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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment