of the Order of the Three Angels. The priest begins blowing out candles as the angel approaches. The angel chooses Joel and Gabby and embraces them in the darkness.

Meanwhile, the Doctor arrives in Rome 1511 and sees on the scanner Gabby trying to fend off nosy Romans while trying to call the police. The Doctor intervenes, “Hat, Door, Rescue.” with a fun distraction “Hey, is that Pope Julius?”. Gabby and the Doctor then begin to hunt for Joel while the Doctor explains what’s been going on.

Joel meanwhile arrives in Michelangelo’s workshop as a priest is trying to convince the artist to put his project above that of the Pope’s. Joel’s arrival ends the discussion and soon, Michelangelo, Joel, and Piero (Michelangelo’s servant) are on their way to the Sistine.

Joel and Gabby reunite outside St. Peter’s Basilica and their memories return. And with their memories comes the Doctor explaining the Weeping Angels. The Doctor sends Piero to protect Michelangelo while the Doctor, Joel, and Gabby hunt the Angel.

Upon arrival at the workshop, Piero is touched by the imprisoned angel. Meanwhile, one of the priests tries to kill the Doctor and co who chase the priest into the catacombs. Once in the catacombs, they begin to learn more about the Order of Three Angels. They discover an aged Piero who tells them the backstory of the Angels and of the Order.

After Piero’s story, the Doctor and friends leave the catacombs into the Sistine and head out to save Michelangelo. They arrive in time and the rest of the story is an attempt to stay alive while luring the angels into a trap. They successfully trap the angels between some Venetian Mirrors with the help of Pierro and then seal them in the catacombs.

Joel and Gabby are forced to stay in the past in order to keep the angels trapped while the Doctor goes to complete the loop so time will snap back into its proper place. We also get the start of the definitions of time that first appear (from our perspective) in Blink. Though the Doctor only has the first part worked out at the moment.

Overall, a very strong start to the boxset. It’s enjoyable, fun with actual moments of light humor, and the Angels are done very well with musical stings as they move that are rather quite effective. It’s rather fast-paced, especially when the Doctor and company flee from the Angels during the climax. If the Angels can be written like this every time they appear on audio, then they’ll do well as long as they aren’t overused.

This has a very Blink-like feel to it (as opposed to feeling like the Series 5 Angel two-parter or the Angels take Manhattan). I think of the Weeping Angel stories I’ve consumed, this, Blink and Touched by an Angel are my favorites, though I do really like the Series 5 two-parter as well. For a concept of having Classic Doctors face off against New Series Monsters, this one worked very well.

Rating: 10/10

1.2 Judoon in Chains
Written by: Simon Barnard, Paul Morris
Featuring: 6th + Judoon
TTV Episode: 452

My Thoughts: The Sixth Doctor is next. This time, he’s providing the defense in court of Judoon Captain Kybo who is charged with desertion. The court is from the 1800s and has been moved by the Judoon to Mars. The trial then becomes the framing story for the main narrative.

A planet is being terraformed for a planetary president’s daughter’s eighteenth birthday by Genesis Corp who has hired the Judoon. Kybo is placing the last terraforming device when something happens causing him to steal a scout ship and flee.

The Doctor, following a psychic distress call, lands on the fleeing scout ship which is under attack and falling apart. He meets Kybo and helps him to the escape pod. The pod launches and the Doctor follows in the TARDIS.

Kybo ends up in 1884 England where he becomes a sideshow attraction. The Doctor follows and ends up in a cage beside Kybo’s. It has a very Elephant Man feel here (at least according to others as I’ve never actually seen the film).

However, it soon is learned that Kybo can speak English despite a broken translator unit. This interests the Doctor since according to him, the Judoon brain can fit in a teaspoon. Also worrying are strange blue lights that appear in the sky, probably from a probe scanning the area. The Doctor quickly picks the lock on his cage and heads to investigate.

The Doctor and one of the circus people, Eliza, destroy one of the probes, delaying the arrival of the Judoon for a few days. Kybo, meanwhile is soon reading everything he can get his hands on, Frankenstein, Great Expectations, Moby Dick, and the poetry of Robert Burns. He even composes his own little poem before the Judoon fleet arrives.

The Judoon arrive and manage to do a lot of damage, including killing the owner of the circus after he blunders in and makes a mess of things. Finally, the Doctor manages to convince the Judoon to use the entrance and follow the signs after which they enter the hall of mirrors and are temporarily scared off.

The circus then prepares to pack up and the Doctor takes Kybo into the hall of mirrors to discover what changed him so much. It turns out that while he was placing the detonation charge on the terraformed world, something like a breeze tapped him on the back. Sentience lives on and in the planet. It is this that effected Kybo.

The remainder of the story is the resulting court case. In which the case ends up not being against Kybo but instead against Genesis Corp who were the ones who shot Kybo down with their terraforming ships because they knew about the sentient species that affected Kybo. They manage to get the owner of Genesis Corp in for testimony which is then broadcast across the galaxy. After which, everything works out and we get a humorous departure.

An enjoyable story that tries to do something different with the Judoon. The Sixth Doctor just seems to work here. While not as enjoyable as the previous story (I may be a bit biased here), this still is well written and well-acted. The sound effects and music are done well and work to make an enjoyable outing.

Rating: 8/10

1.3 Harvest of the Sycorax
Written by: James Goss
Featuring: 7th + Sycorax
TTV Episode: 453

My Thoughts: It’s the far future and the human race has spread across the stars. Designer drugs and viruses are the in thing. Everybody has “Pads”, essentially an iWatch that tells them their emotional state and recommends the proper drug.

We find ourselves on a space station where the bio-data (blood samples) of all the humans are stored for safekeeping. The station is experiencing an invasion by the Sycorax who want the blood samples. We meet the companion of the piece, Zanzibar Hashtag who’s the current hostage to be killed, her blood boiling.

The Doctor arrives and saves her. They then go to where the Sycorax are attempting to gain access to the vault. They scramble the vault lock and get a few people away into escape pods.

There’s also a small fleet checking up on the station. The Sycorax turn them on themselves destroying the fleet. The only survivor is Pharma Corps representative Cadwallader Cadwallader who joins the Doctor, Zanzibar, and Shadrack, a female technician.

There’s a briefly budding romance between Zanzibar and Shadrack who choose to forgo the company dating app. However, this is cut short when Shadrack is killed by a Sycorax. Zanzibar kills the alien and she and Cadwallader transmat over to the Sycorax ship.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is captured and while unconscious, the Sycorax take a blood sample. To prevent the Sycorax from controlling him, he then shuts down. Upon returning from the Sycorax vessel, Zanzibar learns that Pharma Corps sold out the human race to the Sycorax.

Zanzibar then challenges the Sycorax and is forced to fight the Doctor. Forever, she manages to destroy the blood controller, and the Doctor, freed from Sycorax control, surrenders. Stolen Sycorax blood samples are then sneakily supplied and the day is saved.

An enjoyable story on the surface with some interesting ideas about drug use and big pharma thrown in. However, as an online reviewer, I’ve read said, it’s essentially a retread of the Christmas Invasion. It’s not terrible, but it is the weakest of the first set.

Rating: 6.5/10

 

1.4 The Sontaran Ordeal
Written by: Andrew Smith
Featuring: 8th + Sontarans
TTV Episode: 453

My Thoughts: We start this one off with the Doctor shouting at the ether. We are in the Time War and a slice of the War has arrived at the green planet Drakkis turning its entire history into a war-torn wasteland. Here he rescues Paladin Sarana Teel, a dressmaker by trade, from quicksand.

Soon, an unarmed and unarmored Sontaran named Jask is transported down to the surface with experimental tech to face “Ordeal”, a Sontaran punishment. After breaking up a fight between Sarana and Jask, the Doctor plans to take them to the TARDIS to help with their problems. However, we soon discover that the TARDIS has been taken for salvage.

So the Doctor sneaks into the salvage vehicle and locates the TARDIS but is caught while trying to gain access. Meanwhile, Jask tells Sarana about the Time Lords and Time War, setting her against the Doctor. However, before she can kill him, sand serpents attack forcing the three of them to try to escape in the salvage vehicle.

They lose their pursuers and come across Ensign Stipe who has been sent by General Stenk to kill Jask. Jask survives the three heroes take Stipe ship back to the fleet. It turns out that Stenk has been disobeying orders and making un-Sontaran decisions for his own glory. Jask tried to expose him but was thwarted and sent to Ordeal.

Now onboard the Sontaran ship, the Doctor helps Jask expose Stenk and regain his honor. The experimental teleport is killing Jask, but because it initially seemed successful, Stenk is readying it for mass use. The Doctor’s plan works and Jask wins. The Doctor then takes Sarana to her original destination and helps work out a temporary peace, though because of the Time War, it is only temporary.

An enjoyable story and the second Big Finish Time War story not to feature the War Doctor. (The first is the Diary of River Song – Volume 1.) The Sontarans are used well here, though you could say that having Sontarans as a “New Monster” is a bit of a cheat. The Eighth Doctor shines in this as always. His anger and pleading with the unseen Time Lords is wonderful and just goes to show how he ended up at the end of the war.

Rating: 10/10

Volume 2
Released: July 27, 2017

 

 

 

 

2.1 Night of the Vashta Nerada
Written by: John Dorney
Featuring: 4th + Vashta Nerada

My Thoughts: This set is bookended by what is a loose two-part story, both stories featuring the Vashta Nerada. These both have a very Jurassic Park feel to them I find. This story features a small team of hunters arriving on FunWorld, an amusement park planet that was due to open soon. However, a mysterious predator has killed the 30-member skeleton staff.

On approach, the team reads no life signs, and then on the second scan, pick up one. They land and discover the Fourth Doctor trying to beat the crowds and have fun. He’s alone here, his previous companion, having left “for pastures new” indicating either Sarah Jane or Leela. As K-9 isn’t present, I’m more inclined to place shortly after Deadly Assassin, however other timelines have it shortly after Invasion of Time but before he opens the K-9 Mk II container.

The team, lead by Steele, a grizzled female hunter and accompanied by Donnelly, the park’s owner, reaches the control center which the Doctor mistakes at first for a haunted house. Here they find the staff, all of whom have been reduced to skeletons. It also appears that the power was cut deliberately.

Power is restored and the team’s telepath/psychic is convinced to read the skeleton in an attempt to learn what happened. Donnelly, caring only about getting the park up and running, makes some uncaring hurtful remarks, earning a sharp rebuke from the Doctor. Tom Baker is so good at mood changes from curious to anger to comforting. The corpse speaks of the darkness that kills and the Doctor is beginning to think that it might be better to just leave.

The lights are turned back on and the team discovers the Vashta Nerada who reveal their intent and ends up killing two members of the team. Steele then takes the fight to them while leaving the Doctor and Donnelly on the ship. Steele’s trap doesn’t work though, leading to the death of the last member of her team. The Doctor goes to rescue her and in his absence, Donnelly takes flees for Earth in the hunters’ ship.

The Doctor rescues Steele and they realize that half of the Vashta Nerada have stowed away on Steele’s ship which is currently on autopilot for Earth. Arriving on the ship, they find Donnelly dead and so Steele sacrifices herself to end the threat. The Doctor takes the ship off autopilot and sets up a message warning people away before regretfully leaving himself.

A very good story. It’s nice to see the Fourth Doctor bare his teeth in a Big Finish story. This has the feel of Hinchcliffe-era story instead of the Graham Williams-era that we seem to be getting more often. The Vashta Nerada work well here. As I said, it has a rather Jurassic Park/Lost World feel with the park setting, the rescue mission and the team of hunters. Very, very good.

Rating: 10/10

 

2.2 Empire of the Racnoss
Written by: Scott Handcock
Featuring: 5th + Racnoss

My Thoughts: The Fifth Doctor finds himself in the middle of the wars between the Time Lords and the Racnoss. Responding to a distress signal, he rescues the Racnoss Empress’s consort from a burning ship. He returns the consort home only to be imprisoned with two other Time Lords.

A short while later, the Empress summons him. We are told that the Emperor of the Racnoss has fled and is waging a civil war against the Empress. The Empress forces the Doctor and one of the other Time Lords to take her to the Emperor in a bid for peace. They find the Emperor who was abandoned by the Empress to feed their young. All he wants is peace. He abandons his rank and the TARDIS returns to the throne room.

Upon return, they learn that the Empress, now that she knows the former Emperor’s location, plans to launch a fleet and destroy him. The Doctor and one of the Time Lords manage to escape and try to warn the Emperor who instead of taking their offer, pulls back his fleet, and prepares for battle.

The consort is killed and the Emperor plans to destroy the final hatchery. This is too much and the Doctor prepares to try to stop this. He manages to save the children while the Empress turns her fire on the Emperor and then relocates the children.

It’s not bad, it’s just kinda there. While it picks up a little in the second half, nothing really stood out about this one. Just as the Sycorax feel like one-note villains, the Racnoss just feel boring. They feel like C-list Daleks. Shouty aliens. At least the Daleks can be interesting from time to time. The Racnoss are just Spiders. I think part of the appeal of the Racnoss is the visual and because we don’t get that here, they just feel average. Easily the worst of this set.

Rating: 4/10

 

2.3 The Carrionite Curse
Written by: Simon Guerrier
Featuring: 6th + Carrionites

My Thoughts: In a British village, in late October 1980-something, a witch pleads guilty during a town meeting where the townsfolk are also planning a harvest festival. Later, at the festival, the Sixth juggles water balloons for the kids before meeting Katy Bell, daughter of the local vicar who’s returned home from Polytechnic.

The main event is the burning of three witches, which the Doctor stops. The trio then begins flying around and causing havoc. The Doctor manages to seemingly stop them, after which they die. Then he prepares to leave, but Katy follows him into the TARDIS. He finds a replacement for a book of the Vicar’s that was destroyed by a one George Litefoot. However, a thumb through it and the discovery of a “C Chest” give him the clues to what’s going on.

The creatures return and we get a vocabulary match between them and the Doctor, which is the best part of this in my opinion. After this, they’re temporarily petrified. The Doctor and the other main people around him explore the town hall where we learn that this is a plot by the Carrionites to exploit a paradox that ties back to the Shakespeare Code. The aliens are defeated, but it’s not an overly happy ending.

I’m not a fan of witches or the like, so this is a favorite of mine. That said, it’s still enjoyable and the second battle where the Doctor is spouting vocabulary words at the creatures is excellent. Colin just seems to shine in moments like this. Not the worst in this boxset, but not the worst. I just like the bookends so much better.

Rating: 7/10

2.4 Day of the Vashta Nerada
Written by: Matt Fitton
Featuring: 8th + Vashta Nerada & Ollistra

My Thoughts: So this is the final story in this boxset and features the Eighth Doctor and, as the title states, the Vashta Nerada. It’s also a sequel to Night of the Vastha Nerada as the story takes place above the former Funworld. We start with an experiment in magnifying one of the creatures with nanobots. The experiment is deemed successful. Cue theme music. It turns out that we are in the midst of the Time War. The Doctor arrives on Synthesis Station to answer a distress signal. But he arrives early and everything’s fine. In fact, the Time Lords are expected. Soon, the expected party arrives headed by Cardinal Ollistra. They are here on business.

This is one of my favorites. It has a very Jurassic Park feel to it. Feeding bovoids to the big one, the genetic manipulation, the Doctor commenting “no one looks at a shark and says it needs more teeth” and “life finds a way”. Ollistra is taken to the Doctor and we get the sales pitch/info dump. As the Doctor and Ollistra argue over the ethics and danger of weaponizing the Vastha Nerada, the power goes out briefly. This is revealed to be on purpose as a certain Biotech Dendry (which seems an awful lot like a merge of Dennis and Nedry) is planning to steal some canisters of Vastha Nerada hatchlings.

The rest of the main plot is a race to reach the TARDISes and escape. We see some of the experiments such as the giant one and the Nerada Vastha (a negative version that hunts in the light). As I said, a very Jurassic Park feel, very claustrophobic and tense. At one point, the hatchlings are released, killing Dendry and most of Ollistra’s retinue as well as compromising Ollistra’s TARDIS.

Synthesis station is destroyed and the Doctor, Ollistra, Dr. Morrison (the station’s primary scientist), and Commander Roxita (Ollistra’s bodyguard) manage to escape in Doctor’s TARDIS. However, the hatchlings sneak aboard with them. The Doctor gets rid of them, but sadly, only he and Ollistra survive.

I love this story. It’s fun and probably my favorite of this set. Paul McGann as the Doctor and Jacqueline Pearce as Ollistra shine. It’s a shame that we lost Pearce recently because she was excellent and played so well off of both McGann and John Hurt. The similarity to Jurassic Park (another favorite franchise of mine) just seals the whole story for me.

