The Sirens of Time heralds a new era in Doctor Who. 3 years after the last story was transmitted and 10 years after the last serial aired with Survival, we now have a brand new adventure admittedly not like Survival. This story features the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors which begged the question ‘Where are Doctors 4 & 8?’ This story is written and directed by Nicholas Briggs who we know as the voice of the Daleks and Cybermen. I started listening to Big Finish plays about 5 years after they started so I had listened several of the more newer stories before I got round to The Sirens of Time. If you pick a story from now and compare it to The Sirens of Time you can see how far the stories have progressed and ultimately it shows the weakness of this story. The first three episodes are given over to each Doctor and what was quite strange but would turn out be a good idea and that being that there are no companions. This enables the 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors to shine in their own right.
The first episode has no theme music at the beginning and we find that Gallifrey is under attack. It also features the Seventh Doctor. It would have been nice if they used the right theme tune for the right Doctor. But that is a minor issue. What we have is the Doctor landing on a planet, rescuing someone from quicksand and being locked out of his TARDIS. It soon becomes clear that Sancroff, The Doctor and Lyena are prisoners of Ruthley and the Drudgers. We discover that the planet isn’t suppose to exist and doesn’t have a name. We learn that Sancroff is actually a war criminal. Despite the first three episodes featuring a different Doctor we are treated to a cliffhanger. In this episode we have the Doctor, Lyena and Sancroff being shot at by the Drudgers who are there purely to execute Sancroff but don’t want anyone or anything to know they have been there. It was unexpected.
Sylvester McCoy sounds exactly the same as he did when he was running around with his umbrella and rolling r’s. This episode is set sometime between Survival and the TV Movie when Ace has left the TARDIS. It was like this was taken from the TV and not made especially for radio. If you closed your eyes you could imagine him without that silly jumper and picture him in something more modern. McCoy seems to be enjoying himself which is why the Seventh Doctor in this story is the same as in Silver Nemesis or Survival.
Maggie Stables plays Ruthley who is some sort of old hag and she sounds exactly like Evelyn who Stables would play in five releases time (The Marian Conspiracy). Ruthley does seem to have a purpose to this as she is reporting the Doctors presence. We also get the impression that she is actually serving out a sentence. I quite liked Ruthley because she seems very pantomime-like. Colin McIntyre plays Sancroff who sounds like an old professor and is in fact with Ruthley. He seems frail and requires help from Ruthley. Like Ruthley I quite liked Sancroff because he sounds like a grandfather who has seen many things. I thought it was quite sad that it turned out that Sancroff was a criminal. Sarah Mowat plays Knight Commander Lyena who starts the episode in quicksand and is rescued by the Doctor. Mowat plays the character like a companion and McCoy treats her as such. Nicholas Briggs does a good job as the voice of the Drudgers. They do sound like your typical robot.
Strong language (for Doctor Who anyway) was a slight bit out of order. I thought that for a show once aimed at families it was unnecessary. It wasn’t a strong swear word and it was only used once but it still spoilt it for me a bit. This episode was a good opener as it was a slow build up and there was an intrigue throughout.
The Second episode is handed over to the Fifth Doctor. This story is set some point between Terminus and Resurrection of the Daleks. Turlough and Tegan are mentioned but ultimately don’t appear at all in this episode. The Doctor lands on a submarine presumably during the Second World War. The Doctor tries to talk to Captain Schwieger about how Schwieger actions could damage the German War effort. The Doctors actions in this story means that the Lusitania is not destroyed
Schmidt goes from being normal navy personnel to being an attacker. He is getting messages from Vansell to kill the Doctor despite the Doctor being told by Vansell to return to Gallifrey (even though he didn’t give his name!). Its quite a shock when Helen shoots the German Officer and also that the Doctor has been shot. This doesn’t stop the Doctor from getting off the submarine and to the TARDIS. He leaves Helen but she suddenly disappears. The Doctor suffers the same problem as the Seventh Doctor as he can’t get into the TARDIS and Turlough and Tegan don’t answer. The episode ends with “The Timelords really do want me dead!”. We leave the Fifth Doctor at the moment in the middle of sea with no way of getting into the TARDIS. An enjoyable episode and in terms of quality it is better than the McCoy part.
