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.
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.
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