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| What: | Rat Trap (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 7 July 2011 |
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| Rating: |   9 |
In many ways Rat Trap is a clever and original story, turning the tables on man's treatment of animals. Companions are show the best (or worst) of their character, which as times is fun in a cruel way.
There is a hint of the future for Tegan, perhaps something nasty will come back. At times a little confusing with lots of cast members running about smelly tunnels, which is the only reason its not a 10.
| What: | Earth Story (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 July 2011 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Hard to rate two different story's but here goes.
The Gunfighters has always got a lot of flack from fans, usually over the actors American accents, but to me they are (mostly) pretty good.
The sets are excellent and the story is enjoyable. William Hartnell is excellent and reveals his comic acting & this certainly Jackie Lane's finest hour. It's only spoilt by that bloody song !
The Awakening is an enjoyable romp. Lots of good location work & good costumes with a story that doesn't outstay it's welcome. The monster is the only let down. It never quite works. and why at the end is no one amazed, surprised shocked by being in the TARDIS ?
The best extra on either disc is The End Of The Line an excellent, in-depth look at the troubled third year of Doctor Who.
| What: | Frontios (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 July 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Once again a story that has lots of interesting ideas that never quite works.
The TARDIS is destroyed !.... but no one seems really bothered.
Huge burrowing monsters that drag people underground...that just don't work, and are very camp, and so on.
That's not to say it's all bad. The sets are very good and there are some excellent acting performances especially from Jeff Rawle as Plantagent.
The extras are nothing to write home about apart from, as usual, interesting "making of" documentary.
| What: | Mannequin Mania (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 July 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
As I've said before, Jon Pertwee was my Doctor and this has both his beginnings.
His actual debut & the start of his battles with the Master.
Spearhead starts the 3rd Doctor in great style. The Autons are great monsters and its lovely to see the Brigadier back, even in a horrible uniform.
The Special edition DVD is light years ahead of the original release in terms of its restoration and features Down To Earth, a look at the making of this story and how it saved the programme.
The restoration work on Terror of the Autons is staggering compared to the VHS copy. It is a joy to see it presented so well.
Life on Earth is a really good making of Documentary.
All in all very highly recommended.
| What: | Planet of the Spiders (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 July 2011 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
It light of recent events, the death of Elisabeth Sladen, this is now an even more poignant story.
Jon Pertwee was my doctor growing up the 70's & I can still remember how upset I was when he left, but still this is a hell of goodbye.
Action packed (even if if the chase scene is far to long), heroic, thought provoking, interesting character's & a very moving end.
The story does drag a bit towards the end but what a final episode.
The extras are a bit thin but do consist of The Final Curtain, an in depth look at the end of the 3rd Doctors era & the making of Planet of the Spiders & an interesting interview with John Kane who stared as Tommy.
The end of an era.
The commentary with Barry Letts, Elisabeth Sladen & Nick Courtney is both wonderful but very sad.
| What: | Mara Tales (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 July 2011 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
These two tales have long been held in high regard by Dr Who fans and rightly so.
They are full of imagination, wonder & surprise. And they are at times genuinely creepy, particularly Tegan's dream/nightmare sequences.
The acting is spot on with top marks to Simon Rouse as Hindle, surely one of the best ever guest acting spots in Dr Who history. Richard Todd as a man who has lost the plot is also excellent.
With the added CGI extra of a new snake this is near perfection.
The only let down is the poor sets on both story's. The jungle is just never convincing. Just think how good the jungle in Planet of Evil was & that was 10 years ago.
Both DVDs have excellent "making of" documentaries as well as lots of other goodies.
Highly recommended
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 | Its the end of the world as we know it.. |
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| What: | The Ark (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 July 2011 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
The Ark is full of good ideas that should be brilliant but ultimately fails.
The last surviving humans, a one eyed intelligent race, the race to cure a killer disease, a live elephant. All these should have made for a cracking story and yet..
