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| What: | Amorality Tale (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 26 July 2007 |
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| Rating: |   7 |
But then gets better. The East end gangsters are clichied as hell but the monsters are great. Very gory in places.
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 | could have been a lot better |
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| What: | Phantasmagoria (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Monday 23 July 2007 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
Yes I agree with David. This story was very safe. I know that the production team didn't want to take any risk with this being only the 2nd BF production - but surely they could have done better. Its the kind of like the story
It was an indiffrent proformance by Peter Davidson but he can be forgiven (its been a while since the last time he played the part, and he is better in a few of the later BF's.) Mark Strickson was very good, i look forward to him doing more. As for the rest of the cast they were not good.
It wasn't all bad thoe, i throught the cliff hangers were very good. the one where its reveled that the servent and the highway man were the same person was a shock.
I realy wanted to like this story, but was very dissapointed at the end. The plot was very thin and the explanations were very simple. But I realy hate villans that just sit there and laugh a lot.
This is without a doubt the best volume of Series 3.
It features the three best episodes:
Human Nature
The Family of Blood
Blink
Human Nature and The Family of Blood are both very emotional and Blink is one of the most Scary episodes out of the whole of the new Series. An awesome little package!
Features: The remastered and extended scenes are a big improvement over the original. But a lack of other extras is a disappointment.
Story: Another disappointment is that there are only 3 real Doctors. Could also do with less monsters and more story.
7/10
The story is good and gets unfairly put down. I enjoy the story and think that the Coming Soon Trail
was great as a new feature! Interesting commentary as well!
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| Not Nearly As Interesting As It Thinks |
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| What: | Transit (New Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Martin Smith, England |
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| Date: | Wednesday 18 July 2007 |
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| Rating: | 3 |
As often happens with Dr Who novels, Transit has a piece of technology as it's set-piece, around which all the characters, events and action occurs. In this case it's an interplanetary train system that bears many allusions to the London Underground.
We follow the Doctor, Benny, Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart and a variety of the maintenance workers for the system (the latter of whom have more than a passing resemblence to the sort of working class, left-wing characters often written as miners in the 70s) as they stop a parasite from abusing and destroying the system as it prepares to expand to other star systems.
Did I say we follow Benny? Well, that's stretching the truth somewhat. You see, Benny is barely in the book, which wouldn't be so bad if this wasn't her first book as a travelling companion. Instead the Doctor spends most of his time with (and thus the focus of the book is placed onto) Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart, a sort of (perhaps illegitimate) descendant of the Brigadier. She's not a terribly interesting character and all the time she's focused on is time spent not expanding upon the somewhat scant character of Benny, which is quite annoying as she's meant to be a main character. The "origin" of Kadiatu's lineage sullies the character of the Brig somewhat as well. It certainly doesn't fit with the character used in the Pertwee era and smacks of trying to retroactively make him controversial and more "interesting" to fit with the tone of the Virgin novels just because they can.
The "Stunnel" system itself is also amazingly uninteresting, lightened only by some mildly entertaining characters amongst the "floozies" (maintenance workers) such as Old Sam, and allusions to a war with the Ice Warriors a few years previous (which the Doctor actually fights in in Fear Itself).
Ultimately though, the nice touches here and there aren't enough to make Transit particularly interesting.
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| Ultimately Pointless Soap Opera |
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Warning: Spoilers Ahead
Rather than review each of the Dalek Empire III stories individually, it seems more sensible to write a combined review that covers them all, as there's not too much that really distinguishes one episode from another. After having listened to each of the six episodes, I'm left with the feeling that there isn't much of any real in-depth story that has gone on here - at least not what would be expected over the course of six discs.
It is far in the future after the events of Dalek Empire II, and no one in the galaxy really knows who the Daleks are. Plague has broken out, and the Daleks have come along offering a cure. The Galactic Union, incomprehensibly, decides to trust the Daleks, accepting their "help," and agreeing to work with them. Siy Tarkov, who has been in suspended animation for twenty years on a drifting spacecraft since contracting the plague when it was first arising, has been found, resuscitated, and treated. He knows the truth about the Daleks. He must convince the authorities of their evil intent, and to do so, must retrieve proof from a distant planet.
