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| What: | The Fearmonger (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 2 December 2006 |
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| Rating: |   4 |
Jonathan Blum always does two things with a Doctor Who story, start in medias res and have the Doctor out on a crusade to save humanity. The Doctor as deliberate meddler rather than accidental meddler has always been a problem for me. The Doctor is not a comic book superhero, but Blum really, really wants him to be one. Starting in the middle of things and then racing forward so that there is little to no explanation of how and why the Doctor got involved in all this in the first place is another serious weakness. Finally, there is too much heavy-handed, pseudophilosophic dialogue.
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 | Ripped from the Headlines |
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| What: | Live 34 (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Friday 1 December 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
Moderate spoilers ahead.
Live 34 is not the usual Doctor Who fare. Produced as a series of radio news broadcasts from start to finish, there is no main theme music or closing credits theme, no incidental music and no ordinary dialogue. The entire story takes place within the newscasts. The story is a well-deserved slam on the government of the United States and perhaps also that of the UK, though I'm not familiar enough with events over there to know for sure. The sad situation as it currently exists in the U.S. is taken to the nth degree here in Live 34, "34" being a region on an earth colony planet at some unstated point in the future. The Doctor, Ace and Hex have somehow become quite involved with the situation there, the Doctor and Ace having become rather important, extraordinary figures. They are involved in a power struggle with the covertly oppressive government of 34, which is continually distorting and recasting their actions through public statements to the press and official news releases. The truth begins to leak out, and we begin to see that as in the sad reality of today, in Live 34, problems are dealt with by covering up the truth and clinging to power by whatever means possible. As the solutions to the problems repeatedly fail, those in power are driven to ever more extreme actions as they try to hold onto their power and control.
Though Live 34 is a dramatic criticism of modern Western government, the fact is that the Doctor gets very little airtime, though his final actions are very satisfying (YES!!). This is an interesting production, and I wanted to give it at least a 6, but just really couldn't find any solid reasons to do so.
Entertaining, but not one of the greats, and not really Doctor Who.
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| Well written and very Welsh |
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A book which sets the scene almost perfectly - definitely get the feeling of the Welsh village it's set in as well as the local countryside. The only English feel at all in the book is the language it's actually written in.
The writer managed to build up a feeling of a Quest but kind of let the book down towards the end.
I personally think this is the best out of the Cat's Cradle series, which really cannot be classed as a series because there was no major plot item that occurred in the 3 books - unlike the Timewyrm series.
Definitely buy this one though!
| What: | Thicker Than Water (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Wednesday 29 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
(LOL reading Phil Ince's review!)
Thicker Than Water is a sequel to the earlier Big Finish title, Arrangements for War. In this story we are once again back on Világ, three years after the events of Arrangements for War. What follows is a fairly straightforward suspense drama - a whodunnit fairly similar in some respects to 1986's Terror of the Vervoids. As such, it's a low-key story that moves along and comes to a satisfactory conclusion (rather more satisfactory than Terror of the Vervoids, I must say). Where it falls short is in that it seems that the writer or script editor was attempting to mix in some Ninth Doctor and Rose-style domestic drama, which works in the new t.v. series, but doesn't work here with the Sixth Doctor.
I have mixed feelings about this production. In addition to what's been stated above, I feel that this story worked better than Arrangements for War, because it's not very ambitious and the writer knew it. Yet, Arrangements for War, for all of its shortcomings, had a more finely crafted soundscape. There's no standout sound design here. Even Gabriel Woolf was far more interesting there. Here in Thicker than Water, his performance is just dull for some reason (perhaps it's the script).
Anyway, one thing Thicker than Water does is it gives us some nice closure for the character of Evelyn, which I must admit I found interesting and satisfying. Overall, a mildly entertaining story that doesn't take itself too seriously and plays a bit like a weekly prime-time drama.
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| I Don't Think It Matters Which Doctor... |
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Bought this book. Lost it. *Had* to buy another copy (Thanks, Ebay!)
I'll try not to spoil too much...
A thoroughly enjoyable book. Elements of the Doctor's past, present, future and... sideways blended together to create a distillation of... Doctorness. Part of me wants to see some more stories of the 'n'th (or is it?) Doctor played out along similar lines, but another part remembers the second two Matrix films, and how they spoiled the nature of the first.
