The Tomfiles: #7 - The Rebirth of the Sixth Doctor - Part 2

In the second part of this Tomfile, we look at the latter half of Colin Baker’s time in the Big Finish world. Exploring stories from Pier Pressure to the more recent Raincloud Man. But first there are the specials to look at.

There have been various special stories that have had no real relation to the main range. One such story is The Ultimate Adventure. This story as I mentioned in the last Tomfile was a stage play that Colin Baker starred in back in 1989. In 2008, Big Finish bought three stage plays back and asked Colin to reprise his Doctor for this musical-fest story. It had a different feel to it that most stories that Baker has been in and what surprised me was how good it would be. It was already shown in the 2003 story Doctor Who and the Pirates that musicals in Doctor Who can work but as there was some history behind this story that most people weren’t aware of then it might not have been successful. Colin was as you would expect and seemed to revel in this new feel Doctor Who story. Another special was The Maltese Penguin which was given away to Subscribers of Neverland. It is unique because it has the release number 33 ½ which hasn’t been done since. Released in November 2002 this story isn’t one that I would recommend to new Doctor Who fans. It took me a few attempts to get through it but once I kept at it then I grew to like it. I listened to this before The Holy Terror so I didn’t know who Frobisher was and at the time found him totally annoying and the thought of an American Penguin totally bored me. Listening to it recently I can appreciate what a good story it was and how good Colin’s Doctor was. The next special was Real Time which was first released on the BBC’s Website. This story had Cybermen and Evelyn in it and due to the fact that the episodes are quite short it tightens up the action and makes it a thoroughly enjoyable piece. The next special was Her Final Flight which wasn’t a particularly good story. I think because it didn’t quite know what it wanted to be. Set after the events of Peri leaving in The Trial of a Timelord this story just didn’t work for me and it left Colin Baker’s Doctor not coming out of it particularly well. Again like The Maltese Penguin this isn’t one for new fans to listen to straight away but unlike The Maltese Penguin Her Final Flight doesn’t improve with further listening. Colin Baker racks up the specials with Crptobiosis which saw the Doctor and Peri on a ship so its that classic stuck with no means of outside help. I quite liked it, I mean it wasn’t the best story it could have been but it was ok. I remember at the time it was released to Subscribers in December 2005 reviewers weren’t exactly kind to it which was unfair because the writer Elliot Thorpe did a good job and the Doctor and Peri really seemed to work well together. The Sixth Doctor made an appearance in a series of Excelis Specials. The Sixth Doctor appeared in Excelis Rising written by David A.McIntee. I cant remember much about this story but the whole Excelis stories were quite good and I though that Baker’s was the best because his Doctor seemed more at home with this particular time of story. The final special (at the moment) was Return of the Krotons which was released to subscribers in December 2008 with The Raincloud Man. You had to listen to Return of the Krotons first really but I always wondered why they bothered to bring back a monster that wasn’t that popular when it made its one and only appearance back 40 years ago. However the story offered something different to the story and along with Colin’s Doctor - that seemed quite strong and effectively used in this story – and Philip Madoc this story was the best of the special subscriber releases.

Back to the regular releases. In the last Tomfile we had arrived at the end of 2005. The beginning of 2006 saw Pier Pressure which was written by Robert Ross who had written Medicinal Purposes. This was another enjoyable story that whilst it wasn’t on par with Ross’s previous offering, it had enough different elements to keep make it a good story. The Doctor was written in a strong way and was controlling throughout. What was enjoyable about this story was the setting. I always think that a setting is vital to a stories success because it creates an atmosphere in the listeners mind. It was in the next story that I thought the Sixth Doctor really stood out amongst the other Doctors. The Nowhere Place was one story that whilst I was listening to I was enthralled and couldn’t wait for the next episode. This story was split into many different scenes like on a spaceship and then on a train which could only work on Doctor Who. Yet again Colin Baker really played the Doctor with a wonderful charm and also Maggie Stables put in her best performance at that point which might sound like a back handed compliment but she always puts in a solid performance and to get it to the standard that it was in this story shows what a great actress she is.

