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 | Good Story in Baker Style |
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| What: | The Pyralis Effect (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 14 June 2021 |
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| Rating: |   7 |
The Pyralis Effect has Romana II mostly on her own for the first half. The story itself would fit well in late 70s Doctor Who. The Doctor and Romana land on a seemingly abandoned space ship. Romana discovers an insane android and soon, she is embroiled in an experiment gone wrong scenario when the ship's crew accidentally open a gateway to a transdimensional prison, releasing the dangerour Pyralis. The story operates on two levels, one the put the Djinni back in the bottle level, and the other the who done it level. Sadly, time did not allow the story to go deeper into several areas that really should have been explored.
| What: | Something Inside (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 26 May 2021 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Big, gaping holes in plausibility. So, Doctor and crew arrive inside a prison for former soldiers with augmented psychic powers. Having served their purpose, the psychs are simply rounded up and stuck inside "The Cube" because they now pose a supposed threat to society. Interesting enough idea. Added to this, The Cube is run by two people - Rawden, the man who "made" the psychs, and his pet torturer Mr. Twyst. If you thought that the allegory of those names is more obvious than the presence of air, you would not be wrong. Rawden is a very worried man because something inside The Cube is killing off the psychs, and he doesn't know what it is. If something is killing the psychs and it isn't him, he wants to know. Here are a few of the gaping holes. First, this prison is run by just two, that's right, two people. Where is the staff? The Cube has levels, so certainly should house more than just the four psychs we run across. Where are the canteen and toilet facilities? We are led to believe that Rawden made the psychs, but he is technological ignoramus, so how did he do it? The Brain Worm that eats people's minds and leaves gaping holes in The Doctor's memories seems to have taken a few bites out of the plot of this.
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| Decent Far Edge of the Universe Story |
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| What: | White Ghosts (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 17 May 2021 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
"White Ghosts" has many elements that we know well from the long history of Doctor Who. Doctor 4 and Leela find themselves way way out where even the TARDIS has trouble navigating. There, a scientific station studying a strange planetoid is more than just a scientific study. There are shades of "Planet of Evil" here. Tied to the plot is an environmentalist message and an interesting way to revisit The Doctor's ethics. It doesn't break new ground, and does get dragged by a few bits of preposterousness, but overall "White Ghosts" is pretty entertaining.
| What: | Ghost Light (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 15 May 2021 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
"Ghost Light" the TV serial suffered from two major problems: 1) That it was a 4-part idea stuffed into a 3-part serial, and 2) Marc Platt's method of never revealing significant information directly. Thus, on TV, "Ghost Light" came across as a mulligan stew of ideas and set pieces with few apparent connections. Platt's novelization of his script provides much of the missing information and a few missing scenes that help give the story some sense of design. Platt has mainly tried to write an allegory of evolution set in a Victorian haunted mansion that is more like a madhouse. There are many juicy ideas and clever bits. It still does not quite come together, and large holes remain. Just how is Josiah Samuel Smith able to hypnotize or otherwise take over the minds of the people in this house, and do so almost effortlessly? Why is Smith so obsessed with the idea that Control is evil? Why does Control start evolving, and why now? What kind of superbeing is Light that sets about cataloguing all life, yet is unaware of and refuses to acknowledge that evolution is a rule of life? So many questions remain unanswered.
| What: | Battlefield (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 7 May 2021 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
The second Doctor Who script from Ben Aaronovitch was a disappointment after the well designed "Remembrance of the Daleks." In rough outline, "Battlefield" is quite similar. It has two contending alien factions (in this case from a parallel universe) that should not be on Earth fighting a battle on Earth to capture an object of great power. It also has The Doctor as somehow guardian or otherwise responsible for this artifact. Unfortunately, the formula was not as effective the second time. One reason is that the motives of the factions, and who is on whose side, are not always clear. This had been a problem in "Remembrance," but becomes a major problem in "Battlefield." More importantly, the background is not as carefully worked out, creating huge gaps in the plot, leaving the viewer wondering just why things are happening in the way they are happening. Plus, the issue on which the plot hangs, that of world-destroying power (nuclear weapons) being carelessly managed for the personal gain of the powerful, arrives late in this script; whereas, the issue in "Remembrance" of racism is clear throughout. The biggest problem, though, is the attempt to recreate the King Arthur legends in Doctor Who terms. While it had been long a fan wet-dream to have The Doctor as Merlin, when it came to actually making that connection, it came across as artificial, forced, and too tiresomely obvious to bother with.
