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.