The Moniods are poor. Poorly designed and thought out. The trial seems to go on forever and is so dull. The acting from the humans, Peter Purves & William Hartnell aside, is dull & what the hell is a "security kitchen" ? & as for Jackie Lane, her accent wonders up & down the UK
Still it has two great cliff hangers, the earth disintegrating and the reveal of the statue are fantastic, as is the elephant.
The DVD extras for this story are very thin. All's Wells That End Wells is a very tenuous attempt to link the works of HG Wells & Dr Who. One Hit Wonders is a look at why monsters like The Moniods didn't have the popularity of the Daleks (they where crap ?) Riverside Story takes Peter Purves back to the Riverside story's where the early story's where filmed as the best of a poor bunch of extras.
| What: | The Mutants (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 July 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
The Mutants is a good example of a good four pointer stretched over six episodes.
The reflection of the social and political points of the time (racism, colonialism etc) get a bit lost in the (to obvious) padding out of the story.
Still Jon Pertwee , as ever, is excellent & Garrick Hagon who plays Ky is excellent.
While the story never gets as dull or silly as The Time Monster, I did find my mind wondering at times
The DVD extras are excellent. Mad Mutt is a comprehensive look at the making of the story & Race Against Time is one of the best, and most interesting DVD documentaries ever produced. It looks at the representation of non-white actors in classic Dr Who. As someone who grew up, and of course watched a lot of TV in the 60's & 70's it is thoroughly thought provoking and, for me, put TV of those eras in a whole new light. The end of the this feature, which features alternative black Doctors is superb
| What: | Meglos (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 6 July 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
An interesting, if not entirely successful story in which the Doctor, Romana & K9 locked in a triangle with the Savants, The Deons & the not very subtle Tigellans. The good things are the return of Jacqueline Hill. What a great actress she was, Tom Baker in a duel role, the cactus make up & the production.It's let down by a thin, uninteresting story with a poor ending. To say, as the other reviewer did that this is better than anything from the Matt Smith era, is of course ludicrous.
The extras are very goo. The meeting of the two writers is very interesting & the DVD itself is worth buying just for the wonderfully moving tribute to Jacqueline Hill featuring her husband, colleagues & friend's. A wonderful tribute to a wonderful person & actress.
| What: | Seasons of Fear (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 3 July 2011 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Oh those great classic Bill Hartnell multi place, multi scenraio epics. Its been far too long since we had travelling stories of the density of The Keys of Marinus and The Dalek's Master Plan. Those were brilliant tales, where each episode took place in a different location, and for that reason were all the more jarring and at the same time all the more enjoyable and fun. For some reason though these sort of tales seem to fall out of favour with many and we get far more simple base under seige storylines instead, which is not a bad thing by any means, but can get a little repetitive if the whole season has the same formula. We need an upsetter, like the Enemy of the World was to season five. And after so many stories from Big Finish, we finally get two writers who want to write in that same eccentric and brilliant vein, and for the most part again here it works so very well indeed. The story flows along, and one episode per place means youre forever running to catch up with just what is going on along the road. And the reveal of the main villains is highly unsuspected! Bringing back them is a bold idea, such as Russell T Davies did with the Macra for the new series, (i wont tell you what they are this time so you can have a surprise if you havent listened to this tale before) Needless to say the monsters hark from a wrongly maligned season by the number 17. The Doctor and Romana's time. So go figure out what the aliens are. The voices here once more are captured expertly, and sound just like their 1979 counterparts. The character of Grayle is wonderfully devious and cunning too, played to perfection by Stephen Perring in his pre-Kroka days! As decent a villain actor youre ever likely to get. Paul McGann is getting into the role of his laid back and totally unfazed Doctor so well indeed, and India Fisher as Charley still greatly impresses. Perhaps the only quibble with this story is that the enemies have nothing very new or original in how theyre portrayed. But they are done extremely well, as Ive already said. And the small cast per each episode handles the scripting very well indeed. Audios with very few actors can be quite boring if not done right, but thankfully Paul and Caroline have hit almost every single mark they fired at. This is a great tale, one of the three decent stories in Paul's second season as the errant time lord. Im not all that glad that since this story for BFP weve not had another Keys of Marinus styled story, I for one love that format and it works so well as it always has done. After all, one of the main advantages of a multi era story is that it is never predictable. Please, please BFP, make some more stories like this please!!!!
