Absolution (2007)

After four years and 13 stories C’Rizz has reached the end of the road in Doctor Who. Absolution manages to become one of the best 8th Doctor stories since Terror Firma. It manages to have excitement and a emotional ending along with a shocking ending. This story was written by Scott Alan Woodard who is making his second contribution to the series, having already penned the 2005 story The Juggernauts which was a really good story, so good that it’s surprising that it’s taken three years for Woodard to write another Doctor Who story. Following the disappointing 100th Big Finish celebration it was important for the series to get back to telling a thumping good story and as we learn it had to be that for another important reason.

The beginning of this story is set around C’Rizz as Charley comes into his room and this is very similar to the Doctor and Adric in Earthshock. A lot of this story seems to have a theme relating to Earthshock. The moment when C’Rizz dies was one of the saddest moments that I have ever known in the 101 releases of the Doctor Who range on Big Finish. A large part of that must go to the writer but also must go to the cast. Conrad Westmaas who has often been overlooked in past stories shines through in this one and you get the feeling that for the first time that he was destined to become something more than he was. The moment before he died when he was saying goodbye to Charley and the Doctor was very well delivered by Westmaas and shows what could have been done with the character had there been more stories like this.

Paul McGann was on usual fine form and it was strange to hear him without Lucie as we have just had that since the beginning of 2007. McGann’s best moment came after C’Rizz had died and he was trying to do the usual thing of smiling through an immediate situation as if someone who wasn’t important had died and it backfired spectacularly. McGann was great when he was trying to make up with Charley who had at this point become upset that the Doctor was reacting in such a jolly manner. India Fisher was also very good as Charley because she had bonded quite well since C’Rizz joined the TARDIS crew. The scenes at the beginning of Episode 1 and when C’Rizz dies were moments that the character was written for. The very last scene in the TARDIS when Charley wants to go home because she has had enough was very well written and well acted by McGann and Fisher. It is a nice lead into the December release which apparently sees Charley leave the series in The Girl Who Never Was. Robert Glenister is one of two big names in this story. He appeared in the 1984 Fifth Doctor story The Caves of Androzani and more recently has starred in the BBC drama Hustle. In this story he played Aboresh, this character was a really important and well written character than was played to the max by Glenister. Christopher Villiers also has history in Doctor Who appearing in the 1983 story The Kings Demons. In this story he plays Cacothis who again was a nice strong character. Other cast members who contributed a lot was Natalie Mendoza who plays Lolanthia. Mendoza’s biggest role is in the BBC drama Hotel Babylon. Tony Barton was very good as Straith and Geoff Breton performs well as Phelgreth.

Scott Alan Woodard has written a very good story. With C’Rizz departing it was important they he is given a good story because even if the character wasn’t the most popular one he still deserves a good send off. The plot is a very good one and suits the personal anguish that C’Rizz has had since he joined the series. Woodard has managed to do this with a very dramatic story which has a shocking ending. The directing in this story deserves a mention because it’s the pacing of this story that manages to keep you hooked. Barnaby Edwards is a very good director and it was vital for the success of this story that he stays with that style of directing. There was not a single time during this story that I got bored or lost concentration and that all adds to a great story. Absolution is a fantastic story and is a brilliant ending to the character of C’Rizz who has had some great stories such as his opener The Creed of the Kromon and Faith Stealer, The Next Life and Terror Firma. It’s clear that the writers, producers and directors took great care with this story and it’s a shame that they didn’t do more to make C’Rizz fit in because it always seemed that he was the odd one out and just didn’t quite seem to gel into the stories like most of the companions specially created for the Big Finish range.

I cant quite make my mind up where this story lies in terms of best stories because it has a lot to live up to with Nocturne and Son of the Dragon but it is definitely in the top three and possible near the top of 8th Doctor stories. The thing about 8th Doctor stories is that they can be a bit hit and miss but definitely this story is a hit. Despite the departure of a long(ish) companion it was still a top notch four part story that shows what Big Finish can do when they put everything they have into choosing the right characters, the right story, the right writer, the right director and also the right musician. I’m not much of a C’Rizz fan but I think that they could and perhaps should do a one off story (set before Absolution obviously). If you are a fan of C’Rizz then you will be really upset about his exit but even if your not you’ll still find it sad.

