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| 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...
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 | Good old fashioned Horror Story... |
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The Doctor is portayed very much as the dark manipulator of Season 26. Unfortunately, Ace and the Doctor are separated for a considerable amount of the book. However, the water poisoning idea is good, and Kenny as a little boy at the beginning and end was a nice idea.
A very weird horror story which places the 4th Doctor in a totally unseen situation. The characters of the university students are well written, and Leela's character (as always by Boucher) is taken care of. The ending is a tad disappointing though, with its technobabble overload.
An easily readable page turner that, although is very predictable is also great fun to read.
Not as enjoyable as I expected it to be. However, the Doctor and Rose's dialogue is written perfectly, and the story could easily be part of the TV series.
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| Entertainment all the way... |
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TOOTH AND CLAW
When the Doctor and Rose go back in time to Scotland, they find a werewolf, Queen Victoria, and some very cool kung fu monks waiting for them.
The opening scene has got to be one of the greatest in Doctor Who, proving that history is in no way boring. The werewolf is realised well on screen and David Tennant continues to impress. 4/5.
SCHOOL REUNION
The Doctor, Rose, Mickey, K9 and Sarah Jane Smith battle the Krillitanes at a school run by the Prime Minister off Little Britain...
Although the plot of this story is a bit naff and K9 does very little, the pace never lets up and Elisabeth Sladen puts in a good performance. The Doctor's speech about humans dying is very poignant too. 3/5.
THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE
Droids from a 51st Century spaceship are stalking a woman from the 18th. Why?
The best so far in the new series. David Tennant excels, especially in his scenes with Reinette (both young and old). The story actually stops about 10 minutes early, leaving room for a proper unrushed ending. 5/5.
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| I loved it, so don't get this wrong |
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| What: | Drift (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Voter from Vortis, Galactic Spiral (formerly from Nebula 7) |
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| Date: | Saturday 3 June 2006 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Unfortunately, I liked like this book. That means I'll either sound or feel bad about criticising it. It had a brilliant concept, a brilliant creature (described brilliantly), but only seen on one or two pages. The characters were (althouh good ideas) were described foggily, the events didn't make any logical pattern (except for one or two), and we're still wondering what the hell is going on, and what are people doing. Caught up with lengthy depictions of people travelling, personal struggles, this story ends up like an American show about the government and CIA and top secret info, except without all the excitement. BUT because of sheer stubborness, I continued through with this novel. And hey! it was brilliant. It is only at the end does it pull itself together and pull out a brilliant show. The alien creature is just vivid in some descriptions, and some of the metaphors or sentences the author uses to describe something give them life. In the end, it is saved by fantastic ideas, but is dragged a bit back by a long storytelling. If it had been shorter, this would have been one of my most favourite stories. And I regret writing this because the bad things stand out more than how much (no matter how much I write them) I liked this novel. It just could have been a *bit* better.
P.S. I liked the Doctor getting drunk, though.
it is the bes thing i have watched on tv and actually can not remember
This is one of the finest Doctor Who stories ever. Sylvester and Sophie work brilliantly together, and the Dalek action is well executed.
The DVD extras, although noticeably sparse, are good too. With a few outtakes and a commentary from Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.
I just couldn't believe this one. Its alway good to have a fun story every now and then. The best being "The One Doctor". But this just lost it for me, the plot twisted so often it was very douglas adams. Sorry not for me.
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| tick tock tick tock watch a good plot |
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I won't say much just that I found this to be a good classic Dr Who story had a little of everthing.
