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 | Far better than loads of others!!!!! |
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| What: | The Highlanders (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 8 September 2010 |
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| Rating: |  10 |
I must say I totally disagree with Doug, but he is certainly allowed his own opinion!!! We are all different and itd be a boring world if we were all uniform like the cybermen wouldnt it?
I have to say this is a cracking good piece of light relief after the hard sci fi of The Power of the Daleks.
Patrick Troughton is on excellent form, and although he doesnt really take part in the bulk of the action, he does amusingly dress up and act his socks off to very great effect. This is one of my favourite storys of Pat's.
I love his old woman! It had me in fits the first time i heard it. It prooves what a great actor he was and it truly is sad that he is no longer with us now.
And Polly gets a lot more to do than just scream for once. Shes gets a meaty part, and is strong and decisive and even manages to overpower Ffinch, I like the series when it gives the women far more stronger roles rather than just screaming all the time, although it does at times have its place.
And this story also introduced Jamie, wonderfully brought to life by Frazer Hines. he is by far my favourite companion so far. Although its amusing to hear that after his strong accent in this, he goes down to a far more english scots vocal after this story!! But after all, one of the most charming things about Doctor Who is its discontinuity and flaws. Its just plain good television.
And there are a good amount of horrible scenes too, like the hanging and the running through of the redcoat right at the beginning of the tale. Its so sad that none of this story survives. Its a real pain in the butt.
The history may not be 100% right, but the entertaining value of this gem of a tale can not be denied.
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| Deserving of the title... |
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| What: | The Web of Fear (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 8 September 2010 |
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| Rating: |  9 |
The Web of Fear is one of the few Doctor Who stories that by hearing and seeing the first part I can quite believe deserves its classic status.
The yeti here have been updated to become far less cuddly and much more menacing. Those glowing eyes are eerie and frightening to say the least. It really is sad that only episode 1 exists though.
The Action scenes sound like they were very well done indeed.
And then we have Jack Watling back again, made up well to look thirty years older. He is such a wonderful character, and he gels well with Patrick and the rest of the crew.
And the ending to this story is totally surprising. But I wont give too much away but say this is well worth the getting. Far more worth getting this than most of the new series at least anyway.
This story has it all: a great amount of yeti sequences, a good followable plot, and great performances from all involved in the making of this story.
| What: | Series 5: Volume 4 (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 7 September 2010 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Vincent And The Doctor is a highly entertaining and original episode of Doctor Who and was a joy to watch. The characters are all likeable, even the blind alien who is killed accidentally at the end which makes for a sadder ending than usual. A really well made pseudo historical which buckled this buckling series up somewhat for me.
The Lodger is also a totally different piece of Doctor Who. With more focus on characters than just the nonsense sci fi bits of the story to follow. This again started to reignite my somewhat mixed view of this series as a whole. Again the characters were likeable and we got to see Matt play a bit of footie!
Pity it had to end with such a monumental, confused, eclectic and frankly pathetic piece of garabge that I found frankly impossible to understand. The worst piece of Doctor Who ever it has to be said. Incomprehensible to the extreme. The plot threads just dont go together....thats why the new series cant match the old series...even the worst of them were more understandable than this pile of rubbish....
| What: | The Fires of Vulcan (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Andrew Shaw, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 6 September 2010 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
in this story I thought Mcyoy as 7th Dr gave up to easily on himself and Mel should have known to get into character as somebody from pompeii because she could have give the game away throughout but otherwise that an OK historical story
Changing the format of introducing a companion is bold but did it work? If the doctor hadn't walk away with a new companion I think I would have enjoyed it more. However situation vacant is an entertaining and fast passed story with some good humour and a little laugh at the doctor who format itself.
Feeling unsure about the final outcome, I'm looking forward to a clever subplot or twist that will bring his new partner to life.
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| The End... The Final end... for Target |
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| What: | The Evil of the Daleks (Target novelisations) |
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| By: | JG, Gallifrey, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 26 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The Target Books Series goes out with a bang, 'The Evil of the Daleks', the characters, the scenes, the Dalek Emperor, Great book, great ending.
P.S. Yes I know there is another book after this, but this is the last novelised TV story.
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| My 1st, but certainly not last DW Audio! |
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The only Doctor Who CD I had bought before this was the soundtrack of 'The Daleks' Master Plan'. Granted, a great story, but unfortunately this epic deserves the visuals it will probably never have. As the video is gone, this novelisation reading is the next best thing, and by god it's good!
Peter Purves and Jean Marsh read the book expertly, with the former pulling off the action sequences superbly and the latter giving a chilling representation of the more dramatic chapters.