Rating: 10/10

So, that’s my assessment of Classic Doctors, New Monsters. Normally, I’d say that the next installment might be a while. However, as there doesn’t seem to be another series of these anytime soon, I’ll instead give my thoughts on the series as a whole. An interesting idea that has produced some really good stories. While I like the traditional four-part format of the Main Range, the hour-long, single-part stories work well too, especially for the Eighth Doctor as a bridge between Classic and Modern Who. Would I like to see another of these? Sure. Will I be happy if they don’t do another? Sure. Overall, a good idea with two enjoyable boxsets where the mediocre is far outweighed by the great.

Happy travels,

Jamie.

Big Finish Reviews – Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 1

Hello there my fellow Vortex travelers,

My name is Jamie and I will be your guide through the Worlds of Big Finish. In this installment I’m switching things up. To give myself a break from the Main/Monthly Range, I’m going to start delving into other ranges from Big Finish.

In this installment I will give my thoughts on the first season (or series rather, it is a British company after all) of the Fourth Doctor Adventures range from Big Finish Productions. This range started in 2012 when Big Finish was finally able to secure the cooperation of Tom Baker. The first series is made up of six single-disc one-hour releases. Though the final two releases make up one story, I will review them separately.

For timeline placement in relation to the TV series, these all place between “Talons of Wang-Chiang” and “Horror of Fang Rock” with the first release occurring directly after Talons. These are all available from the Big Finish website as both CD and Download versions. The CD version costs $13.36 each and the Download cost $8.99.

Each story has interviews from the cast and production staff after the main story that are worth listening to. You can also find some interesting interviews on each release’s page (except for Oseidon Adventure) on the website.

Disclaimer: All of the opinions expressed hereafter are my own. There are stories that I love that others may hate, and vice versa. I am not responsible for any reactions others might have to my comments and opinions.

 

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

 

1.1 Destination: Nerva
Written by: Nicholas Briggs
Featuring: 4th & Leela
Released: January 2012
TTV Episode: 116

My Thoughts: While not Tom’s first audio for Big Finish (there was a Lost Stories boxset that was released first), this is the first of the Fourth Doctor Adventures range. As stated above, this story begins right after the end of the Talons of Wang-Chiang with mentions of Jago and Litefoot. The story itself actually begins with a battle between some humans and the crew of an alien ship.

The Doctor and Leela pick up a distress signal from one of the aliens, a Drelleran, which the Doctor traces to 1895 Kent. They arrive and meet the alien who implores them to stop the humans from taking the alien ship. Unfortunately, the Doctor is too late and he and Leela are forced to retreat to the TARDIS to avoid being vaporized by the ship’s engines.

We then switch to Nerva Dock which is still under construction and having technical issues. The TARDIS arrives on an approaching ship which is being diverted by a pod from a different using their docking port. The pod contains a single passenger who is acting all mysterious and is infected by something strange. However, because of issues with the comms, he is allowed access to Nerva. The Doctor, Leela, the infected man (who infects through touch), the technician who let him in (and who is also infected) and Nerva’s Commodore soon end up together with the infected one preparing to infect them all. The Doctor, Leela, the Commodore, and the station’s chief medical officer Dr. Allison Foster are forced to retreat into a docked tug. They try to call the departing supply ship but are cut off by Lord Jack, the leader of the infected who plans on building a British Empire among the stars. Meanwhile, the Commodore is infected by the Epiderm (the infection) separating the others from the TARDIS.

The Drellerans soon arrive and rescue the Doctor and co. They explain what happened and infect the Doctor with the cure. Everything wraps up well, with the crew of Nerva returning to normal and Lord Jack and his crew dying because of their advanced age. The Doctor and Leela then leave for more adventures elsewhere.

An enjoyable story, fast-paced that works well as a season opener. The Doctor sounds the same for the most part and there isn’t any place were he really sounds old. Leela sounds like Leela, though I don’t know if that’s truly how she’s been able to sound like she did on TV or if, after all my Big Finish listening, I’m just used to her on Big Finish.

The guest cast does very well and the music is really good. As with most modern Big Finish, there are behind-the-scenes interviews after the “Coming Soon” track. Overall, a fun story that works well as a season opener to get you excited for what comes next.

Rating: 8/10

 

1.2 The Renaissance Man
Written by: Justin Richards
Featuring: 4th & Leela
Released: February 2012
TTV Episode: 159

My Thoughts: This was an enjoyable story with some interesting sci-fi ideas. The Doctor takes Leela to a museum that’s supposed to be unveiling a new exhibit so that she can learn. After meeting an expert on butterflies they arrive at a castle and meet the lord of this domain, Reginald Harcourt (played by Ian McNeice who is better known for playing Winston Churchill in the New Series).

Harcourt shows off the Collection. A collection of what? Well, a collection of everything. Over the course of Part 1, we discover that any information that Harcourt comes into contact with is being drained away in order to expand and fill the collection. It’s explained that Harcourt is the epitome of the term “Renaissance Man”, the man who knows everything there is to know.

The Doctor deduces that the programming and/or equipment has a fault as, instead of copying the data, it’s outright stealing it. Draining people’s knowledge until they have nothing to live for and commit suicide. It’s an interesting idea. And as best I can tell, it’s an idea that hasn’t been overused to the point where it’s a sci-fi trope which is rather nice.

After a bit of a chase across this little English village, we finally get to the main idea. Harcourt isn’t the “Renaissance Man”, he’s simply the main data store. Jepson, the butler (and curator of the museum) is the true “Renaissance Man”. The Doctor exposes this and then as things collapse, he and Leela leave. Later, when the bulk of the visiting scientists arrive, they find an empty room the is brimming with metaphor.

Overall, an enjoyable story. The Doctor is more humorous in this then the last one and Leela is great as always. A welcome addition to the Fourth Doctor’s adventures that seemed (to me at least) to move along at a decent place.

Rating: 9/10

 

1.3 The Wrath of the Iceni
Written by: John Dorney
Featuring: 4th & Leela
Released: March 2012
TTV Episode: 160

My Thoughts: This is a very Leela-centric story. That’s not to say that it’s a Doctor-lite story as the Doctor is very much an active participant. Essentially, as stated in the behind the scenes interviews, this is a Leela meets Boudica story.

The final story in the “Continuing Leela’s Education” thread, the Doctor wants Leela to experience her roots, her past. This involves a trip to Roman Britain. Leela and the Doctor happen across a couple of Romans as they fight the British queen Boudica. Leela jumps in and saves the woman.

What follows is a large jump in Leela’s development. In her mind, the invaders are always wrong and the invaded always right. We get a nice arc that allows Leela to see that sometimes the underdog isn’t always in the right as Boudica wages a war of vengeance.

This is some ways similar to the Fires of Pompeii with the Doctor attempting to save just one. Boudica is portrayed as a flawed individual rather than a national hero. For those who aren’t aware of the British queen, we get some nice background from the Doctor but also get it through the interactions between Leela and Boudica.

Overall, this is a very well done pure historical. The main characters are mostly female and it’s educational and entertaining. The acting and writing are both top-notch. It’s just really, really good.

Rating: 10/10

 

1.4 Energy of the Daleks
Written by: Nicholas Briggs
Featuring: 4th & Leela + Daleks
Released: April 2012
TTV Episode: 215

My Thoughts: It’s 2025 and a man called Damien Stephens is head of the energy company GlobeSphere and plans to give unlimited energy to the planet Earth. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Leela arrive in London just in time to witness a protest. Security breaks up the protest and arrests Leela. While Leela is being interrogated by the security forces (Robomen), the Doctor teams up with Jack Coulson, Damien’s former partner to discover the truth.

Jack fills the Doctor in on Damien’s backstory while they wait for the coast to clear. Then, they sneak into the National Gallery/GlobeSphere HQ through the WWII evacuation tunnels. Meanwhile, the Daleks show up and begin interrogating Leela. Part One ends with Leela revealing the Doctor’s existence, the Doctor and Jack entering the National Gallery and the energy transfer going ahead as part of the Dalek plan to exterminate the human race.

While the Daleks hunt the Doctor and Jack, Leela is sent to be robotized. The Doctor and Jack rescue her and then teleport themselves to the moonbase where Damien is (under Dalek control of course). Once there, they attempt to convince the base’s crew to help them stop the energy transmission. When the Daleks attack though, that convinces people rather quickly.

The Daleks are from the future and plan to use the energy as a force field around the Earth that disrupts gravity and forces away from the moon. The Doctor with a little help from Damien manages to redirect the energy at the Dalek ship and saves the day. However, Damien doesn’t survive the encounter. The Doctor and Leela then use the transmat to return to the TARDIS.

A decent enough story, though nothing really that special. It’s notable for being the first Fourth Doctor Dalek story without Davros and feels very much like a bridge between Genesis and Destiny tone-wise. Leela does well in her first encounter with the Doctor’s arch-enemy and Nick Briggs does well as the Daleks. Unfortunately, none of the other guest cast really stand out. It also was the first Fourth Doctor story that Tom Baker recorded for Big Finish. A serviceable Dalek story, not awful, but there are much better ones.

Rating: 6/10

1.5 Trail of the White Worm
Written by: Alan Barnes
Featuring: 4th & Leela + The Master
Released: May 2012
TTV Episode: 229

My Thoughts: So, this is part one of two. Best to get that out of the way now. The Doctor and Leela arrive in England in the summer of . Stepping out of the TARDIS they find a trail of slime that appears to come from a snake “as wide as a greedy child”. There are dogs hot on the trail and thus, the Doctor and Leela are forced to run.

They are soon separated and while the Doctor goes with the villagers who own the dogs, Leela finds herself at the mercy of the possibly insane Colonel Hugh Spindleton and his remote-controlled tank. While Leela exhausts the tank, the Doctor finds himself at the mercy of the villagers who think the Worm or “You-know-what” has taken Julie. However, a nice lady named Demesne Furze pulls up and retrieves Julie from her trunk. It turns out that Julie hadn’t been taken by the Worm but instead ran away to London.

Meanwhile, Leela meets Spindleton who seems the great African hunter, but also a bit insane. He takes her down into the caves beneath the manor where she meets his “Manservant”. The manservant is in reality his Master. The Master, in fact (played by Geoffrey Beevers). Here Leela is to be sacrificed as bait for the Worm.

The Worm saves Leela and takes her to the Doctor where she (the Worm, who is, in fact, Miss Demesne Furze) saves him from Spindleton. We get the backstory and that the Worm, who can create wormholes in space-time, wants the Doctor to take her away from Earth and the Master’s plans. However, the Master awaits them at the TARDIS and activates a device that triggers the Worm. A wormhole is created, at the expense of the Worm’s life, and the Master prepares to receive his allies.

It’s enjoyable, the Fourth Doctor in fine form, but it’s not great. The Master is enjoyable but doesn’t do much. I’d say that the highlight is Spindleton who is crazy, but a very fun crazy. Yes, this leads into the next story and is billed as one single story, but it feels almost like Invasion of Time where the Vardan Invasion and the Sontaran Invasion are two separate events, or like this is merely a prologue to what follows.

Rating: 7/10

 

1.6 The Oseidon Adventure
Written by: Alan Barnes
Featuring: 4th & Leela + The Master & Kraals
Released: June 2012
TTV Episode: 229

My Thoughts: This is the season finale and a direct continuation from the previous story. Here we get the Master’s reason for needing the wormhole created in the previous installment as well as a return of the Kraals from Android Invasion.

Essentially, the Kraal invasion is a distraction to keep UNIT busy. Meanwhile, get a bit of a runaround with Kraal Android duplicates of the Doctor and Master, which is a bit amusing but also a bit confusing.

The Master’s big plan is to take a battery the Doctor left behind at UNIT HQ and detonate it on the irradiated Kraal homeworld Oseidon. The resulting radiation explosion will restore the Master’s body similarly to his plan in Deadly Assassin.

The highlight really is Colonel Spindleton who’s just entertaining. The Kraals aren’t a favorite villain of mine so their involvement didn’t do much for me. And as far as Master stories go, this seemed middling to me.

This isn’t terrible, Leela gets some good moments as does the Doctor. Beevers’ Master is one of my favorites, but this story just kinda falls in the middle. As a season finale, it’s just kinda there (they have a really good one in Series 2). It’s not bad, just kinda middle.

Rating: 6/10

 

So, that’s my assessment of Series 1 of the Fourth Doctor Adventures from Big Finish. It’s a soft start in my eyes. Not bad, most are pretty good. I guess that I’d expected better for Tom’s first season at Big Finish. The next season is better in my eyes.

At some point, I’ll have another series listened to, and can supply another guide for those interested in dipping their toes into Big Finish. Again, this is not a fast process so the next installment might be a while, especially as I switch between Ranges.

Happy travels,

Jamie.

Big Finish Reviews – Doctor Who Monthly Extras

Hello there my fellow Vortex travelers,

My name is Jamie and I will be your guide through the Worlds of Big Finish. In this installment, I’m switching things up. To give me a break from the Main/Monthly Range, I’m going to start delving into other ranges from Big Finish.

In this installment, I will give my thoughts on the “Free Releases” or “Doctor Who Magazine (DWM) Exclusives”. These are five stories that were originally available as CDs that were available with certain issues of DWM. As such, they contained the story that I’m reviewing here, plus usually a bonus something or other, often a preview of some other release or a “Making Of” feature.

The first four are available from the Big Finish website as free downloads having been reissued there. The fifth one, Cuddlesome, is a little different and I’ll discuss its availability in it’s individual section.

Note: As of this time, these have not yet been reviewed on the Traveling the Vortex podcast.

Disclaimer: All of the opinions expressed hereafter are my own. There are stories that I love that others may hate and vice versa. I am not responsible for any reactions others might have to my comments and opinions.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

 

Last of the Titans
Written by: Nicholas Briggs
Featuring: 7th
Released: January 2001

My Thoughts: This one features the Seventh Doctor on his own narrating a story where he finds himself on a ship piloted by a Titanthrope from Devon. There’s not really much to tell here. It’s a bit slow and kinda boring for the first half. Even with the introduction of a time bomb at the cliffhanger, it’s still slow and kinda boring. There’s not really much to tell. It’s only about a half-hour and it’s free. It’s actually a rather sad tale of the recreated member of a long-dead species and his destruction.

It’s a remake of an Audio Visuals play and was originally released in DWM 300 along with Part 1 of Storm Warning and is now available free on the Big Finish website. This is placed late in the Seventh Doctor’s timeline with Tardis Wiki placing between the Ace/Mel Big Finish stories and the Mags Trilogy and first Klein trilogy.

Rating: 5/10

 

The Ratings War
Written by: Steve Lyons
Featuring: 6th + Beep the Meep
Released: January 2002

My Thoughts: A really enjoyable outing that’s only 35 minutes long. This time, the Sixth Doctor faces off against returning villain, Beep the Meep. Beep originally appeared in the second DWM comic story: The Star Beast, and then later in a sequel The Star Beast II. This is a fun story that is similar to Bad Wolf as a critique of reality TV and docu-dramas. It has references to previous Beep stories, but they aren’t absolutely necessary to enjoy this. I hadn’t read any of them when I’d first listened to this and still really enjoyed it.

As usual, Colin shines in this, and Toby Longworth shines as Beep. The “Beep and Friends” song is downright horrific in both its words if you actually try to listen to them and its pure earworm annoyance factor.

Overall, I think the word that best describes this is fun. It’s light, funny and self-referential. Beep’s show is put on an eighteen-month hiatus, the character of Lowell seems to be a take on Michael Grade, and when asked for a few words after saving the day, the Doctor denounces television and thinks that he needs a medium that allows being “louder”. It’s all just a really fun story.

So, availability and timeline placement. Originally, it was released as an inclusion with Doctor Who Magazine #313 before being re-released as a free download on the Big Finish website where you can still currently acquire it. It also contains Part 1 of Invaders From Mars. As for timeline placement, Tardis Wiki has it placed roughly between Holy Terror and the Six/Charley adventures.

Rating: 10/10

 

No Place Like Home
Written by: Iain McLaughlin
Featuring: 5th & Erimem + Shayde
Released: January 2003

My Thoughts: The Doctor is showing off the TARDIS interior to Erimem. As they explore, things start rearranging themselves with room appearing in the wrong places. Meanwhile, a mysterious, malevolent being is working the Doctor into a trap.

The Doctor and Erimem, and Antranak the cat who’s wandering around leaving deposits everywhere but the litter tray, are saved from stepping out into the vortex by Shayde, a mysterious Time Lord agent who originally appeared in the DWM Fifth Doctor comics before becoming a player in the DWM Eighth and Twelfth Doctor comics.

They are then directed to the villain’s lair. Here they meet their opponent and learn that their mortal enemy, is the Gallifreyan equivalent of a mouse called a Rovie, that’s been mutated by a Time Lord remote control device installed by Shayde on the instructions of the Time Lords. After a nice look at loneliness from both the Rovie and Erimem, the creature is defeated.

An enjoyable story that helps develop Erimem more. It’s fun and we get some great mouse-related jokes at the Rovie’s expense. This was originally included in DWM 326 and also contains a Dalek War Chapter One preview. For timeline placement, it’s still early days for Erimem and features Antranak the cat. Tardis Wiki places it between The Church and the Crown and Nekromanteia.