Peter Davison is very good as The Doctor. He sounds a little different than when he appeared as the Doctor out of the three actors but his tenure was longer ago. He still has the same mannerisms as he use to have and have the same relationship with other characters than he did. Sarah Mowat makes another appearance as Helen. Her voice is very different compared to Lyena. She does well making completely difference and instantly has issues with the Doctor. She is slightly amusing as she keeps thinking that the Doctor is a Hun spy. John Wadmore plays Lt Zentener. The problem is that Zentener doesn’t really stand out for me. With Schwieger being the Captain and the way that Schmidt goes a bit made there’s not much room for Wadmore to shine. Mark Gatiss plays Captain Schwieger. Gatiss’ voice is quite distinct and is easily noticeable from the moment he starts speaking. He is very good as the Captain because he is very wary of the Doctor and his actions but slowly becomes more willing to accept what the Doctor is saying. Andrew Fettes plays Schmidt in this episode. His character is your typical German character that obeys his Captain without any hesitation. Fettes goes from one extreme of normal German man to a maniac.
The third episode is handed over to the Sixth Doctor. At the beginning of the episode we learn that the situation in Gallifrey is getting worse with the introduction of the Temperon and the alien crafts appearing are being piloted by the Knights of Velyshaa. The Doctor lands on a spaceship and the structure of that ship seems to under threat. At the time of the Doctor’s arrival there is a conference going on. Like the 5th and 7th Doctor, the sixth Doctor is cut off from his TARDIS. The spaceship is heading towards the Kurgon Wonder through momentum. The monsters that attack the Doctor are in fact viruses. Then we have the Knights of Velyshaa shoot dead the President. As the episode comes to a close the Doctor finds himself back in the TARDIS and the Temperon tells the Doctor that he has released the Knights of Velyshaa and gets smothered by the Temperon. The ending was quite grim and also the unnerving voice of the Temperon helped.
Sarah Mowat makes her third appearance as another character called Ellie. Her character is just a waitress but quickly become a companion in all but name and works well with Colin Baker. It’s not the most glamorous role but it seemed like an everyday character. Or at least that is how it starts because it’s revealed that she belongs to an organisation that is trying to free someone trapped on the Kurgon wonder. John Wadmore makes his second appearance as Pilot Azimendah. Wadmore is very good as the Pilot. He sounds serious and just like a captain. I thought after his small (ish) role in Episode 2 it was good that he finally got a meaty role. Mark Gatiss makes another appearance as Captain and sounds slightly different. It’s not slightly on par with Captain Schwieger in Episode 2. He has swapped larger roles with John Wadmore. Nicholas Briggs successfully creates a different alien voice for the Temperon.
I didn’t enjoy this episode as much as I found it harder to understand. The first two episodes were quite simple but that simplicity seems to have gone missing when Colin Baker arrived. It never gave Baker a chance to show his old self unlike.
The fourth and final episode sees all three incarnations meet in the first Multi-Doctor story since The Two Doctors in 1985. The Sixth Doctor’s cliffhanger is concluded which was quite nice. I certainly got a nice feeling when all three met for the first time. The moment they made contact together harks back to The Three Doctors (1973). At this point we get a recap of the previous three episodes. We then learn that the characters Sarah Mowat has been playing is the same in all three parts. I like how the Doctors are bickering and like to make digs at each other.
We learn that the Doctor’s actions have changed history. We are treated to more recaps from previous episodes. We all know that the Doctor’s actions have consequences but this is the first time for quite sometime that the Doctor is forced to be made aware of what they did and how they affected time. Lyena asks the Doctors to go back in time and correct the “mistakes” to change history to prevent the Knights of Velyshaa from being affected by the destruction of the Temperon. But if the Doctors go back and change history then it will create another wave of energy for the Sirens of Time.
The Sixth Doctor releases the Temperon and as a result Sancroff is killed, the Lusitania is destroyed by the submarine and as soon as Vansell’s TARDIS arrives on Gallifrey he leaves. We then go back to when the Seventh Doctor goes to the point where he encountered Lyena and he changes what he does by ignoring her. As the episode ends all three incarnations go their separate ways and into their own time lines
Sarah Mowat is perhaps at her best in this episode as we learn just what she really is. Due to the fact that the characters in the first three parts are nice characters anything other than nice would seem a strong improvement. John Wadmore appears as his fourth character in this episode as Sub-Commander Solanec who is working with the Knight Commander. He does well in supporting Mowat to give her the authority that being the Knight requires.
The main characters in this are the President and Coordinator Vansell. Michael Wade plays the President in this story and the only problem is that he doesn’t sound like a President to me. He does sound more authoritative than Vansell and its good how they are together. Its just a shame that the President gets shot. Anthony Keetch plays Coordinator Vansell and I think that Keetch does a good job despite how he tries to defy the president. He does slightly redeem himself just as he gets shot by the Knights.
