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Entertaining start to the series of new adventures. picking up where the original series finished after the last episode survival. John Peel does a good job with the first book. and the story is of a more adult nature which i enjoyed. well worth reading
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 | a great start point to the eighth doctor |
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a great little story, moves along at a steady pace. not Charles Dickens by any means but it is a great introduction to the eighth Doctors adventures. once i started reading found it hard to put down. a brilliant trip down memory lane. i always enjoy a Terrance Dicks story never to taxing to read. best part for me was when the eighth doctor meet up with the sixth doctor.you can just see Colin Baker saying these lines. not to be underestimated.
Best new Who book, not only a gripping story but a vast range of characters which can be related to. One of the most thrilling Who reads ever.
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| Atmospheric, Eerie, Suspenseful Drama |
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| What: | A Thousand Tiny Wings (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug, Pocono Summit, PA, USA |
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| Date: | Monday 22 March 2010 |
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| Rating: |   9 |
What a treat! A Thousand Tiny Wings is a real change of pace. There really isn't a whole lot happening in this story, yet the suspense and rich atmosphere that are quickly established create a very enjoyable and gripping listening experience. This is accomplished due in no small part to the work of the excellent cast, the intelligent, flowing and sometimes witty script, and the direction and sound design, which really transports the listener to 1950s Kenya. Klein's presence in all of it is fascinating, and gives the whole story a big extra dimension. She featured in Colditz, another of these productions from way back in 2001 - a Nazi woman (or at least a woman associated with the Nazis) from an alternate Earth in which the Nazis won World War II. What results here is a rather relaxed, confined setting, and a slow-going yet suspenseful story, as opposed to a more grand plot unfolding in some vast space with fast-paced action. It gives the feel of a simpler time long ago, while including a bit of stark strangeness and mystery. McCoy's Seventh Doctor is great fun here, and the alien of the story is a rather imaginative creation.
Lots to like - highly recommended!
| What: | The Talons of Weng-Chiang (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 22 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
It's no surprise 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang' was recently voted #4 in DWM's 'Mighty 200' survey. It's not just good Doctor Who - it's also great telly.
Superb location work, brilliant period costumes and a wonderful story to tie it all up, this really is one of Doctor Who's all-time classics. In my opinion it is far better than 'Genesis of the Daleks' (#3 in DWM's poll) but no worries. No doubt many fans remembered the mass of brown carpet that is the giant sewer rat (but then there's the Genesis cave clam, so fair do's?).
Actor-wise, Baker and Jameson are great in their detective work in this story, plus there's Litefoot & Jago, and don't forget Michael Spice as Weng-Chiang/Magnus Greel: a voice to be reckoned with.
Not great extras, but to be honest I'm not bothered: 1) The story more than makes up for it, and 2) A special edition of the story is released in 2010, so no doubt this problem will be solved.
Overall, one of Doctor Who's all time greats.
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| The Seeds of Death... Version 2! |
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| What: | The Seeds of Death (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 22 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Here's another v2 review, this time it's 'The Seeds of Death'...
Season 6 is easily my favourite of Patrick Troughton's - lots of good monsters coupled with big, beefy stories. 'The Seeds of Death' is the Second Doctor's third-from-last story, and is the last great black and white 'base under siege' story, with 'The Space Pirates' being a space opera and 'The War Games' being an intelligent epic.
On to the story. The Ice Warriors return in cracking style, with a clever plan. Alan Bennion as Slaar is particularly good. Other guest stars on top form include Louise Pajo as Miss Kelly, and Ronald Leigh-Hunt as Commander Radnor.
The extras on this 2003 DVD are, as one might expect, not amazing. 'Sssowing the Ssseedsss' is an OK documentary, but it would have to wait for 2010 and 'The Curse of Peladon' for there to be a definitive documentary on the Ice Warriors. 'The Last Dalek' (later featured on the 'Lost in Time' boxset) is a bit out of place, giving us some footage from 'The Evil of the Daleks', a story from Season 4!
Overall, a superb story - the extras aren't great, but let it go; for '03 they're not too bad.
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| finally the Toymaker returns! |
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Being a big fan of both Colin Baker and the Celestial Toymaker I quickly snapped up the novelization of the Nightmare fair, and I have to admit to being a bit disappointed. There was nothing wrong with the story, or any of the characters, but it was definetly lacking something.
After hearing the audio version, however, I can say for certain that what it was lacking was the performers! The Nightmare fair was written to be seen, or, failing that, be heard. Colin Baker was on top form with his wonderful dialogue with the Toymaker and other bizarre characters throughout the story. I especially enjoyed the sound of his reaction to the roller coaster!
