The Tomfiles: #10 - Big Finish Review of 2010

Big Finish has continued to flower in 2010. They had continued with the successful series format and this year saw the return of a few familiar names and voices. It also saw the debut of spin-off series and the regeneration of a Big Finish series.

JANUARY – MARCH: THE KLEIN SERIES
This series saw the return of Elizabeth Klein who had previously appeared in the 2001 adventure ‘Colditz’. Nearly ten years later after fans had been asking for this and they got what they wanted. All three stories were very good as they dealt with the character of Klein well. They didn’t gloat about her being a Nazi scientist but rather her own individual morals. This was well handled in all three stories. The first story was A Thousand Tiny Wings which was what I thought was a truly superb story and it was dark and at times quite grim. Then there was Survival of the Fittest which followed Klein’s story which told of what happened to Klein after Colditz which was better than SOTF. The final story was The Architects of History which was the best story of the series, it was a fitting end to the series and showed me why people have been asking for Klein’s return since Colditz.

APRIL-JUNE: THE JAMIE SERIES
These three stories saw the return of Jamie as played by Fraser Hines. Jamie had only been heard of in the Companion Chronicles. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite as successful as I had hoped for. City of Spires wasn’t the best of starts as I wrote in my review “Ultimately though the main problem with this story is that it took way too long to get going. Had it not been for that final 20 minutes where pretty much everything was revealed, I would have found this a real disappointment.”. The next story was slightly better but the thing about The Wreck of the Titan as I mentioned in my review “When the story finished I found myself liking this story but not totally sure as tow why. I think that whilst it was mysterious for large parts of the story it wasn’t too confusing as for me to stop caring.”. The final story was Legend of the Cybermen which saw the return of Zoe Harriot to the series as played by Wendy Padbury and also it was the first Cyberman story since 2008’s Kingdom of Silver. In my review of the story I said “It’s the best story of the three but that’s not really a compliment. If I had to pick a fault with the story is that it spends too long getting started. The first episode has too much of Jamie and the Doctor running around the void. Its only when the Artful Dodger turns up that it really gets going. The thing about this story is that it has a lot of loose ends to type up and it does this effectively and in a way that a simple mind like mine can understand.”

Like I said before, it wasn’t quite as successful as I had hoped and I still can’t quite figure out why. It’s not Frazer Hines or Colin Baker’s fault as they performed well. The only thing that I think it could be is the whole story arc didn’t quite work due to the way that the series are structured the arc becomes quite important to the series. Hopefully if Jamie returns they will do something a bit simpler.

JULY-SEPTEMBER: THE RICHTER SERIES
These three stories saw for the first time since 1983. Tegan, Nyssa and Turlough return with the Fifth Doctor. Janet Fielding had only made one appearance since leaving the show in 1984 and it was in the 2006 story ‘The Gathering’. The first story was in my opinion the best. Cobwebs was curiously set after Nyssa had left the series in Terminus but before Enlightenment. For Tegan and Turlough it had been a few days but for Nyssa it had been 50 years. I wrote in my review that I thought “The whole thing about this story is clever”. I also commented on how “it was slightly disappointing that Janet Fielding didn’t make more of an effort to sound like 1980’s Tegan.” The next story was The Whispering Forest which couldn’t quite live up to what we had been in Cobwebs. There was some quite interesting stuff in it but it lacked some action or energy. The final story was The Cradle of the Snake and saw the return of Mara which made this story the best of the series. It was a fitting end to the series and as it was a Marc Platt story it was neither too complicated or too dull.

The success of this series and popularity has led to another series of Nyssa/Tegan/Turlough series of adventures being planned for mid-2011. Its wonderful news to have Tegan back as her 2006 appearance in The Gathering wasn’t brilliant and it would have been a shame if that were her only contribution. I look forward to this new series with great enthusiasm.

SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER: THE HEX SERIES
Another series and another series with great expectations from myself. It had been over a year since the last series with Ace and Hex and at the end of that series, Hex had been shot. The first story was Project Destiny and was the best story of the series. It saw the return of Nimrod who previously appeared in Project Twilight (2001) and Project Lazarus (2003). From start to finish it was wonderful and whilst it wasn’t the best Project story it was still highly enjoyable. Hex departed in a ‘mock’ exit which implied that he was leaving for good. The story had a wonderful lead-in to A Death in the Family. However despite all this, A Death in the Family was massive disappointment. Despite being voted Best Story in the Toms Tardis 2010 Awards, I found it too be the worst story for quite sometime. That’s democracy for you. The story saw the return of the Word Lord or Nobody No-one which I found exciting because I liked the character in Forty-Five as well the return of Evelyn Smythe. Neither of these could rescue it. The final story was Lurkers at Sunlights Edge which was a nice ending to the series. It wasn’t a fantastic story but there was something about it and it was way better than the previous story.