The next story that featured the Sixth Doctor would have been the Toms Tardis Story of the Year 2006 if the site had been around. The Reaping was the first of two stories written by Joseph Lidster which featured the Cybermen. In this story we see Peri go back to her roots and goes back to see her mother just a few months after she left them in Planet of Fire. The Cybermen element helped make this story. The Doctor that we see at the beginning of this story is one that shows the biggest gap between the Timelord and his companions when Peri wants to get back home and when they do arrive on Earth the Doctor doesn’t take long to go off on her own and leaves the Doctor to solve what’s going on. Like The Nowhere Place this was an entertaining piece but for the first time, the Doctor took a back seat and The Reaping gave some back story to Peri which wasn’t really known about her. Colin Baker opened the year and ended the year with Year of the Pig. On my first listen I wasn’t really a big fan because it just seemed to take too long to get going. However when I listened to it again I really enjoyed it, it was a different type of story to what we would associate with the Sixth Doctor but enjoyable none the less and two Peri stories in quick succession. The Doctor was used more in this story but it wasn’t one that would go into the Top 10 Doctor Who stories.

2007 saw a big change for Big Finish. Gary Russell stood down as Executive Producer of the Doctor Who range to go and work for BBC Wales. Nicholas Briggs took over and during 2007 the format of stories changed. Instead of twelve four part releases there would be a certain number of stories that would be three parts and then a single part. Colin Baker was the first Doctor to undergo this new format. I.D. & Urgent Calls. This was the first time since Davros in 2003 that the Doctor was without a companion. The I.D part of the release saw the Doctor get involved with scavengers and has to investigate the death of one of the researchers. It was nice to see the Doctor not have the restrictions of a companion. Don’t get me wrong because Companions help drive a story and add a human aspect to a story but from time to time its nice for the Doctor be on his own. The story itself was an ok attempt. The thing that I noticed was how tight the story seemed to be, in four parts you would have to have a certain amount of padding which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Three parts just doesn’t allow for any waste. The single part story was what was classed as a Virus Strand and saw the Doctor have phone conversations with a woman. The story was again ok but it doesn’t really have much of a point and by the end of it I just thought that the single part stories were not going to go well. A few months later saw The Wishing Beast & The Vanity Box. What was so special about this was that it saw Jean Marsh return to Doctor Who. Marsh made three Doctor Who performances in The Crusade, The Daleks Masterplan (both 1965/66) and in Battlefield (1989). The Wishing Beast was the three part story and was not a particularly good story in my opinion, it just didn’t really stand out to me and that was disappointing because that meant that the Doctor wasn’t able to show what he can do. It was the single part story that was the strongest. It had an enjoyable pace and plot to it which saw the Doctor finally get some good scenes.

In September 2007, Big Finish celebrated it’s 100th release and to celebrate this fact they decided to have four single part stories all related to the number 100. When I listened to this story I wasn’t impressed. I had made up my mind that the single part stories just weren’t working for me. I didn’t think that you could tell a strong enough story in 25 minutes and out of the four parts in was the last one that was the best. It was called The 100 Days of the Doctor written by Paul Cornell which sees the Doctor trying to find a cure before he dies in 100 Days. It saw the Doctor meet various times in his Big Finish timeline.

2008 saw the biggest change to the Sixth Doctor in Big Finish. February saw the 6th Doctor encounter a companion from his future. The Condemned saw Colin Bakers Doctor have to try and work out with what is going on with someone who seems to be hiding something. This story arc is still on going as I write this in January 2009 and there is no end in sight but that was the B plot to this story the main story was set in a block of flats which was hiding a dark secret. Colin Baker was again on fine form in both plots. Baker’s relationship with India Fisher even in this first story holds great promise, in these mysterious times of the relationship it seems that the Doctor is going to have more to deal with than he has with Evelyn, Peri or even Mel. For me this was the story of the year due to the fact that it met my expectations (which can get a bit high), unfortunately when I opened the voting up for the Toms Tardis Awards the best story gong went to The Haunting of Thomas Brewster but Eddie Robson did pick up the Best Writer award which was for this story. What was nice was that Big Finish did conclude the mystery of Charley when the Condemned concluded. It could have been a cop-out in my opinion and was glad (if not slightly frustrated) that it continued. Another story that I had high hopes for was Assassin in the Limelight, this story was written again by Robert Ross and saw the return of Leslie Philips as Robert Knox. This story was set during the time of the Assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln. This saw the return of Evelyn and unfortunately it was a poor story. From the annoying American accents to the confusing plot I just found it a real disappointment considering how good and in the case of Medicinal Purposes was brilliant. It was back to business with The Doomwood Curse written by Jacqueline Rayner. This story was a fun tale of literature going bad with India Fisher putting in a sublime performance as Charley. The Doctor isn’t idle in this story but seems to take a slight backseat so that Charley can show use what she can do with this new lease of life for her character.

