Tag Archive: reviews

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.