Wirrn Dawn (2009)

Wirrn Dawn is the fourth instalment of the Third Eighth Doctor & Lucie adventures. This story sees the return of the Wirrn to the series. Their only appearance was back in 1974 in the Tom Baker story The Ark in Space. They are a monster that are more effective as a visual one so it was a curious choice for Big Finish to use but very much like the Autons in Series 2 they tried to do something different with a well known monster.

The opening scene was very well done as it was very dramatic and you got the impression that something big was going to happen. Then the action moves to the Doctor and Lucie who land on the spaceship and encounter the crew just before the Wirrn attack. I liked the idea that the Wirrn would infect a human so that they would take in all of the human’s knowledge and that would keep a peace between the two creatures. I thought it was a really good idea because it gives you a mixed feeling because obviously you wouldn’t want anyone to die and get tuned into a Wirrn but then on the other hand if it can guarantee peace then it might be a sacrifice that needs to be made but then again would you be willing to sacrifice yourself? I like the fact that they have kept true to the Wirrn sound and not gone for a 21st Century version. Changing the setting also helped move the story along. To begin with it was or seemed to be on a spaceship but then moved onto the planet. Korista VII was a superbly named planet and what I imagined it to be was to be in some fields in the middle of Asia where there are no people, no roads and very few animals and just the isolation of it all. The cliffhanger is what I didn’t like about this story. This one just seemed to be somewhere for the plot to stop and didn’t really have me gripped and wanting the next episode to come along. I was just thinking ‘Is That It?’ so I was really disappointed which is a shame because the others for this series have been really good.

Paul McGann puts in a superb performance in this story. He really seems to be enjoying playing the role. When he comes up against the Wirrn it isn’t like he is out to kill them or wipe them from existence but he just works out what is going on and finds a peaceful way out of it. Even when he is leaving he has to try and convince Delong not to kill the Wirrn. Sheridan Smith is also very good in this story as she stands up Salway several times throughout the story. In particular I like how she protects Farroll from being killed even though she was slowly turning into the Wirrn. Of all the guest stars the biggest name was obviously Colin Salmon who has appeared in a few James Bond films from 1996 to 2002 and also appeared in the 2008 Doctor Who story Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead. I was expecting him to play a management type character or as it is in the military some sort of general so it was nice that he got to play a lower ranked character. The character of Salway was your typical big man who when the going gets tough actually shirks any attempt to try and fight.

Also in this story is Daniel Anthony who plays Delong. Now Anthony is not someone that I know a lot about however on Wikipedia (the source of all correct knowledge) he plays Clyde Langer in the Spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. I must admit that the character of Delong is the only low point of the story and that is because at the beginning he was the voice of reason but as time progressed he obviously changed which wasn’t a bad thing however when it became clear that things were ok and were going to be fine he still played the untrusting fool. He did slightly redeem himself when he told the Doctor he was going to stay and to try and help peace which I thought was nice. Beth Chalmers is an actress who has appeared in several Big Finish plays over the last few years and can be relied upon to come up with an interesting voice and in this story she plays the Queen and even when the Queen is coming to the end of her life you still get a sense that she has human qualities which help add to the drama. Ian Brooker was very good in this story as Winslet, Brooker can always be relied upon to create a good voice and use in well.

Nicholas Briggs has written and directed this story and when he does both you always get a really strong story. Prime example is The Nowhere Place (2006) which is one of the best stories of the year. What Briggs has done is added something new to what we all new about the species called the Wirrn. With such a short amount of time to tell the story he has managed to keep the plot moving and only having characters that contributed to the story. Jamie Robertson also deserves some credit for staying true to the Wirrn sound and for also creating some truly memorable music which makes you think that he is wasted in audio and should be working on films or something like that.

Overall I think that this story is a very strong story. All the characters were well written and well acted and what was so good about them was that there was that sense they don’t trust each other then that all changed and by the end of it all the better characters. This series is really getting along very well and the new format is working better than I thought. On reflection there is no need why it should be any different because the series one and two stories were 50 minutes and so the only difference with series three is that there are cliffhangers which the eighth Doctor doesn’t get enough of.

The Beast of Orlok (2009)

The Beast of Orlok is the third story of the third series for the Eighth Doctor and Lucie. It is a story that has a nice setting and also a mystery that needs solving. In my opinion it is a classic Doctor Who story which has a nice setting and a monster/myth that seems to be terrorising the locals. By this point in the series the relationship between the Doctor and Lucie seems to have mended. Following on from Orbis and Hothouse it was very important that their relationship gets back to where it was back in Season 2 because whilst you want something new from the duo you don’t want it to change too much so that loses its appeal.

The opening scene was very impressive as it was setting the foundations of the Beast. When the Doctor and Lucie arrive in 1827 Germany there is the usual and often funny speech of thinking that they have arrived at Alton Towers but of course they haven’t. There was some good dialogue between the Doctor and Lucie. The speech that the Doctor gives Lucie to show when and where they are was very impressive and was a great example of just how smart this incarnation of the Doctor is. I also liked the opening scene when the Doctor and Lucie land and discuss the LTD button which either stands for Lucie to Drive or Locate the Doctor. These discussions show that their relationship is developing well and is going back to how it use to be.

Paul McGann was playing the Doctor with the cheeky intelligence that we come to expect from him now. His incarnation of the Doctor has benefited greatly from Lucie Miller as he seems to be trying to become the cool Doctor but constantly getting scorned by Miller. Sheridan Smith was continuing to develop well as Miller. Her character has one foot in the classic companion attitude of mocking the Doctor for having a craft that doesn’t go where it intends to (they were supposed to be going to Alton Towers Theme Park) and she also has one foot in the new era of being a companion of being feisty and intelligent. She had managed to cut out a lot of the gobby stuff that first appeared back in Blood of the Daleks (2007) but there is still enough to make her stand out on her own. Miriam Margolyes is the best of the guest stars as Frau Tod. She is always an actress that can be relied upon to give a entertaining performance no matter what is required of her. She is a mother that shows several times in this story just what sort of a woman she is. This was shown when she was telling the story of how she found Hans and Greta and that most people stayed indoors but she ventured out to see what was happening. Samuel Barnett (Hans) and Alison Thea-Skot (Greta) are very good in this story playing children who have grown up believing one thing and then thanks to the events of this story find out something else. They were characters that I found annoying to begin with by when the revelation was revealed they suddenly became nice well rounded characters. Nick Wilton was also very good as Otto Pausbacken (what a great name). Also Trevor Cooper as Judah contributed some good stuff to the story. Also last but by no means least Peter Guinness who played Baron Teufel. Guinness has amased quite a CV starring in such things as The Bill, Casualty and the 2005 BBC Costume drama Bleak House. Also he is married to Roberta Taylor who has appeared in Eastenders and The Bill but also starred in the 2000 play The Holy Terror and more recently the Doctor Who Magazine special release Cuddlesome.

Something I liked and only noticed this in the Extras interview was that not of the actors attempted to do a German accent which is a good thing because often when you get actors to try and do an American accent it is usually a horrible and stereotypical voice which ruins the story and I would listen to Assassin in the Limelight (2008) to see what I mean. Unless you get an actor from that country who can do the accent then you are doomed to fail and so just doing their voices in their normal English doesn’t diminish the characters or the action so it’s a lesson to future directors of Big Finish plays or radio plays in general that you don’t have to do the accent to get people to believe that is where the characters are from.

Barnaby Edwards writes his second story for Big Finish. His previous story was the 2008 story The Bride of Peladon which has similar feelings to The Beast of Orlok. What I like about this story is that it isn’t an alien invasion trying to use Earth as a place to stay until they can launch a war on Mars or Venus or something like that. He has also directed this story which is where Edwards is normally in production terms. He directed a story that kept this ticking along nicely at the beginning but then shifts the action to the cliffhanger and then beyond to the end of the story. I think that is a good thing when writer actually director their stories. Its not always a good thing because the writer has to have a good idea how they want the story to progress and I think in this category at the moment there is only Edwards and Nicholas Briggs who could do this.

