There are 4,104 reviews so far. To add a review of your own, click on the item in question, then click the Vote link.
One of my favorite Big Finish releases of 2015 was the first volume of Big Finish's The Third Doctor Adventures. Like so many out there, I was initally skeptical of Tim Trealor effectively slipping into the large cape left behind by Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor before its release but was won over just minutes into the set. All of which left me waiting for the second volume which was released back in November So did it live up to the high standards of the first set?
Well Trealor certainly did. The Welsh actor builds on the successful performance in the first release, once again going from strength to strength. The vocal inflections are all there, the tones, the pitch, all of it to the point that I found myself forgetting on one or two occasions that I wasn't actually listening to Pertwee himself, especially in latter parts of the second story. Then there's his chemistry with Katy Manning's Jo Grant which harkens back to the best moments from that era as the two play off each other so beautifully. While he might not be totally spot-on for some, there is no doubting that Trealor has captured the spirit of this Doctor superbly and it is something that makes listening to this set an absolute pleasure.
Indeed, the performances are solid throughout. Katy Manning is in fine form as Jo, seeming to have better captured her more youthful voice than she sometimes has in previous releases. Both stories have strong supporting casts including major female characters in the form of Richenda Carey's Mother Finsey and Sandra Voe as Miss Barnett. Bernard Holley, a veteran of the Third Doctor's TV era, is among the cast in the first story playing a suitably stress inducing corporate manager in charge of a major project with a cast that also includes Nigel Peever and Karen Henson. The second story meanwhile features a suitably alien sounding George Asprey alongside Big Finish regulars such as Clare Buckfield as Jo's cousin and Richard Earl (perhaps best known to Big Finish listeners as the Dr. Watson of their Sherlock Holmes range) playing a very nice police inspector alongside Alex Lanipekun as the younger police sergeant. Like so many of their releases, this benefits greatly from the quality of acting talent that Big Finish brings to bare.
Like its predecessor, this volume contains two stories with one being out in space and the other on Earth. The Transcendence Of Ephros by Guy Adams is the opener with the Doctor and Jo arriving on the titular planet to find a religious group and Galactux Power Inc both awaiting an incredible event that ought otherwise to be impossible. While it gets off to a slow start, Transcendence Of Ephros quickly gather strength as it presents one twist and cliffhanger after another alongside some neat callbacks to the era on TV. The second story is the Earthbound The Hidden Realm by David Llewellyn which seems to fit into the era perfectly as the TARDIS team head off to Bramfield New Town where the husband of Jo's cousin has become just the latest in a series of disappearances dating back decades. It's a tale that calls to mind tales like The Daemons and Spearhead From Space as well as elements of Nigel Kneale's Quatermass II while also putting Llewellyn's own twist on it. That being said, the two stories perhaps suffer from being paired together as they both ultimately work around a very similar plot point in their latter half, something that perhaps nulls enjoyment of the latter story somewhat.
Elsewhere as well, I found myself missing things from the first set here. One of the things I loved about volume one (but that other listeners did not apparently) was the narration that Trealor supplied alongside his duties as the Third Doctor, something that gave it the sense of being like a missing story from the era ala the BBC TV soundtrack releases. Despite being a long-time Big Finish listener, I found myself having a hard time adapting to their usual format being played out with this Doctor for some reason. There's also the matter of the music which in that first release so wonderfully evoked the era but only half succeeds here as the score to Hidden Realm sounds like more out of the McCoy era than Pertwee's. These are largely minor niggles I admit but they are something that perhaps takes this release down a peg for this reviewer.
While I can't quite put it up on the same pedestal as I did volume one, volume two of the Third Doctor Adventures holds up well indeed. Tim Trealor continues to be an exemplary Third Doctor, capturing both the spirit of Pertwee as well as his chemistry with Katy Manning and both stories are solid outings that evoke very different sides of the era though also perhaps suffering from being paired together. If you're aching for more Third Doctor to experience, you could do a lot worse than check out this set.
| What: | The Third Doctor Adventures (Third Doctor Adventures audios) |
|
| By: | Matthew Kresal, Owens Cross Roads, United States |
|
| Date: | Saturday 20 October 2018 |
|
| Rating: |   9 |
With the winding down of the Companion Chronicles range and the launch of the Early Adventures, many wondered what Big Finish would do with the Third Doctor era. With the loss of many cast members from that era, and the unwillingness of John Levene to work with Big Finish again, speculation has been rife for sometime now. Well now we have our answer in the form of The Third Doctor Adventures Volume One, featuring Tim Trealor in the role of narrator as well as the Third Doctor alongside returning cast members from the era. Big Finish's trailer promised to be “recreating an era,” but have they done so?
Let's start by looking at Trealor. Trealor has worked with Big Finish before, perhaps noticeably in Tom Baker's first Big Finish outing Destination: Nerva, and first played the Third Doctor in Big Finish's fiftieth anniversary outing The Light At The End. I was unimpressed with Trealor there and was immensely skeptical about his playing the role in this release. After all, I am a fan of the Pertwee era. It was the Pertwee era in large part that got me into Doctor Who back in 2007 (that's right, I found Doctor Who in the 21st century through the old series rather than the new one). Pertwee was my favorite Doctor until I found Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor, though his Doctor remains high up on my list and that era remains my favorite. So for me, and I'm certain many others, the success of this venture would rest largely on his shoulders.
