2007 has been a good year for Big Finish. With such stories as Son of the Dragon and Nocturne leading the charge for Story of the Year contender it was important that the final story was a really good one. The final story of 2007 also saw the final story for India Fisher and for Charley. The character had made her debut way back in January 2001 and was written by Alan Barnes, so it was only fitting that he wrote the departure of the character. The Girl Who Never Was is a follow up from the previous 8th Doctor release Absolution and so had a lot to live up to which was always going to be difficult considering the circumstances. The conclusion of Absolution came a bit out of the blue. Of course Charley feels grief after losing a friend she is going to want some space which is quite similar to how Evelyn felt in Project: Twilight when Cassie died and spent some time away from the Doctor. It was clear that her departure wasn’t going to be the normal.
Whilst I thought it was a good story it was overly complicated. There seemed to be no real need at all to set it in both 1942 and 2008 because all you really needed was a simple adventure with the Cybermen and you would be sorted. Another thing that found wrong was when Charley had been converted, it just didn’t work for me and it just felt like it was a poor attempt at a Cyber voice. I half expected her to jump out and turn talking like she normally does. Also in this story it would have been nice if Charley’s mother had made an appearance. Another negative thing is that I had difficulty at time understanding just what was going on and that was due to the time settings. The first story for the character of Charley (Storm Warning) was a simple adventure which had monsters, a feisty companion and a historic setting whereas The Girl Who Never Was was the exact opposite. When I finished listening to this four-part adventure I did feel slightly confused but that isn’t to say that there weren’t any redeemable features. The first were of course the Cybermen, they were making their first appearance in the regular releases since their double-header one back in September 2006 (The Reaping and The Gathering) and their two-parter in the BBC7 series so it was the most that the Steel baddies have had in Big Finish for quite sometime. The sound of them was absolutely spot on and added a genuine menace to the proceedings. The one downside of the Cybermen (which has nothing to do with Big Finish) is that there is no consistency to how the Cybermen look or sound. With the Daleks apart from one or two stories they have looked and sounded the same. With Big Finish plays they have the same sound in every story.
The introduction of the Cyber-Planner was not only a fantastic idea but it had a brilliant voice. The fact that someone else was playing Charley was a genius move and made me interested to find out just what had happened to Charley and why she couldn’t remember the Doctor the first time she saw him. The scene towards the end where its revealed that it wasn’t in fact the real Charley but someone from 1942 who had lost their memory and took on the name Charley was a nice move and was the only thing that made sense out of the whole 1942 thing. But the best thing about ‘The Girl Who Never Was’ was the exit of Charley from Doctor Who. It wasn’t melodramatic, it wasn’t boring and it most certainly not dull. It was totally unexpected though and the fact there was no real goodbye made it that more emotional.
Paul McGann puts in a different kind of performance in this story. He has to deal with the death of C’Rizz and the shock decision by Charley that she wants to leave and on top of that has to deal with The Cybermen. It’s a good performance from him and its always a sign of what sort of Doctor he could have been had that US version being successful. India Fisher puts in a superb performance in her last story with the Eighth Doctor. This partnership on a actors level has been a joy to listen to and will be deeply missed. The character of Charley has been a really interesting character. She hasn’t stuck to the stereotype of being from the 1930’s but has developed really well over the near seven years that the character has been around. Stories such as Zagreus and Scherzo have really tested the relationship between the Doctor and Charley and have made this combination just a successful as the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn. The introduction of C’Rizz in late 2003 didn’t really allow interfere with the bond these two had which made the character of C’Rizz seem like even more of an outsider. I personally don’t believe the tosh that the character had gone its course, if so why is Peri and Nyssa still around nearly 20 years after they left and its not just because their classic companions. I think that just because this is the last adventure chronologically speaking it doesn’t mean it has to be the last story at all. Set future 8th Doctor/Charley stories just after Charley joins the TARDIS or before C’Rizz joins. In my opinion the departure of Charley will be a sad loss. Anna Massey is a distinguished actress and she played Miss Pollard superbly. Her involvement of this story helped add another emotional side that I thought was a nice touch. Another good involvement in this story was Danny Webb as Byron. The character was well written and was a lot of fun to listen to. Webb has previously been in the seventh Doctor story The Dark Husband and the two-parter TV story The Satan Pit & The Impossible Planet.