Rating: 10/10

 

Living Legend
Written by: Scott Gray
Featuring: 8th & Charley + Threllips
Released: November 2003

My Thoughts: The Doctor and Charley are in Italy in July 1982 following Italy’s victory over West Germany in the World Cup. But they aren’t here for the football, they’re tracking an alien signal which they trace to a nearby wood. Here they discover two Threllips preparing a space portal thing for their upcoming invasion. Though essentially a con job, they pit the two aliens against each other and stop the invasion.

This one is just fun. Both Charley and the Doctor get plenty to do from the Doctor getting one Threllip drunk as a cure for the terrible disease of “World Cup Fever” to Charley playing Time Lady and being the Doctor’s superior. The Threllips (played by Stephen Perring and Conrad Westmaas) are hysterical in their stupidity.

I realize that this is rather short, but there’s not really much else to say. You really just need to listen to it. Since it’s free, you really don’t have any excuse. As for availability and timeline placement, it was originally released with DWM 337 and is now free on the Big Finish website. It also contains a behind the scenes feature for Zagreus. For timeline placement, the author intended it to fall between Chimes of Midnight and Seasons of Fear so it’s easy to insert this into a listen through of the Eighth Doctor’s run across Big Finish.

Rating: 10/10

 

Cuddlesome
Written by: Nigel Fairs
Featuring: 5th
Released: March 2008

My Thoughts: Twenty-five years ago, a new toy fad swept the nation: the Cuddlesomes, because you’re never too old for a cuddle. They looked like pink vampire hamsters and would record your name and then say back a phrase with it attached when you pulled the string. Now, they’re back as a collector’s item.

We start with a couple in their flat, watching the news (with who else but Nick Briggs as the news-reader). We get introduced to the toy which prompts the boyfriend, John, to go dig his old Cuddlesome out of the attic. He finds it and pulls the string. The toy/creature comes to life and attacks, biting John in his adam’s apple. It’s here that the Doctor appears, attempting to hit Brighton in 1818, but instead, crashing into the couple’s greenhouse. He stabilizes John who then rushed off to the hospital.

Meanwhile, in the Cuddlesome warehouse, their “inventor” speaks with his “associate”. They discover an interloper, the reporter from the news broadcast who is then taken to be obliterated by the “associate” Thingus. Thingus accelerates his plans and has his Mark Bs (which sound like surfer dudes) obliterate the Mark As (which have the usual cute female voices).

The Doctor meanwhile, with John’s girlfriend Angela in tow, investigates the Cuddlesomes. They first explore a shop that might contain one and then follow it to the factory. Here, everything is explained. The villain is revealed (played to perfection by David Troughton) and reporter having been transformed into Mark 3 chases after them.

More explanations are given before a Cuddlesome civil war breaks out complete with annoying theme music. John also arrives having survived the toxin and escaped the hospital. The Thingus and the “inventor” Turvey both end up dead (telepathically and symbiotically linked and all that), the Cuddlesomes are rendered harmless and the Doctor, John, Angela and the reporter make it out alive. The Doctor arrives, in much the same manner, a few years later to check up on things.

So, this is a really enjoyable story. It’s only an hour-long but is really enjoyable. It’s somewhat creepy with good acting and a good story. It’s essentially a Doctor Who take on eighties toy fads, Furbies, and the movie Gremlins. I’ve listened to it before but had forgotten most of it. Really good. That brings us to availability. While the rest of these are currently available as free downloads from the Big Finish website and are thus easy to get your hands on, this one is a bit different. It’s a remake of an Audio Visuals story of the same title and was released on an audio CD included with Doctor Who Magazine issue 393. It’s been released for free a couple of different times on the Big Finish website but at the moment, it’s currently only available through Big Finish’s Soundcloud. As for timeline placement, this features a solo Fifth Doctor. As such, the TARDIS wiki “Timey-wimey Detector” timeline page places it in the gap between Circular Time: Autumn and Renaissance of the Daleks.

Rating: 9/10

So, that’s my assessment of the DWM Exclusives/Free Releases. Normally, I’d say that the next installment might be a while. However, as there doesn’t seem to be any more of these on the horizon anytime soon, I’ll instead give my thoughts on the bunch as a whole. Apart from the first one that’s just kinda boring, the rest are all really fun. They’re short, which helps, and free. They’re also easy to get a hold of. I’d say, that if you want to introduce friends to Big Finish who aren’t sure about the audio format, this is a good way to start. Until next time.

Happy travels,

Jamie.

Big Finish Reviews – Main Range 31 – 40

Welcome back travelers of the Time Vortex,

My name is Jamie and I will be your guide through the Worlds of Big Finish. In this installment, I will give my thoughts on releases 31-40 in the Doctor Who Monthly Range from Big Finish Productions. These are all available from the Big Finish website for download only at $2.99.

The stories that follow are full-cast Doctor Who audio dramas featuring the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors as played by Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann respectively. The companions featured that are returning from the TV series are played by the original actors.

On a side note, I consider Big Finish to be on the same level of canon as the TV series. Especially since Moffat had the Eighth Doctor mention all his Big Finish companions (or at least all he’d had at the time of filming) during his regeneration scene in Night of the Doctor.

Disclaimer: All of the opinions expressed hereafter are my own. There are stories that I love that others may hate and vice versa. I am not responsible for any reactions others might have to my comments and opinions.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

 

31 Embrace the Darkness
Written by: Nicholas Briggs
Featuring: 8th & Charley
Released: April 2002
TTV Episode: 94

My Thoughts: This is an okay story and isn’t that terrible. It’s just kinda boring. Episode One is semi-decent at creating an atmospheric environment. We start with a research team in the Cimmerian system preparing for the activation of artificial suns after the system’s sun mysteriously went out. We also have the Doctor and Charley on the TARDIS where the Doctor has to move quickly out of the way of a flotilla of Type 70s in the vortex.

The Doctor decides he wants to discover why the Cimmerian system’s sun went dark. Meanwhile, the team on the planet has lost their sight and is close to losing their sanity. The Doctor and Charley arrive on a space station, or ship, and are detained by ROSM, a rescue robot who’s kinda amusing. Charley is targeted for termination because of potential disease and is forced to flee to the planet where she meets the team and discovers their eyes are gone.

There is a species on the planet, the native Cimmerians, a whispering species who are afraid of the light and who want everyone to “embrace the darkness”. This story works well for audio where it might not on TV. It’s not that terrible and the mystery around the sun going dark is interesting and keeps you listening.

So, for at least the first three parts, this story works well as a base under siege story. The leads get plenty do as do the side characters. The aliens are just kinda there in the background though. I don’t know. While I’m actually listening to it, it’s a fairly enjoyable piece of Doctor Who.

It turns out that the Cimmerians turned off the sun to avoid the attention of the Solarians, a threat from ancient times. The Doctor, not realizing the perceived threat, turns on the artificial suns. This purges the Cimmerian particles that have been thus far been wreaking havoc on ROSM’s systems and attracts some unidentified ships to the planet.

It turns out that the Cimmerians, not a name that they know themselves by, are healers who feel compelled to heal. The Solarians, who use solar sail technology (think Dooku’s ship in Attack of the Clones), are the same species, or nearly the same. It turns out that in ancient times, there was a plague and those affected came to the healers in droves. The healers were compelled to heal, even at the cost of their own lives and as result decided to turn off the sun in order to discourage the Solarians and save themselves.

It’s not a bad story. It has decent acting and good sound design. The plot is actually fairly good. The paranoia and atmosphere are well realized. It’s just, this isn’t one that I want to come back to time and again. Not like Storm Warning, Chimes of Midnight or Seasons of Fear. While listening, it’s enjoyable and entertaining. However, it does feel a little anti-climactic with there being no real threat. Overall, it just feels kinda forgettable and middle-of-the-road. Rating: 5.5/10

 

32 The Time of the Daleks (Dalek Empire: Part Four)
Written by: Justin Richards
Featuring: 8th & Charley + Daleks
Released: May 2002
TTV Episode: 94

My Thoughts: This is the fourth (and final) of a loosely linked set of Dalek stories in the Main Range linked together under the banner of “Dalek Empire”. This is not to be confused with the Dalek Empire series that Big Finish later produced which doesn’t feature the Doctor.

This starts with a Dalek fleet stuck in the Time Vortex with the individual from the end of Seasons of Fear, the one the Doctor was telling the story to, narrating over the chatter in the Dalek fleet. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Charley are buffeted by a tsunami in the vortex. When the Doctor makes a rather lame Shakespeare joke, Charley doesn’t recognize the playwright. This causes the Doctor to worry as Orson Welles (famous for,among other things, his Shakespeare films) didn’t recognize him either. The Doctor discovers that there is a time corridor that leads from the mid-21st Century to Shakespearean times. And, so the Doctor goes to investigate.

What follows is an enjoyable story. Short of Nick Briggs convincing Big Finish to let him to record Shakespeare with his ring modulator, this is the only place I know of where one can hear Daleks quoting Shakespeare. In some ways, this is a love letter to Shakespeare. It’s also an enjoyable Dalek story.

The biggest issues I see with this that might turn someone off is that this story feels like a rip-off of Evil of the Daleks with clocks and mirrors as a form of time travel (a major plot point) and Day of the Daleks with guerrillas using time travel to avert a Dalek occupation of Earth (another major plot point).

The play kinda mashes these two previous stories together with the erasure of Shakespeare from time as a sort of lynchpin with a result and solution that isn’t as obvious as expected. Although there’re times when the cacophony of the Daleks gets a bit much, it works well enough. This also links into the previous Dalek stories together with mentions of Kar-Charat from Genocide Machine and the Invasion of Gallifrey from Apocalypse Element.

Paul McGann and India Fisher shine as usual. Although Charley gets relegated to the back burner a little, they still get plenty to do. McGann shines as the Doctor and is a delight to listen to in his first performed Dalek story (there had at least two novels released before this that feature Eight and the Daleks). The Web of Time arc comes to a head here as the Doctor realizes that all the time issues they’ve encountered of late (Chimes of Midnight, Seasons of Fear, this) are all connected to the Doctor rescuing Charley back in Storm Warning. And thus, the first major Big Finish Eighth Doctor arc quickly approaches its finale. Rating: 9/10

 

33 Neverland
Written by: Alan Barnes
Featuring: 8th, Charley & Romana II + Rassilon & Time Lords
Released: June 2002
TTV Episode: 97

My Thoughts: So, this is it. Big Finish’s first Eighth Doctor story arc has all lead to this. We start with (what we later learn to be the voices of the Matrix) recounting historical events. The Crash of the R-101 and Hitler’s rise to power, the events of the Daleks’ Master Plan and Colony in Space before the voices all start forgetting and declaring that they can’t remember.

We then move to the TARDIS where the Doctor and Charley admire a nebula or something like that. They are soon surrounded by Battle TARDISes which call for their surrender before launching Time Torpedoes at the TARDIS. However, a wave of Time Distortion saves the Doctor and Charley allowing them to escape.

The Doctor then excitedly tells Charley that she’s been invited a never-ending party for a year to celebrate her birthday as she must’ve had one given how long they’ve been traveling together. However, after a conversation comparing the Doctor to Peter Pan, Charley hits the fast return switch.

Accompanying the TARDIS fleet is a Time Station bearing CIA Coordinator Vansell and President Romanadvoratrelundar (both returning from their last appearance in the Apocalypse Element). They collect the Doctor and explain that his rescue of Charley, which normally wouldn’t have mattered, has become the tear that has allowed anti-time to enter the universe and wreak havoc with time. Romana shows the Doctor a Matrix vision of what could be or the empire of Zagreus.

Romana and Vansell then hook up Charley and the Doctor’s TARDIS to some equipment that turns Charley into a gateway through which they can gain access into the universe of anti-time, the anti-verse, in an attempt to set things right. However, as they traverse the gateway, something goes wrong and they, the TARDIS and Charley all get sucked in.

Inside they find the anti-verse, a universe where time doesn’t exist and everything is happening at once. However, there is a single planetoid with metal trees that seems stable and everyone makes their way there. They find the planetoid populated by ghosts, or more accurately never-people, and that it’s actually the remains of a TARDIS, specifically one belong to Rassilon.

This is an excellent story. We get more Gallifreyan lore and everything that we’ve gotten with the Eighth Doctor thus far has led to this. Paul McGann shines, as does Lalla Ward. Can we get more Eighth Doctor/Romana II stories, please? They work wonderfully together. Vansell is great, a slimy patriot who is greedy and scheming. Charley too gets a lot to do here.

There are a few things though that might deter listeners. First, this is only two parts instead of four. Second, this is very continuity-heavy (though not as bad as Zagreus) and if you haven’t been following the Eight/Charley arc thus far and aren’t at least a little familiar with the Gallifrey-centric stories from Classic Who, you might feel a little lost. Otherwise, though, this was a great story. The only problem is that it ends on a cliffhanger that the original listeners then had to wait for nearly a year-and-a-half for. Rating: 10/10

 

34 Spare Parts
Written by: Marc Platt
Featuring: 5th & Nyssa + Cybermen
Released: July 2002
TTV Episode: 154

My Thoughts: Big Finish does a Cybermen origin story. First off, might I say that this is amazing. It’s well-acted, well written and keeps you invested the whole time. The Doctor and Nyssa arrive on an unknown planet that is supposed to be Earth. Except, it seems like Earth in the 1950s and there’s no one about. The Doctor and Nyssa split up to explore with the idea of meeting back at the TARDIS in a half-hour.

It turns out that this is Mondas as the Doctor meets Thomas Dodd, “A self-described “purveyor and fitter of necessary bodily parts”,” and Nyssa meets the Hartleys, a family of three: Dad, a mat-catcher, Frank and Yvonne. As the story progresses, we see the Cybermen, who at this stage are only the surface workers, evolve to encompass the whole population.

I won’t say much more plot-wise as this is one of those that is a must-listen. Davison and Sutton bring their A-game to this and the guest cast is superb. We really feel for the Mondasians through getting to know the Hartleys, the tragedy of the Cybermen is much sadder than that of the Daleks. Nick Briggs is excellent, easily replicating the Tenth Planet Cyber-voices for most of the Cybermen and then the Tomb Cyber-voices for the committee (a proto Cyber-planner).

I will talk a little about how this works with the other Cyberman origin story we’ve gotten recently: World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls. I don’t see anything that really contradicts the two. I see the Mondasians sending out the colony ship which would get caught in a black hole and then when no word came back from it, continuing on with what we see in Spare Parts. The Twelfth Doctor also (according to Tardis Wiki) mentions the parallel evolutionary tracks of the Cybermen as well, further allowing both stories to exist.

Overall, an excellent story. The acting and story are superb. You get invested in the characters, you feel for the Doctor and Nyssa who finally deal with the aftermath of Earthshock, the only real thing is that the Committee is a bit hard to understand at times. This is one of the few times that I wish that these came with subtitles. But, alas, it’s audio only so subtitles are worthless here. I realize that some of my recent reviews are longer, but this is a must-listen, one of Davison’s best and I don’t want to ruin some of the key plot points, especially in the second half. Rating: 10/10

 

35 …ish
Written by: Phil Pascoe
Featuring: 6th & Peri
Released: August 2002
TTV Episode: 131

My Thoughts: I will fully admit that “…ish” is not for everybody. This is a story that seems to be for people who enjoy word games and the English language. That doesn’t mean that the layperson can’t enjoy it, but I think bibliophiles and logophiles will get much more enjoyment out of it. At its core, this is a story about a murder mystery at the unveiling of the ultimate English dictionary.

The Doctor and Peri arrive at the conference and soon split up, the Doctor going with symposium organizer while Peri a nice guy named Warren. In the midst of this is the hologlyph “Book” which is the interface for the Lexicon (the ultimate dictionary) and the murder of his boss Professor Osefa, who happens to be an acquaintance of the Doctor.

I’ll admit, the first half is a bit slow. There’s also talk about lexical transcendence and the Omniverbum, the longest (and oldest) word in existence that is possibly still being spoken. The Ish is a sentient affix to this Omniverbum which takes much greater importance in the second half.

Very enjoyable, Colin Baker does very well spouting words all over the place. I enjoyed it, but I can very much understand why people wouldn’t. This is a story that revels in words and language and despite some enjoyable wordplay scattered throughout (a lovely scene between Colin and Nicola going back and forth over British vs American variants) and an interesting plot, this can be seen as kinda boring. I’d recommend it for completists and language buffs, but for general fans, this might be an easy miss. Rating: 9/10

 

36 The Rapture
Written by: Joseph Lidster
Featuring: 7th & Ace
Released: September 2002
TTV Episode: 186

My Thoughts: This is the one with dance music where Ace meets her younger brother Liam. The Rapture is an interesting story. Taking place on the island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean in May 1997, it focuses on the hot new club the Rapture, whose proprietors are two “Angels”: Jude and Gabriel.