Dalek Empire 4: The Fearless (Part 1) (2007)

Well its taken quite a long time but we have the first Dalek Empire story since 2003 and it was always going to be an important one for new and old fans of Big Finish. It had to deliver a new story and relate it into the previous three series. The first part of Dalek Empire: The Fearless was going to determine whether the series would work or not. Essentially what Nicholas Briggs has done is hit the reset button on this series because with time having moved on and Briggs concentrating on the Cyberman series. The first part of this story seemed to be done mainly to introduce the character of Salus Kade and Agnes Landen. Setting up these two characters who would go on to probably perform a major role in this series was important and thankfully Nicholas Briggs got it right. It’s a very rare thing to say in Big Finish plays but there was a sense of stunt casting. This series’ two mains stars are people who have appeared in Doctor Who at some point. Noel Clarke played Rose Tyler’s boyfriend from 2005 to 2006 and then there is Maureen O’Brien who played Vicki back in 1965 and Vicki is a character that I really like.

Despite this fear of stunt casting I have to say that those fears went away more or less within seconds. Noel Clarke was very good in this story because when I heard him I didn’t think of Mickey. The role of Kade is one that has the family side which shows him as a nice guy and then he switches all of a sudden to a leader who doesn’t like to be told walked over. The best thing about the role of Kade and the way that Noel Clarke plays him is that he is just right because otherwise he would have been too annoying and that would have ruined the whole series. He is believable and you start to warm to the character as the play moves on. I quite like the plot of this story as it is told in flashbacks and we learn why Kade is the way that he is and that he has become emotionally unstable due to the events of Landen. There is only one critiscm to this first part, the first is that the character of Lajitta didn’t really work. Despite the best efforts of Ginita Jimenez. I just didn’t connect to her and wasn’t realy that bothered about her. This might be rectified in later episodes but she didn’t really have much of an impact to justify her role in the story. She should have had more time to help create a proper sense of family. It was nice that they bothered to cast someone for the child because that added another angle for the family. The fact that the Daleks weren’t in it as much as they normally would be was quite strange but when they did make an appearance they were well used and the scene where they were waiting for Kade and company to appear out of the cave and tried to attack them was very exciting. Maureen O’Brien also deserves a mention because she was very good as well as Clarke. She had previously appeared in the 6th Doctor adventure Year of the Pig and the first story from the Companion Chronicles series Frostfire. The character of Landen was well written and interacted well with Salus Kade. It seems like these two characters will work very well in future Dalek Empire stories. The cliffhanger at the end was brilliant and made me want to wish that Part 2 would come through the post the next day. That is what a Dalek story or any Doctor Who story should do and for that I am most relieved. These two have the sort of relationship that shows signs of blowing up at the most pivotal part of the series so that will be a joy to come across. Leading up to this release I had concerns because I wondered whether Nicholas Briggs could keep the pace and the interest in what is now the 15th episode of the Dalek Empire series and I have to say that he has done so by looking at the Dalek War in a different way and using a different character from Susan ‘Angle of Mercy’ Mendes. Following on from the ok Return of the Daleks which was intended I believe to be a taster or a reintroduction to the Dalek Empire series its back to normal. Noel Clarke, Maureen O’Brien and the rest of the cast have a brilliant script that only had one downside this story sets up the rest of the series very well. The different way that the story started as well as a complete freshness I found myself really glad that I purchased the whole series and cannot wait for the next instalment. Bring on Part 2

100 (2007)

