Mission to Magnus (2009)

Mission to Magnus is a story that I knew was planned for the abandoned 23rd series. I knew from the Trial of a Timelord DVD that it was to feature the return of Sil and the Ice Warriors. This story was written by Philip Martin who had written Vengeance of Varos (1984) and also Mindwarp (1986). He also wrote the Big Finish play The Creed of the Kromon (2004). The thing that you have to bear in mind is that as far as this story is concerned, The Trial of a Timelord: Mindwarp adventure hasn’t happened yet. So Vengeance on Varos is the only time in the Doctor’s timeline that he has met Sil.

The idea that the Ice Warriors want to change the climate of a planet to make it suitable for them is quite a good one to use in a story. The Ice Warriors are used very well in this story, we know that their coming and so their arrival isnt a surprise but is dramatic enough. The story has elements of Galaxy 4 where there is a race of women and in this story they want to use time travel to try and destroy men from another planet who they feel will ruin their way of life. Sil of course is quite unoriginal with his plan to travel forward in time to see what makes a profit and what doesn’t and then invest in the ones that do. What is also unoriginal is that he stops his loyalty with the Ice Warriors and turn against them.

There were some interesting plot points in this story, the male members are kept hidden and only allowed to live for recreational purposes and the rest are given a disease to keep them alive until their 20 years old which is quite grim but matches the grimness of the Colin Baker era. The boys that were used did a good and adequate job and also managed not to irritate me. Also it was quite entertaining to learn that the Doctor was bullied at the academy and it was nice when he finally stood up to him.

Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant were very good in this story. Whereas in The Nightmare Fair their relationship was more like their TV than their Big Finish one. In this story it seems to be the other way around. The one reason why I was looking forward to this story was the return of Nabil Shaban. Whilst he sounded slightly different to what he did in 1986 the laugh was still there and as silly as that might sound that is what I wanted to hear. I also thought that Malcolm Rennie was brilliant as Anzor who was the bully. His voice was the perfect fit for such as character.

Despite some less than original thinking my final impression is how good the story stands up. Even if it had been made in 1986 this story would have been one of the highlights of the series. More than 20 years later this story benefits from the listeners imagination. This story also benefits from not having massive expectations on it. Another great story for the Lost Stories range and now we really go into unknown territory.

Death in Blackpool (2009)

2009 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Eighth Doctor Adventure

Death in Blackpool sees the end of Lucie Miller’s time. This story is a Christmas special but there’s little festive cheer to be had anywhere. Like Alan Barnes commented on in the extras. All the soaps are full of misery especially on Christmas Day so that seemed to be his motivation for part of this story. This story is the 25th to feature Lucie Miller since she debuted in Blood of the Daleks on New Years Eve 2006 on the digital radio station BBC7. Since then they have travelled and encountered Morbius, the Eight Legs, Wirrn, Zygon and the Headhunter. This story required something big to be a fitting end to this character.

I have to admit that I was disappointed with this story. I think after everything that the character of Lucie Miller has been through to just get upset and not trust the Doctor was a bit of a kop out on the part of Barnes. I can understand how she was upset about her real Aunt Pat being dead and possibly being a bit annoyed with the Doctor but I think that Lucie’s exit deserved a more dramatic exit. The final scene between the Doctor and Lucie was very good indeed. I think that after everything they have been through together it was important to make sure that it wasn’t negative but heartfelt and as far as I am concerned it achieved both. Despite the betrayal that Lucie felt she was more disappointed with the Doctor than angry.

I thought that the relatively small cast were very good in different ways. The most memorable for me was the role of Father Christmas (played by Jon Glover). The brummie drunk Santa was a nice bit of joy to an otherwise grim story. His Slade ‘It’s Christmas’ was a particular favourite of mine. Helen Lederer who played Aunty Pat has become the Jackie Tyler for Lucie. She’s a nice strong character who like Glover’s character added a bit of humour that was much needed. Then she was able to play the emotional side of Pat brilliantly.

