Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles 6.05 - The First Wave

What does a Vardan need with a spaceship?

Steven and Oliver

 
Cast:

Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
Oliver Harper - Tom Allen
The Vardans - Lisa Bowerman

Synopsis:

"Caught in the inevitable path of its own history, the TARDIS arrives on the planetoid Grace Alone, where the Doctor, Steven and Oliver expect to face their fate. What they don’t expect to find is a massacred crew – and a race of alien invaders known as the Vardans."

Review:

This episode plays off the fact that the radio signals we've been creating for years are getting sent out into space and still travelling. An alien species picks up the signals and comes to our solar system. We pick up the story with Steven and (new companion created for the audio series) Oliver trying to survive this alien attack, stranded on an mining colony, and with The Doctor dead.

The first part is good and concentrates most on Steven reflecting on the past whilst trying to survive the alien attack with Oliver with occsional flashbacks that set up the story to the point we're at now. The story itself is pretty simple, but also an interesting one and slightly unexpected in places, and leaves enough of the plot to focus on Steven's reflections which is really well done.

A bit more happens in the second part with some nice twists and a good conclusion to the story and triology. In all, it's a really good sentimental story with a great musical arrangement to compliment it.

Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection


Written by: Simon Guerrier
Directed by: Lisa Bowerman
Produced by: Big Finish
Released: 8th November 2011

Doctor Who Companion Chronicles 6.03 - The Memory Cheats

Zoe Herriot

Cast:


Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
Jen - Charlie Hayes


Synopsis:


"Zoe Heriot remembers everything. But she remembers nothing. 

A genius with instant recall, Zoe’s mind has been purged of her memories of travelling with the Doctor and Jamie in the TARDIS. And years later she is in deep trouble – prosecuted by the mysterious company that has evidence that she has travelled in Space and Time.

Except Zoe knows they’re wrong.

Aren’t they?

But if that’s the case, why is there proof that Zoe was in Uzbekistan in 1919.

Can the memory cheat?"


Review

It's a tricky one this. I really wanted to like it because Zoe is a great character with a lot of clever storytelling potential, and the set up of it with Zoe being questioned about her time with The Doctor is good. She can't remember this herself due to memory blocks placed by the Timelords but with the help of documents and things, her interrogator works with Zoe to regain her memories. This part of the story is great and has a fantastic conclusion, and it's generally these vehicles in which the companion stories are told which are the most interesting parts. Unfortunately in this case, the story told by Zoe and her interrogator isn't all that interesting and really drags at times. This would have worked much better as a shorter story focusing more on the interactions between the two characters rather than the story they're telling.


Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection


Written by: Simon Guerrier
Directed by: Lisa Bowerman
Produced by: Big Finish
Released: September 2011

REVIEW: Doctor Who 153 - The Silver Turk

Eighth Doctor & Mary Shelley




 SYNOPSIS:

"Roll up! Roll up! To the great Viennese Exposition, where showman Stahlbaum will show you his most wonderful creation, the Silver Turk – a mechanical marvel that will not only play for you the fortepiano, the spinet and the flute, it will play you at the gaming table too!

But when the Doctor brings his new travelling companion Mary Shelley to nineteenth-century Vienna, he soon identifies the incredible Turk as one of his deadliest enemies – a part-machine Cyberman.

And that’s not even the worst of the horrors at large in the city… "

CAST:

The Doctor - Paul McGann
Mary Shelley - Julie Cox
Dr Johan Drossel - Gareth Armstrong
Alfred Stahlbaum - Christian Brassington
Ernst Bratfisch - David Schneider
Count Rolf Wittenmeier - Gwilym Lee
Countess Mitzi Wittenmeier - Claire Wyatt
The Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs


REVIEW:

Here we are, the welcome return of the Eighth Doctor to the monthly range. Now we get full four part stories rather than just the two of the Eighth Doctor Adventues. What we don't have though is either Lucie Miller or Charlie Pollard. Instead, The Doctor has a brand new toy to play with, this new toy coming in the form of new regular companion Mary Shelly.

