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| What: | Kiss of Death (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 20 July 2014 |
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| Rating: |   6 |
"Kiss of Death" was rather ho-hum for me. It is nice to have a Turlough-centered story. Cole does a nice job of filling in some background and giving Turlough both something of a normal past life and something of a strange one. The plot itself seems to me rather one-dimensional. The baddies come off as stereotypical, and the plot twist was rather obvious. The acting and the sound design are very good, except the voice for the Morass is so altered that through much of its dialogue one finds it very hard to tell what it is actually saying.
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 | Mostly good, but a poor ending! |
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| What: | Wolfsbane (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Alex Wadey, Petworth, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 11 July 2014 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
A solid read, nice to have a focus on Harry, a character who I really liked. My only criticism, not enough 4th doctor in the book and the ending was very rushed.
| What: | Millennium Shock (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 8 July 2014 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
A bit of a strange one this. The 4th Doctor & Harry are written quite well but the story doesn't quite work for me. The updating of the Doctor & Harry feels a bit forced and the plot never gripped me at all.
Not a bad book but not particularly good either.
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| Unclear Why This Was Made |
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| What: | Doctor Who Unbound: Exile (Doctor Who Unbound audios) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 8 July 2014 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
The Unbound series was an attempt to do with Doctor Who what some fans would have liked, but cannot get with the regular series for a variety of reasons. One of these ideas is the Doctor as a woman. That is fine, and in itself could have been quite good. However, Nicolas Briggs, usually a more reliable writer, has chosen to take the chance of having a female Doctor and play it as farce. So, we get our female Doctor as a self-pitying drunk. I doubt I am alone in not finding this portrayal particularly interesting or funny. I just don't understand why one would write it in this way. I know that cross-dressing and gender-bending are standard fare for farces, but given the opportunity to have a female Doctor, why head for farce at all?
| What: | Festival of Death (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 28 June 2014 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
As the writer Jonathan Morris points out in his intro to the reissued 50th anniversary version, for a series about a time traveler, there are very few Who stories directly about the consequences of time travel but this excellent story is one of them. A really good, well written, if it times convoluted yarn featuring the 4th Doctor, Romana II & K9. While nowhere near as good as Gareth Roberts story's about this TARDIS team ( but then how could they be ? ) there is still plenty to enjoy & the writer gets the 4th Doctors humour spot on. A very enjoyable book.
| What: | Remembrance of the Daleks (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 23 June 2014 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Why oh why haven't read this before ? ROTD is my second favourite (after Fenric) 7th Doctor story and this wonderful novelisation adds depth and interesting background (Chunky & Rachel had a shag on the beach !) to an already wonderful story. I read the 50th anniversary reissue with a nice intro by Ben Arronovitch. Highly reccomended.
In today's market the "End of the Universe Collection" is nothing special. To those of us that had been there from the first VHS releases it was pure delight. After SEVERAL years of waiting for "The Invasion of the Dinosaurs" "The Time Meddler" and "Ambassadors of Death" I was pleased that the VHS releases would wrap things up all at once since the DVD's had just started to hit the shelves. The collection came in a fairly large box set that at the time was impressive and it finished off all the stories I was missing. I would have purchased it anyway just because I figured not that many were produced and would quickly vanish.
| What: | The Lost Stories: The Elite (The Lost Stories audio dramas) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 30 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Like the other reviewers here I too had no idea that the mad preist in this story was a lone Dalek so it was a fantastic suprise (and shock !) when the twist was revealed.
The story starts slowly and I have to admit that Tegan was never my favourite companion but the story soon kicks in and there is a real sense of dread as the story goes on.
The chemistry between the Doctor and Tegan is excellent and the whole story reaches a brilliant conclusion.
Terrific stuff.
| What: | The Tenth Planet (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Wesley Davenport, Kingsport, Tennessee, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 28 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
The Tenth Planet is one of the most important serials in the entirety of Doctor Who. Not only does it introduce the Cybermen, but it also kills off the First Doctor and introduced the idea of regeneration. It's something that every Whovian should have in their collection for the importance alone.
That being said, the story itself is a decently good one but not a great one. The design of the Cybermen is a little on the silly side but I honestly really enjoy this look. They are a bit more creepy when they appear more human than robotic. Ben and Polly also get a good amount to do in this story, specifically Ben. However The Doctor doesn't go down in a blaze of glory like many of his other regenerations... he just sort of wears out and dies. He doesn't do a lot in this story and the conclusion to the Cybermen invasion pretty much sums up to "sit tight and do nothing."