Having heard both stories now, I feel my skepticism was unfounded. Trealor does a marvelous job and has greatly improved since his rather dismal performance in Light At The End. Within the opening fifteen minutes of Prisoners Of The Lake, the story that opens this release, I was won over by his performance in a scene right out of the Pertweee era on TV: the Third Doctor having a confrontation with a bureaucrat (in this case the director of an archeological project). Trealor's performance was spot on and he went from strength to strength throughout the rest of the release. He's far closer to Pertwee vocally then he was nearly two years ago and, perhaps even better, he's really captured the vocal inflections of the man as well. While it might not quite be as well done as Frazer Hines' Patrick Troughton, Trealor's Pertwee is comparable to William Russell as William Hartnell. He captures the spirit and sometimes his voice with the results being both pleasing and authentic.
Moving on from Trealor, the rest of the cast is solid. Katy Manning and Richard Franklin reprise their roles from TV as Jo Grant and UNIT Captain Mikes Yates, respectively, which both have done for Big Finish before. Well Manning undoubtedly sounds older no matter how hard she tries, she nevertheless does well here and certainly captures the spirit of her 1970s self better than she did a short time ago in the main range release The Defectors. Franklin, who has become the last surviving member of the UNIT team in some respects, does a better job as he sounds very much like his 1970s self and gets a larger chunk of the action to take part in. Both of them do well and they seal this recreation of the era in many respects.
It also helps that there's a strong supporting cast as well. In both stories, Big Finish have put together a nice ensemble of actors including Caroline Seymour from Survivors and the ever dependable John Banks playing roles in the first story Prisoners Of The Lake. The second story, The Havoc Of Empires, features an equally strong cast including Hywel Morgan and Lucy Briggs-Owen as the leaders of the empires in question along with Helen Goldwyn in the roles of both a high-strung wedding coordinator and the AI of the space station where the story takes place. While Goldwyn's wedding coordinator is sometimes on the very edge of parody (if not annoyance), the results work with actors often playing multiple roles bringing them to life splendidly.
The scripts, written by Justin Richards and Andy Lane, are the backbone of this release and both serve it well. Richards is often noted for his writing of “Traditional Who” and Prisoners Of The Lake is no exception. It's a tale that echoes stories like The Daemons and The Sea Devils (for which some underwater planning was mooted by deemed unfeasible on a BBC budget) with its mix of a mysterious archeological site, underwater action, and a threat to Earth as we know it. Lane's script for The Havoc Of Empires takes the TARDIS away from Earth and into the future with a diplomatic wedding between the leaders of the human led Teklarn Incorporation and the Chalnoth Hegemony being put into jeopardy by what appear to be acts of sabotage that only adds to tension and distrust between the two sides. If Richards' script echoes the Earthbound parts of the Pertwee era, Lane's echoes stories like Curse Of Peladon and The Mutants while also managing to work in a decent thriller plot to keep in going. The fact that both of these stories are only four episodes helps and both writers make good use of Trealor as narrator, helping to get across more visual aspects of the stories while thankfully avoiding the cliches of describing things in audio that hurt the two Third Doctor audio stories that Pertwee himself starred in back in the 1990s for BBC Radio. The results are two solid, well-written tales that wonderfully evoke two different sides of the same era.
Elsewhere, Big Finish have set about making the release as authentic as possible. This is nowhere more evident then in the music of Jamie Robertson and Nicholas Briggs. Like Trealor's Third Doctor, they capture the spirit of an era of often experimental music scores. While there is perhaps a bit too much music at times and while it perhaps occasionally goes a bit too far in evoking the more experimental scores of composers like Malcolm Clarke (whose score for The Sea Devils divides fans to this day), there is no doubt that it certainly helps to complete a remarkable piece of work from everyone involved.
In the end, as both a Big Finish listener and as a fan of the Pertwee era, I can't help but sing the praises of this release. Trealor's Third Doctor is splendid, capturing the spirit of his Doctor in as respectful and exciting a manor as possible and there's solid performances all round. The writing and music both do what Trealor does: envoke the era without slavishly copying it. In a year of triumphant releases from Big Finish, including their Last Adventure with the Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor, this might be the most exciting release so far this year.
“Recreating an era”? Indeed it does.
 |  |  |
 | Why Aren't We Talking More About This? |
|
| | |
Nearly a decade ago, I attended a panel at the Chicago TARDIS convention on the topic of the novels of the wilderness years of Doctor Who (i.e. that time period between 1989 and 2005 when there was no TV show airing). On the panel were convention guests who had contributed to those books: Jonathan Blum, Paul Cornell, Kate Orman, and Gary Russell. Perhaps it was inevitable that the topic of Lawrence Miles, that looming but an immensely controversial author of the era, came up as the proverbial "elephant in the room." Despite Miles attacking them all in interviews, all four had great things to say about his work and it was Cornell who said that Miles, "should have been the next great British science fiction writer." In reading this, Miles' last published novel (which I bought at the same convention six years later), I can't help but feel he was right in that assessment.