This book neatly takes elements from the old series (Most of the background), the EDA (Nice links to Seeing I, another favourite), and even the Doctor Who Magazine (Heh... TARDISes use 'Vworp' drive...), but doesn't let continuity restrict the excellent story.
'Continuity' is of course a relative term where time travel may be involved. The deliberate obfuscation of the temporal placement of the book is well performed and I think it adds a nice level of mystique to the Doctor's life story.
Old enemies, new threats, love, laughter and tears. This has got it all. Read it.
| What: | Unregenerate! (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 26 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Okay. As is often the case, my view of this production is a bit different from the views of the other two reviewers here.
I admit that I had my doubts as I was listening to the early parts of this story, but Unregenerate! came together by the end, and actually surprised me. There were several clues that I noticed while listening, but I failed to figure out just what was going on. I like that. I enjoy a story that keeps me guessing - one that I just follow along with and discover as the truth is gradually revealed, and that does this rather cleverly as well.
Sylvester McCoy is fantastic here in the Doctor's dementia, even if for three of the four episodes he is very unlike the Doctor we knew. One reviewer said that this script was originally intended for Colin Baker. I'm a sixth Doctor fan, and I say that this would've been dreadful if Colin Baker had done it. As for Mel, she is written fairly well here. As for the cabbie, for most of the duration of the story I didn't really get how he was able to fit into everything, but at the end I realized that he just adds a rather whimsical quality to the story, not unlike the rest of what we saw in the McCoy era of the t.v. series.
The story itself, once we're finally told what's really going on, is also brilliant, and the sound design was quite good. Overall, Unregenerate! is a suspenseful story that may surprise you by the end, and is just about as good a story as you can get when the Doctor is essentially missing for three quarters of it. Well done.
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| A story best forgotten... |
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| What: | Terror Firma (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Saturday 25 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 2 |
You can't be serious.
This story was bad. Really bad.
It's not that the plot itself was really that bad. The ideas and the script here were no worse than what was in The Creed of the Kromon or The Twilight Kingdom. The problem is that because this featured a return of Davros after the events of Remembrance of the Daleks, in which the Doctor essentially destroyed the Daleks' home planet Skaro, this should have been so much better than it was. And really it was awful. The premise deserved far better.
The other reviews here sum it up pretty well. (Spoilers ahead.) I kept waiting for some further development in the plot that would tell us that, no, it wasn't actually true that these two no-name, characterless people once traveled with the 8th Doctor before he met Charley, and no, Davros never took over the Doctor's TARDIS and erased the Doctor's memory of those early travels. I kept waiting to be told that, no, we were just fooling - that was just a deception. But that development never came. And to add insult to injury, now C'rizz is being turned into a real psycho - far worse and more stomach-churning than Turlough, a comparison raised by another reviewer.
With Terror Firma, The Big Finish 8th Doctor storyline is wending its way toward a marked similarity to the worst of the 8th Doctor BBC book series. Yuck.
| What: | The Movie (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Whites, Southend, UK |
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| Date: | Friday 24 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
I scored this 1 out of 10 for 2 reasons. 1)McCoy is in it so it can't be all bad(how dare they have him shot)and 2)you can't score 0.
although it must be said that Macgann would of made a decent enough Doc if the americans hadn't made this show(sorry USA, but it's true).
Best Doctor for me. Seasons 25 & especially 26 are in a league of their own.
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| Fantastic sketch book of Daleks & Dr Who |
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24 Exciting pictures to colour of TV's notorious space raiders, created by Terry Nation in 1978 Doctor Who series backgrounds.
the dvd of the invasion is excellent,-the two episodes that have been reconstructed are very good and the fact that the best versions of the
soundtracks have been used for them certainly adds to their enjoyment.
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| Take slow, deep breaths... |
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| What: | Three's a Crowd (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 19 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
It often seems that reviewers here fail to take note of the audio format that these stories have been produced in. I must give Three's a Crowd an 8 partly because I found the sound design to be unusual, quite interesting and very well produced. Being set in space, the story lends itself to the use of an array of high-tech, futuristic sound effects, such as the excellent station computer voice, the "Butler" droid voice, and the sounds produced by the numerous transmat activations throughout the story, some of which Blake's 7 fans will recognize as being the same as the teleport sound in that series.
