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| What: | The Book of Kells (Eighth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 29 October 2014 |
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| Rating: |   8 |
The Book of Kells worked surprisingly well. It starts like a creaky old historical, but as it goes along it gets funnier and more interesting. The last ten minutes are very interesting indeed, when we find out that an old foe is back, and perhaps that a new foe is lurking. Both the big guest stars, Graeme Garden and Jim Carter, are very good.
| What: | Nevermore (Eighth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 29 October 2014 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
Alan Barnes reveals his background in comic books on this attempted update of Poe. It is a very comic booky idea to have a prison for one person on a planet surrounded by the red death, a prison run by an obsessed neurotic. It just really does not make much sense. How would giant robot ravens be in any way a sophisticated guard system? These would be ungainly, clunking, and pretty much useless as robots. Since when does a judge or other public official have the capital and authority to create an elaborate prison? On and on we go. The whole thing seems designed merely to get heaps of Poe into Doctor Who without actually having Poe, though even then we do get him a bit in flashback. On the bright side, Tamsin seems to be working out, as a very traditional sort of traveling companion.
| What: | The Light at the End (Miscellaneous audio dramas) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 19 October 2014 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
In "The Light at the End" Nick Briggs takes on his own "Day of the Doctor" with eight Doctors involved. Now that is some task, with potential overwhelming complications. For the first three Doctors, voice actors imitate them and then they get the spectral treatment, so that one does not hear the differences overly much. Even then, they have a key role to play in the plot. For the rest, we get Doctors 4,5,6,7 and 8, in equal measure, each with one key companion. Of course, with so many leads, none of them gets significant time, but each still manages a key role in the plot. This time, the Master is out to wipe the Doctor from history, and only the Doctor can save himself. And, as usual, with all this Doctor meets himself stuff, once the damage is undone, it is as though it had never happened. Briggs does very well in limiting the amount of Doctor squabbling, opting instead for moving along the plot. It is a very tall order for a writer, and one must give kudos to Briggs for managing the job with some grace and only a few minor stumbles.
| What: | Night of the Stormcrow (Big Finish subscriber bonuses) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 19 October 2014 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
When all is said and done, Night of the Stormcrow just does not make much sense. We get an ordinary scientist who is perfectly willing to have people die just so she can keep a discovery to herself. The American observatory manager is pointlessly greedy. And so on. The stormcrow itself is kind of a strange idea. I just really was not getting much into this.
Here we have two scripts stretching all the way to 1964 and the first TARDIS crew. Sadly, that crew is at only half strength. So, rather than have new actors step in to take the old roles, Big Finish chose to have these scripts done like the Companion Chronicles series, as though these are stories being read rather than full dramatic performances. One ought, therefore, to approach these as audio books rather than as audio dramas. The stories themselves are both from the same writer written within months of each other. The scripts share some commonalities discussed a little bit later. Farewell, Great Macedon is a six-part historical centering on Alexander the Great. Though the CD extras segments emphasize the historical accuracy of the story, this is not truly the case. All the events in the story did happen, more or less, and there is much speculation that Alexander may have been poisoned. However, these events in history happened months apart and hundreds of miles from each other. For the sake of drama and TV budgets, therefore, some condensing had to take place, so that the events here happen only days apart and within the space of a couple of square miles. Alexander here is a touch more modern than probably the real Alexander was, and certainly is less brutal and hot-headed. However, the script is no more inaccurate than any other Doctor Who historical. The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance, in contrast, is as peculiar as its title suggests. Fragrance is a paradise planet on which everyone who reaches maturity must be coupled with an opposite-sex counterpart or die in an actual form of sailing off into the burning sunset. Our TARDIS crew enters this world unaware of its peculiar social systems, and so Barbara unwittingly causes death and distress to the host family. It is a nice reminder that travel in the TARDIS will necessarily involve making howling cultural blunders that could have real and dire consequences. What joins the two stories is their elegiac nature. Both stories are about long goodbyes. Confronting the deaths of loved ones is a persistent theme here. In both cases, Morris Farhi has chosen to write about the matter in a Shakespearean fashion, with death drawn out by eloquent speeches that give shape to grief. I suspect that this is why Farewell, Great Macedon was not picked up for production. It has all the elements of Doctor Who historicals, with dramatic tension, recognized bad guys, and a fight scene or two. However, it and Fragile strike long, pealing notes of the death bell almost from beginning to end. The funereal atmosphere hanging over the whole script may have been deemed as too emotional for the TV audience of the time. Still, in drama, in what other way is there to have us reflect on the losses we must all go through than to give characters the oratory power to express what in ordinary life is mostly inexpressible?
