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| What: | The Writer's Tale: (Miscellaneous factual books) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 9 December 2008 |
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| Rating: |   9 |
If you have ever wondered how Dr Who gets written this is the book for you. A wonderful book that really charts how RTD writes for the show. Full of insight. Next time someone moans about RTD, point them towards this book. He REALLY loves the show & his love really shines through. As well as being a talented writer, RTD is also a very talented illustrator. Highly recommended.
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 | Expensive, but you don't have to buy it |
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First, remember that this is a great read, but if you don't want to have to spend £50 on it, the e-Book of it is available on the BBC website, for free, the whole thing.
This is part 1 of the 2 most boring books ever written.
Yuck!!!
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| Much better than I remember |
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| What: | The Krotons (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | matt, Aylesbury |
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| Date: | Thursday 4 December 2008 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I sold my videos years ago because I had no space, so I've not seen the Krotons for many years. However I remember not enjoying this black & white Troughton story and I remember being bored senseless. The problem with b&w stories is that they have to be very special to be enjoyable to watch - The Time Meddler is good; The Gunfighters is dross. However, when I read the Target novelisations I always enjoy the story much better - no rubbish effects, etc. We have the same opportunity with Audio which allows none of the rubbish sets to affect our enjoyment, and we get to listen to the actual dialogue. In the Krotons, it's still not great, but the dialogue is really good in parts and it's nice to hear Pat Troughton once again.. Roll on the DVD (not!)
wow camp cybermen what else could you ask pure entertainment i cant complain love it x
I think Trevor Martin is a class act as the Doctor in this stage play from 1974. He is laid back and forthright and assured and plays the role with so engagingly. But by no means does he carry this play all by himself no. The two companions yet again are sadly just one offs. the funny dialog and scenes along the way make for entertaining light hearted adventure. But this is where Terrance Dicks excels, In just creating a simple and decent story. There is little goobledigook and its all easy to follow. not so many stupid and mind warping twists and turns all along the way. Just plain old fashioned Doctor Who done brilliantly! If only the new series could be more like this...
great but if i could give it 9.9999r% i would because i dont like the lazurus episode that much! great seies though, love freema, 10/10
Its so cool! Like the christmas and the first episodes and like the finalie (probz spelt wrong)! dont like the episode called love and monsters though (the one with peter kay!) and thats what stops this from being a 10/10 dvd series!
The big finish team on the extras say they basically left the scripts for all the stage plays alone when they came for adapting for audio. a good idea indeed. now ive never seen this stage play, would have been 1 at the time. but in my opinion this didnt need any script altering anyway.
what i can say is this is a thoruoghly enjoyable and vintage piece of doctor who. there are so many good elements: daleks and cybermen in alliance, maggie thatcher, jason and crystal, these guys should be back for the normal range of audios. they are so cool and Clare Huckle is brilliantly over the top in areas, as a stage show usually is. She alone added stage show believability to this mix of comedy and action.
another nice idea is the doc talking to aliens in their own languages instead of a tardis translator working! what a cool idea, a great thought from Terrance. This is so enjoyable stage play, except for one annoying thing...its not long enough. and theres not enough of the cybermen for me. but overall a really big knockout...
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| Great to see a lost classic |
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| What: | The Invasion (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | George, Phoenix, AZ USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 23 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I've never seen this story before, so it was a true joy to watch. I wish the animation could have been a bit more realistic, but the overall effect is good. I hope other lost stories can be reconstructed as well.
| What: | Frostfire (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 21 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
1: This is the final and great return of Maureen Obrien to the role of Vicki. Maureen reads this story very well indeed, really bringing out the right emotions in the right moments, really taking you into the story.
2: The story itself is a creepy and delightful tale from Marc Platt. What is it about this guy, hes the robert holmes of modern who. This tale is creepy and has a lot going for it. A promising start to the companion chronicles.
3: there is a frost fare. theres an egg. theres jane austen. theres a street urchin boy. theres a burning pheonix. theres the brilliant first doctor back for a story...what could possibly make tis great story any better?
4: and the sound design is very first doctor too, the big finish team got it so right. this could have easily slotted into any season of william's era.
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| Brotherhood of Brilliance |
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| What: | Brotherhood of the Daleks (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 21 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The big finish team never seem to run out of steam. whereas the new series dalek stories have all been rather bland and stilted, here is a fresh and cool new adventure. But id expect nothing less from Alan Barnes.
So the tardis arrives on spiridon apparently. The sound effects are just so right and sound no different from the brilliant Planet Of The Daleks. This is such a cool idea, revisiting spiridon in the future.
What is also great about this story too is the twists and turns. The episode endings are some of the best ive heard on a big finish production. this story is second only to Kingdom of Silver for overall storytelling. This is a very memorable tale.
Colin Baker leads the show brilliantly as usual but India makes thoisis story i think. And she was right about the reveal all scene, the final take was far better and realistic. Far more emotional and involved. Good thinking to do it again India, directors dont always know it all after all.
