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| What: | The Marian Conspiracy (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 |
The best thing about The Marian Conspiracy is the introduction of a new companion, Dr. Evelyn Smythe, for once not a kid. A mature, knowledgeable companion is an excellent foil for Colin Baker's bombastic Doctor. Baker himself demonstrates his magnificent vocal talent, with range and nuance of superb skill. Other good bits include a balanced perspective of Queen Mary, who could easily have been treated as a stock villain, and realism regarding character motivation. On the negative there is the "temporal nexus," a rather weak maggufin. Another is that characters tend to respond to anachronisms rather tamely. There is much commentary on Evelyn's pills, but none about the obviously plastic bottle and its label that would be wholly unintelligible to Tudor age people. Still, this is a good, character based story.
| What: | ...ish (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 27 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
As a word lover, and a lover of English, I should have liked this one more than I did. Like the other reviewers, I quite enjoyed the word play. I agree that Colin Baker is the right Doctor for this sort of story. This one for me is like "Paradise Towers" and "Greatest Show In The Galaxy" in that it has a brilliant first three parts and a dreadful explanation for it all in part 4. The whole Omniverbum living word monster idea just did not convince me. I would have been more satisfied with the concept proposed earlier in the story of a postmodernist faction who want to undo the language, but do not understand the results of their actions. Also, the reason given for Osefa's suicide just does not work. As a motivation, it is pretty pathetic. Still, one must admit that the Doctor 6/Peri combination works much better here and in the audio dramas in general than it ever did on TV. Baker is a truly great voice actor, and Bryant's American accent is impeccable.
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 | Good Idea, But Lacks Plausibility |
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Justin Richards has decided to take the sonic medium seriously by making a sound-oriented story. Set in the Museum of Aural Antiquities, the story's reliance upon a sound-creature, audio broadcasts, and verbal exchange is commendable. There is a tremendous plausibility gap, though. The center of focus, Visteen Krane, is supposed to be the "greatest actor of his generation." Yet, there are few photos or recordings. This makes no sense. Spend 5 minutes with an actor and you will understand that this makes no sense. An actor's career rests upon appearance. An actor who is not seen is not an actor. Neither is an unseen politician a politician. How could Krane become the prime candidate for the highest elected office if he made no political appearances? It just does not make sense.
I am giving this one high marks for tight plotting. I have complained in the past about loose ends in some of the Big Finish stories, so I must admit that Nev Fountain has splendidly tied up everything. Not a "what about..." left to be said. The demerits come because this story just does not fit the Doctor Who format. When the Big Finish authors try to get funny, they tend to reach for the Douglas Adams. Adams' approach to Doctor Who was problematic at best, and writers should have learned from those 1979 stories that Voltairean satire and Doctor Who just do not work together. Good Doctor Who uses some humor in an otherwise serious context. And while the plot is all neatly wrapped, there are serious anachronisms running throughout. For instance, commemorative tea towels sold at the pub in the 1400s. Tea does not arrive in England until the 1600s, and does not become a regular part of English life until the 1700s. The problem is that the joke undermines the whatever authentic tension is built into the story. Final assessment: This would have been great in some context other than Doctor Who.
| What: | Slipback (Miscellaneous audio dramas) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles |
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| Date: | Wednesday 27 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
When Doctor Who was sent on an unanticipated hiatus early in 1985, fan outcry was loud. The result was that a team at BBC radio filled the gap with this production. Series script editor Eric Saward provided the script, and regular Radiophonic Workshop Doctor Who contributor Peter Howell provided the soundtrack. With a guest appearance by Valentine Dyall, things seemed right for vigorous reaffirmation of the program. However, Saward provided a script that can only be described as a poor man's Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Full of quips and gags, vaguely satirical of something, space opera perhaps, this story returns us to the send-up year of 1979. Remember "Creature From The Pit"? It rests right around there in its "you can't possibly take any of this seriously" winking and nodding to the audience. Like those 1979 stories, the humorous element interferes with the main action/adventure story, so that the script feels schizophrenic. Additionally, the story was broken up into 15-minute segments, which means an abundance of cliff hangers. Most of these involve Colin Baker operatically bellowing "Periiiiiiiii" or "Nooooooo." There are some funny lines, and Peri does get to do a bit more than she did in the TV series; however, the script just does not work.
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| An average / poor Horse Flog release |
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| What: | The Nowhere Place (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Phil Ince, Up Jessica Simpson's crack |
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| Date: | Monday 18 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
Horse Flog have - it is generally agreed - lost their way. This release confirms that, as yet, they haven't recovered any sense of direction.
