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| What: | Catch-1782 (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 18 June 2006 |
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| Rating: |   5 |
Poor Mel. Having just wasted 3 months of her life working for Davros, here she gets to waste 6 months in a laudanum-induced stupor at the hands of a mad ancestor. The story is another in the time-conundrum tradition. Mel, while visiting her uncle, takes interest in some of her family history, most notably the mysterious 2nd wife of one of her ancestors. A maguffin and a TARDIS later and she finds herself to be the very woman she was reading about. While Alison Lawson has taken some trouble to supply various clues as to the outcome - a mysterious chest buried on the estate grounds, a piece of technology that should not be inside the chest, etc., the trouble is that she constantly seeks the easy way out of the conundrum. For instance, the chest gets buried merely because it needs to be buried for the future to remain intact. This is not very clever. It would have been much more interesting to contrive events so that the chest gets buried inevitably as part of the natural process of events in 1782. In the end, a potentially good story is derailed by lazy writing.
| What: | Three's a Crowd (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 18 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
This is a sort of Doctor Who take on E.M. Forster's classic story "The Machine Stops." In that story, technology had advanced so far that all people live in isolated rooms inside a kind of hive city, with all their needs supplied by "the machine." Colin Brake has taken the premise and moved it to a failing Earth-colony (shades of "Frontios"?), provided a human leader, the inexplicable Auntie, played by Deborah Watling, and focused on the phobic nature of such a hive life rather than on its sapping of human spirit and intelligence, which is what Forster focuses on. As a premise, this is fine all by itself. The problem is that it does not lend itself to Doctor Who very well. After all, what is the Doctor to do? He would simply arrive, tell everybody to overcome their fears, throw a spanner in the works, and leave. Two parts at most would cover this. So, in order to make it Doctor Who, Brake has provided a totally irrelevant second plot line, involving a species that uses humans for food and has a bunch of hatching eggs just ready to chow down on wimpy colonists. (A borrowing from "The Twin Dilemma"? You be the judge.) And these colonists are so wimpy, so whiny, so pathetic that one has to marvel at Peri's patience with them. Most people would have given up after about 15 minutes. This is another Big Finish audio that needed some major revision.
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 | Needs A Very Strong Rewrite |
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| What: | Unregenerate! (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 17 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
The 2005-6 Big Finish audios have been very poor indeed. This is pretty low among them. The focus here is mostly on Mel, particularly in Parts 1 & 2. I must say that the writing for Mel has been much better in these audios than it ever was in the TV series. Additionally, Bonnie Langford has genuinely progressed as an actor, and continues to put in marvelous performances for the series. That said, it is too bad that she is given such weak material to work with.
The main problems are as follows. The Doctor through most of parts 1-3 is a raving loony. While this allows Sylvester McCoy to go far over the top and get away with it, ultimately it detracts from the effect of the story. Listeners want a Doctor Who story, with companion, not a Mel story, with companion. That gets me to the cabbie, Mel's companion. He is principally there to supply muscle so as to give Mel room to operate. Nice enough bloke for an ex-bouncer and bookie enforcer, but that is about all.
On the other hand, with the Doctor effectively out of the story, gibbering for most of the time he is on, one is left with not much to listen for.
Finally, there is the problem of the first 10 minutes or so, which switches around from scene to scene with no explanation so often and so confusingly, that it is very difficult to have patience for any part of it to make sense.
In the end, a thorough revision was in order. The premise of the story and some of the ideas are quite good, but they needed to be arranged more effectively. Characters needed to be strengthened. Roles needed to be better assigned.
| What: | The Council of Nicaea (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 17 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
While I did not hate this one quite so much as the previous reviewer, I still found it among the weaker Big Finish stories. The main problem is Erimem. It is not that she is hypocritical as the other reviewer states, just that the script is nonsensically written. As the previous reviewer noted, she throws off her friends and allies to support a cause she knows little about. It is really worse than that, though. She throws in her lot to support a man she has met only once for an hour or so. Her sole reason for considering Peri and the Doctor traitors to her is that she judges Arius to be an "honorable man." Given what little time she has spent with him, how can she determine that? Furthermore, she criticizes the Roman Emporer Constantine for his cruelty, calls him a tyrant, and organizes a revolt against him. Again, motivation for all this is sorely lacking. After all, even if Erimem never got the chance to be a despotic pharoah, she must know that all her predecessors were despots worse a thousand-fold than Constantine, and that ruling an empire in her day required ruthlessness and cruelty in extreme measure. It makes little sense for her to be ranting about justice and honor and fairplay. That the audioplay has such a weak central premise means that it can never really get started.
| What: | Terror Firma (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 17 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
To kick off a new "season" of 8th Doctor audios, Big Finish has brought back the Daleks and Davros, hoping, one supposes, that merely having those components will be enough to warrant the production. They aren't.
In the early days of Big Finish audios, the Dalek stories were often the best (for instance, "The Apocalypse Element" and "The Genocide Machine"). The Daleks play very well in the audio format, and work when they are handled as the ruthless, efficient military power that they are. In "Terror Firma," the Daleks seem to be almost an afterthought. They have no significant presence in the story and do virtually nothing.
The real focus is on Davros. It is here that problem #2 crops up. Joseph Lidster has attempted to fill in gaps in the Davros saga left in the various TV serials. As is often the case, the "explanations" for these gaps are silly and nonsensical. The basic concept is that Davros after "Resurrection of the Daleks," has developed a split personality - Davros and the Emporer Dalek - and the two are fighting each other for control. This affords Terry Molloy a chance to go all out in the acting department, and he does a super job of displaying Davros's fear and despair. However, rather than giving us something new with this, Lidster reverts to the tried and not-so-true formula: Davros cannot control the Daleks, who revolt against him. Surprised? I wasn't.