Technically, This Town Will Never Let Us Go was meant to be the opening standalone Faction Paradox novel from Mad Norwegian Press. Considering that, it feels like an odd book indeed. The faction, a sort of time traveling voodoo cult obsessed with paradoxes, hardly features in the novel at all, mainly through little references here and there. Indeed all the things one would have expected from Miles previous set-up in Doctor Who novels like Alien Bodies barely comes into play at all. It's a strange way to kick-off a series to say the least.
Or at least one might think that. Instead of what the reader was likely expecting, Miles instead spends 281 pages following a trio of characters across six hours one morning, the novel presents us with a human eye view of that conflict known simply as The War. We meet Inangela, a Goth girl living in a van determined to join the ranks of the Faction by engaging in a ritual across the titular town. There's Valentine, an ambulance driver who has decided to make his own way into The War. Last but not least is Tiffany, a Latina Britney Spears type who goes on a journey of self-discovery right into the heart of modern media. These three apparently disconnected protagonists eventually converge in the plot's last couple of hours but that isn't what's most surprising about the novel.
That would be the fact that Miles does what all great science fiction does. He takes this human eye view of The War and engages in an almighty critique of British society and Western culture in the aftermath of 9/11. The War becomes a metaphor for the War on Terror and Valentine's subplot becomes an all too familiar story of radicalization that wouldn't be out of place in headlines fifteen years or more after the novel was first published. Miles is also keen to take shots at the media, advertising, and pop culture in general as he finds symbolism and banality side by side in places. Despite it being "the most 2003 book imaginable" (to paraphrase and indeed correct Miles in the last interview I'm aware of that he did in 2013), it's also a remarkably prescient book as he discusses the spread of information and ideas, knee-jerk reactions, and cults of personality around celebrities that doesn't feel at all out of place in the age of Twitter and social media. What's remarkable is that Miles does all that is what is really a novel meant to be aimed at a niche within a niche (Doctor Who fans who not only read his previous BBC novels but also wanted more of Faction Paradox in print) and tells a compelling story along the way.
It's compelling in large part because of how Miles chooses to tell his story. The novel unfolds minute by minute, hour by hour in the unnamed town that seems to have more than a few similarities with London. The novel is full of asides worthy of Douglas Adams and an almost obsessive eye towards the mythological dimensions underpinning behind ordinary things that would not be out of place in one of Neil Gaiman's novels from Neverwhere to American Gods. Indeed, reading this made me understand some of Miles' animosity towards Gaiman that he has expressed on his blog. They're both British writers (though Gaiman spends a lot of time in the US these days) who deal in similar territories at times. Miles is what Gaiman (and perhaps even the aforementioned late Mr. Adams) would be if they were cynical to the extreme. The cynicism and the at times borderline pretentious literary style (along with the small print of the physical edition I read) makes reading the novel difficult at times. It's a novel overflowing with ideas and insights (as painful and difficult to swallow as they are at times) but well worth making it through.
Perhaps the biggest problem the novel has is that it is, ultimately, meant to be a Doctor Who spin-off novel. It's the fact that it is aimed at the aforementioned niche within a niche that made its audience so small. This Town Will Never Let Us Go is a remarkable, breathtaking, even uncomfortably getting under your skin piece of work. It should have been the start of something new, maybe a way of bringing Faction Paradox and its creator to a wider audience.
Instead, it's a footnote. One of many Doctor Who spin-off novels out there at the moment. Miles said in the aforementioned 2013 podcast interview that he has all but given up writing at this point and indeed this novel is his latest published novel as of writing this in early 2018. All of which makes me sad because This Town Will Never Let Us Go ought to be screamed about from the rooftops and Miles ought to be winning prizes. Instead one is out of print (though still obtainable at reasonable prices) and the other has given up writing.
Neither of which feels right.
| | |
| Murder On Top Gear In Space |
|
| | |
| What: | Max Warp (Eighth Doctor Adventures audios) |
|
| By: | Matthew Kresal, Owens Cross Roads, United States |
|
| Date: | Saturday 20 October 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 8 |
Across more than a half-century of storytelling, Doctor Who has found time to homage and spoof a little bit of anything and everything. From Gothic tales like Frankenstein to British icons such as Quatermass and James Bond to a couple of semi-musical tales, there seems little the series can't do. So it comes as no surprise then that it found time a decade ago to spoof Top Gear, another venerable BBC franchise, via one of the Big Finish audio adventures.
Written by Jonathan Morris, "Max Warp" finds the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) and Lucie Miller (Sheridan Smith) arriving at the Sirius Exhibition Station in time for the Inter-G Cruiser Show. Broadcasting from there is Max Warp, the hugely popular show about spaceships. It's in the middle of a test flight of one of the ships built by the sponge-like alien race the Kith that something goes wrong, apparently killing a presenter. With tensions still boiling between the Kith and Varlon Empire despite decades of peace, it's up to the TARDIS crew to solve who was responsible and stop a war for re-igniting.
