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IS THE BEST OF THE FOURTH DOCTOR AND MRS WIBBSEY SETS! ABSOLUTE CLASS IN EVERY RESPECT!
Tom Baker is extremely impressive.
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 | Bonnie seriously impresses |
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| What: | Paradise Towers (Target novelisation readings) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 7 May 2013 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
Bonnie Langford seriously impresses with the plethora of voices she managed here with this audio reading. Makes this one of the very best and most memorable of the audio novel readings so far. Even her seventh Doctor isn't bad at all. And the story itself here is just as brilliant as the TV original, and Bonnie's chief caretaker is better and far more creepy than poor Richard Briers somewhat clichéd and not very original interpretation on the TV version, which was my only tiny niggle with this otherwise classy story. This story doesn't seem nearly 5 hours either. The sound effects are effective and chilling. But the best thing is Bonnie's talent as the reader.
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| Ian Marter's weakest story novelisation |
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| What: | Earthshock (Target novelisation readings) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 7 May 2013 |
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| Rating: |  6 |
Ian was a great novel writer back in the day when the Target novelizations were coming out thick and fast. He had a way of fleshing out the action and giving the characters such a broader back story, and frequently making the baddies even nastier, or the horror more vivid. His particular heights in this regard were his brilliant The Sontaran Experiment, and The Ark In Space, and The Invasion. He brilliantly brought to life these stories with so much more darkness and nastiness than the screen originals.
But the thing wrong with Earthshock, or at least this audio version, I can sum up I two main points: 1: Firstly the Cybermen are described within this novel as being even more emotive and provoked than the TV serial, and yet later in the novel Ian still writes the ine the Doctor says with "Emotionless brains", and so the earlier emotive descriptions given to the cybermen jar even more here. 2: The cybermeen voices here are totally wrong. The prose writes, even if not very cyberman like, that the voices are heavy with anger and stuff, yet Nick's cyber voices are flat and so makes the novelisation's presentation of the Cybermen totally stupid.
But its not all bad, it has to be said. Once more the nastiness in places makes the screen version pale into insignificance. And the description of the caves and the cybermen themselves are great. Also the ending is a little different from the TV version, but just as poignant and good. Its just the emotionally portrayed giants that let this novelisation down. And the flat present series cyber voices. Not the best audio reading at all.
| What: | The Twin Dilemma (Target novelisation readings) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 7 May 2013 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Colin Baker is a great reader to listen to. Some times the people who've done these audio book readings have sounded profoundly bored or else otherwise have had the job of bringing a monster to life with their voice treated abysmally (Like poor late Liz Sladen in the Planet of the Spiders, with the childish spider voices that mars the whole reading, a little). But here Colin reads with sustained fervour and doesn't once sound bored in the slightest.
This book version by Eric Saward has to be applauded greatly. Though I don't see actually that much wrong with the TV version, the ending is greatly improved no end by Eric actually deaming to tell us what exactly it was that the Doctor throws at Mestor to finally end his life. And throughout the characters are all somewhat lavishly fleshed out, and very different in some cases to their screen originals.
One other impressive thing in the book version is that despite the Doctor's very rough regeneration, Eric involves the little scene where the Doc is thinking back to the guilt of past failings, recalling Adric as the foremost of his guilt. This shows us a Doctor that can actually still be greatly liked despite his bad crisis of renewal.
And the back story given to most of the other characters is also interesting and vividly differing from the TV version. All this though makes this a very very good novelisation, and ye, even I have to admit that this is better than the TV version.
But Colin makes it so with his easy to listen to narrating voice, and Mestor here is voiced somewhat more menacingly than on TV.
| What: | Rags (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 4 May 2013 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
"Rags" is something like "Doctor Who" had Clive Barker written it. The basic story is that an ancient evil thing that causes people to go on murder rampages for the heck of it has been reawakened because of a nearby car crash between a group of punk rockers and a group of upper-class twits. Feeling the negative vibe between the two classes it decides to torque up the hatred between the two groups with predictable bloody results. Delighted, it then decides to create an apocalyptic class war through a punk-rock hippie caravan in southwest England. The thing resurrects cadavers to use as puppets for its mesmeric tricks, but gets most of its success through exuding a psychic influence that stretches for miles.