The first three episodes focus on the Graxis Wardens, a sort of scientific military group that has been studying indigenous life on a planet that is now being taken over by the Daleks. What remains of their group after a mostly unsuccessful rebellion against the Daleks end up rescuing Siy, along with the enigmatic Galanar and Elaria, who are both very long-lived augmented humans who have some very unusual abilities.
What we come to find out, at the very end, is that this entire run-around comes down to this: the Daleks created the plague so that they could gain the trust of the humans by "curing" it. And the cure is a means of creating more Daleks - it involves a delayed second stage that causes a mutation, and the mutation produces a Dalek.
Hmmm... using humans to make more Daleks... does that sound familiar?
I don't know. To me it just all comes off as being very dry, and being much to do about nothing (or at least, nothing really new). The Daleks are still irritating, though not as irritating as in the previous two series. I feel they are best in small doses, and are better when we have the visual along with the grating voice.
However, technically, these productions are very nicely done - very well-realized soundscapes. And what really kept me listening was probably David Tennant as Galanar, with some assistance from William Gaunt as Selestru and Ishia Bennison as Frey Saxton. Steven Elder's Siy Tarkov takes away from this part of the equation, as Tarkov was fairly irritating through the entire range of episodes, partly due to him being a plague victim, and thus manifesting a serious speech problem that quickly becomes difficult to listen to.
Overall, there's enough here to keep the listener interested, but at the end, when we are left with the situation completely unresolved as concerns whether or not the Galactic Union will find the will to take any action to remove the Daleks from the galaxy, it all just feels like we've been taken for a joyride that went nowhere, while Nicholas Briggs just had a fun time being the Daleks.
| What: | Genesis of the Daleks (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 5 July 2007 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
....Doctor Who story ever.Period.
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| A fun story *Review includes Spoiler* |
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| What: | Last of the Gaderene (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 2 July 2007 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Mark Gatiss is a long time Doctor Who fan & it really shows in this fun, excting homage to the Jon Pertwee/3rd Doctor. The gang are all here. The Doctor, Sarah Jane, Lethbridge-Stewart & unit and then half way through The Master arrives. Enjoy.
| What: | No Man's Land (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 1 July 2007 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
British soldiers in World War I are being turned into unstable psychopaths in the Hate Room. That single sentence is pretty much all it takes to sum up No Man's Land. The story is pretty dry stuff, but then, I've never been much of a fan of historical war stories. There isn't much that's particularly offensive production-wise, except for the out of place electro/drum & bass incidental "music" that pops up now and then, but there isn't much substance here either. And though it's mean to be comical and flirty, I find the banter between Ace and Hex in these stories to be mostly a bit grating and irritating. But overall, No Man's Land is a solid, if mostly uninteresting Seventh Doctor audio.
| What: | World Game (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 1 July 2007 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Between The last second Doctor TV story "War Games" & "The Two Doctors" as well as an excellent & exciting story.
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| A great story for Martha Jones |
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The Last Dodo is a great book told (largly) from Martha's Perspective.
Fans of the fist and third Doctor will love spotting the referencess from thier era.
Highly Recommended and one of the strongest out of the three Tenth Doctor and Martha novilisations released so far.
Following on from the traditionally written Judas Gift Foi's fanziney scripting comes as a refreshing change The Draconians have bee nbrought into the twentyfirst century and Bernice is a lot more recognisable harking back to tub full of cats cant wait fro the next three and with the books to match a series to rival the new t.v. who.
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| Loved it, pity about Ace. |
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| What: | Colditz (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Chris Harwood, dunedin, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Friday 29 June 2007 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I loved this story. I was suprised when klein first refered to the Doctor's machine as the TARDIS (it almost made me suspect that she might of been the Rani.).
McCoy was very good, and this recording could translate very well to TV. I loved that we still got the sneekyness of his doctor, but more importantly the 'I don't know what happaning, but i probably have something to do with it'. I have listened to a few of his Big Finishes but this is the only one i think would have worked on TV.
I agree with Jason that the NAZI's would just have shot Ace, but i can over look that. I fact I would go as far as to say that Ace was the worst thing about this CD, she just wasn't needed in this story.
