Doctor Who Companion Chronicles 6.04: The Many Deaths Of Jo Grant

Jo Grant & Third Doctor

Cast:
Jo Grant - Katy Manning
Rowe - Nicholas Asbury

Synopsis:

""I wasn’t going to let this happen. After all we’d been through, the Doctor wasn’t going to die like this, on his knees, in the mud."

When Jo Grant was very young, her grandmother told her that there was a time for everything. A time to laugh and a time to cry. A time to live and a time to die.

Since meeting the Doctor, Jo has laughed till she thought she might burst. She has also shed a few tears along the way, but has lived more than she ever thought possible.

But now, as a strange spaceship materialises over UNIT HQ and a heavily injured Doctor returns to Earth, it is Jo's time to die. Again, and again, and again…


Review:

I like how this starts, very quickly gets into the action leading to a great scene where Jo Grant dies, and as the title implies, the first of many deaths. This first death however, the musical arrangement and sound effects added to the emotional impact of it. It was beautifully done. The subsequent deaths, whether it's because the impact of her death has lessened but to her repeadedly dying or just not quite as good stories, I'm not too sure, but they were entertaining enough. The revelations and reasons behind the deaths were also handled well, but to bre honest, I was expecting something more from Cavan Scott and Mark Wright. Sure, I enjoyed it and it was entertaining, but I expected more of an emotional impact from them considering the title. Still, worth a listen.

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: Cavan Scott & Mark Wright
Director: Lisa Bowerman
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: October 2011

Doctor Who 158: Wirrn Isle

Sixth Doctor & Flip Jackson

Cast:

The Doctor - Colin Baker
Flip Jackson - Lisa Greenwood
Roger Buchman - Tim Bentinck
Veronica Buchman - Jenny Funnell
Toasty Buchman - Tessa Nicholson
Iron - Rikki Lawton
Sheer Jawn - Dan Starkey
Dare - Helen Goldwyn
Paul Dessay - Glynn Sweet


Synopsis:

"The year is 16127. Four decades have passed since the colonists of Nerva Beacon returned to repopulate the once-devastated Earth – and the chosen few are finding the business of survival tough.

Far beyond the sterile safety of sanitised Nerva City, transmat scientist Roger Buchman has brought his family to an island surrounded by what they once called Loch Lomond, hoping to re-establish the colony he was forced to abandon many years before.

But something else resides in the Loch. A pestilent alien infestation that the Doctor, beaming in from Nerva City, remembers only too well from his time aboard the Beacon…

The Wirrn are back. And they’re hungry."


Review:

I don't really have much to say about this one, it's pretty much standard fare. The plot isn't especially challenging or thought provoking in any way, just entertaining. Seeing as it's a story about transporters.... sorry, Transmats.... it's only customary to have the transporters malfunction. Sorry, that's Star Trek again. It almost confused me.

Whilst it progressed quite slowly without much really happening, the supporting characters were interesting enough to you entertained. Whilst I've never been much of a fan of the Wirrn, I would have preferred them to be more involved in this story rather than it being centered around the other cast members and the Transmat technology.

There were some nicely paced reveals along the way and I think that Flip is proving to be a good companion once again. The closing scene I really enjoyed and I hope we get some more stories with her in the future. There wasn't much here I disliked but it's not going to be a memorable one either.

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: William Gallagher
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: March 2012

4th Doctor Adventures 1.02: The Renaissance Man

Fourth Doctor & Leela



Cast:

* Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker
* Leela - Louise Jameson
* Reginald Harcourt - Ian McNeice
* Jephson - Gareth Armstrong
* Christopher Manners - Anthony Howell
* Lizzie Harcourt - Daisy Ashford
* Beryl / Professor Hilda Lutterthwaite - Laura Molyneux
* Dr. Henry Carnforth - John Dorney




Synopsis:


"To continue Leela's education, the Doctor promises to take her to the famous Morovanian Museum. But the TARDIS lands instead in a quiet English village, where they meet the enigmatic collector Harcourt and his family.


When people start to die, reality doesn't appear quite what it was. There's something sinister going on within the walls of Harcourt's manor, and the stakes are higher than they can imagine.