This is a must have for any fan of the sixth Doctor, or any fan of the series, come to that!
Leviathan is a great mixture of classic english horror meets Dr Who. Colin is given the chance to show us how he would carry his Dr forward and this story would have made great TV (with a good budget of course), worth a listen.
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| Falls at the final hurdle |
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Expectations for the final of the trilogy were high, being left after a strong cliff hanger from the previous episode.
Architects one its own is a classic doctor who, moonbase, aliens, invasions. Enjoyble but as an end to the trilogy it falls flat loosing its way.
This is a really fun book to read. I found the characters to be quite believable, and it was nice to see the first incarnation of Romana (she only had one season in the original series, and I've only seen a few appearances by her since then). The main reason I bought this novel was for the return of Mr. Sin, who was one of my favorite villians from the Tom Baker era. It was gratifying that David A McIntee was able to not only bring him back, but made him just as creepy as he was in the original. The novel is worth reading just to find out what finally happens to him!
All in, if you can get a copy of this, do so. The read is well worth it.
This adventure is really one of the reasons I got into Doctor Who in the first place. It's a fun, fast paced story that makes you think while playing with the myths of the time period. It was interesting to see the Krillitane again, and learn a bit more about their culture and what leads them to be the way they are.
On the whole this book is well worth reading, although it can not be classified as high art, but then, very few Doctor Who books can be classified as such.
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| Before He Was "The" Doctor |
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| What: | Frayed (Telos novellas) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 12 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Tara Samms is, as most by now know, really Stephen Cole. The novel is an interesting mix of Doctor Who and Philip K. Dick. The Doctor and Susan some time prior to "An Unearthly Child" but very soon after their escape from Gallifrey, land on a colony planet in trouble. The two get split up, hence the two types of stories. Susan finds herself trapped in a weird world that seems to be the construct of a girl named Jill. The Doctor, separated from Susan, tries to find her, but gets corralled into trying to save the colony from falling totally apart. The Susan half is the Philip K. Dick part, providing a "what is reality, anyway?" story, and the Doctor half presents us with the idea that these events lead the Doctor to become the interventionist he will be. Characters in the novel are difficult to like. I figured out what was going on long before other characters did, and I assume most readers will have a similar experience. The novel has an interesting concept and certainly gives early Doctor Who a contemporary science fiction makeover. Think of Neal Stephenson writing Doctor Who and you may get the sense of what this story is about.
| What: | Time and Relative (Telos novellas) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 12 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
The Telos novellas were a publishing venture allowing authors to use Doctor Who elements and take them anywhere they wanted. These were to be deliberately different from the TV series. "Time And Relative" fulfills this brief. Told in the form of pages from Susan's diary and taking place a few months prior to events in "An Unearthly Child," the story focuses on how a teen mind views events that might end up in a Doctor Who adventure. The setting is the great freeze of 1963, which actually did happen, though for unclear reasons Newman offsets the date. In this version, we see the Doctor and Susan as they were in the unaired pilot episode, the Doctor cold and generally unsympathetic, taking a very strict "hands off" policy, and Susan struggling to maintain her superior aloofness, but also highly sympathetic to the human point of view. The limit to one point of view means that we do not get to see all that is happening, and much is guessing and inference.
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| Round And Round And Round... |
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| What: | The Time Travellers (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 12 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Time travel paradox stories are difficult to work effectively. The trouble is not returning to strict cause-effect thinking. So, the resolution does not fully work. That being said, the premise of the story is very interesting. It reminds me of a classic "Outer Limits" adventure. The Doctor and companions arrive in London, but swiftly find out that this is not their London, but one belonging to a parallel time track, or an altered future. The culprit is a device that the users think is a time machine. However, it does not work in time machine fashion. One person goes in, but copies of that person from parallel time tracks start coming out. The original has been inserted into one of those parallel tracks. The Doctor and crew must somehow get things back to their proper order. It is interesting enough, and has many twists. For me, the problem in reading this novel was that too many characters do what they do for stupid reasons.
