Doctor Who BF-011 The Apocalypse Element

"When the planet Archetryx is threatened by a Dalek assault squad, the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn become embroiled in an ever-deepening mystery. What has become of President Romana, missing for twenty years? What lurks in the vast gravity wells of Archetryx? What is the secret of the ancient element the Daleks are synthesising -- and how does Gallifrey feature in their plans?"

Romana trapped for over 20 years, on a planet disappeared from time... That was such an interesting  concept, and I looked forward to the Doctor and friends trying to find out where its gone... But suddenly it appears. I'll admit, I liked it how it was. It kept the pace going, and was entertaining.

I loved how the planet was a mix of several other invasion attempts. The planet was piloted from the core, it's mass was less, so it had been mined, etc. Great elements.

And, of course, I love the character of Evelyn. I felt like I didn't see enough of her in this story, after seeing so much of her in "The Marian Conspiracy." But I also would have been disappointed if we had any less of the Doctor or Romana. A brilliant cast, well done Big Finish!

Glad to have Romana back, she is such a great character. The banter between the sixth doctor and Romana was as good as it was with the Fourth Doctor. We also saw the return of the eye of harmony. It was on the Doctors TARDIS during the TV, my theory is that he took it from Gallifrey in his seventh incarnation, by order of a Time Lord who foreseen the Time War, or something.

I also like it how the rod and sash of Rassilon were used to aid the opening of the eye of Harmony. I chuckled when the Doctor said: "You'd need everything down to the poka-dot pyjamas of Rassilon!"

One thing I was confused about was- where's Leela? Leela is human, so she would have been able to open doors using the retinal scan! It would have been good to hear her alongside the Sixth Doctor, but we did get that again in Jago and Litefoot Series 4, so I suppose it's not too bad.

Yet another perfect Big Finish story.

10/10

[Oh, and as I'm writing this blogpost, I have just got off the phone to a friend who told me that Mary Tamm, who played Romana I has just passed away. Condolences to her family! Rest in Peace, Mary Tamm. A beautiful, talented actress. You will be missed.]

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-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-133 City of Spires

"Arriving in a hail of musket fire, the Sixth Doctor unexpectedly finds himself in the highlands of Scotland, where the ruthless Black Donald and his band of rebels are fighting the Redcoats. But the highland warriors no longer fight for the Jacobite cause and the English officers answer only to the mysterious Overlord. What has happened to Scotland and why are its moors littered with advanced, oil-pumping technology?"

The Doctor reunites with Jamie!! I went into his story heavily excited. But at first I never guessed that he would be this "Black Donald" guy. When the story starts, the Doctor is sent to look after the injured, but one of the soldiers shoots a man, to save him the pain. The gun shot actually made me jump! But this made me wonder what Jamie had become, if he was part of this army.

Jamie sounds like he's in good health, even if it has been twenty or thirty years ago. I was sure that this would be complicated, because Jamie's and Zoe's memory's were wiped in the end of "The War Games." It's not only the Doctor who has changed since he and Jamie first met. Jamie, or "James Mcrimmon" has become much darker, because he has seen innocent men, women and children killed around him.

It was good to hear about "The Mcrimmon piper" again. Jamie always used to talk about it when traveling with the second Doctor. The sixth Doctor even mentioned the time when he thought a Cyberman was the Mcrimmon piper.

At first, I expected this story to be completely historical. And I'll be honest, I might have preferred it if it was. This story might have been better if instead of the alien intervention, we just had a political war between the Scottish and their enemies. Much like the Highlanders.

I found it amusing how Jamie saw oil as something that wasn't useful. It was a clever plan to get oil from the past, to use it in the future. But imagine the paradox it would cause! It took me twice as long to get through this story, because I got three unrelated phone calls from different friends. But by the time episode three came along, I was rearing to go, and see this story tithe end. The cliffhanger to episode two was quite good, with the execution of both the Doctor and Jamie at hand.

Back in the Second Doctors era, there were always plenty of hot girls, but Jamie was always the one wearing the shortest skirt (ok, a kilt. But the rule still stands.) So I found it quite funny how when Jamie asked for a lift up, he told the Sixth Doctor "don't look up!" Referring to his kilt.

In conclusion, this is a good story, and it is brilliant seeing Jamie again. I look forward to hearing his other adventures, but I also think that three adventures with Jamie and the Sixth Doctor won't be enough. A must-listen for all Whovians.

8/10

Doctor Who BF-006 The Marian Conspiracy

"Tracking a nexus point in time, the Doctor meets Dr Evelyn Smythe, a history lecturer whose own history seems to be rapidly vanishing."

One of my favourite Big Finish stories. Purely historical, with no alien intervention [well, with the exception of the Doctor.]

The Sixth Doctor is nearly a completely different character to who he was in the television series. He is kind, caring, and thoughtful.  This is why the Sixth Doctor has become my favourite big finish Doctor.

