The First Wave (2011)

The First Wave is the final story of the Oliver Harper trilogy. This posh companion has been on quite a journey in such a short amount of time. It was in March 2011 that this trilogy start and since then there has been three very good stories. Like the previous story, this one starts with Oliver and Steven fighting for there lives with the end almost upon them. However this being a Companion Chronicle in a known part of the Doctor’s timeline it was obvious this wasn’t going to be the end. What we get is a story set on a planetoid that has the best name Grace Alone. This is where the continuation from the previous story sees the Doctor, Oliver and Steven expected to meet their fate as they are listed as criminals. This story sees the return of the Vardans. I thought the name sounded familiar and upon the internet I found out that they had appeared in the 1977 adventure ‘The Invasion of Time’.

The first episode seems to be over very quickly though it’s the same length as you would expect from these type of stories. It must be that the action and the story was so good that time just flew by. The second episode is far more interesting as this is where the meat of the story is. The Vardans want to use the wave signals to attack earth and then quite oddly their target has changed. The idea of using monsters/aliens from the classic era that only appeared once and didn’t have as much impact as the Daleks or Sontarans is nothing new to Big Finish. But even I was surprised that they decided to use the Vardans. They were a visual alien but they did have a distinctive sound which I have to admit I found quite annoying after a while in this story. But as the story was moving along at a pace and the Vardans are an effective if restricted threat that I was able to get past his and it didn’t impede my enjoyment of the story.

The idea that Oliver has given his life was quite a surprise and a death in Doctor Who is in keeping like was mentioned in the interview at the end of the story with that era where Katarina had died and so had Sara Kingdom. I thought the final scene with Harper was one of the nicest and most touching scenes that I have ever heard in a Big Finish play. It just seemed to fit the characters and the mood of the story. Tom Allen has been very good in all three plays and the character was totally different to what Big Finish have come up with. Sometimes his reactions to what Steven said was what made the character seem that much more interesting. I think that we’re so use to the companions getting along that reactions such as when Harper’s suit was ruined and he said “So you should” after Steven apologied seemed so different. Purves as per usual was on splendid form. His impression of the first Doctor is very good despite not sounding anything like Hartnell. It has remained consistant and does help create an impression in my mind that the First Doctor is saying those words.

I don’t know whether I wanted more stories from Harper. I think that the idea of a character created just for the Companion Chronicles was a nice one and there was potential for future stories in the main range, maybe meeting the fifth or seventh Doctors. The thing about Doctor Who is that its never over and there is always the possibility of Harper returning in future stories. As a story in the trilogy its not the best one as ‘The Perpetual Bond’ gets that honour but its still a good story and a highly enjoyable one that had a nice and emotional end to it. As the penultimate CC or 2011, its shaping up to be a good year for the series.

Planet of Fire (1984)

Planet of Fire is the penultimate story for Peter Davison as the Doctor. It’s fair to say that the 1984 season hadn’t been quite as successful as previous years and this is why Davison left the role after three years in the next story. This story also sees the debut of Nicola Bryant as Peri, the departure of Mark Strickson as Turlough and more thankfully, the departure of Chameleon who was even more useless that Adric. Planet of Fire was the second story to be written by Peter Grimwade who’s previous contribution to the show was the less that successful ‘Time-Flight’. The story is also the fourth story to be directed by Fiona Cumming who has become one of my favourite directors. Planet of Fire is one of the rare stories that feature some location filming away from Britain’s green and pleasant land. Script Editor Eric Saward always seems to be grumpy on this situation but to be honest, I think that it’s nice to film away from Britain as it gives the story a new feel that most stories don’t have.

The story is set on Sarn where yet again we are treated to some primitives who think that fire is somehow related to a god. There is talk about chosen ones and to be honest this story is somewhat boring and it gets in the way from the main drama which is that Anthony Ainley is back as the Master. Ainley was last seen in ‘Time-Flight’ and his contract was expiring so what we were getting was in effect his swansong. Which is of course isn’t the case as we all know. The Master is much more effective in this story than he was in Time-Flight. This is due to the fact that he starts off the story as a mini version of his normal self and uses Chameleon to help move the box that the Mini-Master is into a flame that has special qualities.

Nicola Bryant spent close to three and a half years on the show and the only thing that she is really remembered for is that bikini scene which is a shame really because she is quite good in this story. She has a lot to deal with in this story including Chameleon that takes on the appearance of her step-father who then changes into the Master. She also has to do a lot of running on the rocky landscape of Lanzarote. In his final story, Mark Strickson finally gets to put some meat to his character which had spent the best part of a year doing pretty much nothing. We learn that his family was a bunch of criminals and his father was being sent to Sarn as a prisoner. As a result, this is Turlough’s story and he leaves the show as someone who has been redeemed from his past mistakes and is able to go back to Trion as a hero of sorts. It’s well played by Mark Strickson and his departure is actually quite well handled. Anthony Ainley puts in his best performance as the Master (so far), there is less of a pantomime feel to it and his ‘final’ scene was the best scene of the entire story because it leads to the possibility that the Master has died but also that the last line Ainley gives might have said ‘Brother’. We will never know which is probably the best thing.

Planet of Fire is better than Time-Flight because it was a lot more sensible. The story benefits from some lovely location filming and as Fiona Cumming’s swansong, it’s a very well directed story that has a nice pace despite having some less than sparking characters. As the penultimate story for Davison, it’s the sort of story that Davison should have been doing from the beginning.

