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 | The setting is superfluous |
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| What: | Black and White (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 1 November 2012 |
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| Rating: |   8 |
Black and white introduces us to some great new companions, with an interesting twist. The introduction of Beowulf is handled well, but lacks something as mixing up an amazing story with aliens isn't original but still handled well. The monster is fun.
| What: | Protect and Survive (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 1 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I love it when there is a real sense of mystery in any story. Separated from the Doctor, we are able to see Ace & Hex at their best, bickering together. Mixed together with a nice trap, with a few twists and turns sets us up for a great trilogy.
| What: | The Oseidon Adventure (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Doug W, An Alternate Reality (formerly Pocono Summit), United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 27 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
As you can see on the cover, The Oseidon Adventure brings back the Kraals, along with all of the great sound effects from The Android Invasion. Unfortunately, a Kraal Marshall in this story is just too stupid to be believable as a Kraal. This takes a bit away from the story, as does what the Master is doing here. The tone of the whole thing is just not quite right. But then, the story takes a different turn as we are shown what has actually been going on this whole time, and the tone of the story shifts to one that seems much more appropriate. It turns out that the Doctor's first meeting of the Master in the previous two-parter was not actually the Doctor's first meeting of the Master. I'll say no more than that about it. By the end of this story, when the real game is revealed, what appeared to be a weak two-part conclusion shapes up to become a much more interesting story, and one much more appropriate for the Beevers Master.
| What: | Shada (BBC prestige novels) |
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| By: | Matt Saunders, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 17 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This novel is such a stunning novelisation of the Shada story, and is well told by Gareth Roberts - the great author of many great books and episodes. The whole plot feels very Douglas Adams (especially if you have read Dirk Gently, which Adams wrote after Shada with many of the ideas copied over....), but also very Gareth Roberts too. Unlike in the Target novelisations, Roberts feels no need to describe the Doctor (which is good), and just gets on with the plot. I don't want to say any more, because it just needs to be read - please do it today!
| What: | Trail of the White Worm (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Doug W, An Alternate Reality (formerly Pocono Summit), United States |
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| Date: | Monday 15 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Trail of the White Worm is by far the best of these new Fourth Doctor stories so far. Script, cast, directing, performances and finished production here are excellent, and the result is an exciting two episodes, to be concluded in the next story, The Oseidon Adventure.
The cast here is particularly superb, with of course Tom and Louise, joined by Geoffrey Beevers, Michael Cochrane, and Rachael Stirling. The story is well-paced, the dialogue is well written, with a couple exceptions I'll comment on in a moment, and the performances are the best yet of this series. Tom is really back here in this one, and the other main players are all great as well.
My only little gripe is with the initial meeting of the Doctor and the Master. Considering what was happening when they last saw each other, IF this follows on from The Deadly Assassin, which was so strongly written, the tone just isn't right - the script at that point is weak, in my opinion. Just a little personal disappointment there, though.
Overall, this is great stuff. A great idea for a Fourth Doctor story.
| What: | Energy of the Daleks (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Doug W, An Alternate Reality (formerly Pocono Summit), United States |
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| Date: | Monday 15 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
At last, in Energy of the Daleks, Tom Baker has been brought pretty fully back to effectively sounding like he did back in 1977, which was sadly not quite the case in the previous three fourth Doctor releases. I think the key is to have a good amount of sound effects and other ambient sound and music in the mix, to cover over the moments when the effects of the passing of 35 years of time since 1977 would be apparent in a more subdued and basic mix.
However, the result is that this audio play does not sound like it could fit in between seasons 14 and 15, unless perhaps a completely different production team had taken over suddenly, I suppose. With all of that sound, there's a lot more going on here than was typical for the shows of that era. The season 14/15 TARDIS sound effects help with this, though, and are a great, and necessary touch. Nevertheless, what results here is a high quality Big Finish audio production, much better produced and directed than the previous three (Destination Nerva, The Renaissance Man, and The Wrath of the Iceni). Though the previous three are good productions, Energy of the Daleks is noticeably better. Here, Tom has a higher energy performance and better dialogue that is more on pitch with his TV run.
