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Clever of World Distributors to choose a photo of the main character not in costume. Bet a lot of thought went into that. About the same amount as went into the stories, I imagine. Bad,bad, bad, bad...and yet we kids still kept asking for next years annual. Aren't people strange?
What a wonderfully deranged volume this is. It has been said that if you fed someone magic mushrooms whilst keeping them locked up in a cellar for a year, they might end up writing something like this at the end of their ordeal.
That seems to be pretty fair comment. There are characters called the Doctor, Harry and Sarah but that is about the only point of contact with the series as far as I can see. Luminous dolphins, eye-spiders and talking chimpanzees await the brave souls who enter this volume. Imagine that you're 8 years old again by reading this volume on Xmas morning and thinking "What the &@!£ is this about!" They don't make 'em like this any more (thank God).
I'm really surprised that He Jests at Scars... has received such a low rating here. To my mind, it is by far the most unbound of the Unbound series so far, and it is fascinating. But I guess appreciation of it depends on whether or not you like Michael Jayston as the Valeyard.
The story jumps around a lot, moving backward and forward through time after an altered ending of The Trial of a Timelord. In He Jests at Scars..., the Sixth Doctor has lost and is no more, and the Valeyard has been let loose on the universe. The events at the end of The Trial of a Timelord and shortly after it are explained, and then we have the first of many paradoxes to come - Mel, though she has memories of adventures with the Doctor, has been prevented from ever meeting him by the Doctor/Valyard's new companion, Ellie. The Doctor/Valeyard then proceeds to wreak havoc on the established timeline, revisiting old foes and familiar situations, and changing them completely with reckless abandon, as he seeks to gain ultimate power and do all of the things he never allowed himself to do as the Doctor. And the threads of time begin to unravel, as it seems that Time itself has had enough of his interference and is attempting to eliminate him. It is apparent that there was a good reason that the Doctor avoided willfully changing established history, as seen for example in his reaction to Tegan's and Nyssa's request to go back and save Adric at the beginning of Time Flight. One of the first things the Doctor/Valeyard has done is to get the Time Lords out of the way, so now it is up to 'Lady Melanie Jane Bush' to stop him.
Michael Jayston's Valeyard is fantastic here, scripted in the same style as seen in The Trial of a Timelord, complete with the illustrious, lugubrious linguism harping on things such as spurious morality and such... that was his trademark there. Jayston and Langford both shine throughout this production, and the rest of the cast are excellent as well.
The heart of the story is an examination of the identity of the Valeyard. His actions seem to prove that he is not the Doctor, yet... he is still dependent on the Doctor's past for his own existence. And his denial of the Doctor's sensibilities is what ultimately threatens his own continued existence.
The one weakness I found in the story is the question of just how the Valeyard was able to draw creative power from the technically non-existant Matrix to contruct his monstrous Chronopolis at the heart of the time-space vortex. The explanation of its origin just doesn't quite make it, but then again, at that point, we are in a general state of such extremely fluid reality anyway that the end result, whether or not Chronopolis actually existed, is the same.
Making great use of the 'Unbound' format, this one comes very close to a 10 in my book.
| What: | Night Thoughts (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Friday 6 April 2007 |
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| Rating: |   2 |
I was skeptical about whether I'd actually want to listen to this one before starting it, and I didn't read the reviews here first. Imagine my surprise to find that by the end of disc 1 I was actually quite impressed with it. The rating for disc 1 would be an 8 - excellent sound design, a dark, claustrophobic atmosphere, and a suspenceful whodunnit. We have a very wet, cold island, a strange house complete with atmospheric cellar and attic and a mysterious hooded night figure, a long disused chapel building nearby, and a freaky teenaged girl. The trouble is that all that was built up in the first two episodes is destroyed by the last two episodes. Disc 2 would get a rating of 1, and the fall of the story in its second half all but destroys the value of the first half.