The next story was perhaps the most difficult story that I have ever listened to. I must have tried to listen to Brotherhood of the Daleks seven times and don’t understand it. So I am not going to try and describe it to you but basically the only thing that stood out for me again was the Doctor and Charley. This is the third story to feature this pair and despite the weird plot it enabled them to have enough memorable scenes where at one point we think that Charley is going to tell us the truth. However we don’t find out and her secret is safe… for now!. The final story to feature the Sixth Doctor was The Raincloud Man which saw the Doctor and Charley reunite with DI Menzies from The Condemned. This wasn’t as good as the first story but that was always going to be difficult so they tried something different and what I liked was the Doctor. His willingness to sacrifice his life for the sake of humanity was something that has not really been felt in too many Doctor Who stories as of late and it was nice to hear this. The game of Top Trumps was a nice funny moment that helped the story. The next Colin Baker story wont be until at least the summer of 2009.

As I have mentioned I think that Colin Baker’s Doctor has undergone the biggest resurrection out of the four. The stories are always that little bit better because Mr. Baker is doing them. If only he had had the same quality of scripts (and a different jacket) then he might have had a longer time as the Doctor, the show might have gone on longer and most importantly he would regularly be competing for that Top Doctor award that gets created every couple of months by varying websites. The storyline with the Doctor and Charley will probably be concluded this year if not in the early part of 2010. Big Finish have to time this right because failure to end it effectively will damage the company, damage the series but perhaps undo the fine work that has been done in showing us what a great Doctor he is.

The Prisoner's Dilemma

The eighth story of the third Companion Chronicles series is a Seventh Doctor story but with a twist. This story forms part of the Key 2 Time series which is set after this story but was in fact conceived, written and produced after the main three stories were recorded. The story is written by Simon Guerrier who wrote the superb Home Truths. Guerrier has a good track record with Doctor Who stories so I was looking forward to this story. The continuity is something that I didn’t quite understand in terms of the Seventh Doctor’s timeline. Apparently it occurs after the Big Finish play Death Comes to Time (2003) as Bernice Summerfield is gone but before the story Ground Zero which is where Ace dies.

The Prisoners Dilemma sees Ace encounter Zara (though she hasn’t been named yet at this point). The first part of the story is lead by Zara and half way through listening to it I was wondering why there was a lack of Ace. Considering this is called the Companion Chronicles it was distinctly lacking a companion. At one point I wondered whether some tracks had been lost. The second part was back to normal with there being a lot more Ace. It was really in the second part that the story got going for me. I liked the idea that the prison was a dome that had been abandoned and the inhabitants had developed their own way of life ruled by mad robots. The main plot point was trying to figure out what Ace was doing as by the end of the first part her memory had been wiped. When the point had been revealed it was believable and quite enjoyable. Something that wasn’t quite explained was the image of the Doctor mysteriously appearing on the lakeside in Part One. It’s quite an eerie image but one that should have been referred to maybe in Part Two.

Whilst I enjoyed parts of this story it did leave me feeling rather underwhelmed. It feels like they just inserted the Key 2 Time element after the story had been written and this made the whole story seem not as good as it could have been. If you listen to it before the Key 2 Time series then it will be a lot better as it makes more sense with those stories whereas if you listen to it with the other Companion stories then it makes less sense.

Simon Guerrier’s story seemed slightly rushed and the whole story felt like it didn’t really have a heart to it which is a shame. After listening to it I felt a little disappointed about what Guerrier had written which considering how good Guerrier is was a surprise. Lisa Bowerman directed this well. This is her third companion chronicles and she is proving herself to be a very good director. I hope that she is given a main range story to direct and it would be nice to see her direct more than two people and have to direct a longer story. I think she would do well. Sophie Aldred seemed different in this story. She showed why Ace is such a good companion. The moment when she said that she trusted the Doctor and the moment she didn’t she would have to stop was a nice moment and highlight the relationship she has with him. This isn’t her best performance but considering she hasn’t got Sylvester McCoy or Philip Olivier to work against it isn’t that bad a performance. Laura Doddington played the character of Zara well. I know that she is to feature heavily over the next three months in the Key 2 Time series and this story bodes well that she is a mysterious and slightly conniving character. I think that she has a potential to be the highlight of the year but only time will tell.

Overall a mixed that works in parts and doesn’t work in others.

The Transit of Venus (2009)

The third story of this series to be set around the first Doctor is a superb effort. Ian Chesterton was played by William Russell from 1963 to 1965. One of the best things about the early years of Doctor Who is that a story could take place over several months. It gives the impression that the characters are getting some travel experience under their belts. This is the first time that Jacqueline Rayner has already written a Companion Chronicles and the thing about Rayner’s stories are that they aren’t complicated but there is an interest that keeps you glued.