Overall I think that this is a superb story that has characters that are well written and whilst some of it may be tongue in cheek (Hans and Greta) there more than enough to enjoy and go back time and time again. Barnaby Edwards has written another good story which even if your not a fan of the eighth Doctor or Lucie you would be hard pressed to find a fault with this story. I think that the story works well in the format of two 25 minutes and I think that it might even have worked in a four story format because there is enough going on that even with a little bit of padding you would still find it enjoyable.

The Boy That Time Forgot (2008)

2008 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNNER

• Best Guest Star (Andrew Sachs as Adric)

The Boy That Time Forgot is the second story in the Thomas Brewster story arc. At the end of the previous story, Thomas Brewster had stolen the TARDIS and left the Doctor and Nyssa stuck in 19th Century London. This story has been written by Paul Magrs who has written several stories such as The Stones of Venice (2001), Excelis Dawns (2002), The Wormery (2003), Horror of Glam Rock (2007), The Wishing Beast (2007) and The Zygon Who Fell to Earth (2008). This is a story that has a lot of expectations that were raised by the conclusion of the previous story but this story had far more important things to focus its attention on. The biggest thing to notice is of course the lack of a TARDIS. Now I’m not really fussed either way. I do like scenes which are set in the TARDIS and wish they would do more but then again when they don’t do scenes with the TARDIS I don’t really mind and it means that they can get involved straight into the action.

The setting was quite interesting because you don’t know whether its an alien planet or Earth in the distant past. It turns out that it is neither because it turns out that it is a primitive Earth that shouldn’t exist. Meanwhile in the city nearby where the Doctor and company are situated there are scorpions who we learn are ruled by a very clumsy and insecure sounding leader. The Doctor and Nyssa soon learn that it is Adric and through some weird string of events he has survived and has become the Scorpion King. I don’t know what the thinking was in using scorpions except that it might have something do with the fact that Scorpions might be magnificent creatures who are powerful and are probably quite loyal.

I think that the Doctor/Nyssa double act is one of the strongest acts in the Fifth Doctor era Due to the fact that they are so similar that when they do encounter Adric they are combined in their amazement and I think there might be a little bit of horror thrown in. The Adric that appears in this story is quite unlike the Adric played by Matthew Waterhouse between 1980 and 1982. That Adric was an annoying little oink in Pyjamas. The new Adric is very clingy and is after Nyssa which gets quite disturbing because you think that Adric is going to get violent against her. There would have been no point at bringing Adric back if you are going to just have the same old Adric so it was better to have a different actor to bring a different side to the character. That is something that Big Finish do well, bringing something back from the Classic era and giving it a new twist which is refreshing and shows initiative.

Peter Davison is very good in this story and puts in his best performance for quite some time. His Doctor never liked Adric for some reason and there was some great tension between the pair throughout this story. His Doctor has to deal with the loss of his TARDIS and trying to get it back as well as trying to get everyone back to their own time. Sarah Sutton always puts in an excellent performance. She is one of my favourite companions and its because essentially she is the Doctor’s equal both emotionally and intellectually. She isn’t one of those whiny people but always put logic to a problem and never just screams her way out of a situation. Andrew Sachs is the big name in this story as everyone knows him from Fawlty Towers but in this story he not only has to play The Scorpion King but he also has to play the 2008 version of Adric. Sachs manages to play Adric the right way considering the events of Earthshock. I really like Harriet Walter as Mrs Beatrice Mapp because she was playing the Jane in the Tarzan films. She seemed to form a double act with Rupert Von Thal played by Adrian Scarborough which I thought was very entertaining. Also Olivier Senton was very good as Kranlee with Claire Wyatt rounding off all the good strong cast by playing Madam Teegarna.

