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| What: | Battlefield (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 23 January 2009 |
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| Rating: |   8 |
A pretty good story, my 2nd fave in season 26. The souped-up version on disc 2 is also good. The extras are the highlight of the release, with a "Making Of" documentary, an informative feature on Sophie Aldred's on-set accident, and my favourite, a featurette exploring Jean Marsh's Doctor Who career.
Overall, a good DVD. Roll on The Rescue & The Romans!
| What: | The Next Doctor (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 22 January 2009 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Well, the bbc took long enough to do it what with the tedium of their first two cyber outings, but here at last we have a cyberman story of the new series which i think is more than just average. Took long enough though i can tell you.
What made this better than the last two outings for me? Well, David Morrisey as the next Doctor for one, David Tennant for once seems to take a back seat for a change. And i really like the harkback to the classuc doctors with that scene of all their faces, a nice touch. Nostalgia i know, but good nostalgia. And the cybermen are far better prsented, saying something other than you will be converted for a change, just getting their cybership, which was imprsiive, to work with a new King, or in fact a woman, at the helm. YES, THE CYBERMEN ARE AT LAST BACK IN FORCE FOR ME. As good as Silver Nemesis and The Wheel In Space is this, and its about time too.
You have to think that this stage play was orginally done in the 60s. For this reason, i was expecting it to be stilted or not quite as good as modern doctor who, but happily i was very surprised to find that this story is great. The daleks are back and as manipulating ad they ever were. I like the fact that they have the original dalek gun noises, a cool reminder of the old days. Mike Praed dont half sound a lot like Paul Mcgann doesnt he? Well i thought so at least. This is a good spin off stage show from the best progtramme on tv. David and Terry really wrote a cracker of a script, with good character development and good twists and suspenseful moments aplenty. This is very good stuff indeed and a good end to the stage play trilogy.
| What: | The Wormery (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 22 January 2009 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Katy Manning makes this story work with just her presence. She is so good as Iris Wildthyme, that mysterious traveller who always crops up to annoy the good Doctor every so often. I love her style and her over the top acting, it so fits the character. This could have been an acting flunk if the right person hadnt of landed the role, but its great that Katy was chosen. I love Iris. Such a great creation by Paul Magrs. Who yet again manages along with Steve Cole to make this play sound more like a stage play than just a plain audio drama.
And then add to the mix Colin making yet another great contribution as the Doctor into the mix and that alone will secure a good tale. But this story is full of moments scary and surprising to say the least. The episode cliffhangers are original and very good. The voice of the worms is creepy to say the least. And i love the surprise of the one liner by Sylvester Mccoy at the end of this tightly paced and brilliant story. Its a good ending to a well paced and fun and scary eadventure. I for one would say that this happens to be doctor who at its best.
You get monsters, Irises Valeyard in Bianca (a great idea to my liking) and a good plot line. Paul and Stephen do very well indeed in keeping ones interest piqued throughout. Cool adventure!
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 | Return of Ace and Hex at last |
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| What: | Forty-Five (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 22 January 2009 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
As Sophie always has been one of my fav actresses and fav companions as Ace, its good to see her back after a too long gap. And Phil Olivier returns in fine form too in this great celebration of forty five years of the best programme on the tv. And on audio too!
Forty Five is four single episode stories here are my reviews for each one:
FALSE GODS:
Sort of a weak start to the disc, not saying the acting isnt good, Sylv is excellent in this instalment, just the whole thing is a tiny bit lacklustre even for just a one episode story. Bit of a shame as mark is one of the best dr who novelists around.
ORDER OF SIMPLICITY:
Man now we get onto the rest of the brilliant stories. This story has good originality and makes good use of the five characters present. An eerie tale with a lot going for it actually. A bit of difference again, the big finish team overall pick their scriptwriters well.
CASUALTIES OF WAR:
So Ace is back home when her mum is just a girl this time. This is a touching little story with a few good twists and turns along the way. SOphie shines in this episode, bringing real emotion into play. The whole thing works very well indeed and is believable. The truth teller device is a neat little plot line too. Makes for some good acting too from all involved.
THE WORD LORD:
You once in a while get a brain twister that comes along and you really have to pay attention to it to get the full gist of it, but that is by no means a bad thing in the slightest. This is another good and orginal ending to an overall very good set of stories. The Word Lord is a good new enemy for the doctor, especailly working well with the seventh doctor. So overall this package is highly entertaining and original and full of surprises.