Like Mick Lewis's other book I read, "Combat Rock," this novel is deeply unpleasant. Lewis as a writer seems to enjoy his own descriptions of murder just a bit too much for my taste. Lewis's 1978 England is land of nothing but hatred, disaffection, and bitterness. Almost all of his non-DW characters are overly fond of the word "shit." As with most horror novels, explanations of the horrible thing are thin and unconvincing. [Spoiler Alert]. The ending of the novel has the Doctor mostly lecturing the horrible thing just long enough to allow the person you most expect because he is the person you are supposed to expect least to effect a heroic self-sacrifice and re-entomb the horrible thing. [End Spoiler Alert. You may return to your regular activities]. Lewis's characters are mostly realistic in their particular distasteful ways, as is the dialogue. He writes a good sentence and describes action very well. I suppose one's satisfaction with this novel will rest on how much one likes gory horror stories. I do not like such stories in general, so could not work myself into liking this novel all that much.
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| Wooster eat your heart out |
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| What: | The Auntie Matter (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 3 May 2013 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
So many ingredients, PG Woodhouse meets Doctor who, gives us a great tongue in check fun.
| What: | Spaceport Fear (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 3 May 2013 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Take a space port, roaming monster, failing power, devolved Society of passengers, throw in a little mystery and its the recipe for a great story.
| What: | The Wrong Doctors (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 3 May 2013 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
A great concept with double the fun of Two Mels and Two Doctors and both at different stages of their lives. The plot and feel captures the 1980's to perfection, I can just imagine watching TV with them running around golf courses and a small village, low budget but fun.
| What: | 1001 Nights (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 3 May 2013 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
10001 nights is a clever story, mingling classic Arabian stories with the Doctors own adventures. Good twists with a strong cast of characters with each tale carrying the bigger story forward.
| What: | The Wrong Doctors (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 1 May 2013 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Two Colins. Two Bonnies. Realising the potential of Mel as a character at last. Featuring her in a brilliant story that never pauses for breath. This story ticks all these boxes and I love it! Youll have to concentrate though, because this is a little bit twist and turny. But if you pay attention then youll find this is a classy Doctor Who story with the usual high standard of performances and sound design. And Mel doesnt scream either, which is another brilliant relief! She is a greatly underused and underrealised companion. And standing by the as always brilliant Colin Baker she gleams very well indeed. This is a great start to the 50th anniversary year for BFP!
| What: | Festival of Death (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 1 May 2013 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
One doesnt often get to read a book that gets the balance of fitting in with the era of the show its placed in but also being something new and brilliant and engaging. But for goodness sake, Jonathan with his first Doctor Who story doesnt half impress.
There is the perfect amount of comedy and horror, with the suicidal computer ERIC being of particular regard, this computer would have slotted in like a piece of jigsaw into the 17th season that not many people seem to like very much aside from me.
What is also excellent is the pace, never once did I feel on the way through that this is getting boring and stilted, no, for the story just flowed onwards like some raging river. The dialogue is frequently extremely funny, but also tinged with plenty of yuck moments.
But I feel the best thing here is the absolutely spot on nailing of the characters of the Doctor and Romana 2, they are so very very in keeping with their screen personas, and this should have been done for the series. And if Big Finish ever decide to adapt more of the classic Who novels, then Id nominate this as a top contender to be realised on audio! This is Doctor Who at its best in book form. Faultless.
I have seldom laughed more at a Doctor Who story in book form. Jonny, good boy for such a terrific debut!
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| Doctorin' the Tardis: A Reveiw |
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| What: | Doctorin' The Tardis (Miscellaneous music & sound effects) |
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| By: | James Davis II, Springfield, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 26 April 2013 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
This album is an awesome find! I was lucky enough to discover it at an outdoor flea-market, a local radio company had gone under and was selling promo records from their library. I had though it was a Blues Brothers album at first glance, then I saw "Timelords" and was like, "WHAAAA!?!?!".
The album is a perfect selection for background music for any Doctor themed party, or just to get pumped for watching new episodes.
| What: | The Sands of Time (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 17 April 2013 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Really enjoyed this book. A cracking story that paces itself really well & has an excellent twist at the end.