I love the first part of this with The Doctor excited to show his new companion the delights of travel through space and time and Mary Shelly not being quite as impressed as others would be. The first half of this story not only has the joy of getting to know a new companion relationship, but there's also a Cyberman who is performing for its human master - playing piano, challenging people to games - as he takes it on tour. Nothing much really happens in the first half but it all gels together into an interesting narrative.

Eventually The Doctor and his companion split up so we lose their chemistry from the story, but we do gain an interesting twist to the Cyberman's story. The writer, Marc Platt, does a great job of making you care for Cyberman. If you're looking for action, there's very little of it here but there are plently of great character pieces in this story.

Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection

Writer: Marc Platt
Director: Barnaby Edwards
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: October 2011

Doctor Who Companion Chronicles 3.07 - The Transit Of Venus

Ian Chesterton

Cast:

Ian Chesterton - William Russell
Joseph Banks - Ian Hallard


Synopsis:

"The year is 1770, and daring explorer Captain James Cook and his crew on the Endeavour are navigating the Pacific Ocean.

Into their midst come strangers: the Doctor and Ian Chesterton, who are believed to have come from Venus. But the TARDIS is lost to them - along with both Susan and Barbara - and Ian makes an enemy of the ship's chief scientist, Joseph Banks.

Why is Banks acting strangely? Could it be that the travellers are not the only visitors from the stars?"

Review:

The first time I listened to this was before I'd even watched any Classic Doctor Who and this is the very tiny review I gave it at the time :-

"The Transit Of Venus (Ian) - 4/7 - Reasonably entertaining but lacked any action or tension and had a rather poor conclusion."

Lets see how it holds up now I know the characters involved and the storylines referenced.

I think I can say that my previous review pretty much sums it up. Ian and The Doctor are stranded on Captain Cook's ship Endeavour while Susan and Barbara are lost with the TARDIS. The scientist Joseph Banks has an apparant evil side to him and only Ian can see it but nobody believes him.

The story itself was quite entertaining despite the lack of action or any real tension. It was like a battle of witts almost between Ian and the Evil Banks, with a build up of suspense trying to find out exactly what Banks is up to and what his plan is. He was positively menacing towards Ian at points and that nobody would believe Ian due to being delirious made it all the more interesting till the "Oh, it was all a joke?" conclusion. That's not how it ended by the way, but suffice it to sy, I found it highly disappointing and didn't entirely make sense. It also negates and makes pointless the whole build up to it, it's like an equivalent of "and then he woke up" in the satisfaction stakes, and then they all laugh it off. It's like they had an interesting idea for a story, wrote it, and then just threw together a conclusion without caring.

It seemed rushed, brushed over quickly, and I feel cheated.

Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection

Writer: Jaqueline Rayner
Director: Nigel Fairs
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: 31st Jan 2009

Doctor Who 152 - House Of Blue Fire

Seventh Doctor



Cast:

The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Dr Magnus Soames - Timothy West
No 18 - Amy Pemberton
No 5 - Miranda Keeling
No 16 - Ray Emmet Brown
No 12 - Howard Gossington
Eve Pritchard/Mi'en Kalarash - Lizzy Watts





Synopsis:

"aquaphobia n. An abnormal fear of water, or drowning.

blattodephobia n. The morbid fear of cockroaches.

catoptrophobia n. Fear of mirrors, or seeing one’s own reflection.

There’s a whole ABC of horrors at Bluefire House – as four young people, drawn together to this tumbledown hotel at the edge of nowhere, are about to discover. But whatever the ancient and foul thing that has emerged from the wilderness to drag them here, speaking of it will only strengthen it.

The Doctor alone knows what lurks at the heart of Bluefire House. But the monster of his childhood dreams is coming. The Mi’en Kalarash is coming…

Just this once, the Doctor’s afraid."

Review:


I don't know if it's the character I don't like, the over-acting I don't like, or the Cockney accent that makes it sound like over-acting that I don't like, but from the start, I didn't like (bet you didn't see that coming did you?) Number 18 so thankfully we weren't called upon to sit through an entire first episode of just her and another character... oh, wait. Her companion for the first part, Number 5, was pleasant though and just about held up a pretty non-eventful exploration of an almost abandoned hotel before finally bumping into the rest of the cast, including The Doctor.

