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 | This book should have been better. |
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| What: | Twilight of the Gods (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 4 January 2016 |
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| Rating: |   6 |
This novel is a sequel to the TV story 'The Web Planet.' The story concerns Doctor 2's returning to Vortis, the web planet. It hangs together well. The companions were not pushed off into a meaningless subplot, but were instead active participants throughout the book. This makes a welcome change by Bulis, who all too often has little for the female companions to do except be stranded and wait to be rescued. The Menoptera are depicted as rather overbearingly noble. Also, there does not seem to be much plot. It's all rather like sight-seeing than story. What story there is involves another invader of Vortis, but one that is politically divided into what we can call Imperialists and Communists. This situation gives the reader some highly simplified political science to go with the story. There is also a strange bit involving Menopteran gods who turn out to be real, after a fashion.
| What: | The Ghosts of N-Space (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 4 January 2016 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Barry Letts' novelization of his BBC radio drama is reasonably good as a novel on its own. Letts has filled in some details, rounded out characters, and generally gone beyond merely reproducing the script with a few descriptive details. The faults are mostly in the original conception of giving a seemingly scientific justification for the popular concepts of an afterlife.
This book is a collection of critical essays by academics. There are some truly bad pieces here that show many of the excesses that have crept into academic critical studies. Among these are Tat Wood's "The Empire of the Senses," a truly and typically illogical essay in the manner of Foucault that has all the faults of such readings, such as mistaking analogy for equivalence, lack of historical context, and breathtakingly sweeping generalizations. Alec Charles' "The Ideology of Anachronism" is little better. Charles takes a post-colonial position, so the conclusions are as predictable as they are trite - "Doctor Who" stories use "narrative closure" to reinscribe colonial values in a wave of nostalgia for empire. On the good side are David Butler's "How to Pilot a TARDIS," which makes some keen observations about the relationship between the show and its audience, and David Rafer's "Mythic identity in Doctor Who," a look at the various mythical elements of the program. The editor should be praised for including material on multiple aspects of the show, including the music, the original novels, and the Big Finish audios.
| What: | Mission to Magnus (The Missing Episodes novelisations) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 4 January 2016 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
What was to have been the sequel to the excellent Vengeance on Varos never got made for TV. So, this novelization came out. Since it was part of the Target line, it had to be kept simple for the young audience. The story itself is nothing like the gritty "Vengeance." Instead it is rather a farce with The Doctor as the former victim of a Time Lord school bully now being scared of the same bully and trying to hide much of the time. In typical camp fashion, the plot is basically "boys vs. girls," to go with the schoolyard theme begun with Anzor the Time Lord bully.
| What: | Harry Sullivan's War (The Companions of Doctor Who novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 4 January 2016 |
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| Rating: | 3 |
One would think that Marter could write the character he played better than this. The novel is basically a Hitchcock-styled spy thing with Harry caught up as that man in the wrong place at the wrong time who gets chased by baddies. Harry spends most the novel fumbling around and being kind of stupid through most the plot. The villain is rather bland, and the plot has many holes.
| What: | Legacy of the Daleks (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 3 January 2016 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
This sequel to The Daleks' Invasion of Earth is one for the fans, with plenty of the things one would expect to have the fans going "wow." This is particularly true when The Master turns up. The novel's post-apocalyptic setting works well, with a society rebuilding and going through the typical political problems that seem unavoidable for humans. The novel has quite a bit of death at the end.
| What: | Nightdreamers (Telos novellas) |
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| By: | Matt Saunders, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 30 December 2015 |
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| Rating: | 3 |
..at all. Some of the personality of Jon Pertwee's Doctor is excellent, but the story as a whole: not good. Sorry.
