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.
In this week’s episode, we feature more TIme Lord Victorious goodies.
Traveling the Vortex - Episode 474 – Traveling the Victorious – Part 6 – Exterminating the Universe [ 59:26 | 55.84 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
This week we take another break from the Time Lord Victorious event… well, sort of. In this episode, we review the recently released book The Wintertime Paradox, by Dave Rudden. Find out what we thought of this festive collection of stories about Doctor Who at Christmastime.
Our journey through the Time Lord Victorious series continues this week. This time we look at the first book in the epic event story arc, The Knight, the Fool, and the Dead by Steve Cole
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”.
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.)
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