It’s really sad that they have decided to ditch Lucie. I felt that the character was a more tolerable version of Rose. Sheridan Smith always put in a nice strong performance in every story that she has been in and has really developed since she first set foot into the Doctor Who universe. I felt that she had really bonded with the Doctor and her departure is confusing. Hopefully she will pop up in future Eighth Doctor stories. Paul McGann was at his very best in this story. After listening to this story straight after An Earthly Child I felt that this was more suited to the Eighth Doctor’s style. The moment when the Doctor left the hospital wanting to go to the TARDIS but Aunt Pat trying to convince him not to was one of the best moments that the Eighth Doctor has recently been in.

At the end of the day this was a bit of a missed opportunity for Big Finish. Unlike the Charley exit, Lucie’s wasn’t all it could have been. There were certain things that were good but I was expecting a bit more drama than what we got. Lucie Miller, you will be missed.

Plague of the Daleks (2009)

The final of the Stockbridge Trilogy sees the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa thrown into the future after the time bubble thingy in The Eternal Summer. This story also sees the third time that the Daleks have been used in 2009. I have liked how the stories have bled into each other. This story is the full story debut script from Mark Morris who wrote one of the stories from Forty-Five in 2008.

In many ways this story is a traditional adventure. The Doctor and Nyssa are separated for most of this story. The Doctor was paired off with Issac Barclay and Nyssa is paired with Lysette Barclay. It’s the characters that I was particularly impressed with in this story. Keith Barron was very good as Issac and the way he interacted with the Doctor reminded me of Stein in Resurrection of the Daleks. Barron who previously appeared in Enlightenment back in 1983 and his voice is ideal for radio and gave the character a friendly feel to it. Liza Tarbuck did a similar job as Lysette. In fact the revelation that she was a sort of RoboDalek was quite a shock.

I thought the idea of a Zombie plot was quite fun. However the idea of rain water turning people into Zombie just weeks after Waters of Mars was perhaps just a case of bad timing. I also thought that the Doctor’s Dalek voice was quite entertaining. It did slightly confuse me how if the Doctor was being changed did he manage to then act like nothing happened a few moments later. Then it became clear he was just trying to con the Daleks. Peter Davison put in another great performance and seemed to revel in having the opportunity of playing a different Doctor like he did in The Eternal Summer. Sarah Sutton was on usual good form, it was good that she was able to become the driving force of the events at times.

Out of the three Stockbridge plays its not the best and perhaps a bit of an anticlimax. Ultimately the story would have benefited without the Daleks as their part in this story wasn’t really what I had hoped. Also out of the three Dalek stories we’ve had this year it is also the poorest of the three. Don’t get me wrong its not that I think it’s a poor story , just that it wasn’t the ending to this mini series that I was expecting. I have enjoyed this Stockbridge Trilogy, not knowing anything of it before didn’t really hamper my enjoyment. I think these three adventures were better for the Fifth Doctor than the Key 2 Time series at the beginning of the year.

An Earthly Child (2009)

Ever since I heard that Carole Ann Ford would be returning to do a full cast drama as Susan I was excited. Then I heard that it would be the Eighth Doctor that would be the Doctor in this story that changed to curiosity. An Earthly Child is a subscribers special which is set 30 years after the events of The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964). Following the return of Krotons in 2008 and Zarbi in 2007 this was a return that I think everyone wants and there was a lot riding on it.

Susan is exactly what I expected she would be like. She has become political and more importantly she has become more grown up, she isn’t the screaming brat that always got into trouble acting like a 5 year old instead of a 16 year old alien who would be should be more mature than a human. She’s still respectful of alien races like she was in Here There Be Monsters.

It was quite unusual to discover that even though she has become a political power figure she has enemies who are trying to harm her and her son. Earth is restarting after Dalek Invasion and politics and terrorist organisations are starting up again. The Watch organisation seems to portrayed as a trouble making group. The Peacemakers seem to be trying to calm things down and are portrayed as the good guys. Hope is offering a desperate civilisation the opportunity for a better life even though we know they are up to something.

The moment when Susan and the Doctor met for the first time was played exactly the way it should have been with both actors sounding like they have known each other for years not a few hours. Nice little reference to Ford’s appearance in The Five Doctors was nice. Strange though to have the Eighth Doctor referred to as Grandfather, that’s a title is associated with the First Doctor.