The story starts off brilliantly with a mini recap of what had happened in the TV story The Sensorites. It could have gone on for an hour before the main story got started and I wouldn’t have minded. When it did eventually get started the story had a gentle pace and it was the expedition of the Endeavour going to Australia. The main plot was that the Doctor and Ian were trying to get back to Susan and Barbara who are trapped in the TARDIS but the main plot is the interaction between Ian and Joseph Banks. It was quite interesting to see the truth about Joseph Banks, was he an alien or did he have some sort of knowledge probably from an alien being.

The story trundles along quite nicely and it is just nice to hear William Russell read the script with love and respect that you would expect from the shows first male companion. The pay off at the end which explains everything was something that was hinted at but was still a surprise to me. The story that was set before Transit of Venus was The Sensorites and one of the main points about that story was the fact that Susan (unlike her companions and the Doctor) had the ability to read minds and it was that ability had reached out to Banks and because Barbara had been talking to Susan about history and geography this information had got to Banks and he knew knowledge that he shouldn’t have known yet. It was a simple and believable solution to the mystery. I think that if this story had been written by someone else it might have had a more complicated ending which would have ruined it but as it is the story started well, had a good middle and ended fittingly. Ian Hallard was also very good in this story. He acted Banks with a certain sense of innocence like when Ian is accusing Banks of pushing him overboard. At that point you think that Banks is evil but if you know your history then you know what he does in history. The scene between Chesterton and Banks at the end was well acted out between the two actors.

I do only have one critiscm of this story, why did it take 15 releases and two years before we had Ian Chesterton? I thought that the previous Hartnell release Home Truths was the best of the Companion Chronicles so far but now Transit of Venus takes that title. Superb script, superb setting, superb acting by Russell and Hallard and overall a thoroughly enjoyable release. Jacqueline Rayner has written a fascinating script that keeps the listener glued throughout and this is her best story to date. Nigel Fairs directs a superb story and this is best story in six releases. His directing keeps you guessing and helps create a feeling that a lot of time (maybe months) has passed. When they do get together thanks to this effort you feel a relief that they are back together.

Fantastic story.

The Tomfiles: #6 - The Rebirth of the Sixth Doctor - Part 1

In the first of a two-part Tomfile, I take a look at Colin Baker’s time as the Doctor both on screen and on audio and see what has happened to the Sixth incarnation of Britain’s most loved alien.

Colin Baker made his first appearance in Doctor Who in the 1983 Peter Davison story Arc of Infinity. He then appeared as the Sixth actor to play the TV Doctor on March 16th 1984. Over the course of the next two years the show would suffer due to lack of support from BBC management. After the show was cancelled in 1989 many fans seemed unsympathetic towards Colin Baker’s Doctor. However since 1999 the Sixth incarnation has undergone some what of a re-evaluation and is now considered one of the best Doctors in the Big Finish range.

During his time as the Doctor on television it wasn’t so much Colin Baker himself that was the problem, it was just the wrong time for him. The BBC was being run by people who cared more about their reputation and what people thought of them than providing programming that the licence paying public would want to see. The budget for the show in 1984 was the same roughly as in 1963 and there seemed no desire to increase it to produce better production values and a more attractive programme. By the time Colin Baker had become the Doctor for his first full season in 1985, the show had returned to its traditional Saturday tea time slot. Except this time the show would be 45 minutes long and run for half the time it had done before. The main problem with the show at the time was the critics were out to get the show and would use anything to form an argument no matter how feeble it was. For example, it was accused that the Doctor pushes two guards into a tub of acid when if you actually watch it you will see that one guard falls into it and pulls the other one in. The only bad thing that could be said was the line that the Doctor uses and that it “You’ll wont mind if I don’t join you!”. Also strangling your companion is a pretty bad thing to do at 6pm on a Saturday night. I suppose it’s a sensible thing to say that making the Doctor different from previous incarnations was a pretty smart thing to do to try and breathe new life into a show which at that point had been running for 22 years. But I think they went to far with the outfit. The ‘outfit’ was out of date back then and is still out of date and it’s the one of the few things that you could get embarrassed about.