Terminus (1984)

Terminus is a sad story for me as it marks the departure of Nyssa after just over two years in the role. Considering she was only intended to appear in ‘The Keeper of Traken’ I think that the character has done very well. True, Nyssa has been badly treated in several stories where she is dumped in the TARDIS for large chunks of a story and in the case of ‘Kinda’ she appears for about 90 seconds in a 100 minute story. So the story was written by Stephen Gallagher in his second contribution (Warriors Gate in 1981). This story suffers from being the middle story of the Black Guardian trilogy and so is a bit of a holding pattern until Enlightenment comes along.

Terminus is boring. I hate to admit that after the first episode I just lost interest because it so grim and far grimmer than you would expect from Doctor Who. This is a story that could and would have benefited from location filming. The idea of the story being set on a leaper ship is actually quite a good one but then the minute we meet the servents/slaves of the ship it starts to just become dull. The thing about Gallagher’s writing is that its quite like his ‘Warriors Gate’ effort where there seems to be a good idea in there but is fighting to get out. The opening episode sees the TARDIS mix with the lazar ship and the wandering round an eerily deserted ship is quite a good foundation but then Gallagher proceeds to write characters that aren’t allowed to bring anything to the story.

The only thing that can get you through the story is Mark Strickson. Turlough is still on a mission to try and kill the Doctor but his performance is simply brilliant. His verbal fights with Tegan at the beginning was brilliant to watch and then the fact that they have to spend a lot of the story together just makes their relationship even better. Fielding really has progressed as Tegan from the mouthy air hostess who would spend all of her scenes shrieking at the Doctor. Since ‘returning’ in Arc of Infinity, we have been witness to a very toned down Tegan who only sufferes from a poor costume. Peter Davison is on his usual good form but doesn’t really shine like he usually does and that may be something to do with the material but he does seem at times to just be going through the motions.

Sarah Sutton is given a lovely farewell scene which is far more credible that the one Adric was given. However before we get to this farewell scene we have to put up with Nyssa yet again being poorly treated. Quite why Sutton has to lose some of her clothing is still beyond my understanding and I hate to think of myself a prude but I thought that her costume was inappropriate. I wasn’t a fan of her ‘Snakedance’ costume but at least that was more appropriate that the thing she was forced to wear. That said I think that Nyssa was one of the best companions of the 1980’s and I think that is down to Sutton’s performances. When she wasn’t badly treated for being the smart companion she was able to bring a lot to the story and if you want to know what I mean listen to any of the Big Finish stories with just Nyssa in it.

Terminus isn’t quite the story that it should have been. I don’t think that had the Black Guardian stuff been taken out it would have been any better and to that end I don’t know if I will ever like this story and think I would go so far as to say that its one of the worst stories of the classic era.

Enlightenment (1983)

Whereas ‘Terminus’ was boring and I didn’t care about this story which was essentially a holding pattern, I found ‘Enlightenment’ to be far and away a much better story. ‘Enlightenment’ is a story that has a lot riding on it as it is the culmination of 6 weeks worth of drama. This story was granted the rare honour of being given a two disc release where sees a directors cut version which is a full movie length offering with new special effects but that wasn’t the version that I watched. I chose to stick with the good old fashioned original version. This is the first story in Doctor Who history to be written by a woman. This would be Clegg’s only contribution to Doctor Who on TV but another story would be released in the Lost Stories series for Big Finish in the form of ‘Point of Entry’ (2010) and ‘The Elite’ (2011).

This story takes place in the middle of a race by a bunch of sailing ships that wouldn’t be out of place in a ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ movie except these ships are in space which is quite a different way of pitching a story. The story has a bonkers feel to it with characters on the ships that are there purely there to win ‘Enlightenment’. The people making the decisions are all eternals whereas the sailors are actually from Earth. The Eternals can read minds and this gives them an added menace as they don’t shout, don’t become violent, just menacing. Except for one who seems to fall in love with Tegan despite not actually knowing what love is. The Eternals need the humans or ephemerals as they are called in order to exist and the ephemerals don’t seem to think that there is anything wrong with their setting.

The story moves in location to the more pirate of the ships where we are introduced to more eternals who are led by Lynda Byron. This is her first appearance on the show though her voice was used in the 1966 adventure ‘The Gunfighters’ when she sung that god awful ‘Last Chance Saloon’. In this she plays Wrack and I think that the character seemed a bit to over the top for the story. I think that Byron does make the character much more bareable than she otherwise would have been. Keith Baron who is another big name for appearing in the sitcom ‘classic’ ‘Duty Free’ does better as the leader of his ship. Striker is far more sinister but less emotive than Wrack.

If I had a problem with this story then it would be the third part which is actually gutted from the special edition more or less. It just seems like padding which is a shame because the story before and after this is rather quite good. The most important scene of this trilogy is rather well done. I’m not sure why the Guardians have birds on their heads. Valentine Dyall is the better of the two as throughtout the last three stories he has been the menacing prescene and we only see the White Guardian in this story. Cyril Luckham’s performance is rather ineffective at the beginning but when it comes to the scene where Turlough has to choose whether to accept the prize, he actually delivers the goods and his purpose in the story is warranted.

Enlightenment is actually the best story of the Guardian trilogy. Yes it suffers from bagging in episode three and the characters of Wrack and the White Guardian aren’t quite what they should be to compliment the rest of the story. It’s a fine end to the trilogy.