Overall the series was a disappointment. Apart from Project Destiny, I found the series to be aimless and without direction. Whereas the Klein and Jamie series had a end point and you knew where it would go there was none of that in this series and out of the three series I would rate this one bottom.

The final main range story of 2010 was The Demons of Red Lodge & Other stories which was a series of stories quite like The Company of Friends and Forty-Five. This year it featured the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. This was a good release and totally changes my original opinion of single episode stories. It shows that with the right story that 25 minutes is an ok amount of time to tell a story.


THE COMPANION CHRONICLES
It’s been another fantastic year for Companion Chronicles. A particular highlight was The Suffering which saw two companion tell their story. Shadow of the Past was another top quality story and would rank in my top three companion stories of 2010. Night’s Black Agents was ‘the fourth story in a trilogy’ story which was a cracking story. The final story of Series 4 was brilliant as it featured India Fisher who was returning as Charley and David Ballie who appeared in The Nightmare Fair. Series 5 started off with The Guardian of the Solar System

THE LOST STORIES
This year saw the rest of the Sixth Doctor stories with a varying amount of success. There were stories like Paradise 5 and The Macros (written by the late Ingrid Pitt) which were enjoyable and left me wishing that they had been made for TV. Then there were stories like Point of Entry and The Hollows of Time which were just dreadful. In particular The Hollows of Time which was meant to feature the Master but due to the character been used in the David Tennant finale couldn’t be used by Big Finish so we are left with a mess of a story that frankly wouldn’t have been saved even if the Master had been in it.

We also got the First Doctor and Second Doctor stories which were more like Companion Chronicles but were still enjoyable. In particular Farewell Great Macedon which was a fantastic release read brilliantly by Carole Ann Ford and William Russell.

JAGO & LITEFOOT
Well after months of waiting and a successful ‘pilot’ in The Mahogany Murderers. In June we got four adventures. All four stories were great in their own way but I think that the best was The Bloodless Soldier. I did wonder how the series would work. It’s one thing in a Companion Chronicle but its another when you have four hour-long adventures. However credit where its due they managed it. This worked so much that two more series have been commissioned. Christopher Benjamin & Trevor Baxter were superb and its crazy that it took over 30 years to get to this stage. After the successful return of Klein & Jago and Litefoot, I learnt one thing. Don’t fret.

EIGHTH DOCTOR ADVENTURES
It was announced this year that 2010 would see the last separate series for the Eighth Doctor. At the end of 2009, Lucie Miller said goodbye and we said hello in 2010 to Tamsin. However this final series had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster. The series seemed to be a bit lacklustre especially after Nevermore but then when we got to the Book of Kells things picked up and as we ended 2010 there are just a few more stories to go before this thrilling series concludes. It’s a shame in a way that the Eighth Doctor will have to return to the main range in 2011 because I think that the Eighth Doctor thrives from having more stories than the others and we will have to get use to just three stories a year instead of eight or ten.

2010 has been a superb year and was the best yet. There has been a concern for me at times that Big Finish have been stretching themselves too far but I think that they need to in order to find the revenue to continue making more Doctor Who stories. However it’s the quality side that I am more concerned about. Including the main range, Jago and Litefoot, Companion Chronicles, Lost Stories, EDA and the Four Doctors special, there were 47 releases and about 6 or 7 of them were duds which is quite a good percentage when you think about it. I go into 2011 with high hopes and a strong feeling that in twelve months time I will be writing that Big Finish has had another fantastic year. Everyone at Big Finish stand up and take your applause!!!