As a first of a brand new range it’s a good start. Compared to more recent stories it’s a bit slow in terms of pace and the characters aren’t quite as strong. The sound effects are just as good so I’m not saying that The Sirens of Time is terrible. When I first heard this a few years ago I wasn’t particularly a big fan of it. However listening to it I have to say I have re-evaluated it and it is actually a good story. Its not without it flaws though because it starts off well with the 5th and 7th Doctor stories and then goes downhill slightly with the Sixth Doctor episode before becoming very complicated in Episode 4. Nicholas Briggs has written what I would class as a ‘smart who fan’ story and the lesser intelligent fans like myself will struggle to keep up. But despite that it’s a good first attempt.
The first episode has no theme music at the beginning and we find that Gallifrey is under attack. It also features the Seventh Doctor. It would have been nice if they used the right theme tune for the right Doctor. But that is a minor issue. What we have is the Doctor landing on a planet, rescuing someone from quicksand and being locked out of his TARDIS. It soon becomes clear that Sancroff, The Doctor and Lyena are prisoners of Ruthley and the Drudgers. We discover that the planet isn’t suppose to exist and doesn’t have a name. We learn that Sancroff is actually a war criminal. Despite the first three episodes featuring a different Doctor we are treated to a cliffhanger. In this episode we have the Doctor, Lyena and Sancroff being shot at by the Drudgers who are there purely to execute Sancroff but don’t want anyone or anything to know they have been there. It was unexpected.
Sylvester McCoy sounds exactly the same as he did when he was running around with his umbrella and rolling r’s. This episode is set sometime between Survival and the TV Movie when Ace has left the TARDIS. It was like this was taken from the TV and not made especially for radio. If you closed your eyes you could imagine him without that silly jumper and picture him in something more modern. McCoy seems to be enjoying himself which is why the Seventh Doctor in this story is the same as in Silver Nemesis or Survival.
Maggie Stables plays Ruthley who is some sort of old hag and she sounds exactly like Evelyn who Stables would play in five releases time (The Marian Conspiracy). Ruthley does seem to have a purpose to this as she is reporting the Doctors presence. We also get the impression that she is actually serving out a sentence. I quite liked Ruthley because she seems very pantomime-like. Colin McIntyre plays Sancroff who sounds like an old professor and is in fact with Ruthley. He seems frail and requires help from Ruthley. Like Ruthley I quite liked Sancroff because he sounds like a grandfather who has seen many things. I thought it was quite sad that it turned out that Sancroff was a criminal. Sarah Mowat plays Knight Commander Lyena who starts the episode in quicksand and is rescued by the Doctor. Mowat plays the character like a companion and McCoy treats her as such. Nicholas Briggs does a good job as the voice of the Drudgers. They do sound like your typical robot.
Strong language (for Doctor Who anyway) was a slight bit out of order. I thought that for a show once aimed at families it was unnecessary. It wasn’t a strong swear word and it was only used once but it still spoilt it for me a bit. This episode was a good opener as it was a slow build up and there was an intrigue throughout.
The Second episode is handed over to the Fifth Doctor. This story is set some point between Terminus and Resurrection of the Daleks. Turlough and Tegan are mentioned but ultimately don’t appear at all in this episode. The Doctor lands on a submarine presumably during the Second World War. The Doctor tries to talk to Captain Schwieger about how Schwieger actions could damage the German War effort. The Doctors actions in this story means that the Lusitania is not destroyed
Schmidt goes from being normal navy personnel to being an attacker. He is getting messages from Vansell to kill the Doctor despite the Doctor being told by Vansell to return to Gallifrey (even though he didn’t give his name!). Its quite a shock when Helen shoots the German Officer and also that the Doctor has been shot. This doesn’t stop the Doctor from getting off the submarine and to the TARDIS. He leaves Helen but she suddenly disappears. The Doctor suffers the same problem as the Seventh Doctor as he can’t get into the TARDIS and Turlough and Tegan don’t answer. The episode ends with “The Timelords really do want me dead!”. We leave the Fifth Doctor at the moment in the middle of sea with no way of getting into the TARDIS. An enjoyable episode and in terms of quality it is better than the McCoy part.
Peter Davison is very good as The Doctor. He sounds a little different than when he appeared as the Doctor out of the three actors but his tenure was longer ago. He still has the same mannerisms as he use to have and have the same relationship with other characters than he did. Sarah Mowat makes another appearance as Helen. Her voice is very different compared to Lyena. She does well making completely difference and instantly has issues with the Doctor. She is slightly amusing as she keeps thinking that the Doctor is a Hun spy. John Wadmore plays Lt Zentener. The problem is that Zentener doesn’t really stand out for me. With Schwieger being the Captain and the way that Schmidt goes a bit made there’s not much room for Wadmore to shine. Mark Gatiss plays Captain Schwieger. Gatiss’ voice is quite distinct and is easily noticeable from the moment he starts speaking. He is very good as the Captain because he is very wary of the Doctor and his actions but slowly becomes more willing to accept what the Doctor is saying. Andrew Fettes plays Schmidt in this episode. His character is your typical German character that obeys his Captain without any hesitation. Fettes goes from one extreme of normal German man to a maniac.