The Awakening (1984)

The Awakening is one of the 21st seasons two part stories though this wasn’t intentional. The story was written by the wonderfully named Eric Pringle and this would be his one and only contribution to the show. It’s a story that was intended to be a four part adventure until it was decided that there wasn’t enough of a plot to fill four episodes without the mother of all padding. What we get is a story where Tegan travels to Earth in 1984 to see her grandfather but comes across a town that has become obsessed with the Civil War. However (as always) there was an evil force behind this.

The idea that there are ‘war games’ going on and that someone in the town is enjoying far more than he is should is quite a fun idea and its taken to its natural conclusion but for me when the story moves into the church and all the business with the Malus it just seems to be a bit silly. I think that the giant face is to be honest a little rubbish and I cant see how anyone could be frightened by this. Maybe if the lights were turned off and you were a bit drunk then maybe this might be scary but what’s even worse is the little creature which that appears in the TARDIS. Another thing that we are expected to be scared by. Sorry but not gonna happen.

The thing that makes this story mildly interesting are the performances from the supporting cast. Two people return to Doctor Who. The first being Denis Lill who appeared in the 1977 story ‘Image of the Fendahl’ and was very good in that. In this story he was Sir George Hutchinson who was the one that was enjoying the games just a bit too much. It turns out he is being controlled by the Malus but I didn’t care about that and just found that every scene Lill was in the story picked up a little. The second person was Glyn Houston who had appeared in the 1976 story ‘The Hand of Fear’. Like that story, Houston plays someone who the viewer likes because they fall on the side of the Doctor. It’s a shame that Houston didn’t appear in more DW stories because he’s a very good actor. Another good supporting cast member was Polly James who was the voice of reason. She instantly dislikes the games and is the only one of the villagers that doesn’t dress up.

Something else that I do like about this story is the wonderful location footage. Possibly the best for quite some time the location stuff benefits from being in a beautiful town and having the good fortune to film on what appears to be a lovely weather. It’s rare that I am interested in the documentaries about where it was filmed but on this occasion I decided to look at it and its still a lovely place.

The Awakening is neither a great story nor a poor one. It’s just one that seems to serve a purpose of filling two episodes. I think that in the scheme of things when you look at the twenty-first season this is the weakest story and that’s partly due to it lacking anywhere near an effective punch that some of the other stories had but that happens in Doctor Who.

Snakedance (1983)

The twentieth season of Doctor Who was meant to celebrate by having something from the Doctor’s past in every story in the season. In Arc of Infinity we had Omega who had previously appeared in ‘The Three Doctors’ (1972/73) and this theme continued with the Mara. Snakedance is the sequel to the 1982 adventure ‘Kinda’ which having recently rewatched it as part of my ongoing Doctor Who Marathon, I was looking forward to this story. Yet again written by Christopher Bailey, it’s noticeable for the appearance of Martin Clunes who would later appear in such shows as ‘Men Behaving Badly’ (1992-98) and ‘Doc Martin’ (2004 – Present). Bailey wrote this story knowing the limiations of a BBC budget and more importantly, the Doctor for whom he was writing for. There were certainly flaws in ‘Kinda’ but the question would remain as to whether the production team had learnt and would be able to handle what Bailey had written for them this time.

This story is set 500 years after the events of ‘Kinda’ which would explain why there is an almost Roman feel to the way that some of the sets and people are dressed. The story was made first in the production order and as a result it benefits from having a high number of extras for the market scenes and some very good set designs. The story also sees Nyssa get her first new costume since ‘Castrovalva’ (1982) however it’s not a particularly nice costume as it just screams 80’s which for a show that isnt suppose to be set in a particular time is a problem. Another thing that troubles this production just as it did in ‘Kinda’ were the snakes. The main problem in ‘Kinda’ was the giant Mara but in ‘Snakedance’ it was pretty much every snake in the who show. Only the Punch and Judy style snake and the one the puppeteer appears with in the market were convincing.

Sarah Sutton is starting to get some good stories for which she can show her talents. After being lumbered in the TARDIS for several stories in season 19, she finally gets to become involved in the story and there was one scene in particular where Nyssa is talking to the Doctor in the TARDIS that I realised why I thought that Nyssa is one of the best companions and the Nyssa/Fifth Doctor combination is one of the best in the classic era. I actually quite like Peter Davison’s performance in this story as it is far more stronger than in ‘Kinda’. He has to work to try and get people on his side and even then he isnt entirely successful.

The stand out performances from the guest cast come from Colette O’Neil and Martin Clunes. Ok so some of the costumes that Clunes has to wear are a bit silly and will forever haunt his career, but as the lazy and power hungry prince he plays the part very well. It seems inevitable that he would end up where he does. O’Neil does a similary impressive job as his mother Tanha. She commands attention everytime she is on screen I find that the scene picks up. She plays the role as someone who is concerned with power and dresses so. Some of her costumes look very impressive and help to create the auroa of some who is quite respectable but has to deal with a troublesome son.

Snakedance benefits from having just the two companions. After Adric demise in ‘Earthshock’ (1982), just having two companions meant that Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding could shine and have far more of the action. This story allows Janet Fielding to yet again play Tegan differently to how she would normally be allowed to play the role. It’s quite similar to her performance in ‘Kinda’ but she is better in this one.

‘Snakedance’ isnt as good as ‘Kinda’ but there are things to like in this story. I think that that this story doesn’t quite have the same impact as ‘Kinda’ and I have only just realised that I prefer the primiative setting of Derva-Loka as opposed to the crowded setting of Manussa. That said, ‘Snakedance’ is one to watch as it has some interesting things going for it.