The real weakness, though, is not just Lidster's. There is no doubt that the Big Finish audios are now producer Gary Russell's baby. And he has devoted most of his energy to the 8th Doctor series, making this "his" Doctor Who. He has dedicated his efforts toward a nearly complete overhaul of the series, in line with his own later novels. Nearly all of these tweaks are bad. In particular, he seems bent on running Doctor 8 through the emotional wringer again, and again,...and again, ...and again. So, what do we get? (Spoiler coming. You have been warned.) We get, it turns out, that Davros has managed to capture the Doctor and 2 companions we knew nothing about. He used his surgical skills to gain control over all of them. He watched all of Doctor 8's adventures with Charley and later with C'rizz, and all the while plotted to humiliate the Doctor by destroying everything he loved. Thus, though Lidster is careful to stay true to the Davros timeline, he completely ignores Terry Nation's. The Daleks take over Earth again, earlier (it seems) than in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth," and the Doctor seems to have no recollection that any of that had happened. Sloppy on Lidster's part. I kept expecting a "this is not right, something is meddling with history" twist. No chance.
So, in the end, the story is contradictory, both to itself and to the Dalek history as established in the TV series. Things are brought in, then abandoned. Multiple references to previous stories lead nowhere in particular. All we are left with is Terry Molloy's superb performance to raise the story.
Ghost Light is immensely enjoyable, and proves that Doctor Who was regaining its legendary status when it was stupidly axed. The fact remains though that this story is so ridiculously confusing that the ending leaves you wondering what the hell just happened. I've seen it 3 times and I'm still none the wiser...
The first two installments of Night Thoughts are fantastic. The regulars are all brilliant, as are most of the guest cast, and there are some exquisite moments of horror and intrigue. The whole build-up is ruined in parts 3 and 4 however. Shame.
Firstly, thankyou very much to Hatman for entering the 1000th review - may Timelash see the 2000th review very soon!
Ian Marter does a good job of conveying the sense of menace and brutality of the televised Sontaran Experiment into print. The cover's quite nice in a subtle way as well...
| What: | The Feast of the Drowned (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, ow, make it stop! |
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| Date: | Saturday 17 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
this is the 1000th review. yay! it was ok...
in parts
| What: | Only Human (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, the Chemistry lab |
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| Date: | Saturday 17 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
ok... ish.
With good location work and characters, this story dosen't really need the Daleks - as they could have been any evil aliens intent on conquering Earth. A good story, but a bad Dalek story.
A very simple, very entertaining reunion of everything great in Doctor Who.
Violent deaths, creepy mummies, a cool villain. What else do you need? One of Tom Baker's best, and one of the best ever.
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| Doctor Who meets Frankenstein |
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Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen shine in this tense and entertaining horror story based on Frankenstein. The end is a bit flat, but otherwise it's very good Doctor Who.
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| Not THAT bad, but still bad... |
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| What: | Time-Flight (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | the Traveller, Poking Hatman...with a toothpick (sharp) |
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| Date: | Friday 16 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
PLOT: The Doctor and his companions are sent down a time contour with a Concorde full of passengers and crew, where they find the Master unnecessarily disguised as a fat bald magician with a silly voice...
The contemporary Earth scenes are nicely shot, Peter Davison is brilliant at all times, and Part One is very intriguing. Unfortunately,
Time-Flight is let down by poor effects, atrocious dialogue and very bad plotting. The Master is reduced (even more than usual) to a pantomine villain whose motives and plans (especially disguising himself as Kalid) make no sense whatsoever, and Sarah Sutton gives an unusually poor performance as Nyssa, probably down to the script more than anything. Overall, this is one of the weakest Davison stories.
| What: | The Ark (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | the Traveller, Poking Hatman...with a stick (sharp one) |
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| Date: | Friday 16 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
PLOT: When the TARDIS takes its crew to a spaceship named The Ark, Dodo accidentally passes on a cold virus to the humans and their servants - the Monoids. Returning to The Ark years later, they find that the Monoids have seized control...
William Hartnell gives a very good performance, the Monoids are well-designed, and the effects are surprisingly well achieved. Unfortunately, these good points are marred somewhat by the slowness of the story, the Monoids giving away pieces of the plot in repetitive conversations which they have in earshot of the humans, and Dodo's wildly inconsistent accent that seems to change in nearly every scene. Despite this, The Ark is enjoyable to watch, and it is evident where the budget has gone in this ambitious classic Hartnell adventure.
| What: | The Stone Rose (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, ghjgjgjghfghdsville |
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| Date: | Friday 16 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
who would have 'delicate' as a name? this aside, it was a good book. I'll say no more.
| What: | The Deviant Strain (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, outer zorro's house |
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| Date: | Friday 16 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
grade: B3
the book has made a satisfactory effort and has got a good grade, but this is mainly due to the Russian characters
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| Day of the Daleks US Laserdisc |
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| What: | The Day of the Daleks (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Michael, Philadelphia, USA |
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| Date: | Wednesday 14 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
The laserdisc edition of this serial is presented in the omnibus movie format and suffers from some poor editing between episodes. The source material is fair, but certainly not on par with any of the dvds put out by the restoration team. The main titles in particular look to be in poor shape.
| What: | The Ancestor Cell (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Tardisuser, Isle of Wight |
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| Date: | Monday 12 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
...but not great either. Some nice ideas, and a clever way to kick-start the whole EDA series. What some people fail to realise is that this was written when the new series was still unthought of. And the introduction of Grandfather Paradox is very clever. Is he the Doctor, or is he something else? A bit slow to start, and VERY wordy, but overall a satisfying read.
