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Since the cover art (and a Big Finish audio promo) gives it away, it's no spoiler to say that Human Resources features the Cybermen, and that it does so in what is often the best way - sparingly. The Cybermen make their first actual appearance at the very end of Part 1, and the Doctor has unwittingly helped them by sabotaging their enemy. The voicing of these Cybermen is interesting, being a combination of the sing-songy voicing from the First Doctor story The Tenth Planet, and the voicing from the new t.v. series. The result works quite well, and makes it easy to believe that these are early Cybermen, from before they became established on Telos (though we should skip the twisted Cyber-history study).
In addition, the role of the Time Lords in Lucie's situation is finally brought to light, and everything is snapped into place quite nicely. A Time Lord weapon that is in play here is quite intriguing, and in addition to all of this, the script also manages to throw in some stinging criticisms of our present-day geo-political machinations without doing it too overtly. Some reviewers disagree with the ways in which the Time Lords are made to come off as being somewhat amateurishly petty here (in contrast to recent television portrayals), but I think it all works rather well. The Doctor also gives a brilliant little speech to the Cybermen about their inability to learn humility in the face of their own oppression - that because of this, they deserve to be oppressed.
The format of two fifty-minute episodes is used perfectly here in Human Resources. It gives good structure to the story, allowing for nice development without making the story feel rushed, while also demanding a certain economy that doesn't allow for unnecessary padding. And in Part 2, the pitch perfect wit continues.
I would have to say that Big Finish has never been better than Human Resources.
Human Resources could be used as an example of how to produce excellent Big Finish audio plays. Everything works perfectly here, in my opinion. Every member of the cast is outstanding, it would be difficult to improve on the music and sound effects, the overall mix and sound realization is superb, and the script is top-notch.
I won't go into the story much, because this is one that should not be spoiled. What I will say is that the action picks up directly from the end of No More Lies, in a very odd sort of way, and it becomes clear early on that all is not as it seems. Midway through this episode, we get a shocker revelation that abruptly shifts the storyline, similar in type to the ending of episode 1 of the classic t.v. story Enlightenment, in which we are suddenly shown that the Doctor and friends are not, in fact, on a yacht, but on a space ship in deep space.
This story is so much fun, and it's made even better by the nicely written and well-played wit that is written into it. And the best part is that Part 2 plays out nicely and doesn't disappoint...
| What: | No Man's Land (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 22 September 2007 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
Doctor Who is best known for the monsters of course. Doctor who is always remembered for the monsters. But to find a story with just normal people as the monsters, which is as true as you can get really isnt it,is hard to find these days. No Mans Land is a fantastic and memorable story and one of my personal favourites of all the range. The thought behind every scene is great and imaginative. This is not just a run of the mill war story with all the usual bombs and guns and blood. This instead is a very gripping and at times shocking story that really makes you think. I wish more of the big finish range were like this outstanding entry. Sylvester Mccoy is definitely at his best squaring off to the generals and evil in this story. a neat little twist at the end as well with the forge mentioned. Great little ending that really makes you think....
"What are you thinking, Doctor?" "What am I thinking... Well, I've got a TARDIS full of strangers, and ah... yes - the TARDIS has been locked off to an undisclosed destination by a couple of toy Daleks. That's what I'm thinking, Nyssa."
In Renaissance of the Daleks, we are treated to nonsensical technobabble terms like "pan-temporal ambience," and concepts like "nanodaleks" that are spawned from a humanoid "seed-dalek" who is largely a mental construct of the Daleks who seems to exist on an "island of time."
"This expanse is not space at all, but time - an island of time - carved out of the dimensional nullity."
Is writer Christopher H. Bidmead getting a bit batty, or did this kind of linguistic rubbish come from the script editor? It's been messed with so much that the writer's credit says the story is, "From a story by Christopher H. Bidmead." Good luck, Chris. If it was me, I would've tried to find a way to get my name off of this completely.
"This is the place where all time tracks meet. To come here once is to come here... always. You have always been here, Doctor." Yet, there is no justification given for this statement - in no sense are we shown how this is true. It's like these asinine statements are liberally splashed throughout the script with wanton abandon.
Doctor: "This must be the point where all the time tracks converge."
Wilton: "Like a... a kind of North Pole of time?
Ummm...
Other questions: When, exactly, did Nyssa start hearing the "voices"? How does the new zero room instantaneously heal any injury or disease in the universe (apparently)?