Witch from the Well (2011)

The second story featuring the Eighth Doctor and Mary Shelley is a story that manages to keep the same feeling as ‘The Silver Turk’ despite it being in a different setting. This story was written by Rick Briggs this story (according to Briggs on the extras) was more convoluted in the original version. Briggs had written the episode ‘The Entropy Composition’ in the 2010 anthology release ‘Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories’. My opinion of his story was that it was a bit difficult to understand which was frustrating in a 25 minute episode, now that he has four episodes to tell his tale is going to be far more easy to listen to.

This story starts off quite interesting with the Doctor and Mary going back in time to find out how a witch has ended up in a well. When I realised that the story was going to have a lot of ‘funny’ accents and set in a time where people are backward thinking, my heart sank slightly because I just get tired of them and think that they don’t really offer anything new but what Nick – sorry Rick- has done is to make me forget about that and actually get involved in the story and I found the character to be quite strong and good. I don’t understand why whenever a story goes back in time to that they always have to go to the West Country. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against them but it’s very rare that you hear Welsh characters or other areas of the country.

Both Paul McGann and Julie Cox were very good in this and considering they spend the majority of the story apart from one another, Cox is very strong. Especially when she is in the TARDIS. It’s good how she seems to have adapted to the workings of the TARDIS so quickly. Of the supporting cast, the biggest name belonged to Simon Rouse who plays Master John Kincaid. He quite a big name because of his time on the show ‘The Bill’ but for Doctor Who fans he is famous because of his show stealing performance as Hindle in the 1982 adventure ‘Kinda’. Having just watched that story its quite impressive how the performances are so different yet are so good. Rouse has done a good job with what is a fairly normal role.

The story spends a long time going from the Doctor and Mary Shelley but at no point did I get a feeling that the story was sagging though I must admit that I was starting to get slightly confused whilst in episode four. Just when I thought that the story was going to go off the boil it redeems itself. The moment when the witch turns out to be energy was quite a clever and frankly better way to end the story.

The Witch from the Well isn’t a perfect story but there is more than enough to like from this story and its great to get the chance to see what Rick Briggs could do with more time and hopefully he will get more chances to write stories in the future.

Earthshock (1982)

Earthshock is easily one of the best Peter Davison stories but not for the reason that many would think. ‘Earthshock’ is the final story to feature Matthew Waterhouse as Adric. The loveable artful dodger (cant believe I wrote those words!) meets his demise and becomes only the second companion in the shows history (after Katarina in 1966) to die in the show. The story starts off without any of the regulars, in fact its about ten minutes before we see them and when they do its not the best start for them. Adric is portrayed as a whiny teenager who is sulking on his bed.

The story spends a large chunk of the first part of this story in the caves which are darkly lit. This is quite unusual as most stories of this period then to be very well lit and it adds to the drama when we cant see whats going on. The shock part of the story is that the Cybermen return to the show after a seven year absence. If you were watching this in 1982 then this would have been a shock but for me having known they would appear the shock isnt there. That’s not to say that there appearance at the end of episode one wasn’t well done.

When the story moves to the freighter it kind of loses something as we are introduced to three rather unlikely crew members including Beryl Reid. I think the casting of a big name is not a bad thing but they have to know what they are saying and be believeable in what they are doing and sadly Reid doesn’t pull this off. I say unlikely because I couldn’t see these three ever working together on a ship.

For the second story in a row, Nyssa is banished during the story to the TARDIS. She spends an awful long time in there and it’s a waste in my opinion because as the crowded TARDIS theory plays out again, the smartest companion has to be put to one side. It would have been more sensible to have Tegan in the TARDIS because she does very little when she’s out of it. The story really belongs to Adric as Matthew Waterhouse who steals the show at the very end where he tries to be the brave one and stop the ship from crashing into Earth. Peter Davison puts in what I think is his best performance of his run so far. There is a sense of his vulnerability which is evident during the row with Adric in Episode One and the moment after Adric’s death in Part Four.

The final few minutes of episode four are very sad and that’s due to the fact that even though Adric is about as popular to some as lepricy but Waterhouse and the other manage to make his final scene quite sad. This is despite the knowledge that on the commentary Fielding and Sutton were trying not to laugh. I personally don’t think that it was a good idea to have the credits rolling across a broken star with no music was a rubbish idea. If it were Sarah Jane or Jo Grant then maybe that would be ok but not when someone like Adric leaves. Even the Doctors don’t get this treatment so why should Adric.

Earthshock is a truly marvellous story that is one of those rare stories that comes from the 1980’s and is a true classic. I was never a great fan of Adric’s but I think that he did well in this story.

Black Orchid (1982)

Black Orchid is a curious story in that it is only two episodes but two episodes of nothing. Nothing of any consequence happens during this 50 minute adventure. This was Terrance Dudley’s second story of the season after ‘Four to Doomsday’ and whilst this story isn’t anywhere near as dull as that story this one isn’t that much better. The story takes place in 1925 where remarkably the Doctor has to play Cricket which given that his outfit is based on cricket is perhaps quite an astute one. The fact that the Doctor is mistakened for someone else is a particularly useful and in this case acceptable way to get the regulars into the action.

The big thing that seems to be of interest is that Sarah Sutton has to play two roles. She has to play Nyssa and Ann Talbot. I’m not quite sure as to what the point of this was. The only thing I can think of is that it’s to make up for being written out during ‘Kinda’. There are some fun moments where Nyssa and Ann have to appear on screen at the same time. The story centers around someone who has been hidden away in a country house whilst a shindig is taking place.