Paul Magrs has written a very good script that just has a light reference towards the Brewster story arc and just concentrates on the emotional point of being reunited with someone who the Doctor and Nyssa thought had perished but was in fact alive and well. I think that Magrs is a really good writer and I think that Horror of Glam Rock & The Zygon Who Fell to Earth are his best works but this one might beat those two. Barnaby Edwards who directs a large number of Big Finish audio plays does well to keep the story going and doesn’t let on too soon that the Scorpion King is in fact Adric. I personally think one of the best scenes was actually at the end where they are all back in their own time after all the events that went on. Something that also deserves a mention is about the music and sound effects which really helped distinguish the current time period against the prehistoric and that credit goes to Steve Foxon who has done a superb job.

Overall this story was a superb due to the fact that it was just a shock with the return of a character that splits fandom to those who like him and those who don’t. There was the pick up of the Brewster storyline at the end when the TARDIS returns. I didn’t know whether we would hear anything from Brewster and the minute (ish) bit at the end was enough to make it feel like it was part of the story arc. There was enough in the story to keep it at the four episode mark which was just the right limit.

A story that can should be listened whenever possible.

The Chaos Pool (2009)

Well its all comes down to The Chaos Pool. What this had to do was conclude the biggest story that Big Finish have done for quite some time in a satisfactory manner. To help with this they enlisted Peter Anghelides who is new to Big Finish and that makes it good because then he isn’t bogged down with the expectations of fans. Whereas the Fourth Doctor had 26 episodes to try and find the six segments we only have 12 episodes and at times it might have felt a bit rushed but at least with all three scripts we have been offered things that have been very positive to the whole story arc.

The return of Laura Doddington as Zara helped to bring back the sense of the purpose of this story. When she left the Doctor and Amy in The Judgement of Isskar we never knew where she ended up or when. In this story she has ended up on Escaton which is some sort of research vessel which has a familiar passenger. It was well known that Lalla Ward was going to be appearing in that story however I just assumed that she was going to be Madam President Romana. When the Doctor hears her voice and assumes that it is Romana I was hoping for one of the reunion moments that we seldom get in Doctor Who. That’s because as with any drama things don’t always go to plan and we get the realisation that its Princess Astra.

I liked the idea that The Chaos Pool was this sort of magical place that even the Guardians couldn’t find. It was like it was heaven equivalent for Science Fiction. The idea that its where the main action would take place was well built up throughout this story and it didn’t disappoint. The arrival on the planet where in fact the whole story started was very atmospheric and you knew that the story had moved up a gear and you really were going to get your moneys worth.

Peter Davison was very good in this story. He was completely believable throughout the entire Key 2 Time story. Ciara Janson put in her best performance of this series because she was genuinely in stress when she was trapped in with the segments. As time went by she got more and more distressed which added to the tension that I felt when I was listening to this story. Janson has really been the best thing about this series. She has played Amy with an innocence that we seldom get with a companion and she hasn’t been annoying at any time throughout this series which is unusual because even Evelyn or Lucie have got on my nerves from time to time. Laura Doddington was really good in this story because she played Zara in this story with compassion and also a nice side which hasn’t been seen in this series. Her relationship with Par grave helped create the impression that she has managed to integrate herself in the ship which is quite similar to the master and how he was able to integrate and manipulate people to do the things he wanted.

Lalla Ward was superb as Madam President. She played the role like she did back in 1979 and I thought she really showed how good she was in the fourth episode. The way she was in this story just had me thinking to when she appeared in the Armageddon Factor back in 1979. She has a no nonsense attitude to anyone who attacks the ship and prevents the crew of the Escaton from doing their job. Ben Jones was good in this story as Captain Pargrave. He has an innocence which is ultimately forgotten as they get towards The Chaos Pool. At the beginning there was a sort of shyness to him where he seemed to bury himself in his job to try and forget his feelings towards Zara. Out of all the characters in this story it was the one of Commander Hectocot that I disliked. Toby Longworth is known for diversity of voices and in this one he manages to play the 80 year old with a bad hip very well however its when the Doctor wants the Satchel back and Hectocot refuses to give it to him and yet he never shows any desire of what he wants to do with it. I just thought that the character of Hectocot was good in theory but unfortunately detracts from the main story for me. David Troughton also made a welcome return to this story, the Black Guardian is a good character in this story and whilst I would like to have heard more from the Black Guardian not because I think it would add more to the story but because it means that we hear more from David. Also deserving of a mention is Cate Hamer who plays the voice. Computer voices are very underrated in Science Fiction I find but in this case the voice was very good and interacted well with the different members of the casts.