As that plot summary may suggest, the Top Gear spoofing show of the title isn't all there is to the story. It is, on the other hand, a big part of it and Morris does a superb job with it. Viewers of that program will likely recognize the basis of the various hosts: Geoffrey Vantage (Graeme Garden) the "outspoken columnist and media personality," who fronts it, the technically minded O’Reilley (James Fleet), and the seemingly overeager daredevil pilot Timbo ‘the Ferret’ (Duncan James). If you're a fan of that series as well as Who, there will be plenty to enjoy in listening to the banter between the various hosts, what happens with Lucy goes undercover at the program, and just how everything ends up at the end of the episode. Indeed, you'll likely get a few chuckles and laughs out of it. While it isn't necessary to know Top Gear to enjoy "Max Warp," you'll likely get more of it if you are.
It's also a fun little detective story. There's something about the Eighth Doctor and such tales as evidenced by stories like "Invaders From Mars" and it's something that both writers and McGann alike seem to relish. Given the format of these stories emulated New Who rather than Classic Who's four-parters, it's neat to see just how many suspects and plot twists into less than an hour's worth of story. And yet, unlike when TV Who did it's on semi-spoof of the genre with "The Unicorn And The Wasp" the same year as "Max Warp" was released, this one feels immensely satisfying in its conclusions and tone. Hats off to Morris for that.
The story's also helped by having all the hallmarks of Big Finish's output. There's the strong cast from McGann and Smith with their excellent chemistry to the trio of Max Warp presenters who all bring their top to proceedings. The sound design and music from ERS is top rate as well. Whether creating a take on the Top Gear theme or building spaceships out of sounds, they prove more than up to the task. It's another example of just why the company's work has become so renowned in the audio drama community: they do things well.
"Max Warp" is a neat example of the kind of storytelling perhaps unique to Doctor Who. Where else can you have a spoof of Top Gear inside a murder mystery with the fate of planets at stake? It's a romp of a story, one that should a smile on the listeners face while engaging them in a little detective work. In short: it's a bit of Doctor Who in a nutshell.
It's what fans have been wondering ever since "An Adventure In Space And Time" aired back in 2013. Having brought together a group of performers to play the iconic first ever Doctor Who cast, many had been wondering if there might be some new adventures in store involving the original TARDIS crew. December 2017 offered a helping of just that thanks first to the 2017 Christmas special offering David Bradley the chance to play the First Doctor on screen alongside Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor. Meanwhile over in the licensed audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions, the entire group has been reunited and the results are just what the Doctor ordered.
The set is something that it seems Big Finish has been moving towards in a way for the last couple of years. With the loss of many actors from the early years of the series and others well into their seventies and older, the question of recasting has been one that has been around for some time now. Indeed, go to any forum where the company's Doctor Who output is discussed and you're likely to find a vigorous debate about it. With the casting of Tim Trealor as the Third Doctor to good reviews and the casting from "An Adventure In Space And Time", perhaps it was inevitable that this First Doctor set would one day occur. The question is not only if the casting could work but if the stories could capture the flavor of the era.
The latter of which is something that fans, with nearly twenty years of Who stories produced by the company to look at, should have no worries about. The First Doctor Adventures does a fine job of capturing the spirit and flavor of those heady early days of the series when little about the mysterious Doctor, his granddaughter Susan, and their ship had yet to be determined. To do that, the two stories that make up the set also employ the formula from this era of having a science fiction story followed by a "pure historical" story in which the only science fiction element is the time travel involved in getting them there.
The opening story, Matt Fitton's The Destination Wars, is the science fiction entry into the set. Opening in a utopian city in the “space year 2003”, the story finds the TARDIS crew is a city that seems straight out of the Disneyland Tomorrowland of the 1950s. A city who owes much to the legendary and mysterious figure known as The Inventor. All utopias have a dark underbelly and this one is no exception as The Inventor's true identity is revealed, time travel comes into play, and the wars of the title leave a changed landscape and people alike. Fitton's playing around with time is in keeping with this era's few sojourns into serious time travel storytelling such as "The Ark" while elsewhere the story presents enough action and intrigue to keep it going. The story is also given a major boost by James Dreyfus' wonderfully sinister performance as the Inventor with his links to a particular villain from the show's history. This opening salvo hits all the right notes and gets the set off to a fine start.
The second story, the “pure historical”, is Guy Adams' The Great White Hurricane. Set in New York City during the Great Blizzard of 1888, the story finds the TARDIS crew caught up in gang rivalry and personal dilemmas rather than time travel and alien invasions. It's a story that also fits right into this era beautifully with everyone getting separated from one another and from the ship, trying to find each other and survive the freezing weather long enough to make it out alive. What could potentially be a dull story is far from such thanks to Adams who plays up the dramas everyone is involved in from the Doctor and Susan getting caught up with members of rival gangs to Ian and Barbara trying to help an injured mother (played by Carolina Valdes) find her son. The production is further aided by some fine American accents, something which can often be a detriment to UK productions for an international audience as Big Finish has learned in the past (for example: hear the southern accents from 2001's "Minuet In Hell"). Thankfully, The Great White Hurricane works and tells a compelling story all the way through.