| What: | System Shock (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 21 December 2015 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Justin Richards tries to take on the emerging Internet culture as a subject of this near future, for the time, novel. The Doctor and Sarah arrive in London 1998 when the total world wide web is set for complete linkup. Harry Sullivan now middle aged and working for MI5 is investigating a shady tech company called I Squared. The Doctor and Sarah get involved when they are sitting in a pub minding their own business and an agent investigating I Squared is now on the run from one of its homicidal execs and drops a CD-ROM into the Doctor's pocket. So, the setup for the story is rather contrived. The bad guys in this are a bunch of androids that have added organic components from their snake-like creators. Now, they have come to Earth to enslave the entire population to a hybrid robot-corporate ideology virtually embodied in a computer super-virus that will take over the entire human computer network. After some spy-novel bits in the first third of the novel, the rest is a hostage story very similar to "Die Hard," with The Doctor in the Bruce Willis role working as a lone agent to try to thwart the villains. There is quite a bit of running through the building dodging bullets until The Doctor finally gets out of the building, when, fresh out of ideas, Richards has to substitute Sarah running through the building dodging bullets. The novel has several bits of clumsy writing. Though some of the ideas are interesting, I am confused by the high ratings this novel gets. It really is just run-of-the-mill.
This was just wonderful, fun and fascinating. Well done, Big Finish! Sir John was excellent, as was Jacqueline Pearce, and the other actors. I really liked the character of Rejoice. I can't recommend this audio set enough. It doesn't matter if you like the new or old series best: this has a foothold in both! Sir John, I salute you. Thank you.
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| I Always Thought She'd Be Good at This! |
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| What: | The Drosten's Curse (BBC prestige novels) |
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| By: | Earle DL Foster, Invercargill, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Monday 30 November 2015 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The Death Pit has literally quadrupled in size and sheer velocity. A.L Kennedy has more than outshone her earlier effort in the Time Trips anthology, with an outstanding characterisation of King Tom, and two enjoyably new companions who deserve visual representation in their own right. And I always was a fan of Fawlty Towers, so tremendously loved the subtle cultural references throughout where appropriate.
| What: | City of Death (BBC prestige novels) |
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| By: | Earle DL Foster, Invercargill, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Monday 30 November 2015 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I already have an unofficial novelisation of this epic story (which was enjoyable enough), but this brand new presentation has delivered so much more in both televised and literary detail. Undoubtedly the best effort yet of James Goss, and I also hope that this could be the beginning of yet another branch of Who-related reading merchandise.
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| Yeti another brilliant spin off |
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| What: | Downtime (Miscellaneous direct-to-video spin-offs) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 18 November 2015 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
It was great to see Nicholas Courtney again in his usual brilliant role of the Brigadier. It was great to see the first appearance of Kate, his daughter and his grandson. Its great to see he never lost his flair for acting the role of the Brigadier so effortlessly! Its a real massive insult that the new series of Doctor Who never had him back in the role one last time before Nick's untimely death. He was a superb actor, and always seemed to be a thoroughly decent old chap too. I'll cherish his Brigadier forever.
And it was also great nostalgia seeing Debbie and Jack Watling back in this superb spin off show too. Here too Debbie somehow manages to gain my feeling very badly for what's happened to her here since she left the Doctor. She's not totally controlled, and so she's not predictable. And I think the ending, with her just seeming to disappear is wonderfully mysterious. Could leave the way open for a return story. And Debbie doesn't scream here too, which is relaxing for the ears for once! And Jack Watling is superb in returning to his role of Professor Travers, the embodiment of the Great Intelligence.
And the effects too I was rather glad to see weren't half bad either. And the red eyed Yeti are a brilliant reappearance but the most woefully underused monster of the classic series I feel. Only the zygons share that title with the yeti. To see them thwarting UNIT and crushing heads and smashing people about is great. The soulless New World group are all creepily eerie too. As is the booming, resonant voice of the Intelligence. And this DVD has been superbly restored too. Just as good as the BBCs Doctor Who releases, if not better.
Marc Platt's script is not nearly so convoluted as Ghost Light, and he packs a lot of twists and turns into the mix. And one cant write a proper review without mentioning the ever brilliant Elisabeth Sladen either. Yet again she adopts the role of Sarah Jane Smith with the ease of putting a coat on! So, altogether this makes for a delightful little snippet of Spin off. Very good indeed.
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| Peter's been the best served... |
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| What: | Series 9: Part 1 (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 17 November 2015 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Peter Capaldi is simply brilliant as the thirteenth Doctor. He's done a brilliant job of capturing so many finest elements of the previous doctors, but then adding his own touch to the role. I love his more serious, slightly darker take on the character. I would not want to get into a slanging match with this Doctor, no way. And together with the ever charming and lovely Jenna Coleman they make a winner of a TARDIS team!
