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| What: | Grave Matter (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 25 September 2012 |
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| Rating: |   8 |
A good solid interesting, if nothing out of the ordinary.
| What: | Corpse Marker (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 25 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
I've loved all of Chris Boucher's Who story's & books & so I was really looking forward to this, a sequel to his best story Robot's of Death.
Perhaps that is the problem. Perhaps that's why I was so disappointed with this frankly dull book that never really gets going.
To many characters, not enough story.
Disappointing.
| What: | Salvation (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 25 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Another really good book from Steve Lyons. Loved the ideas in this book & loved the fleshing out of Dodo's character.
| What: | Last Man Running (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 25 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
A really fast paced thrilling tale that has lots of intresting ideas.
Chris Boucher writes really well for Lella but doesn't quite get the 4th Doctor right
Recommend.
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 | At last, the clash of the titans!!!!!!!! |
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I always loved Horror of Fang Rock. It had atmosphere and the rutan just really did look out of this world. I still dont know what they used to create that blobby thing. And if they had to be brought back, for me it had to be just right, and suitably different so as not to be run of the mill.
And as a great fan of most of the Sontaran stories back in the classic series, its great to hear at last a full blown battle between the titans! This would have been a great visual spectacle back in the eighties. Lament the BBC for never making these brilliant tales.
But here at last it is. A battle between the Sontarans and Rutans. And it is done in brilliant fashion. Theres not just the climatic ending to affairs, but theres also the very interesting side story in the original inhabitants of Sontar. The story barely pauses for breath, and Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant of course are on robust form, and the Sontarans are as always well realised. Im very glad theyve finally had a battle, even if its just in audio format. And the fact that the reason for their ongoing battle is at last fully addressed, then one is more than satisfied. This is a very very strong lost story indeed. Cant wait for the next outting.
| What: | The Lost Stories: Power Play (The Lost Stories audio dramas) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 25 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 3 |
I was expecting the return of Victoria to be in a story far more grand in scale and better in its telling. I wasnt expecting such a lacklustre effort for her to come back with. Honestly, this story just failed to hit the mark with me. All that truly saves it is Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant and Debbie's performance even with the rather bland stuff shes given to do. Nothing new is boasted here at all. Just some typical nutcase with a typical plan and typical hypnosis of a friend of the Doctor to turn on him, and its been done far far better. Even the new alien police force dont make the impact theyre almost certainly expected to make. Sorry, I just cant get worked up about this one. One of the seldom few mis fires for Big Finish. Gladly, it gets far better again with the next lost story. Deborah Watling definitely deserved far better than this. Its a missed oppurtunity indeed.
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| Ark In Space Special Edition. |
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| What: | The Ark in Space (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
And so one of the greatest ever Who story's gets the SE treatment.
So what do you get on this new version ? Well the picture has been cleaned up an absolute treat. The wonderful people at the RT team have made it look like it was made just last week.
There are a host of new extras, as well as everything that what was on the old one.
There's a really good making of documentary and some glorious footage of Tom Baker in Northern Ireland in the 1970's at the height of his powers.
Of course it's worth getting for the story alone, one of Robert Holmes very best story's. The cast all play of each other brilliantly and the sets are fantastic.
If you haven't got a copy buy it. If you've got the original replace it with he SE. You'll thank yourself for doing so.
| What: | U.N.I.T Files (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I can't believe the other reviewer criticised the colour restoration of episode one. He is really showing his ignorance of what little the RT had to work on and what a magnificent job they have done. Mind you this is a guy who loves the twin dilemma & hates genesis of the Daleks...........
Anyway Invasion of the Dinosaurs is one of my favourite 3rd Doctor story's & here it ison DVD at last.
Yes, yes I know the Dinosaurs are rubbish but if you can get past that this is a really strong, intresting story with lots of great charachters. The star for me is Liz Sladen who is simply magnificent. UNIT really come to the for in thi story & this could be the best UNIT story of all.
The making of documentary People, Power & Puppetry is really detailed.