Much of the attention for this set will be focused on the recast TARDIS crew and if they not only look the part but sound it too. Perhaps taking a note from Tim Trealor's Third Doctor that it is just as important to capture the spirit and ethos of the characters as much as actually sounding like them, that is precisely what they do here. Bradley doesn't sound exactly like William Hartnell but he gets much right in his performance that sells him as much on audio as the First Doctor as he did visually in 2013 and this past Christmas. Jemma Powell, who has already been playing companion Barbara Wright for the company, gets to build on her work here and comes to the fore in the second story where the history teacher's knowledge and morality come into play. Jamie Glover's Ian Chesterton doesn't sound at all like William Russell did in the 1960s but he creates his own version of the character, playing the most physically active member of the team who gets in and out of scrapes figuratively and literally. Last but not least is Claudia Grant as Susan, a character underutilized on TV back in the 1960s but who here finds new life and plenty to contribute, especially shining in the first story when given the chance to play off Deli Segal's Reena and Bradley's Doctor. If you're looking for someone to sound precisely like the original cast you'll likely be disappointed but each and every one of them does an excellent job capturing the characters and putting a bit of their own spin on them.
Indeed, that summary also applies to the entire set. From the performances to the stories themselves, The First Doctor Adventures Volume 01 harks back to the earliest days of what has become the world's longest-running science fiction series. For those craving more of Bradley's First Doctor or wanting new tales with a nostalgic twist, this set is perfect.
| What: | Warmonger (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
|
| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
|
| Date: | Tuesday 9 October 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 6 |
Terrance Dicks has long been a Doctor Who traditionalist, a writer with very clear ideas about both what The Doctor should be like and "Doctor Who" should be like. This novel is, then, an utter surprise as he abandons both of those lines. This Doctor 5 is very little like the Doctor 5 we saw on TV, and very little like any other Doctor. And this story is very little like traditional Doctor Who stories. Ostensibly, the novel takes the reader to the backstory of "Brain of Morbius." The reader gets to see Karn prior to its war-torn ruins on TV, the Sisterhood as a powerful and influential organization, Solon as the self-absorbed chief surgeon, and Morbius on his rise to power. Of course, getting a later Doctor to an earlier period on Karn where he knows all these characters, but they don't know him, is a tricky matter. So, the Doctor spends much time and effort preserving an incognito. That is all fine, as it is. The difficult part for this reader is the elaborate plot Dicks has built around that central idea. To get The Doctor to Karn at the right time, the plot (but not the story) begins when The Doctor takes Peri to a planet unencumbered by civilizations and their various problems, so she can get some R&R. In less than half an hour, Peri is almost fatally wounded by a prehistoric creature, and the Doctor takes her to the best surgeon he can think of - Mehendri Solon, chief surgeon at the Hospice of Karn, a hospital renowned in the galaxy. There is some business with Peri's stumbling upon Solon's secret experiments and The Doctor's surprising uninterest in that, at least surprising to her. There is quite a bit of this before Morbius arrives, nearly midway through the novel. At that point, the novel takes a sudden turn to full not-Doctor-Who territory while using all the trappings of Doctor Who. The Doctor ends up going back to Gallifrey to convince the Time Lords to do something about Morbius. They do, mainly by setting up The Doctor as military leader who gathers forces from various, and given Doctor Who history highly unlikely to join such an endeavor, races. The Doctor becomes supreme military commander, must become everything he hates, but somehow finds that he actually kind of likes it. Meanwhile Peri, of all people, becomes a guerilla leader by accident.
Dicks with his later Doctor Who novels seems to be very interested in war, the phenomenon of war, the political necessity of it, and the tactics of it. With this novel, Dicks has forced the Doctor, who is otherwise both uninterested and opposed to all those things, to share these interests out of necessity.
As I read the book, I kept thinking of it as being much like Lance Parkin's "The Infinity Doctors." Like that novel, "Warmonger" has the recognizable characters, the references to various episodes and periods of the show, the trappings of "Doctor Who." And yet, like "The Infinity Doctors," "Warmonger" reads as if it occupies a parallel universe to Doctor Who's. It reads as a kind of "what if" exercise.
It might have worked in some way. However, Dicks, who is usually pretty careful about keeping his plots tidy, has left many loose ends; plus, he has created an unresolved paradox in which Borusa meets The Doctor and knows who The Doctor is before The Doctor is even born, if I get my time lines right. Certainly, it is before Borusa is a teacher at the academy and the young Doctor his pupil. How is it that the CIA know who The Doctor is before he becomes The Doctor? Why aren't the Time Lords panicking about time paradoxes and crossing one's own timeline? Plus, the whole beginning of the story (though not of the novel, which uses flashback storytelling) when Peri gets injured seems a mere contrivance to get The Doctor to Karn.
