Big Finish have reached another landmark. Recorded Time and Other Stories is the 150th main range release. I remember the 100threleased back in September 2007 and found the single episode stories to be slightly bizarre. I remember not being entirely positive about Robert Shearman’s story and receiving a personal response about that review. I have since gone back to it and found that I was wrong and it’s a lot better than I remember. Then in November 2008 we had another anniversary which followed the same format and we’ve had two other releases which have followed the same format. The four stories are written by people who are new to Big Finish and like the 100th release this story is a Sixth Doctor adventure except this time it has Peri and not Evelyn.
The opening story is Recorded Time and is written by Catherine Harvey. It sees the Doctor and Peri arrive in 1636 at the court of Henry VIII where something odd is going on. The story sees the Doctor and Peri arrive and get separated in what must have been quick time but felt like it wasn’t rushed at all. The whole story had a wonderful sense that despite the restricted time the story had it wasn’t going to sacrifice anything and that is what I like about this. The story is that there is a scriber which is using a special pen that brings things to live or makes them come true. The price is the ink used is the life force of the person writing. The scriber we meet in this story is the son of the previous writer and it’s a very clever twist which I didn’t seem coming.
The second story is somewhat different in terms of quality. Written by Richard Dinnick this story sees the Doctor and Peri arrive on a planet that sees a bunch of women want to gain access into a vault. Now the first thing that struck me was did Mr Dinnick listen to Galaxy 4 before of whilst he was writing this because the fact that there are a bunch of women that consider men to be inferior seems to be borrowed from that. It’s something that whilst is unoriginal doesn’t mean that the stories not any good. It’s a nice story that actually makes Peri lead the story as the mystery is surrounding her. It’s nice that the secret of the vault was essentially the women’s downfall. The story features Raquel Cassidy who was recently in the Almost People two parter and she was in The Judgement of Isskar back in 2009. Whilst I didn’t dislike this story, I would be lieing if I said I loved it. I think that its the weakest story of this release.
The penultimate story is called A Most Excellent Match by Matt Fitton and it answers the age old question of what would happen if Doctor Who entered Jane Austin’s world. Well its answered in an odd kind of way. The story starts off with Peri being proposed by and the Doctor oddly about to ask for her hand in marriage. It turns out that they have entered a sort of AI unit where there are Jane Austin stories but there is something bad that has been collected by this sort of artful dodger and its an alien creature that seems to like to play games (a bit like the Celestial Toymaker). The story is highly enjoyable from start to finish and for a while I thought that it was going to rival Recorded Time as my favourite story but there is something about that story that pips it to number one spot. Dont get me wrong because I think that this story did well not to go overboard and just be a stupid little attempt at humour but it kept its nerve and served up a bit of humour mixed in with a lot of drama. It also marked the second story in a row where Peri’s role was important because she is the one that rescues the Doctor and its nice to see stories where Peri is put in that position. A good story.
The final story is Question Marks and is written by Philip Lawrence. It sees the Doctor and Peri in a situation where they and the scientists they are with have lost their memories. No one can remember why they are there and there is a wonderful sense of mystery as to what or who has caused this. The story has a wonderful feel to it as I was listening to it trying to catch a glimpse as to what is going on. Then the truth is revealed that they are copies and the real versions have been transported elsewhere. The only thing that I didn’t like about this story is how abruptly it ended or how it felt rushed. We had the truth revealed and the scene between the real Doctor and Destiny and then it was over. I honestly thought that I had missed a bit but to be honest when it finished and the theme tune played I just went ‘hmmmmm’. I think that it was very good story that had a bit of a poor ending.
I did like that Raquel Cassidy was in it again as she was given a better role that in the second story. I think that the mistrust that she led against the Doctor reminded me of the TV episode Midnight where nobody was really willing to believe the Doctor. The fact that the Doctor was called‘Question Mark’ was a funny thing which was a gag that was used again and again and thankfully the mystery of the story was what took centre stage.
Overall, I really liked this release. It was a nice selection of stories with only the second story that didn’t quite hit the mark. I think that this regular thing of having a release like this every year is a good thing because it shakes things up a bit and it introduces new writers and effectively gives them a pilot to go on and write a full length adventure. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant were very good in all four episodes and its good when these two get together. My favourite part was in the first episode when the Doctor comments that it was odd to see Peri with so much on which is clearly a nod to how little Nicola Bryant wore during her TV days. As a celebration of Big Finish its a nice way to celebrate this impressive milestone so when they come to do 200 in 2015 or something like that they will something like this.