I was not sure at first when greeted with the Doctor's new hobby of guitar playing....but its no more ridiculous than the recorder was for Pat Troughton or the Jelly Babies were for Tom Baker, so I soon settled down into accepting this after an initial bafflement in the first episode. But beside that, the rest of the first two parter is excellent. I loved all the returning classic series daleks, and I do believe Julian Bleach gave a better, more in depth and brilliant take on Davros here than in his debut story. The sparks that fly off him and Peter are brilliant. Im also loving Michelle Gomez now. Shes such a lovable yet still deeply psychotic feminine Master. Missy is wickedly fun and is perhaps the light relief amidst the grittier dalek side of the story.
Under The Lake and Before The Flood returns to the tried and trusted Base under siege theme again. But this story is as creepy as Doctor Who ever gets. And the story is fast and the Fisher King is a tower of an ugly freak! And the rest of the characters are in the vein of your feeling for them when they die. Some terrific performances. And that scene of the dam breaking: whoh!!!!
The Girl Who Died is another brilliant pseudo historical, even if its depiction of the Vikings may be suspect. But I can forget that as the story is brilliant, and its great to see a foe being defeated by no more than out and out trickery! A brilliant build up I thought of what was to come in the last episode of the first part of the season. Jenna Coleman here again is also so brilliant.
The same cant be said for what I feel is the only boring as heck episode in this series so far, The Woman Who Lived just drags, with no real excitement flaring, even the word farts cant even induce humour into this very dull and disappointing episode. And the monster isn't utilised as well or as much as it could have been. And I cant say that I'm overtly enamoured with Maisie Williams as Ashildr yet either. She was ok in The Girl Who Waited, but here her whole character verges on being tepid and annoying. Glad to see though that so far of the first nine episodes there's been only one dullard. Like I said, Peter's been by far the best served of all the new series Doctors so far.
The fisher king, Colony Sarff, The Mire and the ghosts are fantastically gruesome designs too, making this season seem far more scary than Peter's first excellent season!
And then we come to Series 9 part two..but that's another review....
| What: | The Yes Men (The Early Adventures audio dramas) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 17 November 2015 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
...BIG FINISH YOU GOT THE OPENING THEME VERSION WRONG HERE! PATRICK'S FIRST SEASON WAS STILL NEARLY ALL STILL USING THE ORIGINAL TITLES FROM WILLIAM'S TENURE OF THE SHOW! BUT THAT DOESNT STOP THIS STORY FROM BEING EXCELLENT.
Elliot Chapman makes a brilliant first impression as Ben. He does his character superb justice, maybe not sounding 100% like Mike Craze, but getting all the inflections and Ben's character spot on. I'm so glad to hear people taking on the mantle of other actors without bumbling them up. Tim Treloar has been superb as Jon Pertwee, and here the same is readily true of Elliot. And he meshes immediately well with Frazer Hines and Anneke Wills, both of which return to their roles with obvious ease. And don't even get me started on Frazer's brilliant channeling of the late great Pat Troughton! He remains constantly superb. And the story's pretty flipping good in all! The Yes Men is an excellent start to the second Doctor run of Early Adventures. It feels like im listening to monochrome 1960s television all over again, and its delightful. Big Finish just keep getting better and better all the time.
| What: | The English Way of Death (Big Finish novel adaptations) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 17 November 2015 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This kind of has an Agatha Christie-esque feel to it. The characters are all very large in volume and are brilliantly witty and interesting at the same time. I haven't ever read the original novel of this audio adaptation but going just from this superbly cast and acted story its an all out winner again for Gareth Roberts.
Lalla Ward is brilliant as Romana, and yet again her pairing with Tom is perfect season 17 again. And there seems to be just a hint of Shada amidst the folds of this story too. Tom is on fine form too, as is the rest of the superb cast. This could have been done as a Doctor Who film! The sound design again is superb. This really does feel like a classy romp back in the thirties. I cant wait to hear The Well Mannered War soon, to complete my Gareth Roberts audio set! If its as good as The English Way of Death, then i'm in for a treat....
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| Season 17? Not really...but... |
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| What: | The Romance of Crime (Big Finish novel adaptations) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 17 November 2015 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The seventeenth season of Doctor Who may not be the most applauded in the shows history, but it boasted wonderfully over the top characters and extravagant plotlines and also the firm foundation of both Tom and Lalla who spark off each other so well. Nothing can be all bad with these ingredients in the mix.