TOP 5 STORIES OF 2010
1. Guardian of the Solar System
2. Shadows of the Past
3. The Wreck of the Titan
4. Solitaire
5. Cobwebs

WORST 5 STORIES OF 2010
1. The Hollows of Time
2. Nevermore
3. Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code
4. Point of Entry
5. A Death in the Family

The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories (2010)

For the last few years, there has been a single release that has consisted of four single stories. This year it was the turn of the Fifth Doctor to get this treatment. What is quite special is that one of the writers won a competition set up by Big Finish and was won by the curiously named Rick Briggs. I suppose anyone who submitted a story for the competition and didn’t win might be slightly envious of Rick for this opportunity and are eager to see what he produced that won him this spot.

The Demons of Red Lodge is the first story written by Jason Arnopp and sees the Doctor and Nyssa wake up to find out that they don’t remember where they are and after investigating the surroundings they find that the speara (not sure about spelling) are planning an invasion and are trying to convert the inhabitants and the first stage is to basically knock them out and then the second stage is to take full control of their personalities. The Speara are trying to convert the Doctor and Nyssa but think that their human and when they try to copy the Doctor’s two hearts affect the plans of the Speara.

I really liked this story. It’s a I thought that there was enough threat from Speara and it was great how the Doctor and Nyssa seemed genually scared at the beginning of this story. With a few tweeks this could easily make a hour long or even four part drama. Jason Arnopp has written a good opening story and it’s a good starter for this release.

The second story is the one written by Rick Briggs called The Entropy Composition. It sees the Doctor and Nyssa arrive in 1968 in a prog rock musician called Geoff Cooper who wrote a song called White Waves, Soft Haze that was never released. He is accompanied by Erisi and there are clues early on when the animals disappear. Erisi is a Entropy Siren and the music is basically eroding all the music on the archivist planet and is creating chaos. There is a lovely scene where the Doctor and Nyssa are trying to convince Mrs Malloy who they are and Nyssa trying to pretend she’s a swinging 1960’s girl but not understanding what the term groupie means.

I found this a harder story to understand than the previous one. It took a few listens to fully understand it and that shouldn’t really be the case in a 25 minute story. Don’t get me wrong I do think that it’s an interesting story but when you have such a short amount of time to tell a story then it should be far simpler than it was. I did like the characters that Briggs has written. I thought that Mrs Malloy was a lovely character and her exit was quite a shock and Naloom was also very entertaining as the archivist.

The third story was called Doing Time written by William Gallagher and sees the Doctor in a prison on the planet Folly. The opening dialogue was a mirror of the opening scene of the BBC Sitcom ‘Porridge’. The Doctor collects a future echo that tells him a planet is going to explode but arrives a year too early. He is put in prison by a very nasty Governor who has desires of becoming President. The whole story is very entertaining story that sees the Doctor create an interplanetary version of the Cricket Ashes.

It’s a good story with some good characters and in particular Susan Kyd as Governor Chaplin. She was very entertaining throughout and was probably the best guest character of the entire release. Gallagher has written a fun and often amusing story.

The final story of this release is called Special Features written by John Dorney and is a 25th Anniversary DVD commentary to a 1970’s horror film called Doctor Demonic’s Tales of Terror. This is an original way of telling a Doctor Who story. It’s quite a brave attempt because commentaries are improvised and require the viewer to be actually seeing the images as opposed to just listening to the action. There is a lot of talk between the contributors about a curse and the bad luck that befell some of the cast. I thought it was a really good story because this takes place over the course of 20 or so minutes and in one long scene. The story manages to pack a lot in despite the short running time but this is thanks to the writer.

All the cast do a great job and along with Dorney’s writing this is my favourite story of the entire release. John Dorney has been one of the shining stars in 2010 with Solitaire springing to mind and he does another good outing with this story. He’s managed to make this episode seem like it was done like a normal commentary.

So the final regular release of 2010 is a good one. They were all good in their own way and despite the Rick Briggs story, they were all very straightforward and enjoyable. On the subject of Rick Briggs I think that he should be allowed to write a full four part story like Steven Hall did this year with A Death in the Family because I think that he could do a good job. The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories should be listened to by anyone who likes short stories and who likes creepy stories.

The Waters of Mars (2009)

The Water of Mars is the penultimate adventure for the Tenth Doctor. This story is a break from the norm as it is far darker in tone that previous stories. It’s a classic case of the Doctor’s rule of not changing history getting severely tested on the Mars colony ‘Bowie Base One’. This story won the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and it’s not hard to see why. It features one of my favourite story plot devices. The being in a confined space with little or no chance of escape. Stories such as The Moonbase & The Tenth Planet are similar in theme.