The writer cures the Doctor & Tegan really well, Nyssa is hardly in it.
There's lots of timey wimey stuff in it that expands & adds to the story.
Reccomended.
| What: | The Face of Evil (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | kevin glover, Cornwall, Canada |
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| Date: | Tuesday 16 April 2013 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Criminally underrated from the excellent season 14, this story is sadly placed between two juggernauts with slightly better productions although the story ideas in this are just as good if not greater then the other two famous stories.
The face of evil was Bouchars first script and the man hits the ground running with some wonderful science fiction ideas, added with sublte assaults on religion, that makes this agnostic blush with pleasure.
Usually the Doctor is forced into events by ever changing circumstances against his will but Here the story is the resault of his inept actions and he must set everything right not from a heroic duty but out of choices he made. Almost everything works Louise Jameson makes her Debut as Leela and she holds solid footing against the charismatic Baker showing herself to be one of the strongest actors to inhabit the role of a companion, and maintain a credibility as an alien jungle girl were lesser actors would have just sleeped walked. The jungle sets are impressive and though it does look like a studio with the choice of lighting you can suspend your disbelief and find yourself transported to another world.
What doesent work are the scenes on the space ship and the Tesh are a pathetic excusse of adversaries, But Tom Baker as Xoannon is trully one of the most terrifying sights to see especially that scream. All in all a wonderful story I can watch again and again
Rating - B+
| What: | The Mind of Evil (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | kevin glover, Cornwall, Canada |
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| Date: | Monday 15 April 2013 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
This was my first Dr Video that I got on a winter day in 1999, I came home from a bad day at school and my mom had a friend over and so I went for a walk, it started to snow lightly and when I returned my mom's friend was gone and she had a radient smile and showed me what she discovered at the Video store. My Day was made.
For the story itself, The Mind of Evil feels like it belongs to the more dark and dirty era of season 7, the threat seems more valid, and there is a greater scope of dramatic tension that abandones the comic book style action that comes from the story before and after. Since this was my first with the Master and Delgado, Im just glad to say this is possibly his BEST outing in the role him, he's plotting machevelian and always one step ahead of the game, and you cannot have a finer Master moment when hes sitting in the back of a Limousine with a fat stogie. Simply fun
Sadly the story does suffer from the typicle Pertwee hinderance of being a runaround the Doctor and Jo spend way to much time being locked in prison cells that after awhile you just want to fast forward to the end. Also the idea of nothing happening to Jo while a bunch of vicious criminals are loose does streach the limits of credibility, I know this is a family show but their should have been Hints of certain harmful activities against her. Either way these criticisms aside this is a pretty good Pertwee story made atmospheric for being in B&W
RATING - B
| What: | The Aztecs (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 11 April 2013 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
One of the best 1st Doctor story's gets the SE treatment.
Your probably familiar with the story so I won't bother with that apart from to say its very good with some wonderful acting.
Once again the RT have done wonders with the sound & picture quality making it look much brighter and revealing much more detail.
The highlight of the extras is of course seeing Airlock, episode 2 of Galaxy 4, and what a treat it is.
It's encased in a cut down reconstruction of the entire story, including the previously seen 6 minute segment. It's a real treat. The chumblies are very impressive as is the Rill space ship and we finally see a Rill ! William Hartnell is very lively and animated in this story.
There's also a new documentary on Dr Who toys that's very entertaining.
Highly reccomended
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| 6 for the story, 10 for Evil Davison |
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| What: | The Cradle of the Snake (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Alexandra Smith, Alexandria, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 10 April 2013 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
This story will make no sense at all to anyone who hasn't seen Kinda and Snakedance, but I suspect you all have. It does not do anything really special or groundbreaking with the Mara, one of classic Doctor Who's more interesting "threats." The way it's vanquished at the end is a little confusing. But there are some clever pieces in it and it's a story I will listen to over and over again to hear Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison being possessed. They are terrific, especially Davison. It's a damn shame he hasn't had more opportunity to play villains because he does it quite well when he gets the chance. And interestingly, the only time this very attractive actor is really sexy is when he's playing a bad guy. I wonder if his shrink has noticed that. Ladies, if you have even a little crush on Davison, listen to this audio and listen to it in a private place.
