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| What: | Ghost Light (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew B, Cardiff, Wales |
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| Date: | Monday 2 October 2006 |
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| Rating: |   9 |
Truly wondrous. A glorious mixture of musty Victoriana, breathtaking science fiction and a strong central theme of evolution and change, Ghost Light is an unqualified success from top to toe. Only Sophie Aldred disappoints in a cast that make Marc Platt’s script sing. Sylvia Sims and Ian Hogg in particular are stunningly good, closely followed by Michael Cochrane, who brings a wonderful sympathy to Redvers, a Victorian explorer driven mad by things beyond his comprehension. Add to this the beautiful sets and Mark Ayres’ finest score and you have a near-perfect Doctor Who story.
Feeling like a rogue Hinchcliffe, Horror of Fang Rock is gorgeously written, acted and directed (Paddy Russell again), and is as tightly produced as anything in seasons 13 and 14. It is a wonderful Leela story, Terrance Dicks showing a real flair in writing for her. It’s hard to say anything new about this really. The lighthouse is an inspired setting for a ‘pick em off one by one’ story, and the design of both it and the island on which it stands is very, very effective. Chilling and amusing in all the right places, Horror of Fang Rock is one of the very best Tom Baker stories. Smashing.
Much is often made of The Mind Robber’s ‘imagination’ and ‘cleverness’ when in fact there is little evidence of either on display. I would guess that its lofty reputation is at least partly because it exists in a season so formulaic and dull that it benefits by comparison alone. Having said that, there are a few bright moments – the white TARDIS, Jamie and Zoe trapped in a giant book, Rapunzel, etc. But, unusual though these motifs are, they fail to ignite because they’re embedded in a plodding unimaginative non-story that labours every aspect of its script and its poorly constructed plot. The whole thing leaves one feeling patronised by the writer rather than entertained. Troughton gives it a lot of quality as usual, but of the rest of the cast only Bernard Horsfall matches him. Tedious and rather too pleased with itself.
Excellent. What is clearly a very cheap production manages to feel “large” due to the sheer quality of the script, cast and direction. Skaro is a dark, foggy, unpleasant place and the Kaled military are Nazi analogues. Peter Miles’ Nyder is an astonishing performance, topping a cast where everyone gets it just right. Tom Baker is nicely understated in this and yet is potent when required. The whole thing has an urgency and sense of threat that had been largely absent since 1970.
| What: | Inferno (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew B, Cardiff, Wales |
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| Date: | Monday 2 October 2006 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Easily the superior story of Season Seven, Inferno benefits from being told over seven episodes – the usual padding and drag just isn’t present here, and the plot device of a parallel Earth warrants a couple of extra episodes, even though the same story is essentially being told twice over. There are so many good things – Pertwee is excellent (as is usual in this season), indeed all the cast are top notch, Olaf Pooley, Nicholas Courtney and Derek Newark in particular. John Levene gives a small role some real punch, too. The effects are fine, Camfield is as wondrous as ever, and the dialogue is a joy to listen to. The kind of powerful story that would suddenly become very rare under Letts and Pertwee.
Lovely tin. Let me say that first of all.
THE TENTH PLANET
A taste of things to come. The Tenth Planet was the first story that embodied Innes Lloyd’s misguided attempt to make Doctor Who more “gritty” and “believable” (a preoccupation that would later reach its formulaic nadir in Season Five), managing to achieve neither of these things throughout its four episodes. If it weren’t for the fact that it was the first Cyberman story and William Hartnell’s last crack of the whip, there would be nothing to make this farrago memorable. The regulars are badly served and the guest cast are generally dreadful. The script is dull as dishwater and is riddled with terrible dialogue. The Tenth Planet could be fairly described as little more a roomful of people shouting at each other for ninety minutes, something we would see a lot more of in the next few seasons. The Cybermen themselves are reasonably well designed, and are quite sinister – until they speak. Not only are their voices absurd but they often display emotion even though they claim not to have any. Daft rather than terrifying. The only things that make The Tenth Planet worth watching are Craze and Wills (as usual) and the impressive regeneration sequence. A shameful end for Hartnell.
ATTACK OF THE CYBERMEN
An improvement on the preceding story (faint praise, given that the preceding story was The Twin Dilemma), Attack of the Cybermen is typical of Season 22 in that its good parts are usually scuppered by its bad parts. There are some great things here; Matthew Robinson's direction, great design work, Brian Glover and Maurice Colbourne, Lytton's conversion (finally we are allowed to see how monstrous the Cybermen can actually be), and plenty of action sequences. Unfortunately, just when you're enjoying one or more of the above, along comes one of the following to put you off; uneven performances from the regulars, the dreadful Saward dialogue, Malcolm Clarke's unpleasant score, a plot that doesn't really make sense, and some highly bizarre hand movements from the Cryons (reminiscent of the "choreographed" Fish People from "The Underwater Menace"). Annoyingly inconsistent in every way, Attack of the Cybermen is by turns entertaining and annoying, but it is still the superior production of this box set.