The second part continues with the same pace set by the first. As everyone are becoming haunted by their own fears and people die, it still feels like nothing is happening story wise. Which would be okay if it was more of a character study or an analysis into the nature of fear, but it's not that either. It's still proving to be entertaining though but with a nagging sense in the background of waiting for something to happen.

Things are then spun on its head for the second half with a good cliffhanger and plenty happening as The Doctor tries to save the day. A good resolution to the threat and the two halves do compliment each other. Also, I'm really pleased with how the story ended and look forward to the next one.

I was going to be harsh but I think it deserves the following score.

Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection

Writer: Mark Morris
Director: Ken Bentley
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: September 2011

Doctor Who 151 - Doomsday Quatrain

Seventh Doctor

CAST:

Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Nostradamus/Conclave Leader - David Schofield
Brors/Captain of the Guard/Bernardo - John Banks
Garilund/Computer Voice - Caroline Keiff
Kren/Second Nuncio - Derek Carlyle
Larrett/Milo/First Nuncio - Nicholas Chambers

SYNOPSIS:

"When the river is gone, ships shall sail in the sky, monsters bring fire from the heavens. All will fall into a grey and endless sea, and Doomsday has come.
Florence, the sixteenth century. No one thought to pay much attention to the prophecies of the so-called seer Michel de Nostradame, otherwise known as Nostradamus. Until the canals of Venice dried. Until the soothsayer's sayings started coming true…
Because Master Nostradamus is right, in all respects. The end of the world is nigh. The ships are coming. The monsters are coming. The fire is coming. There's only one thing he didn’t see coming, in fact: the sudden apparition of a certain strange Doctor, in his even stranger TARDIS. Today, the Earth dies screaming. And all the Doctor can do is watch."

REVIEW:



Before I start, I enjoyed this. It was a very entertaining story with some good acting and direction. It is not however, without a lot faults. Most of them pinned squarely down on the writers.

The writing was not exactly brilliantly designed for the audio medium with too much describing what what was happening to the point of it being obvious. The story starts out in Venice and almost immediately the twist is revealed which left me wondering why for two episodes, The Doctor seemed uncharacteristally ignorant of it. That is untill at the end of the second part, they revealed the twist that had already been practically spelled out in the first part. They seemed to go to great lengths to explain what was happening but holding back a tiny little part as if only that part reveals the twist.
I did like the inclusion of Nostradamus, though for a while it seemed like he was superfluous to the story and there to just help sell the 'cover story' before the 'twist', but he proved to play a vital role and set things up for the other episodes in the Seventh Doctor's run.

This story did have a lot of potential and could have examined some of the themes it introduced but were left pretty much untouched in favour of a pretty standard, if not entertaining, story.

Could this duo be my new Cavan Scott & Mark Wright?

SCORE:


0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection

Writer: Emma Beeby & Gordon Rennie
Director: Ken Bentley
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: September 2011

Doctor Who: Serpent Crest Part 1 - Tsar Wars

Fourth Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey

CAST:

The Doctor - Tom Baker
Mrs Wibbsey - Susan Jameson
Father Gregory - Tom Baker
Tsar - Michael Jayston
Tsarina - Suzy Aitchison
Boolin - Simon Shepherd
Lucius - Sam Hoare
Server Robot / Rebel - Paul Chequer
Server Robot / Rebel - Grant Gillespie
Server Robot / Rebel - Gabriel Vick

SYNOPSIS:

The Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey are catapulted from present day Earth to a futuristic civilisation in a distant galaxy. At the Robotov Palace they find the Tsar and Tsarina ruling over their empire whilst human workers toil on satellite moons. The Doctor is mistaken for an old ally of the Tsarina's, but then suspected of treason when the Palace comes under attack. Dark secrets are lurking in the shadows, and the mysterious Father Gregory will set off a chain of events which have long-lasting consequences for the Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey.