In addition to all of that, the incidental music is essentially absent, a nearly constant sort of looped, minimalistic, spooky ambient tone sound taking its place. Very atmospheric. This design lends itself very well to the stark storyline, which is played out in the rather dismal setting of the corridors of a spartan colony ship and a few confined habitation cells within it. Stuck in solitary lives in these habitation cells, a few of the colonists communicate online or by voice communication only, and they have "become shy" - to the point of becoming agoraphobic.
The revelation of the extent of this agoraphobia is fascinating to listen to, the most extreme case being that of Lucy Beresford's Bellip, whose repeated panic attacks unfortunately begin to grate on the listener as the story goes on.
Peter Davison is as great as ever in this production, though unfortunately his voice has gone a bit raspy again. Peri and Erimem work well here and don't get ridiculous, as has been the case a bit in some of their other recent outings.
Three's a Crowd actually fits in quite well with the mounting angst and dark pessimism that were trademarks of Eric Saward's Season 21 and which increasingly built up as the show headed toward the dramatic climax of The Caves of Androzani.
An engaging, sonically scintillating production that kept my attention througout.
| What: | Marco Polo (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Lord Nimon, Skonnos |
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| Date: | Sunday 19 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Classic. Can't see how this could be sortened.
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| At last, it all makes sense! |
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| What: | The Dalek Conquests (Miscellaneous audio interviews & documentaries) |
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| By: | Lord Nimon, Skonnos |
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| Date: | Sunday 19 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Takes all the dalek stories in order, and ties it all together with the new series, and the Time War. A fantastic idea, that works.
And the extra 'Dalek' narration, such as the prologue to Power of the Daleks, with the capsule crashing on Vulcan is seamlessly done. You can almost imagine the film of it being junked!
| What: | Heart of TARDIS (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Jamie, Kent |
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| Date: | Sunday 19 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
A good crossover betweem the second and fourth doctors (albiet they never meet) definatly worth a read.
| What: | Catch-1782 (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Saturday 18 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
I agree with the other reviews of this story, but in defense of it, I must say that the time passed swiftly as I listened and I enjoyed the story in spite of its weaknesses. This production was well-acted, and the premise is rather interesting (since it's already been revealed in the reviews): When the Doctor's companion is harshly whisked away into the past by an artifact composed of an unstable new element, she finds herself unwittingly and undesirably becoming part of past history, and her rescue would appear to require the creation of a paradox.
Of course, the trouble is that it's all resolved a bit too easily.
As to the previous reviewer's objections to the way the burial of the chest was lazily written into the story, I'd agree that the writer could've done better with that. But it was already clear that the Doctor could not have brought the "device" back to 2003 because of its effects on the TARDIS, so they really *had* to leave it there and bury it. This was not, however, clearly stated in the script.
I dunno - I'd really have to say that this was kind of a neat time travel story, the charaterization was good and the script worked well. Maybe not a solid 7, but worth more than a 6.
| What: | Ghost Ship (Telos novellas) |
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| By: | Paula, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA |
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| Date: | Saturday 18 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Interesting story with great potential, great build up with a rather quiet lackluster ending. But I enjoyed reading it.
| What: | City of Death (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew B, Cardiff |
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| Date: | Monday 13 November 2006 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
"City of Death" is fluid, very watchable, and hugely enjoyable provided that you like "this sort of thing". "What sort of thing?" you may well be asking. For those of you that are indeed putting this very question to your computer screen, I shall try and answer it for you.
Well first of all, "City of Death" is funny. So if you don't like humour in your Doctor Who, I suggest you hurtle away towards something a bit less frivolous. Try "The Space Museum". But don't blame me if your brain turns to sludge and dribbles out of your ear.
Secondly, "City of Death" has a Pleasingly Rubbery Monster. Now, this may not seem especially signficant, after all, Pleasingly Rubbery Monsters are the mainstay of Doctor Who. The thing is, usually they're rather silly. But here, in "City of Death", the P.R.M becomes rather sinister because it exists within such a contrasting environment. One doesn't expect to see a P.R.M in a John Travolta suit. Living in a chateau in Paris. With a wife. It's the juxtaposition of the potentially silly with the recognisably normal that stops you laughing at the thing. Very clever. Or you may just laugh at the P.R.M anyway. Go ahead, it won't matter. You'll still like "City of Death".