The Doctor is about to discover that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing."

Review:

Leela was always one of my favourite companions and she really excells in this one for me. Tom Baker also does a fantastic job, he seems more settled than he did in the first one - though I've no idea in what order they were recorded. He has plenty of good lines and it's a complete pleasure listening to them both work together throughout this story. The other cast of characters also do good job and it's a shame that Scruffy didn't make it into the credits. The story is also quite interesting even though the ending was telegraphed right at the start and there wasn't much to it. The gradual reveals to The Doctor, and the audience, were told at a good pace that never slowed or got boring. It was just never epically climatic or tense or thought provoking. Really enjoyed this one.


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: Justin Richards
Director: Ken Bentley
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: February 2012

YouTube Trailer
Website Link

Doctor Who 157: The Fourth Wall

Sixth Doctor & Flip Jackson
Cast:

The Doctor - Colin Baker
Flip Jackson - Lisa Greenwood
Augustus Scullop - Julian Wadham
Dr Helen Shepherd - Yasmin Bannerman
Nick Kenton/Jack Laser - Hywel Morgan
Matthew Howland/Lord Krarn - Martin Hutson
Olivia Sayle/Jancey - Tilly Gaunt
Chimbly/Head Warmonger - Kim Wall
Junior/Warmonger - Henry Devas



Synopsis:

"Business is bad for intergalactic media mogul Augustus Scullop, whose Trans-Gal empire is on the rocks. But, having retreated to his own private planet, Transmission, Scullop is about to gamble his fortune on a new show, made with an entirely new technology. And the name of that show… is Laser.

Back in the real world, far from the realms of small screen sci-fi fantasies about monsters and aliens, the Doctor is interested only in watching Test Match cricket… but finds himself drawn into Scullop’s world when his new travelling companion, Flip, is snatched from inside the TARDIS.

So, while the Doctor uncovers the terrible secret of Trans-Gal’s new tech, Flip battles to survive in a barren wilderness ruled over by the indestructible Lord Krarn and his pig-like servants, the Warmongers. And the name of that wilderness… is ‘Stevenage’. "


Review:

When this started, I thought it was going to be another one of those stories that I hate where the main characters are put in a fictional world and they don't know who they were. As it progressed I quickly realised this wasn't exactly the case and the heroes find themselves in a fictional world but fully aware. That relief out of the way, I could start to enjoy it. Essentially, The Doctor and Flip are dumped in the middle of an ITV Drama brought to life, except this seems like one that might be worth watching. The story and characters they find themselves interracting with are pretty amusing in an over the top parody kind of way which makes for a very enjoyable listen.

Unfortuntely, Flip doesn't seem to have much to do in this one but she does seem to have settled down to life with The Doctor. She reminds me a lot of Lucie Miller in this, with a different accent. An accent I don't like mind you, but otherwise, I think she's proving to be a good addition to the series. The cliffhangers in this story are also pretty good. It's not quite good enough to get the magic 6, but a good solid entertaining 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: John Dorney
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: February 2012

Doctor Who 156: The Curse Of Davros

Sixth Doctor & Flip Jackson

Cast:

The Doctor / Davros - Colin Baker
Flip Jackson - Lisa Greenwood
Davros / The Doctor - Terry Molloy
Jared - Ashley Kumar
Napoléon Bonaparte - Jonathan Owen
Captain Pascal - Rhys Jennings
The Duke of Wellington - Granville Saxton
Marshal Ney - Robert Portal
Captain Dickson - Christian Patterson
The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs


Synopsis:

"It's been a year since Philippa 'Flip' Jackson found herself transported by Tube train to battle robot mosquitoes on a bizarre alien planet in the company of a Time Lord known only as 'the Doctor'.

Lightning never strikes twice, they say. Only now there's a flying saucer whooshing over the top of the night bus taking her home. Inside: the Doctor, with another extraterrestrial menace on his tail – the Daleks, and their twisted creator Davros!

But while Flip and the fugitive Doctor struggle to beat back the Daleks' incursion into 21st century London, Davros's real plan is taking shape nearly 200 years in the past, on the other side of the English Channel. At the battle of Waterloo..."