The Power of Kroll traditonally gets the worst press of season 16 but it’s a far superior story to this. Tired from start to finish, The Armageddon Factor is repetitive, overlong, and poorly written. There are a few positives – the first one and a half episodes are rather fun, with K9 getting some good lines and Davyd Harries and John Woodvine turning in enjoyable performances, but this quickly gives way to endless running around corridors and really not much else. Baker and Tamm look bored (and so do we), the former livening up a little when Barry Jackson’s Drax appears. A really flat ending to a lively season.
I wanted to like The Space Pirates. It's almost universally forgotten about, lurking at the fag end of Season 6. I wanted to be the one who "discovered" it's brilliance. With only one of it's episodes in existence it's a difficult one to judge. I've yet to work up the motivation to listen to the soundtrack, so recently decided to give the novelisation a go, hoping that it will be the best and fairest way of judging the story. So what do I think? Well, The Space Pirates is not dreadful, it's not great, it's just...uninteresting. The opening chapters are reasonably entertaining, but things become so lifeless so very quickly that it is hard to stick with the book until the end. The plot and dialogue are flat and cliched, the villains are obvious from the outset, and Milo Clancey (to whom Robert Holmes seems to devote more screen time than The Doctor, Zoe and Jamie) is downright irritating. The Space Pirates feels like what it is - six episodes of filler runaround designed to bridge a gap until the final story of the season. As a faithful recreation of the TV production, the novel is as dull, and offers nothing new. Move on to The War Games...
| What: | Venusian Lullaby (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Francis, reno, nv |
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| Date: | Sunday 1 October 2006 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
Of the hundreds of Doctor Who books I own, this is the first and only (to date) one I have put down without finishing. Creating a totally alien civilization is a daunting task in which the author fails miserably. It's one thing to have characters that need a good deal of describing to be able to imagine their physical appearance, but when you have a multitude of key characters with names so alien as to be nearly unpronouncable, it makes for a very difficult read. Continually asking if this character is involved or that other one. And then, to top it of, the author goes on to give equally unpronouncable names to the various extraneous flora and fauna in the environment. Why do we need to know what the Venusian name for pine tree is?!?! There is not a paragraph that goes by where some name or another has to be decrypted
If you're a linguist or enjoy deciphering almost indecipherable puzzles, then this book is for you. If you're like the majority of us, don't even bother
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 | Interesting, unconventional story |
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| What: | Dust Breeding (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
After listening to this once before, a few years back, I just went back and listened to it again. I remember that this one was my favorite Big Finish story for some time. I can't quite give it a 9, because the production didn't do so well with helping me visualize what was going on most of the time, but it's an interesting story that's really different. The pieces are slowly weaved together as the story progresses, and by the final "episode," we see just how much has really been going on. And the Doctor is about as much in the dark as we are.
Another problem with the story is that an understanding of just what this "warp core" creature was eluded me, even the second time I listened to it. But this is more than made up for by Johnson Willis' fantastic, demented performance as Damien, and the return of Geoffrey Beevers' truly sinister and dangerous Master. With the exception of Caroline John's rather grotesque accent, all of the actors' performances are excellent.
The story of what happened to the Master to return him to the state he's in here is fascinating - by itself it makes the whole production worth listening to. The fact that this would be written into the Big Finish continuity is quite unexpected and very cool. Of course, it also is a complete departure from 8th Doctor continuity, but given a choice, I'd go with this storyline over what we got in the Fox telefilm. If Dust Breeding was further developed for television and scenes were written into the story to actually portray what Ainley's Master did and what happened to him, this could be a really epic and gripping, if horrific t.v. story or feature. (Imagine season 26 ending with that instead of Survival!)
Overall, Dust Breeding is a real standout in the early Big Finish line of audio productions. Its reach extends far beyond the average Big Finish story, it takes some chances and pulls them off well, and we get a memorable, potentially cinematic story out of it.
