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,