REVIEW:

Tom Baker returns for a third series in the AudioGo range, but this time it's got an all new improved format. It's now a fully fledged audio play rather than the halfway between an audiobook and an audio play the previous ones were. Gone is the narration, Mike Yates, and also unfortunately, my interest.

The Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey are whisked away through a wormhole to a distant world where the robots have overthrown their human creators and are in the middle of a civil war. The Tsar mistakes The Doctor for Father Gregory as the only one who can save his sickly son, meanwhile the rebel human forces are poised for attack. From here on in, it's very much like a Doctor-lite episode with him taking the background to what's happening. The trouble here though is, not that The Doctor doesn't appear to be in it much, but that what's happening is not very interesting. The ending was decent enough and set up the remaining parts but not showing much promise at the minute despite the improved format.

Trailer

SCORE:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection

Writer: Paul Magrs
Director: Kate Thomas
Publisher: AudioGO
Release Date: 8th September, 2011

REVIEW: Doctor Who 150 - Recorded Time And Other Stories

Sixth Doctor and Peri

A collection of four short stories featuring the Sixth Doctor and Peri.


Recorded Time

Synopsis

The TARDIS travellers find themselves at the court of Henry VIII, where the tragic Anne Boleyn will soon be discarded by her King in favour of the lovely Perpugilliam Brown. Or so it is written…

Cast

Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker
Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant
Henry VIII - Paul Shearer
Anne Boleyn - Laura Molyneux
Scrivener - Philip Bretherton
Marjorie - Rosanna Miles

Review

The Doctor and Peri meet King Henry VIII and Ann Bolynn. Obviously getting mistaken for entertainment, they provide an amusing start to the story, possibly too long a start though because what is meant to be the main point of the story is not really introduced till near the end and is wrapped up very quickly in one scene. An interesting concept that could have been explored a bit more but a decent fun episode nonetheless.

Score: 4/7

Written by: Catherine Harvey
Directed by: Ken Bentley



Paradoxicide

Synopsis

On the legendary lost planet of Sendos, the Doctor and Peri find themselves caught up in the hunt for the cache of galaxy-busting super-weapons stored inside its fabled Armoury.

Cast

Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker
Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant
Inquisa - Raquel Cassidy
Centuria/Ship - Joan Walker
Barond - James George
Volsci - Laura Molyneux/Rosanna Miles


Review

Discovering a voice message from Peri herself, they go to the planet Sendos to discover its origins. What follows is a very entertaining and wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey adventure that's crammed full of stuff it's almost hard to believe this was a single episode. The enemies appear quite formiddable and cunning at first but soon prove to be amongst the most inept and stupid encountered today and totally deserve whatever fate befalls them, so while the explanation and eventual conclusion of the story is good, the enemies never feel like a threat. A very entertaining and good episode.

Score: 5/7

Written by: Richard Dinnick
Directed by: Ken Bentley





A Most Excellent Match

Synopsis


It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single girl in possession of a mind of her own must be in want of a husband. But which of Miss Peri Brown's rival suitors will be the one to win her hand: handsome Mr Darcy, or the mysterious Doctor?

Cast

Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker
Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant
Tilly - Rosanna Miles
Darcy/D'Urberville/Heathcliff - Philip Bretherton
Cranton - Paul Shearer

Review

You know all those really good holonovel stories from Star Trek? No? Neither do I, but for some reason they thought it a good idea to have one in Doctor Who. Essentially, this story can be boiled down to 'A computer gets a virus and The Doctor tries to fix it' and it's about as interesting. Peri gets trapped in a holonovel, a virus entity traps her there, The Doctor has to go into the holonovel and defeat the virus in the story with logic and legal reasoning. Sometimes, The Doctor is good at talking his way out of situations, this time isn't one. One of the worst things I've heard from Doctor Who in a while. Ridiculous concept with only the barest hint of danger, set in a totally uninteresting Jane Eyre backround... just terrible..... Oh, you want something positive? The Doctor did have a few good lines.

Score: 2/7

Written by: Matt Fitton
Directed by: Ken Bentley



Question Marks

Synopsis


Five survivors of an unknown catastrophe wake to find themselves caught in an inescapable trap. But can the oddly-dressed man in the question-marked collar work out what's really going on before time runs out – for good?


