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.