The Android Invasion is less intresting. It's not well served by a cliched Terry Nation script & poorly realised aliens. The story is full of plot holes & only Milton Johns comes out with any credit.
9/10 for Dinosaur's 6/10 for Androids.
| What: | Death to the Daleks (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
This is the third & final 3rd Doctor/Dalek story and it's the dullest by far.
This is a flat unintresting story that only really gets going when the Doctor has to work his way around the city of the Exxillons.
The Daleks have never looked or sounded lest threatening & the cast and crew just look bored.
The DVD extras aren't much to shout about either apart from an ok making of documentary.
Thank goodness that the next Dalek story was the magnificent Genesis that saved there reputation.
For collectors only.
| What: | The Face of Evil (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Its hard to know why this story has never grabbed me. It always seems a bit flat & doesn't hint at the greatness to come (Robots of Death, Weing-Chaing)
There's not to much wrong with the acting, Tom & Louise hit it off straight away & the reveal of the Doctors face in the mountainside at the episode 1 is one of the best ever, it just never seems to get going for me.
The extras on the DVD aren't up to much either though Toby Hadoke, as ever, makes the commentary fun & intresting.
| What: | Revisitations 3 (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
How wonderful it is to see these three story's, three of the very best story's, given the full whistle & bells, treatment with lots of wonderful extras.
Robots of Death is of course one of the best story's ever. Smart, tense, exciting & beautiful to look at. The Three Doctors while a fun romp, espically Pertwee & Throughton bouncing off each other is probably the weakest of the the three & it's extras are minimual.
Tomb of the Cyberman is the real gem here. Finally Vid-Fired up & looking spruced up & pin sharp as the day it was made. A wonderful excting slice of 60's Who with one of Pat Throughtons best performances. The history of the Cybermen documentary presented by Dr Mattew Sweet is also excellent.
If you don't have these story's in your collection this is an essential purchase. If you do and love them, here is a chance to see them (espically Tomb) in a whole new light.
| What: | Planet of Giants (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
This is a really good example of how the 60's Who production team tried, with a minuscule budget to make an intresting & imaginative story.
The sets are really good & I found myself gripped during certain scenes. This really is Barbra's story & Jackie Hill is really excellent.
The story of industrial espionage doesn't really work for me & the editing of episodes 3 & 4 really spoils the end.
An intresting set of extras not least with the reconstruction of what episodes 3 & 4 would have been like it the story had not been butchered. I for one would have enjoyed the story more on its original form.
The restoration is, as ever, staggeringly good espically if you are familiar with the VHS releas.
An essential part of Who history.
While not the greatest show in the galaxy, it's still a pretty good story. It's a story with a lot of imagination & intresting characters as well as a really good cast. The location shooting ( fortunately shot during a heatwave) looks beautiful. The charachters like bellboy & wild child are really intresting. At leat they were trying to do something intresting & different.
It's not all good. The rapping ringmaster is toe curllingly awful & as for the fan boy.........
The making of documentary on the DVD is really intresting given the troubled production of this story & hats of to JNT for making sure it didn't end up like Shada.
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| Monsters in rubber skirts |
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| What: | The Krotons (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I'd not watched this for a long time & wasn't particularly looking forward to watching this on DVD as I hadn't really enjoyed it before. Maybe it was the fact that it had been cleaned up for the DVD ( the VHS release was a bit grubby & murky ) but I enjoyed this much more than before.
The story is actually okay & intresting. The interplay between the Doctor & Zoe is delightful espically during the computer test scene. Phillip Madoc is, well, Phillip Madoc. Mean, moody & magnificent.
It's not all good. The Krotons themselves are very poorly designed, monsters in rubber skirts & it's dragged out a bit to long. A 3 or 4 part would have been better. All in all, better than I remember.