Cast


Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker
Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant
Destiny Gray - Raquel Cassidy
Greg Stone - James George
Arnie McAllister - Joe Jameson


Review

Maybe one or two technical gripes, but none that detract from what was a fantastic story. The Doctor, Peri, and crew aboard a ship of some kind awaken with no memory of how they got there or who they are. A fast paced story follows as they try to discover what happened as dangers creeps up them every second. The story, playing more with the situation they are in rather than their memories, or lack thereoff, kept it flowing with tension building all the way till the rather clever, and possibly somewhat emotional, reveal and conclusion. W--ks very well on audio with some fantastic atmospheric directing and sound design.

Score: 6/7

Written by: Philip Lawrence
Directed by: Ken Bentley

REVIEW: Doctor Who Companion Chronicles 6.02 - The Rocket Men

Ian Chesterton (and Vicky, Barbara, and The First Doctor)

Cast:

Ian Chesterton - William Russell
Ashman - Gus Brown

Synopsis:

The TARDIS has landed on Platform Five, a floating city in the sky of the planet Jobis, and for a time the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki get the chance to enjoy this idyllic place.

And then the Rocket Men arrive, led by the sadistic Ashman.

When the only other option to certain death is suicide, Ian Chesterton takes the gamble of his life…

Review:

I like the idea of this particular non-linear narrative structure, but for me unfortunately, it doesn't fare too well in execution. There's very little payoff anywhere to warrant it - no big reveal, no shocking twist, and no plot points gradually falling into place. It might be that it jumps about too much for my liking but I still think It's just a very average story plot-wise.

The main point of the story being about Ian's emotions, which technically I don't have a problem with, it just doesn't seem to reflect the Ian I know as characterised through the TV show - but maybe I'm being biased here.

The second half developed a bit of pace after the dreadfully slow first half and they did seem to try to fit in some worthy plot reveals to reflect the narrative structure but it was like they didn't commit to it enough and it felta little flat. A similar problem befell the aspect of Ian's emotions of which the story is based around - not enough time or scripting was committed to it.



Score:
0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection


Written by: John Dorney
Directed by: Lisa Bowerman
Produced by: Big Finish
Released: August 2011

REVIEW: Doctor Who The Lost Stories 2.6 - Earth Aid

Seventh Doctor & Ace ; and Raine

Cast:

Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Raine Creevy - Beth Chalmers
Ace - Sophie Aldred
Victor Espinosa - Paterson Joseph
Shepstay - Nadine Marshall
Yanikov - Basher Savage
Lt Baraki - Ingrid Oliver
Metatraxi - John Banks
Grub - Alex Mallinson

Synopsis:

Welcome aboard the space vessel Vancouver. Its mission: to guard a vast shipment of grain from Earth to the planet Safenesthome. Its medical officer is called simply ‘The Doctor’, and he’s perhaps not all he seems.

When mysterious ships target the Vancouver, the Doctor is pushed to the limit. Meanwhile, there’s something nasty in the grain containers. And it’s not very happy...

Review:

REVIEW: Doctor Who 149 - Robophobia

Seventh Doctor

Cast:

The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Liv Chenka/Elicien - Nicola Walker
Farel - Toby Hadoke
Bas Pellico - William Hazell
Selerat - Nicholas Pegg
Cravnet - Dan Starkey
Tal Karus/SV10 - Matt Addis
Leebar/Computer Voice - John Dorney
Robots - Matt Addis, Nicholas Briggs, John Dorney, Toby Hadoke, Dan Starkey




Synopsis:

Nothing has ever been officially confirmed, but there is a rumour that on a Sandminer, bound for Kaldor City, the robots somehow turned homicidal and nearly wiped out the entire crew. Can that really be true?

The robot transport ship Lorelei has a cargo of over 157,000 robots on board, all deactivated. So even if there were any truth in the rumour of that massacre, there'd still be no danger. Surely, there wouldn't...

But then, the Doctor witnesses a murder.

