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A great world is formed in your head, with good creatures and use of sound. However this soon falls a little flat with charley and the doctors constant glib comments.
The story could have been a good solid, traditional feast for Doctor Who, but as normal was left flat with weak charaters and rampling story line.
The introduction of a new charater C'Rizz should have been punchy and thrilling, rather than weak and rambling.
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 | Did I hear a different story? |
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| What: | Spare Parts (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Jamie Hunn, Chipping Sodbury, UK |
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| Date: | Sunday 21 March 2004 |
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| Rating: |   3 |
To be frank, this one was dire.
Usually, I agree with general fan consensus (Chimes of Midnight, The One Doctor etc)but this was just one long boring trek through the Cybermens' history.
Is suffered, obviously, from the fact that we knew what was going to happen to the people - they would be cybernised. As such, it was totally predictable and lost all shock factor. The remainder of the story plodded along well enough, but I really would have preferred to have spent my £13.00 on something else.
| What: | Bloodtide (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Jamie Hunn, Chipping Sodbury, UK |
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| Date: | Saturday 20 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
While it could be said that this is a retelling of "Doctor Who and the Silurians" to some extent, this story also features the new explorations of past ideas that you would expect from a Big Finish story.
Certainly, this one bags that credit with the revelation that man was created by a Silurian scientist- we are GM Apes!
The story itself, though simple, is highly enjoyable, and carries very well for what is a very compact and tightly structured story, that, although a retelling of the original story, as I said, still seems very fresh, given the Galapogos setting, the Myrka (hoo......ra.........y............, it's back ), and , of course, the addition of Charles Darwin and the crew of the Beagle.
The Silurians themselves, thankfully, sound very much like their 1970 originals. Even down to the sound effects.
And that is the production's main strength - the sound. I haven't got the name of the sound designer at hand, but all credit to him. From the Galapogan shore to the dripping, dank hybernation chamber, the sound, and the excellent score, create in the mind what words and descriptions alone couldn't.
In short, this story is a must, after all, it's my favourite, and I have got exceptional taste...or have I?
I make no bones about the fact that I am Peter Davison's self-appointed champion, defender and fan as Dr.Who is concerned. I started watching the series with Tom Baker and saw a lot of Pertwee reruns. At the time I thought Pertwee was good and Baker was even better. BUT...as time wore on I found I became tired of Tom Baker's endless stories as he became increasingly self-indulgent and silly in the role. Don't get me wrong, I still love Baker's early stuff and I love the first season especially of Pertwee, but Peter Davison arrived when I was a teenager when seasons 18 and 19 were screened in one long run in 1982 in Australia and by the end of Earthshock I was declaring him MY Doctor and Earthshock the all time greatest story. This story introduced me to the consumate TRADITIONAL Who writer of the 80s, Eric Saward who went on to script Earthshock and the brilliant and HUGELY UNDERRATED Resurrection of the Daleks (the darkest, most intensely paranoid, sinister and atmospheric Dalek story ever...with the possible exception of the classic Genesis, naturally!).
Saward's debut is simple, charming and intelligent, which warmth and wit and shows a very Doctorish turn by the
| What: | Sometime Never... (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | John Ellison, Atlanta, USA |
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| Date: | Wednesday 17 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Hmmm...I find myself puzzled. I think this is possibly one of the best novels in the last year or so that the series has offered. Sure, the ending was not what I wanted and I was saddened by the "resolution" of several loose ends I had grown rather fond of over time. Still, I give the overall tension, effect and pace of the book outstanding marks. Plus it mentions elements of the Doctor's past! Just to see an author acknowledge that Sam once travelled with the Doctor (or Harry or Jo or Sarah Jane for that matter)...what a forgotten treat!
Read it and draw your own conclusions.
Who knows, perhaps someday soon we will be treated to a novel that truly goes outside the norm. It could start with a quote from the Doctor, "I remeber everthing..." Now that would be an interesting read.
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| A brilliant combination of old and new. |
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| What: | Zagreus (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, New York |
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| Date: | Sunday 14 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I can't just let the other review here stand without challenge. Zagreus is an exceptionally good story. Sure, there are loads of old characters and famous lines rehashed and scattered throughout, but at the same time there's a fascinating, groundbreaking story that takes things to new heights and in a new direction. It's like the most far out of the New Adventures book titles by Marc Platt or Paul Cornell - think "Time's Crucible," "Timewyrm - Revelation," and "Lungbarrow." Maybe a bit too cerebral for some fans.
| What: | Scherzo (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, New York |
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| Date: | Sunday 14 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
You folks may think I'm very strange, but this story is remarkably spiritual to me. In the final two tracks of part 4 (and then retrospectively back), listen to it thinking of Doctor as "God"(/the One/the Tao/etc.), Charley as the individual (who is actually also the One, the Tao, etc.), and the creature as the ego/surface self/devil. Disregarding all of that, this is very inventive story anyway...
| What: | Scherzo (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive Wright, Jersey |
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| Date: | Friday 12 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
This is one of the best 8th Doctor story. Excellent suspense throughout, using dialog rather than action to hold you, which comes across will. An excellent start to a key of time style punch of stories.
