Doctor Who BF-150 Recorded Time (part 1)

"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…"

Henry the Eighth! I remember learning about him during my primary school history classes. He is one of the first bits of history I ever learnt about. It was brilliant to see him finally characterised. The king was exactly how I imagined him. A bit of a pervert. He asked Peri to "sit on his lap" but in all honestly, what king wouldn't?

Peri was quite hot in this one, as well. She was forced to dance for King Henry, and it was hilarious to hear the Doctors reaction to it. Of course, the king enjoyed Peri's company, and the Doctor got sent to the stocks. This bit confused me, because in "The Marian Conspiracy", the Doctor told Evelyn that he was a very good friend of Henry the eighths.

It was amusing to see Peri give Queen Ann Boleyn relationship advice. This part was particularly amusing. She didn't take kindly to it, either.

I like this story personally, because I'm finally seeing Henry the Eighth in Doctor Who, something I have been waiting for, for a long time. And the writer (Catherine Harvey) has done a brilliant job characterising him.

And it turns out that Ann Bolyen was a lovely, beautiful woman. Who I had great sympathy for towards the end of this story.

In conclusion, it was a nice, well paced story, and Big Finish should release more of these "blah, blah, and other stories" audios once a year. It's just a nice break from the two hour stories. It's It's worth a listen, I'll review the other three stories in this audio as I get through them.

6/10

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-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-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

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