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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.
| What: | Spare Parts (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | PJ Johnson, Hoddesdon, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 7 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I have long been a fan of the Cybermen, believing them to be far more frightening and effective than ever the Daleks were, so the prospect of a story set on Mondas chronicling the true beginnings of the legendary cyborgs filled me with anticipation. I was not disappointed.
Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton are on top form, as is Sally Knyvette as the brilliant but misguided mastermind behind the Cybermen, Doctorman Allan. Paul Copley also puts in a decent performance as the patriarch of the Hartley family, clearly a tortured soul willing to go to any lengths to protect his children.
The Cybermen are very well presented, and the idea that they were created for such innocent purposes is intriguing. The original Cyber-voices from The Tenth Planet are used to great effect, and serve to complete the faultless recreation of the original silver giants from the 1966 story. One tiny complaint regarding the sound production is that the voice of the collective commitee is as times too distorted, forcing the listener to struggle to make out the dialogue.
One of the fundamental aspects of the Cybermen, which often seems to have been forgotten over the years, is that they are not evil - they have no interest in conquest or power, only in survival, and it is the ongoing survival of the Cyber-race which drives them to do things which, in the eyes of others, are seen as evil. This concept is reinforced in Spare Parts, as it becomes obvious to the commitee that the people of Mondas have a very clear choice - Cyber-conversion, or death.
While there are ocasional moments of levity and humour, the story is, ultimately a tragedy, and as such very hard-hitting and thought provoking. With excellent perfomances from the cast, gripping dialogue and an interesting twist in the ending, this is undoubtedly one of the strongest of the Big Finish audio adventures. Oh, and a certain moment in part three made this one of the few Doctor Who stories ever to bring a tear to my eye...
| What: | The Deadstone Memorial (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, new Lewes mark 2 |
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| Date: | Tuesday 6 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
mm... psychic monsters. the villan should have been called hat man. that would have been good. the end wasn't very clear.
| What: | The Sleep of Reason (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Hatman, no-one knows |
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| Date: | Tuesday 6 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
eyebrow exersise. the plot is vaguely intriguing, but the attempts to be mature were pathetic. the end made no sense. not very good.
Fantastic cover, amusing blurb, crap story. It may be fun to read, but the whole tale is silly, with poor dialogue and ridiculous notions. A let-down after Escape Velocity.
Apart from the all-out gross factor this book has to offer, with plenty of wasp-related scenes, the Doctor is written for superbly, and the wasp on the Doctor's hand while touching a nucleur bomb is pure Doctor Who.
| What: | Short Trips (Short Trips short story collections) |
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| By: | the Traveller, On a Short Trip (to the Pub) |
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| Date: | Sunday 4 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
A strange blend of stories that dosen't quite gel. Some are very good, such as the one with the model train set, but others leave you glad that they were only 'short trips'...
The story is well crafted as it takes place over a considrrable amount of time, allowing for character development for the Doctor and Sam.
And the Doctor's put through absolute hell - which is always entertaining!
Thrilling until the end, Fear Itself is one of the best BBC Novels. The twists and turns of the plot work perfectly, and everything wraps up nicely at the end. Well done Nick Wallace!
This story fits perfectly in the type and genre of the 1989 stories. The way that the characters are introduced at a party is also a clever idea. The alien Zorg and his poetry was a bit silly though...
A straight-forwardly enjoyable story. The Doctor and Ace are written perfectly, as is the errm 'villain'. Not sure about the cover though...