Marc Platt's novelization of the script goes a long way to fixing some of the most troublesome problems of the script. Most importantly, many of the missing explanations that would have made the TV version less of a muddied mess are in the novel. Thus, the reader finally understands that clearly the Arthur-related characters come from a parallel universe in which there is a strange mix of technology and magic, that Morgaine's magic is not as effective in our dimension than in hers, that Excalibur is more than just a sword, how the future Doctor/Merlin may have escaped being frozen by Morgaine, and more. It also explains why The Doctor is so interested in names, such as Winifred and Ancelyn. Still, Platt loves revealing things obscurely (a trait common in his scripts for Big Finish audios), and so the reader gets information through point of view of such things as the TARDIS and the sword, or through what appear to be throwaway bits of dialogue.
In the end, "Battlefield" as a novel is still a flawed story, but is much more enjoyable and sensible than the TV original.
| What: | Time Works (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 4 May 2021 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Time Works is an odd little item from Steve Lyons. It has an interesting premise of the Doctor and companions stuck in a time between times, as in The Space Museum, and then one getting separated from the others back in the normal course of events. The mystery is what makes this society tick. Everyone is obsessed with time and being useful, and their entire vocabulary is fitted around clock metaphors. They fear The Clockwork Men, whom they never see, though they see the effects. It's a world where nothing fits quite right - a medieval society with bits of technology from later eras, seemingly random excisions of people from time, and so on. The payoff at the end drags this one down a bit. Not only is it disappointing that it's just a mad computer running everything, but also there are too many gaps in the how and why. I kept thinking of the obvious questions to put to the computer that the Doctor never states: What do you mean by "completion"? What is the goal of the project? How will you know when you're done? I think that drama is not Lyons' best medium, as his novels are so much more thought through than the dramas.
| What: | The Magician's Oath (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 4 May 2021 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Here we have Mike Yates, much older and wiser, but still lonely, turning in an item of interest to UNIT, a playing card, and telling the silent clerk there about how he came by the card. This is a very UNIT story. It's set entirely in London and based on an unknown effect that is instantly freezing people to death. All of this apparently centers on a street magician who can influence Jo and knows far too much than he should about Mike. The story itself has an interesting buildup, but dissolves into destroy the monster. Richard Franklin does a great impression of both Jon Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney. It makes an enjoyable listen.
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| So Much Promise Falls Flat |
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Stephen Wyatt's previous Doctor Who, "Paradise Towers," shares much in common with this one. Both start from very interesting premises. Both incorporate strange resettings of character tropes. Both build a mystery through an intriguing two thirds of the story. And both fail when the big reveal finally happens. Here, Doctor 7 and Ace get visited by an advertising satellite, space junk mail, promoting the Psychic Circus, the "Greatest Show in the Galaxy." Of course, nothing is as it seems. Beings from around the Galaxy are invited to perform in the circus to compete from some unnamed great prize. This leads to a number of bizarre types of people heading to the circus. The circus, though, is turned into some kind of weird killing enterprise to appease some unknown power. The problematic ending drags this story down for me. It's a rabbit-out-of-hat sort of ending in which the Doctor just seems to "know" what is going on and how to fix without much preparation for the reader on how he knows. Also, the reveal does not make much sense. Wyatt has tried in his novelization to correct some of this, with many broad hints about how the Doctor is seeing clues that others miss and that maybe he had an idea about it all from the moment the junk mailer entered the TARDIS. These touches really do not fix enough of the problems to make the ending any more sensible or satisfying than it originally was.
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| Very Good Job of Recapturing 1971 |
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| What: | The Doll of Death (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 18 April 2021 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
"The Doll of Death" is both one of the better Companion Chronicles outings and one of Marc Platt's better scripts. It is still Platt's usual twisted reality sort of story, but the twists makes sense and follow a logic. Basically, The Doctor, Jo, The Brigadier, and Benton get involved with a device that bridges the gap between this universe and a universe that runs in backward time. It would have fit very well in 1971-2 Doctor Who. Katy Manning does an excellent job of voicing various characters. All in all, this was a very satisfying listen.
| What: | Silver Nemesis (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Thursday 8 April 2021 |
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| Rating: | 2 |
Interestingly, "Silver Nemesis" has a plot similar to the one in "Remembrance of the Daleks" from earlier in this season. The Doctor has gone back to Earth to make sure that he properly deals with a superweapon he left behind, only now one of his oldest enemies is out to get it. But, whereas "Remembrance" has some tight parallel plotting, a central theme to keep the story on track, and background that makes most of it make sense, "Nemesis" is all strands and loose ends. How does De Flores know about Nemesis? How do the Cybermen know about Lady Peinforte? How does Lady Peinforte know how to make a magic potion that will transport her in time? How can such a concoction be so precise? In "Remembrance," every scene advances the story in some way. There are bits in "Nemesis" that are just silly. For instance, the mention that gold dust affects Cybermen's chest units in "Revenge of the Cybermen" now becomes the idea that by merely coming into contact with gold in any form will instantly kill Cybermen. The gold dust idea makes at least a bit of sense, but lodging a gold coin in a Cyberman's chest unit? In "Nemesis," there are too many throw-away scenes, such as the encounter with the skinheads and the ride in the rich American's car. In his novelization of his own TV script, Kevin Clarke does little to correct any of these errors. "Silver Nemesis" was a very weak story in broadcast, and it remains a weak story in novelization.
| What: | The Emperor of Eternity (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 6 April 2021 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
This time around, it's a historical for Doctor 2, Victoria, and Jamie. They travel to the time of the first Emperor of China. It's a time of state brutality and court intrigue. Nigel Robinson has kept his story pitched at the level of Doctor Who 1966, with a fairly straightforward moral sensibility of clear good guys and clear bad guys. The simplicity of the perspective drags it down a bit for me.