There's insufficient story to merit this long-ish Flogging and the characterisation is painfully poor. Besides the regulars, a young and (judging by her manners and speech) over-promoted space captain is just about it. Short of asking, "What the hell ...!" she serves no purpose besides taking up time.
The story itself substantially repeats aspects of previous releases.
To all intents and purposes, it retreads the Divergents from the 8th Doctor series and Briggs (an ordinary writer who nonetheless compelled with Creatures of Beauty) repeats his cause and effect trick from that story.
Stables and Baker are good enough but all the signs are that Doctors have finite life spans because - as Tom Baker so astutely pointed out 30 years ago and has been pointing out in fan doicumentaries ever since - they don't really develope.
Is it time to kill of these releases?
Better men that the Horse Flog crew couldn't come up with good scripts for Baker after 5 years. How could this lot hope to provide worthy material for his successors indefinitely?
With the exception of the pretty terrible and slightly average Fear Her, these episodes are fantastic. Watch them. NOW.
| What: | The Juggernauts (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Wednesday 13 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Think of it this way: The Juggernauts is to Revelation of the Daleks as Destiny of the Daleks is to Genesis of the Daleks. One reason I say this is that it seemed like I was hearing the ghost of Douglas Adams in the script of The Juggernauts - a lot of pretty goofy dialogue here (*not* in a good way). Aside from that, we have a story of the Daleks in a clash with another mechanical force (as in Destiny), significant references to the previous story (as in Destiny), and the borrowing of elements of the previous story - in Destiny, the return to Skaro for Davros, and in The Juggernauts, Davros' use of human bodies to build his creations, similarly to what happened in Revelation. Other criticism: the damaged, studdering Dalek could've been interesting, but came out ridiculous, and the fate of Davros in this story could've been nicely tied into his appearance in Remebrance of the Daleks, but wasn't. What a wasted opportunity, and what we're left with here *appears* to be a blatant disregard of the series continuity. Also, the performances were a mixed bag. Colin Baker is fully in character and sounds just like he did in season 23 (in a good way), but some of the supporting actors were mediocre at best. Overall, interesting but a bit frustrating.
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| continuity drenched gory and well writen |
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It should not be much of a shock that the cyber leader should write a book. Its a good one as far as im concerned its suspenceful, well thought out, as its woven into the history of the cybermen (and much better than the dire attack of the cybermen)so continuity junkies will be pleased,characters are interesting and well developed the doctor a little bland as if theres no feel to him. The cybermen are first rate there menaceing appperences are a real treat although gory in places its not gratuitous and has a point to it a sprincle of new ideas here,a dash of the old there and you get a damn good story highly recomended get out an buy it
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| Come on now - it's just a story |
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| What: | The Council of Nicaea (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 3 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
Okay, well, I'd judge this a little differently than the other two reviewers have. I agree that it makes no sense for someone in Erimem's position to judge Constantine as being a cruel tyrant, I agree that Constantine is most likely rather poorly characterized, and I agree that Erimem's sudden near-betrayal of her friends stretches credibility. But in spite of all of that, I found this to be an entertaining story. Even though it was rather unsensible, what Erimem did was an interesting departure from what the Doctor's companions typically do. I also enjoyed how Constantine was written, and I thought the speculations about what was actually happening in Rome in those times (as presented by the script) were rather interesting. If you don't take it all too seriously, you might just enjoy this one.
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| Nice production. However... |
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| What: | The Roof of the World (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Sunday 3 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
What we have here in The Roof of the World is high quality sound design, good performances all around, and fairly tight scripting, at least as far as it concerns the way the performances came out. Peter Davison in particular delivers some excellent scenes. As far as the story itself goes, maybe it was me, but it seemed to get a bit lost at times. Overall though, an interesting production with a nicely realized soundscape.
However, something must be said about the characterization of Peri in this story. I liked Peri in this story much better than I ever liked her in the t.v. series. But it's not really Peri. This story is supposedly set between Planet of Fire and The Caves of Androzani, and here Peri is just far too intelligent and far too self-assured. She knows far more than she should, and is too capable for the character we saw in season 21 (or season 22). If the stories require that she be written in this way, it would be truer to the original show if they were alternative universe or alternative timeline stories...
| What: | The Twilight Kingdom (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Saturday 2 September 2006 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
Just about all I can say in favor of The Twilight Kingdom is that it moves the current story arc along a little bit. It's not a particularly *bad* story, there's just nothing about it that is very interesting, other than its meager contribution to the story arc. Nearly the entire story is set in uninteresting caves with a bunch of uninteresting people who we come to find aren't really even quite themselves. There are no standout performances, and even Paul McGann seems to be struggling to pull anything out of the script. The problem is that success in this audio format relies on having either a very good story or settings that allow for the creation of sonically rich environments, or some combination of both. The Twilight Kingdom has neither of these, being set in rather featureless caves and having a story line that's basically about the capture of the Doctor and friends by a military group that can't seem to decide whether to trust them, release them or execute them, while some unknown menace pulls the strings in the shadows. Yawn.
| What: | Series 2 Volume 5: (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Hatman, He's back... |
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| Date: | Wednesday 30 August 2006 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Most of the Daleks on this DVD go 'Extarminate!' instead of 'Exterminate!'