We learn that the individual hidden away was at one time the fiancé of Ann who when he was travelling got into trouble retrieving the Black Orchid and presumably got locked away to protect his families’ interests. In the meantime, Ann marries the brother which doesn’t seem to bother either Ann or Lord Cranleigh. This is something that doesn’t get explained until the final part of the story which is a shame as I think it would have spiced the story up a bit.

Something that does slightly bother me is the bit where everyone seems to go into the TARDIS. It was perhaps the easiest and most sensible thing to do in the story but I just have a problem with letting everyone in the TARDIS. It should be like a VIP nightclub. Only the best get in and not any riff raff. The problem at this time is Club TARDIS is starting to lose a bit of its private setting. Also what is the point of Matthew Waterhouse in this story. It’s arguable as to the level of his contribution in some stories but in ‘Black Orchid’ all he does is dance for about 4 seconds and then proceeds to spend the rest of the story eating. I could have done that if I had been born a year later.

Of the regulars it’s clear that Sarah Sutton takes the lead in this story but actually Peter Davison does quite well with what he is given. He spends a good amount of time walking through secret tunnels and asks why he lets his curiosity get the better of him. As the production text says on the DVD, there wouldn’t be a story if he didn’t. Also having to deny a murder charge was perhaps the most exciting stuff that he did. Janet Fielding has very little to do apart from show that she can do the Charleston. Of the guests in this story Moray Watson was quite likeable as Sir Robert Muir and I would like to have seen more from him. However it was Michael Cochrane who was the most famous name and face in this story. He would go on to appear in ‘Ghostlight’ (1989) and the Big Finish plays ‘No Man Land’ (2006) and ‘Brotherhood of the Daleks’ (2008). As Lord Cranleigh, he is a lot of fun in this story and plays the role brilliantly. It’s quite similar to his role in ‘Ghost Light’ and also his role in Sharpe.

Black Orchid is the best story that Terrance Dudley wrote but it’s only because that this story was half the length of a normal adventure. It’s unusual not to have a science fiction element in a Doctor Who story and in fact I think that ‘The Highlanders’ (1966/67) was the last time that there was a pure historical story but unfortunatley that story wasn’t great either.

Kinda (1982)

Kinda is a highly regarded story to some. I must admit that I have never been incredibly fond of it, partly due to the subject matter. I’m not someone who goes in for all that spiritual stuff. Give me aliens and invasions any day. That said, as part of my marathon and in keeping with every other story that I have watched in my marathon, I watched Kinda with an open mind. The story is the first of two to be written by Christopher Bailey who’s story takes place on Derva-Loka where Nyssa is resting after fainting at the end of ‘Four to Doomsday’.

The crowded TARDIS as this period of the show was called is the most blatant example of the problem that there seemed to be. Sarah Sutton appears for a moment at the beginning of episode one and briefly at the end of episode four. This is so that Janet Fielding can take centre stage in the first half of the story.
The story is a spiritual one where on Derva-Loka there are the ‘primitives’ and then there are the humans led by Sanders. But the colonists are disappearing which is a lovely excuse to get around the low number of characters that are in the story. The character of Sanders is quite like most military figures in television and films at this time. Thankfully the balance switches quite quickly so that Sanders is the reasonable character (of sorts) and Hindle is in charge (of sorts). Despite this story being studio bound Peter Grimwade does fantastically well managing to make the story move at such a pace that it at times doesn’t feel like a Doctor Who because at times it feels original. In the scenes in Tegan’s mind for example there is a nice solid segment where you’re not quite sure what’s going on (or that might just be me). The story moves along at a nice pace and then it goes wrong when we get to the Mara. For a good portion of the story the Mara is made out to be this evil and horrible thing that has passed over into this reality and then when we see the Mara all big the effect is rather disappointing. On the DVD version you can see a much better effect but watching it minus the special effect the Mara looks naff and ruins the belief. I think to be fair to Christopher Bailey he probably would have written something different had he known the limitations of the show and the budget.

Janet Fielding is one of the best things in this story. Her performances when she is being controlled by the Mara are some of the best that I had seen for sometime in these stories. It’s possibly her best performance of her time on the show. She will never again be allowed to give this sort of performance. Another strong performance comes from Simon Rouse who holds the story together and gives and absolutely bonkers performance. It’s quite fun watching as his character Hindle goes slowly mad. Due to Fielding and Rouse’s performances everyone else’s pale into comparison. Richard Todd’s performance could be seen as hammy but I have to say that I think he pitches it just right. There’s no way that you could say an actor of Todd’s caliber (Dambusters etc) could be poor and I think that Todd provides some much needed comedy relief. Nerys Hughes performance as Todd was rather a disappointment. I think that she’s a very good actress but the problem was that her role seemed to be very poorly thought through and she is there to act as the Doctor’s female side kick as Nyssa has been exiled to the TARDIS and Tegan. Todd is portrayed as a scientist but doesn’t really get to do much of that and as a result she isn’t given the best dialogue.

My opinion of Kinda has changed over the years. Five years ago I would have totally slated it and used the giant snake as a stick to beat the story with. But recently (since the DVD was released), I have found a more sympathetic view of it. Ok it’s not a fantastic story but I can see why people like it and that’s an improvement on five years ago. Having watched them in order, I would go so far as to say that Kinda is the best Davison story so far and wouldn’t rate it as the worst story of the 19th season like readers of Doctor Who Magazine did in 1982.