And so, the Daleks doubled back after being repelled (by the First Doctor in 2067 - 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth') and tried again, only they didn't (yet). Dear oh dear. Didn't you fellas learn from Lawrence Miles that this sort of thing doesn't tend to work out very well?
The bottom line is that Renaissance of the Daleks is about communication across time and space (and all of the cast give it a good go). Other than that, have fun putting all of the pieces together. It sure is quite a spectacle.
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 | What happened after...... |
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| What: | The Eight Doctors (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Thursday 20 September 2007 |
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| Rating: |  9 |
Ok bad things first, I throught the end with the Doctor and Sam was rushed. Also the revolt on Gallifrey was a little long.
Now the good stuff, It was nice to see Terrance Dicks be given a free licence to do what ever he wanted. I think if he had been given it a lot sooner a few of his Target novels would have been a lot better (eg Planet of the Giants.) It was a stroke of genius to get him to write the first book in the series. I'm hoping he is going to do something for the new series soon.
My fav 'What Happened After...' Moment was the 4th Doctor's because I was always scepticle that they were the only vampires on the whole planet. but nice to see that occasinaly he does stick around to do the mopping up.
I also liked the fact that Burosa was given a chance to redeam himself, as his turning bad never sat well with me.
But my fav pert of the whole book was the bit with the Raston Warrior Robot and the Sontarans (I actualy felt sorry for them).
This was a good book because it was fun to read and go back and remonice. Ok the plot was a little bit nonexcistant, but the long time fans of the show get to say "yes I remember that story" and now when we watch Unearthly Child and War Games we can say 'time froze and he spoke to the 8th Doctor right there.' Also because it explaned a few things about the TV movie
In conclution i took off a point because of Sam, it would have been a beter book if Dicks had left her out and introduced her in the next one. Great work Mr Dicks i look forward to reading more of your work and other BBC books.
| What: | The Time Warrior (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 20 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I havent seen this story since it was first broadcast. It took me back to when I was much younger & it was love at first sight with Sarah Jane. Not only is it Sarah Jane's first story but the first sighting of Sontaran's ! This is a great story, great acting & wonderful sets. Also a chance to see June Brown, Dot Cotton from Eastenders, with a very cut glass, posh BBC voice. They only thing that is a let down is the special effects, but luckily this DVD gives you the chance to watch the story with new CGI effects. This really enhances the story, espically the explosion at the end. Really intersting "Making of" documentary as well filmed at the castle where the original story was filmed. Highly reccomended.
| What: | The Power of the Daleks (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 19 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I have have just brought the MP3 reconstructed version of this CD. It is fantastic. The picture & soundtrack combined give you the nearest you will get to seeing this "missing" adventure. I can not recommend this disc high enough.
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| Interesting but Highly Flawed |
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The Tomb of the Cybermen is too important and too full of great concepts to give it a low rating, but there are many weaknesses throughout the script. The idea of the Cyber tombs on Telos is fantastic, and endured to re-emerge quite a bit later in future seasons, when it would continue to develop. The design of the interior of the Tomb is quite interesting, and makes for a great setting and some great plot devices. The concept of the archeological expedition from Earth works well, and the design of the Cybermen is excellent again here, in spite of their less than perfect voicing.
Among the troubles is the character of Klieg - he is simply not a realistic character. He starts out well enough, but by the second half of the story, he has degenerated into an impossible contradiction of genius and ignoramus. Another poorly realized character is Toberman. His state of mind and the motivations for his actions in the later parts of the story are not at all clear, and he is given a very shallow characterization throughout.
There are other script troubles, like the question of how Victoria would be so easily adept at firing a pistol she certainly could never have even seen before, let alone become skilled at firing (unless there are some missing adventures between the opening scenes in the TARDIS and the arrival on Telos), and the exteme carelessness on the part of both Klieg and Jamie with the very powerful Cyber gun, each quite nonchalantly setting it down to make it all too available to be picked up by an enemy. In addition to these bits, there was the horrible-looking tossing of the Controller by Toberman, the Controller clearly being just an empty dummy-suit, the unanswered question of why the Controller did not need a chest unit like the other Cybermen, and the unanswered question of why the revitalization unit would be so far away from the Tomb units.