The previous reviews state the situation pretty well. The second half of the story is utter chaos. All of the mystery that has been built up is unraveled in what seems the worst possible ways, turning the suspenseful, atmospheric mystery first into a bad soap opera, then into a bad sci-fi B-movie, and finally, at the very end, into a really nasty slasher story. Yuck!
It seems that my first instinct about Night Thoughts was on target.
I can see how listeners could think very highly of this production, but I personally didn't find A Storm of Angels to be quite so outstanding as most others have rated it.
The "Unbound" concept is fantastic, and allows for a great deal of additional creativity with some fresh and interesting takes on the older ideas, and allows the use of fresh and talented actors in the key roles. In addition, the sound design here was superb - particularly the sounds of the gems and gem creatures, and also the time ring activation sound. The actors' fine perfomances were recorded and mixed quite clearly as well. All of this lends the production a very professional feel.
However, I did not feel that the casting of Ian Hallard as Zeuro was a good choice. The actor, and by extension the character, was notably weak, and this became increasingly problematic as the story's progression turned him into the envoy of the crystalline beings. I also have mixed feelings about Geoffrey Bayldon as the Doctor. Though delivers an excellent alternate First Doctor, he also tends to sound, frankly, as if he could keel over at any moment.
As to the story itself, there's no doubt that this is a product of Marc Platt's mind. That can be good or bad, and in this case, I'm unsure about the overall product. I've been a big fan of some of Platt's work - probably much of it - and it can be really weird (like titles such as Timewyrm: Revelation, Time's Crucible, and Lungbarrow). As with some of Platt's other works, at the end of A Storm of Angels, I was left sort of wondering what just happened - does this story feature not only an alternate Doctor but now also an accepted alternate Earth timeline? Did the Doctor really alter Earth's history so wildly? Did this really take place in an altered "original" universe or in a parallel universe? Why were the asteroids from the asteroid belt sentient? Why and how did they give the appearance of angels? Where did the shewstone come from? (Btw, I must say that the shewstone was superbly voiced by Ian Brooker, who sounded quite a bit like Peter Pratt's Master from The Deadly Assassin.) In addition to these gripes, the story was just too long. It definitely dragged during the second CD, and it felt like there was a lot of wasted time when nothing significant was added to the storyline.
But these are not serious problems. Overall, A Storm of Angels is definitely an entertaining production that stretches the mind somewhat more than most of the standard stories that feature the established Doctors.
Sound and emotion - this one has come up a number of times with big finish so nothing new. But the evil as really a side issue to the story which was really around the doctor and his companions. I didn't really believe this one and it didn't take you anywhere.
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 | The start of something special |
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Part two follows on at pace, maintaining the strong plot and energy of the first. A new travel partner with a subplot great, I love her attitude.
All I can say is if you love Daleks you will love this. Blood ofthe Daleks unlike many other Dalek stories isn't stuffed with screaming daleks that you end up turning the volume down. The Daleks should be used correctly to give balance to the plot not just shoved into every seen screaching and ranting endlessly. A great intro for a new travel buddy - a must listen
At first I couldn't help snigger at the idea of a pig in a secret room eating everything. However I was strangly drawn into the sillyness and came out of it enjoying the whole thing. Like no mans land it cast the reflection back on mankind out our own weakness. I enjoyed it.
I waited and waited for the monsters, listened hard to find out who the real bad guy was, only to find out that man is the bad guy.
What a great plot after all in real life we are the only monsters.
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| Great start and middle but no finish |
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This had a classic start, had you thinking had twists and turns mad me think. But then we met the aliens and it all tumbled into a weak joke.
Never mind better luck next time. I give it 6 for 66% of the story, otherwise it would have been 1.
After the reaping I was looking for something special and with Tegan coming back was couldn't wait. Although this wasn't a horror of a story it just failed to come together. Tegan had issues but had moved on and you could fell the fall out of her time with the doctor but it was all too sarah jane smith. The plot was patrick troughton it just didn't wow me.