With the Doctor arriving on Mars, the crew of B.B.O become infecteced by the Martian water and it turns the victims into weird creatures which leads to one my favourite prosthetics that the modern era has come up with. It’s unnerving and very effective. The Doctor knows that the events that happen on November 21st 2059 are a fixed moment in time. The Doctor realises that as he is the last of the Timelords then technically he only has to obey himself. Thus seeing for the first time a psychotic Doctor who changes history and saves the lives of people who were suppose to die. There is a brilliant moment with the Doctor walking back to the TARDIS with all the talking/shouting that’s going on in the Base and then decides to return and rescue the crew. This leads Adelaide to take her own life because she knows she was meant to die on Bowie Base One. It’s at this point that the Doctor realises he has made a mistake and sees an Ood. This is the beginning of the end for the Doctor.

The story isn’t perfect and this is due to the stupid irritating robot called GADGET who keeps repeats his name every time he says it. Also it bears a striking resemblance to the Wall-E robot. Sadly despite the story being set on Mars there are no Ice Warriors in the whole 60 minute story. They do get a brief mention but nothing more than that. We do however get a Dalek woven into the story with the story told by Adelaide about how she saw a Dalek and the Dalek saw her yet didn’t exterminate her.

The acting is brilliant in this. David Tennant is truly superb as he plays both sides of the Doctor’s personality. There are flashes of why is one of the most popular Doctors. Lindsay Duncan is the best of the guest stars and that’s not really surprise because of things like Rome where is fantastic. With no regular companion, Duncan’s character becomes the temporary companion and is the viewers point of entry into the story and she does this well. In this she is believable as the leader of Bowie Base One with a family on Earth. Despite the opportunity to live even though she is meant to die, she decides to kill herself because she knows it’s the right thing to do. The rest of the crew of the base all deserve some credit because they put in good performances and help create the impression that even 50 years in the future there is room for nationalities working together.

It’s by far the best of the 2009 specials and the best 10th Doctor Story for sometime. True, there are some things that don’t quite make sense such as why now has the Doctor realised that he controls things. There are countless instances where he could have stepped in but chose not to. There are some wonderful special effects and it leads me to ask why they don’t make more stories like this before. The Waters of Mars is a fine story and always worth

The Next Doctor (2008)

The 2008 Christmas Special came shortly after it was announced that David Tennant would be leaving the show. This meant that the title seemed to peak everyones interest. Was it going to reveal the identity of the next Doctor? Of course it wasn’t but what it was going to do was answer how could someone else think they were the Doctor. This story saw the return of the Cybermen after they were last seen in the 2006 series finale. The story sees the Doctor land in London on Christmas Eve in 1851. The real Doctor comes across someone who is calling himself the Doctor travelling with someone called Rosita (Rose) and has a ‘sonic’ screwdriver and a TARDIS (which turns out to be a hot air balloon).

As well as the mystery of this guy who’s calling himself the Doctor there are the Cybermen who are working with Miss Hartigan (Dervla Kirwan). It’s been a while since there was a female baddie in Doctor Who and the character seemed to be a classic nutter in that she wants power. However as was always going to be the case for anyone who’s like this she becomes unstuck when she is clamped into the Cyber King chair. The explanation about this guy thinking he was the Doctor was very smart. Jackson Lake (David Morrisey) had looked into one of these info stamps and took the Cybermen’s data on the Doctor. This made Jackson’s life quite tragic and it was at this point the story really stepped up a gear. The main talking point for me was the Cyber King. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but its safe to say it wasn’t what we got. A lot of people seem to rather dislike it but I actually love it. It was a brilliant creation though perhaps a little out of character for the Cybermen. What wasn’t such a good creation were the Cyber Shades which looked rubbish. They did look like someone in a costume and they were the only thing that didn’t work for me in this story.

The supporting cast did a great job. In particular, praise should go to David Morrisey who was superb as Jackson Lake. The emotional journey that his character went on made the story in between the bits with the Cybermen enjoyable. David Morrisey will probably go down as the greatest Doctor who never was. Dervla Kirwin was also very good as Miss Hartigan. She was a standard bad person before being put in the chair and showing the Cybermen that her mind is more powerful than the Cybermen thought and that is when Kirwin really shone. She really did quite sinister with those black eyes. Velile Tshabalala also put in a good performance as Rosita, Jackson’s companion. She was bordering on irritating with her voice/accent but she was still important in this story and I could believe that Rosita travelled with Jackson.