Review:

Flip gets a promotion to fully-fledged companion in the first of the Sixth Doctor's latest trilogy. I think she makes a pleasant enough impression here but has a bit too much of being new to the time travel game to settle. There's a couple of moments where I can't make out whether it's the acting or the scripting that's at fault but I can't quite make out what she was actually doing in that scene. The delivery sounded like intentional whining to get her own way but wasn't made clear enough. Story wise though, is where this one shines. Flip and her boyfriend, discover The Doctor in a crashed escape pod fleeing from the Daleks, who under the leadership of Davros are looking to capture him for a re-union. There's plenty of story and action here with The Daleks taking them back to the Battle Of Waterloo. There's some good scenes with Napoleon and The Duke though I'd have liked to have heard more from them. There's also some good scenes with The Doctor and Davros and the cliffhanger to part 2 is fantastic. Overall, not only do we have a good storyline, but it's also a fast paced, exciting one with plenty happening. I want to give this a six but it just didn't quite reach the standard for that magical 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: Johnathan Morris
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: January 2012

Doctor Who 155: Army Of Death

Eighth Doctor & Mary Shelley

Cast:

The Doctor - Paul McGann
Mary Shelley - Julie Cox
President Vallan - David Harewood
Lady Meera - Carolyn Pickles
Nia Brusk - Eva Pope
Commander Raynar/Karnex - Mitch Benn
Sherla/Baden/Tox - Joanna Christie
Captain Maddox/Stennan/Sentries - Trevor Cooper



Synopsis:

"The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Mary Shelley to the continent of Zelonia, on the frontier world Draxine – where, many moons ago, the twin citystates of Garrak and Stronghaven bore testament to mankind’s colonial spirit.

That was before the sinister death cult of Garrak’s President Harmon took hold – and Garrak annihilated itself, utterly, in an apocalyptic explosion. Before the bones of Garrak’s dead came back to life, and its skeletal citizens began marching, marching, marching on Stronghaven itself.

But what do they want, this army of death? And can anything stop them? In search of answers, the Doctor and Mary must journey into the dead heart of a dead city to face a terrifying adversary, whose ambitions transcend the stuff of life itself."


Review:

The last one of the Eighth Doctor's trilogy. Can it improve on the previous two? Well story wise at least, it was enjoyable. But that's about as excited as I can get. It was another one where The Doctor didn't really seem to be a part of the story and was just along for the ride offering the occasional observation. Mary Shelley was useless or absent for most of it. Apart from the last part, where they had a couple of decent scenes together, they didn't seem to offer much to this story. But the story was still enjoyable despite this with a relatively simple plot line to follow and some mildly interesting characters. There's nothing here that I disliked but also nothing I can really rave about either.

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: Jason Arnopp
Director: Barnaby Edwards
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: December 2011

Doctor Who 154: The Witch From The Well

Eighth Doctor & Mary Shelley



Cast:

The Doctor - Paul McGann
Mary Shelley - Julie Cox
Master John Kincaid - Simon Rouse
Aleister Portillon/Squire Claude Portillon - Andrew Havill
Agnes Bates - Serena Evans
Beatrix - Lisa Kay
Finicia - Alix Wilton Regan
Lucern/Cornet Swallow - Kevin Trainor




Synopsis:

"A shrieking, killing nightmare erupts from an overgrown well, hidden in the grounds of an old house, Tranchard’s Fell – and Mary Shelley, the Doctor’s latest travelling companion, rescues teenage twins Finicia and Lucern from the clutches of the monster.

But a TARDIS trip in search of the origin of the horror goes terribly wrong when the Doctor, Mary and their two new friends find themselves stuck in the middle of a seventeenth century witch scare.

While the Doctor investigates the strange lights at Vetter’s Tor, and the twins go in search of an artefact from the Hecatrix Dimension, Mary confronts the secrets of her past…and her future. The truth will out: Master Kincaid, the terrible Witch-Pricker himself, commands it!"