But in spite of these troubles, The Tomb of the Cybermen remains essential viewing, a very interesting production, and an important story within the Doctor Who mythos.
| What: | The Faceless Ones (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
The Faceless Ones seems to be a nearly perfect mix of writing, mood, pacing and suspense for Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor. At six episodes in length, it could seem stretched, but doesn't, and the present day setting of Gatwick Airport (in 1966) works quite well, giving the story a feeling of innovation at this point in the development of the series. This story sees the departure of Ben and Polly, and it must be said that this was handled a bit sloppily. They both disappear rather suddenly after episode 2, as it was apparently hastily decided that Michael Craze's and Anneke Wills' contracts would be ended then rather than a few episodes later on. Their goodbyes at the end of the story were shot out of sequence and inserted into the final episode, and that makes for a somewhat disjointed script there. But other than that issue, The Faceless Ones, with its eerily strange and unsettlingly realistic aliens covertly at work in Gatwick Airport abducting planeloads of young travelers is an intriguing, moody story that keeps one's attention fairly well.
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| Son of the Dragon - Woooo! |
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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.
| What: | Son of the Dragon (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 15 September 2007 |
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| 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!
| What: | The Macra Terror (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Friday 14 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
The Macra Terror features Troughton at his best, good scripting, and good acting on the part of both the regular cast and guest cast. There's a bold Orwellian style to the writing, which includes an ever-present voice and largescreen face of "Control" that issues frequent orders and attempts to dominate the thoughts of the colony dwellers. An interesting side note: The Macra Terror seems to share some elements of style with George Lucas' 1971 film, THX 1138, a shorter version of which was created by him as a student project in the same year that The Macra Terror was produced.
While there is much about the Macra that is left obscured and unexplained, such as how they took over control of the colony to begin with, and while there is the big question of what happened to the guards at the end, as Ben works toward the destruction of the Macra, the bold, trippy direction and writing have a tendency to minimize the importance of these questions, and serve to draw the listener/viewer into a kind of fascinating, immersive experience. The available telesnaps and photos of this production add much to the perception of high quality, the quality being evident enough even just in the audio. But I realize that the 9 out of 10 I'm giving this story could be artificially inflated due to the unavailability of the video here. The video could reveal some large flaws, but these existing remnants of this story give me a high appreciation of it, and make me wish very much that the video of it was still available. There are still more Troughton stories I haven't heard/seen yet, but I would say that The Macra Terror is the best Troughton material I have heard or seen so far, even including the complete, better-known stories from Season 6.
| What: | No More Lies (Eighth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Thursday 13 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
No More Lies starts out with the Doctor and Lucie in mid-adventure, dealing with Dr. Zimmerman and his time whip (lethal to the Doctor) on his massive timeship somewhere. Cue the inexplicable, rather lengthy violin interlude, and we are ahead in time, except that we don't know that yet, at a garden party somewhere. Then, abruptly, we go back to the mid-adventure on the ship, where time-devouring Tarmadok begin to materialize out of the vortex. And back and forth it goes for a while, with additional bizarre violin interludes.
Once all of the action gets moved to the garden party, we soon get a good idea of what's happening, and before much longer, it's all over. The most important, and briefest thing that happens here is that the final minute or so accelerates the backstory that's been woven through all of the episodes so far.
It appears to me that what happened here is that the production staff became enamored with Julia McKenzie and her singing voice, and just sort of found some other stuff to surround her and her song with. As the actors go, it must be mentioned that Tom Chadbon (Duggan in City of Death), makes a very welcome appearance here. His presence goes a long way toward redeeming the other aspects of this production.
No More Lies is marred by poor direction, especially in the early scenes (in which the dialog is very unclear), a confused and confusing script, and a very contrived title, as the one supposedly lied to, who gratuitously speaks the words, "no more lies" near the end, actually seems to have had a pretty good idea of what had been going on...
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| Flat, But Still a Good Listen |
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| What: | Nocturne (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Wednesday 12 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Nocturne is a perfectly adequate production - well-recorded, well acted. Trevor Bannister as Korbin Thessinger is great, and the voicing of the robotic "familiars" is generally nicely done. But the story is nearly humorless and not very engaging. The deadly threat that has been set loose on Nocturne is very vague in nature, though the concept is intriguing. What kind of living presence would be created through some arcane art, in the midst of and as an amalgamation of the mass consciousness of a society involved in a decades-old war, discouraged and depressed by increasing numbers of bodies being sent back from the front lines, and generally saddened by what had become everyday existence? Nocturne tries to work with this concept, but the result is just kind of confusing. As Hex describes it, "Well, it wasn't really a noise - it was... it was a feelin' - it was the noise a really bad feelin' would make." Huh? Furthermore, the war and all that goes with it has supposedly stimulated a time of "High Renaissance" on Nocturne, producing great, inspiring music and other art. Yet, we really don't hear any great music, and we hear some really aweful poetry. The music is rather flat, like the story overall, and not inspiring.