After the events of Colditz, the Doctor and Ace arrive on Ibiza for a holiday. Here, Ace goes clubbing while the Doctor investigates. The Angels turn out to be aliens (possibly from another dimension) and the Doctor manages to thwart their plan. In amongst all that, Ace (now going by McShane) meets Liam, the younger brother she never knew existed.

I realize that this is a rather simplified summary. But, that’s it in a nutshell. However, where the Rapture excels, is in its examination of drugs and mental illness with the dance culture of Ibiza in the background. Here, we examine mental illness through Liam’s friend Cat’s depression, Liam’s addiction to helping Cat, and Gabriel’s shellshock madness from the war on their home planet.

I’m not a fan of Dance Music. I usually find it too loud and just not my style. So, in re-listening to this, I remembered the club part of it, but not the rest. This was the first Doctor Who story we got from Joseph Lidster who would go on to write favorites of mine such as “Master”, and “The Reaping/The Gathering” duology. Overall, a surprisingly enjoyable story. Rating: 7/10

 

37 The Sandman
Written by: Simon A. Forward
Featuring: 6th & Evelyn + the Galyari
Released: October 2002
TTV Episode: 167

My Thoughts: The Sandman is an interesting story that essentially puts the Doctor in the position of being the monster. The Galyari are a reptilian race that appears similar to chameleons that live in fear of a monster that tears the hides from their young known as the Sandman. They are a nomadic people that travel in the Clutch (a conglomeration of spaceships joined together).

The Doctor arrives to keep the Galyari on the straight and narrow and is all mean and brash and seemingly violent. Evelyn, seeing a side of the Doctor that she didn’t know existed, is appalled. Meanwhile, in the Clutch, there are smugglers, arms dealers and strange killings going on.

We get the legend of the Sandman (at least from the Galyari perspective) in Part 2. Essentially, the Galyari return to their homeworld, to find it invaded. The Doctor forces them off them with threats, but they return. Upon their return, the Doctor smashes their “memory egg” and forces them into their current nomadic state.

It’s an interesting tale. While Evelyn is somewhat sidelined, she does get things to do. She is very much our representative character, as our shock and confusion at what the Doctor seems to be capable of is channeled through her. Colin Baker really shines as both the softer Sixth Doctor we’ve come to know and also as a magnification of the brash, violent and loud Sixth Doctor that was seen on Television. Also in a major role is a barely recognizable Anneke Wills (Polly) as one of the main Galyari characters.

The Sixth Doctor we’ve become accustomed to, starts to return in Part 3. It turns out that the Galyari were the invaders. Now, fragments of the “memory egg” are being returned, and that could prove very dangerous indeed. We get the Doctor and Evelyn split up as well for part of an episode before reuniting at the cliffhanger of Part 3.

I enjoyed this story, it was a bit different. Having the Doctor be the villain, at least for the first half, was different, but enjoyable. There are decent action and intrigue. This is one that despite having listened to it before, I didn’t remember much. Overall, a good Sixth Doctor story that showcases Colin’s range. Rating: 8/10

 

38 The Church and the Crown
Written by: Cavan Scott and Mark Wright
Featuring: 5th , Peri & Erimem
Released: November 2002
TTV Episode: 187

My Thoughts: For Erimem’s second story, and the first trip in the TARDIS, a trip to the Braxiatel Collection goes awry and the TARDIS crew instead arrives in 17th Century France. I don’t know what it is, but this TARDIS team is possibly my favorite, vying for the top spot with Six and Evelyn. Erimem is amazing. She’s intelligent, witty, brave, she doesn’t feel like the archetypal Classic-era screamer. She’s extremely likable. She’s great.

Anyway, the TARDIS arrives in France. This is the era of the Musketeers. King Louis XIII is the king of France, Cardinal Richelieu is the Prime Minister and Queen Anne is being difficult. The main plot is that Peri gets separated (goes off on her own) and lands herself in trouble because she is the doppelganger of the Queen. This gives Nicola Bryant two roles, with different accents, which she plays brilliantly.

The main villain is George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham who is behind Peri’s kidnapping and is planning an invasion. This is just a great, enjoyable story. Political intrigue, swordfights, it’s just fun. As I said, Erimem shines, Nicola does excellent in her duel role, the relationship-building between Peri and Erimem is so well acted.

Louis and Richelieu are well-acted and you get an excellent sense of their rivalry. The musketeers are fun and the action of the whole is done very well. I think Big Finish should do pure historicals more often if they can be as good as this.

Overall, this is just a really fun story. It flies by without a boring moment. The TARDIS crew all get their moments to shine and it’s hard to pick which is the best. While a very serious story, there’re still a lot of humorous lines sprinkled throughout. If the Fifth Doctor could’ve had stories like this, Spare Parts and Eye of the Scorpion on TV, then I could see him very easily having got a fourth season. A joy to listen to, the Church and the Crown is another excellent addition to the Main/Monthly Range. Rating: 10/10

 

39 Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
Written by: Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman
Featuring: 7th & Mel
Released: December 2002
TTV Episode: 167

My Thoughts: The second official Big Finish “Christmas Special”, this is essentially a Doctor Who parody of Star Trek, Deep Space 9 in particular. We start with Nick Briggs introducing a new adventure that “might just be the Final Frontier for… Doctor Who” before moving on to Dark Space 8 with the chief medical officer making a log entry. The station has just lost its commander to incurable flu that he got from an encounter with a silicon entity. The station is situated at the edge of known space and a seven-year period of adventure and intrigue is mentioned. Anyway, the station is now the host of the Intergalactic Song Contest.

It seems very much a Star Trek episode more than a Doctor Who. The light-hearted Seventh Doctor who does mix his metaphors and Mel are perfect for this. I’m enjoying this so much more than the previous one, “The One Doctor”. Maybe Doctor Who parodying Doctor Who isn’t as fun for me as Star Trek. The Song Contest features two races who are war (among others) and when the new commander is murdered en route, the Doctor takes his place.

While Star Trek and the Eurovision Song Contest are the main subjects being parodied here, there are references to Space: 1999, Babylon 5 and possibly other sci-fi franchises. Not being familiar with these, I only knew of the references once pointed out by Tardis Wiki. Part One is rather enjoyable as a parody and ends with Mel, now an ensign, and the pop star contestant from Earth (who is thrilled that Mel doesn’t recognize him) discovering a dead body.

Part Two begins with Nick Briggs giving a very short recap of events before getting the last few moments of Part One. I also realized that this is the first time in the Main Range where Big Finish used the appropriate version of the main theme. Before this, they’d been using the Tom Baker version for all the Main Range stories. The station’s Medical Officer appears to be a bit useless, pronouncing the death to be of natural causes before the Doctor (McCoy) pronounces it poison. One nice thing about this sequence is that we get a take on “He’s dead, Jim”.

Part Two ends with the Doctor having dinner with one of the main guest characters and falling in love and Mel and the contestant from Earth witnessing another murder. The dinner is very awkward and the guest character, who is of one of the primary races involved in the war that the peace conference is meant to end, is rather grating on the nerves. The peace conference is at the center of the story but always in the background. So far, this a humorous and enjoyable Star Trek parody with a decent mystery. Unlike The One Doctor, this seems to move right along and doesn’t drag.

Part Three continues on ending with the revelation that the peace conference is actually occurring on the space station. Part Four wraps everything up and features some rather annoying entries in the song contest itself. We even get a slight fakeout ending before Mel quashes it with some unfinished business. In the end, everything ends well and we even get McCoy on the spoons.

Overall, an enjoyable Star Trek parody that’s fun and enjoyable. The Doctor and Mel shine and the guest cast is very good too. This may not be for everybody, as I can see it getting on people’s nerves a bit, and non-Star Trek fans may find it a little weird. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. Rating: 9/10

 

40 Jubilee
Written by: Robert Shearman
Featuring: 6th & Evelyn + Daleks
Released: January 2003
TTV Episode: 178

My Thoughts: The one that was adapted to TV. While Jubilee was the basis for Series 1’s “Dalek” and both were written by Rob Shearman, they are two very distinct, and different, stories despite their similarities. The lone surviving Dalek imprisoned and tortured to make it talk, the Dalek deviating from its original function, the Dalek requiring orders, those are all similar. The ending of Part 1 and the start of Part 2 is extremely similar to the Ninth Doctor’s first encounter with the Dalek on TV.

However, whereas “Dalek” deals with the effects of the Time War for the Doctor and then is a single Dalek attempting escape, Jubilee is much, much deeper and more complex. This is a story that deals a lot with history and how it is remembered, with the nature of evil. There’s a timey-wimey element where the Doctor and Evelyn are in both 1903 during a Dalek Invasion and in the resulting 2003. Colin Baker shines as both the Doctor we know and love as well as a mad, defeated Doctor who’s been imprisoned for a hundred years.

I’ll try not to spoil much of this as it is definitely a must-listen-to. On top of the above mention concepts, we also get thoughts on the nature of power and how merchandising evil diminishes it. There is a comparison between the Daleks and Nazis with the Daleks holding no threat after being featured as movie villains and appearing on everything from cereal to dish soap. Trying to review this one is hard because there is so much good stuff here.

I guess I would say, like all of Shearman’s Big Finish work, it’s a must-listen. It’s a good story for a first listen, and then each listens after that, you get more layers that seem to reveal themselves. There are so many good ideas in this, like Holy Terror, that actually make you think. It’s rare for a Doctor Who story to really make you think about the ideas it’s presented. It sticks with you and I would say that these four Shearman Main Range stories (Holy Terror, Chimes of Midnight, Jubliee and Scherzo), are really good pieces of science fiction. As Shaun tends to say on the podcast, good science fiction takes issues of the time (or timeless issues) and makes you think about them. All while telling a good story. And Jubliee is a good Dalek story that really makes you think. Rating: 10/10

 

So, that’s my assessment of releases 31-40 from Big Finish’s Doctor Who Monthly Range. At some point, I’ll have another ten listened to, and can supply another guide for those interested in dipping their toes into Big Finish. Again, this is not a fast process so the next installment might be a while.

Happy travels,

Jamie.

Big Finish Reviews – Gallifrey Series 1

Hello there my fellow Vortex travelers,
My name is Jamie and I will be your guide through the Worlds of Big Finish. In this installment I’m switching things up. To give myself a break from the Main/Monthly Range, I’m going to start delving into other ranges from Big Finish.
In this installment I will give my thoughts on Series 1 of the Gallifrey series. This features Leela and Romana II after the events of Zagreus and deals with events on Gallifrey. The first three seasons tend to flow from one to the next and tell one large story. The next three tell another long arc. Series 7 and 8 are semi-stand alone and then Series 9 onwards is Gallifrey: Time War.
These are available from the Big Finish website on Download for $5.00. Stories #2-3 are still available on CD for $6.20.
Disclaimer: All of the opinions expressed hereafter are my own. There are stories that I love that others may hate, and vice versa. I am not responsible for any reactions others might have to my comments and opinions.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

 

1.1 Weapon of Choice
Written by: Alan Barnes TTV Episode: 450
My Thoughts: We open with a mission to investigate a possibly threatening piece of time technology on the Third Moon of Kikrit. This team is lead by Commander Torvald of the CIA (Celestial Intervention Agency) and includes a Monan, a Nekestan and a Warpsmith of Phaidon (who are non-corporeal and use slaves to take a corporeal form). In the hut they’re investigating, they find a briefcase. The Phaidon (Napenthe) grabs the case, which she declares is a Timonic Fusion Device and ranting something about “Free Time” vanishes with the case.
We then move to Gallifrey proper and are introduced to Cardinal Braxiatel and CIA Coordinator Narvin (successor to Vansell who bit the dust in Main Range #33 Neverland), and we’re reintroduced to President Romana and K-9 Mk II as they discuss what happened on the moon. A call from the High Monan reveals that Napenthe and the Free Time resistance movement are on Gryben, a temporal enclave that acts as a Time Lord processing center for wayward time travelers.
Leela meanwhile is trying to join the Outsiders. Andred has disappeared and is presumed dead and so there is nothing for Leela in the Capitol. However, the arrival of K-9 Mk I followed by Brax with a summons from Romana ruin her chances. In the Capitol, Romana recruits Leela for a mission to Gryben where she, K-9 Mk I and Torvald, will attempt to make contact with Napenthe and the Free Time movement. The mission to Gryben gets underway. While Leela gets in a fight in the market K-9 seeks information in the local pub. Here we meet Mephistopheles Arkadian, an arms dealer and purveyor of information. Arkadian is a fun character. Scum, but high-class scum. As I listen, having heard all of these (except Series 8 – Enemy Lines), I find it interesting as hints to future events are inserted early. One of these comes when Arkadian is brought to Gallifrey to meet with Romana whom he addresses as “Imperiatrix”. This term will come to mean more in Series 2.
Leela, Torvald and K-9 meanwhile go to the human enclave to seek Napenthe. They find her, or rather she finds them, and Leela attempts to win her trust. Ordered
to kill Torvald, she manages to avoid doing so by revealing a Monan spy which prompts a small-scale Monan invasion of Gryben. However, the Monan actions force Napenthe to arm the Timonic Fusion Device. This forces a mad scramble on both Gallifrey and Gryben.
Romana hatches a plan that gets her to Gryben with Arkadian. She manages to get on Napenthe’s good side before the Monans burst in. The Monan intrusion damages the device accelerating the countdown. A definition from K-9 gives Romana the key while on Gallifrey, Narvin sets the ball rolling on an inquiry and possible impeachment.
The countdown reaches zero and instead of detonating, it just vanishes. Romana explains the purpose of the whole exercise but Napenthe commits suicide before revealing the mastermind behind this. Everything wraps up, though with no real answers, and Romana moves on to the next crisis. She invites Leela back to Gallifrey as her Presidential Bodyguard with K-9 Mk I as her Security Advisor.
A really enjoyable start to the series. It introduces the main characters well, both the ones we already know (Romana II, Leela, the K-9s) and the ones we don’t (Narvin, and Brax). There’s the politics that one expects from Gallifrey but also action, intrigue and surprisingly, humor. It’s plot-driven, but also very character-driven. Overall, a very good start. Rating: 10/10

 

 

1.2 Square One
Written by: Stephen Cole TTV Episode: 450
My Thoughts: This time, we open with Romana, Leela and K-9 in a TARDIS attempting to escape some sort of temporal distortion or some such. Then we jump back to where a temporal summit, the first since Archetryx (see “The Apocalypse Element”), is being planned. Narvin is selected as the Gallifreyan delegate and Leela and K-9 are sent along as Romana’s eyes and ears.
Leela is sent in undercover as an exotic dancer. We get bits of the summit and various bits of gossip that help flesh out some of the non-Gallifreyan temporal powers. Everybody gets at least a little to do. However, this is very much very much Leela’s story.It isn’t long before she finds the body of one of the other dancers and is arrested for the murder. Then, while in her cell, time resets itself. What follows is essentially a Doctor Who meets Groundhog Day as Leela and K-9, and later Romana, work to discover who is looping time in an effort to ensure that the summit is successful without any negative events. And, each time the summit loops, a different problem occurs.A good use of time when the series is all about the Time Lords. It’s not a horrible story. In fact it’s rather good. It doesn’t really drag, and the acting, writing and effects are done well. It’s just not my favorite. Rating: 7/10

 

 

 

1.3 The Inquiry
Written by: Justin Richards TTV Episode: 451
My Thoughts: So, as the title implies, we have the Inquiry. With Darkel (Lynda Bellingham), the Inquisitor from the Trail of a Time Lord presiding, we investigate whether the Gryben incident with the Timonic Fusion Device was handled properly and whether Romana did the right thing. We also delve into Project: Alpha, of which Narvin and Braxiatel were a part of, and whether it actually created a Timonic Fusion Device or if such a device is purely hypothetical.
Whereas Weapon of Choice was an action thriller and Square One was a Timey-Wimey murder mystery of sorts, The Inquiry is a trial, and very much a political story. It is revealed that Project: Alpha did build a Timonic Fusion Device and was on its way to detonating the device before it was halted by Narvin. It was then dismantled and destroyed. Or was it?
Both Narvin and Romana delve into the Matrix for information on Project: Alpha, at the same time. Narvin quickly pulls out but not before discovering a data bomb which K-9 then activates by accident. This causes a bit of panic as the data bomb could potentially destroy the Matrix. The data bomb seems to indicate that there was an explosion in the vortex, but that can’t be as the device never actually went off. However, using the information from the Matrix, they find the device from Gryben and prepare to retrieve it.
The device is recovered having been guarded by Servitor Robots that had gone missing during the last story. Back in the Capitol, Narvin and Torvald track the artron imprint attached to the data bomb. Narvin goes to Romana with their findings and she in turn prepares to meet with mystery individual to get some answers. Leela meanwhile, enters the archives in hopes of finding out the fate of Andred and ends up finding it missing, though Torvald seems to be involved somehow.
The answers about the data bomb are well done. I won’t spoil the rest. It’s good, go listen to it. It helps make Underworld a little more relevant in that story’s background, tying it in to Gallifrey. The ending is superb as everyone something to sink their teeth into. Romana especially gets to shout and be forceful and it sounds brilliant.
After the relatively self-contained Square One, here we get back into season arc and into the political drama of Gallifrey. All of our leads get things to do and time to shine. Romana is a nice standout here as she throws around her presidential weight in the climax. The Timonic Fusion Device plot is mostly wrapped up, though there are a few lingering threads. The mystery over what happened to Andred is still a major plot-point to be expanded upon and wrapped up in a future installment. The Inquiry was fun and keeps you invested as did Weapon of Choice, whereas Square One left a little bored in places, this didn’t. Really looking forward to the next installment. Rating: 10/10

