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| 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.
Acting as an Epilogue to the Excelis Trilogy, 'Plague Herds' attempts to tie up any loose ends left over in the storyline. Unfortunately, the explanation behind the mysterious Relic feels rather convoluted and left me a bit confused. I didn't find the story particularly engaging or memorable, and although this is a Bernice Summerfield adventure, I felt that the absence of the Doctor, who had played a central role in the main Excelis trilogy, makes the Saga feel incomplete. Overall, 'Plague Herds of Excelis' spends too much time trying to make sense of the main trilogy and isn't something I'll listen to again in a hurry.
| What: | The Feast of Axos (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matt Saunders, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 12 March 2014 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Nick Briggs recently said that Maggie Stables was not very well and it was unlikely that there would be another Evelyn story...so I've started to listen to some of her classics. This is one of them.
I have to admit that at first, I thought, "oh no, not Axos". I was worried about another old monster, especially one that was finished off nicely in the Pertwee era.
However, I was wrong! This story is really excellent and Evelyn Smythe is at her best. I loved this companion and loved most of the stories that she was in. Another highlight for me was the fact that Bernard Holley was back in it! Absolutely brilliant character actor.
Highly recommended. :)
| What: | The Web of Fear (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 5 March 2014 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I've always been sad that I'd never seen a full yeti story for years. I've loved that roar (even if it is was just a slowed down loo) and the shaggy looking beasts. In black and white they look really menacing, and huge. Just the pictures made me think cor I would just love to see that. And now, at long long last, I can see it. I was amazed that two nearly whole Doctor Who stories had been returned to the BBC! And I couldn't have asked for two better examples to be found to highlight the pure magic of the Pat Troughton era. An era of dank tunnels, brilliant monsters, creepy scores and brilliant acting as well with some titanic characters brought to life by the best in the business.
The Web of Fear is perhaps the typical base under siege story, but its done in such ruddy brilliant style. Douglas Camfield's perfect direction drives the story from the word go. All the acting is first class. From Jack Woolgar's brilliantly subtle performance as Staff Arnold, to Jack Watling's wonderful portrayal of Professor Travers. But I have to say the person who wins it for me the most (for the one off parts) is Tina Packer as Anne Travers. I dont know what it is but I just loved her firstly somewhat aloof sceintist act, which then melted into a woman who is genuinely fearful and human and as scared as anyone else. Her scenes are all pure magic. Patrick Troughton too doesn't need any mention. His performance was always exemplary and perfect!
I also like that for once this story's climax is not just a simple aliens defeated or destroyed easy ending. That the Doctor gets so infuriated with everyone with him for messing up the plans was for me one of his best moments as the Doctor. This Doctor was frequently bluster and bumbling, but here is all the raw anger of any of his later's or earlier.
The Yeti are a brilliant presence too, in the confines of the fantastic looking sets, and the score is absolutely great. It really does feel so claustrophobic and tight. And another good thing is that the Yeti are in it from the first episode. Some stories are a tiny bit laboured with their total on screen amount of monster. But The Web of Fear is never dreary and there's constant panic and fear all the way through the story.
The fight sequence in part four is definitely worthy of note as its so packed with brilliant shots and angles and real gritty pace. Nick Courtney too has to be mentioned for his faultless debut as the Colonel, later Brigadier. His performance is already assured and doesnt come over as a first time in the part whatsoever. The bumbling idiot Chorley too is just a touch of light relief, along with Private Evans. But the comedy never overshadows the menace. The Web of Fear, at least to me, deserves its reputation as one of the best Doctor Who stories ever.
| What: | The Roundheads (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Chris Arnold, Bundaberg, Australia |
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| Date: | Wednesday 5 March 2014 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
The first time I read this many years ago I was not impressed but on reviewing it recently my opinions have softened slightly. Some fun swashbuckling and soothsaying kept me entertained and I found the story cracks on quite well. The only problem I had was that the regulars' actions seemed to be a little ineffectual but I guess that is a product of not being able to change the web of time, a common complaint in these type of historicals.
A better than average read but one that I probably won't return to again for a while.
| What: | The Moonbase (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 27 February 2014 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
It's great to have this classic Throughton story out on DVD and completed with episodes 1 & 4 beautifully animated by the same people who did The Reign of Terror.
And the animation is beautiful really capturing the feel of classic black & white 60's TV.
The story itself is ok. It's feels more a serious of scenes that link the Cybermen's frankly ludicrous plan to capture the Moonbase & wreck the earths weather.
Throughton, as ever, is excellent and is ably supported by an excellent cast.
The extras on the DVD are thin but very good. An excellent making of documentary, some of the cast commentating on the surviving episodes & some fascinating interviews on the animated episodes.
An essential DVD.