Nocturne is a perfectly fine production on the surface, but lacks a certain depth or development, and is certainly a letdown after Circular Time.
| What: | Sick Building (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Philip, Catford |
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| Date: | Tuesday 11 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 3 |
Conventional sub-kooky plot, thin on invention and blandly-written. No characters only strident generics. 3 out of 10. Only actually bad on occassions and generally because the writer's English is so uninteresting and fitfully jarring.
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| Early, Experimental Troughton |
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| What: | The Highlanders (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Monday 10 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 3 |
I'm sorry to knock this one, but the rating I'm giving it is my honest opinion. It may have to do with being from the States and just not getting it, but The Highlanders just didn't make it for me.
It seems clear that this was a highly experimental story. It seems that the producer and writers were still feeling their way around how the new Doctor should be played, or alternatively, it could be that this was just a left-over story. In its structure, The Highlanders was very much a Hartnell story - a sort of yawny historical, though in this case, rather bad history, apparently. Supposedly, the Jacobite rebellion of the story was *not* an Anglo-Scottish conflict, as portrayed in this story, but one of a series of more internal power struggles that were attempts to restore the Stuart kings to power in Scotland and England.
Even aside from this criticism, this is just not a great story. But it does serve to make Patrick Troughton's new Second Doctor known as "the clown" - he does do a lot of clowning around here, which provides a few amusing scenes. Passing himself off first as a German doctor, complete with hammy German accent, then disguising himself in turn as an old wash-woman and a Redcoat soldier, the funny voices and dress-ups establish him as being a rather different character than his predecessor.
The Highlanders has the distinction of being the story that introduced the popular and long-running companion, Jamie. Unfortunately I'd say that it was a lackluster debut, though Jamie's character himself is well-handled.
| What: | Winner Takes All (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Monday 10 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
My summary kind off says it all. I had no intention of reading this book, I wanted to read them in order and I don't have The Clockwise Man yet. But I was hooked after the first ten pages.
Rayner did the main charecters very well and I could belive that it was the 9th Doctor and Rose. I loved the interaction between Mikey and the Doctor. I was thinking as i read this book that it would have worked well on TV, but for some reason i couln't see it working as an audio adventure.
The only critersisum i had was what Simon said about The last Starfighter Fighter, I was reading bits of it and thinking I've seen this in a movie (couldn't think of what one till i read Simons review). But didnt pick up on the Sonic the Hedgehog thing. The only other thing i wasn't convinced on was the aleins, I actualy found them anoying, i mean come on!! giant porcupines against giant praying mantices (if she had just had human vers human i think i would have given this book 10/10).
lastely the books look good. I like Hardback books (probable why i picked it up), and these books look very nice on my book shelf. I look forward to haveing a shelf full of them.
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| Gripping but Flawed Classic |
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| What: | The Moonbase (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Saturday 8 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
In The Moonbase, the TARDIS lands on the moon, just outside of, well, the moonbase. The Doctor and crew get suited up and head out. Jamie promptly misjudges the low gravity and conks his head, and everyone heads into the moonbase, where a strange and horrible illness is spreading throughout the personnel. The Doctor promises to find the cause, and sets out to do so, though he and his friends are under suspicion by the base personnel. It turns out that Cybermen, believed by the Earth crew to have been wiped out ages ago (in the events of The Tenth Planet) are covertly disabling the base crew, so that they can get control of the gravitron, which is being used to control the Earth's weather. They intend to use it to destroy life on Earth, thereby eliminating what they see as a threat to their own continued survival.
Episodes 2 and 4 of The Moonbase exist, but have not yet been used for a video release of the entire story.
The sequences on the surface of the moon are fantastic, and the TARDIS being parked there on the barren, airless, low-gravity surface of the moon is an almost mythic visual. The interior of the moonbase and the gravitron feature great visual, if not functional, design. The redesign of the Cybermen here gives a mixed result. They look much better than the Cybermen in The Tenth Planet, with nicely designed metal heads in place of the previous stocking-covered ones, and smaller, more practically-designed chest units. But the voicing has been degraded. Gone are the better, semi-organic voices of The Tenth Planet, replaced by a less-effective and less understandable, slurring, robotic, monotone voice. Incidental music and sound effects here are of a good quality, creating a suitably spacey/creepy vibe for the story. And lastly, the concept of the gravitron as being a necessary weather control device is quite interesting and seemingly prescient, considering the weather and climate troubles we are now facing in the 21st Century.
