Doctor Who BF-015 The Mutant Phase

"In the 22nd century, the Daleks have occupied planet Earth. By the 43rd century, only a handful of humans survive. Still further into the distant future, a Thal scientist must choose whether to betray his heritage, or see the universe destroyed."

This fifth Doctor episode featured the Daleks... In Kansas! The Wizard of Oz would have been much better of the wicked witch of the west was being egged on by Daleks.

We started off with a robo-fied Sheriff. I love it when the Doctor goes to America, because he's so incredibly British, for obvious reasons. Any Doctor Who episode set in America is worth a listen!

I really liked it how Nyssa commented on the wasps, when we saw the battle damaged Dalek, then it turned out that this one Dalek resulted in causing a mutation for the whole race. This is why Daleks have casing! I wouldn't have thought the Daleks had developed many antibodies, either. So I suppose one could inject a Dalek with the flu, and just watch it suffer, if one was that way inclined. I also liked the way that the Doctor had to go back in time with an anecdote, so he could prevent a paradox.

If the Doctor had killed a Dalek who killed a man, then that man would still be alive, and if he did something to change history, then it could upset the natural order of time... It's strange how I've been a dedicated Whovian for so long, that I understand all that wibbely wobbly, timey wimey... Stuff.

It's taken a while, but I think that I've slightly warmed up to Nyssa. I really liked her in this. But to be fair, I kind of drifted off during her scenes. I'm not a huge fan, which I think is a shame. I'd love to like her!

The fifth Doctor seems different in the closing scene. His speech sounds very "fourth doctor-ish", when he comments on how the problems in this story were solved by "It's a paradox... It's not meant to make sense."

So, for a fifth Doctor and Nyssa story, this was pretty good. I'd go so far to say that it's fantastic.

9/10

Doctor Who BF-161 The Butcher of Brisbane

"Adopting the alias of Weng-Chiang, the 51st century war criminal Magnus Greel will one day arrive in Victorian London by Time Cabinet – only to meet his doom, his plans undone by the Time Lord known as the Doctor."

It feels like I've been waiting for this story forever. Not only is it more of my currently favourite TARDIS crew, but it's also the return of Magnus Greel, who hasn't been seen since another favourite of mine "The Talons of Weing-Chiang."

I like the idea that this is actually a prequel and a sequel to TTWC. But I can't remember if Magnus recognised the Doctor by name in the televised adventure. I'll have to rewatch the story again.

I really liked the idea of Nyssa pretending to love Magnus so she could find out what he was really up to. Creating sympathy for the character I've thought of as "A really evil being" for years, is a difficult task. And Big Finish did it incredibly well.

I had a very vivid image in my head of Mr Sin chasing people round with a knife, and I found it hilarious, even though I'm sure it was meant to be a serious scene. I guess there's no way for me to escape the low production values of classic who.

All the cast made brilliant performances, I knew that I recognised Magnus' voice, and it turned out that he portrayed Mister Dred in a Sarah Jane Adventures episode. As soon as I realised, all I could imagine was Magnus walking round wearing a suit and sunglasses.

I liked the idea of both groups having an intelligent person with them. Turlough and Nyssa went one way, and the Doctor and Tegan went the other. I still haven't warmed up to Nyssa, though. Maybe it's because two intelligent minds in the TARDIS isn't as fun? I don't know.

In conclusion, this is a fantastic story, and didn't let me down in the slightest. Brilliant mental imagery is created throughout. And it's always good to see the Fifth Doctor and Tegan bicker. Even if Miss Jovanka has always secretly annoyed me...

8/10

Doctor Who BF-041 Nekromanteia

"In the depths of space a little known district harbours a terrible secret. Long known as a place of death, it claims thousands more lives as a great corporate space-fleet goes to war. As the fleet screams out in fear and pain, an irresistible voice calls out to three travellers and a macabre mind sets a deadly trap."

Ok, girls. Look away for this first bit.
Guys, you NEED to listen to this story. The story line may not be fantastic, but at one point, Peri wakes up naked, and stumbles around looking for her clothes. That's all I'm saying! See (well, listen, unfortunately) for yourself. Its only taken Doctor Who twenty-odd years to get her from a bikini to completely naked in a Doctor Who story. Well done, Big Finish. We thank you.