REVIEW: Doctor Who Companion Chronicles 6.01 - Tales From The Vault

Steven, Zoe, Jo Grant, and Romana I

Cast:

Captain Ruth Matheson - Daphne Ashbrook
Warrant Officer Charlie Sato - Yee Jee Tso
Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
Jo Grant - Katy Manning
Romana - Mary Tamm

Synopsis:

Welcome to The Vault - jokingly known as 'The Museum of Terrors' - a high security establishment where UNIT keeps all of its alien artifacts.

New recruit Warrant Officer Charlie Sato is given a guided tour by Captain Ruth Matheson, and the archive reveals some dark secrets. An army jacket, a painting, crystal and a wax cylinder all hold a grave significance, and their stories are told by the Doctor's companions: Steven Taylor, Zoe Heriot, Jo Grant and Romana...

REVIEW: Doctor Who Lost Stories 2.5: Animal

Seveth Doctor, Ace, & Raine

Cast

Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Ace - Sophie Aldred
Raine Creevy - Beth Chalmers
Winifred Bambera - Angela Bruce
Scobie - Anthony Lewis
Henrick/Metatraxi - John Banks
Willa - Dannielle Brent
Percy - Alex Mallinson
Juno - Clare Fraenkel






Synopsis

Margrave University in 2001, and Raine Creevy is enjoying her first trip into the future.

For the Doctor, there are mysteries to solve: what are the alien creatures imprisoned in the science labs? And what are the true motives of the student Scobie and his followers?

With enemies on all sides, the Doctor teams up with his old friend Brigadier Bambera and the forces of UNIT in a battle for the future of the whole world.

REVIEW: Torchwood: The Lost Files 3 - The House Of The Dead

CAST:

Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
Mrs Wintergreen - Rosalind Ayres
Barry - Bradley Freegard
Mr Jones/Tony - John Francis Harries
Helen - Lucy Davis
Ness - Moira Quirk
Late Arrival - Shelley Rees

SYNPOSIS:

The brewery have called 'time' and it's the last night at The House of the Dead - the most haunted pub in Wales. Barry the barman has invited renowned psychic, Mrs Wintergreen, to hold a special seance to mark the occasion, and there's a big crowd hoping for the chance of seeing their deceased loved ones for one last time. But when Jack arrives on the scene, he's determined to stop them. Ianto is puzzled by Jack's behaviour, and Gwen is suspicious. Why is Jack acting so strangely? Then the ghosts start arriving - and all hell breaks loose.

WARNING: Review contains spoilers.

REVIEW: Torchwood: The Lost Files 2 - Submission

CAST:

Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
Carlie Roberts - Erin Bennett
Sam Doyle - Angelo Tiffe
Captain Cudlow - John Francis Harries
Henry Goddard - John Lee


SYNPOSIS:

Torchwood are chasing aliens down the M4, when Jack accidentally blows a hole in the Severn Bridge, and the SUV hits the water. Whilst submerged John, Gwen and Ianto hear a strange noise, which, back at the Hub they realise is a cry for help. They track the cry to its source which turns out to be the deepest part of the Ocean - the Mariana Trench. Ianto rings old Torchwood flame, Carlie Roberts, who's an expert in marine geology, and Jack pulls strings with the US government to get them all on board the USS Calvin, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, which is heading for the Trench. From there they board the Octopus Rock, the only submarine built to withstand the pressure at that depth, and follow the signal. But when the Submarine crashes, the team are left at the mercy of a hungry alien.

REVIEW: Torchwood: The Lost Files 1 - The Devil And Miss Carew

CAST

Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
Fitzroy - Martin Jarvis
Miss Carew - Juliet Mills
Sian - Hayley J Williams
Uncle Bryn - James Walsh
Old Lady - Shelley Rees

Set before Children Of Earth, this is a decent enough story but did however have its problems. There are moments where I can't decide whether it's really poor acting and you can tell they're just reading, or it's really poor character scripting and I can't imagine them saying it so it sounds fake. But in particular, I just don't think John Barrowman can act well for audio. Jack interacting with Ianto is particularly excruciating... couldn't Ianto have stayed dead? Or just not interact with Jack because at times Gareth David-Lloyd wasn't much better... and it wasn't like their characters actually contributed to the story. Thankfully, most of the story centered around Gwen.