Peter Anghelides has written a story that lived up to my expectations. The conclusion to the Key 2 Time had to be something different and it really was different. I had to listen to it a few times to try and understand it but once I did it showed what a great story that Anghelides had written. Hopefully it wont be long before we hear from him again. Lisa Bowerman has directed another good story. Its nice that she is getting her fair share of the regular releases because before Destroyer of Delights she had only done a few of the Companion Chronicles which don’t really stretch a director. With this story she was able to show she can handle doing a story with has such a high level of expectations. Apart from the Hectocot bit which she couldn’t really do much about because it was a script problem.

This story was a fine conclusion to the Key 2 Time story and didn’t disappoint as a stand alone story. There were some fine characters and also the shift in setting helped maintain interest in the story.

The Magic Mousetrap (2009)

2009 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Main Range Story

Very often there are stories that have me completely breathless by a shocking revelation and that is what happened in The Magic Mousetrap. The story starts off with a mystery. Just how has the Doctor managed to end up in this situation? Also where were Ace and Hex.? Slowly things started to fall into place and it was revealed that Ace and Hex were controlling events to a degree and that it was they who were playing the Doctor.

The first surprise was of course the revelation of the Celestial Toymaker. It was a different version to the Michael Gough incarnation and the explanation of how he ended up in the Sanatorium was a very smart explanation. Its certainly not what I would have come up with. With the sound effects and the descriptions that they used to describe the Toymaker I just had an African Tribe Wooden Skeleton which had a clockwork heart and mouth. The second surprise was that the Alpine Sanatorium wasn't in Switzerland on Earth but still in the Celestial Toymaker's world. It could have been a totally silly plot point but somehow with everything involved it just made the story The Celestial Toymaker is a very popular character amongst Doctor Who fans and in my opinion he is a very intriguing baddie who only appeared once in 1966. His appearance in this story was refreshing on a character that has always had potential and should have made more appearances than he did. After the revelation that the Toymaker was involved it became obvious because of all the clues that had been put in place such as the fact the inhabitants were playing games and when the Doctor and Queenie were outside Queenie made a comment about a canvas and then Snakes and Ladders was being played elsewhere in the snow. The game that the Toymaker had people playing in Part 4 was typical Toymaker. The revelation as to why everyone is in the Sanatorium was very well thought out. The Doctor, Ace, Hex and the rest were playing against the Toymaker when he lost and everyone had a part of the Toymaker buried in their mind and they were having the shock therapy to try and forget what was happening and about the Toymaker. The idea being that after a certain time the Toymaker would just fizzle away and die was quite clever and as usual in Doctor Who it was close but no cigar.

Sylvester McCoy was very good in this story and played the role well of someone who manipulates people but on this occasion was being manipulated. It was very strange to see the Doctor in this position but once he realised what was going on it was back to his best. Sophie Aldred put in her best performance as Ace. Out of the two of them she is the one that has the plan and also is the one least likely to put it to an end because the Doctor is involved. These parts required them to put on posh accents and with Aldred it was difficult to tell it was her at the beginning whereas despite his best efforts Olivier just can't shrug off his scouser accent. It was quite unusual to see the roles reversed because in practically every Seventh Doctor adventures it is the Doctor that knows what is going on and it is the companions that are in the dark. Philip Olivier also puts in a good performance as Hex but he still seems to be occupying the role of teachers assistant. He tends to fall back into that role when he isn't doing his posh voice which doesn't really work because you could tell it was him whereas with Aldred you wouldn't have been able to guess.

