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| 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.
| What: | The Wheel of Ice (BBC prestige novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 August 2014 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
If a Doctor Who movie were made, it might be very much like this novel. Stephen Baxter is a "real" science-fiction writer, award winning and everything. That he has a soft spot for Doctor Who is apparent throughout the book. It has a loving attention to detail regarding the classic Doctor Who series, and in many ways follows the late 60s formula. At the same time, Baxter has updated some of the sensibilities. The novel itself involves the second Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe stuck because of a time anomaly late in the 21st century on a corporate-run colony mining one of Saturn's moons. Strange things are happening, and of course early on the TARDIS crew gets blamed for it, but they soon get on the right side of the good guys and become deeply involved in saving the colony from whatever menaces it. This has all the hallmarks of the classic Who, with a tightly confined setting, a base under siege plot, an officious baddie representing a large institution and making matters worse, and an apparent monster to defeat. The differences from classic Who are that the monster turns out not to be one, and that the scale on which things occur is much larger. It all would have been impossible to make in 1960s TV, and probably would be extremely hard using current TV technology. This is what gives the story a movie-plot sense. Because Baxter is a "real" science-fiction writer, this novel is probably the closest one will ever get to hard-science Doctor Who. Baxter spends quite a bit of time explaining how and why things work on Mnemosyne colony. The Whovian elements, of course, make total commitment to hard science impractical, but wherever he can, Baxter grounds his story in the scientifically plausible and has an engineer's sense of how it would all work. Though slow in parts, the novel nevertheless has an interesting plot, some good character development of the TARDIS crew, especially Zoe, and a believable space-colony community. What holds me back from giving this novel an unqualified rating are the following concerns. The first is that the officious baddie, Florian Hart, is too one-dimensional, and seems bad merely because the story requires certain plot complications. Baxter tries to give her some psychological rationale, but this is really weak and ineffective in explaining why she does what she does. Another is MMAC, the Scots robot. He becomes too cute and irritating, and again the rationale for his personality is not convincing. Finally, there is the scale of the problem. This rests on a five-billion year old piece of damaged hardware. Granted it is highly advanced hardware, but few natural things last that long, let alone any manufactured thing. These qualifications aside, "The Wheel of Ice" is a very good read and well worth getting.
| What: | The Day of the Doctor (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Lego Whovian, Bedford, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 August 2014 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
This episode disgusts me. I boycotted the simulcast, and when I finally got round to watching it on Blu-ray in January I was horrified. The starting sickened me. The ending depressed me. Not a tribute, but an insult to 50 years of Doctor Who. The other anniversary television specials (The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors, Dimensions in Time) make this look like utter crap. All the other 50th anniversary specials (Prisoners of Time, The Light at the End, An Adventure in Space and Time, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot) showed this for what it really is. No Classics? No 50th!
| What: | Blue Box (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 5 August 2014 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
This is yet another PDA that's well written, very clever and intreging book that for me fails because it just doesn't feel like a Dr Who novel at all. I just can't imagine this being on TV.