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| Fun but a little cheese on top |
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This is a fun, light hearted romp, introducing a new companion, continuing the sub plot and taking us somewhere new.
Some of the dialog is a little weak and at times the story feels just too easy.
This is a good story but the voice box and insect scenes are funny.
| What: | The Lost Stories: Thin Ice (The Lost Stories audio dramas) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 30 June 2011 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
The 7th Doctor, was slowly killed on TV and I was very worried that taking us back to this TV Doctor would be aweful. Whilst some lines are a little bad, and I can see the low budget bikers driving around in large helmets, Thin Ice it still a good story.
The Ice Warriors seem to be popping up all over the place, but this feels like a strong story. Ace whilst still wanting to blow things up is given a chance to develop and stand on her own. But most of all it has a great car chace.
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| Thieves, Piece and Aliens |
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| What: | The Lost Stories: Paradise 5 (The Lost Stories audio dramas) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 30 June 2011 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Paradise 5, isn't original in many ways; inside something normal hides alien horrors, sprinkle with some entertaining con men making a buck or too, add a dash of wonder, the result a classic plot.
Paradise manages to do all this with style, bringing everything together in a classic and enjoyable piece of work. It has great aliens, twists, turns and some bad guys with a cool sence of humour.
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| Great setting, nice reading, but... |
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| What: | The Jade Pyramid (New series audio originals) |
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| By: | Matt Pike, Deadwood, United States |
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| Date: | Thursday 30 June 2011 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Great setting, nice reading, but...
| What: | Gallifrey IV (Gallifrey audio dramas) |
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| By: | Nicholas Murphie, Newtown, Australia |
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| Date: | Thursday 30 June 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
I've always thought the Gallifrey Series are some of the very best Big Finish Audios - brilliant and complex story lines full of political intrigue and outstanding performances.... season three kind of ended the series and heralded the coming of the Time War... so where was season 4 going to go?
The answer, heading to a bunch of alternate Gallifreys via the Axis, did not really excite as alternate time lines and universes have been done before ... but each and every one of the 4 plays is brilliant... Hard to pick a favourite - probably Disassembled with a very interesting alternate Doctor.... but vampiric Annihilation and pre Time Lord Forever are also excellent... Also interesting is hearing familiar voices in new roles. All round, an amazing series.
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| One relishes these different approaches |
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| What: | Situation Vacant (Eighth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 29 June 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
It was always going to be so very hard indeed to find a replacement for Sheridan...she really is almost the quintessential companion, for any doctor! She had so much verve and charm and a wonderful gob on her that was great for me to hear. Glad she hasnt properly dissappeared yet though, as Ive seen Lucie Miller and To The Death are out!!!
But this story is a little marvel. A diamond gem. It toys with companions like no other story ever has. And for that reason alone is a brilliant addition to the eighth doctor run of adventures! Theres some great dialogue and some great show downs along the way!
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| Don't forget to clean up after yourself |
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| What: | The Whispering Forest (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 28 June 2011 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
A classic sci-fi plot is the crashed space ship from which a slightly messed up, twisted society rises.
In the whispering forest, this is done with style, a story that makes full use of the cast. At times strange, but with some good humour and action.
So nothing original in the plot, but for a Doctor Who fan its classic stuff a great story which works well for the tardis gang.
| What: | The Eternal Summer (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 25 June 2011 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
For a start the ending to part two is rather guessable. One of the very few weakly plotted stories, with a lot of scenes that are predictable and rather a lack of decent fast paced adventure. One real saving is Mark Williams as the rather cool and funny Maxwell Eddison. A real injection of a decent character in otherwise a weak release. And the only other good performance here is from Pam Ferris, as dependable and brilliant a performance as ever, but shes only on the second disc, so thats a little disappointing to say the least. But like I said, these duds from BFP are a far rarer breed than duds in the new series. This is sad considering this is a Jon Morris story, after his brilliant former stories. (Except that plain stupid Bloodtide of course)
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| Not all that much to write home about |
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| What: | The Movie (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 24 June 2011 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
Paul McGann has finally been given a decent stab at the Doctor in the Big Finish audio adventures. He was one of the three good things about the 1996 movie. Yes, and it was only three, or if im generous, four, things that stood out about the movie at all.