The other masterstroke of this audio is casting Nicholas Briggs to do the Dalek voices; it adds a great sense of realism to the piece.
Plaudits must also go to John Peel for novelising the story brilliantly - roll on 'The Mutation of Time'...
| What: | The Forgotten Army (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Thursday 19 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
I have loved the first to books in the 11th Doctor series, so i had huge expectations for this one (maybe that was the problem). Unfortuanatly I really didn't like this one.
The plot was very silly, and the constant amount of sarcasm between the Dr and Amy was great the first few times but after a while just started to get on my nerves. The police and NYPD Commander Jackie Stebbins I didn't care about and if they were all wiped out it wouldn't have worred me.
What i did like thoe was there were a lot of referances to the tv series, particaly the Dalek 2 parter set in New York when Tennent was the Dr. And I particualy loved the referance to Torchwood - Children of Earth.
This book was ok, there was enought in it to keep me reading and I did want to know what happened next. I will put this in the same pile as Sting of the Zygons, and Love and War (new adventure novel) - ok i've read it, now it will be on my bookshelf gathering dust.
| What: | Blue Box Boy (Cast biographies) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 19 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This really is a wonderful, witty unputdownable book. I can not recommended it highly enough. And it makes no difference whether you are/where a fan of Adric or not.
| What: | The Space Pirates (TV episode audio soundtracks) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 18 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
It really is sad that the bbc saw fit to demolish some of the best Doctor Who stories in the universe back in the sixties and seventies. It is especially sad when a story as good as the Space Pirates is a casualty of that rather stupid decision made by those chaps.
This story has plenty to keep one hooked and plenty of brilliant acting by all of those involved. Caven is the typical brilliant Rob Holmes Jerkoff, a real nasty piece of work with some brilliant lines.
The crew of V41 LO are all brillaint too. The scenes between Milo and these guys are particularly funny and memorable.
But I love the character of Madeleine Issigri the best. A real pity she couldnt have become a companion. She may have been a little devious but she was brilliantly emotional which is rare for this period of Doctor Who. Its believable in her scenes when Caven reveals that her Daddy is actually alive, if not very well after all. What a manipulative moron. One of the best in this season of Doctor Who.
Is it alright if i blow my nose or is that another offence is one of the classic brilliant lines written for a Doctor Who character. And the peril, particularly in episode two is very well acted by Pat and the gang.
This story is all that I love about Doctor Who and Pat's time in particular. This is not boring and uninspiring, in fact for me itis anything but.
The six episodes just fly by, and dont drag on forever like many a six parter seems to in Doctor Who. Well cool story. Pity like I said that it is no longer available in its entirety on video. A real tragedy....
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| Im going to start a Slipstream fan club! |
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| What: | Night of the Humans (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Sunday 15 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
This book has done something to me that no other Dr Who book has done. I was actully worryed for the Doctor. When he was standing on the plank about to go for an acid swim i generally feared for his life. Also when they were running for the TARDIS, I was yelling 'SHUT UP AND RUN!!!'. Then when it dematerilises and they were safe - WOW there is still 40 pages to go.
the whole book is based around a huge junk yard in space that is colecting all the rubbish that is out there, which i thort was a really good idea for a setting and you really get a feel for the horrible, hostile enviroment in Llewellyn's writing. Also I loved the sollogs, would love to see them again.
And I loved the way they used a real comet name for the one that was about to hit them. The writing of this book is so good that you really get a since that time is running out, and when the small bits a comet start raining down, you can really see it hitting the surface and exploding in your mind.
But the one caractor that did it for me was Dirk Slipstream. He was fantastic, and even thoe he was killed at the end (However all we hear is a scream and gun fire, so he could get out of it) I would love to see him again. He reminded me a lot of Sabalon Glitz from the classic series - only a little more nasty.
Deffenitly a good read (especialy the last 80 pages). Not as good as Apolo 23, but the first two Matt Smith novels have been of a very high standared.
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| Harry Sullivan is an imbecile! |
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One has to say that Revenge of the Cybermen has gained so much flack over the years for being a stupid comeback from the silver giants from Mondas, but I have to wholeheartedly disagree now.
True, not so long ago even I didnt like this story a whole lot. But upon watching it on DVD after all these years, I wondered why I hadnt liked it originally. There is quite a good amount of brilliant material on show here and I will list it.
The first thing is Tom Baker's humour. Clearly he appears to be having a great time as he finally sinks his teeth into the role of the Doctor. This story is literally littered with brillaint gems of dialogue. He really reminds me how good he was as the Doctor in this story.