All the cast worked brilliantly. It seems strange when Paul McGann has an adventure without either Charley or Lucie but he shows how versitle he is with putting in a superb performance. Carole Ann Ford was the star of the show and rightly so. She played Susan superbly and she also reminded us of the Susan when she was on TV but more importantly she has grown up and Ford should be applauded for giving a superb performance. Hopefully she will do another one soon. Leslie Ash returns to Doctor Who having appeared in The Haunting of Thomas Brewster. Its quite good timing she appears in this as she is currently in the BBC drama/soap Holby City. She plays Marion Flemming and also voices Hope. Hope-fully she will be in another Doctor Who sooner rather than later.

The story was more about the emotional re-connection between the Doctor and Susan and not about the alien threat and in that sense it was well done. The ‘B plot’ was essentially Susan doing something noble but equally stupid in trying to seek the first piece of alien help. Once it was revealed the true intent of the aliens everyone seemed to quickly sort things out. An Earthly Child is the best of the special subscriber releases since they became a regular thing in 2005.

Ringpullworld (2009)

Ringpullworld is the final story of 2009 for the Companion Chronicles. It sees the turn of Vislor Turlough to tell a story of his. It’s only the fourth time that Mark Strickson has reprised the role since his 1983/84 tenure. His previous adventures were Phantasmagoria (1999), Loups-Garoux (2001) and Singularity (2005). I always felt that the character of Turlough was under written and not valued highly enough. So whenever Strickson reprises the role I always feel that it’s a nice chance to see what Big Finish can do with the character.

The story sees Turlough in a stolen ship with novelisor called Huxley. They are travelling to a time of space called the ringpull which seperates to universes in the form of a ringpull. Apparently this is a bad thing to want to open it for reasons that I never quite understood. I have to admit that I wasn’t overly impressed with this story. I actually though it was quite dull. The problem was that it started off telling a story that took place in the past and then for no reason what so ever started talking about a part of the story that could happen but there is every chance that it won’t happen. That’s a waste of 20 minutes.

Mark Strickson did a very good job as Turlough. Even though this is the only time he returns to acting he sounds exactly the same as he did when he was on television. I thought that his Doctor impression was very good and quite similar to how Davison sounds on most Big Finish. However his Tegan impression was a bit all over the place. It was just like he thought ‘what the hell, I’ll just do an exaggerated Australian accent!’. That said the Turlough that Strickson gives in this story is the same that we saw in 1983.

I thought that the ending was well done. It was that sense of wanting to know how things go that made it enjoyable. A sort of Lost feeling to it. Apart from that however I thought that the story was trying to be too clever. If it had been like every other CC story then the release would have been more enjoyable than it ultimately was. I think that the trying to tell a story in the past and potentially the future was a gamble that didn’t quite pay off. It’s not a terrible story by any means but unfortunately it’s the weakest story of this fourth series and possibly even of 2009.

Museum Peace

Museum Peace is a subscriber’s special which is about an adventure featuring Kalendorf. This is set some time after the Dalek Wars have finished and sees Lord Chancellor Kalendorf visit a museum not to have a face to face with a Dalek but for contemplation. The story was written by James Swallow and NOT Nicholas Briggs which considering Dalek Empire was Briggs’ creation was surprising.

I thought that the story was an enjoyable piece. I wasn’t aware that the Doctor was going to be in it, instead of it being the Seventh Doctor that Kalendorf encounters like he did in Return of the Daleks but the Eighth Doctor. The Doctor that we encounter in this story is a more emotionally battered character. It’s more like the Ninth/Tenth Doctors that we see on TV than what were use to. There’s also an usual use of the Daleks in this, well Dalek. The Dalek in this story is presented as a dead and inactive prop whereas over the course of the story we learn that it become active and has enough power to kill just one more person. Its typical, you wait for two enemies of the Daleks to appear and you can only get rid of one of them.

The story was a slow building one and the way that Briggs’ describes what is going on sounded like he swallowed a dictionary. I wasn’t so keen on Briggs’ Kalendorf voice. I think it was perhaps too far down the gruff voice and was a bit of a distraction at first. The ending was perhaps the most well written and most emotionally felt that I have ever witnessed. Briggs’ should be applauded for playing at such a high level.

I know that I got it for free and shouldn’t really grumble. So I’m not, this is a wonderful story and I would gladly have paid for this. I listened to this whilst stuck in a traffic jam on the M6 and this story made it the most bearable jam in history. If only it would have carried on for another 35 minutes.

As someone from the 1950’s would say “Bravo!”