The special effects for this story were left until the end with the Cyber King. The whole thing looked beautiful and the sight of the Cyber King stomping its way through Victorian London was a visual highlight. The Next Doctor is a very good Christmas story, I think out of the four that we had at this time, this was the best. It was the one that felt most festive and had a nice story and some good direction. With only a few stories left before David Tennant handed over to Matt Smith, this was a nice festive story which is the last time there would be any real fun in the Doctor’s story.

The Four Doctors (2010)

I was absolutely delighted when I heard that we were going to get a Multi-Doctor story. It’s always a special moment when this happens though amazingly it’s been seven years since we had this (Project: Lazarus). Written by Peter Anghlides (The Chaos Pool), this story also features the Daleks and Robomen. The story follows Doctors 5-8 through a particular moment in their life. However the story is really driven by the Colonel Ulrik, for it is he who we spend more time with. Initially he starts out as this military figure and someone who betrays people to try and do a deal with the Daleks but that’s soon turned on its head where Ulrik is transported back in time before transported somewhere else. The problem with this story is that I think the writer tries to fit too much into this story. There is too much tooing and frooing for my likeing. If it had started with the Fifth Doctor and worked its way to the Eighth Doctor then it would have probably made more sense to me. I did like the fact that apart from the four Doctors there were only four other characters being played by two actors. David Bamber did a great job as Colonel Ulrik and also Whitmore. Ellie Burrow also put in a good performance as both Professor Kalinda and Lady Cowen. Both these guest stars were great and hopefully appear in more Big Finish plays in the future.

As for the Doctors, they were all good in their own parts of the story. I quite liked how the Fifth and Eighth Doctor interacted with the fifth not knowing that he was talking to his future self. All the Doctors played this story just as if it was their own story. I was expecting to be able to pick a favourite thinking someone would put in a brilliant performance but actually they all did a great job. The final scene with all four Doctors finally meeting each other was the best bit for me and I would suspect for most Doctor Who fans. It was explained how the 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors don’t remember any of what’s happened. That was what was running through my mind throughout this story and luckily they didn’t kop out. The moment where they were all in the same place and the Seventh Doctor commented that McGann’s Doctor was the most recent because “he didn’t recognise him” was something that that I found quite amusing.

As a special release this has to be one of the best in recent years. Peter Anghelides has written a good story with a restricted number of characters that all work well with the different Doctors. The few issues that I have with this story don’t really detract from how I enjoyed this. True, it wasn’t quite what I expected but it was still enjoyable. Unlike in previous years this release wont be available in twelve months which in a way is slightly disappointing and a tad bit unfair by Big Finish because it’s a shame that a only potentially small audience will get to listen to this historic story. Maybe they will change their mind in the future.

A Christmas Carol (2010)

It’s become a tradition now. Every Christmas Day we are treated to a Doctor Who special. It seems weird that there was a time when there wasn’t Doctor Who on Christmas Day. This story borrows a lot from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Even borrowing the name. The story is quite a simple one, Amy and Rory are on a spaceship that is hurtling towards the planet but the clouds are hampering their attempts at a safe landing and the only person who can help them is a Ebenezer Scrooge type character called Kazran Sardick (Sir Michael Gambon). The clouds are controlled by Kazran and can only be operated by him. The Doctor has to try and convince Kazran to be nice. This involves the Doctor going back to when Kazan was a boy and doing nice things to a young woman called Abigail (Katherine Jenkins) however Abigail reveals a secret to Kazran and this is what turns him into the miser that we see at the beginning of the story.

Michael Gambon steals the show. It’s quite remarkable that someone of his acting distinction appears in Doctor Who. As Kazran Sardick he starts off as the miser Scrooge but by the end of it he plays a sad and softened character which is does very well. Every scene he was in was a joy to watch and the story wouldn’t have been as good had it been someone else. Katherine Jenkins does a good job. She revealed in Doctor Who Confidential she had never done any acting before this and to be honest I couldn’t tell. It did take me a long time to really like the character. I think that her acting was ok but she really came into her own when she had to sing which is of course her day job. She really is a very good classical singer. Normally I’m not a fan of young actors but I must admit that I found Laurence Belcher to be very good as the Young Kazran, he didn’t have a whiny voice or irritating manner. Also Danny Horn was good as the Middle Kazran who’s role mainly consisted of kissing Katherine Jenkins, though I could think of worse jobs to do. Matt Smith is very good in this and seems to have well and truly settled into the roll. There are a lot of funny moments and Matt did them well. That’s one thing that I’ve been surprised with about him. He doesn’t look like the sort of actor that can do funny and serious acting in equal measure. He puts a lot of energy in his performance and really shone when he shared scenes with Michael Gambon. Even though they weren’t really in the story very much I did think that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill were very good. Their scenes were largely on the ship but it would have still been weird without them.