All the guest stars put in superb performance which was helped by the restricted atmosphere of a sanatorium in the Alpine. My favourite character of the story was Queenie Glasscock played by Nadine Lewington. I really liked the character because it was one of the roles that could be a companion if Ace or Hex has gone completely. Its unclear who played the Toymaker but whoever did the voice should get some praise because it was chilling but also strong and posed as genuine problem for the Doctor. I also quite liked the Ludovic Comfort character which I thought was well written and well acted by Paul Anthony-Barber. My only disappointment was the silent character never got revealed to be an instrumental character and was being silent for some secret reason.

Matthew Sweet previously wrote the 2006 story Year of the Pig which is a story that I didn't like at first but after a while it was ok. This was by far a superb story which had me gripped from start to finish. He should be encouraged to write more stories like this in future. What he did well was have characters that worked well in the story and had a setting that was restricted but something that was a believable setting. Ken Bentley has directed a good story that utilises all the great elements that Sweet. He has always been a good director and was a wise choice for a story that could have been confusing and also the music used in the story was nice. This was down to Richard Fox and Lauren Yason. The year was clearly obvious thanks to the 1920's music. It was quite similar to No Man's Land (2006) which used to the music to help add the setting.

The Magic Mousetrap is the best release of 2009 (so far). It has everything that you could want from a Doctor Who adventure. Some people complain about the use of another 'classic' villain but I think that as long as they are used in the right way and more importantly a different way from what we are used to then it doesn't really matter. What they have managed to do is give a different dynamic to a companion that people have written about and talked about for well over 40 years and I think that what they did in The Magic Mousetrap was well done and deserves to be praised.

Orbis (2009)

Following on from the shocking conclusion of Vengeance of Morbius this story had to start off with a bang and in the areas that it needed to achieve this in it worked. As the Doctor and Lucie had been separated all that was wanted was the reunion between them. After listening to Vengeance I was really looking forward to this story as I was hoping for an adventure which saw more Morbius however what we got was something completely different. This story is written by Alan Barnes & Nicholas Briggs who have both written for the Eighth Doctor series seem to want to try and combine their efforts because they know that people’s expectations are so high. Alan Barnes has recently written Brotherhood of the Daleks which many feel was the most complicated story that Big Finish have done. Also for this story there is a new format. Instead of 8 x 50 minute stories that were released once a month. There are now 16 x 25 minute episodes that are first downloaded every Saturday which with the absence of a new series on TV is a good move by Big Finish. Its unusual that Big Finish are doing this as they have never tried this before. For this series there is a bigger reason for trying to get the cliffhangers right.

We discover that the Doctor is in fact alive and living on a planet called Orbis. What’s unsettling about this is that there is something missing from the Doctor’s persona. It’s all tied in with what happened against Morbius and the fact that the Sisterhood transported the Doctor to Orbis. The relationship he forms with the inhabitants is one that shows the Doctor is smart but isn’t quite sure about himself as he is trying to make a TARDIS but not sure exactly what to do next. Meanwhile Lucie has been captured by the Head-hunter who is trying to operate the TARDIS.

The use of Headhunter has made up for the way the character was used during series 2. In the first series she was a very sinister character that had very few good points whereas in Series 2 in Grand Theft Cosmos she was more of a comedy figure which was wrong in my opinion. She was integral to the who point of the story and that was good to see. Hopefully it won’t be the last that we hear of her. Katarina Olsson has appeared several times in the last two series and her voice helps create a character that is sinister and is very dangerous. Paul McGann was very good in this story and this new version of the Doctor is sort of a reboot of his persona. The first meeting of the Doctor and Lucie was quite a downbeat moment in terms of emotional. He managed to seem the same but make it ever so slightly different. Sheridan Smith is still developing even after 16 episodes and she is becoming a strong character that could stand on her own two feet and not necessarily needs the Doctor. She played having a magical bullet in her head really well and was really good in one moment she was really overjoyed in seeing the Doctor again and then gutted when the Doctor didn’t recognise her. By the end they were back together and it wasn’t quite what we were use to as Lucie would have to show the Doctor why they were such a good team and that’s something that we haven’t had to encounter.