There are some classy moments elsewhere too, like the daleks being affected by the kyropites too and going doolally. that is class! and the final scene is excellent and finishes the play off so very well. This comes highly recommended from me.
| What: | The Eighth Doctor Collection (Miscellaneous audio dramas) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
If you, like me, were not there at the beginning of the 8th Doctor & Charley Audio Adventures, this is an excellent way to begin with the first 4 story's + a bonus documentary. Recommended.
| What: | The Face of the Enemy (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
A Doctor who book without the Doctor is an interesting idea that doesn't quite work. As good as it is having the Brigadier & The Master having the story to themselves (& an excellent idea having Barbra & Ian) I found myself really missing the Doctor & Jo. The sorry is a slow burner that at times feels more like an episode of the Sweeney, but builds up to a good climax before ending suddenly & unsatisfactorily
Daleks, the typcial approach is the grand grand adventure life as we know if about to fold and an unarmed man and a girl laughing in the face of the most deadly creature. Brotherhood really demonstrates the success of a new direction for Big Finish, strong story arcs, building their own big finish universe, sub plots, worlds, history. Giving a pallet from which it can draw to paint strong, believable story lines with excellent people living in it. Not afraid to have complex stories to hold the listener. Brotherhood is one of the best.
| What: | Wetworld (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 9 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
The Doctor and Martha arrive by accident (unexplained) on the colony planet Sunday. The land is mostly marshy swamp. The colony is failing because a meteorite landed in the nearby ocean, causing a massive tidal wave. Of course, the meteorite contained more than just rock, and now the Doctor and Martha must put a stop to the alien menace threatening the colonists.
There are shades of Frontios in this story: a distressed colony under siege, an incompetent leader, factions among the colonists. The threat in this case fits what is going on more commonly in the rest of science fiction these days, focusing on brains, intelligence, and in essence biological computers (though nothing is ever called that in the novel). The novel moves along nicely and avoids being the gore fest that many in BBC paperback range were. The setting would make this impracticable to produce for TV, yet the plot follows a typical Doctor Who pattern. Thus, a reader may easily create the "episode" of this novel in his or her imagination. The dialogue involving the Doctor and Martha are especially in tune with the TV series.
Michalowski is not a particularly subtle writer, though, and there are many missed opportunities for using some stylistic editing. His sentences carry the information well enough on the word level, but do not change with the mood of the action. The opening scene exemplifies this principle well, where the scene is of sudden, punctuated violence, yet the sentences are essayistically stolid. Similarly, the story delivers the Doctor Who experience, hence the rather high ratings, but does not go beyond that. Michalowski does not use the novel medium to its advantage to get deep inside characters and to pause over concepts. The third person narrator provides us with the camera view of the action and when he occasionally conveys a character's thoughts, the thoughts are the obvious ones.
So, this is an enjoyable, lightweight Doctor Who romp, but never more than that.
| What: | Invaders from Mars (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 6 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 3 |
Those alien voices just grate. And the whole story isnt really that engaging. glory bee is the best character in it. thank goodness its as short as it is. this is dire from mark gatiss, after his many brilliant doctor who novels and the idiots lantern.
| What: | Time Reef (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 6 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
What i really like about thisstory is its really all about the TARDIS. Thomas Brewster has been a naughty boy and sold parts of it to a bunch of space pirates. What a great idea! Dr who is such a flexible storyboard, for any amount of different tales that can be told. and they are often great and different like this story. Well, another Marc Platt story is always welcome. Intelligently written and directed, and it all comes together. And the one episode special a perfect world is great. A real new tales of the unexpected type of story. With Thomas staying in modern london at the end of it all. That is quite annoying, John Pickard has been memorable even in the two and bit stories he's been in. The fifth doctor always attracts the weird companions doesnt he?
The ruhk is a good and different type of monster for once. I love the thought of Lady Vuyoki sitting in a jar all day long. This really is another story fit for tv, that should have been done in the old series. The big finish scene is still very strong indeed. And Marc Platt hasnt dried up by a long chalk.
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| Commander Linx rules (well...)! |
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| What: | The Time Warrior (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 1 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I strongly disagree with the statement 'All Doctor Who stories with 'time' in their name are rubbish'. Timelash is a good example of this statement possibly being true, but the opposite can be said for this...
A brilliant historical setting that feels authentic (in a way, it is) that is the perfect home for this story of a lone Sontaran trying to return to his 'glorious' war. Commander Linx looks brilliant too - better even that today's versions, and a world away from the orange balloons of The Two Doctors
The extras are good too - 'Beginning the End' is a brilliant, informative documentary filmed at the castle used for filming of this story, and the CGI effects greatly add to the story.
Story - 10/10
Extras - 10/10
Overall - 10/10
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| "Best ever Doctor Who story"? |
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| What: | Genesis of the Daleks (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 1 November 2008 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I was told, as I bought this (by a massive red sticker plastered onto the packaging) that this was voted "No. 1 Doctor Who story". I had high hopes when I got home and as I watched it over the next few days I agreed with this statement, until about Part 4. This is when the story begins to drag, and it only picks up towards the end of Part 6.
This is made up, though, by the extras, which are stunning. The best is 'The Dalek Tapes', a documentary about the history of the Daleks, which includes Blue Peter footage about two stolen Daleks - well worth a watch!
'Genesis of a Classic', the documentary for the story is also good, as is the commentary (or should that be 'Tommentary'?) featuring Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Peter Miles and David Maloney, which is full of interesting anecdotes, particularly (and surprisingly) from David Maloney.
Story - 8.5/10
Extras - 10/10