The opening story is Recorded Time and is written by Catherine Harvey. It sees the Doctor and Peri arrive in 1636 at the court of Henry VIII where something odd is going on. The story sees the Doctor and Peri arrive and get separated in what must have been quick time but felt like it wasn’t rushed at all. The whole story had a wonderful sense that despite the restricted time the story had it wasn’t going to sacrifice anything and that is what I like about this. The story is that there is a scriber which is using a special pen that brings things to live or makes them come true. The price is the ink used is the life force of the person writing. The scriber we meet in this story is the son of the previous writer and it’s a very clever twist which I didn’t seem coming.
The second story is somewhat different in terms of quality. Written by Richard Dinnick this story sees the Doctor and Peri arrive on a planet that sees a bunch of women want to gain access into a vault. Now the first thing that struck me was did Mr Dinnick listen to Galaxy 4 before of whilst he was writing this because the fact that there are a bunch of women that consider men to be inferior seems to be borrowed from that. It’s something that whilst is unoriginal doesn’t mean that the stories not any good. It’s a nice story that actually makes Peri lead the story as the mystery is surrounding her. It’s nice that the secret of the vault was essentially the women’s downfall. The story features Raquel Cassidy who was recently in the Almost People two parter and she was in The Judgement of Isskar back in 2009. Whilst I didn’t dislike this story, I would be lieing if I said I loved it. I think that its the weakest story of this release.
The penultimate story is called A Most Excellent Match by Matt Fitton and it answers the age old question of what would happen if Doctor Who entered Jane Austin’s world. Well its answered in an odd kind of way. The story starts off with Peri being proposed by and the Doctor oddly about to ask for her hand in marriage. It turns out that they have entered a sort of AI unit where there are Jane Austin stories but there is something bad that has been collected by this sort of artful dodger and its an alien creature that seems to like to play games (a bit like the Celestial Toymaker). The story is highly enjoyable from start to finish and for a while I thought that it was going to rival Recorded Time as my favourite story but there is something about that story that pips it to number one spot. Dont get me wrong because I think that this story did well not to go overboard and just be a stupid little attempt at humour but it kept its nerve and served up a bit of humour mixed in with a lot of drama. It also marked the second story in a row where Peri’s role was important because she is the one that rescues the Doctor and its nice to see stories where Peri is put in that position. A good story.
The final story is Question Marks and is written by Philip Lawrence. It sees the Doctor and Peri in a situation where they and the scientists they are with have lost their memories. No one can remember why they are there and there is a wonderful sense of mystery as to what or who has caused this. The story has a wonderful feel to it as I was listening to it trying to catch a glimpse as to what is going on. Then the truth is revealed that they are copies and the real versions have been transported elsewhere. The only thing that I didn’t like about this story is how abruptly it ended or how it felt rushed. We had the truth revealed and the scene between the real Doctor and Destiny and then it was over. I honestly thought that I had missed a bit but to be honest when it finished and the theme tune played I just went ‘hmmmmm’. I think that it was very good story that had a bit of a poor ending.
I did like that Raquel Cassidy was in it again as she was given a better role that in the second story. I think that the mistrust that she led against the Doctor reminded me of the TV episode Midnight where nobody was really willing to believe the Doctor. The fact that the Doctor was called‘Question Mark’ was a funny thing which was a gag that was used again and again and thankfully the mystery of the story was what took centre stage.
Overall, I really liked this release. It was a nice selection of stories with only the second story that didn’t quite hit the mark. I think that this regular thing of having a release like this every year is a good thing because it shakes things up a bit and it introduces new writers and effectively gives them a pilot to go on and write a full length adventure. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant were very good in all four episodes and its good when these two get together. My favourite part was in the first episode when the Doctor comments that it was odd to see Peri with so much on which is clearly a nod to how little Nicola Bryant wore during her TV days. As a celebration of Big Finish its a nice way to celebrate this impressive milestone so when they come to do 200 in 2015 or something like that they will something like this.
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