The mysterious planet is a very good way of opening the trial. i quite like it but the overlighting lets it down a bit. Mindwarp is one of the best stories ever: mad, funny, dark and tense. The final episode is one of the dramatic ever. Terror of the vervoids is a more back to basics one hammpered by some stupid design features i.e. the airducts are bigger than the cabins and hallways. The umilate foe is weird and fun which is good, the end is bit too happy (peri should have stayed died, i like her by the way). The extras are perfect and the cliffhanger one is very funny
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| A Worthy Addition To Dalek Cannon? |
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Cast your mind back to April 2000 when The Genocide Machine made its debut. The story holds an interesting place as it was the very first Dalek story produced by Big Finish. Thanks to a post on one of the message boards I’m a member of I listened to this story again for the first time in over year. As I did I asked myself the same question that had gotten me to listen to this audio again: is The Genocide Machine a worthy addition to Dalek cannon?
To answer that let’s start by looking at the performances from the lead actors. Both Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred give good performances as they reprise the seventh Doctor and Ace respectively. Considering this was only their second Big Finish outing together (with only The Fearmonger coming before this story) there is a very strong feeling that this is the same duo that walked off into the proverbial sunset way back in Survival. While they give good performances there isn’t exactly a whole lot of range to be found in them. That fact is more to the script then the actors but more on that a little later.
The supporting cast is a bit of a mixed batch though. While Louise Faulkner gives an admirable performance as smuggler Bev Tarrant and has some wonderful chemistry with the character of Ace in particular the same can not be said of her other co-star. Bruce Montague gives a constantly annoying if not whiny performance as Chief Librarian Elgin which, given juts how much this character appears in the story, brings down the story considerably. On the plus side there is Daniel Gabriele in a couple of different roles plus of course the Daleks. Nicholas Briggs and laisatair Lock cover the whole range of Dalek voices admirably right through and up to the Dalek Emperor himself. Yet the real problem of the supporting cast is the fact that it is noticeably small. While all the audios have a small cast this is the one occasion I can recall where it became noticeable to the point of annoyance (like the character of Prink who keeps getting referred to but only gets a couple of line sat the very end).
And of course there is the script. Special effects man and novelist mike Tucker was given the task of bringing the Daleks to audio with this story. In doing so Tucker created the audio equivalent of the Pertwee era story Planet Of The Daleks which means (to borrow from Nicholas Briggs for a moment) that this is effectively “the Daleks greatest hits”. The story contains the Dalek Supreme, Dalek duplicates (Resurrection Of The Daleks), Hoverbouts from the comic strips plus the Emperor amongst many, many other Dalek elements. The result is that story is probably second only to the novel War Of The Daleks (which I’m reading now) for just how many Dalek references can be put into a single story weather needed or not. For the most part it seems a little unnecessary to cram so much into the story and it certainly isn’t to the stories benefit in my opinion. Beyond the elements of Dalek continuity there is little original to the story outside of the setting of the Library of Kar-Charrat (one wonders if Steven Moffat drew some inspiration from this story when he wrote Silence In The Library / The Forest Of The Dead for the new series) which si a shame because there’s so much more that could have been done in this story.
So how worthy is The Genocide Machine to Dalek cannon? While It has some good performances the story is marred down by its script. While this is perhaps a good adventure (if unexceptional) when comparing this story with later Big Finish Dalek stories like The Mutant Phase or Jubilee this story way too lightweight by comparison. Or, to put it another way, good but still found wanting.
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| Have really enjoyed this adventure. |
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Have really enjoyed this adventure. Seemed to hit the mark with a Quatermass like feel and atmosphere. Easy to follow, but well written drawing you in very quickly with believable credible characters and a well crafted story.
Terrific gripping story, slow beginning yes, as there is a long set up, but eventually the story picks up speed and keeps up a few different, fascinating plotlines. The far future of the Time Lords, a time war(oh Noes! coincidence Russel T. Davies? -I think not) How TARDISes are grown,How they think, etc. Too many fascinating ideas and lots of adventure! VERY satisfying.
One of my favourites out of the Doctor Who books (I have 26!) it goes from talking hedgehogs to video games. I have read this book so many times it is falling apart at the spine and I'm still not fed up of it. A brilliant read!
Havn't seen this one, so was unsure what to expect - but really enjoyed it.