Of the guest cast the most notable is that of Andrew Sachs who is most famous (apart from a certain phone scandal with two BBC employees) is being Manuel in the Fawlty Towers series. In this story he played Crassostrea but I think that they tried to hard to disguise his voice. In his previous story The Boy That Time Forgot his voice was slightly different but you could tell it was him even if you didn’t read the credits. In this story however I had to read the credits and even then I could really tell. Laura Solon is very good in this story as Selta because she plays a companion like role in the absence of Lucie. Her confusing of the Doctor’s words and sayings I quite amusing and was gave a sort of innocence to the character. It was great to have Katarina Olsson back in the story as The Headhunter. I thought that the character was really well used in the first season and when she appeared in season two she was poorly used but that was more to do with the story. You knew that she was up to something that was more than trying to relocate the Doctor but it was going to take a while for the truth to come out. Olsson is very good as The Headhunter and this is the way that she should be used. Beth Chalmers was also very good as Saccostrea, Chalmers has been in several Big Finish plays and she always puts in a good performance. Other good performances include Barry McCarthy who had appears as Yanos.

Overall this story is an ok opening story. I still think the Blood of the Daleks is the best of the opening stories that has been done but the openings for Series 1 and 2 are structured differently and so it would be unfair to compare them. Alan Barnes & Nicholas Briggs did a good job keeping the pace of the story going and not rushing the reunion of the Doctor and Lucie. Barnaby Edwards who is one of the best Directors in Big Finish also did a good job trying to create an atmosphere and keep the listener engrossed in the story. This new format is quite interesting and also releasing it as a weekly download is a good idea as without a proper TV series this is going to be the next best thing. The only change that has occurred is that each story has cliffhanger so we get more cliffhangers for our money than before.

Planet of the Dead (2009)

The first of the specials is one that is very different from other Doctor Who.

Michelle Ryan was actually very good in this story. I wasn’t quite convinced about the whole posh lady accent partly because of her stint in Eastenders or about why she was Lady Da Souza title as it didn’t really serve much of a purpose. However she did the temporary companion role well. David Tennant was very good in this story as he didn’t have any silly emotional stuff to try and deal with. He did have a brief snog with Ryan but that was about it.

The crew on the bus were all well written and all served a purpose which I though was going to be difficult as it was just one episode and a lot to fit in. None of them were annoying and they all reacted as anyone would. Thought the death of the bus driver was quite good and afterwards I thought that it was kind of obvious as at least one person dies in these situations.

The introduction of UNIT was an important part of it as the Doctor without his TARDIS would have struggled to get back to Earth. The idea that UNIT were going to abandon the Doctor seemed quite unreal because of everything that the Doctor has done for UNIT it seemed like being slapped in the face. It was a nice bit of continuity using the Captain that appeared in Turn Left. We saw a peculiar site of a UNIT officer pointing a gun at someone that wasn’t a monster or baddie.

The flying aliens (forget their name) were very impressive and the explanation about what they do and the reason for how the wormhole was caused were very impressive. The idea that the sand was once buildings and trees and other human things made the setting even more grimmer than the title could suggest.

If I do have one problem with this story is Lee Evans. I like the character of Malcolm and I thought that there was some wonderful scenes between him and the Doctor but I am not sure that Lee Evans was right for the role.

Overall I really enjoyed the episode, it was a nice simple enjoyable story that had everything you could want from a special.