Anyway, hello to the ladies, who hopefully skipped that first bit. Now, it's time to talk about cats. Drummed cat "Antranak" annoyed me completely. Peri and Erimem seemed to love him, but I was on the Fifth Doctors side for this one! But at least the cat saved the day. It's the least it could have done for annoying me.

This is the third story for Erimem (I think) And I'm enjoying her character. But I didn't have high hopes for this story. In fact, I had no hopes at all. And by the end of it, I was so glad I went into it with no hopes of listening to a good story. [Apart from the bit mentioned in the first paragraph]

I think Big Finish didn't like this story, either, because they didn't even bother with the cover. They threw the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Erimem over a photo of the moon, and made it all green... I hope it didn't bust them.

But I find that a good cover often makes up for a bad story, so this story had no chance. This is by far one of the worst big finish stories I've ever listened to. It's two hours of my life that I'll never get back, and a waste of a night in. It is probably worth a listen, though. For the Peri nude scene and the death of the cat... Sigh, why couldn't this have been an televised adventure, so we could see those two scenes?
So, in conclusion, I'm going to give this a low rating, but the points it has have only been achieved because this story had a naked Peri, and that damn cat finally got killed. Of you want to give this story a listen, I recommend that you start about halfway through.

3/10

Doctor Who BF-136 Cobwebs

"In search of a cure for a sickness that’s so far claimed six billion lives, scientist Nyssa arrives at an abandoned gene-tech facility on the toxic planet Helheim. ‘Hellhole’, more like."

Cobwebs is a great story, and is most known for being the first new story to feature the fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa since 1983.

I liked many elements about "Cobwebs". My favourite where the bodies of the Doctor and his companion, in the mortuary. And most importantly, I loved the concept of EDGAR. EDGAR was the artificial intelligence intersect that was equipped to the station. And, it turns out to be the centre of the problem.

I also liked it how Nyssa asked to be took home, but as we all know, the fifth Doctor doesn't find it easy to take his companions to where they want to go. It took the fifth Doctor four televised attempts to get Tegan home, and this was matched by several attempts to get Nyssa home.

The Doctor claims that this story is set two days after the event of Enlightenment, but for Nyssa, fifty years have passed! I quite like the older Nyssa, she's much more mature, and confident. I'm hoping that I'm on my way to liking Nyssa.

One thing that Big Finish does well is describing actions around the characters, without any narration. How they put images into your mind is fantastic. I can clearly see part of the space station exploding, and the Space station covered in cobwebs. Coincidentally, my favourite line from this episode was when a slightly frightened Nyssa said "You know what Cobwebs mean. Spiders..." because this shows that despite Nyssas newly found confidence (which took her fifty years to obtain. Wibbily wobbily, timey wimey.)

This is certainly a good start to the 2010 Fifth Doctor trilogy. If only the televised adventures were this good...

9/10

Doctor Who BF-104 Bride of Peladon

"A mysterious voice, a missing girl and a murdered queen. The Royal House of Peladon is once more plunged into intrigue, terror and death. The Doctor, Peri and Erimem must find their way through a treacherous labyrinth of lies if they are to distinguish friend from foe before it is too late."

I've always been a big fan of Peladon. Jon Pertwee was my Classic Doctor, so I followed in his footsteps by matching his love of Peladon.

This was my first introduction of Erimem as a companion, and it was also her leaving story. But it got me hooked onto the Erimem story line. I am currently working my way through it. But knowing what I know now, I'm glad Erimem finally got to rule over people, as their queen.

I'm glad to know that Peladon is still part of the galactic federation. Even if they believe that earth is only helping Peladon to get involved in their mining. To be honest, I probably wouldn't trust human beings with authority, either. And I'm human! [Well, half human- on my mothers side.]

I thank Big Finish for bringing Aggedor back. And I am so happy they did a reference to "My Doctor" by making the fifth Doctor hum the tune that settles Aggedor. Oh! And I loved the idea of baby Aggedors. They sounded nice enough, anyway. I'm sure we'll have a future story set on Peladon revolving around them. Hopefully involving the Sixth Doctor.

Peri was also fantastic in this story. Her final line was my favourite in the whole episode. It was "When I leave you, Doctor. I can promise you one thing- it won't be so I can marry some alien king." (Which, for those new Whovians- is exactly what happened. In the television story "The Trial of a Time Lord" Peri left to marry an alien king. A rather large one...) The power to foreshadow things is one of Big Finish's greatest qualities.

In conclusion, this episode was awesome. The king, Peri, Erimem, and the Doctor all played to their strengths, which made this storyline work.