100 is the 100th release and it had to be a different kind of story from the norm to celebrate this fact. 100 is split into four different stories similar to the 91st release Circular Time. The difference is that these stories on have a link concerning the number 100 apart from that they are four different stories in four episodes. Each story has been written by someone who has contributed scripts in the past. Robert Shearman has penned some of the best stories in the Main Range with such classics as Jubilee & The Chimes of Midnight, Joseph Lidster has penned stories like The Reaping and The Gathering. Jacqueline Rayner wrote the 2000 story The Marian Conspiracy which introduces Evelyn into the series and the 2003 story Doctor Who and the Pirates which also starred the 6th Doctor and Evelyn. The fourth writer Paul Cornell has written the 7th Doctor story The Shadow of the Scourge and co-wrote the 8th Doctor story Seasons of Fear.
The first story was written by Jacqueline Rayner and places the Doctor and Evelyn in unfamiliar surroundings. The story is simple and seems to focus more on the relationship between The Doctor and Evelyn. The Doctor and Evelyn have travelled to the home of Julius Cesar and his wife who is expecting their child, only to find that the child that has been born is a girl and not a boy thus kicking off the moral dilemma of whether they should change history back. For the first time The Doctor and Evelyn are at severe disagreement. For some reason Evelyn has decided that it is perfectly acceptable to change history because it might turn out better than what things are like currently. The fact that when she originally joined the Doctor was to research history seems to have escaped her momentarily. The moment when she fakes an ailment is the point where for the first time ever I disliked Eveylyn. The Doctor handles Evelyn’s change of stance with the typical Doctor way, just ignore it and try to plough on regardless. There is a great moment where the Doctor gets to Cesars’ home before Evelyn and you think that the Doctor has used the TARDIS but in fact he has just ran faster than Evelyn. In this episode Colin Baker is on good form with not much to do but uses the moment where he is trying to cook a romantic meal with the comedy timing it needed. Maggie Stables is also on good form despite her radical mood change of character, this form of difficultly is more suited to the other characters like Peri or Mel not Evelyn. Will Thorp, who had starred in the 2006 Doctor Who story ‘The Impossible Planet’ and ‘The Satan Pit’ played Gaius Julius Caesar superb in the character. Lucy Paterson was starring in this story as Aurelia and was very good playing the woman who wanted to get romantic with Caesar and got out of the mood when the Doctor and Evelyn appeared.

The second story was a Robert Shearman story and was called My Own Private Wolfgang. The first thing that striked me about this story was the theme tune in the greatest way ever and it was good how it led into the main story. This story is another one where The Doctor and Evelyn have already arrived and are in the middle of an adventure. The fact that there are eight characters in this story but only three actors (and that’s including Colin Baker and Maggie Stables) is what makes this stand out. John Sessions plays the remaining characters and deserves a lot of praise because he makes the four characters sound completely. The suicide attempt was truly shocking but done in a mildly comical way but the fact that he has been trying to commit suicide in different ways but still unsuccessful just added mystery to the plot. The Mozart that the Doctor and Evelyn encounter at first is a very sad character and you grow to feel sympathetic for the man. The revelation that there are different Mozart clones is typical Shearman. The plot that Mozart has created clones of himself to go back to prevent Mozart from dying when he was young so that he could carry on living and the futuristic Mozart never gets to live is quite a bizarre one (even for Shearman) why would someone want to cease existing and why would he create thousands of Mozarts. This story is very complicated and if it was a four parter then this story would work but it feels like Shearman has just crammed it all into 25 minutes and as a result it is a poor story. This doesn’t reflect in the actors performance. Colin Baker’s performance is slightly below par of the previous story but not by much, Maggie Stables is better in this than in 100BC and John Sessions if perhaps guest star of the year as he manages to sustain the quality of the different characters for the entire episode and that’s what prevents this story from failing completely. Definitely a poorer episode than 100BC.

The third story is written by Joseph Lidster and is called Bedtime Story. This story is set like a proper bedtime story where we are been told the story. The main point of the story seems to be that when the grandchild is born then grandfather dies, this is a good plot point as it made me curious as to what is causing this and why. The what is answered in this story but not really the why. Again like My Own Private Wolfgang, it seems to spend a long time setting it up and then it realises it only has a few minutes so it rushes to an ending and by the end of this story I didn’t really get a good understanding of the story. Everyone in the story was good, credit has to go to Frank Finlay who’s voice works very well in this story as Old Jacob. Will Thorp who was in 100BC is more suited to this story as he is required to speak and act as if he was in modern day Britain. I don’t know whether or not I blanked out at some point but the story didn’t really have a conclusion, as soon as The Doctor discovered what was happening it was the end of the episode.

