Doctor Who BF-058 The Harvest

"On the morning of 12 October 2021, Hex woke up. He was expecting to go to work at St. Gart's in London as normal and, that evening, have a great time in the bar of the White Rabbit, celebrating his 23rd birthday."

So, I finally met "Hex." He has a scouse accent, much like a few of my friends, so it didn't irritate me as much as it annoys other reviewers.

I quite liked the concept of the coffee machine. You didn't need change, because the price of your coffee could be deducted from your salary.

Ace just gets hotter and hotter. And she was flirting with Hex in this story! She did a brilliant job, as well. I like it how she made people call her 'McShane' as well. It was quite interesting. I need to get used to calling her Dorothy, since she's grown up. But she'll always be 'Ace' to me.

It was smart of Hex to mark Ace under "pretty, but mad." It summed her up quite well, I think.

When Hex first sees the TARDIS, he describes it as "A Portaloo" with made me chuckle. The Doctor traveling the universe... In a Portaloo!

But this story made me really like Hex as a character. He's really cool, and I look forward to the twenty-odd more audio dramas with him in. And as I'm writing this, this months story "Protect and Survive" has just been released. I'm going to purchase it now. I'm very excited!

I had no idea that this was a Cybermen story, going into it. I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. I really enjoyed the surprise; but I probably would have listened to this audio earlier if I knew it had Cybermen...

There's many brilliant lines in this one. One of my favourites was between the Doctor and Hex, just as they were dematerialising for the first time in the TARDIS. The Doctor said  "Ok, hold onto your hat." A confused Hex replied with "I haven't got one!" And the Doctor said "Then hold onto mine..." This part was rather amusing, and very 'Seventh Doctor.'

It's difficult to find a Cybermen story that hasn't been done before. And I think one thing this does well is that it's completely different. The fact that the Cybermen wanted their humanity back shows that [in the doctors words] "there is hope for every species- even Cybermen"

So, in conclusion, I really like Hex as a companion. And this was a decent introduction story. Just above average, though, if I'm being honest.

6/10

Doctor Who BF013 - The Shadow of the Scourge

"The Pinehill Crest Hotel in Kent is host to three very different events: a cross-stitch convention, an experiment in time travel and... the summoning of the Scourge."

The first seven minutes of this are as boring as hell. It really put me off this story. But then I finally got the scene I look forward to most- the first scene of the Doctor in the TARDIS.

Now, I don't know if it's just me, but will Ace EVER stop being hot? And she's grown up, so she's wearing leather! I blame Doctor Who for the level of awesome I look for in women.

Only the seventh Doctor could act cheery, and forget to mention where the dead body was in this story. The only reference Ace and Benny get is when the Doctor says "We probably shouldn't stand too close to the lift..." and when asked why, he replies with "That's where the body is." And then the lift doors open, to reveal the dead body. This added a certain comedy element to a horrific thing. Extremely typical of the seventh doctor.

The Doctor books a room in the hotel under the name "Summerfield" because "John Smith" would attract attention. Channellings annoy me in general, but I thought it was just a human thing.

The extraterrestrial channeling thing annoyed me at first. But it gave me some chance to finally meet Bernice Summerfield. I knew that I'd love her character, it's just taken a long time to meet her. Doctor Summerfield was invented to be "the perfect companion" and that's exactly what she's become. Strong, confident, sexy and intelligent. I look forward to taking a listen to the Bernice Summerfield spin off. Despite how great Bernice was, whenever Ace had a scene, she completely stole the limelight. Ace of one of my favourite companions... And not just because she's REALLY hot.

Once twenty minutes had passed, I was really enjoying this story. One of my favourite lines was when someone said to the Doctor "How long have you been a cross stitcher?" and he replied with: "Oh, since I was born... For the seventh time."

As soon as the Doctor unconditionally surrendered the planet earth to these alien bug things, I just knew he had bigger plans at hand. I was also tricked by Ace, because I thought she had once again been deceived by the Doctor. But apparently, she's grown up since the television series.

I wish Benny had joined the seventh Doctor and Ace for some more audios, instead of this "Hex" fellow. I haven't yet listened to any stories with Hex, but I purchased "The Harvest" from the Big Finish website, and I'll get round to listening to it today.

The only objection I have about this story- is that I wish there was more Seventh Doctor, Ace and Benny. I had no interest whatsoever in the supporting cast. But I loved the main cast. Great chemistry, and great performances.

Ace was very brave to face being defeaned, even if she did know that the TARDIS could repair her. It was still an extremely brave thing to do. Is there anything that isn't awesome about Ace?

The scourge soldier feeds on doubt and guilt. I think this makes for a good villain, because the Doctor has more guilt then any other living being. I hope my friend Keith Miles doesn't come across this story, because he'd get upset that even when they've got Doctor Who in audio form, they still base aliens of human creatures.

I went through a phase of the seventh Doctor being my favourite. It was roughly last year, when my companion and I ran through several Classic Doctor Who episodes, and found the Seventh Doctor and Ace to be particularly appealing.

The scourge were terrifying! They made a man strangle himself, just because they could. I liked the explanation of how instincts normally kick in, so humans can't strangle themselves. But that part did scare me a bit.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this story, but it turned out to be fantastic. It was heart warming hearing the Seventh Doctor and Benny talking about all the good things in life. I think all of the listeners will agree that they got it right. Those are the best things in life, and it makes life worth living. We are human beings.

"Get out of our heads. Get out of our world." Sometimes I lose hope in human beings as a species. But every now and again, a story like this comes along and I remember that we have such great potential. Together, we are un-deafeatable.

This story was excellent, and because of all the things I've mentioned above, I'm proud to say that this is the perfect big finish story. More of these, please!

10/10

Doctor Who BF-025 Colditz

"As World War Two draws towards its conclusion, a Nazi defeat begins to seem almost inevitable. But that might be about to change..."
Colditz is a great story. I am a huge fan of Nazi stories, as I’ve studied the Nazis from a young age, because I have always been fascinated by them. So as you’ve probably guessed, I love it when they are in Doctor Who. I think the thing I like most about Nazi stories is the fact that the Doctor has complete opposite views to them. And the contrast is enjoyable.

Similar to my review of “Eye of the Scorpion”, I’m going to get this part out of the way. But Ace… Is really hot. She’s awesome, strong willed, and attractive. Everything a companion of the Doctors should be. But I’ll admit, I never in my life time thought I’d hear David Tennant tell Ace to “Take off [her] clothes and put them in the bag.” Ok, the fan boy moment is over.

David Tennants performance was brilliant. I didn’t actually know it was David Tennant until episode two, where he turns a little bit too Scottish for a Nazi. The ending made me feel terribly sorry for Davids character, Kurtz. No one deserves to have the same fate he had.

Klein is also a fantastic character. After listening to “Colditz” I jumped ahead to “A thousand Tiny Wings”, “Survival of the fittest” and “The Architects of History” to hear the conclusion to this story. I’ll try not to give too much away, because I’ll review these three stories later. But let’s just say- I wasn’t disappointed.

My favourite moment from this episode is the ending, when Ace decides that after the events she witnessed at Colditz, that she will now be known as Dorothy Shane. This makes me want to listen to the next story in the Seventh Doctor and Ace big finish line (The Rapture) Which I hope I’ll enjoy.

In conclusion, this story may be a brilliant start to a change in dynamic of the seventh doctor and Ace. Only time will tell!

9/10