As well as the acting, I found the sets very impressive. Especially Kazran’s study which was very big and suitable for some wonderful scenes between Matt Smith and Michael Gambon. It was also empty which summed up Kazran. I watched this in HD and it the quality came through brilliantly. Also the chamber with the capsules were eerie and very effective and created some wonderful moments which included the scene where the young and old Kazran were hugging. Every moment of this right down to the spaceship showed that a lot of time and money had been spent on it and I loved it. The shark flying scenes were very odd but very Doctor Who, its Christmas after all and so instead of a reindeer we get a shark.

I think that this is the best Christmas Special that we have had. It had Christmas running through it like Blackpool rock. Top writing from Steven Moffatt and fantastic directing from Toby Haynes but it’s the special effects that I was most impressed with. They were truly spectacular and I was just blown away with them every time I saw them. A Christmas Carol has to rank in my Top 10 of new series episode. Great way to see out Christmas Day 2010 and as for the trailer that appeared at the end, it looks like its going to be as the Ninth Doctor would say ‘Fantastic’.

Relative Dimensions (2010)

The final story from the Eighth Doctor of 2010 is a truly family affair. After all the drama with Crows, Monks and Ice Warriors it seems that in this festive period that we should have a Christmas themed Doctor Who. Relative Dimensions is a TARDIS bound story and that is something that I have been waiting for since I first saw ‘Inside the Spaceship’. This story also sees the return of Susan and Alex who previously appeared in the 2009 subscribers special ‘An Earthly Child’. It still seems odd that Susan calls the Eighth Doctor Grandfather and even odder than Alex is the Doctor’s Great-Grandson. I think that you would have needed to have listened to or at least be aware of ‘An Earthly Child’ before listening to this.

The story has a slow build up. A large chunk of the first half is getting the Doctor, Lucie, Susan and Alex into the TARDIS for Christmas dinner. Its clear something is not right. What we learn is that there is a creature which is causing these problems and it came from Susan room. Which is as we learn has been moth-balled in a never before heard of thing where the Doctor stores the rooms of his previous companions. I’m not sure whether if this would still be going on with the Matt Smith Doctor. But it shows either that the Doctor is deluding himself or nostalgic. Either way it seemed quite a clever use of introducing and explaining the monster. Another thing we saw was whether the Doctor was trying to persuade Alex to join him in the TARDIS. This creates a mini-conflict with the Doctor and Susan. Whilst the story reaches a good conclusion we are left with a snippet of a story arc when Lucie decides she is going to travel with Alex.

It’s impressive how the story works with just four characters. Paul McGann puts in another solid performance, instead of having to play the hero and stop some mad scheme to colonise a planet or something and has to play host and a grandfather. It’s nice to have Sheridan Smith back and she puts in a lovely performance having some wonderful scenes with Jake McGann. I think that Jake McGann puts in a good performance and gets into his stride in the second half of the story. But for me the best performance was from Carole Ann Ford who is just brilliant. I think that Carole Ann Ford doesn’t sound that different from when she was on TV. She doesn’t have the slight irritation that she had on TV but thanks to Big Finish the Susan we get here is more mature and that’s gives Carole Ann Ford something to work with and give a stronger performance.

Relative Dimensions isn’t the most action packed story of the year but that is what I like about it. I like this story because its more of a character piece and its what is needed every so often. It’s another Christmas Special like ‘Death in Blackpool’ but I think this one is better. Marc Platt has written a good story that uses all the characters to their potential and doesn’t make the story too complicated. Barnaby Edwards has done a good job as director and keeps the story going throughout. A lovely end for the Eighth Doctor year of adventures.