 

 

1.4 A Blind Eye
Written by: Alan Barnes TTV Episode: 451
My Thoughts: So, we find oursleves on a train in Europe in September 1939 as Romana meets with Arkadian (the arms dealer from Weapon of Choice) who wants to make a deal. Arkadian wants free reign for a couple hours to work out some plot involving Nazi sympathizer Cecilia ‘Sissy’ Pollard (played by India Fisher), the sister of Eighth Doctor companion Charley Pollard, in exchange for information on the Timonic Fusion Device.
It seems that everyone is on the train. Romana and Leela who are guarding Sissy, and Narvin and Torvald who are tracking time disturbances. As they all meet and run into each other, another train, or rather the same train, approaches from behind and crashes with the train we’re on. But it doesn’t crash, there’s not a trainwreck, at least in the traditional sense. Instead, the train is existing in two different times.
The joys of this are the characters, and that’s not to say that the plot isn’t good, it is. That said, the interactions between the leads are very good, and the guest cast does well too. Arkadian is a joy and Sissy Pollard is so different from Charley. Where Charley is brave and adventurous, Sissy is a fascist who doesn’t see anything wrong with racism or eugenics while still being very prim and proper.
While Romana and Narvin attempt to understand things, Leela and Sissy (ina separate timeline (or some such) run into Erich, Sissy’s boyfriend. Erich isn’t a Nazi, instead he’s a Time Lord, a member of the CIA. In short, Torvald. There’s also a shape-shifter disguised as an old woman who wishes to collect Sissy as a souvenir. We do get the answers as to what happened to Andred, and it’s very well done. Romana once again gets to show her teeth. Again, everyone gets something to do both the main and guest casts. Erich’s plot revolves around the whole Charley paradox and is resolved nicely. The Gryben incident is wrapped up, but with no true proof because of the events of the conclusion of this story.
An enjoyable story that wraps up the season. It’s a solid story that doesn’t really drag and is enjoyable all while wrapping up some of the plot threads that have been hanging around all season. Rating: 8.5/10
My thoughts on the season as a whole? I’ve made it clear that I really like the Gallifrey series. Sure there are episodes that aren’t my favorites, but you get that with any series. I’m really enjoying Gallifrey, its serialized nature though means that you can’t skip around. All the main characters are great, well-acted and well-written. Romana, Leela, K-9 (both of them), Narvin, Brax, Torvald. And it’s really funny in places without being written as comedy. It all stems from the characters.
A strong opening season, Series 1 hit the ground running, grabbed you by the shirt collar and dragged you along. And the great thing, at least for me, is that I wanted to keep going. Series 2 and 3 are also really good. If you like politics and/or the characters of Romana, Leela and K-9, then you should definitely listen to Gallifrey.
So, that’s my assessment of Gallifrey Series 1. At some point, I’ll have another Series listened to, and can supply another guide for those interested in dipping their toes into Big Finish. Again, this is not a fast process so the next installment might be a while. Happy travels,
Jamie.

Big Finish Reviews – Main Range 21 – 30

Welcome back travelers of the Time Vortex,

 

My name is Jamie and I will be your guide through the Worlds of Big Finish. In this letter I will give my thoughts on releases 21-30 in the Doctor Who Monthly Range from Big Finish Productions. These are all available from the Big Finish website for download only at $2.99.

The stories that follow are full cast Doctor Who audio dramas featuring the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors as played by Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann respectively. The companions featured that are returning from the TV series are played by the original actors.

 

On a side note, I consider Big Finish to be on the same level of canon as the TV series. Especially since Moffat had the Eighth Doctor mention all his Big Finish companions (or at least all he’d had at time of filming) during his regeneration scene in Night of the Doctor.

Disclaimer: All of the opinions expressed hereafter are my own. There are stories that I love that others may hate, and vice versa. I am not responsible for any reactions others might have to my comments and opinions.

 

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

21 Dust Breeding

Written by: Mike Tucker
Featuring: 7th & Ace + Bev Tarrent & The Master
Released: June 2001
TTV Episode: 104

My Thoughts: Dust Breeding is a standalone story that brings in several previously established elements from older stories. The biggest return is… SPOILERS!!! …the Master as played by Geoffrey Beevers. Also returning are Bev Tarrent (from The Genocide Machine – Main Range #7) and the Krill (from the BBC Past Doctors novel Storm Harvest).

This story seems to be a critique of art and artists as that’s at least part of the main plot. Several of the names in this are art/artist names: Salvadori, Klemp, Duchamp, Dust Breeding, etc.

The story starts with artist Edvard Munch going mad and painting the Scream. Later, in the TARDIS, the Doctor and Ace prepare to “rescue” the painting from destruction by unknown circumstances. Responding to a distress call, they arrive on Duchamp 311, a planet of dust which is home to refueling depots and an eccentric artists colony.

Here they meet the long-time resident Guthrie (who may be a little crazy) and Bev, who are currently stranded on the planet. Meanwhile, a ship of super-rich art lovers is on way to Duchamp to see the unveiling of a new one-of-a-kind piece of art being created at the artist colony. The ship and its expedition are headed by Madame Salvadori (played by the unrecognizable Caroline John) and is being backed by the mysterious Mr. Seta.

It’s a good story that comes down to a battle between the two superweapons. Taking place after Survival, there’s a reason given in-story as to why it’s the Beevers Master from Keeper of Traken and not the Anthony Ainley Master that the Doctor and Ace last met in Survival. Overall, enjoyable with a really good second half.

Rating: 7/10

22 Bloodtide

Written by: Jonathan Morris
Featuring: 6th & Evelyn + Silurians
Released: July 2001
TTV Episode: 68

My Thoughts: Bloodtide brings us back to the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn. The Doctor has a surprise for Evelyn and takes her to the Galapagos Islands to meet Charles Darwin (played by Miles Richardson who would later play Irving Braxiatel in the Gallifrey and Bernice Summerfield audio series.)

It’s a relatively straight-forward plot featuring the Silurians. Back before the Silurians went into hibernation, a scientist named Tulock was found guilty of crimes and exiled to the surface along with his creations. He is let back into the hive by a friend where he secretly sabotages the hibernation equipment.

In the present (relative present), Tulock is the leader of the colony. The governor of the islands is in his thrall, delivering humans to the Silurians as meat and specimens. Meanwhile, throughout the story, Darwin struggles with his beliefs and his theories.

There’s a lot of catch and escape, and catch and release. It turns out that the creatures that Tulock had created were humans. In places, it feels like a retread of the Pertwee story complete with a devastating virus while the “evolution of man” bits feel fresh. There’s also a Myrka that rises to prominence in Part 3 and plays a part in the conclusion.

Overall it a good story, if you like what they’ve done with the Silurians in the past you’ll probably enjoy this. Darwin’s ramblings can get a little boring at times, but not terrible. The softer Sixth Doctor is apparent here, comforting a young woman who has lost her brother. Nice to see the Myrka get so much love. Looking forward to seeing where Six and Evelyn go next.

Rating: 7/10

23 Project: Twilight

Written by: Cavan Scott and Mark Wright
Featuring: 6th & Evelyn + Nimrod & the Forge
Released: August 2001
TTV Episode: 145

My Thoughts: Dark, creepy, a bit adult. Project: Twilight is the first of the “Project” stories and sets up a story arc that spans the Main Range up through #140. This is the story that introduces the Forge, Nimrod and Cassie Schofield, who is tied to someone important down the road.

The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn arrive in the Bermondsey region in southeast London for the best Chinese takeaway the Doctor knows. Here they stumble into mysterious goings-on in the Dusk, a casino on the Thames owned the gangster Reggie Mead and the mysterious Amelia Doory.

This story features genetic study, vampires and the Forge. It is also the first mention of Zagreus. The Forge ran super-soldier experiments during World War I headed by a Dr. William Abberton. The Forge is a secret organization that feels like a dark cross between UNIT and Torchwood. Reggie and Amelia were among Abberton’s subjects and were hosts of the Twilight virus. After their escape, Abberton injected himself with the virus and became the vampire hunter and leader of the Forge named Nimrod, one of the best original villains we’ve had from Big Finish.

This is one of the darkest, most adult Big Finish Doctor Whos I’ve listened to. It’s violent and creepy that borders on the cusp of PG-13 and R. And yet, the story is tightly written, the acting is top-notch, the production is really well done. I’m not a fan of vampires, and yet, this is one of my favorites. The plotline started here continues to affect both the Sixth Doctor and the Seventh Doctor for quite a while down the road. I will remind you as we come across more of this thread because the next piece is a ways off yet.

This is one of Big Finish’s best. Dark, adult storytelling at it’s best. It’s gruesome in places created using only dialogue and sound effects. Colin Baker shines as the Sixth Doctor. In short, a masterpiece. Not necessarily for kids, but still a contender for one of the best early Main Range releases.

Rating: 10/10

24 The Eye of the Scorpion

Written by: Iain McLaughlin
Featuring: 5th, Peri & Erimem
Released: September 2001
TTV Episode: 128

My Thoughts: The Fifth Doctor and Peri in Ancient Egypt. I love this story, it’s one of my early favorites. After unusual tremors rock the TARDIS while the Doctor is taking Peri on a tour, the two land in Ancient Egypt where they rescue a young woman from a runaway chariot. The woman is known as Erimem and she is to be crowned Pharaoh within the next few days.

It is in this political environment that we find our TARDIS team. A mercenary force preparing for a siege of Thebes, poisonings, intrigue in the court. It’s very interesting and well-realized. There’s also an alien prison stasis container that lies within the enemy camp and Peter Davison goes on holiday for an episode. We even get the Hall of Records beneath the Sphinx.

Yanis, the leader of the mercenaries, is wonderfully acted all gruff and menacing, a big highlight. Every scene with him is a delight. He reminds me a little of Vinnie Jones. The real highlight though is Erimem. She’s well-written and well-acted. The strong leader, intelligent and cunning, but also the vulnerable 18-year-old who has recently lost a father and doesn’t really want the position that’s been thrust upon her.

It seems that so far, Big Finish has done really well in their original companions. Evelyn Smythe with the Sixth Doctor, Charlotte “Charley” Pollard with the Eighth Doctor and now Erimem and the Fifth Doctor. They’re all wonderful, engaging, lovable characters.

If you didn’t think that there were any Fifth Doctor/Peri stories in between Planet of Fire and Caves of Androzani, then you were mistaken. I don’t know if this helps or hurts the impact of the Doctor’s sacrifice in Caves, but I’m enjoying the ride that Big Finish is taking us on in between the TV stories.

This is a story that’s worth picking up. If you like Ancient Egypt or the Fifth Doctor and Peri, you’ll probably enjoy this one. I definitely did. It has a tight, well-written script, it’s well-acting, the sound design is very good. It’s really, quite good.

Rating: 10/10

25 Colditz

Written by: Steve Lyons
Featuring: 7th & Ace + Klein
Released: October 2001
TTV Episode: 109

My Thoughts: Colditz was one of my early forays into Big Finish and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s got Seven and Ace, one of my favorite Tardis Teams, it’s got excellent characters, it introduces us to Elizabeth Klein and gives a pre-Doctor David Tennant as a Nazi.

It’s a relatively simple story. The Doctor and Ace arrive in Colditz Castle and are soon captured by the Nazis. Colditz is the “escaper’s prison”, the place where the Nazis send high-value targets and those who have escaped from other prisons. David Tennant plays Sergeant Kurtz, a soldier who is the epitome of Nazi Scum. He’s very entrenched in Nazi philosophy, he knows all the rules and regulations, he even borders on a sexual predator. Tennant plays him well, hysterical at times but also cold and manipulative at others.

The other main German, Captain Schäfer, is much more resigned. A kind human being who just wants to survive the war. There’s also flying officer Bill Gower who’s the leader of the allies in the camp, the Colonel Hogan of the group. Well played, Hogan if Hogan’s Heroes were a serious drama.

Into this mix is thrown Elizabeth Klein, a Nazi scientist from an alternate timeline. Klein, played by Tracey Childs (Metella, the mother in Fires of Pompeii), is cold, cunning and an excellent character. She plays well against the Doctor, even giving him a good reason for an excellent speech in Episode 3.

This is a good World War II story, it’s also a good alternate history/fixing history/future tech causes problems story. It’s fun, well-acted and enjoyable with good music and sound design.

Rating: 9/10

26 Primeval

Written by: Lance Parkin
Featuring: 5th & Nyssa + Trakenites
Released: November 2001
TTV Episode: 115

My Thoughts: When Nyssa falls ill, the Doctor takes her to the one place where she might be healed: Traken. However, this 3,000 years in Nyssa’s past, when the Source and Traken had no Keeper. It’s very much a story about reason and science versus religion.

So, I’m not really finding much to comment on. It’s an enjoyable story and, having watched Keeper of Traken about the same time as listening to this, doesn’t require having seen Keeper of Traken to enjoy. Yes, you might get a bit more out of it, such as knowing Nyssa’s backstory and learning that the Doctor was the first Keeper. But the story doesn’t need Keeper of Traken to work as a story.

The themes of religion versus science and the nature of evil are present. On its own, it tells the story of Kwundaar the god of Traken who helped build the Source and his quest to use the Doctor and Nyssa to gain control of it. Very much of a Garden of Eden parallel with sci-fi overtones.

Kwundaar is from the Primeval times, the pre-universe possibly. He summoned more of his kind to our current universe and it is revealed that he “marked” the Doctor for them. These may include some of the Old/Elder Gods such as Fenric and the Great Intelligence and may be a precursor to the Seventh Doctor’s war with Fenric in both the TV series and audios from Big Finish. (More on that in later installments.)

Overall, a good story. A bit of a slow start, but it picks up well in the second half. A definite prequel to the Keeper of Traken, though a sequel for the Doctor and Nyssa. The TV story isn’t necessary, but it helps give the audio more depth and supply visuals for some of the locations.

Rating: 7/10

27 The One Doctor

Written by: Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman
Featuring: 6th & Mel
Released: December 2001
TTV Episode: 108

My Thoughts: This is the first of two official Big Finish Doctor Who Christmas Specials. These were more light-hearted stories that were parodies of other series. This was, in essence, a comedic look at Doctor Who and its various tropes. It starts with the Sixth Doctor and Mel playing Monopoly in the TARDIS before receiving a distress call from the very far future.

They answer the distress call to discover that the threat has already been neutralized by the Doctor. But it’s a con job. Then, a new threat arrives and gives them three hours to complete a quest for tribute. These first two episodes, I found okay, just kinda on the boring side.

Episode Three is where things start to pick up. I found this episode rather enjoyable and funny. After getting the ultimatum of system-wide obliteration, the four main characters split up. Mel goes with the false Doctor, whose name is Banto Zame, to retrieve the Shelves of Infinity from an Ikea-like warehouse populated by the Assemblers.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and the false companion, Sally-Anne Stubbins, go to retrieve a supercomputer known as the Mentos who is the final contestant in The Feeblest Contestant, a game similar to the Weakest Link or Jeopardy. He has been competing for the past 33,000 years.

This episode was highly entertaining and fun. The final episode while not as fun, was still enjoyable. Overall, a decent light-hearted story. While not overly impressive, it wasn’t awful and if you’re looking for a way to pass a couple of hours, this will work.

Rating: 6/10

28 Invaders from Mars

Written by: Mark Gatiss
Featuring: 8th & Charley
Released: January 2002
TTV Episode: 64

My Thoughts: This is essentially Doctor Who meets 1930s crime drama and Sci-fi. It starts out in 1938 New York with Gangsters killing a Private Investigator with an alien weapon. The Doctor and Charley arrive shortly after and discover the body, prompting the Doctor to assume the dead man’s identity and investigate.

While snooping around Haliday’s (the dead guy) office, they meet Glory Bee (played by Jessica Hynes who appeared as Joan Redfern in the Family of Blood two-parter) who’s looking for her scientist uncle. In this mix is also crime boss Don Chaney (played by Simon Pegg), Nazi Sympathizer and Fifth Columnist Cosmo Devine and Orson Welles as he prepares for his famous broadcast of War of the Worlds. Charley gets captured early on by Devine while the Doctor and Glory look for her Uncle who is a soviet scientist working for Chaney and Glory herself a Soviet agent.

There are little things that play into the ongoing Web of Time arc, like mentions of the CIA (which didn’t exist until 1947), someone mentions mentions getting somewhere in a new Lamborghini (which didn’t exist until 1963) and Orson Welles not knowing who Shakespeare is. Shakespeare will be very important later.