The last episode is animated for the DVD release and as per usual it's decent animation but not great. The pacing is a little slow at times but let's be fair here... It's Hartnell era so everything is slow. As I said it's a good episode but it's more of an important episode than a "great" episode.
| What: | The Doctors Revisited: 5-8 (The Doctors Revisited DVDs) |
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| By: | Wesley Davenport, Kingsport, Tennessee, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 27 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
If you are trying to get a friend into Classic Doctor Who then this is an excellent way to start them off. Each disc has a 30-minute documentary about the Doctor in question, an intro to the classic serial (or the movie) being shown by Steven Moffat. Each of the Davison, Baker, and McCoy serials are presented as one feature length story. You can also choose to watch these serials in the original broadcast length with the opening theme and credits to each. The serials selected are Earthshock, Vengeance on Varos, Remembrance of the Daleks, and Doctor Who: The Movie
These serials do not have any additional special features like the individual discs of them would have. Therefore if special features and behind the scenes footage about these features is something you are highly interested in then I would suggest buying these separately. If you do not care to lose those features then this would be an inexpensive way to complete 4 discs of your collection with one purchase. (I would suggest still getting the Movie special edition because the extra features are wonderful)
| What: | The Suns of Caresh (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 24 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
"The Suns of Caresh" is a peculiar novel. It reads as though the writer has not decided exactly what his story will be. The story involves some dodgy Time Lords, a crack in time, a binary star system, stellar manipulation, a sci-fi fan who gets his dream girl (sort of), and some giant killer insects. The problem for me was not that the plot is a bit of an all-sorts. It is that the plot moves along from incident to incident, crisis to crisis, without any sense that the characters are getting anywhere, so that by page 230 out of 280, there was no sense that the story was reaching a climax. The first 50 pages or so jump around from character to character and scene to scene confusingly, so that it is hard to keep track of who is who. Another problem was that the author was obviously hiding information (such as whose point of view a particular sequence is in, or delayed explanation of how a particular sequence turned out). This technique built irritation, at least for me, rather than suspense. It does have some things going for it. Jo Grant is portrayed as smart and independent, dependable even, which makes her character more interesting. Saint manages to create an interesting alternative human alien, with different sets of values and social practices. The Careshi are not written as one-dimensional, unlike so many Star Trek aliens. For me, reading this novel was a mixed experience.
| What: | The Gunfighters (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Wesley Davenport, Kingsport, Tennessee, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 19 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
William Hartnell desperately wanted to do a Western for Doctor Who and here was his chance. When the Doctor gets a toothache, He along with Steven and Dodo land at the O.K. Corral and enlist the help of Doc Holiday with the toothache. Eventually the TARDIS crew end up in the middle of the famous gunfight at Tombstone.
This is the first Doctor Who serial to have a song written specially for it... unfortunately they never stop singing the song. This is no exaggeration. Every time there is a shift in scene the song plays, Steven is forced to sing the song several times, the song plays at the beginning and ending of most episodes. It will drive you crazy!
If you can look past the egregious overuse of the song and if you have any interest in Westerns, then this would be a decent historical worth checking out. If you don't care for Westerns or have little patience; I'd give this a pass.
| What: | The Doctors Revisited: 1-4 (The Doctors Revisited DVDs) |
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| By: | Wesley Davenport, Kingsport, Tennessee, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 19 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
If you are trying to get a friend into Classic Doctor Who then this is an excellent way to start them off. Each disc has a 30-minute documentary about the Doctor in question, an intro to the classic serial being shown by Steven Moffat, and a classic serial presented as one feature length story. You can also choose to watch these serials in the original broadcast length with the opening theme and credits to each. The serials selected are The Aztecs, The Tomb of the Cybermen, Spearhead from Space, and Pyramids of Mars.
These serials do not have any additional special features like the individual discs of them would have. Therefore if special features and behind the scenes footage about these serials is something you are highly interested in then I would suggest buying those serials separate. If you do not care to lose those features then this would be an inexpensive way to complete 4 serials of your collection with one purchase.