Resistance (2009)

The extended third series of The Companion Chronicles finally sees Polly get a chance at telling an adventure she had with the Doctor. I listened to this story after listening to Anneke Wills narrate the Target Novelisation Doctor Who and the Cybermen and apart from the story it was Wills’ voice that made the release special for me. When Polly appeared in Doctor Who between June 1966 and May 1967 she was a good companion that seemed to work very well in the world of Doctor Who. When she left it was very sad but it was the fact that in the Faceless Ones she didn’t really have a proper send-off. I am quite surprised that it has taken all this time to bring Polly back to the Doctor Who world. The return of Polly was one that I looked forward too because I think that she is a companion that would do well in new Who. Even though when she originally appeared in The War Machines that she was a girl of the swinging 60’s she still would be able to work with the new style stories.

The story is set in February 1944 during the Second World War. This isn’t a setting that has really been used in Doctor Who for the simple reason that it was a terrible time in history that resulted in the death of millions and it can be quite easy to try and make light of it. This story sees Polly telling her story and then someone else would be telling their story. It’s quite an strange way of telling as story though it happened in The Prisoner’s Dilemma where Ace would have her scene and then Zara would have hers. It got me quite frustrated listening to it as the story was progressing as it hadn’t happened before. This time it wasn’t so bad and was expected. The thing that amazes me in this story as well as all other Companion Chronicles is how the writer manages to get the story feeling like that particular period in Doctor Who and also getting the relationship of the companions and Doctor right. This story manages to offer something new to the character of Polly and give a back story that has only really been happening to characters since Doctor Who came back in 2005. With Polly we learn that she had an uncle who died in a Prisoner of War. There begins the classic Doctor Who point of wanting to change history but being unable too. In this story it was unsure as to whether Polly would try and alter history or leave it be. Then we discover than this person we were led to believe is her uncle is in fact not and just someone impersonating him which was a nice twist.

The story itself is a nice one which doesn’t have an alien monster or someone trying to take over an alien planet but was perhaps the most personal of all stories. It makes a refreshing change when this is the case though it is not a practise I would like to see made permanently but in this case I am glad there were no monsters. We learn a lot about Polly in this single story than we ever did when she was on TV. We learn that her Uncle was a Prisoner of War and actually died there. When she encounters who she believes to be her uncle we are then pressed into the trying to change history story strand. Its something that has been debating and talked about since Doctor Who began and that is if you met someone from your past or your families past would you do something to change their future which would ultimately change your future or would you leave things as they stand. During this time we see a different side of Polly which is where she doesn’t feel like she needs the Doctor and she doesn’t need Ben or Jamie and knows better than they do. Once the Doctor, Polly, Jamie & Ben get back together you think that it is the end of their adventure and they leave with the moral message of leaving History alone but then there is another twist to the story and it the revelation that the person we think of as Polly’s Uncle is in fact not her Uncle and really someone who is pretending to be him. It’s a sad revelation as you feel the disappointment of Polly. Especially after she deserts the Doctor at the train station. The pace of the story is a slow burning one but by part two is moving at a quick enough pace to keep the listener entertained which is the way it should be in this particular story. As long as there is enough to keep the listener entertained then the pace can start as slow as it likes before speeding up.

Steve Lyons has written several Big Finish stories over the last few years. Since 2000 he has written The Fires of Vulcan (2000), Colditz (2001), Gallifrey: Insurgency (2005) the very good Blood of the Daleks (2007) and the 2007 Toms Tardis Story of the Year Son of the Dragon. So he has a track record of writing very good stories and with Resistance he keeps that trend going. Lisa Bowerman deserve credit for directing a story that uses Anneke Wills’ voice to keep the listener interested but soon allowing the story to take centre stage. Anneke Wills seems to be enjoying herself reading this story and whilst she manages to capture an essence of the Second Doctor it is Ben that she does best. The bond that the two characters have was always evident on TV but in the beginning of the story it is bought back to our attention. John Sackville is also very good in this story as the Pilot. He does well in making sure that the listener believes that the Pilot is in fact Polly’s Uncle right up until the end.

Overall this is a very good story. I wish/hope they would do more Polly stories as I think Anneke Wills has a very good voice for audio and she has shown in the Target Audios and her several appearances as Charley’s Mother that she has a nice warm voice which you would listen to even if she were reading the phonebook.