The fourth and final story is written by Paul Cornell and is called the 100 Days of the Doctor and I think is the best story of the lot. The idea that the Doctor has 100 days to live and for once he doesn’t know how to fight against it. Colin Baker and Maggie Stables were in their best episode really because they were on their own (except that Nicholas Briggs appears as The Assassin but he wasn’t really a main character). This was the first time since Scherzo that a story just has the Doctor and the companion. I was thoroughly enthralled by this story because it was really an excuse for the 6th Doctor to spy on his previous and future incarnations. What Cornell did was not just have the Doctor with his TV companions only but with his Big Finish companions as well. The relationship between The Doctor and Evelyn is different in this story from past adventures and in a better way than 100BC.

These four stories were disappointing. One thing has been proved beyond doubt with this story and with Circular Time and with the virus strand that accompanied I.D, Exotron & The Wishing Beast is that you cant tell a good story in 25 minutes. You would need at least an hour to tell a good enough story. It wasn’t that the stories in 100 were poor its just that they all suffer from such as short amount of time to be able to tell this story. Colin Baker and Maggie Stables were good in these stories but ultimately that could help the overall release from been one of the poorest releases of 2007

The Tomfiles: #1 - Big Finish

Well it’s finally here, not just my first Tom-file which I have been promising for quite a while but also we have now had 100 Big Finish releases. I first learnt of Big Finish adventures when I went to a Memorabilia Fair in Birmingham in 2004. I saw these CD's and thought that I would give them a try. I bought Faith Stealer, Caerdroia and The Last. I didn't realise that they were part of a story arc and thought they were just individual stories with the same Doctor and companions but I realised pretty soon that I was wrong. I loved the fact that they were different from the TV show but in many ways quite similar. Quite soon I was buying other adventures and in mid-2006 I had bought all of the available adventures. I have been subscribing for the last two years and consider the money that I spent on these subscriptions money well spent and will continue to do so for as long as Big Finish make these adventures. I will be looking at the long road the Big Finish has undergone and look at how the Doctors and Companions have differed (if at all) from the TV versions.

I have to admit that Big Finish has a lot to be proud of. It helped move the series along and keep interest in the show whilst it was on 'hiatus'. The range has moved the Doctors and companions on a lot more than the TV show could have done, the characters have been moulded so that people’s perceptions of the characters have improved. When The Sirens of Time was released back in July 1999, there were a lot of things that were good and bad but it was just nice to have the first new Doctor Who story since the TV Movie. Its hard to think that stories like Live 34, Dr Who and the Pirates and Flip Flop could have ever been made for TV and that is one of the biggest advantages to the range, it will dare to do different stories sometimes they work sometimes they don't.

Big Finish tries to be different and not just rely on old monsters. There have only been a few Dalek stories, a few Cybermen and one or two of the old classic monsters such as Ice Warriors, Silurians and the Master. Most of the stories are hit and miss and even the most mediocre stories have redeemable qualities. The use of the classic companions but in different roles help add a bit of class into the stories and helps you feel that just because the first four Doctors aren't in the stories doesn't mean that they can't be used. Maureen O'Brien (Year of the Pig), Anneke Wills (Zagreus), William Russell (The Game), Caroline John (Dust Breeding), Katy Manning (The Wormery), Nicholas Courtney (Minuet in Hell) and Debroah Watling (Three's A Crowd) have all worked very well in their stories. To make each story in four separate episodes like they would have been on TV has worked very well, it would have been nice if they used the theme that they had on TV but that is only a minor fault. The fact that each story follows in the chronology is a smart idea and it means that classic fans have something to fill in the gaps between each TV episode and also new fans won’t feel that they are missing something. It is a shame that Tom Baker hasn't appeared in any of the stories, as his voice would have been an asset to any story as his narration on the hit BBC Comedy Little Britain proves.