I loved the interaction between the Doctor and the Queen. When he heard that she was pregnant, I could see the look on the sixth Doctors face! It was strange to find myself being so sympathetic towards "Bloody Mary." But when she told the Doctor that he could speak freely, I just knew that she was no where near as bad as the history books make her. I would like to see a Doctor Who episode that makes me have sympathy for Hitler. It would take a lot of effort, but it'd be so good if it worked. In the sixth Doctors own words, "Queen Mary is a remarkable woman."

The Doctors inspirational speech in episode 2 to Queen Mary- about her brother, and the faith of her country. I studied this era of history a few years back, and it was good to have Bloody Mary finally characterised for me.

During the same conversation, the Sixth Doctor says to Mary "I'm a Doctor. My job is to save lives, I can't approve of taking it." Which I thought was a brilliant line, and Colin Baker executed it perfectly.

The french bloke that visits the Queen asks for Elizabeth to be released from house arrest. Mary resists, as she believes he's asking for his own good, since Elizabeth's mother, Ann Boleyn had sympathy for the french, so she guessed Elizabeth may have as well. The Doctor seemed to be a little harsh to this French guy, which threw me off guard a bit. The guy was only trying to get history back on track!

Evelyn Smythe was great. I'm so happy that an older companion worked out! This paves way for older companions in the future. (No more "Flip" characters please, Big Finish.) It made me laugh when she asked one of the Londoners to unzip her bag, and he got really excited with it. I'd imagine that I'd be the same, if I was introduced to a zip for the first time!

George Crow played the part of a typical bloke, who didn't like change. He refused to drink hot chocolate because he saw it as a "children's drink." He was another character who annoyed me- along with the French bloke and the Reverend.

The paranoid queen stays in her tower, sick, with a phantom pregnancy. And for obvious reasons, she takes to the Doctor automatically.

The Sixth Doctor had some fantastic quotes, in this story.  Posing as Queen Mary's medical Doctor, he tells one of the Queens ladies "Doctors ought not to marry, they should adopt their time to the common good. Quite like priests." Which shows him not only as a medical Doctor, but as a character. He doesn't marry because he puts everyone else before himself. The Sixth Doctor seemed to have been traveling a lot since his televised adventures. He's much more experienced, and much calmer.

I'm slightly unclear when it comes to episode three, because I got a drunken text from my beautiful and very good friend Eleanor. After laughing at her texts for ten or so minutes, I realised that I'd missed something. The Doctor and Evelyn were now trying to pick the lock in the tower of London. I remember from my history course that Sir Thomas Blood escaped from the Tower of London, so I was sure that the Doctor could.

But why was the sixth doctor upset, and sheepish about hitting a guard over the head with a chair, but he didn't flinch when he pushed a bunch of guards into acid, in the televised adventures? His character really has developed completely.

I honestly do love it when Doctor Who does purely historical episodes, and it works. Historical episodes stopped being written in the first doctors era, because the alien ones were proven to be most popular. But the new series needs to try it! Just once, see if they can do a purely historical episode. Come on, Moffat! If anyone can do it, you can!

In conclusion, this is another one of my favourite Big Finish stories. Just comes to show how brilliant the Sixth Doctor has become.

10/10

Doctor Who BF-156 The Curse of Davros

“It's been a year since Philippa 'Flip' Jackson found herself transported by Tube train to battle robot mosquitoes on a bizarre alien planet in the company of a Time Lord known only as 'the Doctor'."

A great story, and a brilliant addition to the sixth doctors big finish range. I went into this knowing that the sixth doctor was “my” doctor, and that it would be entertaining no matter how the story was. My hopes for this story was fulfilled. I had my suspicions that something was up with the Doctor from the first episode, when he didn’t recognise Flip. But I quickly put it down to the fact that he’s lived for a long time, so he may have just forgotten about her. The cliff hanger of episode 2 really did take me by surprise, when it was revealed that the Doctor and Davros had switched minds.

Was Napoleon really THAT good a leader? Why did Davros choose Napoleon, when he had the choice of Churchill, maybe Hitler- or even a Sontaran strategist? I’ll put this down to big finish wanting an episode with Napoleon in it, and the writer (Jonathan Morris) just accommodated to their wishes.

There was some things that I was shocked at, in this story. Just small things- such as how the upper-half of Davros’ casing was light enough for Flip to lift. What exactly is it made of? I would have thought that it would have been thick, heavy, bullet proof casing. But Flip didn’t sound like she was struggling with it at all. I suppose it could just be light-weight dalektanium…

I’m not a big fan of flip. I barely remember her from her first appearance (The Crimes of Thomas Brewster) the only scene I remember her from is when she is stuck on a train, with her boyfriend and the wonderful Evelyn Smythe. But she seems to be too young. The sixth Doctor now officially has had the oldest human companion the doctor has ever travelled with (Evelyn Smythe) and the youngest companion. (Flip)

I’ll do a review of the sixth doctors big finish run, soon, and take a look at why the sixth doctor is used an experiment for different companions.  I only hope that “The Fourth Wall” is good, which would mean the sixth doctor had had yet another successful year of big finish. Fingers crossed!

In conclusion, “The Curse of Davros” is a decent story, but Flip brings it down. But it’s slightly better than average, in all fairness.

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