Audacious in some ways, "Warmonger" just does not quite hold together well enough to make the ambition pay off.
| | |
| Great setup, horrible end |
|
| | |
| What: | Winter for the Adept (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
|
| By: | Adam Bradshaw, London, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Thursday 4 October 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 4 |
This story had such an interesting beginning that it really is a huge shame that they ruined it at the end. I really think that it needed another story to resolve the build up so that they didn't have to resort to the most ludicrous ending to a story I have ever seen. Personally I didn't think this story actually needed the aliens and it could've been so much better if they hadn't tried to crowbar in a totally forgettable alien species which, when one looks at the story as a whole, were useless.
| What: | The Ambassadors of Death (Target novelisations) |
|
| By: | Archie Simpson, Canberra , Australia |
|
| Date: | Tuesday 25 September 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 6 |
This is a fairly straight novelisation of the tv story. Still, a nice read.
| What: | Borrowed Time (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
|
| By: | C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand |
|
| Date: | Sunday 16 September 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 10 |
I think the comments on this book shadow my own. So I will say the exact same Hong they all said. WOW.... JUST WOW!!!!!
| What: | Planet of Fire (Target novelisations) |
|
| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
|
| Date: | Sunday 9 September 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 6 |
Peter Grimwade's novelizations of his own scripts are always better than the televised version. Perhaps it is that the original scripts were drastically changed in production. Perhaps it is that novelizing the scripts allowed Grimwade to rethink what he had written. Or, perhaps Grimwade was just a better novelist than script writer. Whatever the reason, the novelized "Planet of Fire" gives us insights into the characters, especially Turlough and Peri, that we did not get on TV. There are also some additional scenes early, which add background and supply some rationality to some of the plot elements. The plot itself is a bit overly complicated in ways it need not be. There are some unanswered questions, such as how a Trion beacon ended up in the bottom of the Mediterranean. Also, in the novel, Grimwade makes Turlough a bit more snobbish, with some worrying opinions about the lower classes. He never does fully explain to the Doctor why he acts as he does. It is also a very small universe in which The Master just happens to need something on a planet used as a kind of prison by Turlough's people, and just happens to have the means to get Turlough there without trying to, and that Turlough's family just happened to crash their spaceship on that planet. Too many "just happened tos" for my taste.
| | |
| Forgive the pun but, Excellent!!!! |
|
| | |
| What: | Hour of the Cybermen (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
|
| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Friday 31 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 10 |
I am a huge fan of Andrew Smith. He wrote an awesome tale for Tom at just seventeen years of age in the classic Who era, and with Big Finish he has risen to become a firm favourite writer of mine for many reasons. What all of his stories possess now is a brilliant portrayal of the characters. Andrew instantly makes you care for the people in his stories, and it takes some writing skill to make one do this almost in every story he writes. And its even more brilliant when he does it with the return of the Cybermen on audio yet again.
And what is even better is when you have the great original guys playing the Leader and Lieutenant! And both David Banks and Mark Hardy slip back into their cyber roles with gusto and make this story immensely enjoyable. I also greatly enjoy the fact that this is yet another brilliant story for the amount of time the silver giants appear too. I love to have as much cybermen in my stories as possible, and its great the amount they are in this corker of a tale.
Daniel Hopkins is a brilliant and very very intense character. Its great the development he gets in this story. And his story is very believable and his state of mind is brilliantly portrayed by Blake Harrison. And as ever Colin Baker leads the cast with all the usual Old Sixie brilliance. And I also love the character of Riva. I always adore my strong female parts in a Doctor Who story.
What I also love is when the cybermen are portrayed just as they should be. As very powerful enemies who should never be easy to defeat or stump. And the plot of this story is awesome, and the pacing is spot on and the superb sound design and production just make this just yet another Big Finish cyberman success story. David Banks and Mark Hardy are amazing stepping back into the role of the brilliant Earthshock style cybermen. And its great to hear David spar again with the Doctor just as he memorably did with Peter's Doctor in Earthshock. This story also fully incorporates all the best elements that made the cybermen the brilliant and resoundingly awesome villains they are.
Andrew has woven a corker of a tale and this joins the ranks of the heights of Spare Parts and Kingdom of Silver for awesome cyber telling! I hope this also isn't the last we hear of David or Mark!
| | |
| A little too pleased with itself |
|
| | |
| What: | ...ish (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
|
| By: | Fraser Gibbs, London, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Wednesday 29 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 3 |
"...ish" is, if anything, extremely ambitious. It plays with the English langue frequently and oft uses word play to comedic effect... Unfortunately the play is more concerned with that aspect of it's script than it is the actual plot of the episode which ends up dry and unpolished.
Little happens of consequence and any vaguely interesting narrative concepts are skipped over far too quickly to return to aimless conversation where random words are slurred to include the phrase "ish".
Despite some genuinely funny moments "...ish" has very little actual substance to it and appears to want you to think it's saying a lot more than it actually ish...
| What: | The Sirens of Time (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
|
| By: | Fraser Gibbs, London, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Wednesday 29 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 4 |
This adventure felt very much like Big Finish finding it's feet. The first three episodes vary hugely in quality with some of the returning doctors adapting to the audio only format much more gracefully than others.
However, despite teething issues, there's massive amounts of fun to be had here especially come the fourth and final episode where the three doctors meet.
| What: | Night Thoughts (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
|
| By: | Harry Ross Gorman, Bromborough, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Wednesday 29 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 8 |
This story has a great atmosphere and the first episode is definitely a stand out in terms of mystery and engagement. Overall all the characters are engaging and have very believable motives. The only problem with this story is that it is not sure what it is trying to be in some places and I think the time travel element is not need as I think the reasons would be best left to the imagination. Besides from that, Lizzie Hopley gives a stand out performance as "Happy" and that ending is absolutely worth any story that could be put before it.
| What: | The Collection: Season 12 (The Collection Blu-ray box sets) |
|
| By: | Sofia Fox, Hale, United States |
|
| Date: | Tuesday 21 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 10 |
There's SO MUCH content in this set that I haven't even finished it yet. Overall the season is REALLY good and the US set is quite bare-bones in terms of presentation but it's pretty good. At least its got a slipcover. Not embossed but still, they gave us one!
| | |
| A Wonderful Chiller indeed |
|
| | |
| What: | Static (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
|
| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Friday 17 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 10 |
It’s been some time since Big Finish have produced a story that is genuinely non-stop disturbing and unsettling.
