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Reviews for Son of the Dragon

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Brilliant History!!!

By:Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom
Date:Saturday 15 September 2007
Rating:   10

Doctor Who and history have never really been well recieved by many people ive found out, and i cant understand why. History is often important and not without its horrors and atrocities. But I am a real fan of the historicals of doctor who, and here is an audio production with plenty to offer. Doctor who versus Vlad the impaler...a good idea, and this good idea is transformed into an excellent drama. a great character piece with pace and some good moments of horror. this drama also boasts genuine surprises. I wasnt expecting the doctor to be stabbed for a start. and Vlad is well portrayed i think. The characters are all interesting and the plot is easy to digest unlike some audio dramas ive heard. Steve Lyons always writes very good stuff, especially for doctor who. and i like the fact that Eirmem gets more to do in this story. I love her character, shes one of the best creations ever! I love Caroline Morris's portrayal of her, shes so good. This audio is well worth a listen. And another, and another...its that good!



Son of the Dragon - Woooo!

By:Tom Danks, Dudley
Date:Saturday 15 September 2007
Rating:   9

This is the most eagerly awaited story of the year. Written by Steve Lyons this marks his fourth contribution to the range and Son of the Dragon proves to be his most successful attempt so far. In the past Lyons stories tended to be quite complex and difficult to understand but this story was quite simple compared to these stories. One of the biggest compliments that I can give to this story is that it has an epic feel to it like The Keys of Marinus.



The characters in this story are all very strong roles. Erimem returns to the type of role which she was best at in her opening story 'The Eye of the Scorpion' and more recently 'The Council of Nicaea. In this story she seems to sacrifice her future happiness and travels with the Doctor and Peri. I prefer the role when she is in this situation because she is been stubborn or sacrifices herself because she feels that is the right thing to do. The Doctor does feel like he is in the background and when he is resting then you forget he's there. In this story he becomes a victim of circumstances whereas in most stories you know this but it is never admitted, in this story he does mention it and at that point you begin to accept it. It falls to Peri and Erimem to pick up the story and Steve Lyons does this by putting a lot more emphasis on Peri. Peri is very good in this story as she spends most of the story trying to contact Erimem from Count Dracula but obviously she doesn't want to leave. The sisterly bond has been one of the main strengths of this combination but it is in this story that it shines as Peri has genuine distress when she thinks that Erimem is going to stay with Dracula. You genuinely think that Erimem is going to leave the TARDIS crew and even at the end you are still unsure but thankfully the writer didn't go down the shocked route.



James Purefoy is the guest star of this story and he is given a starring role. Like Daphne Ashbrook in The Next Life (2004) and William Russell in The Game (2005), Purefoy's presence is what stands out in this story. The way that he portrays Count Dracula is absolutely fantastic, his nice side and nasty rather gruesome moods are what strikes you most about the role. The way that he is willing to punish or torture someone without a moment of hesitation was quite similar to most bad guys in Doctor Who but yet is somewhat better than all of them. His role in the TV show Rome was Mark Anthony who was a man who did what he wanted to do and was able to snap for no reason but at the same time he manages to make the character of Dracula likeable. I had high expectations of James Purefoy from the moment that I found out that he was going to be in Son of the Dragon and I have to say that I wasn't disappointed. Another credible role was Douglas Hodge who played the brother of Count Dracula Radu. The way that the role was written by Lyons made a perfect opponent to Dracula and the fact that their brothers only adds to the tension that both actors give to the role. Radu's friendship with the Doctor seems heartfelt but ultimately only does a little in helping the story move along. When the Doctor leaves the camp that Radu's men have temporally set up it then seems to lose momentum.



Whilst I loved this story there were a few things that could have been done. First of all there could have been a more obvious threat, the war between Radu and Dracula was good as a starter but after a while it just seems to lose a bit of momentum. There was no real menace, they could have done what they did in The Time Warrior and include a futuristic threat that didn't seem too much like The Time Warrior. The ending was also a let down, because they didn't have a attempt to change history or take over the world it seemed that the ending was a bit flat and it was like the Doctor and Peri turn up to the castle, rescue Erimem and give her the opportunity to stay with them or live a life with Count Dracula. Apart from those points there isnt really anything wrong with the story.



Overall this has to be one of the strongest stories of the year, not quite beating Nocturne or Exotron this is Peter Davisons second strong story in a row and it is proving to be his year for Big Finish stories with only The Minds Eye and Return to the Web Planet to come in 2007 this story has to go into the Top 3 of best 2007 stories.



Opportunity wasted

By:Paul Williams, New Brighton, United States
Date:Monday 9 June 2008
Rating:   6

This could have been a great story. It should have been a great story, but its marred by overacting Peri. Her voice is annoying--full of squeking and the Val girl habit of having statements sound like questions. I have loved Peri in the other Big Finish audios and television shows. But here, her portrayal of a companion worried about losing her friend to Vlad the Impaler does not ring true. Purchase this CD at your own risk.



Historic Yarn but with understanding

By:writingbluebear, jersey
Date:Saturday 4 October 2008
Rating:   9

Often the historic stories I take with a pinch of salt, if you think too much it is silly that the Doctor has met, helped, saved or influenced every single historical figure on the earth. Putting this little point aside, this one has energy but shows the real conflict of the age, what drives power and the lengths required to survive.



Great Historical

By:Andrew Shaw, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Date:Thursday 1 November 2012
Rating:   9

I bought this second hand, and the person I bought it from said it was the worst of all the stories he had heard , a couple of other people did too, I dont know if they know any of the truth about the real Vlad story and were expecting a Hammer Horror style Dracula, so I was expecting a disappointment but I enjoyed it from the start being about real Vlad, with a few added extra's of course theres lots of points I like and some obviously not too keen like others said there should have been more action from the Doctor as there about him, and you would think Peri would learn to start acting abit differently in different times as she was told things were different then, and I liked Radu's frustration as Vlad gets away, but I wonder if it is him who returns or his son who looks supposedly identical in a few books ive read thats where the immortality part in Bram Stoker comes from, but great story loved it...



Decent Historical

By:David Layton, Los Angeles, United States
Date:Monday 15 August 2016
Rating:   7

Continuing in the Doctor Who meets... vein of stories for Doctor 5, this time we get Doctor Who meets Dracula. It's a good thing that writer Steve Lyons got this assignment because in the hands of a lesser writer it could have gone horribly wrong. Lyons approached this as a pure historical, thus avoiding the need to explain all the clichés associated with the fictional Dracula. Indeed, he brings them up every now and again just to dismiss them. That leaves the historical Dracula to deal with. That in itself is a tough assignment because little about the real Vlad the Impaler has survived. However, that leaves Lyons with plenty of room for inserting the Doctor and crew into events. Lyons manages to accomplish here what was missing from The Council of Nicaea, which is that given her background and upbringing, Erimem completely understands what a tyrant does and why he does it. In many ways, Vlad is closer in worldview to Erimem than Peri is, and Lyons does a good job of bringing this out in the story. The main problem with the story is scale. Lyons works best as a writer in the novel genre, where he can work to the limits of his expansive imagination. Limited to about five main characters and five subordinates and tight selection of settings, Lyons and the Big Finish crew just cannot bring to the production the epic sweep it needs. We end up with one character representing the entire peasant point of view, a major person in the details of the events, Sultan Mehmet III, merely described rather than portrayed, and some improbable communications and contacts between characters. It's a worthy, but flawed, effort.



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