Over 100 stories, there have been several stories that have stood out as minor classics. The two Project stories (Twilight & Lazarus) were fantastic stories in their individual ways but work brilliantly as a two part serial. Live 34 is the most original story released. Spare Parts is usually in the Top 3 of any poll as well as the Robert Shearman story Chimes of Midnight. Paul McGann's first two stories (Storm Warning & Sword of Orion) were great starts for the 8th Doctor and shows what he could have achieved if he had made more TV stories. Other stories that are considered to be classics include Bloodtide, Jubilee, The Harvest, The Juggernauts, The Nowhere Place, The Reaping, Nocturne, Frozen Time and more recently Son of the Dragon.

One of the biggest successes in my opinions if the re-evaluation that has happened to all of the TV adventures. Before Big Finish Colin Baker stories were often looked at in a bad light because of the poor music and poor special effects but with top stories the 6th Doctor stories on audio have changed their opinions on TV. In fact with my ratings system Colin Baker has scored the most out of all four Doctors. He has scored 98 out of 135 with an average rating of 3.63. In fact most of Baker's stories are of the highest quality. Colin has such a powerful voice but it was always drowned out by his hideous outfit on TV. Stories such as Jubilee and the Project series show what can be done for his version of the role. His relationship with Peri is a lot better than on TV and this is because I believe that the writers haven't focused on the tension between the two but more on how they can help each other. But when it comes to companions I have to say that Evelyn is the best. She is not just the best newly created companion but she is the best companion in the audio range. She is quite unlike any character in the show because she is not young, she is not sarcastic (a lot!) and she doesn't scream. Her relationship with the Doctor is not one of just enjoying pure adventures but of respect and enabling Evelyn to experience living on other worlds to use as research in her lectures. She is the longest serving companion out of the ones that have been newly created. Her first appearance was in the sixth story 'The Marian Conspiracy' and it is fitting that she is in the 100th story. That is a good move because the relationship between Baker and Stables is what makes their adventures so compelling and enjoyable. One of the biggest improvements that have occurred is the character development of Mel. Obviously everyone knows that during her time in Doctor Who in 1986 and 1987 she was terrible due in part to the poor writing and then she was required to scream and be annoying in every scene. So it was perhaps surprising in how much she has improved. In her first story 'The Fires of Vulcan' it was like it was a different person playing Mel and as stories have gone on she has got better and better. Her finest performance came in the story 'Catch 1782' when she was just outstanding. If there is a companion that has progressed the most then it is definitely Bonnie Langford.

Moving some focus back to other Doctors some praise should go to Slyvester McCoy. His portrayal of the Doctor is so much better than on Television. Stories like Live 34, The Harvest, Dust Breeding and several other stories have helped bring the 7th Doctor to a standard that he should have been at during his time as the Doctor but the first series really killed it off for him. One of the best things about the 7th Doctor plays is the emotional links between the Doctor and Ace. It was fantastic during the TV show but in these plays the character of Ace has grown up. No longer is she the young explosion mad companion but now she has become a woman (how cliché) and is on par with the Doctor in more situations than not. With the addition of Hex however the jury is still out even though it is now three years and seven stories since he made his first appearance. His performances are sometimes very good and then sometimes mediocre. I don't know whether he is a soap star or a celebrity but I just get the feeling that he is sometimes lacking something. The relationship with Hex and Ace is well done and whilst I say his performances are mixed, Olivier's performance in Live 34 was absolutely fantastic. The way that he made his section of that story stand out was worthy of his role in the series.