But ‘Static’, featuring the Sixth Doctor, Flip and Mrs Clarke, is more than enough to send a shiver down the spine.
First we have to mention the superb sound design and production, delivering an incredibly atmospheric tone. The sense of loneliness in the Caravan Park setting is well delivered; the mist is also somehow felt by the audio instead of seen. With a story set mostly within the confines of the park, it’s not surprising that the soundscape is very claustrophobic. Chris Dale, as the voice of the Static, gives a weird, eerie performance.
Colin Baker is superb as the Doctor, as always. As his audio-tenure so often has, the Sixth Doctor is once again shown to have two caring hearts beneath the bluster and self-aggrandising. Writer Jonathan Morris’ grip on each Doctor is always superb and he’s well known to use time as a major element of his scripts. But here he uses time in a fresh and beguiling way, which has to be applauded. This story is about as timey wimey as they get.
The consequences of messing with time are once again laid out in effective detail. Each of the characters must find a way to deal with the fallout of what is going wrong with time. Which has set loose the frankly soulless Static to do what he wants to the human race. Morris somehow manages to combine so many different elements together in a narrative that is never convoluted or rambling.
Miranda Raison and Lisa Greenwood together still make for a dream team. Constance is the mature older sister and Flip is the teenager learning that she might need to grow up. Both characters are so well drawn, especially in the face of the wringer which Morris puts them through. It takes fine actresses indeed to deliver the goods and both deliver 100% along this adventure. The whole cast is pushed down some very nasty paths. It wouldn’t be surprising if wounds incurred here take some time to heal in future stories. Percy Till, played by David Graham, is a character whose plight you end up sympathising with more than you’d expect. As an old-hand in Doctor Who, it’s sometimes a little hard to separate the actor from the character. But that actually works to the advantage of this release.
Doctor Who is at its best when great acting, superb monsters and plenty of scares blend in one story seamlessly. ‘Static’ delivers on all these areas and more. Jonathan Morris is a safe pair of hands to craft this kind of tale. This story boasts all the fear factor that made ‘The Chimes of Midnight‘ a firm fan-favourite. It seems likely that ‘Static’ will gain the same renown, and deservedly so in this chilling production. Its one Id give a recommendation of to anyone.
| | |
| Absolute gem of a Troughton outting |
|
| | |
| What: | The Morton Legacy (The Early Adventures audio dramas) |
|
| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Friday 17 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 10 |
After a pure historical and a brilliant sci-fi fest for the Second Doctor early adventures second series, what can we expect from ‘The Morton Legacy’?
After the Doctor and co are stranded in the nineteenth century, their hunt for the TARDIS leads them to a string of murders. With seemingly only one possible culprit, it’s up to our heroes to prove his innocence and find the ship. Unfortunately, there’s Josiah Morton has a reputation. You might even say, a Morton Legacy.
Justin Richards is a regular contributor to Big Finish and for good reason. And while this lacks the scale of a grand adventure, it has the personal touch of a smaller, but no less entertaining, story. Justin’s writing is always incredibly diverting and always has us doubting if we can trust Morton.
‘The Morton Legacy’ is quite special on a few levels. The acting is as ever, perfect matched to the story. Director Lisa Bowerman has chosen the strongest talent to perform in this story. David Sibley is totally winning as Josiah Morton. Frazer Hines is once more sublime channelling Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor. He does all this and still manages to recreate Jamie with no trouble. Anneke Wills and Elliot Chapman are wonderful together as Ben and Polly also.
Big Finish go to great lengths to make this as authentic a Sixties era sounding adventure as possible. Toby Hrycek-Robinson has provided the score and sound design, giving the piece a very consistent soundscape. It evokes the 1800s while still feeling like a sci-fi serial made with Sixties sensibilities. Lisa Bowerman’s direction as ever too is spotless.
Not for the first time, Jamie taking a shine to a guest character: the charming Jemima Morton, played superbly by Kerry Gooderson. The playful ribbing between Ben and Jamie over his crush is a light-hearted touch that the classic era of the show always had in such abundance.
Jemima isn’t the only one along for the adventure, however. We get a well-rounded and decent performance from both Ewan Bailey and Alan Blyton as Copeland and Dexter. But it’s Bailey who steals the show in a dual role, also playing Morton’s manservant Blazzard. His performance has all the subtlety and panache of all the best Doctor Who henchmen.
Justin’s pacing is spot on, despite the fact that this isn’t some high octane all guns blazing adventure. It is a joyous little story with extremely strong characters and a well thought out plot with a great twist near the end. My only nitpick may be that Jamie’s crush doesn’t get the resolution that I was hoping for. It’s definitely in-character for the shy Scotsman, but a little more of a payoff would have capped it neatly.