A nice book. its good tobe releaved of the doctor for a whole bookand it wasnice to see wha happenedin that terrible yearof the masters rein. SPOILER- one word-Brigadier! (will someone tell me who he is please!?!) From the empty streets of france to the new york ruins this book takes you all over the glob! a must 4 every dr.who fan! 8/10
this book is amazing and im so buying it, i love dr who so much and this book is just brill
This sequel brings back the wonderful David Warner Doctor, still re-united with the Brigadier in a story about Thals, Daleks, Davros and the manipulative other dimensional Quotch.
Almost two stories in one, one the dark concentration camp world of the Thals under Dalek control, the other the invasion of an enemy to Thal and Dalek, it is certainly packed enough to warrant the extended running time of two CDs.
There is a sly back-reference to an alternative Day of the Daleks, and different Dalek factions - very Syvester McCoy ("the renegades") - but what makes this story special is the Warner Doctor, very similar to the Pertwee one in his ability to improvise at a moments notice, and aware of his own failings when he cannot deprogram a Dalek.
Mention must be made of the perfect foil, the Brigadier, whose ability as a military stategist comes very strongly here (much more so than in some of the TV UNIT stories), and is prepared to make sacrifices of Thals and Daleks and himself if needs be, for the grater good - much to the dismay of the Thals, who are not used to that kind of thinking.
Terry Molloy also does sterling service as two Davros, one the virtual reconstruction of the Daleks, and one the real McCoy in a wonderful homage to the Colin Baker era, returning as the "Great Technician".
This is a rollercoaster that never flags, although the Quotch are more of a comic strip monster at times - and what a silly name - this is a worthy sequel to an excellent starter, but stands alone in its own right as a good Who story.
Could there be more Warner stories? It would be interesting if he could perhaps return to earth once more, and be pared with another Pertwee companion, such as an older (and alternative)Sarah Jane whom he would be meeting for the first time.
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| Lives up to reputation... |
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| What: | Lungbarrow (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Heidi Atwood, Vancouver, WA, USA |
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| Date: | Wednesday 7 January 2009 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I'd love to have a copy of this to read and re-read, especially since as a fairly new fan, I'm sure a lot of the more esoteric references flew over my head. But I feel this truly is a
| What: | Battlefield (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 30 December 2008 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Almost like a football match, this is a DVD of two halves. The first disc is the familiar as broadcast four parter. Anyone who has seen it will know the problems that spoil what is a good & interesting story. All these problems are dealt with on disc two, which has a 95 minute TV movie version. It has new CGI effects, the music is toned down & it it is re-edited & features previously cut scenes so, as The Curse of Fenric, it is much , much better. Highly recommended.
As an introduction this may seem strange. But as a story, it stands on it's own paws and is great fun. Excellent word play, bringing out a strong personality of summerfield, fun, flawed but honest.
| What: | The Trial of a Time Lord (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 27 December 2008 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
This is a story that really polarises fans. Some hate it with a passion. Others think it's one of the best ever. Either way there is no denying that this DVD box set is wonderfully put together with a wonderful array of extra feature.
The best of these is "Trials & Tribulations" in which the whole of Colin Baker's time as the Doctor is explored. A real value for money set. Highly recommended.
| What: | Renaissance of the Daleks (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 24 December 2008 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Despite the vast scope of the second half, this story is fairly typical of Davison-era Who. We get the TARDIS as #9 bus, picking up three strays in time and one spy and three teentsy Daleks to pack into the console room. The story has our Doctor caught in a conundrum and stumbling upon the solution almost by accident. There were apparently significant changes to the original script for reasons unknown, so that writer Christopher Bidmead felt he should not get full writing credit. Bidmead still provides some of his characteristic touches. These include an "is it real?" plot, huge threats of violence but not much actual violence, and the Doctor's playing a battle of wits against an enemy. There is some fun with deadly toy Daleks. A few problems remain. One has to do with the three time waifs Nyssa picks up. Why these three in particular? When we finally do get them on board, their main purpose is to get the TARDIS into the Dalek city. Other than that, they serve no real plot function at all. Some tighter plotting was needed here to band all the time threads. That Wilton is a spy is telegraphed far too blatantly. Plus, we have the dubious prospect of American actors putting on fake American accents. Still, the tale moves along briskly and follows a natural Who-type story structure.
How I've missed Ace & Hex, they really add something special to the Doctor. Four short interlinking stories, with a good subplot and as ever in the new style, twists and turns and a surprise ending. Great listening.
