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 Fourth Doctor Adventures S01E01- Destination: Nerva

"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."

This story continues straight from "The Talons of Weing-Chiang." There is a mention of Henry Gordon Jago and Professor Litefoot, and the Doctor states that they're best staying in their Victorian gear for this adventure. To start, this story seemed very gothic, which matches the Fourth Doctors season at the time, perfectly.

It's brilliant to hear the fourth doctors voice again. Big Finish have captured his Doctor perfectly. The BBC audios were more "Little Britain" Fourth Doctor, instead of the real one.

It was good to see the Doctor return to Nerva. I'll never forget "The Ark in Space", with Sarah and Harry transporting sound the space station. Those memories will stay with me forever.

Everything the fourth doctor says is brilliant. He has some fantastic lines, and doesn't sound "too silly" as he often could be in the television series. For once, though, I agree with Tom Baker- the fourth Doctor would probably work better without a companion. He's awesome enough to take on both roles, by just playing the Doctor. "My Doctor" was Jon Pertwee, but when I was first looking at Doctor Who, I had only two classic DVD's. "Spearhead in Space" and "Logopolis." I went with Spearhead, and ever since, I've been in love with everything "Doctor Who" related. I am a proud Whovian. But Tom Baker was very nearly "My Doctor."

At the first mention of Nerva, the Doctor chuckles. This reminds me of the previous memories of Nerva, and shows that the Doctor enjoyed his time with Sarah Jane as much as we enjoyed watching her.

Leela is extremely violent, throughout, and truly is a tribe member. When I was listening to the first episode, she attacked two people in the first twenty minutes!

I remember thinking when I purchased this episode "What will happen in Nerva, this time? Will everyone be in a frozen state? Will it be taken over by an alien race?" But I wasn't expecting everything to be fully operational. This marks a great end to the Nerva trilogy.

Already I'm excited to listen to season two of the fourth Doctor adventures! Romana, Daleks, and Jago and Litefoot to look forward to! I am so happy the Fourth Doctor signed up for Big Finish.

So, a ship that was stolen from 1985 was boarding Nerva, whilst a strange infected man asked people to shake his hand. Did anyone else imagine that he looked like one of those creatures from "Seeds of Doom"? Just a bit more impressive?

The one thing that annoyed me about this story is the fact that they didn't give a reason for the Doctor not to go to the TARDIS. He was cut off from it seconds later anyway, but he said "the chances of the TARDIS making a precise journey to earth is..." But he should have just taken the chance, and ran towards the TARDIS!

This story just didn't seem right. I loved pretty much everything about it (with the exception of the characters of the supporting cast) but it feels like something is missing. This is the start to a great series of adventures, and this is the only let-down of series one of the Fourth Doctor adventures. I shouldn't like it... But I do. Oh well, it's no harm done. It's still an entertaining listen.

8/10