Colin Baker only had 31 TV Episodes to his name and 14 of them were in the mixed story ‘The Trial of a Timelord’. But despite that short run he did have some good stories. For example The Mark of the Rani is well worth a look. It sees the return of the Master following his firey ending at the end of Planet of Fire. It also sees the introduction of the Rani as played by Kate O’Mara. What is so good about this story is the location filming, it is some of the best in Doctor Who. Then there is the Two Doctors. Forget the pointless reason for filming the location footage in Spain or the point for bringing Patrick Troughton back at all. It was alright when the show was celebrating the 20th Anniversary but two years later it seemed rather a mute point. But to see a truly wonderful Colin Baker story then look no further than Revelation of the Daleks which saw Davros and had everything in the story and that is why it is one of the better Dalek stories of the 1980’s. Following the return of Doctor Who in 1986, Colin Baker was axed from the role in payment for the return of the show in 1987. To me his treatment was disgusting. I can understand why he decided not to do the regeneration sequence but what they did to make up for that was a joke. It would be over 20 years before the glimmer of the 6th Doctor would shine. Colin Baker made a few appearances as the Doctor like in 1989 when he starred in the Stage play The Ultimate Adventure and in 1993 to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Doctor Who he return to appear in a bizarre Children in Need special.

On March 6th and 7th 1999, Colin Baker joined Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy in recording the first official audio adventure for Doctor Who. The Sirens of Time wasn’t that bad but compared to today’s standards its quite poor. It wasn’t until the third story Whispers of Terror that Colin Baker got his own adventure for the first time in 23 years. In this story the Doctor is reunited with Nicola Bryant as Peri. This story like The Sirens of Time wasn’t anything special. Colin Baker’s third story was The Marian Conspiracy which is an important milestone because it was the first companion to created specially for audio. Dr. Evelyn Smythe had never been seen or mentioned in TV Doctor Who and so we were able to know her story from the beginning. For those of us who weren’t really watching Doctor Who when it was on originally this is the first companion that we have seen from the beginning. I really liked this story and it wasn’t really the plot that I liked. It was the relationship between the Doctor and Evelyn that made this so memorable. The opening seen really set it up for me, Smythe trying to do her job and the Doctor interrupting to try and satisfy his curiosity. As the story progresses it just gets better and better and shows what potential this partnership has. The next adventure was the Spectre of Lanyon Moor. this story was special because it had the Brigadier in it but the story was another good one. The story was a really good one for the Doctor and started to show what he could do.


The Apocalypse Element was another solid story and it saw the return of Lalla Ward as Romana. The next story it also featured the Daleks and in my opinion was better than the previous story the Daleks appeared in which was The Genocide Machine. Evelyn Smythe took a rest in the next story which was The Holy Terror and featured Frobisher who had only appeared in other Doctor Who media. I didn’t listen to this when it was released and it was one of the last ones that I did and I actually liked it. It was a gentle and nice story which wasn’t really meant to be taken seriously and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. I don’t think he should be a full-time companion because I think the American Penguin character might get a bit to annoying after a few adventures. He should come back for the odd adventure maybe every 18 months or so. The next story wouldn’t be until the summer of 2001 due to the first series of Paul McGann adventures. This was Bloodtide which was the best so far for Colin Baker. He was superb as well as Maggie Stables and also the return of the Silurians was another bonus point. Baker’s next story immediately followed Bloodtide and it was even better which I thought would be impossible. Project: Twilight was a vampire tale set on Earth, what this story showed was that with a nice strong story Colin Baker can show what sort of Doctor he can be and even considering the early ones Colin Baker has had more impressive stories than he ever did on TV. The final story of 2001 was a comedy and it was a much more obvious one than The Holy Terror. This story was called The One Doctor and it saw the Doctor reunited with Mel for the first time on audio. It was a really good story and was a fitting end to a quality year for the Sixth Doctor.

The start of 2002 was given over to Paul McGann’s second series of adventures, building on the success on the first season. As a result, Colin Baker only had two adventures that year and neither of them were particularly memorable. The first was …ish which was a wordy story in more ways than one. It featured Peri as the companion whereas I think Evelyn would have suited this story much better as her character is a teacher. The next story was The Sandman which saw the return of Anneke Wills to the series. Wills played Polly between 1966 and 1967 overseeing the change of William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton. The story was a really hard one to get through and I think that Baker suffered because of that. You have to give Big Finish credit for trying this sort of story but it just didn’t work. So as a result of these stories 2002 was a disappointment when you compare it to the previous year. I think if there had been more CB stories then it might have been a better year for him. The use of the wrong companions for the wrong stories also didn’t help the stories.