There is one extra on the DVD that is worth the price of the DVD it's self. Second Time Around, a docu biog of Pat Throughton is wonderful. A really moving & intresting price on the great man & everybody who appears on screen speaks with warmth & love about him.
| What: | The Robots of Death (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 18 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Robots of death is of course one th very best Who story's ever. Tightly written, brilliant direction, fantastic atmostphere, the beautifully designed robots & the chemistry between the Doctor & Louise. It doesn't get much better than this.
| What: | The Mind of Evil (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Matt Saunders, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 13 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This is such an excellent story and this audio version serves it well, with excellent linking material from Richard Franklin. It's just as exciting on audio, as it is in pictures! Well worth buying, and if you like it - please buy more, so they produce many more of these soundtracks. :)
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| Not As Good As It Should Have Been |
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| What: | The Cradle of the Snake (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 9 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
With a classic TARDIS team in place, it was a good idea to return to some old ground and resolve some old questions. Bringing on board a writer for the TV series, albeit from a little after, would additionally bring the flavor of the original series to the new audio. On one level, this is a success. The four principal actors got along very well in the 1980s and work well together reunited. They are in full form in this third of the first trilogy with them. The script has some interesting ideas. The most interesting is to have the Mara take control of the Doctor this time. It seems logical, given the escalation factor that goes along with these things. Davison is brilliant playing evil, in particular in bringing out the delight the Mara has at causing chaos. We also get the joy of Nyssa's getting taken over, so that Sarah Sutton can play "naughty." She does very well with this, too. Writer Marc Platt also does a very good job of recreating some of the surrealistic touches of the original Mara stories.
There are two major areas where the drama fails to deliver. The first is the character of the snake herder. Vernon Dobtcheff is forced (or maybe chose to) play this with the standard, hokey wise-simple-native accent, unbearably slow delivery, and portentous-sounding voice that just gets irritating. As an American, all I hear is the stereotypical "wise Indian" of bad old western movies. The other failure is in the writing. Platt stays true to Chris Bailey's originals in certain regards, such as that no one dies, but everyone feels threatened. However, the script lacks the rich mythical-literary background that made Bailey's scripts so effective. Platt goes for a more straight Doctor Who approach. To me, anyway, this makes the story less interesting than the originals.
Overall, "The Cradle of the Snake" is a treat for the fan in the listener, allowing the principal actors to give it their best and delivering a classic-style story without too many frills.
| What: | Live 34 (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Patrick Alexander, Bellevue, United States |
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| Date: | Wednesday 22 August 2012 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I thought this was a good story told in a very interesting way. I loved the style. As for it not being Doctor Who, I would compare it to the new series episode "Blink". That was "not really Doctor Who" in the same way this story is and "Blink" is one of the best Doctor Who episodes EVER (in my opinion.)
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| Ah, the feel of the old times... |
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This would have been one of the stron gest opening stories for a season if it had have made it to the screen all those years ago. Just so glad that now we have yet another lost brilliant story restored to us by the brilliant staff of BFP! Colin Baker as per usual is on brilliant form, and Nicola does her sidekick thing just as well. And its a welcome return from a Doctor Who stalwart in the form of Stephen Thorne, man that guy never loses that frightening and powerful voice of his, from Omega to Eldrad to Max Vilmio to Malador. Hes always the right choice to play those truly really nasty villians that old Doctor Who always had in abundance.
And Graham Cole is back! And this time with a speaking role, in fact two, and one as the role he played way back in the Eighties, the Melkur. A suitably brilliant come back for those creepsville statues with the red lazers...only this time its the genuine article. The lament of the Melkur for a start is highly nasty and well realised, and YUCK. All the elements of this story go together so well, and so yes Jonny Morris has done it again, produced a corker of a story that has the ingredients of old classic Colin Baker but with a sparkling audio edge! Great lost story yet again. One of Colin's strongest so far.
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| Every Dr Who/Archive enthusiasts book |
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| What: | Wiped! (Miscellaneous factual books) |
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| By: | Andrew Walmsley, Blackpool, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 15 August 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This is the most comprehensive book i have ever read on the subject if archive TV material, and not only goes into detail of how and why the episodes were junked, but is an insight into how TV programmes are archived in general and the processes involved in there storage and retrieval from damaged material for future generations to enjoy.
It is a detective story and so much more and i cannot praise Richard for this book highly enough.