| What: | The Renaissance Man (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 7 October 2014 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
The Renaissance Man has the Doctor 4 - Leela team working very well together. The premise that the Doctor is educating Leela works in moving stories from one destination to another. This story has an interesting premise, of a museum curator turned obsessive in his quest to collect all knowledge and ruthless with how he will do it. The premise allows us to go to wildly different settings and allows guest actors to show off their accent skills. The American west accents are a bit dodgy, but what should one expect? There are some problems in the concept, such as explaining just what the assistants are. They are described as empty people useful for fitting in and absorbing information, but they are also portrayed as machines. This conflict is never addressed. Likewise, the ending rather glibly has us assume that everyone is just returned to wherever and whatever they were before. This seems to be sweeping under the carpet rather than tying loose ends. All in all, The Renaissance Man is quite entertaining.
| What: | Nightdreamers (Telos novellas) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 29 September 2014 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
This novella simply makes no sense. The author has tried to write a Doctor Who version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, but cannot get the mix of science fiction and fantasy right. It is a bit like some other DW novels set in worlds that operate according to peculiar logic, such as The Man in the Velvet Mask and Managra, but whereas those novels still have rules for their strange worlds, this one really does not.
| What: | Daleks Among Us (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 26 September 2014 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
At the end of the trilogy, much is happening and much is hanging. Here is poor Klein trying to figure out just who she is and discovering she is more of a time anomaly than she could possibly have thought. We get some Daleks again. We get Davros brought in just to add a complication. Of course, Davros thinks he can control the Daleks, and he can't. There is plenty of "Nazis and Daleks are very similar." It is a pacey story, with plenty of surprises.
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 | Standard Army of Death Stuff |
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| What: | Army of Death (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 26 September 2014 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
With Mary Shelley, Big Finish want to do what the BBC have done with the Companions - make them fall in love with the Doctor. It has been explored and done already, so it really does not do much here. The story itself is pretty standard DW fare. A peaceful world isn't so peaceful. A madman has raised an army of skeletons so he can take over the world. It all goes King Kong at the end.
| What: | The Crooked Man (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 15 September 2014 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I really liked the touch of feeling this story has, rare for a fourth Doctor tale.. and great to hear from the Land of Fiction once again! This is a splendid little character piece, with an unsettling villain at the centre of it. It is creepy and dark, but boasts great moments of intensity too. Everything a good Doctor Who should be. Its stories like this that reiterate why Doctor Who is such a great programme even to this day...
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| I love the creepy ones.... |
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| What: | White Ghosts (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 15 September 2014 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I love Doctor Who in creepy mode. And on audio its hard to achieve roper creepy. This story by Alan Barnes achieves this perfectly. The only thing is that the story has a really short first part, and although it isn't a rushed story in any sense, one feels one would have liked just a tiny bit more length! But that said, the story is extremely well produced and directed. Tom Baker continues to be excellent as the unpredictable fourth Doctor we all know and love, and Louise Jameson's Leela seems to be getting ever more better stories to get her teeth into. Virginia Hey is superb in her role. This has all the brilliant cramped elements of tv stories like Horror of Fang Rock, with its tiny outpost of humanity set against a weird and nasty menace.....And yet again BFP have hit the mark with a story that's fast but intensely enjoyable.
| What: | The King of Sontar (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 15 September 2014 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The third series of Fourth Doctor stories starts with a true bang. Tom is still as marvellous in his most famous role, and he's ably assisted by Louise as the ever brilliant Leela. Its great to hear David Collings again in a Doctor Who story, and even greater still to hear him being just as good as his previous three outtings in the classic Who series. Add to that a story about the meanest Sontaran ever cloned and the fact that this is a John Dorney tale, then you're sure to be onto a winner. An excellent, breathless, fast paced start to a great season....this story doesn't let up....Dan Starkey gives his best Sontaran performance to date, and its good to have a real bruiser of a Sontaran again, after the laughable (although in a good way, for once!) Strax of the new TV series.....
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| Good Sequel to The Time Monster |
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| What: | The Quantum Archangel (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Dan Mould, Feltham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 14 September 2014 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Story has many good points, such as the level of detail Hinton goes into concerning the Chronovores and their relationship with the universe. Story is fast-paced as you are constantly moving from place to place as the Doctor struggles to keep the universe together whilst under threat from the Chronovores and the Archangel. Overall this book is a welcome addition to the Doctor Who Universe and for die-hard fans who know too much about the whoniverse (that is possible) this is a definetly worth a read.