None of these are fantastic stories so far, though they are entertaining, and it's great to hear Tom back in the role. Having the fourth Doctor back and joining in these full cast audio dramas is indeed, imo, the biggest event Big Finish has had going for a number of years. Mention must also be given to Louise Jamison's pretty consistently excellent performances here, who is no stranger to Big Finish, as she has appeared in numerous Gallifrey series audios.
| What: | Empathy Games (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 8 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Whenever the doctor arrives in any paradise you just know its always built on lies or about to be destroyed. Whilst not an original idea, bringing in the savage warrior and building the plot around her is refreshing and exciting.
The Companion chronicles has been able to do something the classic series often failed to do, developing the companions character, testing their relationship with the doctor and their own past. Empathy games has it all.
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| Mystery, twists and monsters |
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| What: | Binary (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 7 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Binary combines all my favourites in a Dr Who plot. Being trapped, being chased, time running out, a mystery and lots of twists. This is a great one go and get it.
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| Classic plot but something missing |
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| What: | The Wanderer (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 7 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Sometimes having the Dr meet or influence an historic figure just doesn't feel right, this is one of those occasions. That aside on its own this is a good solid story as ever carried by a great reading from William Russell.
| What: | The Jigsaw War (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 7 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
An outstanding and clever plot, which forces you to concentrate hard, pulling you in to work out the mystery for yourself. Set in a tight close location, with limited number of characters but all compelling. Moving backward and forward in any plot or time line can be difficult. In jigsaw this is handled with class and is my favourite of the season.
| What: | The Rocket Men (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 7 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
William Russell has a great tone of voice and is able to create a world of characters. Rocket man is a good story set in a vivid world in the clouds.
Building up to Ian's battle and rescue in the clouds, which is the highlight of the story. The niggle for me was the amount of times we jumped back and forth in the plot, which lost a few points for me. Otherwise it's a great production.
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| Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting |
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| What: | The Eleventh Tiger (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Chris Arnold, Bundaberg, Australia |
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| Date: | Sunday 7 October 2012 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
I approached this book with some trepidation, as the author's previous output which I have read gave me mixed feelings. I loved Mission Impractical but Lords of the Storm was amazingly tedious. I have to say that with The Eleventh Tiger I was pleasantly surprised. A great ghost story with strong and interesting characters, and the regulars coming off as believable. A little ham fisted Ian and Barbara love each other stuff aside and the slightly contrived last chapter that almost lapsed back into McIntee's laborious 'space opera' style prose, this is a strong entry for the First Doctor and this novel range. My abiding memory of this novel will be, in true Bruce Lee fashion, the Doctor himself in full Kung-Fu pose. Bring it on!
| What: | The Rings of Ikiria (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 27 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
This is a well rounded story, with all the hallmarks of some of the best 3rd Doctor's earth bound adventures. Captain Yates is really at the heart of the story exploring and developing the character.
Set on the isle of sark in the Channel Islands, there is just one error in this good story I can't help saying. There are no cars on Sark!
| What: | The Lost Stories: Paradise 5 (The Lost Stories audio dramas) |
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| By: | Matt Saunders, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 27 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This is definitely the jewel of the Big Finish Lost Stories first season, and is really excellent. Andy Lane has clearly adapted this very well and also added his own take on things - including the whole of episode one. It also feels very much part of the Sixth Doctor's era, as it's so 80's!! And brilliant with it - with lots of charm and colour in great quantities. Well done to Big Finish and everyone involved, this truly was and is a classic - what a shame this was not used in the Trial of a Time Lord with the other stories (yes, it would have been a 18 episode season, but who cares?)....
| What: | The Wheel of Ice (BBC prestige novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 27 September 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I came to his book having not read anything by Stephen Baxter so I didn't know what to expect other than this, the Doctor, Jamie & Zoe is my favourite TARDIS crew.
Let me say that the writer has done a damn fine job. This an excellent story that bubbles along slowly and builds into a really good climax & conclusion.
The dialogue between the Doctor & crew is spot on & you can really here the voices of Pat Throughton, Wendy Padbury & Frazier Hines coming out of the book.
The one small criticism I have is that Jamie isn't in the story enough for me.
I got a real thrill out of spotting references to old story's in his book. Like the new series they are (mostly) fleeting & if you don't know them it wound spoil your enjoyment. I spotted Talons of Weing-Cheing, Black Orchid, Evil of the Daleks, The Seeds of Death& The Silurians
All in all, a really cracking, cool book.
| 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.