Rarely Charley and the doctor worked well together and the normal constant silly jokes and offhanded reactions was replaced with suspense and surprises.
Excellent.
| What: | The Macra Terror (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | Theo Robertson , Isle Of Bute, Scotland |
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| Date: | Thursday 11 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
According to the elder statemen fans THE MACRA TERROR is a classic spinechilling story . It`s impossible to believe this reading Ian Stuart Black`s novelisation . In fact it`s very very difficult to describe this book as a novelisation since it`s more like a script with " He said " after every line of dialouge . No attempt is made to inject atmosphere into the proceedings and the only embellishment to the story is having a major character who dies in the tv story survive in the book which weakens the story still further
A lot of people have criticised John Peel`s style as overwriting , well this novelisation is completely underwritten and if the TV serial is as good as many people have painted it then this is possibly the worst book in the whole range as it`s so bland
| What: | The Power of the Daleks (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | Theo Robertson , Isle Of Bute, Scotland |
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| Date: | Thursday 11 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I loved reading this novelisation of POWER OF THE DALEKS several years ago but after re-reading it again over the years my enjoyment diminished . I think it`s possibly to do with the original teleplay being a suspenseful , claustraphobic slow burning tale tale whereas Peel is better suited to writing fast moving epics . I also didn`t care for Peel`s referrances to UNIT or to the ICM which smacked of self indulgance
A flawed book where you can easily forgive the flaws first time you read it
| What: | Eye of Heaven (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Stephen Carlin, Northern Ireland |
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| Date: | Wednesday 3 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
From almost the first chapter I hated this book. At first glance it is an interesting idea - the story is told from Leela's perspective. Unfortunately that is as good as it gets. For those familiar with Leela and her on-screen adventures there are too many errors. Her perspective seems curiously well-informed in some scenes as if the author is incapable of finding suitable descriptions for objects that should be beyond Leela's experience.
Another aspect of the book is that the story is told from different points in time. It darts between past, present and future events. I came away with the strong impression that Mortimore had written disparate chapters and then found he could not piece them together...so he just shoved them altogether in the hope that people would sit back and think he was being clever. There are too many gaps, too many events that are not recounted for this to be a carefully planned and inspired method of story-telling.
In short, this is a mess of a book, badly written with appalling characterisation.
| What: | The Witch Hunters (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Stephen Carlin, Northern Ireland |
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| Date: | Wednesday 3 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was well-written and was an interesting and terrifying venture into history for the our time travelling heroes.
Only one thing marred the book for me - the fact that it rips off Arthur Miller's The Crucible. I enjoyed the book but was not sure how much could be owed to Lyons and how much could be owed to Miller.
| What: | The Infinity Doctors (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Stephen Carlin, Northern Ireland |
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| Date: | Wednesday 3 March 2004 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Imagine if the BBC had turned down Sydney Newman's proposal for a new Saturday afternoon series? Now imagine that 35 years later someone finds notes about this series and decides to update the concept.
This novel is not a story of a Doctor we have seen or heard before. It tells of a Time Lord known as the Doctor and the mysterious force from the end of time that threatens Gallifrey.
This is an intriguing novel, well-written and its easy to imagine the idea being pitched to a TV executive. This book towers head and shoulders above any idea that Philip Segal considered in his re-imaging of the series.
I won't spoil it for anyone who has not read the book but foe behind the threat gets a better send off than anything that happened to him/her in the TV series.
| What: | Independence Day (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Tegan, England |
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| Date: | Sunday 22 February 2004 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
My favourite character from the TV series was Ace, so i was happy with the content she recieved in the book. The characters were all very well written, and the plot was fairly easy to follow. I really loved it, and could hardly put it down!
| What: | Loving the Alien (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Tegan, England |
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| Date: | Sunday 22 February 2004 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This was the first 7th Doctor PDA I bought- although I found it confusing at first with all the parallel storylines, I found it challenging and moving to read. A brilliant book.
Two Doctors with a great surprise and Colin Baker shows again how good he is.
The one Twists and Turns like a Twisty Turny Thing. Get it.
This is what we want from Doctor Who. Madmen, cults and althernative universe that wants to destory everything.
Ace and the Doctor are at their best.
Charley and the 8th Doctor never seem to be consistant. They are either good or bad and this one was bad.
The main reason they are bad is overconfidence and cocky jokes throughout. This one is typical and the Doctor & Charley are more like the A team. Lock them in a room, with a mirror, some food and in a couple of minutes you have a time portal.
Oh Dear.
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| Its the Past but not Earths |
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| What: | Primeval (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive Wright, Jersey |
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| Date: | Saturday 21 February 2004 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Nissa is given a strong role, whilst the Evil God Cult, shows the real failing of man, the idea of good and evil running throughout and handled well.
From other votes it looks like most people thought this was average, I don't agree, its a good, tradditional well thought out story.
The oginal idea of Doctor who was within the historic and Peter Davidson's Doctor is at home in the past.
The introduction of a new companion is welcome as the this Doctor is better with a full crew. allowing more depth and twists in the story lines. Which this story makes full use of, with Peri playing a stronger than normal part.
The most import thing is that unlike Charley and the 8th Doctor, a woman from Egypt is affriad of the unknow and cannot accept everything.