Chaney has an alien pod and other tech hidden in a base that’s in the heart of the Brooklyn Bridge. Chaney is actually working with the CIA and is planning to hand it all over to them.

Finally, there are the aliens who all the tech belongs to who is running a Slitheen-like con – this time, a protection racket. Finding a balance between catalog/preserving life and destroying it, they remind me of the Dominators in a way. You’ve got the brains who is running the con, and then his partner who just wants to destroy. The Doctor uses the War of the Worlds broadcast to then trick the aliens into leaving.

Overall, this is just a fun 1930s alien invasion with gangsters, Nazis, Soviets, and the Doctor and Charley just kinda thrown in there. Yes, there is very little development in here for Charley who takes a back seat for most of the story, but the Doctor is front and center and McGann shines throughout. The War of the Worlds broadcast simply provides a nice background woven through the play. Great stuff.

Rating: 9/10

29 The Chimes of Midnight

Written by: Robert Shearman
Featuring: 8th & Charley
Released: February 2002
TTV Episode: 64

My Thoughts: This is one of the masterpieces of the first few years of Big Finish. This is possibly Rob Shearman at his finest as well as being the best Doctor Who Christmas story hands down. It’s also the first story since Storm Warning to really further the Web of Time arc and flesh out Charley’s backstory more than a few lines scattered about.

The Doctor and Charley land in the lower levels of an English manor house in 1906. But things are amiss. Time is frozen around them and there is no one around. And yet, there are. Intermixed with the scenes of the Doctor and Charley are scenes with the manor’s staff, the butler, the cook, the chauffeur, the lady’s maid and the scullery maid whose name is Edith Thompson.

As the story progresses, the Doctor and Charley become involved as people start dying. This is a brilliant murder mystery with time travel undertones. I can’t really say anymore because you really need to listen to this one for yourself. Paul McGann shines, as does India Fisher. The rest of the cast does well also. This is one of the best. Really, really worth it.

Rating: 10/10

30 Seasons of Fear

Written by: Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox
Featuring: 8th & Charley + Nimon
Released:
March 2002
TTV Episode: 83

My Thoughts: Another favorite of mine, Seasons of Fear is a fun romp through time that lays threads for the future and continues the current ongoing arc for the Eighth Doctor. Back in Storm Warning, Charley stowed away on the R-101 with the goal of reaching Singapore. Well, after five more stories, we finally arrive.

While Charley is off with Alex (the reason for her presence on the R-101), the Doctor is approached by Sebastian Grayle, a man who says he’s killed the Doctor in future and his Masters have graciously allowed him to come and gloat. The Doctor and Charley then embark on a mad chase through time in an attempt to discover the truth and stop Grayle and his Masters.

First stop, is a British-Roman fort in 305 AD. Here, Grayle, or Decurion Sebastius Gralae as he is called, is a member of the Cult of Mithras, Slayer of the Demon Bull, and is preparing the first step in his quest for immortality, angry that his older brother inherited the family estate. The Doctor and Charley manage to thwart his plans and the Doctor traces the coordinates the signal Grayle was receiving to a planet with a black hole on its doorstep.

The next stop is the Court of Edward the Confessor and his queen Edith in 1055. Here, Grayle has taken a Saxon name, Bishop Leofric of Exeter and preparing for another go at immortality. His plan involves the mining of Plutonium as a form of power for his Masters’ device, a sort of single person transmat. But the Doctor manages to thwart him again before following him to Buckinghamshire in 1815

Here, it is Sir Sebastian and the Hellfire Club (used much better than in Minuet in Hell) is his replacement to the Cult of Mithras. Grayle is trying to woo a Miss Lucy Martin, whose Father is Colonel Richard Martin, while the Doctor and Charley arrive in the subterranean cave system, the Hellfire Club’s base the Doctor and Charley are discovered by Col. Martin and end up having dinner with Grayle where after a bit of conversation, Grayle challenges the Doctor to a duel.

The Doctor wins the duel with a rustless weapon the saps Grayle’s power. Grayle then flees with Lucy as his hostage/sacrifice and though the Doctor catches up, succeeds in summoning his Masters who finally reveal themselves to be the Nimon. Note that the clues of the Nimons’ identity have been scattered through the story so far for those paying close attention, even the Doctor wonders why he didn’t put it together sooner.

The Doctor manages to block the Nimon invasion by putting the TARDIS in their way. But Grayle manages to get on board. The Doctor tricks the Nimon on the TARDIS into the vortex with himself as bait. With instructions for Charley and a bit of technobabble, they arrive in the Roman fort before the Doctor and Charley had arrived previously. The Nimon are defeated by the soldiers and Gralae kills Grayle upon seeing the monster he has become.

In a short epilogue, the Martins encounter a creature that seems to have Charley’s form. The creature can sense the temporal energies that surround them, Chronon energy on Lucy who traveled in the TARDIS and the fact that Richard should be dead, and devours them before preparing to chase the Doctor and Charley.

There are few things of note in this story that will play into upcoming stories. First, there is a cameo from a Dalek near the end of Part 1 as the cult members flee the temple. This is, for this story at least, an easter egg. However, it does have an impact on another story down the line. Second, near the beginning of Part 2, the Doctor quotes the Zagreus nursery rhyme again. This will also be important further down the line. Also, take note that the Doctor and Charley talk briefly about the American statesman Benjamin Franklin in Part 3. Finally, the Doctor narrates parts of the story to an unnamed individual. This person will reappear later so keep an ear out.

Overall, another really enjoyable outing for the Eighth Doctor and Charley. The return of the Nimon is handled really well especially since we don’t have the dodgy visuals. The Eighth Doctor shines, Garyle is well-acted and even Charley is handled well. An enjoyable story that keeps up at a brisk pace and doesn’t get bogged down.

Rating: 9/10

So, that’s my assessment of releases 21-30 from Big Finish’s Doctor Who Monthly Range. At some point, I’ll have another ten listened to, and can supply another guide for those interested in dipping their toes into Big Finish. Again, this is not a fast process so the next installment might be a while.

Happy travels,

Jamie.

Big Finish Reviews – Main Range 11-20

Welcome back travelers of the Time Vortex,

My name is Jamie and I will be your guide through the Worlds of Big Finish. In this letter I will give my thoughts on the second ten releases in the Doctor Who Monthly Range from Big Finish Productions. These are all available from the Big Finish website for download only at $2.99.

The stories that follow are full cast Doctor Who audio dramas featuring the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors as played by Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann respectively. The companions featured that are returning from the TV series are played by the original actors.

On a side note, I consider Big Finish to be on the same level of canon as the TV series. Especially since Moffat had the Eighth Doctor mention all his Big Finish companions (or at least all he’d had at time of filming) during his regeneration scene in Night of the Doctor.

Disclaimer: All of the opinions expressed hereafter are my own. There are stories that I love that others may hate, and vice versa. I am not responsible for any reactions others might have to my comments and opinions.

 

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

11 The Apocalypse Element (Dalek Empire: Part Two)
Written by: Stephen Cole
Featuring: 6th, Evelyn & Romana II + Time Lords & Daleks
Released: August 2000 TTV Episode: 82

My Thoughts: This is the third story with Evelyn Smythe and the Sixth Doctor and the second with the Daleks. Already, the Dalek voices are much better and more in line with Nick Briggs’ New Who work then their previous Big Finish outing.

Though this is a four-episode story, it is similar to the Invasion of Time in that it has two distinct sections. Disc 1 is the Etra Prime Incident and Disc 2 is a Dalek Invasion of Gallifrey. I’ve read that RTD considers this to be part of the Time War or at least part of the lead-up to the Time War.

This is one of my favorite Big Finish Dalek stories. It’s well written and doesn’t drag in the middle. We start out with a temporal treaty being signed by Gallifrey and the other temporal powers on the planet Archetryx. The Doctor and Evelyn arrive in the midst of this.

Twenty years prior, a delegation was on the nearby planet of Etra Prime when it disappeared. Among these delegates is a newly elected President Romanavoradtrelundar. Over the course of the first disc, the Daleks attack the treaty and Etra Prime reappears.

The Daleks are pushed back enough for the delegates to escape and Romana manages to escape and reunite with the Doctor. The Daleks have been mining an element from Etra Prime and synthesizing it in the bowels of Archetryx. The element (of which the story’s title comes from) is highly destructive and unstable.

The survivors of the treaty delegation flee to Gallifrey, followed closely by the Daleks. The Daleks trick CIA coordinator Vansell (returning after his appearance in The Sirens of Time) into letting them into Gallifrey by showing him tech that he wants to get his hands on. Meanwhile, the element has been released in a neighboring galaxy.

What follows is a race against time to contain the element’s destructive force. Colin Baker shines in this story and using Evelyn’s retina print as a slowing measure on the Daleks gives an explanation for the human eye lock and key from the TV Movie.

Overall, a fun exciting story that continues Big Finish’s trend of giving the Sixth Doctor great stories. Evelyn continues to shine, the Daleks are done well and Romana II is given good material that doesn’t sideline her. If you plan to listen to the Gallifrey audio series, I would recommend listening to the Gallifrey arc in the Main Range first. That being: The Sirens of Time, The Apocalypse Element, Neverland and Zagreus.

Rating: 10/10

12 The Fires of Vulcan
Written by: Steve Lyons
Featuring: 7th & Mel
Released: September 2000
TTV Episode: 146

My Thoughts: Fires of Vulcan is a slow burn, especially in Part 1. It’s very good, but it’s a slow, character-driven story. Featuring the Seventh Doctor and Mel, you’d expect a jokey doctor who mixes his metaphors and plays the spoons. Instead, we get a dark, melancholy, introspective Doctor.

The story starts with archaeologists finding a Police Box in the ruins of Pompeii which is hushed up by UNIT. The Doctor was told of this in his Fifth incarnation and since been dreading the next time he visits the doomed city.

This presents the main conflict of the story with the Doctor resigned to his fate while Mel brims with hope and tries everything she can to avoid that fate. Everything else spirals out from this as the Doctor and Mel interact with the locals. The Doctor angering a gladiator when attempting to gather some funds, their arrival being witnessed by a slave that takes them for servants of Isis, etc.

This really is a good story, it’s not a big action story with galactic importance, but instead a quiet historical with an underlying tone of hope and escaping fate. It’s slow, and has some really good ideas, though it picks up by Part 4 with the actual eruption. Maybe it’s just the pure historical aspect that bores me here. Overall though, a really good story.

Rating: 8.5/10

13 The Shadow of the Scourge (Side Step)
Written by: Paul Cornell Featuring:
7th, Ace & Bernice
Released: October 2000
TTV Episode: 231

My Thoughts: This is one of three Main Range “Side Steps” that took a look at other mediums of Doctor Who, namely using characters from the Virgin New Adventures and the Doctor Who Magazine comic strips.

This release takes us into the world of the Virgin New Adventures line of novels that continued the Seventh Doctor’s story after Survival. This story is set between the novels All-Consuming Fire and Blood Harvest. The general idea of this story is that there are several different conventions happening at the same time in a hotel in Kent. These being a cross-stitch convention, an experiment in time travel and a spiritual retreat. The spiritual retreat becomes the main focus of an extra-dimensional race of conquerors known as the Scourge who feed on fear, grief, sadness and other negative emotions.

This story sees the dark, scheming, plan-within-a-plan Seventh Doctor from the New Adventures. I’ve only read a handful of this series and don’t really remember more than vague plot-points and general ideas. However, it has a slight feel of Invasion of Time in as which the Doctor claims to be aiding the monsters in their invasion in order to defeat them.

As the story progresses though, things begin to fall apart as the Doctor’s schemes starting failing. There are also several mindscape scenes with Doctor, Benny and a Scourge. Very dark, if you like the New Adventures novels or just like dark stories with a fallible Doctor, you’ll probably enjoy this. It’s a decent story that does focus on hope at the end, just not one of my favorites.

Rating: 6/10

14 The Holy Terror (Side Step)
Written by: Robert Shearman
Featuring: 6th & Frobisher
Released: November 2000
TTV Episode: 203

My Thoughts: The Holy Terror is an interesting tale. Essentially, the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher arrive in a castle where the Emperor/God has died and his son is about to succeed him after the TARDIS goes on strike. I could talk about the plot, but I won’t.

This is a tale about religion, the nature of tradition, free will, fathers and sons, guilt. It’s rather quite brilliant. And, it gets deep, very deep. By the end, you might find yourself tearing up a bit.

Robert Shearman, who would go on to write The Chimes of Midnight, Jubilee and Scherzo for Big Finish and Dalek for TV, is a writer who can really build layers to his stories. Sometimes it takes a second or third listen to really appreciate his stories.

As to the companion, Frobisher is a shape-shifting Wifferdill who takes the form of a penguin. He first appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comics. A really good story with depth and emotional payoff. Good acting really continues the softer Sixth Doctor arc that Big Finish gave us. If you haven’t already, go listen to it.

Rating: 10/10

15 The Mutant Phase (Dalek Empire: Part Three)
Written by: Nicholas Briggs Featuring: 5th & Nyssa + Thals & Daleks
Released: December 2000
TTV Episode: 82

My Thoughts: The Mutant Phase is Big Finish’s third Dalek story and features the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. After the patient Daleks and Dalek Duplicates of the Genocide Machine, and the Dalek Invasion of Apocalypse Element, we have scared Daleks and time corridors. Essentially, the Daleks are mutating into something new and they are afraid. Moving between the Dalek Invasion in 2158 and the 43 rd century, we encounter Daleks, Thals and the last surviving humans after some major cataclysm that decimated the earth.

It is a bit slow, especially the first half as we slowly set into place all the puzzle pieces. It’s interesting and well-acted, and the inclusion of a reference to Alaska from Land of the Dead help ground in context with other Big Finish releases.

This is story ripe with paradoxes and alternate timelines. Starting in Part 3 and then especially in Part 4, the puzzle pieces come together. This is a thinking man’s story where you have to pay attention in order to understand what’s going as things are revealed.

A good story. The performances are well done, the Doctor and Nyssa in particular. Originally this was an Audio Visual play, so it has it’s origins there. A good listen for those who enjoy a more technical-based story about time travel and its hazards. Rating: 8/10

16 Storm Warning
Written by: Alan Barnes
Featuring: 8th & Charley
Released: January 2001
TTV Episode: 53

My Thoughts: Welcome back, Paul McGann! Though the Stones of Venice was recorded first and the Mary Shelly trilogy (Main Range 153-155) occurs before this one, this was the first we’d heard from the Eighth Doctor since the TV movie. Yes, there was the BBC book line and the Doctor Who Magazine comics, but this was the first time we’d had Paul McGann back, and with a new version of the main theme (by Sherlock composer David Arnold).

We start with a prologue that features McGann giving a monologue as the Doctor encounters a crashed timeship stuck in the vortex that’s being swarmed by Vortisaurs (think space Pterodactyls).

We then move to the R-101, an airship (zeppelin) that is departing on its maiden voyage from England to India in October 1930. However, there’s more here than meets the eye. The R-101 is on a secret mission to return a mysterious passenger to its people, there are two stowaways: the Doctor, who lands in a ballast tank and soon after loses the TARDIS, and Charlotte “Charley” Pollard, Edwardian adventuress and soon-to-be companion.

The story just flies by. It’s fun, enjoyable and doesn’t seem to drag anywhere. The characters are enjoyable, the acting is excellent, the sound design works. This is one of my favorites and a good jumping off point for Big Finish. Both companions that Big Finish has created thus far, Charley and Evelyn, are both excellent. Be aware that there is an ongoing story arc to the Eighth Doctor stories, as there is with Evelyn. Most of the stories so far have been ones where you can jump in without having heard previous ones. The Eight/Charley stories are best listened to in order.

Rating: 10/10

17 Sword of Orion
Written by: Nicholas Briggs
Featuring: 8th & Charley + Cybermen
Released: February 2001
TTV Episode: 53

My Thoughts: Close on the heels of Storm Warning, Sword of Orion finds the Doctor and Charley trying to take care of Ramsey the Vortisaur and release him back into the vortex. Ramsey is sick and so the Doctor takes Charley to the Garazone Bazaar to find a cure.

The Bazaar is excellently realized. It’s got a great soundscape that really brings it to life. Anyway, the Doctor and Charley find a book at a booth that might help them and head back to the TARDIS, which is being loaded onto a junk scavenging ship. They sneak in and find the TARDIS.

In the meantime, the junkers find an abandoned star destroyer that no one has bothered to claim for salvage because of its size. The salvagers send over a recon team at the same time the Doctor and Charley have landed on the destroyer in the TARDIS. Circumstances force the Doctor and Charley out of the TARDIS and one of salvage crew is murdered.

After initial accusations, the two groups end up joining forces against the Cybermen who inhabit the destroyer. I really enjoy this one because as soon as they reach the cybership and join forces, it becomes a typical Cybermen base-under-siege story.