2003 was a very good year for the Sixth Doctor. The first story of the year was Jubilee which is what the 2005 Christopher Eccleston story Dalek is based on. This story saw the return of the Daleks following their so-so story The Time of the Daleks. This was another superb story which allowed Colin Baker to shine. Any opportunity that a Doctor has to battle the Daleks or a famous monster then they run with it and this one was no different. A short while later saw Doctor Who go all musical in Doctor Who and the Pirates. With any other Doctor then this story would have flopped badly but with Colin Baker in the main role it became a glorious and fun filled adventure. The addition of Bill Oddie also added to the enjoyment. The next story in the 6th Doctor range was Project: Lazarus which is a truly superb story that is better than Twilight which I thought was not possible. The story was perhaps one of the darkest and most gruesome stories that I have ever known in Doctor Who. This story also featured two Doctors which is obviously something that shouldn’t happen very often and when it does then something special or different should happen. In this case the 6th Doctor had been cloned and it was the Seventh Doctor that had to save the day. What I liked most about this story was Colin Baker’s performance. It was unlike any performance of this character that we had seen for quite sometime and at times it was quite off-putting because we are not use to seeing him that way. McCoy was also good in this story and his Doctor served the story well.

In the run up to celebrate Doctor Who’s 40th Anniversary and Big Finish’s 50th release. Three adventures were commissioned with the 5ht, 6th and 7th Doctors all facing foes from the Doctors past. For the sixth Doctor it was Davros in Davros. This story was the best of the trio and what absolutely fantastic because it gave Colin Baker and Terry Molloy (Davros) the chance to have so good dialogue together. Also Wendy Padbury is in it as Lorraine Baines who with Bernard Horsefeld playing her husband played the typical characters of thinking they could control Davros when in fact they couldn’t. Colin Baker made a guest appearance in Zagreus but the following month saw The Wormery. This is not only the worst 6th Doctor story but it is one of the worst Big Finish stories to date. Despite the fact that it had Katy Manning (Jo Grant) in it the story was confusing and didn’t interest me in the slightest. Not very often that I give a story 1/5 but this one was an easy decision. After three years of Doctor Who stories featuring the Four Doctors who were aliving and willing to do these stories it was the Sixth Doctor that had developed the best. He still sounded like the Doctor and Colin Baker put in the same passionate performance that he always did on TV and with the right scripts it was possible to see what Baker could have been like if he was given the chance.

As 2003 rolled into 2004 we were treated to what would be Evelyn Smythe’s last adventure in terms of chronology (because us Doctor Who fans love to put stories into order). Arrangements for War was a fitting story for Evelyn but the story helped expose how different the Doctor and Evelyn are as characters despite how well they have bonded. Following the events that occurred in Project: Lazarus it was obvious that this story would see Smythe change it some way. I wont say it was one of my Top 5 but it is an ok story that works well and Colin Baker yet again puts in another fine story. Medicinal Purposes was the next story and this is one of the stories that would go into my Top 5. I love when Doctor Who does historical and in this one it was in a period of history that I remember vividly from school. Burke and Hare were two Grave Robbers who stole dead bodies for people to do medical research on. What Big Finish did that was clever was insert the Doctor and Evelyn into it. This was a good story because it gave the Doctor a good opponent to try and work against. Not Burke or Hare but Dr Robert Knox who we thought at the time was another Timelord because he had a TARDIS but he in fact wasn’t from Gallifrey and he had won the TARDIS in a game of cards. Knox was played by Carry On legend Leslie Philips. Philips was absolutely superb and was a fitting opposition to Colin Baker. Another note of interest was David Tennant who played Daft Jamie. This story was good because it gave Colin a chance to do all sorts of emotions ranging from anger to sympathy. Hi s relationship with Daft Jamie was a poignant one and what made it even sadder was that the Doctor knew of Daft Jamie’s impending death because its in proper history.

The next story was The Juggernauts. This was with Bonnie Langford and saw Mel separated from the Doctor. This story was another strong script that enabled Colin Baker to not only develop a better relationship with Bonnie Langford’s Mel character but to also have some very good scenes and dialogue with Terry Molloy’s Davros. The story also sees the return of the Mechanoids. Their only appearance was in the 1965 William Hartnell adventure The Chase. The next story for the Sixth Doctor was Catch 1782. This was similar to the Juggernauts in that the Doctor and Mel become separated. Where Catch was different was in that the Doctor took more of a back seat in this one as Mel tried to regain her memory whilst the Doctor tries to find her. Its an interesting piece that works because the stories doesn’t feature aliens trying to slaughter another race of aliens or someone trying to invade but just a simple rescue mission that takes on an emotional twist. The next story that features the Sixth Doctor is Thicker Than Water and is a sequel to Arrangements for War. This features both Bonnie Langford and Evelyn Smythe. This isn’t a story that I remember well and it doesn’t really have anything to do with the acting it is just that the story doesn’t really reward the listener with anything in my honest opinion. 2005 was on the whole a very good year for the Sixth Doctor. For me the best story for Colin Baker was The Juggernauts though Catch 1782 comes a close second.. This year was another solid display from Colin Baker and he continues to be able to change peoples attitude towards his Doctor.

