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