The acting is good though, and the music is superb. While other reviewers I’ve read have hated this story because it’s a very paint-by-numbers Cyberman story, I still really enjoy it. Be aware that this also sort of sets up and acts as a prequel to Big Finish’s Cyberman series.

Rating: 9.5/10

18 The Stones of Venice
Written by: Paul Magrs
Featuring: 8th & Charley
Released: March 2001
TTV Episode: 53

My Thoughts: So, a little background on this one. First, this is one of a handful of stories whose synopses were used for trying to bring Tom Baker into the Big Finish family in 2001 (along with Spectre of Lanyon Moor and the Holy Terror). Second, although Storm Warning was released first and takes place first, this story was the first story that Paul McGann recorded upon his return to the Eighth Doctor.

I’ve found that I’ve appreciated and enjoyed this story more on each subsequent listen. At its core, Stones of Venice is a love story. The atmosphere of future Venice is well done and feels like nothing much has changed since the Renaissance.

The story opens with a cold open (as all these first four Eight and Charley stories do) where the Doctor and Charley are escaping a revolution of their own making. Kinda would’ve liked to hear this adventure instead of Minuet in Hell. Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor puts the kettle on and decides to take Charley to Venice for a vacation of sorts.

Arriving in Venice, we find not the Renaissance but instead the future where the city is poised to finally sink into the swamps from which it sprung. In the first episode, we are introduced to all the main characters. There’s Duke Orsino (played by Michael Sheard) whose love, Duchess Estella, cursed the city and him to remain unchanged for a century before disappearing after he gambled her away on their wedding night. There’s the mysterious old woman, Eleanor Lavish who is more than she seems. There’s Pietro the Gondolier, a member of the amphibious underclass who can’t wait for the city to fall. There’s Churchwell, Orsino’s curator who wants nothing else than to save the art at the main gallery. And finally, there’s Vincenzo, the leader of the cult of Estella (played by Mark Gatiss) who skulk around the city in hopes of bringing about the return of the Duchess. It is into this rich atmosphere that the Doctor and Charley find themselves.

After being separated, the Doctor and Churchwell find themselves at the mercy of the cult while Charley finds herself at the mercy of Pietro and the Gondoliers as both groups vie for power over the return of Estella. The Gondoliers trying to speed up the fall of Venice so they can reclaim it while the cultists eagerly awaiting the resurrection of Estella. As the story progresses though everyone is reunited for a powerful, emotional finish.

At its heart, Stones of Venice is a love story. Both between the Duke and Estella and just for Venice as a whole. It’s interesting, having listened to parts of McGann’s recent releases to hear how young he sounds in this. And yet, it’s still McGann. This is the romantic, eager, fun Eighth Doctor before tragedy struck and before the darker, more serious tone of the boxsets and the Time War. I didn’t care for this one that much when I first heard it, but subsequent listenings have increased my appreciation for this story. Rating: 7.5/10

19 Minuet in Hell
Written by: Alan W. Lear and Gary Russell
Featuring: 8th , Charley & the Brigadier
Released: April 2001
TTV Episode: 64

My Thoughts: So, Minuet in Hell. I’m sure if you’ve been following me on these reviews or heard my feedback on the show, you know that I have a supreme dislike for this story. Really, it’s kinda hard to say why. As a concept, it’s not terrible and it has some good ideas. It’s necessary for completists, both from a collecting standpoint and an Eighth Doctor’s Big Finish run standpoint. I guess there’s just so much little stuff, that I really have a hard time overlooking and therefore enjoying this story.

I guess the biggest complaint with this is the subject matter. I’m not a fan of supernatural stories. The Hellfire Club just rubs me the wrong way. Even though the “demons” turn out not to be “demons”, it’s getting there that I don’t like. There are the institute and brain experiments, I don’t mind that. If they’d focused solely on that, I might’ve found this more enjoyable.

The accents are questionable at best, downright offensive at worst. They sound like a cross between Deep South and Texas. The main villain, Brigham Elisha Dashwood III, is played by Robert Jezek (who is better known as the voice of Frobisher) and is a politician gunning for the governorship of the fifty-first state of the union and then hopefully President. While at the same time, feeling like an exaggerated caricature of a Televangelist who’s secretly a devil worshipper. Maybe that’s the most offensive.

The Eighth Doctor gets to meet the Brigadier. Yay! The Brig is really the only saving grace of this story. And it’s a shame that this is the only true meeting between the characters on audio. Yes, both actors will appear in Zagreus, but Nicholas Courtney isn’t really playing the Brig, and the Eighth Doctor is barely himself.

Speaking of the Doctor. He spends most of his screentime whimpering with amnesia, a trope that had kinda been overdone with the Eighth Doctor by this point. Meanwhile, Nick Briggs plays Gideon Crane, an unfortunate man who happens to run afoul of the TARDIS and fall under Jackson Lake (see The Next Doctor) syndrome where he thinks he’s the Doctor.

I read the summary found in the Big Finish Companion Volume 1 for this story. It’s not that bad of an idea. The way the plot summary is written makes it sound like something interesting that I’d like to listen to. And yet, actually listening to it, I struggle to get into it. I think that the accents are the biggest offender here. They’re British people trying to be Texan, or southern, or something. The biggest offenders are Dashwood, Becky Lee and the worst being Senator Pickering/Marchosias.

I think this is a story that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. A political story, a supernatural story, a scientific experiment story, an Eight meets Brig story. It just kinda throws them all into the pot and stirs. Oh, and they close out the Ramsey the Vortisaur storyline that’s been hanging around in the background of these first four Eighth Doctor plays and there are a few lines about Charley being dead to further the Web of Time arc. I’ll admit, I didn’t even finish the story this time around. I just couldn’t get into it. It tries so hard and then fails in so many ways.

Rating: 1/10

20 Loups-Garoux
Written by: Marc Platt
Featuring: 5th & Turlough
Released: May 2001
TTV Episode: 106

My Thoughts: Loups-Garoux (pronounced Loo Gar-oo) is the second Big Finish story featuring the Fifth Doctor traveling alone with Turlough between Resurrection of the Daleks and Planet of Fire. At its core, it’s a Doctor Who Werewolf story.

The Doctor and Turlough arrive in Rio de Janeiro in 2080. The Amazon is a desert and Carnival is about to begin. As the story progresses they are drawn into a battle for dominance over who is to be the leader of the werewolves, the vicious, ancient murderer Pieter Stubbe, or the kind, weary Ileana de Santos (played by Eleanor Bron).

What plays out is a typical Fifth Doctor story. Ileana and her entourage flee Rio by private monorail across the desert heading to the Santos cattle ranch out in the middle of the desert for a big meeting with all the other werewolves. The Doctor and Turlough follow. Ileana’s son Victor is ill and stuck in the form of a wolf. Also, there’s Rosa who descended from Shamans of a lost tribe of the region who plays into things when Turlough gets thrown off the train and later in the conclusion.

It’s an enjoyable story, the acting and sound design works well. The accents are fine (as opposed to the previous story) and for fans of the werewolf genera, this is a good story. As I’m not a fan of the genre, then it gets a slightly lower rating because I’m not overly fond of the subject matter. That said, an enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours.

Rating: 7/10

So, that’s my assessment of the second ten releases from Big Finish’s Doctor Who Main Range. At some point, I’ll have another ten listened to, and can supply another guide for those interested in dipping their toes into Big Finish. Again, this is not a fast process so the next installment might be a while.

Happy travels,

Jamie.

Big Finish Reviews – Main Range 1-10

Listener Jamie, who has sent a great amount of feedback in the recent weeks, has shared a project that he has been working on. With permission, we are being allowed now, to share it with you. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Big Finish Reviews – Main Range 1-10

Hello travelers of the Time Vortex,

My name is Jamie and I will be your guide through the Worlds of Big Finish. In this letter I will give my thoughts on the first ten releases in the Doctor Who Monthly Range from Big Finish Productions. These are all available from the Big Finish website for download only at $2.99.

The stories that follow are full cast Doctor Who audio dramas featuring the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors as played by Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann respectively. (Though the Eighth Doctor doesn’t appear in this set of stories.) The companions featured that are returning from the TV series are played by the original actors.

On a side note, I consider Big Finish to be on the same level of canon as the TV series. Especially since Moffat had the Eighth Doctor mention all his Big Finish companions (or at least all he’d had at time of filming) during his regeneration scene in Night of the Doctor.

Disclaimer: All of the opinions expressed hereafter are my own. There are stories that I love that others may hate, and vice versa. I am not responsible for any reactions others might have to my comments and opinions.


POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

1 The Sirens of Time
Written by: Nicholas Briggs
Featuring: 5th, 6th, 7th + Time Lords Released: July 1999

TTV Episode: 67

My Thoughts: So, this is the first Doctor Who audio drama that Big Finish made. While they had been producing Bernice Summerfield stories prior to this, this was the first story that featured the Doctor, or rather Doctors. Featuring the 5th, 6th, and 7th Doctors, this story is rather ambitious. Three Doctors and a major threat to Gallifrey itself, it seems Big Finish may have bitten off more than they could chew. It’s a good story, but there are much better ones to come.

Made up of three loosely linked parts each featuring a different Doctor (Part 1 = Seventh Doctor, Part 2 = Fifth Doctor, Part 3 = Sixth Doctor) and a fourth that concludes the story and wraps up loose threads. Highlights include the Doctors meeting, and arguing amongst each other, in Part 4, and the introduction of Vansell, coordinator of the CIA (Celestial Intervention Agency).

A threat to the Time Lords has Vansell racing to speak to the Lord President. The threat is obscured by time distortion, but it is apparent that the Doctor is somehow involved. Part 1 sees the Seventh Doctor stumbling upon a jungle/swamp planet that is a prison to an old man. Part 2 finds the Fifth Doctor coming in contact with the U-Boat that sinks the Lusitania. In Part 3, the Sixth Doctor arrives at the Kurgon Wonder, a mysterious time anomaly. Part 4 finds the three Doctors on Gallifrey as it is being invaded by the Knights of Velyshaa and the mysterious Sirens of Time.

It’s a good story and an enjoyable listen. It’s definitely not the worst I’ve encountered. There are some good ideas in here, and it’s epic scale was a nice idea to bring in listeners and open up the range, but in some ways, it’s too ambitious and could’ve used some more refinement. The cast is good. The three Doctors fall back

into their roles well, and the principle villain does well. While not the best, it does serve as an okay jumping off point for new listeners. Rating: 6/10

On a side note, there is a behind the scenes release called “Talkin ‘Bout My Regeneration” that was originally released with DWM #279 and that is currently available as a free download from Big Finish’s website. Not only does it cover the making of Sirens of Time but also the origins of Big Finish Productions and their Doctor Who audio dramas. Worth checking out if you like bonus behind the scenes material.

2 Phantasmagoria
Written by: Mark Gatiss
Featuring: 5th & Turlough Released: October 1999 T

TV Episode: 76

My Thoughts: A much more contained story after the epic scale of the previous one, Phantasmagoria is a period piece with a bit of good old-fashioned alien menace thrown in. After having three Doctors together with no companions, this story features the 5th Doctor and Turlough.

Set in England 1702, this is a nice little piece of Classic Who. An English country village, a little bit of occult-ish undertones (especially in the first half of the story), and an alien threat in the background. All the building blocks are there. And, while not a true Big Finish masterpiece, it’s a nice contained little story that’s a fun adventure to listen to.

All the pieces fit together nicely. Mark Gatiss does a good job of slipping in little clues that pay off in Episode Four without blatantly spelling things out or making things overly complicated. (Gatiss even guest stars as Jasper Jeake.)

Davison continues his run as the the Doctor with no stumbling blocks to take you out of the performance, and Mark Strickson returns to the role of Turlough well. The guest cast does well and all around it’s a nice little story. Fans of the Fifth Doctor will enjoy it and it’s not continuity heavy so new listeners should be able to find it rather accessible. Rating: 8/10

3 Whispers of Terror
Written by: Justin Richards
Featuring: 6th & Peri Released: November 1999

TTV Episode: 85

My Thoughts: The Sixth Doctor returns in his first solo outing since Slipback in 1986. Paired with companion Peri, the dynamic between them feels reminiscent of what we saw in the first part of Trial of a Time Lord, still bickering but not as harshly as most of his TV run.

This story is set entirely in the Museum of Aural Antiquities and makes good use of audio-only medium. It revolves around a murder mystery and an upcoming Presidental election. A recently deceased actor who shunned the visual, instead focusing on audio was considered the front runner in the election, now his agent has stepped up in his place.

The story is good, a nice mystery with a few twists that make it really enjoyable. Colin Baker seems to return to the role of the Doctor effortlessly. The sound nature of

the plot means that some of effects can be a bit distracting or annoying, but overall enjoyable.

Apart from the Doctor and Peri, this story also features Doctor Who Alumni Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield) as Beth Pernell and Peter Miles (Nyder) as Museum Curator Gantman. A solid story that brings back Colin Baker in fine form, Whispers of Terror is a fun story that capitalizes on the audio medium. Rating: 8/10 (Because Colin Baker has even better stories later.)

4 The Land of the Dead
Written by: Stephen Cole
Featuring: 5th & Nyssa Released: January 2000

TTV Episode: 81

My Thoughts: The second solo outing with the Fifth Doctor, this time with companion Nyssa (Sarah Sutton). The Doctor and Nyssa find themselves in Alaska and almost hit a small airplane. Jump ahead 30 years and they arrive at the home of Shaun Brett, built as a mausoleum to his late father.

Soon, prehistoric monsters made of bone and held together by an energy field emerge and attack the house. This leads to a frantic attempt to survive and escape, while at the time trying to understand the creatures and eliminate the threat they pose to the planet.

Essentially a base-under-siege story, this was Big Finish’s first attempt at Dinosaurs (or at least Dinosaur-like creatures). It’s not a bad story, the action sequences are good and sound design works well. It’s just not great. Still, it’s early days for Big Finish, so I give them some leeway.

The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa do very well though. Sarah Sutton slips right back into the character as if she’d never left. Set between Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity, it works. It’s just that Big Finish goes on to much better stories later on. Rating: 5/10

5 The Fearmonger
Written by: Jonathan Blum
Featuring: 7th & Ace Released: February 2000

TTV Episode: 99

My Thoughts: In the near-future, there’s an election in Britain. The right-wing candidate, Sherilyn Harper is spreading fear through her speeches. Talk radio feeds the fear. Terrorists and assassins seem to be coming out of the woodwork and in the midst of all this is a deadly creature that feeds on fear. The Seventh Doctor and Ace arrive to stop the creature and find themselves in the midst of the excitement.

This was Big Finish’s first majorly political story taking place shortly after Survival. Written in 1999 and released in early 2000, this story now seems a bit prophetic. Harper could very easily be replaced by Trump and set in America and unfortunately be mostly unchanged.

Still, it makes for good drama. The story gives a scheming, brooding Doctor. We don’t get the hysterics that I keep seeing other reviews saying are McCoy’s weak points. We get some nice scenes between the Doctor and Ace that help expand their characters.

An excellent story. The best so far, it really captures the late Seventh Doctor era. A fun, brooding political drama. Seven and Ace are good and the guest stars do well also. The story works well and is an enjoyable listen. Rating: 8/10

6 The Marian Conspiracy
Written by: Jacqueline Rayner
Featuring: 6th & Evelyn Released: March 2000

TTV Episode: 68

My Thoughts: This is the story where the Sixth Doctor’s renaissance with Big Finish truly begins. Introducing Maggie Stables as Dr. Evelyn Smythe, a history professor in her mid-fifties, this story finds the Doctor hunting down a nexus point that threatens the timeline.

It turns out that Evelyn is at the center of the nexus with her family disappearing from history. Because of this, in order to protect Evelyn, the Doctor takes her to Tudor England to prevent the damage. However, instead of the court of Elizabeth I, they find themselves three years early during the reign of Mary I.

I really like this one. We get a softer Sixth Doctor who’s not the abrasive man we saw on TV. Evelyn is a joy to listen to. She’s clever and sassy, and doesn’t take any grief from the Doctor. I feel that Evelyn is the best companion we’ve ever got for the Sixth Doctor.

The other big reason why this is the best story in this range so far, at least for me, is that it takes a person from history who is considered a monster and who I didn’t know much about, and made them sympathetic, human characters. Mary I, who is known by most as Bloody Mary, is treated here not as evil, but misguided. Firm in her beliefs, still doing terrible things but not for the sake of being bad. She truly believed that she was in the right, that this is what God wanted from her.

This is the best from Big Finish so far. An excellent companion introduction, the beginnings of the Sixth Doctor’s reform, and a pure historical that isn’t boring. The only reason this doesn’t get a higher rating, is because we get even better Sixth Doctor stories going forward. Rating: 9/10

7 The Genocide Machine (Dalek Empire: Part One)

Written by: Mike Tucker
Featuring: 7th & Ace + Bev Tarrent, Daleks Released: April 2000
TTV Episode: 74

My Thoughts: Big Finish does their first Dalek story. It’s okay, but they’d go on to have much better ones. The Doctor and Ace are good, but it doesn’t feel like they’re giving it their best. The general plot is that Ace finds a book from the library of Kar-Charat in the TARDIS library and so the Doctor goes to return the book.

