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 | Reviews for The Lost Stories: The Second Doctor Box Set |
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There are 2 reviews so far. To add a review of your own for this item, visit the voting page.
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| Yet again, true gems of history... |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 21 May 2011 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
Prison In Space really makes me smile for a vast multitude of reasons which I shall list below.
First it marks the first story in a long long time to feature Frazer and Wendy in both leading roles. They slot back into the roles of Jamie and Zoe with absolutely no effort whatsoever. Its like theyve never left the series back at the end of the Troughton era. One is only very sad that Pat Troughton himself is no longer with us, as im pretty sure he would have relished working on a story such as this.
Simon Guerrier has definitely been the right choice in adapting this story for the audio medium. He gets the second Doctor's character totally spot on. The story again is very well paced, and despite the fact that it is by and large a true comedic gem, there still are plenty of darker scenes which are made all the more realistic by Frazer's and Wendy's brilliant delivery. They both have a multitude of voices which are faultless, especially Frazer's masterful Pat Troughton, it truly does feel as though he was there in this story.
Susan Brown as Babs is just the perfect choice too. She really seems to enjoy her character, and the character would have moulded perfectly with other obvious loonies from the Pat Troughton era of the show all those years ago, back when Doctor Who was a lot more innocent and a lot more fun too.
But one just has to mention how funny a lot of the scenes here are. Whether it be Alice with her arms around the Doctor and Jamie dragging then through the OSCE corridors after theyve been caught, or the wonderful fight scene of Zoe almost succeeding in escaping from the clutches of Babs at the climax to episode two.
And this story is also good in the fact that had it of been made on screen, then we would have had the first notion that earth medicine and pills would have had a probably adverse effect on the time lord. What also impresses with this story too are the very good cliffhangers. They are suitably good and engaging, so you really want to find out what happens next.
This maybe a bit of a battle of the sexes, but never has it been done in such fine comdeic style. Just listen to the final scene of Babs running through the roof garden after the terrified Doctor! Pure classic brilliance of the highest order. This had all the elements that made the Pat era so memorable for me. And again thanks must go to BFP for having the sense to make it, and to Frazer too for finding the ancient script in his garage! And to Dick Sharples too, for writing the original piece.
The Daleks: The Destroyers is a classic piece of Terry Nation writing. Jean Marsh is faultless again as Sarah Kingdom. I rather feel this story might have taken place some time before The Daleks Master Plan. It has the right tone and the right plot elements for this to be so. The narration is greatly detailed, and is delivered brilliantly all along the way by Jean. This has all the typical Terry Nation elements, such as vicious plants and totally heartless Daleks. But this would have been done before Planet of the Daleks, so one can see why a few elements of this stand alone pilot episode for america back in the sixties made it into the script of the aforementioned Jon Pertwee story. The fellow cast members all add to the mix to make this a rather enjoyable little romp. Questions are left unanswered along the way, so this just leaves me wanting to really know what happens next!! Please can this be made into a series soon so I can find out please!
So again, this is brilliant stuff that should have been made. This set is on par with the First Doctor set, as they both fit their intended eras faultlessly.
| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 20 September 2015 |
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| Rating: |  7 |
The box set contains two stories from the 1960s rediscovered. One is the aborted pilot episode for a proposed Daleks series in the US. This is a very Terry Nation script. It involves a military taskforce trapped in a dangerous environment. The planet has bizarre, flesh-eating monster plants, as in many Nation scripts. A main character is Sara Kingdom, from Daleks' Masterplan. However, this is a very different Sara Kingdom from that one. In this story, Sara is generally a whimpering, emotional "female" and not much else. Since this is a pilot episode, it is mostly all setup for what would happen later in the series.
Two is a script commissioned for the 1969 series but dropped presumably because it was too humorous. In this story, the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe stumble into a future Earth in which the feminists have taken over, turned men into second-class citizens, and instituted a dictatorship under the leader Chairman Babs. The story moves along briskly, with a mix of humor and danger. This story is very much part of the 60s women's lib period with many jokes about gender roles. Naturally, it will be sexist in various ways compared to today's attitudes.
Both the episodes here are treated as dramatic readings rather than full cast dramas. The narrative interludes are not too obtrusive. Jean Marsh does well in changing her vocal registers between narrator and Sara. Prison in Space gets dual narrators with Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury. Hines does an extraordinary impression of Troughton's Doctor.
The stories here are really products of the 60s, so most of their flaws derive from that period. One should give credit to Big Finish for leaving these in and going with the spirit of nostalgia. The sound design and background music are all done to bring back that 60s feeling. The signature tune for the Daleks episode is perfect in recreating this musical genre.
The stories here are good fun. If I could, I would give it 7.5 rather than just 7.