Lurkers at Sunlights Edge (2010)

I must admit that I was quite intrigued when I heard the title of this story. After a disappointing ‘A Death in the Family’ I had high hopes that this story would end the Seventh Doctor series of adventures in 2010 in a positive way. Written by Marty Ross (writer of Nights Black Agents). The story has influences of HP Lovecraft which I wasn’t aware of. Amazingly I had never heard of Lovecraft but since looked him up on Wikipedia and found out who he was.

The Doctor, Ace & Hex arrive and its not long before all hell breaks loose. It’s also not long before they are all separated. Hex spends most of his time with Professor August Corbin (Alex Lowe) who sounds at time like he is about to have a mental breakdown. Hex also has to spend time with Emerson Whytecrag (Stuart Mulligan). Whytecrag is some weird character who wants to access a cave. Then the Doctor is with Dr Freya Gabriel (Kate Terrance). The story spends a portion of the story portraying CP as someone who is quite dangerous and its not long before the truth about him is unveiled. What the story then spends the latter half doing is giving CP some emotional depth and at the end were sad at what has happened to him. He was neither human nor alien and just wanted to be something. It’s interesting how Ace and Hex have been through the mill in the previous two stories and that continues in this one. The bond that Ace and CP build up is one of the highlights of the story. In fact I would go so far as to say that CP is one of the best things in this story. Michael Brandon gives a superb performance from start to finish. Sylvester McCoy also puts in a great performance and whilst it might not have been as emotional as Ace’s it was still a solid outing.

The main thing about this story was how did this little island that wasn’t off the coast of Alasks four years, three months and six days ago get there. I’m the sort of fan that is more concerned with this little thing than anything else in the story. Thankfully this puzzle was answered and in a plausible way. Basically it was on the surface before until it sank before rising back up. There were two aliens encased on this island with a third being sent to Earth (CP). Mystery runs through this story like a stick of Blackpool rock. Marty Ross has written a story that has enough positive elements to keep me entertained throughout. I liked it far more than ‘A Death in the Family’ because I was able to follow it and found that it was a far more straightforward adventure. That said its still not on par with Project Destiny which I would say is the best of the series.

Everything Changes

So this is where it all began. The first (proper) spin-off Doctor Who series sees the return of Captain Jack Harkness to our screens. Captain Jack was last seen being exterminated in The Parting of the Ways. The name Torchwood had obviously been mentioned in several episodes of David Tennant’s first series. The title of this story was quite apt. Everything Changes is quite like Rose in many ways. The story is seen from the point of view of PC Gwen Cooper who is trying to follow Captain Jack. There was another nod to Doctor Who where the base of Torchwood is located. In Boomtown back in 2005, the rift was coming from that weird structure thing in the bay.

The story has a lot to do, it has to introduce all the characters and also have a story that the regular characters are involved in. On both counts this story is a success. Apart from Captain Jack, all the characters are new and whilst their not all perfect none of them are totally ridiculous. Owen Harper (Burn Gorman) is the most irritating character, he is the young arrogant and cocky Doctor but it’s just overboard. Then there is Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori), I found the character to be interesting but lacking something which I cant put my finger on. It’s also worth noting that Naoko Mori played a Doctor in Aliens of London back in 2005 but there’s no mention of that here. I did think the best of the new characters was Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd). Remarkably it’s around the 20 minute mark before he makes an appearance yet his performance is very good. What I did find a shock was Indira Varma who plays Suzie Costello. It was made to look like she was a regular for the entire series but her character proves to be the baddie in this story and her death came as a true shock. Perhaps the shock that the series needed and what Russell T Davies intended. Varma played the role brilliantly and it’s a shame that she wasn’t in it for more because I think she would have been great.

The B-Plot is about a murder that the Torchwood crew is investigating at the very beginning of the episode. It takes a bit of a back seat for about 30 minutes or so before coming back for the last 20 minutes. I thought that it was a well handled part of the story and the identity of who did it came as a total shock to me. The reason why Suzie killed seemed slightly cold but that was more to do with Indira’s performance. She was slightly mad and bitter because of all the not exactly glamorous aliens that Torchwood encounter.

The language is quite strong. The show was trying to be different from Doctor Who and perhaps stand out as a drama in its own right. However even at this early stage when I first saw it I remember thinking that it wasn’t the right way to make it seems different. There was a surprising amount of gore. The bit where the Weevil bit into the porter’s neck and the blood spurted out was a shock. Also something that doesn’t quite work is all the sexual content in the story. What I did like were the Ariel shots of Cardiff. Both the day and night shots looked great especially the bit where Jack and Gwen are on top of the building. Very good.