Oh, the music and sound design was quite good, so there's that too.

Score: 4/7

Writer: Rupert Laight
Director: Kate McAll
Publisher: BBC
Released: 11th July 2011

REVIEW: Doctor Who 148: Rat Trap

 Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, & Turlough

NOTE: This review contains spoilers for the first two parts.

A fairly eventful first chapter sets a nice pace that's full of good old Doctor Who tropes like The TARDIS not w--king correctly and the team getting split up immediately. Nyssa's character is further explored in this, appearing to be at the centre of the current Fifth Doctor's story arc. Some telepathic creatures also show up to provide running commentary as they monitor what's happening and the cliffhanger has Turlough seemingly get blown up by a grenade as he takes the time out to describe to the audience other characters that there's a grenade about to blow up. Despite the creatures seemingly wanting to talk over each other all the time in strange voices with weird alien sound effect music playing in the background making you miss the occasional word, it was an interesting start to the story.

REVIEW: Doctor Who Companion Chronicles 5.11 - Ferril's Folly

Fourth Doctor and Romana I

Cast
Mary Tamm
Madeline Potter


I found it a little disconcerting at times as most of it was told, not from Romanadvoratrelundar's point of view but, from someone else's. Not that it was a bad thing per se, I just kept subconsciously imposing her into the Companion role before realising it didn't make sense and had to remember she wasn't.

REVIEW: Doctor Who Lost Stories 2.4 - Crime Of The Century

7th Doctor, Ace, & Raine

The first part was just a pleasure to listen to from start to finish as they introduced Raine. Her interaction with The Doctor is enjoyable as he enjoys being so typically the Seventh Doctor. Meanwhile Ace is sent on a mission by The Doctor. It's just 25 minutes of listening to the Seventh Doctor, being the Seventh Doctor.

The story picks up after this, but seems to take a back seat to the building relationship between Raine and The Doctor - not that the main story wasn't interesting. The Doctor dragging Raine around as his grand plan slowly unfolds, as though he's also steadily introducing her to thrills of being a companion. They work well together here and Ace's side story was interesting enough too.

REVIEW: Doctor Who 147: Kiss Of Death

Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, & Turlough

It may be a little unfair to review this one as I wasn't really in the mood when I was listening... or maybe I'm being too kind and it wasn't good enough to put me in the mood.

The first part seemed to go all over the place too quickly to follow but settles down by the second part where the more streamlined narrative held my attention more with more character interaction it seemed. The introduction of a character who was unintelligible however was quite annoying.


The only thing holding it together for me were the Turlough parts and what exactly his part in it all was. It was these smatterings of the story arc kept me listening as between the first part and the great mumbler, I couldn't keep track of what else was happening.

Score: 3/7

Publisher: Big Finish
Writer: Stephen Cole
Director: Ken Bentley
Release: May 2011

AUDIO REVIEW: Doctor Who Companion Chronicles 5.10 - The Sentinels Of The New Dawn

Liz Shaw & The Third Doctor

The first half of this passes somewhat uneventfully, which is something the writer realised towards the end when he decided to throw a monster in the middle of political intrigue. Maybe anticipating the audience would be asleep by then and needed waking up. There was almost a hint of the Third Doctor going all Seventh on us but he quickly chickened out of that and ruined what could have been an interesting (but predictable) twist to the story. This was just after the monster had been wrote out of the story just as quickly as it had appeared.

I think the writer may have been wrestling his integrity as a writer to write something interesting and possibly trying to win a bet he that couldn't write something boring. Maybe he just takes pleasure in getting people's hopes up before ripping them away. The story trundles on, never promising much and never delivering much.

On a good note however, they're mainly points about how it could be improved, because for all the 'it could have been so much better' - the story was pretty solidly told and never got complicated. I didn't really lose my attention to it and it entertained me for an hour. There were things wrong with it, and as mentioned, could have been better. Overall, it was okay.