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| Anti-Genesis Of The Daleks |
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| What: | The War Master: Anti-Genesis (The War Master audios) |
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| By: | Ian Cotterill, Chipping Norton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 3 April 2021 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
WARNING! THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.
I recently finished listening to 'The War Master: Anti-Genesis' and I have to say, I thought it was a really good story, brilliantly twisting the events of 'Genesis Of The Daleks', as the Master murders Davros and usurps his position as the Daleks' creator. Derek Jacobi really shines as the Master here, as does Mark Gatiss' 'Unbound' incarnation, who gets recruited by the Dalek Time Strategist to put the timelines back on track. There are also some great guest characters, such as Franchi Webb who plays the tragic Time Lord soldier, Lamarius, and Seán Carlsen makes a great return as CIA coordinator Narvin.
If I have one slight criticism, I'm not sure the events on depicted on Skaro quite tallies with the chain of events established in the 2006 series 'I, Davros'. But then, since the whole premise of this story is history being distorted, I think I can live with any continuity inconsistencies.I also thought the 'Unbound' Master's escape at the end felt a bit rushed and confused, but I do like that the possibility of his returning in future audios has been left open.
All in all, this is probably my favourite 'Time War' story done by Big Finish, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who has yet to listen to it.
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| Time Lords Splendiferous in Covid Crisis |
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I've finally managed to thoroughly read a published sample of the concept created during the dreaded Covid invasion, when the new series was unfortunately placed in undetermined temporary hiatus. And Mr Ball (to paraphrase one of the primary side characters in the story) wholeheartedly agrees with me on the assumption that Ms. McCormack has delivered a top-notch Multi-Doctor versus the Daleks encounter during the fan-created legendary era of the Dark Times -- and sometimes each other.
| What: | The Well-Mannered War (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | John Bullock, Hoylake, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 17 March 2021 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The Well-mannered War (SPOILERS)
The TARDIS thrown of course into the very distance future arrives on the planetoid of Barclow. Here two opposing armies are engaged in a war. The humans from the nearby colony of Metralubit are at 'war' with the Chelonians who also claim the planetoid. However the armies on friendly terms never engage in combat as they await the publication of a report to resolve the conflict. Meanwhile a mysterious darkness is determined to turn this 'well-mannered' war into something much more discourteous.
It's with much sadness that I reach the 33rd and final book in the Missing Adventures. There has been highs and lows, thankfully far more highs. Well-mannered war certainly finishes the series on a high. Gareth Roberts is a master at writing season 17 style stories, this being his 3rd new adventure featuring this TARDIS team. He perfectly recreates all the TARDIS crew and captures the humour of the era perfectly. Lovely little touches like the Tea Lady. I love the Chelonians and it's great to have them back for a final story in the virgin range.
When the book starts off and you assume it's going to be about keeping the war going for political gain and the politics are probably more relevant today than 24 years ago when the book was written, a couple of examples:
'A predicted election result after a vigorous and costly programme of disinformation, scandal mongering and general besmirching of theOpposition.' She smiled again. 'A totally negative campaign.'
'He saw Rabley's entire career compressed
into a few seconds. Rallies, extremist meetings, his youth as a long- haired dissenter, his membership of the Rebel Labourers' Party. All of this was set
to a threatening, rumbling piece of music. And then six words appeared, one after the other, outlined in throbbing red, each one accompanied by a thunderclap. DO YOU TRUST THIS EVIL MAN?
Excellent, Liris,' said Harmock, rubbing his hands together. 'It says absolutely nothing about me or my policies. You've done very well. Have it
released immediately'
The book quickly moves away from politics and introduces a new enemy. The flies make for a grotesque villian, possessing dead rotting bodies and animating a truly horrifying talking decapitated head. The flies really worked as a monster and totally play on my own fears of being caught in a swarm. The story twists and turns and you kept guessing as to who the real enemy is. The final reveal of who is behind everything I certainty wasn't expecting and makes for a marvelous final twist (that I won't reveal here).