The second is the slightly more emotional cybermen. Maybe their conditioning isnt 100% as they appear to be easily angered and riled, and never before or since has a cybermen had a farewell line to the Doctor like Chris Robbie has in this, totally human and nothing else. So quite uncharacteristic. They still do own emotions, they just dont want to admit it. But this is a good thing. Simply going around converting all over the place does become rather tepid and boring in the end.
And then there are the fantastic location scenes, shot in Wookey Hole. They really are atmospheric and believable. Dark and watery and very alien looking. And the gold actually looks like gold...
And to top it all off the acting is high standard. From all of the cast including the vogans. David Collings and Kevin Stoney work together really well.
And it was humans who looted voga of its gold....perhaps the vogans didnt truly realise how lethal gold was to the cybermen....but otherwise the plot is very stable and gos along nicely all the way.
And then we come to Silver Nemesis.
Im sure that (if you watch the Industrial action extras) if the Doctor somehow was God then he would not have said since life crawled out of the sea, he would have said since I raised them from the dust wouldnt he? So that rather silly plot thread is better for its absence from the final story, and John Nathan Turner showed good sense in not allowing this viewpoint to truly manifest in this script. Good man indeed.
Aside from that, the story is so enjoyable and funny and entertaining. It again boasts the excellent fact that the Cybermen do more than just convert people yet again. This time they, like the neo nazis and Lady Peinforte are after the Nemesis, a statue made out of valedium, a living metal. The fight scenes in this story are some of the most impressive ever in the history of Doctor Who. Both the nazi-cyber fight and the Ace scenes with Ace towards the end of the story!
And Sylv is rather like Tom with this story, really finally getting his teeth into the role and coming up trumps with brilliant acting and charisma.
But one has to say it is the humour of this tale that is at the fore. "They will eat us" still cracks me up to this day every time I see it. And though my Dad thinks the chess castling scene with the Cybermen makes them look stupid, I think it is flipping funny!!!
But this story does bring the mystery back to the character of the Doctor. Leaving it open to debate was a good idea....he is half human...and what else more is to come? I dont know. I just hope they continue to make stories as good as these two stories for a long time to come...or at least for another 3 years til the shows fiftieth anniversary...it really doesnt seem possible...
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| What a brilliant story... |
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| What: | Legend of the Cybermen (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 15 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
At last...a cyberman story with a difference.
I can think of no better thing than a sequel to the brilliant Mind Robber all those years ago when dear old Pat was the Doc and time travelling was exhilerating and fun and scary all at the same time. And as a sequel to that masterful story, this story also succeeds admirably.
It is good to have a plot invloving cybermen when they are doing more than simply converting people. This time they are after the master brain!
And what brilliant twists and turns there are all along the way in this tale. Jamie not being real as the big reveal at the end of episode two is quite brilliantly done and scripted, and rather saddening. It adds a dark overtone to this trilogy of Colin Baker stories.
And when the good old Doc finally gets Zoe away from the Land of Fiction and she loses her memory once more, it really is a sad end to the series.
And to hear the toy soldiers clunking along again! What nostalgic brilliance. And that creepy void echo is back again. A real otherworldy score which definitely chills one to the bone.
I have only one complaint about this story: The white robot sound isnt the same!!! What a felony! But one cant have everything and maybe Big finish wanted to put there own touch onto these classic robots. After all, they have been updated I suppose. This is one of the strongest Doctor Who audio tales since No Man's Land....Brilliant stuff!
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| Pretty flipping good to be honest... |
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| What: | The Day of the Daleks (BBC classic series videos) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 15 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
If the Dakeks had totally conquered the earth in the 22nd century, then actually they probably wouldnt need to go about exterminating everything. They are simply shown realistically as rulers, which is what they have become. With 7 8ths of the worlds population destroyed and all that!!!! They still convey menace and alienness in this story, their presence is not belittled or wasted. They are just totally self assured of their victory over the earth and time that they become careless. Nothing too unbelievable there.
And I cant believe that neither Jon or Katy particularly liked this story, when it is perhaps one of the strongest stories of the whole of Jon Pertwee's time as the Doctor. It has very good acting moments, good amounts of action. Very good desisgn, especially with the Ogrons, a very convincing alien for once.
And the paradox is very well unravelled and portrayed. Jon's acting is as usual brilliant and commanding. He truly was excellent as the Doctor in his time.
The ending may not have been the absolute million dollar action packed finale some had hoped for, but unlike many scenes of Doctor Who it is still competent and believable, and not quite as bad as all that. This really is a story packed with good vinatge DOCTOR WHO.