The Visitation (1982)

The Visitation is perhaps of one of my favourite stories from Davison’s first series as the Doctor. After some different types of stories it was a return to basics for the show with a good old fashioned story. This story was written by Eric Saward who would be the show’s Script Editor from 1982 until midway through the 1986 series. It’s nice after a few stories of the Master, spaceships and spiritual stuff to get back to a pseudo-historical adventure where the Doctor is trying to get Tegan back to Heathrow but misses by about 300 years.

The story takes place at the exact time that the Terileptil’s have landed on earth. It’s quite a simple one where there are some aliens and they are trying to attack humans. The story manages to move at a good pace but for the second story running, Sarah Sutton is forced to stay in the TARDIS. True, its not as long or as silent as in ‘Kinda’ but I do feel that because she’s the smartest and the most normal out of the three companions that she has to spend a fairly big portion of the story putting some device together so that she can destroy the android.

The story benefits from some fine characters and actors playing them. For instance Michael Robbins who is sublime as Richard Mace. His lively and comical performance is one of two top outings in this story. He comes across as a likeable and more importantly believeable character who is initially reluctant to accept what the Doctor says. Another aspect which is good is the realisation of the Terileptil leader (as played by Michael Melia), it’s one of the most impressive monster designs since possibly the Cybermen and shows how far we’ve come since the bubble wrap wirrn in ‘The Ark in Space’.

After such a strong performance in ‘Kinda’ it was obvious that the writing wouldn’t allow Janet Fielding to repeat her performance in this story. That said she did do well but did ham it up when she was possed. Matthew Waterhouse was his usual self which isnt saying much but didn’t really contribute anything to the story. Davison’s performance is quite good and he has some good scenes especially with Mace.

It’s a sad but important story in the history of Doctor Who as after 14 years, the Sonic Screwdriver is written out. This was because JNT thought that the screwdriver was an easy way of getting the Doctor out of a situation. Well that argument works for K9 but I’m not so sure that it’s the case with the screwdriver. If it were that much of a burden then they could have just not used it. It’s almost as if JNT or the script editors didn’t trust the writers NOT to use it. It’s a sad moment but one that didn’t need to happen.

The end of episode four is perhaps a little bit cheeky. It seems to be a thing in Doctor Who to associate famous moments in history to the Doctor. The reason why the Marie Celeste was empty was linked to the Daleks in the 1965 adventure ‘The Chase’, now the 1666 Great Fire of London has been linked to the Doctor and the Terileptils. I question whether doing such a thing achieves anything relating to the story.

The Visitation is a sound story that has some fun moments and moves along at a solid pace. The crowded TARDIS issue is becoming just that and this does affect the story slightly but there is enough here to enjoy the Visitation for what it is and the Davison era is continuing in a solid way.

Four To Doomsday (1982)

Four to Doomsday was the second story to be transmitted for Peter Davison but was actually the first that went into production. This story was written by one of the weakest writers in Doctor Who, Terrance Dudley. Dudley had previously directed the Tom Baker story ‘Meglos’ and would go on to write two further Doctor Who stories. This story is set on a spaceship which is heading to earth where its revealed that the leaders of this ship (The Urbankans) are pretending to want to co-exist with the humans but will in reality wipe them out.

The story is severly lacking in action. The problem with studio bound stories is that very soon the sets get boring and the story has to be good enough to keep you going. It worked with ‘The Keeper of Traken’ but sadly not in this case. The story starts off perfectly well but then by the second episode it quickly decends into everyone running into big rooms where there are some dances going on and the Doctor and co are trying to avoid the detection of those sphere cameras. The main problem is that there is a nice little plot strand in this but it gets bogged down by a load of nothing.

Peter Davison does well in his ‘first’ outing as the Doctor. It must have been really intimidating to have just taken over from one of the most popular actors to play the Doctor in the shows history. When you take the fact that its his first story into consideration what we are left with is a nice performance that does ok with the material given. Janet Fielding is slightly annoying in this as all she seems to do for most of this story is shriek and run around. I think that Fielding is a very good actress and she has some great stories coming up (Kinda for example) but on this occasion she is given a duff card and like Davison does the best she can. I am baffled by Matthew Waterhouse’s performance. I think his willingness to back the baddies is something that I find to be tiresome. It was the same in ‘State of Decay’ and I just found myself wishing he would be different. It’s not surprising that Adric isnt a well liked character if he pulls stunts like he did in this story. Sarah Sutton is served best in this story out of the three companions but that’s not saying a great deal. I think that Nyssa is the one of the best companions in Doctor Who and Nyssa does have some good scenes.

The Urbankans are well realised. Stratford Johns is the best as Monarch. He is the only one of the Urbankans that has to stay in that make up and it must have been horrible. Johns does get all the best scenes and lines, he extracts the best from the character and makes it a very strong character despite not actually being very menacing. Annie Lambert and Paul Shelley were the other Urbankans (Enlightenment and Persuasion respectively). I was more impressed with Lambert’s role and I thought that Enligtenment was stronger than Persuasion. It seemed like Persuasion had been written as an after thought and just seems to spend his time in the story spying on the Doctor in the main dancing room and being involved in the cliffhanger for part two.

The story does have one of the most memorable moments in Doctor Who. The scene where the Doctor throws a cricket ball at the ship and when it bounces back it carries the Doctor far enough to reach the TARDIS. Now, even a primary school child would know that this is impossible as when the Doctor catches the ball, it wouldn’t propel him to somewhere but smash his hands to pieces. As the production text points out when this scene, who cares its fun.