Whilst Absolution was a brilliant story for a character that didn’t really fit in, it seems a shame that this story was overly complicated for a character that was the best thing about the 8th Doctor stories. Alan Barnes has written a story which some fans may like but left me feeling like it didn’t need to be like this. It’s difficult to know whether the partnership had run its course but with the arrival of Lucie Miller who is a feisty companion, Charley’s days were numbered.
Whilst I thought it was a good story it was overly complicated. There seemed to be no real need at all to set it in both 1942 and 2008 because all you really needed was a simple adventure with the Cybermen and you would be sorted. Another thing that found wrong was when Charley had been converted, it just didn’t work for me and it just felt like it was a poor attempt at a Cyber voice. I half expected her to jump out and turn talking like she normally does. Also in this story it would have been nice if Charley’s mother had made an appearance. Another negative thing is that I had difficulty at time understanding just what was going on and that was due to the time settings. The first story for the character of Charley (Storm Warning) was a simple adventure which had monsters, a feisty companion and a historic setting whereas The Girl Who Never Was was the exact opposite. When I finished listening to this four-part adventure I did feel slightly confused but that isn’t to say that there weren’t any redeemable features. The first were of course the Cybermen, they were making their first appearance in the regular releases since their double-header one back in September 2006 (The Reaping and The Gathering) and their two-parter in the BBC7 series so it was the most that the Steel baddies have had in Big Finish for quite sometime. The sound of them was absolutely spot on and added a genuine menace to the proceedings. The one downside of the Cybermen (which has nothing to do with Big Finish) is that there is no consistency to how the Cybermen look or sound. With the Daleks apart from one or two stories they have looked and sounded the same. With Big Finish plays they have the same sound in every story.
The introduction of the Cyber-Planner was not only a fantastic idea but it had a brilliant voice. The fact that someone else was playing Charley was a genius move and made me interested to find out just what had happened to Charley and why she couldn’t remember the Doctor the first time she saw him. The scene towards the end where its revealed that it wasn’t in fact the real Charley but someone from 1942 who had lost their memory and took on the name Charley was a nice move and was the only thing that made sense out of the whole 1942 thing. But the best thing about ‘The Girl Who Never Was’ was the exit of Charley from Doctor Who. It wasn’t melodramatic, it wasn’t boring and it most certainly not dull. It was totally unexpected though and the fact there was no real goodbye made it that more emotional.
Paul McGann puts in a different kind of performance in this story. He has to deal with the death of C’Rizz and the shock decision by Charley that she wants to leave and on top of that has to deal with The Cybermen. It’s a good performance from him and its always a sign of what sort of Doctor he could have been had that US version being successful. India Fisher puts in a superb performance in her last story with the Eighth Doctor. This partnership on a actors level has been a joy to listen to and will be deeply missed. The character of Charley has been a really interesting character. She hasn’t stuck to the stereotype of being from the 1930’s but has developed really well over the near seven years that the character has been around. Stories such as Zagreus and Scherzo have really tested the relationship between the Doctor and Charley and have made this combination just a successful as the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn. The introduction of C’Rizz in late 2003 didn’t really allow interfere with the bond these two had which made the character of C’Rizz seem like even more of an outsider. I personally don’t believe the tosh that the character had gone its course, if so why is Peri and Nyssa still around nearly 20 years after they left and its not just because their classic companions. I think that just because this is the last adventure chronologically speaking it doesn’t mean it has to be the last story at all. Set future 8th Doctor/Charley stories just after Charley joins the TARDIS or before C’Rizz joins. In my opinion the departure of Charley will be a sad loss. Anna Massey is a distinguished actress and she played Miss Pollard superbly. Her involvement of this story helped add another emotional side that I thought was a nice touch. Another good involvement in this story was Danny Webb as Byron. The character was well written and was a lot of fun to listen to. Webb has previously been in the seventh Doctor story The Dark Husband and the two-parter TV story The Satan Pit & The Impossible Planet.
Whilst Absolution was a brilliant story for a character that didn’t really fit in, it seems a shame that this story was overly complicated for a character that was the best thing about the 8th Doctor stories. Alan Barnes has written a story which some fans may like but left me feeling like it didn’t need to be like this. It’s difficult to know whether the partnership had run its course but with the arrival of Lucie Miller who is a feisty companion, Charley’s days were numbered.
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