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I wonder how the pitch meeting for this novel went. Terrance, we want a book that covers the entire Doctor Who back-story. If you can tidy up a few loose ends from the TV Movie that would be fine. Oh and can you also introduce a brand new female companion, and keep it to a couple hundred pages.
Terrance has made a decent fist of a bad plan. The revisiting of pivotal moments from past doctor stories is a interesting plot device, and while a few of the encounters are poorly handled, generally they work as a short-hand way of covering the back-story.
The real weakness here is the decision to introduce the companion Sam Jones and then abandon her for the majority of the plot. She becomes little more than an afterthought and loses any impact she might have.
It's a decent read. But, if you are used to the more heavy weight New Adventures it is a bit frothy in comparison. Mind you, if you think the New Adventures are a bit too pretentious for there own good, this might comes as a pleasant surprise.
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 | One of the best New Series books |
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| What: | The Pirate Loop (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Jamie, England |
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| Date: | Saturday 21 June 2008 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
I read Pirate Loop last week and loved it. Simon Guerrier gets the Doctor and Martha perfectly and the other characters were brilliant. I think my favourite character is Archie because he is so adorable.
Interesting to say the least. As much as i love Doctor who, this book, i just couldnt put it down. Sure....its interesting, it gives out a lot of information and some nods/refrences to the past, but I found that unless you can really ingage in the book itself, you might just end up finishing it but after reading half of the book, it seemed to me that there was far to much in terms of know how and far to little actually going on. Some might love this book, i like it for some reasons, The Doctors represented well here and so is Martha however, the book itself dried up far to quickly in my point of view!
What a refreshing read, highly recommended, fun, enjoyable, I simply couldnt put it down, its a must read.
| What: | Series 3 Volume 4: (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 20 June 2008 |
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| Rating: |  7 |
UTOPIA - A well-balanced adventure, with the good back-story about the survivors' journey to Utopia, but I think this is overshadowed by the arrival of the Master!
THE SOUND OF DRUMS - A good Part Two for the "Master Trilogy", although personally the idea of John Simm as the Master doesn't work for me. The brilliant cliffhanger of the Earth being in danger and the Doctor and his companion being in genuine danger makes this the besty of the 3.
LAST OF THE TIME LORDS - The weakest, due to the fact to the Master being defeated by everyone saying 'Doctor'!? The Master dying at the end wasn't a very good ending either, but we had the spectacular red fingernails picking up the ring...
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| Time flight into the Ark of Infinity |
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My brothers introduced me to DR Who because when i was little, i had all or most of the videos on VHS so I knew who was who, and what those stories were however when I bought the Three Doctors, I thought that the character of Omega was great, the mask was exceptional, however, I like what the did in Ark of Infinity to him. I loved that story, because for many reasons, one being they filmed in Amsterdam and the other being that the Tardis team of just the Doctor and Nyssa have tjhe chance to meet thier old friend Tegan Javanka who after not that long returned faithful to the TARDIS and I knew when I sat down and wathed Timeflight that Tegan didnt leave as in for good because her official outing and when i did see her go n that episode, It did keep me guessing as to how long she was away because I had never seen either of these episodes and I only bought them the other day in this fantastic looking boxset.
Tegan always did appeal to me and I thought she was a great companion of her day and Im glad she still does audio adventures for Doctor Who because her character I felt seemed miss used. Even finding the Master amoung one of the episodes astonished me because I had also once before seen time flight on UK GOLD but had never seen the concluding two parter. This boxset is one of the very few that contain some of the best episodes in the whoniverse.
Trust me on this!
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| Another sixth doctor hit... |
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| What: | Assassin in the Limelight (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 18 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
as far as sequels go, this aint bad at all. But as a sequel to two previous stories by the same writer, its flipping excellent. Pier Pressure and Medicinal Purposes are already two of my favourite audios, and so here comes Rob Ross with another in that great line. A great trilogy. The aliens are actually named, which is a good thing. Leslie Phillips again steals the show, giving a fine performance as Dr Knox. Colin and Maggie get back together so well and easily too. A sort of simple story overall, but that is no bad thing. I like the talking TARDIS too. All in all, a very well produced and realised audio story. More please!
| What: | Ten Little Aliens (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 15 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
A tense, interesting tale. A long slow build up but a really exciting ending. I love the 1st Doctor story's the best & this is one of the best.
| What: | Nocturne (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 9 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
"Nocturne" is a traditional kind of Doctor Who story handled in a very traditional sort of way. The Doctor takes his companions to a place he finds interesting and immediately they are all embroiled in a battle against destructive evil. There are a couple of nice touches, such as that even though the Doctor is known by many, he is welcomed as a friend, except by the representative of the police, the Oberst. As usual, the chief cop is thick-skulled and overly suspicious, though the fact of a decades-old war gives that cliche some verisimilitude. The idea of killer sound had been used way back in the early days of Big Finish, in "Whispers of Terror." Here the killer is a kind of modernist piece of music generated from bioharmonics (Dan Abnett perhaps not a fan of Stockhausen?). It all plays out in the usual Doctor Who way. For those who like the traditional Doctor Who formula strictly adhered to, this is a good tale.