The first was the cameo by Sylvester McCoy, and its brilliant to see him back as the Doctor. And Im not saying Paul isnt any good, as Ive already cleared stated above, its just I would have loved seeing Sylv have the main story and just change at the very end of this very bland movie. Sylv is one of the major factors that stops this film from falling flat on its face.
Daphne Ashbrook is just perfect as Grace Holloway, bringing sensitivity and dare I say it her namesake to her role! Mind you, shes far better acting good than acting bad, as when she is taken over by the Master she looks just tired, not taken over. But her instant rapport with Paul McGann is very strong indeed, and her character also bolsters up this otherwise rather flat tale.
The final good thing is Eric Roberts as the Master, a wonderful choice to play the Doc's arch nemesis. Just a shame he actually, in all respect, doesnt do much except stand around talking and glare nastily at a woman and walk around like a ponce. He would and should have been given such a lot more to do. Though his final confrontation with the Doctor is climactic and startling, I must admit.
Its just all the other aspects of the script that are so run of the mill. One would have expected there to have been a monster for this movie, like the Cybermen or daleks, not just the Master. For this reason alone I was highly saddened by this film. And despite all the films money, the regeneration sequence isnt a lot to write home about. The fact that the Master only wants to take the Doctor's lives and blow up earth isnt a movie blockbuster kind of theme either is it really? No, not in the slightest.
The highest plaudits then to Sylv and Daphne, and Paul Im glad youve been given more in your big finish world than you ever were with this letdown of a film.
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| Quite disturbing and dark |
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| What: | The Edge of Destruction (Target novelisation readings) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Friday 24 June 2011 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The TV screen version of the Edge of Destruction always was a brilliant Doctor Who two parter. It had a sense of real drama to it, and considering it only boasted the TARDIS crew, they all acted their socks off and brought it all to life so well. So I am not usually one to state that a novel of the story is better than the TV version, but with Nigel Robinson's adaptation here, read by the ever great William Russell, we have a novel reading that is something truly truly special. There are many things within this novel that are even more disturbing and bold than the TV adventure.
The way Nigel seems to get deep into the heads of all the crew members is something not many other target novels boast. I feel especially Ian and Barabara are treated in such an deeply pleasing fashion, from the deep descriptions of their waking first to think theyre back at Coal Hill School, to the intense little extras that Nigel has added that really help make this novel stand out above many other ones.
And what also adds to the mood of this reading is the quite freaky and unnerving score, this time the BBC has outdone themselves, for i found the score frankly chilling in the extreme here, one of the most unsettling scores ever. It really adds such layers to the sense of doom that is present so powerfully all the way through this startling novel.
The extra scenes included here in this novel too are excellent. Particularly Barabara's near death scene in the Doctor's laboratory, which is highly imaginative and fearful. Although Ian's getting lost in the corridors then nearly suffocating is highly charged with tension in buckets. And one does feel wether it was the Doctor who deliberately left him in there to die, and then the TARDIS saved him there too, despite the fact that it too was nearly facing death.
And William Russell has such an easy voice to listen to, and his channeling of all the characters is flawless so much as to be uncanny, particularly his rendition of the Doctor and Barbara. He is a first class story teller, and it benefits this audio reading so well to have such a great actor reading it. Well done William
So all in all I would have to say that this is definitely one of the strongest novelisations of any of them. Laiden with menace, fear and a brilliant haunting score, this is one novel reading that is even more fulfilling than its TV counterpart. Absolutely brilliant reading.