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| Families who would have them!! |
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Introducing Peri's family and the effects of her leaving is obviously inspired by the new TV series but injecting the elements of success from TV into audio helps to build a punchy plot which runs at great pace delivering a great story.
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| Paradise Towers eat your heart out |
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| What: | Red (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | writingbluebear, jersey |
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| Date: | Tuesday 3 April 2007 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
After Paradise Towers I started to hate Doctor Who, I just wish they made this one instead. Mel has really come along as someone you can believe in and stands out as her own person not just a scream. Great plot, good action.
It's been a long time since I have not had a really good idea of what the outcome would be. The atmosphere was great, good sound track which pulled you into the story. Winning but with great loss and acknowledging the cost is rare in todays stories but more of this please.
I think for most the plot and location is nothing new. However if the result is good why nock it too much. Lots of running about, plenty of dialog but all comes together well.
| What: | Shada (Miscellaneous audio dramas) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 1 April 2007 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
I enjoyed this version of Shada, and I happen to feel it was a great improvement over what remains of the cancelled original. The premise is interesting - the idea is that when the Fourth Doctor and Romana were taken away from Cambridge by the time scoop in The Five Doctors and were later rescued from the time eddy and returned, they never completed this adventure with Professor Chronotis. So now, in his eighth incarnation, the Doctor finally becomes aware that he needs to return with Romana and K9 and complete what they were supposed to do there. From there, the original story resumes.
However, the interesting setup is also the biggest weakness of the story. It whips by too quickly, and the new (Eighth) Doctor's first meeting with Romana is just too brief and flippant. She pretty much just says, "I like the new body," and leaves it at that. A longer and/or better written opening scene would've been nice.
The rest of the story is, well, Shada. The characters were well-cast, and I happen to think that Paul McGann worked very well here. The sound design was excellent, and it all went together to create a fun listening experience, if a bit long. Recast in this way, I'd say this was a very good Season 17 story, and an interesting remake.
Apologies to Katy Manning. I gave these a good try, but this one and The Devil in Ms. Wildthyme are unlistenable, poorly-written, poorly-acted, amateurish audios. Manning herself displays great acting skills, but unfortunately, they are painfully misapplied in the character of Iris Wildthyme, and she really gets no help from the rest of the cast or from the script...
Maybe I only feel this way due to having been familiar with David Tennant as the Doctor before listening to this audio, but after listening to this entire story, I'm left with the impression that Arabella Weir as The Doctor was badly upstaged by David Tennant as "Time Lord 2." As already noted by the other reviewer, Weir's Doctor isn't really given much of a chance to actually *be* the Doctor here, and as a result, the other two Time Lords, especially the one played by Tennant, end up with better roles than the Doctor.
Having said all of that, this is a very funny production. It's hard to rate this one. It's great fun as it jokes around about the trial scenes in The War Games (the Quarks are rubbish!), and the muffled music in the background in the squalid hotel room the two Time Lords are forced to stay in makes for some laugh-out-loud funny scenes there. The Doctor's drunken cohorts and Nick Briggs' "Previous Doctor" are all great elements, but having a drunk, belching, puking Doctor... that's just not right! It's laughably funny and cringingly disgusting at the same time.
If nothing else, it can certainly be said that Exile is unique...
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| Swords, Sorcery, Science and Spaceships |
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Hartnell stories can, let's be honest, be hard work. There's a worthiness that infects the writing, and a temptation to make knowing reference to the actor's absent mindedness and temper that always seems to end in caricature.
With one or two exceptions (Barbara and the Doctor come off worst), Christoper Bulis manages to steer clear of these pitfalls and delivers a good piece of writing that has humour, twists and turns and doesn't quite end up where you expect it to.
The cover gives a little too much away for my liking, but the relationship between science and magic (together with the dangerous possibilities of being infected by the latter) is a plot device that wonderfully subverts the genre that the book seems at first to be aiming for. And the final scene with the Sourcerer and his apprentice is masterfully done.
A good read.