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| Three Good Short Stories and One Stunner |
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| What: | Circular Time (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Alexandra Smith, Alexandria, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 10 April 2013 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I like the short-form stories for short trips in my car. The first three in this set are all very enjoyable and quite different from each other: an inventive tale on an alien planet, a funny historical piece and a charming idyll in which the Doctor plays cricket and Nyssa finds a romance. Each has amusingly referential lines to give serious fans a chuckle. But it's the fourth that really knocked me out. It's infinitely darker in tone from the start and packs a big surprise. I literally gasped and had to pull the car over when I realized where it was going, and then I cried uncontrollably for about the last 8 minutes. I listened to it again, and bawled like a baby a second time. If you are a big fan, particularly a fan of this particular Doctor, you will respond to this strongly as well. Wow.
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| Leisure at a Retirement Home |
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| What: | The Leisure Hive (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | kevin glover, Cornwall, Canada |
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| Date: | Wednesday 10 April 2013 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
Thous begins the long and turbulant ride in the JNT era, and the inevitable end of the show, after watching this the end was closer then the beginning .
The Leisure Hive is a story about style over substance and sadly that style is now a tacky early 80s production that looks like an extended David Bowie music video. The story itself is not bad and the acting itself is strong, the guest cast are wonderful to watch but their roles are reduced to reciting technobabble that only the most hardcore nerds would understand, or even care about. Its nice to see the attempt at building alien cultures and given them a believable exsistence, and the Argolians are a wonderful design so much so I would not mind seeing them making a cameo in the new series, the Foamasi on the other hand were better regulated to the shadows and if they came back would probably work as CGI. era of annoying aliens
Direction wise its phenomenal, Lovet Bickford does an impressive job at the helm and its a shame he was never brought back to do the series again, when the likes of Peter Moffat and Ron Jones came back to do seconds. The often derided 90 second Brighton pan is worth it if you like the technicality of it, and the idea of Who taken on new challanges not done before, but other then that its just a dull dull dull story .Listen to the DVD commentery the best bitchfest you'll ever get,
Final Rating C- (Fans and completist)
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| Dont we want the feel of the season? |
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| What: | Dreams of Empire (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 8 April 2013 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
As for fitting in with season six, then this story is near flawless. Because Im not so up as the other reviewers on the "roman" aspect of this story, as Ive never learnt that much about anything to do with Rome, then maybe I give this a better mark than If I did know about Rome more. But as I dont, then I mark this for what I alone think of the story.
The Second Doctor here is so pleasingly like his screen persona, one can have seen the late great Patrick Troughton having a whale of a time with some of the dialogue in this story. Im sure he would have cracked up just like I did at the "I might have been a bit of silly billy" although I just hope this isnt a feeble witicism of the First Doctor! But it made me smile none the less.
What is also good is the build up of tension. Maybe Im just dumb but the ending took me by complete surprise, which is always good for a good story. When the man in the mask is not the man you thought he was at all. And also there are the few moments of horror peppered throughout the story too, and I found the death of Haden sad and maybe a little jolting. Sad I know, but I really liked the character!!
The only criticism I will share with one of the reviewers is the sore lack of Jamie and Victoria action. These two would have needed far better involvement in a TV adventure. But the Doctor is spot on, and the pleasing mannerisms all come thick and fast through the action of this novel. Overall, not a bad story at all. The characters are all believable and the VETACs are a nasty set of robots.
I love it when my favourite Doctor is done so well in written prose. I love to be reminded of why I liked his performance so much. Patrick was so much fun, and his act has always been my favourite portrayal of the Doctor. And this is a good choice for the 50th anniversary reprint. And on the very very high plus side, this keeps the swear words down to an acceptable single outburst. Many of these books suffer from such a high overdose of foul mouthed rubbish that they become as unreadable as many of the authors of this age. Thankfully Justin Richards kept it to one word. (Although it would never have been allowed in the classic series: one of the reasons I loved the classic series so much)
Yes, this could have fitted into season six with no help at all.