This is a very good opening episode. Not totally perfect but when I originally watched this back in 2006 I turned off thinking that it was a good start but hopefully some things would improve or be cut out.

The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance (2010)

The second story from the first Doctor Lost Stories Box set is a lot shorter than Farewell Great Macedon. Also written by Maris Farhi, this story is a simple tale of love and how it can literally end your life. It was the first to be written by Maris as a sort of introductory story which is why it runs in at 35 minutes as opposed to the 2 and half hours of the previous story. The story sees Barbara become friends with a guy called Rythym except that Rythym has fallen in love with Barbara. The story also sees the Doctor waiting for a new component to be built.

It’s always interesting how people use Barbara as the one who has the love interests. That might have something to do that Jacqueline Hill was so good at developing relationship unintentionally. Even though she is not in this it’s easy to believe that Jacqueline would have done another great job. There is a wonderful scene when Barbara is about to leave the TARDIS to spend the rest of her life with Rythym. In a moment reminiscent of An Unearthly Child when the Doctor sets of controls of the TARDIS and dematerliases.

Like the previous story there are wonderful performances from William Russell and Carole Ann Ford. Though there was slightly more of the old Susan in this story than in the Farewell which was a slight worry but overall the pair did a great job. John Dorney has a smaller role in this than as Alexander. However it was still a nice performance. The new voice in this is Helen Goldwyn whose performance is quite good. It sounds weird and wonderful and helps create the impression that this is an alien world with weird seas and suns. All in all, the performances are what help make this story more than a bland story.

There is something quite lovely about The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance. It’s not the most action packed story however as its so well told by William Russell and Carole Ann Ford the whole thing is something that still makes it enjoyable. Both of these stories have been worth the money. Admittedly they are dangerously close to been called Companion Chronicles because they are stories that weren’t actually lost because it got cancelled due to lack of studio time or something else but just never got commissioned as a TV story. That said I Nigel Robinson has done a good job adapting these stories for audio and Lisa Bowerman directed these stories brilliantly. A good job all round.

Resurrection of Mars (2010)

Resurrection of Mars is the second story in the Ice Warriors story. It continues with the Ice Warriors’ plan to change the atmosphere of Mars so that it becomes suitable for them. However as this story shows there are consequences to the Doctor’s plans. This is shown to Tamsin thanks to the Monk. The Monk who had previously appeared in The Book of Kells. The reunion between the Doctor and Lucie has been a relatively long time in the making. It’s hard to believe that it’s not even been a year since Death in Blackpool.

The story about the Ice Warriors does seem to take a back seat to a certain extent and its about the Doctor, Tamsin, Lucie and the Monk. The relationship between Tamsin and the Doctor seems to have broken down. Thanks to some words of ‘warning’ from the Monk, Tamsin thinks that the Doctor is a monster and is nothing what he proclaimed to be. She finishes this story in the Monk’s TARDIS. It’s quite a turnaround for the character, she seemed to go from being happy to travel with the Doctor to thinking he’s an evil dictator. It’s not simply not enough to say this to Tamsin but actually shows her by taking her to a planet which the Ice Warriors take over after their plan on Mars is foiled by the Doctor. I loved how elements from earlier stories of this season got bought back. The advert that was placed in Situation Vacant got repeated here after it was revealed the Lucie applied for it. There is also references to The Book of Kells.

I thought that Nicky Wardley was really good in this, it’s probably her best so far. Her reaction to the Monk’s revelations was well played and her anger at the Doctor was something that I personally haven’t seen before like this. Her interaction with Sheridan Smith was a highlight and it was great to have her back as she played a brilliant character. Paul McGann put in another good performance as he has to battle against the Ice Warriors and the moral anger of Tamsin. Graeme Garden is just brilliant as the Monk, it’s perhaps the best piece of casting since David Ballie became the Toymaker.

The Resurrection of Mars has a lot of things in it about morals. Is it worth sacrificing a few hundred lives for thousands or billions for just a few thousand. Jonathan Morris deals with this effectively and doesn’t dwell to long on it so that the action is allowed to continue. I think that this is a good conclusion to this story. It’s not the best Ice Warriors story that Big Finish have done however it is still a good one. It also means that this final separate series of Eighth Doctor Adventures has gone up a gear and the last few stories should be a cracker.