This story introduces new recurring character Bev Tarrent who reappears in the Main Range once after this before joining the Bernice Summerfield series. My problem with Bev isn’t that she’s a terrible character. She isn’t. My problem is that she sounds too much like Ace and therefore, it’s hard to tell the two apart.

So, the Library of Kar-Charat is hidden beneath temporal barriers. The Doctor arrives and returns the book. The chief librarian, Elgin, (who is an annoying character,

on purpose though) is eager to show the Doctor around as, because the library is hidden and considered lost, they don’t get many visitors.

Elgin has built a massive wetworks facility which stores a huge amount of data in water. It’s his pride and joy. It turns out the Daleks have been lurking on Kar-Charat, and the surrounding worlds, waiting for a time sensitive to show up so that they can use them to gain access to the library. The Daleks kidnap Ace when she goes outside and replace her with a Dalek duplicate.

The rest of the story is the Daleks using test subjects to download the data of the wetworks for their own nefarious schemes. But it also turns out that the wetworks hold a dark secret. You’ll have to listen to find out the rest.

I will say that the Daleks don’t sound quite right in this one. Voiced by both Nick Briggs (the official voice of the Daleks) and Allister Locke, they don’t always sound right. Otherwise the rest of the cast is fine, the Doctor and Ace are a little sub-par, especially after such good performances in the Fearmonger. It’s not an awful story, but there are so many better Dalek stories later on. Rating: 6/10

8 Red Dawn
Written by: Justin Richards
Featuring: 5th & Peri + Ice Warriors Released: May 2000

TTV Episode: 219

My Thoughts: Right on the heels of the Daleks comes the next classic monster from Big Finish: the Ice Warriors. This is one of those stories where it feels like the Doctor is just along for the ride. The plot revolves around the first manned mission to Mars.

Essentially, there’s a manned mission to Mars to investigate an anomaly on the surface. The Doctor and Peri just happen to land inside the anomaly at the same time. The two groups meet and discover that the anomaly is a Martian (Ice Warrior) tomb.

What follows is an enjoyable story, however it’s not as exciting as it could be. While the existence of a spy on the Mars mission and the general threat from the Ice Warriors help make the plot interesting, there’s also a lot of the general space mission stuff and technobable, which is fine if that’s your thing. There are also a lot of discussions on honor, that while they flesh out the character of the main Ice Warrior, they also slow down the story a bit.

Overall, it’s a fine Doctor Who story, it’s just not in the top tier. It’s good if they’re your favorite monster or if Davison is your favorite Doctor, but I found it middle of the road. Not terrible, enjoyable even, just average. Rating: 6/10

9 The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
Written by: Nicholas Pegg
Featuring: 6th, Evelyn & the Brigadier Released: June 2000
TTV Episode: 68

My Thoughts: The second outing for the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn is another fun story. Mysterious goings on in Lanyon Moor, an archaeological dig, a nobleman using the arcane arts as a means to his rise to power. All the elements of a good Doctor Who story are here.

The Doctor and Evelyn land in Cornwall, in the middle of Lanyon Moor. Nearby is an ancient fogou, a stone tomb or temple like structure. There is a dig going on there and when found, the Doctor and Evelyn are taken to the dig’s headquarters. There, they meet the Brigadier who is there on vacation (and on an undercover mission for UNIT).

This is the Sixth Doctor first meeting with the Brig, they would later meet in the novel Shadow in the Glass. The two work well together and Nicholas Courtney falls back into the role with ease.

Along the course of the story, we meet Professor Morgan, Mr. Ludgate and Sir Archibald Flint. Sir Archibald is the resident nobleman who is using the alien menace’s physic field to try to become the messiah, or some such thing. There are several catch and release, or escape, scenes between Evelyn and Sir Archibald.

Overall, an enjoyable story that flies right along. At no point was I bored or wondering when the pace would pick up. The Sixth Doctor continues to get the revival he deserves and Evelyn is shaping up to be one of my favorite companions. Adding the Brig just made this even more enjoyable. Rating: 9/10

10 Winter for the Adept
Written by: Andrew Cartmel
Featuring: 5th & Nyssa Released: July 2000
TTV Episode: 84

My Thoughts: This is a slow one. Taking place in and around a Swiss girl’s school in December 1963, Winter for the Adept is slow burn of a ghost story. The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa fit well into this kind of story, with a small guest cast and atmospheric goings-on.

Essentially, the villains are aliens who rely on the psychic abilities of others. It’s a nice mystery, just not my cup of tea. It’s slow, almost hypnotic in its storytelling. Written by former script editor Andrew Cartmel, it could just as easily be a Seventh Doctor story. Having the Fifth Doctor injects a kindness into the Doctor that might not have been there with the Seventh.

Also introduced here, is India Fisher as Peril Bellamy. Fisher is better known in later releases as companion Charlotte Pollard, but we’ll get to her later. In this, Fisher plays a mischievous girl but still rather different from Charley.

Things wrap up nicely in part four, with everything taken care of and all questions answered. A nice slow, atmospheric ghost story. If you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll probably enjoy this. It’s just not my cup of tea. Rating: 5/10


So, that’s my assessment of the first ten releases from Big Finish’s Doctor Who Main Range. At some point, I’ll have another ten listened to, and can supply another guide for those interested in dipping their toes into Big Finish. This is not a fast process so the next installment might be a while.

Happy travels,

Jamie.

 

The Enemy of the World: A review

The following review is republished with permission from its author, Chrissy.
It can also be found here: cj’s notebook Librarian in the TARDIS: The Enemy of the World

Enemy-of-the-World_2698881bThe Enemy of My Enemy

Librarian in the TARDIS, Bonus Review #2

Title: The Enemy of the World
Written by: David Whitaker
Team TARDIS: Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield
Adversary: Ramon Salamander
Originally Aired: Dec 23, 1967-Jan 27, 1968
Number of Episodes: 6

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) –
On Earth in 2018, the Doctor and his companions are enmeshed in a deadly web of intrigue thanks to his uncanny resemblance to the scientist/politician Salamander. He is hailed as the “shopkeeper of the world” for his efforts to relieve global famine, but why do his rivals keep disappearing? How can he predict so many natural disasters? The Doctor must expose Salamander’s schemes before he takes over the world.

My Review:
The idea to review this story came to me on my way into work today right after I finished watching “The Enemy of the World” on iTunes (let that statement sink in for a bit…) Because this was one that I thought I would enjoy watching and I am so very pleased to report that it lived up to my expectations. So, why not slot in a special Bonus Review to go along with the rest of my 50th Anniversary reviews? (it’s my blog, my project, I do what I want!)

Let me back up – last night, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and the various fansites were all aglow and abuzz with the joyous news of the return of “The Enemy of the World” and “The Web of Fear” to the BBC archives. The joy was even more palpable because both of these stories had been made available to the public immediately via iTunes, with the further announcement of DVD releases for both (“Enemy” next month, “Web” in January 2014). I hadn’t intended on getting either one of them quite yet, mostly because my personal finances are a little bit strapped at the moment (don’t worry – things are fine. It’s just that there are certain things in life that take precedence). However, upon doing a few further calculations, I reasoned that I could purchase one of these two stories. I settled on “The Enemy of the World” because I had watched Episode 3 on the “Lost in Time” box set some months ago and for whatever reason, that’s the one out of all the missing Troughton stories that really resonated with me at the time (I know people are the most excited about “The Web of Fear,” and I will be getting to that one eventually and I have no reason to say anything against it – if indeed there is anything negative to say about it at all. I just haven’t seen it yet, so I have no idea).

So, “The Enemy of the World” it was. And after a 3+ hour download (I’m on my internet provider’s “It’s Better Than Nothing” El Cheapo plan), I was ready to tuck in and enjoy a veritable feast of Who.

And what a feast it was! There are so many things to love about this story and I’ll probably only be able to go in-depth on a few, but it was so very worth the ten bucks (plus whatever the DVD ends up costing – because I’m likely going to drop dineros on that as well).

Here I am wishing they'd taken this approach with all of the DVD cover art! Oh well...

Here I am wishing they’d taken this approach
with all of the DVD cover art! Oh well…

One of the greatest things about this find of Classic Who is that these are two stories that restore the lovely Miss Victoria Waterfield (played by Deborah Watling) to our screens. I’ve said before that I found the dismissal of Victoria as “just a screamer” not very fair, but I didn’t have much evidence to support that. But I am tired of the surface impression of the early Who female companions just being screamers in short skirts (I could do an entire essay on the many ways in which those assertions are wrong – with specific examples – but the people who need to hear them wouldn’t bother to read it anyway). Granted, the Victoria I found in “The Enemy of the World” may be a bit timid, sure. But there’s nothing wrong with being shy and reserved. Remember – Victoria joined Team TARDIS as a result of the death of her father and she didn’t have anywhere else to go (not really). Imagine being thrown into a situation like that – you don’t know who you can trust or how you’re going to be taken care of. Some may not like the idea of Victoria being the poor, weak little girl who needs a big, tough man to protect her – and I wouldn’t even go as far as to say that she needs a man, per se. But what she does need (and what everybody needs at one point or another) is a friend. The Doctor and Jamie become Victoria’s friends because they care about what happens to her. That doesn’t make someone weak or insignificant or less-valued. That makes someone human. And, as often happens on Team TARDIS, those friendships evolve into a feeling of family. Sure, you’re hopping all around in space and time and running from frightening monsters and crazy psychopaths – but as long as you’ve got your adopted family with you, things are going to be just fine. And on that level, I love Victoria’s characterization. I love her bravery and her courage. I love her dependability. I love that she gets scared, but she still steps up when she is needed. That’s what makes a hero. It’s not necessarily the willingness to throw a punch that makes someone heroic

(Though I wouldn’t trade Jamie knocking out a hostile on the beach while shouting “Creig au Tuire!” for anything – that was awesome. But that’s in Jamie’s character and there are things that I love about Jamie that make him different from Victoria or Zoe or Ben or Polly – but I talked a lot about that in my review of “The Evil of the Daleks,” so I’ll let that analysis stand on its own).

But there are a fantastic couple of scenes in Episode 5 where Jamie and Victoria have been captured by Salamander’s men and they’re being interrogated by Benik. And Benik is quite the horrible little sadist. He threatens Victoria, which upsets Jamie but there’s nothing he can really do about it – not without getting Victoria hurt or killed. There were some moments where I actually thought “Holy… this is supposed to be a kids’ show!” (before amending my own thought – “family show.” Still, it was scary stuff! And I’m 28!)

I really liked the iTunes cover art for this story - nice and intense!

I really liked the iTunes cover art for this story – nice and intense!

But then the Doctor comes in, clearly impersonating Salamander and fooling everyone – including Jamie and Victoria – and says that he will continue the interrogations. Which he does – even with Benik and Benik’s little “puppy dog” (as the Doctor calls Random Guard #3) out of the room. And Victoria has had it! She finally tells off “Salamander” and yells what a horrible man he is and all the things she and Jamie found out about him while they were sneaking around his compound in Episodes 2 and 3 – which amounts to the proof the Doctor has been looking for when Astrid and Giles first asked him to help them bring down Salamander (plus, Benik comes back, still thinking the Doctor is Salamander, and hands him some documents to sign. Who knew the catering bills would be so damning?) Jamie gets in the fracas too, thus proving to Bruce that Salamander really is a creep.

And then – just when Victoria and Jamie are so angry that they’re probably going to beat the crap out of “Salamander” (yes, even sweet, innocent Victoria is pissed enough at this point to throw a punch or two), the Doctor reveals to his friends that it’s really him. But neither Jamie nor Victoria quite believe it (who can blame them?) and it’s only when the Doctor plays “air-recorder” (in one of the most heartwarming and delightful moments I’ve seen Patrick Troughton display) that both Jamie and Victoria recognize their friend and their reunion is something that should be ranked on one of those “Top Doctor Who Moments” lists that someone somewhere has probably compiled (we Whovians are fond of our lists).

I haven’t even gotten into any plot elements of this story! The storytelling in “The Enemy of the World” is just so tight and engaging. The only reason I realized that I had already watched four episodes when I suddenly felt very sleepy, on account of it being so late (I decided to go to bed at that point and save the rest for when I was fully alert). This story trucks. It moves and it’s interesting and it’s just so much fun to watch! Patrick Troughton is simply brilliant as both the Doctor and Salamander. The best part about his performance is the subtle differences when he’s the Doctor impersonating Salamander. You know that he’s playing the Doctor playing a different role, but even if you didn’t know that, you would probably be fooled right along with Jamie and Victoria and the rest. And the other characters are phenomenal too. I think my favorites were Astrid and Fariah – Astrid’s kind of the action-lady who saves Team TARDIS from the guys hunting Salamander on the beach at the beginning and Fariah is Salamander’s food taster who actually hates Salamander and she ends up helping the Doctor escape (and sacrificing herself in the process, but her death scene is really quite good).

I could go on and on about this story and how much I enjoyed it. But it’s also such a wonderful treat to FINALLY have it back. It was one of those that I pretty much had resigned myself to never being able to see, but I figured I could listen to the audios and read the novelization – but there’s so much that you miss with just having those little pieces of the story. You miss the facial expressions and the movements and the scenery (the wallpaper in Salamander’s compound – yeah, even that made me laugh) and you miss just what kind of people these characters are. Animation and recons help, but there really is nothing like seeing the story as it was originally broadcast.

Of course, rumors persist and there’s always hope – however dim – for more finds. This huge discovery has brought the number of missing episodes down to 97 (down to double-digits! HOORAY!) and there are expert archivists out there still searching for whatever else they can uncover. There’s still a long way to go to having a complete collection of every Doctor Who episode ever made – and who knows whether or not that’s actually possible…

But for now – we dance!

Movie Review – Oblivion

oblivion-movie-posterWhat to make of Oblivion, the new cinematic event from Joseph Kosinski, the director of TRON: Legacy and the producers of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, starring Tom Cruise?  Well, funny enough, you get exactly what you’d expect mixing those together.  A visionary-looking piece of cinema couched in a strong concept starring Tom Cruise.

Unfortunately while the film strives for so much more, it stalls out there and never manages to get over the hump of how impressive it’s visual flair is or how smart the science fiction should be, which makes it all the more frustrating.

Tom Cruise stars as Jack Harper, a security repairman stationed on an evacuated Earth in 2077.  As we learn in the voice over, aliens attacked the moon and shattered it, causing mass earthquakes and tidal waves before they invaded.  Humanity struck back with nuclear weapons, and defeated them, but left the planet an irradiated wasteland.  Now we’re bugging out, and Jack’s mission is to secure the massive operation to extract vital resources from the planet before joining the rest of the survivors on Titan.  But as the movie unfolds, Jack finds himself drawn into a series of shocking revelations that connect him to Earth of the past.

I’m reminded of a saying of the late great Roger Ebert, who was firm of the belief that if you start a movie with a voice over telling us what happened off camera, you have failed as a filmmaker.  Rule one is show, don’t tell.  I didn’t put much stock in the theory when I first heard it, after all, Star Wars has a prologue and it’s pretty good.  But, the more I started to pay attention to movies that followed this model, the more I realized he was right.  All of the info at the beginning of Oblivion is regurgitated to us again later in the film.  Had it not appeared at the beginning, the beautiful vistas of a ruined planet that Jack flies over (including canyons of skyscrapers that sink from a wide empty plain due to the topography of the planet changing so much) would have been a deeper mystery and added to the atmosphere instead of so much eye candy.  And why tell us at all if you’re gonna repeat the speech almost verbatim later in the movie?  It’s an example of pandering, dumbing down the film so that more people can keep up with it, (at least, that’s the theory) but instead it’s insulting to the audience and damaging to the film.

As for the shocking revelations, well, some were and some weren’t, which oddly, I blame on the production design.  It’s fantastic, by the way, that super high gloss Star Trek/Minority Report look, and really helps sell the visual treat that this movie is, but, eagle eyed viewers will spot the problem that I did relatively quickly, and puncture a hole in the balloon that is that plot surprise.

Which is unfortunate, because Oblivion strives so hard to be smart science fiction.  I very much love smart sci-fi—which in Hollywood can be hard to come by between all the transforming giant robots and insipid end of the world extravaganzas we get treated too every year.  When I find smart sci-fi, I want to praise it highly.  Oblivion could have relied on gun battles and special effects to win us over, and it didn’t.  It took the high road, or tried too.  It even echoed my favorite Tom Cruise film, Vanilla Sky, but the plot just isn’t quite fleshed out enough and starts to rely on just about every science fiction trope in the book by the time it’s done.

In the end, Oblivion is an enjoyable film, and yes, it’s totally worth seeing.  But maybe wait for the cheap theaters or even better, the DVD/Blu-ray release in hopes of seeing a director’s cut.  There’s a phenomenal movie in here somewhere.  I hope it gets found.