Doctor Who Subscriber-Only Stories-06 Return of the Krotons

"The dead planet Onyakis is being plundered by the last survivors of the human race, and their leader, Commander Cobden, will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Already there are rumours of those who stand against him mysteriously disappearing. But when the Sixth Doctor and Charley find themselves on the side of those trying to expose Cobden, they discover something far more sinister."

Charley and the Sixth Doctor are so great together. The more audios I listen to them in, the more I enjoy Charley. I didn't like the bits of her I've seen in the eighth Doctor audios. But I do know she's from the 1930's, and she's with the Doctor much earlier on in his timeline.

Charley has some fantastic lines, such as- "I don't think I've ever been to the moon." But it turns out not to be the moon, because it's too purple.

I recently watched "The Krotons" because my friends and fellow Whovians [Keith Miles, Shaun Collins and Glenn Bartlett, hosts of the Traveling the Vortex podcast on itunes] were reviewing it. So I was ready and excited to see the Krotons again. The reference of "The Teaching Scene" brought me back to the televised story. It's good to see things with more detail.

All life on earth was destroyed centuries ago, apparently. So the solar flares have devastated earth, and people have hopped onto colony ships. The government had quite a good idea going with the "Nerva colony ship", they put everyone to sleep, planning to wake them up again when earth was safe. But it turns out, Nerva wasn't the only colony ship that held "the future generations of humanity." It turns out that this "Euro" company was doing it for economic reasons.

I loved the image I had in my head of the Doctor and Charley talking to the leader of the colony ships. I could just see the Sixth Doctor waving and shouting. This is a great quality to have in an audio, and it proves that Big Finish have done well.

The Krotons are great villains, and Big Finish have done a good job of bringing them back. I would have loved this to have been a Doctor Who televised story. But only if it was made now, instead of in the 1980's... Just with a younger Colin Baker...

I'm glad the Doctor recognised the Kroton teaching machines. It was also a nice touch how the Doctor even recognised the look in the Captains eyes, but he wasn't able to identify the species.

It also seems like the Doctor has went back to his old coat. He is much more colourful according to the story cover. I think its good how he still switches between the blue coat and the "clown" coat.

I really liked it when the Doctor and Charley were made to sit at the teaching machine, because they were "The class swots"- according to the Doctor. They soon realised that there was one Kroton that was different to the others, because it was a recently developed crew member.

The thing is with Doctor Who- no matter what they do, I enjoy it. [Well, within reason.] I enjoy it when the Doctor rides a giant flying alien around, so he can save Charley. But I also love it when he just drives a security car across a space station. No matter what the Doctor does, it's fantastic. I just wish that the class television series had a bigger budget, so they could achieve some of the things used in the audios.

But when this story came to a close, my opinion hadn't changed since the start. This is quite a good story. The sixth doctor and Charley were great, it was good to see a return of the Krotons, and the pacing of the story was great. Definitely worth a listen.

7/10

Doctor Who BF-105 The Condemned

"Manchester, 2008. The TARDIS lands inside a run-down tower block, beside a dead body – which leads to some awkward questions when the Doctor is found there by the police. Made the prime suspect, how can the Doctor prove to the no-nonsense DI Patricia Menzies that this is not the open-and-shut case it seems, and that she’s actually investigating the death of an alien?"

The Condemned is my favourite sixth doctor story, and my favourite big finish story so far. The images created in this story are fantastic. I have listened to this story at least ten times over the past year, because it is still full of surprises.

Detective Inspector Patricia Menzies (Anna Hope) is brilliant. If the Jago and Litefoot series ever finishes, I would encourage Big Finish to give her a spin off. “DI Menzies- protecting the streets of Manchester from alien life.” It could happen, and I would preorder the series now, if I could. Even without a synopsis.

You may have noticed that I mentioned DI Menzies before Charley Pollard (India Fisher) but don’t take that as a suggestion that I’m not a Charely fan. I am quite a big Charley fan, as a matter of fact. I have only listened to one or two eighth doctor and charley episodes, but as soon as I listened to “The Condemned”, I quickly ran through all of the sixth doctor and Charley episodes, whilst in France. I am still not clear how the “Charley hasn’t met the Doctor yet” plotline, so I’ll have to take another listen to them before I write a review.

At first, I thought that I’d be disappointed by the Doctors blue coat, because it didn’t seem to fit. But by the time episode one had finished, I just knew that it worked. The blue coat matches the Doctors changed attitude. In the television series, he was arrogant, rude, and harsh. But like a good wine, the Sixth Doctor has mellowed with age.

Listening to this after listening to the big finish audio “The Crimes of Thomas Brewster”, I see how carefully (if not accidently) this story has been carved. It was revealed in TCOTB that the events in “The Condemned” was not the first meeting between the Doctor and DI Menzies. And upon their “supposingly ” first meeting, the Doctor mutters “Typical…” When DI Menzies bursts onto the scene.

So, in conclusion, “The Condemned” is a great story, and is a fantastic start for any listeners new to big finish. A PERFECT big finish story. This is how the sixth Doctor needs to be written.

10/10