Oh, and i dont see how it could be many other aliens in Who that could have been the villain in this piece. Well, at least not the Cybermen, as they would have converted, and not exterminated almost everyone....absolute Doctor Who gold!!!!
This is probably one of the few target novels that is actualy better than the TV story. The problem with the tv story is that its 7 episodes long, and thats probably 2 epsodes to long. This book gets rid of all the padding of the tv. But the best thing about this book is that you can do the special effects in your mind (in my head the dinosaur looks real :) ).
Malcolm Hulke is my favorite writer of Doctor who, and with this book he delivers a great story again. I would have loved to see what he could have done with the new series of novels.
But like his War Games, i would read this novel before i watched the tv story.
| What: | Death Comes to Time (Miscellaneous audio dramas) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Monday 9 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
In a sense, Death Comes to Time finally gives us Time Lords as they always should have been. Much here seems to bring them back to their original conception, as seen in The War Games, in which they made their first appearance. Finally, we see here some great and mysterious powers once again... not just a highly technically advanced but degenerate society.
However, with the Time Lords like this, and indeed the Doctor very much being one of them, the inescapable question of the entire premise of the original series comes up. If this is how the Time Lords really are, why would the Doctor have gone on the run from them? And having done so, how could he ever regain such a position among them?
And so, in this respect, Death Comes to Time is both tantalizing and troublesome at the same time.
Aside from the question of the Time Lords' characteristics, this is a very interesting production and a good story, and it gives us a look at some real Time Lord spirituality, or profound philosophy, if you prefer, in the scenes featuring Ace's training, which also seems a natural but previously unexplored development. We also have the military campaign of General Tannis, who is well-played in a very full-on way by John Sessions, and we find out that there is much more to this than first meets the eye. The cast overall offers a high-quality array of talent, which is mostly used pretty well.
Whether or not the total structure of this drama really works is debatable, as it seems rather disjointed at times, but it cannot be said that the script was unambitious. It's almost like each episode is a separate story, joined together in an arc.
I first viewed this story online as it was first broadcast. At that time, I was very unhappy with the ending. On listening again recently, I would now say that the ending does work. In my first viewing, the diversion into the Bush and Blair impersonations, along with the sudden and brief appearance of the Brigadier just seemed too jarring and schlocky, but somehow this didn't cause a problem on the second listening. I also remember being initially perplexed over the choice of Sylvester McCoy for this story, after the TV movie, and with the Eighth Doctor line of books being in full bloom at the time. But this story makes great use of the seventh Doctor, and McCoy really shines here.
Unique, and too interesting to miss.
| What: | Sword of Orion (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Andrew Shaw, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 9 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
This story reminded me of the Tom Baker story Revenge of the Cybermen, because of the background musicit made it feel as though it was part of that story after it happened or before, I guesses early on about the new female captain and I thought they should have left them and saved themselves because they said they had waited so long and time didnt matter so what would a bit more time hurt otherwise I enjoyed this Cyberman story + I might of enjoyed it more than I should because Ive been listenig to stories mainly around places on planets and was looking forward to being back on a ship.
| What: | Apollo 23 (BBC New Series Adventures novels) |
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| By: | C G Harwood, Dunedin, NZ, New Zealand |
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| Date: | Sunday 8 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
If this is going to be the standared for the 11th Doctor novels then we are in for a great period of Dr Who. I went into this with no expecttions and was absolutly thrilled with what i got. All the charactors were well writen and i generaly cared about all of them. The Doctor and Amy were also well writen and the bit with the parking warden at the start was one of the funnest things I have read or watched in Dr Who (always wondered what would happen if you showed the wrong side of the psychic paper).
The plot was good, even if the aleans were a little bit hard to belive but it didnt take me out of the story. And i like the nod to the Troughton story Seeds of death with the with the T-mat transport system between the earth and the moon.
Great story, great writing and if this is what we have in store for us, then I am one very happy fan. I would love to give this to Mr Moffit and see what he could do with this on TV (wishfull thinking).
No hesatation in giving this a 9 out of 10
| What: | The Marian Conspiracy (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Andrew Shaw, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 7 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
This was an enjoyable historical story great characers and it showed queen mary in a different light a few small problems tho the stuff Evelyn takes back with her could change or alter history by giving people ideas about things and they brushed off the idea about witchcraft just because she said it wasnt it would take moe than that to convince people back then I dont like it when the Doctor breaks his own laws by saving peopl especially a whole family.
| What: | Whispers of Terror (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Andrew Shaw, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 7 August 2010 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
This story I think couldnt have worked as a TV episode with it being on audio you get all the atmosphere and character quality to noy i at its best, you can sit there listening t this and imagine the story going ahead.