The way that Monarch is defeated is a disappointment as all that happens is that the Doctor throws the acid over him. It’s doesn’t kill him but merely shrinks him. They then go away in the TARDIS. This seems like they couldn’t think of a good enough exit for the character that had pretty much carried the story for large chunks of the story.

It’s to be expected that Four To Doomsday wasn’t going to be Davison’s best story as it was the first that he had recorded and didn’t seem to know how to play the role. To be fair to him its not his performance that is the problem, neither is it of the other regulars. Four To Doomsday is neither a terrible story or a good story, its inbetween and in a way that’s the worst kind of story. It should be viewed once but not perhaps more than that.

The Tomfiles: #13 - 150 Not Out

Big Finish reached a milestone when they released their 150th Main Range release ‘Recorded Time and Other Stories’. In the 12 years since they were licensed to produce Doctor Who stories. Over the 150 releases the stories have varied quite a lot. Colin Baker, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy were there at the very beginning and Paul McGann joined in 2001. We have also been reintroduced to classic companions with only Matthew Waterhouse not coming back as Adric (though have we really missed him?). But we have also been introduced to new companions and that is what has made these adventures more than just Doctor Who on audio. These are new companions that we have seen from the start. I only started watching Doctor Who properly in 1993 so until the show returned in 2005, the Big Finish companions were the only ‘new’ characters that I have seen in their debut stories.

The format of these stories has changed over the years. From 1999 to 2007, the stories would be released in random order with a Fifth Doctor story being released one month and then a Seventh Doctor story being released the next month. Then after Nicholas Briggs took over as the executive producer of the main range we started to get ‘three + one’ releases. They didn’t really work because very often the three episodes would be great as they cut out all the padding that accompanies a normal four part adventure but very often the single part story would let the whole release down. It has taken me a while for BF to get a handle on these single episodes. But it was in 2008 when the format of the main range releases would change. Due to a story arc involving the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Thomas Brewster, it was decided that starting in 2009 there would series of stories that would be released one after another. So there would be three series of three adventures with a single release. With the Eighth Doctor having adventures in his own series, it would be Doctors 5,6 & 7 that would get their own series of adventures.

During these 150 stories we have seen some classic monsters return via BF. These include the Daleks, Cybermen and the Master which were obvious ones but it some of the lesser popular monsters that have returned. They included The Axons (Feast of Axos – 2011), Omega (Omega – 2003), Ice Warriors (Red Dawn – 2003 and Frozen Time – 2008), Rutan (Castle of Fear – 2009) and The Mara (Cradle of the Snake – 2010). It’s always a curious decision to bring back monsters that only appeared once or maybe twice in the classic era but usually its with good intentions and whilst I may not have been wholly positive about a story (Robophobia) I am always open to them bringing back monsters that only made a single appearance as long as it is justified.

The big names that have appeared in these 150 stories over the years has also been impressive. Names such as David Walliams (Little Britain and swimming the Thames), Mark Gatiss (League of Gentleman), Joe Thomas (Inbetweeners), Anna Masey (Peeping Tom) to name but a few. It’s always surprising to see the sort of people that will appear in audio Who as opposed to TV Who. To appear on TV Doctor Who I could understand because of the exposure it would give them but I think that the fact their in a Doctor Who is more of a personal thing than a professional thing.

The stories that have been done over the last 11 years have used a large number of writers. Some had written for the TV series and some would go onto write for the new series. In fact the 2002 story Spare Parts was inspiration for the 2006 David Tennant stories ‘Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel’ and in 2005 Robert Shearman adapted his 2003 adventure ‘Jubilee’ to become ‘Dalek. Due to the contract that BF has with the BBC it means that BF can’t use a monster or villain or even story if it mirrors one that is being used on TV. That’s why in the 2009 Lost Story ‘The Hollows of Time’ the Master wasn’t used as he was appearing on TV. It seems that this only really becomes a problem when they want to use a classic villain/monster, otherwise they are free to do whatever they want and the only restriction is really on what they want to do. There have been tendencies when the story has been complicated. The most obvious example of this was in the 2008 adventure ‘Brotherhood of the Daleks’ which is quite possibly the most complicated story that BF have done. Even Colin Baker wasn’t fully aware of what was going on. Most of the time it’s just me that doesn’t understand what’s going on but on some rare occasions like BOTD, it’s a group thing.

I decided to do a massive poll to decide what was the most popular Big Finish story in the main range. I suspected that ‘The Chimes of Midnight’ would have a good chance because it won the Toms Tardis ‘Story of the Decade’ award in 2009. If you didn’t vote then the way then let me explain how it worked. Basically I opened the poll so that you could select your 10 favourite stories. Not just one because I know how difficult that can be but 10.

Here is what I voted for in this poll.

1 – Live 34 (2005) 9 – The Chimes of Midnight (2002)
2 – Project: Twilight (2001) 10 – Medicinal Purposes (2004)
3 – Project: Lazarus (2003)
4 – Son of the Dragon (2007)
5 – Nocturne (2007)
6 – Enemy of the Daleks (2009)
7 – The Reaping (2006)
8 – The Nowhere Place (2006)

After all the votes had been counted the (not surprising) winner was the 2002 adventure ‘The Chimes of Midnight’. It got 51 votes, second was another 2002 adventure ‘Spare Parts’ which got 43 and quite surprisingly ‘The One Doctor’ from 2001 was the third most popular story with 38 votes. Now it is an enjoyable story but I don’t think that its one of the top 3 stories ever.