9/10

Doctor Who BF-146 The Heroes of Sontar

"Planet Samur was once a peaceful haven. Pilgrims journeyed across the seven galaxies to meditate in the courtyards of the vast Citadel that spanned its equator. It was Samur’s misfortune, however, to find itself situated on the furthermost frontier in the eternal war between the amoeboid Rutan Host and the belligerent, troll-like Sontarans…"

Nyssa! Tegan! Turlough! The Fifth Doctor! SONTARANS!

This episode had too much awesome to be “just another” story.  I remember coming across it on the Big Finish website when I was purchasing “City of Spires” from the Big Finish website. I remember pre-ordering this story and waiting with excitement for it to arrive.

Not only is this the first time that the Fifth Doctor meets the Sontarans, but it’s also the first time the Sontarans have featured in a Big Finish production. The Sontarans have finally met their match with the Fifth Doctor, who confuses them with his precise knowledge of Military Law. I liked it how the Sontarans were still angry about the “Gallifrey incident” from the Invasion of Time.

I personally think that the Sontarans were underused in classic Who. The writers at Big Finish apparently agree with me, since they brought them back in such an epic way.

I think of myself as a very proud Whovian. But even from the television series, I never knew that Turlough was such a coward! And more importantly, why has Doctor Who never had another character like him? The concept is fantastic! We’ve already had the heroic Captain Jack Harkness from the new series, why can’t we have a new coward?

The revelation that Nyssa is now married, with children was an unexpected one. Her children are named Adric and Tegan, which was a nice touch. I think the older Nyssa is much better than the younger version. Mostly because she is more confident. I have been trying to give Nyssa a chance, since friends of mine, and fellow whovians (Keith Miles, Shaun Collins, Glenn Bartlett, hosts from the Traveling the Vortex podcast- on iTunes) are huge fans of Nyssa and the fifth Doctor. I’m not much of a fan of her younger self, to be completely honest. But I’m willing to give a few more of her episodes a listen, to see if she really is the brilliant companion that others see her as.

In conclusion, this story was fantastic. It’s very nearly the perfect big finish story, in my opinion. mine, and fellow whoviansveling the Vortex podcast- on itunes)ch was

9/10

Doctor Who BF-024 The Eye of the Scorpion

“Egypt is in mourning. Pharaoh, the great God-King, is dead. The future of the Two Kingdoms of Egypt is shrouded in uncertainty as the Council of Priests debates the claim to the throne of Pharaoh's only heir."

I know that I’m not the first to say it, and I definitely won’t be the last. But Peri (Nicola Bryant) is hot. Even in audio form, she is extremely attractive. Ok, that’s enough of that. I just thought that I’d get it out of the way.

I quite liked this story. The image of the Doctor riding a chariot through the desert is a very entertaining one. I often forget that the Doctor is wearing a cricket outfit, and a piece of celery on his lapel. This doesn’t seem to match his personality, since the fifth Doctor is quite laid back, relaxed, and finds it easy to blend into a crowd. But how does he do so wearing such ridiculous clothing?  

This isn’t the first time I’ve listened to a big finish story involving Erimem, (because I bought and stupidly listened to “The Bridge of Pelodon” which turned out to be Erimem’s leaving story.) But never the less, I really enjoyed seeing the change in companion dynamic. Throughout the fifth doctors run, the TARDIS seemed to become a home to the family which was the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough- even though they had their arguments, like any other family. The combination of The Doctor, Peri and Erimem creates a whole new dynamic then what we’re used to. Two women, against the sheepish Doctor. He has finally met his match.

There is a running theme in Doctor Who that religion usually ties into things. This story is not an exception. This is a shame, because their hasn’t been many Doctor Who stories set in Egypt, and I think it would have been interesting to play with the usual layout of a story.

I had foreknowledge that Erimem was going to become a companion. So it wasn’t a huge mystery to me as to why “Erimem never become pharaoh.” The Doctor knows the names of all the pharaohs of Egypt, and he’s certain that he would have remembered a female leader. I found it amusing when Peri tried to convince Erimem that women can be great leaders as well- and her first thought was of Margaret Thatcher. The Doctor would later meet Margaret Thatcher, in “The Ultimate Adventure” but more from that later.

In conclusion, this is a decent story, and it’s worth a listen. I’ll admit, though- it’s nothing to write home about.

6/10