In the second part, we look at the Sixth Doctor adventures from 2006 to 2008 and also the special adventures Real Time, Her Final Flight and Cryptobiosis.

The Darkening Eye (2008)

This is the first story to feature a companion from beyond the fourth Doctor era. I am surprised it has taken so long but quite glad that they have done it. It also nice that they chose the best companion from the Fifth Doctor’s era to read this story. I don’t quite know whether using stories featuring the fifth Doctor onwards is a good idea. The companions used are ones that we hear once or twice a year (or more) and that has occurred for the last ten years. Sarah Sutton gives a good performance as Nyssa. Sarah Sutton played Nyssa from January 31st 1981 in The Keeper of Traken to February 23 1983 in Terminus. Originally she was only intended to appear in The Keeper of Traken but due to the need of more companions with the departure of Tom Baker’s Doctor in the next story it was decided to keep Nyssa on as a full-time companion. Nyssa is my favourite companion because she is rationale and doesn’t fit the normal stereotype of the female companion. Another thing that I liked about Sutton’s performance is the voices that she does (or doesn’t do). Her Tegan voice was the best and they seemed the easiest thing to do, the tone that she used for Adric was spot on and the Doctor was not memorable.

The use of death is not the cheeriest of subjects due to its dark and often negative images. The Dar-Traders morbid descriptions in this story help make them the sort of alien that despite having no malice you would not want anything to do with them. The return of the Dar-Traders was a good one because I think that there is a lot of potential for this creature. The idea that the Doctor and his companions all have death signatures makes sense because they have all dealt with death. The Doctor has died four times at this point, Tegan has felt the death of her Aunt (in Logopolis), Nyssa lost her father and others (in The Keeper of Traken) and Adric lost his brother (Full Circle) and would die in Earthshock.

Stewart Sheargold wrote a strong story because of the descriptions that he gives creates a very dark and miserable idea of what the spaceship was like. A series like the companion chronicles depends on the descriptions of the writers and thanks to Sheargold this story works. The bits that he sticks in are valid points, what I mean by that is the line that Adric makes that just because we don’t understand a races rituals or beliefs then that doesn’t mean that it’s wrong which makes sense. When you look at the Dar-Traders then you would think that they have a morbid fascination with death except to them it’s probably perfectly normal. A new word seems to have been created especially for this story because I had never heard of it before Trakenite. That is something that seems obvious to Nyssa but it just seems to have been plucked out of thin air. Ken Bentley is directing his first Companion Chronicles even though he has directed a regular story this is a different discipline but does really well. The story has some really good moments which are important to the story and work and that’s thanks to Bentley.

The best thing about this story is the return of the Dar-Traders. I really liked the Dar-Traders when they last appeared in The Death Collectors. They sound superb and it’s a shame that they are used in audio because they would be brilliant on TV. The cliffhanger was also very good in this story and totally came out of the blue. It genuinely led me to wonder how it was going to conclude because we all know he dies in Earthshock. The conclusion was not a disappointment and it was the second part of this story that was the better half. The introduction of Damasin Hyde helped move the story along and added a threat to the companions. I think it would have been better if another actor played Hyde instead of using Sutton. It did slightly devalue the character no matter how much it added to the story.

Overall this was an enjoyable story, its does have its faults but the use of Nyssa was a good idea and the story was sound.

The Raincloud Man (2008)

The final story of 2008 sees a sequel to the March story The Condemned and follows on from Return of the Krotons. The Raincloud Man is written by Eddie Robson who even though he hasn’t been writing for Big Finish for long (Blood of the Daleks in 2007) he has become one of the best writers for the range. This is perhaps the only other story that I was looking forward to more than The Condemned. The only way it was going to this is by having a different focus to before. As a result story is less serious one that The Condemned but it was still entertaining.