The third episode is handed over to the Sixth Doctor. At the beginning of the episode we learn that the situation in Gallifrey is getting worse with the introduction of the Temperon and the alien crafts appearing are being piloted by the Knights of Velyshaa. The Doctor lands on a spaceship and the structure of that ship seems to under threat. At the time of the Doctor’s arrival there is a conference going on. Like the 5th and 7th Doctor, the sixth Doctor is cut off from his TARDIS. The spaceship is heading towards the Kurgon Wonder through momentum. The monsters that attack the Doctor are in fact viruses. Then we have the Knights of Velyshaa shoot dead the President. As the episode comes to a close the Doctor finds himself back in the TARDIS and the Temperon tells the Doctor that he has released the Knights of Velyshaa and gets smothered by the Temperon. The ending was quite grim and also the unnerving voice of the Temperon helped.
Sarah Mowat makes her third appearance as another character called Ellie. Her character is just a waitress but quickly become a companion in all but name and works well with Colin Baker. It’s not the most glamorous role but it seemed like an everyday character. Or at least that is how it starts because it’s revealed that she belongs to an organisation that is trying to free someone trapped on the Kurgon wonder. John Wadmore makes his second appearance as Pilot Azimendah. Wadmore is very good as the Pilot. He sounds serious and just like a captain. I thought after his small (ish) role in Episode 2 it was good that he finally got a meaty role. Mark Gatiss makes another appearance as Captain and sounds slightly different. It’s not slightly on par with Captain Schwieger in Episode 2. He has swapped larger roles with John Wadmore. Nicholas Briggs successfully creates a different alien voice for the Temperon.
I didn’t enjoy this episode as much as I found it harder to understand. The first two episodes were quite simple but that simplicity seems to have gone missing when Colin Baker arrived. It never gave Baker a chance to show his old self unlike.
The fourth and final episode sees all three incarnations meet in the first Multi-Doctor story since The Two Doctors in 1985. The Sixth Doctor’s cliffhanger is concluded which was quite nice. I certainly got a nice feeling when all three met for the first time. The moment they made contact together harks back to The Three Doctors (1973). At this point we get a recap of the previous three episodes. We then learn that the characters Sarah Mowat has been playing is the same in all three parts. I like how the Doctors are bickering and like to make digs at each other.
We learn that the Doctor’s actions have changed history. We are treated to more recaps from previous episodes. We all know that the Doctor’s actions have consequences but this is the first time for quite sometime that the Doctor is forced to be made aware of what they did and how they affected time. Lyena asks the Doctors to go back in time and correct the “mistakes” to change history to prevent the Knights of Velyshaa from being affected by the destruction of the Temperon. But if the Doctors go back and change history then it will create another wave of energy for the Sirens of Time.
The Sixth Doctor releases the Temperon and as a result Sancroff is killed, the Lusitania is destroyed by the submarine and as soon as Vansell’s TARDIS arrives on Gallifrey he leaves. We then go back to when the Seventh Doctor goes to the point where he encountered Lyena and he changes what he does by ignoring her. As the episode ends all three incarnations go their separate ways and into their own time lines
Sarah Mowat is perhaps at her best in this episode as we learn just what she really is. Due to the fact that the characters in the first three parts are nice characters anything other than nice would seem a strong improvement. John Wadmore appears as his fourth character in this episode as Sub-Commander Solanec who is working with the Knight Commander. He does well in supporting Mowat to give her the authority that being the Knight requires.
The main characters in this are the President and Coordinator Vansell. Michael Wade plays the President in this story and the only problem is that he doesn’t sound like a President to me. He does sound more authoritative than Vansell and its good how they are together. Its just a shame that the President gets shot. Anthony Keetch plays Coordinator Vansell and I think that Keetch does a good job despite how he tries to defy the president. He does slightly redeem himself just as he gets shot by the Knights.
As a first of a brand new range it’s a good start. Compared to more recent stories it’s a bit slow in terms of pace and the characters aren’t quite as strong. The sound effects are just as good so I’m not saying that The Sirens of Time is terrible. When I first heard this a few years ago I wasn’t particularly a big fan of it. However listening to it I have to say I have re-evaluated it and it is actually a good story. Its not without it flaws though because it starts off well with the 5th and 7th Doctor stories and then goes downhill slightly with the Sixth Doctor episode before becoming very complicated in Episode 4. Nicholas Briggs has written what I would class as a ‘smart who fan’ story and the lesser intelligent fans like myself will struggle to keep up. But despite that it’s a good first attempt.
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