Score: 4/7

Publisher: Big Finish
Writer: Paul Finch
Director: Lisa Bowerman
Release: April 2011

Drunken Time Travel Podcast

Irish Gav and myself have attempted to start a podcast reviewing Doctor Who from the beginning. Who knows how long we will keep it up. I can't have that much to say about Doctor Who. Anyway, here's the link.

Drunken Time Travel Podcast

REVIEW: Doctor Who Lost Stories - Thin Ice

The first of the Seventh Doctor stories that weren't made due to cancellation. The Doctor and Ace land in the middle of the Cold War amidst various powers trying to take advantage of or recover alien tech. Depsite Sylvester and Sophie having played their roles for the last few years in the main range, it feels a bit more like they're picking up their roles from the TV series rather than how they seem to have developed over the last few years.

Or maybe that's just a psycological trick I'm playing on myself because this was supposed to be an actual episode.


The characters are enjoyable enough and there's just enough mystery in the first half about the who what and why of everything to keep it mildly interesting because nothing much really happens, especially in the middle. It picked up again towards the end and there were some nice character moments between Ace and The Doctor.

Score: 4.5/7

Publisher: Big Finish
Writer: Marc Platt
Director: Ken Bentley
Release: 14th April 2011

REVIEW: Doctor Who 146: Heroes Of Sontar

REVIE

The Fifth Doctor and his annoying companions land on a planet (Samur) covered in moss that attacks Nyssa. As they investigate they come across a bunch of idiots. Like the TV story The Chase which featured Daleks in training, this story features Sontarans that are equally as useless at being what they are. Steve (as I shall call him) Sontaran is always being corrected on his protocol.

In fact, I think Steve Sontaran makes a better Dalek and Dalek Steve (off of The Chase) would make a better Sontaran. Not that any of the Sontarans in this possess anything resembling intelligence.

AUDIO REVIEW: Second Doctor Box Set - 2. The Destroyers

The story starts off with a pretty suspenseful and eerie set-up. Eventually, the Daleks turn up and actually prove themselves to be quite formidable for a change, ruthlessly killing everyone in a base station before the start of a typically eighties theme tune which spoils the tone somewhat. Then we meet up with Sara Kingdom, and considering that all her stories so far for Big Finish have been very good, I'm hoping for more of the same. It will go nicely with the lottery win I'm also hoping for.

While the following scene that sees Sara trying to find her team and get to the base station seems to drag a tad as they encounter various obstacles (one), it's still a pleasant ride. I just couldn't help but think where, (and when) it was going. When we get there, we find the Dalek kindly left a survivor to report everything to Sara's team. I think Dalek Steve may have a faulty weapon.

The Daleks then discover survivors and send Unit 2 - lets hope Dalek Steve isn't in that Unit - to deal with them. The rest of the story is then devoted Sara and her team and it soon gets boring with nothing much having happened at all until the end where someone remembers that the Daleks were supposed to be in this. Cue a quick battle and a resolution and a feeling of relief as you realise that unlike the previous story, this one ends after one disc.

Score: 4/7

Released: December 2010
Publisher: Big Finish
Writer: Terry Nation
Adapted By: Nicholas Briggs and John Dorney
Director: Lisa Bowerman

REVIEW Second Doctor Box Set 1. Prison In Space

While not entirely original, a story about women ruling the planet, or having any creative use of time or high action scenes, the story marched on at decent enough pace and told an enjoyable enough story. The Doctor and Jamie get sent to a prison for the inferiors (males) while Zoe is sent for reconditioning.
There isn't exactly much here to praise, but there's less to pick at. It was okay, with some pretty good performances. The highlights probably being when Jamie and The Doctor (in seperate occasions) both suddenly realise they didn't get the not so subtle hints they were been given. And given that those are highlights, you can imagine how so averagely non-exciting the rest is. The only downside I can say about this, besides there being any real presence of an upside, is that this story was given over to two discs.

Score - 4/7

Released: December 2010
Published By: Big Finish
Written By: Dick Sharples
Adapted By: Simon Guerrier
Directed By: Lisa Bowerman