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| Playing On The Doctor's Vulnerabilities |
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| What: | Her Final Flight (Big Finish subscriber bonuses) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Her Final Flight gets a little frustrating because we know the whole thing is a dream, it is obviously a dream, and the Doctor's inability to figure this out for so long is nerve wracking. Additionally, this turns the listener's attitude away from the characters, whom we know to be unreal, so not worth our emotional investment. Still, the story follows its initial premises quite logically, remains consistent, and proves yet again that Colin Baker was a far better actor than he was allowed to be playing the Doctor on TV.
| What: | Davros (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Of the three history of the baddies adventures, this one is by far the best. Terry Molloy has completely put his stamp on the Davros character. Old Doctor Who favorite actors Wendy Padbury and Bernard Horsfal are put to good use, given excellent and unexpected roles to play. Another plus is that the story presents a balanced picture of corporate morality. Repeatedly the corporate head balks at doing something such as spying on his employess because it is unethical. On the other hand, this contrasts rather sharply with his willingness to commit murder. This contradiction never satisfactorily works itself out. Another problem is the pop-psychology explanation for Davros's character. He was disappointed in love and that lead him to be a self-obsessed megalomaniac? Finally, the everything goes boom ending drags on too long. Entertaining, but flawed.
| What: | The Maltese Penguin (Big Finish subscriber bonuses) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
A Maltese Penguin as in Mike Maltese, who wrote many of the best Bugs Bunny cartoons? This is a failed pastiche, with most of its supposedly funny bits having already been done in the film "The Cheap Detective," and in the Firesign Theatre's "Adventures Of Nick Danger, Third Eye." There is a good running gag, though. Everyone is after the "something," though no one knows what it is. However, the whole tale is one idea that should have been tabled.
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| Just Another Vampire Story |
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| What: | Project: Twilight (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
I have never quite understood the fascination with vampires. As baddies go, they are rather limited. All they do is either eat or turn others into vampires. Project:Twilight adds nothing to the conception of vampires or understanding of vampire lore. Another problem is the ineffectiveness of the Doctor, who gets played for a sucker by everyone involved. Stupid Time Lord, indeed. The story does, however, maintain a consistent atmosphere. All the actors play well in this production.
| What: | The Wormery (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
The story is needlessly complicated. I never did figure out what the worms were, exactly. The shadows just added one too many details. The fighting worm factions makes just a little sense, but the shadows of what they might have been coming in to take over makes no sense at all. Another problem is the narrated presentation, with an old Scots woman being just a little bit too "poetic" in the wrong way about everything and dragging down the suspense. There are some funny bits, though. Iris Wildthyme fits into this story much better than in the dreadful Excelis Dawns.
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| Best Of The Excelis Adventures |
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| What: | Excelis Rising (Excelis audios) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Excelis Rising is far superior to the other two Excelis dramas, especially the hideous Excelis Dawns. Rather than simply going over the same material, David McIntee has made this almost wholly independent. It has much that is typically Doctor Who: a single enclosed setting, a limited set of characters, a tightly compacted sequence of events. Anthony Head is much better in this one than in Excelis Rising. He was unconvincing as the lumbering Grayvorn, but the civilized Maupassant plays into his strengths of modernity and subtlety. Still, as part of a series, there is too much left out and left unexplained. The story advances our knowledge not one bit regarding the Relic, what it is, what it really does, how it came to be.
| What: | Bloodtide (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
If this adventure were without reference to previous stories, I would give it a better rating. However, it pretty much just redoes The Silurians, but places it 100 years earlier. Additionally, Darwin's gradual revelations about natural selection are wholly misplaced given the circumstances. Who is going to be abstrusely theorizing about humanity's place in the cosmos while imprisoned by lizard men?
| What: | The Holy Terror (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
How this story works beats me. It shouldn't. How can we get "all hail the big talking bird" and the child murderer in the same story and have it all make sense and fit together? Furthermore, in the DW comics I always hated Frobisher; just a cheap grab at the 80s penguin craze caused by Opus. Here, however, Frobisher fits into the story well, and Robert Jezek performs hims well. The real star, though, is the story itself. This mixture of satire on pointless English historical rituals and tragedy of one man's endless self-punishment works itself out beautifully. Every part has a reason to be in there and the story maintains its internal consistency. Peter Guiness, playing Childeric, is a vocal dead ringer for Paul Darrow. The one complaint I have is the reliance on Time Lord technology in the end. Gallifrey, Time Lords, and TARDIS's are getting just too common these days.
| What: | The Apocalypse Element (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I am perplexed about why this one is not rated higher. There are only two drawbacks for me: it is played rather on one note, and the exact nature of the Apocalypse Element never gets explained well. However, the Daleks come across in the auio format as a true menace. The story itself is an extended "assault on..." and works very well given the Daleks' reputation as military tacticians. All the acting is top quality. The plot holds together quite well.
| What: | The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 29 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
The Spectre Of Lanyan Moor is too typically Doctor Who in many ways. It reminds me a bit of Hinchcliffe-era Gothic SF, with it focus on English folklore and spooky haunts. There are also nods to The Daemons, The Stones Of Blood, and Ghostlight. For me, it was just too much deja-vu. I also agree with one of the previous reviewers that the affected screechy voice for Sancrider (no spelling given on the packaging and presumably voiced by Toby Longworth) is truly annoying.