Back in Manchester the 6th Doctor and Charley encounter DI Menzies who is still as entertaining as she was previously. What I felt in this story was how much of a rounded character she seemed, back in the Condemned she was bordering on the annoying whilst managing to be entertaining I think that because it seemed to have gone down well with either everyone at Big Finish or the fans it was decided to have her modified slightly different. I wondered what the name Raincloud Man meant. It didn’t seem to have any relevance but the idea that the name refers to the bad luck that this guy brings at casinos is very smart and works well into the setting of the story. I liked the idea that the story is set in Manchester because normally stories that are set on Earth are in rural areas or in London whereas to set a story in the North of the country is quite different. There were some memorable moments in this story and the best one was the scene where The Doctor is gambling his life and stuff in a game of Top Trumps, now in a normal show like Coronation Street or Holby City this would be a silly thing to do and would totally waster any potential the story had left however it worked in this story and it gave several minutes of superb action that genuinely had me wondering just exactly where the story was going and more importantly whether the truth about Charley would come out.

Colin Baker was on fine form in this story, I think that even with a weak script he can still put in a fine performance. I love the fact that he knows there is something not quite right with Charley but he still travels with her, more to try and find out the truth than anything else. I am quite enjoying the fact that the relationship seems to have softened between the Doctor and Menzies. There is still a level of banter that helps create some comedy but ultimately it doesn’t distract from the main story. The Top Trumps scene was played really well as he didn’t know quite exactly whether he was in control of the situation and ultimately that is what helps heighten the tension. India Fisher was also very good in this story, I think that the Charley character is perhaps the strongest character that Big Finish have created. It seemed that she was destined to just be useful for a short time with the Eighth Doctor but with the introduction of C’Rizz in 2004 it shows that the character of Charley is one that has limitless potential and with the interaction with the Sixth Doctor it has given a new lease of life to the character. India Fisher plays the posh adventuress very well and has also done very well in trying to keep the truth from the Sixth Doctor since she appeared in The Condemned. Her storyline of when the revelation is going to appear is gripping stuff and she seems so different from the Charley that appeared in the 2001 Storm Warning story.

Anna Hope was the star of the story for me, she played DI Menzies well in the Condemned. She showed in this story that the character had taken in what happened during The Condemned and it has helped her to do her duty of protecting Manchester. She is a character that works very well in perhaps any story that you could think off due to the way that the character has been written and how Hope portrays the role. As I was listening to the story I was hoping that she would stumble on board the TARDIS and become a companion because I think she would be very good. Unfortunately she didn’t but there is still hope (no pun intended). I think that if they bought back the role of Menzies that it would be as a short term companion. Give Hope 3 stories to see whether its just a novelty thing or whether she would work well as a companion. The other guest stars were all very good and all had a massive roles in the story. I thought that Michael Fenton Stevens was very particularly good as Brooks with Octavia Walters also good as Carmen. I though that Steven Hansell was funny as the Bouncers and Jeremy James was also very good as the Tabbalac Leader.

Eddie Robson has written a good story which did well to try and maintain the interest in the Doctor’s quest to find out the truth about Charley. Robson has developed Menzies enough to make it seem like she has the potential. I don’t think that Robson has written a poor script and he managed to keep that trend going with this story. The characters in this story were very strong and all contributed to the development of the story. Nicholas Briggs was superb as director. He generally is as previous stories like The Nowhere Place that he can effectively create tension and helps push the story along at the right sort of pace. Being the Executive Producer of the range and probably being behind the Charley storyline means he has an idea of where the storyline will be going and how much is going to be revealed in this story.

Overall this story isn’t quite as good as The Condemned it is still an enjoyable four part story that rounds off a fantastic year for the Sixth Doctor. This story arc has been the biggest success of 2008 and hopefully they give it a satisfactory conclusion at some point in 2009.

2008 Tomstardis Awards

BEST DOCTOR - Colin Baker
BEST COMPANION - India Fisher (Charley Pollard)
BEST MAIN RANGE STORY - The Haunting of Thomas Brewster
BEST MAIN RANGE WRITER - Eddie Robson (The Condemned)
BEST MAIN RANGE DIRECTOR - Barnaby Edwards (The Haunting of Thomas Brewster)
BEST MAIN RANGE COVER DESIGNER - Alex Mallinson (Brotherhood of the Daleks)
BEST MAIN RANGE MUSIC & SOUND DESIGNER - David Darlington (The Condemned)
BEST GUEST STAR - Andrew Sachs (Adric – The Boy That Time Forgot)

BEST EIGHTH DOCTOR ADVENTURE - Brave New Town

BEST COMPANION CHRONICLES STORY - Here There Be Monsters

SPECIAL RECOGNITION - Gary Russell