Thirdly, "City of Death" has Big Ideas and Witty Banter. These things often turn up in Doctor Who, but usually not together. Thanks to Douglas Adams, we get both at once here. I'm not going to list all the great lines. It's been done before, and I don't want to spoil it for those who've yet to hear them.
Much is made of the Paris location work. It does look nice, I'll agree, but all it really does is give the whole thing a bit of space to let the story breathe.
If you watch "City of Death" and end up loving "this sort of thing" it'll be because of Tom and Lalla. Because of the great cast and characters. Because of the dialogue. These things are special, and are all at their very best here.
DVD EXTRAS
Marvellous doco about the story, and about the wider story of Douglas Adams' work on Doctor Who. Loads of Easter Eggs, some of which are rather marvellous, some of which are a bit dull. Two rather pointless bits of effects footage. Some nice studio footage to peer at (squint everyone, its a bit blurry). What we're missing is a commentary and/or features with Tom and Lalla. "City of Death" is so much about them that their absence here really cripples this disc.
There are certain things about The Ark in Space that are done very, very well; The Nerva Beacon sets (Roger Murray-Leach's design work is the major reason why this story is considered a classic), Baker and Marter, some good dialogue, and a general air of newness brought about by incoming producer Phillip Hinchcliffe. What is interesting is that these positive elements almost completely obscure several dreadful ones. The story has promise but the dialogue is very patchy, swinging wildly from the good (Tom's "humanity" speech, most of Harry's lines) to the painful (virtually all the other cast, but especially Noah). The Wirrn are just as dreadful as Alpha Centauri or any number of other heavily-ridiculed monsters, and yet are somehow let off the hook by fans - why these and not any other? The supporting cast are very stilted (except perhaps Libri), and even Sladen is below par here.
It is the invigorating presence of a new Doctor and those aforementioned sets that make this story stick in the mind; take these elements away and you have a story that would have fitted in well with the more tired sections of Season Eleven. Promising, but far from successful.
DVD EXTRAS
The commentary by Baker, Sladen and Hinchcliffe is reasonably enjoyable, but not worth getting the disc for. The archive interview material is rather fun, shot during the "Revenge of the Cybermen" location work and showing a marvellously spaced out Baker. The new CGI effects are beautifully done but not far reaching enough, though I can see how it would have been difficult to recreate the shots of the Wirrn scampering over the surface of the shuttle. The unused title sequence is not as exciting as it sounds, but the Roger Murray-Leach interview is lively and interesting.
THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET
There is an intelligence to this script that is missing from the vast majority of new series Doctor Who. This is partly because the two-parter format allows for finer strokes, but mainly because of Matt Jones’ writing, which, like Steven Moffat’s in the previous season, really shows up RTD’s shortcomings. There are so many great things; the sets, the cast, Toby’s possession, Gabriel Woolf’s voice work, the black hole, Scooti’s death, the slow build up, the palpable sense of enormity and fear. Tennant is irritating only once in the entire episode (another bloody “Aren’t humans wonderful” scene again. Dreadful), and Piper is as reliable as ever. The whole shebang builds to a great end of episode moment, and then...
THE SATAN PIT
...falls flat. The elegant simplicity of the first episode gives way to half-baked explanations and action sequences nicked from Aliens. Given that the whole story is based around the reveal of the “Beast”, the rationalisation of its nature and origins are vague at best and embarrassingly feeble at worst. The episode is still enjoyable on its own level but fails to capitalise on the strengths of Part One. Very disappointing.
LOVE AND MONSTERS
A nice little episode, easy to digest (mwahahaha)as it keeps itself limited. It's also rather a relief not to have to put up with Tennant's irritating performance, at least for the first two thirds of the episode. Criticism has been levelled at Peter Kay's Northern accented Abzorbaloff, something I expected to annoy me, but which actually seems...sinister rather than amusing. And it's far less annoying than Tennant's hideous Mockney. Love and Monsters is more watchable than at least five other episodes this season. Give it a go.