It was also very suprised to hear David Tennant playing a bady in this. I almost expected him to say "Don't be afraid Ace, I'm the Doctor." I wonder if he recorded this kinowing he was going to be the Doctor, because it sounded like we got the 'angre' doctor, as opposed to the 'big red button Doctor' But he did a fantastic job with the lines he got (you have to admit some of his lines were very cheesee". And just a thought if he had of killed the Doctor, would that be technicly be suiside :-)
| What: | The Gathering (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 24 June 2007 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
As I said in my review of The Reaping, I feel that The Gathering does not suffer as much from the problems that exist to a greater degree in that other story. One factor is that although we see a different Tegan in this story, like we see a different Peri in the other, here it's to be expected, because this story takes place in Tegan's future. And extra points for bringing back Tegan! I wasn't a huge fan of Tegan in the original series, but I found Janet Fielding's performance as an older Tegan here to be engaging and enjoyable, and the central attraction of this story. The Gathering gives us another lightweight plot in other respects, but this doesn't seem to matter as much with Tegan in the middle of it. At the end of the story we are given an explanation of the strange enigma from The Reaping, but the bulk of the story just kind of hangs around or jogs in place. A problem with this one is that in the first disc the action is quite disjointed, frequently moving around between different locations and times, and rewinding a few times to restart a sequence from a different person's point of view. On the positive side, the sound design is very nicely done. Overall, the Gathering goes some way toward justifying the time spent listening to The Reaping.
| What: | The Reaping (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 24 June 2007 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
Well, it seems that it's suddenly in vogue for the Doctor to "do domestic." The Reaping clearly draws from the new series portrayal of Rose's family, applying it here to Peri. This also exists, but to a much lesser degree, in The Gathering. The end result is that it all comes off as feeling very revisionist, and delivering what is a very lightweight story. Again, the same applies to The Gathering, but to a lesser degree. I suppose The Reaping isn't that bad, but it just doesn't really work very well. One thing it does achieve, though, is that the mysterious connection with the Fifth Doctor in The Gathering generates some intrigue that attracts the listener to that next story.
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| If Only It'd All Been Ended |
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| What: | Genocide (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Martin Smith, England |
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| Date: | Saturday 23 June 2007 |
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| Rating: | 3 |
Genocide promises a lot really: big questions about wiping out entire races and also the reunion of Jo Grant with the Doctor. Shame it doesn't deliver.
The moral dilemma about whether The Doctor should go back and stop the eradication of humans and thus negating the Tractite civilisation is just woefully written. Sam's "decision" about it is, to be blunt, bloody stupid. It takes her two thirds of the novel to realise that if she were to stop the Doctor saving the humans, she was nullify her own existence (or at least that of her family and everybody she knows). I know she's only meant to be 17, but that's pretty bloody obvious. It would have made more sense for her to try and convince the Doctor to find a compromise between both civilisations rather than the titular genocide.
And then there's Jo Grant. Allegedly. She's barely recognisable as Jo and, crucially, barely interesting, only being worthwhile in her introduction as a divorced single mother. As soon as she gets involved in the action she becomes bland and expendable. Criminally, NOTHING is made of her reunion with the Doctor. Not a thing. You'd think that he'd at least ask some questions. Leonard doesn't even manage to create a believable relationship between Jo and Sam, even though they're stranded together for a while. Even if this sort of plot hadn't been done so well in School Reunion, it'd still be hugely disappointing.
This combined with pantomime villains, a flaccid and awkward attempt at the Doctor and Sam's relationship and slightly preachy ecological undertones creates one very underwhelming novel.
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| Great but more Boots please! |
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| What: | Palace of the Red Sun (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Andrew M, Manchester England |
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| Date: | Friday 22 June 2007 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
This one had me gripped, great imagination it had bits of the Robots of death, and Carnival Of Monsters. Boots was a total star but had only a fleeting part. Mr Bulis you did us proud on this one.
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| Good book but could be better... |
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This is a splendid book for anyone remotely interested in watching Doctor Who. Pull it out and look up your favorite episodes to find plot holes and goofs you didn't notice or to hear a second opinion about the overall quality. The problem is that this book is organized acording to season number and not by Doctor number which makes episodes hard to find if you don't know what season they were in. But get it anyway. You'll read it.
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| Mostly Classic Series and Not Very Hard |
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This book is good for quizzing friends with but it concentrates almost entirely on the classic series (no good for new fans) and the question are extremely easy.