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| Doctor Who Meets the Mad Monk |
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| What: | The Wages of Sin (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 14 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
A Doctor 3 historical is an interesting idea. The story for this one centers on the events surrounding Rasputin's murder. The Doctor is taking Jo and Liz for his first test run of his restored TARDIS, target Siberia 1908 to witness the Tunguska meteor. Of course, they miss, and land in St. Petersburg 1916 instead. Swiftly, our trio gets caught up in the political machinery and chicanery of the times, with secret police, British spies, plot and counterplot. It took me a little time to get into the story. At first the characters seemed uninteresting, but they gradually develop. The early parts are bit of sightseeing, and it takes some time for the main plot to develop. About 1/3 of the way in, though, the pace picks up significantly. McIntee does a good job of showing how Liz might be just a little patronizing toward Jo. He also has some well-written emotional moments when the Doctor and Jo separately must face the hard truth of not messing with known history. McIntee is also careful to keep pretty close to history. He also does well in providing an alternate villain rather than head for the obvious and make Rasputin the villain. The novel is an enjoyable read, though not particularly deep. Some of the dialogue does not work for me, not feeling right for the regular characters in some places. In summary: to be read for entertainment.
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| The big finish story that hooked me! |
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| What: | The Fearmonger (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew Adamson, Colchester, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 10 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I've been listening to the big finish doctor who main range in order and The Fearmonger to really be a burnburner of story. I like the action picking up right away, A real emotion of fear being used and the seventh doctor and Ace are just brilliance.
| What: | Moonflesh (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 2 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
A strong cast of interesting characters thrust together in a african hunting trip in England. Throw in the Doctor and an alien intelligence and it should have been a great story. In the end a fair story but too much running around and not enough plot for me.
| What: | The Web of Fear (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Les Adam, Kyle, United States |
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| Date: | Thursday 1 May 2014 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Was glad that this missing story finally came to see its debute on DVD. The only thing that would have made it better was to have episode 3 animated like they have been doing with other recovered stories of Doctr Who.
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| Doctor Who and the Greek Gods (sort of) |
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| What: | Deadly Reunion (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 21 April 2014 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
This novel is a two-part item, with the appearance that Barry Letts wrote part 1 and Terrance Dicks wrote part 2. I suspect, however, that Dicks wrote much of part 1 as well. The plot begins shortly after WWII with a young Lt. Lethbridge-Stewart getting involved with some nearly immortal aliens who used to pose as Greek gods. Now "Hades" has decided he wants to take over the world, but must do so according to the rules of being Hades. Lt. Lethbridge-Stewart and one of the immortals fall in love, but to save the world must pass through the river of forgetfulness. Flash forward to the 1970s and Mike Yates investigating a series of mysterious occurrences in which ordinary people go murderously mad, and Jo Grant trying to score some tickets to a rock music festival. Of course, these two seemingly unrelated matters are in fact connected, and relate to Hades' latest attempt to take over the world. Oh, and the Master is around. Much of part 2 reads like a revision of "The Daemons."
Whatever one might say about Terrance Dicks as a writer, one must conclude that for pacing there are few better. The novel breezes right along and one hardly notices how many pages one has read. Dicks also has a great ear for the way people talk, and his dialogue all fits smoothly with the characters. In my imagination, I could hear the actors saying these lines. Though the characterization is not deep, it is never off the mark, so that one does not find characters ever implausibly "out of character." And Dicks really strengthens Benton as a character, making him capable and definitely part of the team.
The flaws in the novel to me center upon the main premise. It is principally the same problem as in "The Time Monster." Are these gods or not? Just what are their powers? What are the sources of their powers? The unresolved nature of these beings just hangs over the whole thing. Also, Hades, what little we see of him, is not all that terrifying as a villain. If he is so godlike powerful, why is it that he cannot simply destroy the Doctor and the Brigadier instead of just trying to frighten them away? And the solution to the Hades problem is literally deus ex machina twice. Could the writers not summon up some other way of handling the matter?
| What: | EarthWorld (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 15 April 2014 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
I'll admit I read this book before reading the preceding books so what had happened in previous books was lost on me but even so this is a dull, disjointed book that neither interested or entertained me and I speak as a huge fan of the 8th Doctor.
This just didn't feel to me like the 8th Doctor I've come to know and love through the Big Finish audios.
Very dull.
| What: | Harvest of Time (BBC prestige novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 5 April 2014 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
While this is no way a bad book, it's not very good either. The story itself just doesn't grab or even feel like a 3rd Doctor story. It just feels like a Doctor Who by numbers story. The idea of the Master fading from people's memories is a neat twist but after the brilliance of The Wheel of Ice, this was a big let down.