The Romance of Crime was a brilliant novel, and here it is now in almost perfect audio reproduction: nearly perfect meaning a few lines are tweaked and a few scenes slightly added to, but on the whole this is a great, superb audio novel adaptation. Gareth Roberts perfectly captures the feel of the rock solid bonding of Tom and Lalla, but also with this novel now audio story, gives them a good story as well as the larger than life villain. In fact, the deaths sound rather disgusting and euggghhhhh here, so probably this may well have been more of a Philip Hinchcliffe production than a Graham Williams, but still its a really great story that big finish have done brilliant things with! Miranda Raison shines as the psychotic Xais, whilst Michael Troughton joins Drax, Milo Clancey and Rory Williams in the lovable idiot brigade splendidly!
And the Ogrons are voiced very well indeed, easily bringing back a brilliantly realised visual monster, but they still work so well in this story on audio. And at last the ogrons have names. And the sugarcane slapstick humour of season seventeen is present in some of the scenes with the big apes!!!!! This is a brilliant adaptation by John Dorney. I like this story even more than ever now.
| What: | The Whispering Forest (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 14 November 2015 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
"The Whispering Forest" is very much like "The Face of Evil." We have a primitive society that is the degenerated descendant of a crashed space ship. The society is in conflict with a high-tech second force left from the same crash, in this case some robots. The degenerated society's language and rituals are made up of bits and pieces from the original high tech culture, misinterpreted through generations of transmission. The society is in a contest between those who want reform and those who like the old ways. As a formula, this is not a bad one to choose. We get a stock baddy in Sister Mertil, a fanatic after power. There are some pointless bits of self-sacrifice late. We are told repeatedly in part 4 that Sister Seska is ill and feverish, then about 10 minutes before the end this is completely abandoned, not even referred to again. All told, a mixed bag with some interesting ideas and some loose bits of plotting.
| What: | Wolfsbane (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 6 November 2015 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
This novel is a split story so that we can get two Doctors in one book without having them meet. Set in Somerset, 1936, the novel starts with Harry Sullivan inexplicably getting left behind when the TARDIS takes off without him. Seemingly stranded, Harry finds himself tangled up with the goings on of a local werewolf. Meanwhile, Doctor 4 and Sarah try to get back to Harry, but arrive three weeks after they left him. They discover his grave and become determined to piece together what happened. It's an interesting enough start. The rest of the novel is the problem. First, Harry meets a handsome stranger called the Doctor, but this Doctor is seemingly not "the" Doctor, though there are tantalizing clues that he might be. The reader will learn that this Doctor is the amnesiac Doctor 8 from the BBC main series of 2000. Of course, if one hasn't read any of those one is none the wiser. The novel switches back and forth between the two stories - Harry and Doctor 8, Sarah and Doctor 4.
The main problem is that this story is pure British fantasy. In the ordinary scheme of Doctor Who, one expects that the werewolf is only apparently a legendary beast and that magic is really an alternative or superior technology. Raynor has not even bothered trying to make a science fiction connection. Instead, we have both Doctors simply accepting that werewolves exist and follow all the legendary characteristics attached to them, that forests can "come alive," that sorceresses can cast spells, that dryads are real, and that King Arthur's court was real. It all runs so counter to Doctor Who that it makes the two Doctors, Sarah, and Harry all seem as if they are occupying the wrong story. Further damage to the story comes from Raynor's "everything including the kitchen sink" approach to storytelling. In addition to all that was just mentioned, we also get a mad English minor aristocrat who believes he is Mordred reincarnated, local villagers with pitchforks (in 1936!), Nazi plans to use werewolves as weapons, oh and the holy grail thrown in for good measure. The explanations for all these things amount to "just because." Finally, as if realizing the problematic nature of the story within the Who universe, Raynor gives a multiple realities denouement.
It is safe to conclude that I really didn't enjoy this one at all.
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| Just amazing, really... WOW |
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| What: | Regeneration (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | David Harding, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 27 October 2015 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
So impressive, I love it!!!! £50 well spent...
| What: | The Mind of Evil (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | David Harding, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 27 October 2015 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Just amazing Pertwee, a great watch!!