Anyway,
Fear her: rubbish
Army of ghosts: good
Doomesday: Magnificent(ly good)
Eh eh eh!
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| Disjointed but refreshing... |
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I found it rather difficult to get a good sense of a plot as this story proceeded. The repeated "revisions" of the characters made for second- and third-guessing about what was actually going on, and made me really wonder how it would all be resolved. At the end, we learn that it all really isn't resolved, and that we've been completely duped during the entirety of this story, which in a way is rather irritating. Still, the style and structure of the writing and story are innovative and refreshing; something like this was quite welcome after the horrible story that preceeded it (The Creed of the Kromon). Also, extra points are given for the dialogue, which I personally found to contain a rich commentary on and criticism of the fundamentalist mindset (particularly the mindset present in Christian fundamentalism - indeed, these references do seem to pop up in Big Finish stories from time to time). It may also be true that the script features a reincarnation theme throughout, and as such it's an interesting commentary on that as well. I think there's a depth to the writing that some will pick up on but others may miss. Paul McGann gets the majority of the inspired lines, and he does well with them.
Overall, The Natural History of Fear got my attention because it did something different, and is not just another mediocre, forgettable story.
| What: | Doctor Who (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | lee cartmell, auckland |
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| Date: | Tuesday 29 August 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Not a bad effort considering the time it had been away
A wonderful collection that all fans and the writers alike should be proud of. There are a few weak links in the chain, but the others make up for them. Great stuff!
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| Dr. Who Meets The Cthulhu |
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This one is an attempt at H.P. Lovecraft given the Doctor Who touch. Thus, we get ancient powers of the universe breaking through in horrifying shape and taking over people's minds. At that level, it is O.K. I just hate astronomically improbable coincidences, such as that Erimem's father had something to do with all this and that Erimem is somehow just what these powers need to break through. Why? It is a cheap way to add "interest." Additionally, Erimem is just plain stupid in this story. It should take her just 5 minutes to work out that she is not dead, that she is being manipulated, and that nothing Lord Davey shows her is real. For instance, how can Peri legitimately criticise Erimem for not preventing a disaster on the TARDIS when Erimem is supposedly long dead? Even worse, though, is why Erimem did not immediately spot the contradiction. Instead, the entirety of part two is a complete nonsensical waste, full of false emotionalism. It truly drags down the rest of the adventure.
Having already had Dr. Who vs. The Wicked Witch of the West, i.e. "Nekromanteia," now we get Dr. Who vs. The Joker. What next? Dr. Who vs. Santa Claus? Despite that, this story was better the second time I listened to it. One virtue is that the companions are not stupid in this one. Another is the excellent pacing, which keeps the action at just the right pitch. There are some problems with it, though. One is that Jarra To's ability to change shape never gets explained. Neither is her or her Jester form's extraordinary physical power ever explained. I keep wondering what the exact threat is, or why everyone is so scared in his/her presence. So, some good, some bad.
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| Dr. Who vs. The Wicked Witch Of The West |
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The basic idea of a man who gains immortality of a kind by placing himself in his own little perfect moment of history to relive it for eternity is fascinating. The supposition that this would use colossal energy is sound. After that, though, everything else goes wrong. In a misguided attempt to make Doctor Who "adult," we get a needless rape of one of the crew members, and a terrific amount of cannibalistic gore, not the least of which is the cliffhanger beheading of the Doctor. The worst part, though, is Gilli Cohen's performance, sort of Margaret Hamilton on speed. Does anyone really cackle in this way? I kept expecting her to say, "I'll get you, and that little cat, too!" And did I perhaps hear "Oh, what a world?" as she died? Or is it just that I could not help but be reminded of that old wicked witch every time she opened her mouth?
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| Camp, Rediculous, Yet Fun |
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| What: | Synthespians™ (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Nick, Australia |
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| Date: | Monday 21 August 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
This is my Third Doctor Who novel, and I must say its probably the weakest. ITs very camp, rediculous, and the story seems to be going no where alot of the time. But its also alot of fun, with the extremely bitchy dialouge and fun chases through the city, and its good to see the Autons in a new, yet rediculous new form.
5/10