Review:

This story started out very average, an Alien lives in a well and the locals think it's a Witch, and I fully expected the rest of the story to play out this simply with the only hope of enjoyment coming from Paul McGann's and Julie Cox's characters and performances. Towards the end of the first episode though, it takes a slight interesting turn and makes it a pretty entertaining story. (Note: I didn't read any synopsis or blurb before listening to this so I didn't know what to expect from the story other than how it was presented as it happened).

Paul McGann as the Doctor is once again great and has some good moments and the growing relationship he has with Mary Shelley is also a great listen. They work well together. There's also a good cast of interesting support characters here.

I think I'll give this one a 4 but it could have been pushing for a 5 with a bit more work.

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: Rick Briggs
Director: Barnaby Edwards
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: November 2011

4th Doctor 1.01 - Destination Nerva

Why Briggs? Why?

Fourth Doctor and Leela

 
Cast:

Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker
Leela - Louise Jameson
Dr. Alison Foster - Raquel Cassidy
McMullan/Pilot - Sam Graham
Laura Craske - Tilly Gaunt
Giles Moreau/Jenkins - Tim Bentinck
Jim Hooley/Drelleran 1/Security Guard - Kim Wall
Lord Jack/Drudgers/Drelleran 2 - Tim Treloar

Synopsis:

"After saying their goodbyes to Professor Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago, the Doctor and Leela respond to an alien distress call beamed direct from Victorian England. It is the beginning of a journey that will take them to the newly built Space Dock Nerva… where a long overdue homecoming is expected.

A homecoming that could bring about the end of the human race."

Review:

Ah, Tom Baker has arrived at Big Finish. Shame that his first story was a bit of a let down. It was a very slow start with not much happening for a while, and when the pace did pick up, everyone was running about not knowing what was happening. Which is a sentiment i shared with the characters. People were doing stuff, there was plenty of action, but there was no story progression of any sort till very near the end then everything got wrapped up in the blink of an eye just as it started getting interesting. By the end of part two I was looking forward to another two parts but obviously, two parts is all we get.

There were parts of the story that i really liked and had that touch of Briggs, especially towards the end, but for the most part was too dragged out and slow. Nicholas Briggs has wrote his first story that I didn't really care for. I don't know what to believe anymore.

Other than my gripes about the storyline, Tom Baker was okay and Louise Jameson was great as usual. Overall it was enjoyable but I expected much more.

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: Nicholas Briggs
Directed by: Nicholas Briggs
Produced by: Big Finish
Released: 31 January 2012

Doctor Who Special: The Five Companions

Ian Chesterton meets The Doctor and Other Companions

Fifth Doctor, Ian, Steven, Polly, Nyssa, & Sara Kingdom

 
Cast:

Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison
Ian Chesterton - William Russell
Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
Sara Kingdom - Jean Marsh
Polly Wright - Anneke Wills
Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
Sontarans - Dan Starkey

Synopsis:

"Inside a cluster of fused-together derelict spaceships, four of the Doctor's oldest friends - and one of his newest ones - are lost and confused. They don't know how they got there or what they're meant to be doing - but as the place is infested with Daleks, Sontarans and dinosaurs, their first priority is staying alive.
To their collective relief, the Doctor turns up and has a reasonable idea of what's going on. If the six of them work together, they can escape this place and get home. But, unexpectedly, others may be working together to ensure they all die here..."

Review:

I enjoyed this, but not so much because of the story. The story had plenty of action with The Daleks facing off against the Sontarans, a few dinosaurs thrown in too, and The Doctor and his companions trying to escape the situation. It was a good fun story I guess but not exactly going to win awards or make you think or anything. The best part about this audio was having the five companions and The Doctor meet and interact with each other throughout the story. I did like the return of Dwarf Star Alloy and the performances from Nicholas Briggs and Dan Starkey were good as the Daleks and Sontarans respectively. There's a nice moment where The Doctor's talking to Polly about the times they travelled together

So, the story is fun, but the real treat here is The Doctor catching up with the companions and the companions w--king together. The storyline itself wraps up rather poorly but that can forgiven.

And of course, Ian was the star of the show here, and The Doctor practically said it himself. Four regenerations on and he still recogninses Ian as the awesomeness that he is.

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: Eddie Robson
Produced by: Big Finish
Directed by: Ken Bentley
Released: December 2011