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| Capaldi More Than Earns the Mantle! |
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| What: | Deep Breath (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Earle DL Foster, Invercargill, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Tuesday 9 September 2014 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I never saw the extra components in the cinema version, but I nonetheless enjoyed the televised debut of the first genuine Twelfth Doctor adventure. The context is slightly reminiscent of the Fifth Doctor's transformation into the Sixth (Clara, as Peri, struggling to accept this new, more brusque, and dangerously unpredictable "imposter" who occasionally demonstrates a ruthless side to his personality), but much better handled on a storytelling front. The reappearance of the Clockwork Droids (spoiler alert!) was intriguing, along with the debut of a new "temptress" to plague the Time Lord. And I even cried when the unfortunate female T-Rex was tragically vaporised!
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| Fantastic all-encompassing package |
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This just arrived today and I'm extremely pleased with it - it's everything you could want relating to the 50th anniversary packaged in a gorgeous box.
If you've bought the previous individual releases, this doesn't contain much more, but you do get the hilarious 'The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot', written and directed by 5th Doctor Peter Davison, which was one of the highlights of the anniversary for me. Also of note is the brilliant docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time, chronicling the genesis of Doctor Who back in 1963, lovingly produced and still incredibly touching.
My only minor quibble is the lack of commentaries, particularly for the 50th special itself Day of the Doctor, but beyond that the set is as close to perfect as could be wished for - certainly worth the wait. Highly recommended.
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| Very Good, A typical Pertwee Adventure |
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| What: | Catastrophea (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Dan Mould, Feltham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 24 August 2014 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
This book is placed after Planet of the Daleks and flows excellently, with Terrance Dicks's writing casting your mind off to a jungle world that seems a cross between Spiridon with its strange plant and animal life, whilst also encapsulating the deity aspect from Face of Evil, The Aztecs etc. The book answers a lot of questions left over from Frontier in Space, such as the Doctor's rank on Draconia & elaborating on the Draconians' view of the Doctor & the state of the tense relations existing with Earth. Overall, Dicks delivers a strong, suspensive tale that delivers with a well driven plot that leaves you wanting more. A must read for any Pertwee era fans.
| What: | Harvest of Time (BBC prestige novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 18 August 2014 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
This is another in the series of original novels featuring old Doctors, written by "proven" science fiction writers. Alastair Reynolds has credentials, though judging by this book I am not sure why. One reviewer here said the plotting was Doctor Who by the numbers, and I would agree with that assessment. However, the problems are larger than that. Reynolds attempts to write in the mode of the Pertwee UNIT era. This would be fine, except that he copies all the problematic aspects of that era and leaves out many of the better ones. Thus, for instance, UNIT is pretty useless. The Doctor is rather abrupt and dismissive with both the Brigadier and Jo. The Master is too much "I'm a bad guy and I love it." Another problem is that the invasion plot by the Sild is far too complicated, preposterously so. The Sild as an enemy are difficult to get interested in. They want to take over Earth, and that is about as far as it goes. The novel is not irredeemable. There is some interesting dialogue. Jo is a more developed character than she was in the series.
| What: | The Lost Stories: Animal (The Lost Stories audio dramas) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 18 August 2014 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
First, Angela Bruce is awesome. The rest of the production just did not grab me. It has many of the elements of Cartmell's period as script editor. We have the Doctor on a mission of some kind, one that he lets no one in on, including himself. There is some plot - counterplot happening. Much of the background is missing. For instance, how does the health food lunatic know about the aliens to contact them? We are just to take it that he does, and no more is said about it. The killer plants are stuck in as a kind of ruse, with the beginning of the story seemingly all about them, yet they get dropped pretty quickly only to be brought back in because, apparently, it was convenient for the plot. The sergeant who assists Brigadier Bambera is there just to be stupid. That said, there are some pleasant bits. The aliens are interestingly different. We get to learn more about Raine. It has some snappy dialogue. It just did not pull together for me.
| What: | Paradise Towers (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | simon blackwell, rotherfield, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 17 August 2014 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
And that's just Mark Ayers music. this story so far is the worst I've had the misfortune to watch beating by a country mile, gunfighters, castrovalva and Delta and the Bannermen. Shocking, hopefully none of the remaining 3 McCoy stories I am yet to watch will sink to such depths
...of some beautiful pictures & sumptuous art work. Hardly an essential lurches but a thing of beauty.