After the super 'The Christmas Invasion', we were hoping for something that would live up to expectations, and maybe even better them. However, this is a total let-down compared to that first Christmas special.
However, it certainly is not as bad as 'Voyage of the Damned'...
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| Not the best beginning-of-season stories |
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| What: | Series 4 Volume 1: (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 9 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
A good collection of stories, although I was unimpressed after thinking about the first 3 stories from the three previous series. I do, however, think that a good job has been done on the DVD cover.
| What: | Loups-Garoux (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Paul Williams, New Brighton, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 9 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Very clever writing. Excellent interplay between Turlough and the Doctor. And Eleanor Bron and Sarah Gale have incredible vocal range.
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| Only Gets Better with Age |
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| What: | Zagreus (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Paul Williams, New Brighton, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 9 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The first time I listened to the CD, I thought it was pretty good. The second time, I was surprised at how much I missed. The third time, I really enjoyed the word play and I realized that I misjudged the CD the first time. Its one of the few Big Finish audio adventures that are complex enough to hold up to repeated listenings. (Others that fall in that category--Holy Terror, Chimes of Midnight, Loups-Garoux, and Immortal Beloved.
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| Still the Best Big Finish CD Out There |
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| What: | The Chimes of Midnight (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Paul Williams, New Brighton, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 9 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This audio adventure came out several years ago and although I've listened to dozens of other Big Finish audio adventures, this adventure continues to amaze me. Very well crafted. This audio only gets better with age.
| What: | Son of the Dragon (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Paul Williams, New Brighton, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 9 June 2008 |
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| 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.
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| Stop, stop, this is just too silly |
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| What: | Year of the Pig (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 6 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
The "Year of the Pig" is 1913. The Great War is about to start, and well-dressed, well-mannered pig living like Proust in a secret part of a luxury hotel in Belgium seems to know all about it. This sort of thing is typical English fantasy of the Wind in the Willows variety, but just does not work for me in Doctor Who. Everybody acts waaaaaay over the top. I do not quite know why when Big Finish has former Doctor Who companion-actors as guest stars, it is almost always is some extravagant and flouncy and unbelievable personage. Maureen O'Brien, a very good actor indeed, gets reduced to over-prouncing big words. This is in line with Carolyn John's OTT performance in "Dust Breeding" and Deborah Watling's OTT performance in "Three's A Crowd." Katy Manning can be forgiven hers because, after all, what other kind of role are you going to give Katy Manning but Iris Wyldthyme? Only William Russell seems to have gotten a really good part, in "The Game." It is not that I blame the actors for this, but the producers for giving them nothing better to do. The origin of the all the events in this story, the who, what, where, why, are swiftly and rather vaguely passed over. Just who created Toby and Charly and why? What happened to him/her. For a while I though Miss Bultitude was really their creator busy trying to round them up again. But no. No rhyme or reason to it at all in the end. It would have made a good children's story, but just does not work as Doctor Who.
| What: | No Man's Land (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 6 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
"No Man's Land" is decent enough Doctor Who. The Doctor and company land in secret British hospital in France in 1917. Something strange is going on. Investigations follow. There is plenty of chance for people to talk about life and death and war. There are some interesting conversations between Ace and Captain Dudgeon. That said, there are some major problems in the production. One is the stripped-down techno style soundtrack music that is totally out of sync with the dramatic situation and often sounds so much like a sound effect that one thinks, "ah, here is the monster at last." Another is that much of the story is blindingly obvious. The bad guys really are bad guys, and there is no attempt to hide it. And I had the Forge pegged for this one from about 10 minutes in.
(First review! Yay!)
Personally I really enjoyed this - the regulars (the Doctor especially) were very well captured by the author, and the storlyine was well realised - as the previous reviewer said there were several twists, which worked really well.
However it misses out on a 10 because some of the 'multiple Andrews' parts got overly complicated when they could have been much simpler. The 'changing time' also suffered similarly but I liked the idea of the alternate London created by WOTAN.
Overall very very good.
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| Best Cyberman Story Ever! |
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| What: | The Flood (Panini graphic novels) |
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| By: | Ron, Peru, USA |
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| Date: | Thursday 5 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The Eighth Doctor got a good run in the comics, and this collection contains "The Flood," which is easily one of THE best Cyberman stories of any medium; so good that even the new TV series borrowed from it! Best of all the notes at the end show how a regeneration from McGann to Eccleston was planned in the comics. Excellent stuff!
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| A 'joint effort' that paid off |
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| What: | The Ark in Space (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 4 June 2008 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
This story could be described as a joint effort, being written mostly by Robert Holmes, but from an idea from John Lucarotti. Two great writers each offering chunks of this brilliant story, which is very good as the Fourth Doctor's first adventure away from present-day Earth. The only bad point is the particularly poor use of bubble wrap to simulate Noah turning into a Wirrn.
Apart from that, however, a brillant story.