With some great character touches and good humour, this is yet another firm success for Justin Richards and Big Finish. Thank goodness the Sixties era of the show is kept alive and fresh by such amazing talent! This is definitely a love letter to the brilliance of the Troughton era!
| | |
| Yet again an awesome Pat display |
|
| | |
| What: | The Second Doctor: Volume Two (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
|
| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Friday 17 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 10 |
The Curator's Egg is a wonderfully bonkers tale indeed. Its bursting with larger than life themes, and the whole story is a wonderful mush up of brilliant ideas that form a whole that is wonderfully zany and crazy but still lovable. Anneke Wills really gets the chance to shine and proves yet again why she is such a great companion! Elliot Chapman really does himself proud as Ben Jackson and the two twin brothers who are totally radical and funny. Yet behind all the fun and lightheartedness of this story, there is still the touch of macabre horror and uneasiness. This all comes over as being superbly well fitting with the feel of season four on the TV series. Julian Richards has woven a very very pleasing tale with even a touch of Jurassic Park about it!
Dumb Waiter is a wonderful meeting of fierce minds, mainly those of Louise Jameson and Frazer Hines are superb as Leela and Jamie, who initially severely distrust each other and even get a brilliant sparring match. I also think how Victoria gets treated in this story is amazingly good. She gets to show us that she is more than just a screamer. Its superb to see her get much more development even if one is very sad Debbie Watling herself was no longer here to take on the voice of Victoria herself. Frazer yet again truly shines as the Doctor and Jamie and this story never loses pace and is very very good indeed.
The Iron Maid continues to maintain the complete superbity that is John Pritchard's writing. It was a total pleasure hearing his former companion chronicles and this story does not disappoint either. He has a knack of bringing superb historically flavoured stories alive. He treats all the characters he makes with the utmost respect. he is quickly becoming one of my favourite chronicle writers. His stories are character rich and extremely enjoyable to listen to. The setting of this story comes over superbly well with the sound design being amazingly effective. The sound of the knocking on the inside of the tank is extremely spooky. And to cap it all Wendy Padbury shines again as Zoe. Oh boy this story is freaking excellent.
And just to put the icing on yet another superb Second Doctor chronicles cake, we have The Tactics of Defeat by Tony Jones. What we get is the wonderfully unexpected return of Daphne Ashbrooke as Ruth Matheson. And yet again she doesn't disappoint. And Matthew Brenher delivers a brilliant performance as her jailer in this superb finishing story of this awesome set. And despite the fact that the Doctor is almost totally absent from this story, it still works so brilliantly as a story in its own right. And how Zoe fits in with it is brilliantly worked out and the story pans of perfectly. Its a great end to another run of four first class tales that makes me say I cant wait for the next second doctor volume!!!!
| | |
| Decent Novelization of OK Story |
|
| | |
| What: | The Awakening (Target novelisations) |
|
| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
|
| Date: | Friday 3 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 5 |
Eric Pringle has stuck closely to his original teleplay for this novel. The Doctor and companions are off to visit Tegan's grandfather in the quaint little village of Little Hodcombe. However, the village is running a re-enactment of a battle from the English Civil War, a re-enactment that is getting all too real. The basic premise of the story is fine enough. Where it goes off the tracks is that Pringle keeps adding more and more so that the plot becomes rather unwieldy, all built around the harnessing of "psychic energy." Pringle's novelization keeps most of the dialogue and all of the scenes from the original, while adding mostly light interior monologue that helps the reader understand the motivations of the characters.
| | |
| Superb Superb Superb Superb |
|
| | |
| What: | Breaking Bubbles (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
|
| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
|
| Date: | Thursday 2 August 2018 |
|
| Rating: | 10 |
Breaking Bubbles starts the quartet of stories off brilliantly. It gives us a nice entertaining nugget that considering its packed into just half an hour is superbly paced and has some great character moments indeed. Colin and Nicola as ever need no mentioning as they are always sublime. It touches on the pointlessness of war and battle in an engaging way.
Of Chaos Time The is a brilliant paradox tale. Its not remotely difficult to follow like some of the Moffatt era paradox stories and at its core is a very good emotional little core. It has again some great characters and some superb sound design that all just add to the feel of this set being very special indeed.
An Eye For Crime is another delightful story this time a bit of a pseudo historical, and the Doctor gets to do some good stuff trying to not be conspicuous in an all female college! And the menace in this story is awesome and definitely very intriguing. And the setting is very believably conveyed from the superb sound design and production I really do love Una McCormack's writing. She has a gift for characterisation in particular that really connects with this listener.
But the definite treasure of the set is The Curios Incident of the Doctor In The Night Time, which I feel is superbly written by Nev Fountain and so far easily his best story for big finish, and that's really something as this is only a single parter. But this story shines brilliantly, it tackles a very poignant subject with me as I happen to share the affliction the central character of this piece has. I find the story not insulting or derogatory at all. In fact its a brilliant little heart warming tale that should get an award. This is what these tales of the unexpected style one parter Doctor Who stories should all be like. Nev has hit the nail right on the nose with this superb little emotionally charged ditty. In fact I might even go as far as to say that this is my favouritest ever single episode drama that Big Finish has ever done. It really is that good.