Well-Mannered War is Gareth Roberts at his best, proving him to be a fantastic writer of Doctor Who. This is a definite must read in the MAs. Copies are quite hard to come by (and expensive) so If you can't get a physical copy pdfs are available. What a way to to finish a series, leave them on a cliffhanger wanting more. Fantastic stuff 10 /10.
| What: | Resistance (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 8 March 2021 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
This addition to the Companion Chronicles is a bit different in that the companion is not telling the story to anyone in particular, but simply telling the story. Actually, telling a little more than half, since another character tells parts of his side of the story. The story is set in Vichy France as the tide of the war is turning against the Nazis. Doctor 2, Polly, Ben, and Jamie get separated, and Polly and the Doctor get caught up in the resistance, while trying to reunite with the lost companions. Steve Lyons does his usual excellent job of portraying characters with conflicted loyalties. It's an entertaining story. I think a full dramatization would have better served it.
| What: | The Happiness Patrol (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 8 March 2021 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
The Happiness Patrol is a bit of a misfire. I think the writer, Graeme Curry, never quite decided what he wanted it to be. Was it to be a satire of Thatcherite politics? There's a bit of that. Is it to be a gloomy dystopia? There's a bit of that. Is it to be a version of The Avengers in outer space? There's a bit of that. The mix just does not blend well. I got the feeling when watching the original on TV that much of the script was cut to make it a three-part story. Curry's novelization of his script reinforces that suspicion, with several additional scenes that make sense of how characters get from here to there. Also, I understand that the TV version of the Kandy Man was not fully in keeping with Curry's vision of the character, which he keeps in this novel and is far better than the one that ended up on the TV. Still, the major flaws of the story remain intact in this novelization.
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| Excellent follow-up to Web of Fear |
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| What: | Fear of Light: (Miscellaneous original novels) |
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| By: | Alex Pass, Hastings, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 15 February 2021 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
This has a slightly adult tone more akin to the 1990s New Adventures novels but I personally felt that this worked really well, especially given the Lovecraftian nature of the "formless, shapeless" adversary that is the Great Intelligence. This slotted in nicely following a recent rewatch of the original Web of Fear TV story and the returning characters from that serial were captured perfectly on the page.
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| One of the Better Novelizations |
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| What: | Remembrance of the Daleks (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 14 February 2021 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Ben Aaronovitch took the time to make his adaptation of his first Doctor Who script into a real novel. It has descriptions, interior monologue, additional information, all of which makes this one a very enjoyable read. Aaronovitch took the WWII connections that Terry Nation worked up with the Daleks, and went better than Nation by getting to the heart of the issue rather than staying on superficial similarities. Aaronovitch takes on racism, the concept of racial purity, the resentments of working class men that leads them to embrace racism, and weaves them together quite well. Thus, while we have parallel stories - the Dalek race war and the Mike Smith and Ratcliffe work for the "Association" to bring fascism back to British politics and Ace's memories of her Pakistani friend whose house is burnt down by racists - the stories are parallel in theme rather than parallel in plot. To enhance the theme, he very firmly establishes Rachel Jensen as Jewish and explores a bit of her and Ian Gilmore's memories of World War II. This is also the story that introduces us to Doctor VIII the schemer, the one with complicated plans in motion and personal secrets. While the novel has many strengths, there are few little problem areas. It is hard to keep track of the two Dalek factions. I was never convinced by the idea of a girl who can shoot blue lightning from her hands. There are even larger hints that The Doctor was around at the time of Rassilon and Omega than there were in the TV episode. It is an idea I do not like. The Doctor is clearly established as from a much later time. Ultimately, though, this is a novelization well worth reading.
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| A Surprisingly Active Ghost |
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| What: | The Drowned World (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 8 February 2021 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Sara Kingdom is a ghost in a house on a planet in her own far future. She must justify her existence by telling stories to a representative of this planet who will put the case to the Elders for her continued existence. She tells him the story of when she "died" but was returned alive on a watery asteroid occupied by distraught miners. This is a sequel to "Home Truths." Sara is established as a "ghost" of a kind, but a fully interactive and very chatty one. Jean Marsh and Niall MacGregor trade roles as narrator, and this one is more like a conversation than other Companion Chronicles, which come across primarily as monologues.
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| A funny fing 'appened at Dafodda's Do |
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A cracking catalyst of cackling, in which missing marbles, various spinners, buses (well a bus, well actually you'll see) that won't quit combine to form a problematic puzzle for the perpetual poser that is the 9th Professor Howe (of the Northern vowels) and Pertunia (of the Bow, bowels).
An excellent addition to the Professor Howe range and a funny and alliterative. Can the day and the wedding be saved and Petunia's Pa saved from forthcoming fatalitiness. (Spoiler, yes!) Will the oddities added by other hands in the pressured production of The Dad Dilemna, sink the splendid spelling (and wording) of Lisa Hamlin Good (Spoiler, no!).