Paul McGann was a late addition to the Big Finish series, as he didn't make his debut until story 16 when Storm Warning surfaced in January 2001 it was a big test for people as to whether McGann was good enough to take on the role. He never got the chance for his 1996 movie and I think it was because he only got one outing that it was decided by Big Finish to give the 8th Doctor four stories in a row. This was a good move in my opinion because it gave the writers and producers time to try and in effect restart people's opinion of McGann's Doctor. As McGann never got a proper companion it enabled Big Finish to create a brand new companion for him and that meant it was someone who we didn't have any preconceived ideas about. Charley Pollard was unlike any companion in Doctor Who history, she was a posh rebellious young woman who survival was pivotal for the first few series. India Fisher is very good and her departure in the 103rd story The Girl Who Never Was (Due for release in December 2007) will no doubt be a sad sombre story. I personally like her because she had that spirit that meant she wasn't going to let a hoard of evil monsters stop her helping the Doctor. The arrival of C'Rizz in late 2003 was nice novel move because it meant that for the first time in Paul McGann's reign as Doctor he had a full TARDIS crew. This novelty soon wore off as his role in stories was a bit of a mystery and you got the sense that he never really quite fitted in and his departure in the 101st story Absolution (Due for release in October 2007) will not have quite the emotional moments that Charley's departure will have but that's not my fault.

Peter Davison is perhaps the least consistent Doctor out of the four. Its not that his stories are bad but it's just that they are not on par with the other Doctors. Davison's best story is perhaps Spare Parts that is in the Top 5. Davison's voice hasn't changed that much and the way that he speaks in the stories are one of the high lights of his stories. He works very well with the companions very well and in the case of Peri that is very surprising as they only spent 8 episodes together on TV. Erimem on the other hand is very different; she is like Charley but 1000 years earlier. Though Caroline Morris is very good and has a very nice voice the character of Erimem suffers similar problems to C'Rizz. Its not that she doesn't fit into stories it’s just that she is only at her best when she is taking on a role where she is treated like a royal princess. In Eye of the Scorpion she was a pharaoh and in 'The Church and the Crown' she was to take control of the situation like someone important. In 'The Council of Nicaea' she is probably at her best and more recently in 'Son of the Dragon' she is in a superb position. When she is retired sometime in 2008 she will be the second most missed companion. I hope that Big Finish don't just have 5th Doctor/Peri stories from now on because that will just be dull.

When Doctor Who returned to BBC1 in March 2005 it looked like it was going to have a negative effect on Big Finish and according to an interview in Doctor Who Magazine it did but thanks to the subscribers everything was all right. In fact in the 2005 series three of the four writers (not including RTD) have written for Big Finish. Robert Shearman (Dalek) , Paul Cornell (Fathers Day) & Mark Gatiss (The Unquiet Dead) have contributed and the Robert Shearman story was loosely based on the 2003 6th Doctor story 'Jubilee'. Since 2005 the stories that have been made have been of a high quality and if you compare a story like Nocturne to The Sirens of Time or even a story from 2003 then you notice a big difference not just in terms of story quality but in the acting from the Doctors and companions and also the guest stars. Also the music is better with a lot more effort put into these stories similar to the TV series.

With 100 stories now produced and at least another nine planned to take us up to the summer of 2008 it seems now the right time to ask the question. Where can the series go now? With the success of the TV series meaning that there will be Who on TV until 2010 and strong signs of it going beyond then can the Big Finish range really last. Well I think it can, you see with the departure of C'Rizz, Charley and the imminent exit of Erimem it means that the companions left will get more time and dialogue to expand the characters already around. Lucie Miller is newest character to be created by Big Finish and it would be nice to see her get some more time with the Doctor and have her character moulded into a nicer character because the main problem with her role in the BBC7 series was that she seemed a bit too loud and that might be alright for a few stories but if she is going to last then the Big Finish guys need to tone it down a bit.

Without Big Finish we wouldn't have had anything new to keep us going and that would have been very sad because it whilst it was always a possibility that it would return on TV it was never definite. All the people at Big Finish deserve a round of applause for what they have managed to achieve because without them most of the characters and stories from the 'classic' era wouldn't have been reappraised like they are now and because of that I hope that this range of Doctor Who stories aren't 'Finished' for a long time to come.