Now for the gripes. Jamie was clearly excess baggage to the scriptwriter, and is quite improbably incapacitated for much of the story from a little knock on the head, occasionally moaning from his sickbay bed about seeing the phantom piper (the grim reaper of his folklore), in reality a Cyberman who is lurking around the sickbay. We are also asked to believe that a Cyberman could hide under covers on a bed there for a considerable period of time without being noticed, and that a plague-infected man with dark veins all over him and strange headgear could just sneak into the centrally located gravitron control chamber unnoticed.
Aside from a few minor failings, The Moonbase is classic Doctor Who, and classic Troughton, the first of his four encounters with the Cybermen. If not for the few flaws here, this story could very well merit a rating of 10.
BBC - are you listening? Put together a reconstruction like you did for The Tenth Planet, and release The Moonbase on video!
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| Gripping but Flawed Classic |
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| What: | The Moonbase (Vinyl Who TV audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Saturday 8 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
In The Moonbase, the TARDIS lands on the moon, just outside of, well, the moonbase. The Doctor and crew get suited up and head out. Jamie promptly misjudges the low gravity and conks his head, and everyone heads into the moonbase, where a strange and horrible illness is spreading throughout the personnel. The Doctor promises to find the cause, and sets out to do so, though he and his friends are under suspicion by the base personnel. It turns out that Cybermen, believed by the Earth crew to have been wiped out ages ago (in the events of The Tenth Planet) are covertly disabling the base crew, so that they can get control of the gravitron, which is being used to control the Earth's weather. They intend to use it to destroy life on Earth, thereby eliminating what they see as a threat to their own continued survival.
Episodes 2 and 4 of The Moonbase exist, but have not yet been used for a video release of the entire story.
The sequences on the surface of the moon are fantastic, and the TARDIS being parked there on the barren, airless, low-gravity surface of the moon is an almost mythic visual. The interior of the moonbase and the gravitron feature great visual, if not functional, design. The redesign of the Cybermen here gives a mixed result. They look much better than the Cybermen in The Tenth Planet, with nicely designed metal heads in place of the previous stocking-covered ones, and smaller, more practically-designed chest units. But the voicing has been degraded. Gone are the better, semi-organic voices of The Tenth Planet, replaced by a less-effective and less understandable, slurring, robotic, monotone voice. Incidental music and sound effects here are of a good quality, creating a suitably spacey/creepy vibe for the story. And lastly, the concept of the gravitron as being a necessary weather control device is quite interesting and seemingly prescient, considering the weather and climate troubles we are now facing in the 21st Century.
Now for the gripes. Jamie was clearly excess baggage to the scriptwriter, and is quite improbably incapacitated for much of the story from a little knock on the head, occasionally moaning from his sickbay bed about seeing the phantom piper (the grim reaper of his folklore), in reality a Cyberman who is lurking around the sickbay. We are also asked to believe that a Cyberman could hide under covers on a bed there for a considerable period of time without being noticed, and that a plague-infected man with dark veins all over him and strange headgear could just sneak into the centrally located gravitron control chamber unnoticed.
Aside from a few minor failings, The Moonbase is classic Doctor Who, and classic Troughton, the first of his four encounters with the Cybermen. If not for the few flaws here, this story could very well merit a rating of 10.
BBC - are you listening? Put together a reconstruction like you did for The Tenth Planet, and release The Moonbase on video!
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| A whole lot of airheaded fun |
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| What: | Deadfall (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Graham Pilato, Washington D.C. |
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| Date: | Saturday 8 September 2007 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I'm not sure quite why the ratings are so low here for Deadfall. This may be the problem of coming right after the squishy profundity of Down. I must say that reading this one out of order due to convenience made for a pretty good afternoon of silly fun.
This is perhaps, along with Legacy and The Scales of Injustice, my favorite Gary Russell books. Ususally the man is so incredibly useless at creating anything like an enjoyable novel, for all of his tiresome filler text just trying to make a silly idea with some often moronic (though sometimes pretty funny) versions of our known and loved heroes stretch to a given page limit.
This book reintroduces Chris Cwej quite nicely and it features a none too displeasing adventure. It didn't offend my sensibilities one bit (rare for a Russell novel) and it actually was pretty damn fun. That's all I might need to say about that, as, genuinely, this is a pretty simple book, with a pretty simple set of priorites well attended to and enjoyed by me: bring back Cwej, give Jason something to do, make the intrigue that's been steadily building about some of the ongoing plot in Benny NAs amount to something. Check to all that.
So why the low ratings here? Lighten up, folks.