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| The World Does End With A Bang |
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| What: | City At World's End (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 12 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Bulis has a well-worn methodology of taking some subgenre of science fiction and making Doctor Who out of it. Sometimes it works, but more often it does not. In this one it works reasonably well. In fact, this is one of his best. The subgenre is the end of the world by natural disaster story. However, since, for various reasons, in the Who universe the Earth did not end by natural disaster, Bulis has set the book on a colony world. Typical of Bulis, he has split the story into different plot streams converging upon a single location. What works in this novel is that Bulis does not overplay the genre aspects as he is wont to do. Instead, he focuses on the story itself given the initial premises. The disaster is impending, the escape is improbable, and something seriously wrong with the whole plan means that many many people will die. Bulis has created a kind of David Whitaker or Malcolm Hulke plot in which there are no "bad guys" as such, just people deluded, and therefore following a disastrous course of action that they think is right. There are some confusing bits involving Susan's plot that never get satisfactorily worked out (just which parts was she dreaming and why was she dreaming them?). Recommended with reservations.
| What: | The Ultimate Treasure (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 12 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Doctor Five and Peri arrive at a supermall in space and shortly get forced into going on a quest. Christopher Bulis rather likes quests. The plot basically follows along the lines of "The Five Doctors." We have several parties converging on the same super-secret object that will grant its obtainer an impossible dream. Of course, the treasure is not what it seems. Bulis also likes to get the female companions out of the action, so Peri spends a large part of the novel captive to an outer space mafia goon. For genre writing with the emphasis on generic, Bulis is the man.
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| Doctor Who Does Lord Of The Rings |
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| What: | The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 12 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
The Bulis schtick is simple: take the Doctor Who characters and stick them in some genre story, then try to give that genre story science-fictional justification. So, we have the Doctor and crew arriving on a planet complete with dragons, witches, sorcerers, and various other objects from the swords and sorcery handbag. There's a quest, a big wizard v. wizard showdown, plot, counterplot, knights, daring-do, and all the rest of it. Typical for a Bulis novel, none of it is particularly deep. Instead, it just plods on its inexorable course given the initial material.
| What: | Venusian Lullaby (Missing Adventures novels) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Friday 12 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Paul Leonard's first Doctor novel is both exciting and infuriating. Fast-paced, action-packed, and several other hyphenated adjectives, the plot moves at a great clip. There are no clunker lines, and Leonard steers well clear of fan stroking. The greatest strength of the book is Leonard's realization of the Venusian people. He gives them a decidedly alien identity and social structure that makes sense for them. One of the drawbacks is that most of the characters have weird names not conforming to common naming systems, making it very difficult to keep track of characters. The main drawback, and this is probably a matter of personal taste on my part, is how violent and gory this novel is. Leonard devotes almost half the pages, or so it seems, to vivid descriptions murder and death. Barbara and Ian get lacerated, beaten up, punched, kicked, dropped, blown up, and thrown about so badly that their survival feels like the most improbable happenstance in the entire book. And all of it in just one day. In sum: top marks for concept, a few demerits for execution.
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| First Men in the Moon, meets the Nazi |
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Survival scores on many levels, challenging Nazi ideals of living space and the master race etc. For me the back story of our new Nazi partner is excellent and carries the story forward.
Then there are smells, the nest and the buzz of insects which comes across powerfully and really reminds you of what audio can deliver at it's best.
Finally a great cliff hanger, which finds you asking many questions, looking forward to the next episode. Great.
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| Black Guardian - calm down! |
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| What: | The Black Guardian Trilogy (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Huw Davies, Taunton, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Saturday 6 March 2010 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
Season 20 was to feature a returning villain in each episode, and these three feature one from Tom Baker's Key to Time series...
'Mawdryn Undead' kicks things off brilliantly, with a really timey-wimey, dimensions-and-all-that story. The Brigadier returns (as a school teacher - it's obvious Ian Chesterton was meant to come back!) and we also meet Turlough, who proves to be the most inept assassin TV has ever seen. The story (literally) ends with a bang, and its ending is very satisfying.
'Terminus'... it sends a shiver down any Who fan's spine. Dodgy model work (more on that later), lepers and a fat dog - this is as horrid as the green-brown colour that graces the box, and it's one of the Doctor's all-time clangers. The only good scene is the one with Nyssa leaving (WHY?!) and of course the super Black Guardian.
'Enlightenment' is a funny one. It's great TV, yes, and a super story - don't get me wrong: but is it good Doctor Who? For me, it's a bit too... well, good. It all seems too suptuous, too grand, and I'm glad it's been re-imagined as a movie, which is the format in which it belongs.
The extras are nice on this set: optional CGI on the first two, a 3-part documentary narrated by 'Floella Benjamin OBE' (something tells me she insisted on those letters being included) and of course the Enlightenment Special Edition. My one problem is the effects on the latter - they're a bit out of date by about 4 or 5 years it seems, but the movie format alone helps it stand out.