Winners of the Best Story category in the Toms Tardis Stories did as follows;

1999 – Phantasmagoria #42 with 5 votes
2000 – The Marian Conspiracy #8 with 29 votes
2001 – Project: Twilight #22 with 10 votes
2002 – The Chimes of Midnight #1 with 51 votes
2003 – Doctor Who and the Pirates #7 with 30 votes
2004 – The Harvest #27 with 8 votes
2005 – The Juggernauts #49 with 4 votes
2006 – Pier Pressure #84 with 2 votes
2007 – Son of the Dragon #22 with 10 votes
2008 – The Haunting of Thomas Brewster #36 with 6 votes
2009 – The Magic Mousetrap #36 with 6 votes
2010 – The Wreck of the Titan #6 with 32 votes

Out of 150 stories, there were only 16 stories that didn’t get a single vote. They were Minuet in Hell (2001), The Rapture (2002), The Sandman (2002), Nekromanteia (2003), The Creed of the Kromon (2004), The Roof of the World (2004), The Last (2004), The Game (2005), Three’s A Crowd (2005), Red (2006), Valhalla (2007), The Wishing Beast/The Vanity Box (2007), The Dark Husband (2008), The Chaos Pool (2009), Lurkers at Sunlight’s Edge (2010), Recorded Time and Other Stories (2011).

Some of these I kind of understand, I’m not wild about Minuet in Hell, Red, Valhalla or Nekromanteia but then there are some that I think should have at least got a vote such as The Game which has William Russell in it. I also thought that Recorded Time and Other Stories and Lurkers at Sunlight’s Edge should have received a vote. How something like …ish (111th with 1 vote) or Renaissance of the Daleks (60th with 3 votes) managed to score higher I will never know.

Big Finish have achieved a lot in 150 stories, they have used new and old monsters in these stories and also bought some popular combinations back. 2012 looks like being another good year with Tom Baker joining the Big Finish family but when/if we do a poll for the Best 200 stories I suspect that ‘The Chimes of Midnight’ will win. Congratulations to Big Finish, you were there when Doctor Who was on TV and you show that you can produce stories just as good as the ones on TV with a fraction of their budget.

To use a cricket term to describe my feelings about Big Finish -150 not out

The Silver Turk (2011)

2011 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Main Range Story
• Best Writer (Marc Platt)
• Best Director (Barnaby Edwards)
• Best Cover Design (Alex Mallinson)
• Best Music & Sound Design (Jamie Robertson)
• Best Guest Star (David Schneider as Ernest Bratfish)

This is the first series of Eighth Doctor stories since Big Finish started doing a series of stories in 2009. This is McGann’s first story since ‘The The Death’ in March 2011. Now lets review this story at the very beginning. The Eighth Doctor gets a brand new theme tune which totally took me by surprise. I actually started again when it ended because I wasn’t quite sure what I thought of it and to be honest I still don’t. I think as time goes by it will be grow on me but it was a clear indication that this was a new era and that Lucie Miller is in the past or the future depending on where the Mary Shelley stuff happens in the Eighth Doctor’s timeline. Written by Marc Platt this is the first Cybermen story since ‘Legend of the Cybermen’ in June 2010. It’s fair to say that Cybermen have been treated far better by Big Finish than by Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies on TV.

Mary Shelley first appeared in the 2009 story ‘Company of Friends’ and if I’m honest I cant say that I was that desperate for her to return. However Big Finish do have a good track record with bringing things back that don’t instantly scream out as a massively popular thing. Julie Cox has returned to reprise her role as the famous author. The story takes places in Vienna where the Doctor and Mary stumble across a Cybermen who is being paraded around as ‘The Silver Turk’. The story starts off as an attempt for the Doctor to try and destroy them but then it moves on to trying to convince Mary Shelley about how evil they are. It’s the classic moment from the 2005 adventure when the Doctor tries to convince Rose about the Daleks being evil but the Doctor being too blinded about their evilness. This is something that is done very well in this story but it doesn’t take over the story and makes way for the proper story.

I like how this story ties in to the events of The Tenth Planet, the idea is that the Cybermen that we have in this story are trying to send a signal to Mondas, quite like ‘The Elite’ where the lone Dalek is trying to send a signal to be rescued. My interest in this story started the moment I saw the cover and realised they were using the original Cybermen design which in my opinion was the best design because it looks the most human whilst at the same time looks alien. The voice sounded right as well and it gives Nicholas Briggs the opportunity to do his usual Cyberman voice. Paul McGann is very good as the Doctor. His performance seems different to the sort that we were use to when Sheridan Smith was staring with him and Julie Cox affords him the chance to play the Doctor differently. Julie Cox does well with a role which is clearly going to have limitations when the stories start going into space or in the future but for this story, Cox does a good job and has some good scenes. The big name for me in this story was David Schneider who has appeared in countless comedies over the last twenty years or so. For me he is the guy who plays the BBC executive who wouldn’t commission Alan Patridge’s Monkey Tennis. His role in this was slightly comedic and I actually thought the tone was just right and as a result Schneider’s performance was very enjoyable.

The final part of the story is a bit of an odd ending because it is implying either that the fake Doctor will return in a future story or just that it’s kind of fun to think that the fake Doctor is around. I don’t know what it is but to be honest I don’t think they should have ended like that. The Silver Turk is a mixed story. It starts off well and loses its way in the middle before finding it again and ending on high. It’s a typical Marc Platt script and that’s why it manages to hold itself together and become an enjoyable story and whilst it’s a bit of an underwhelming story to Mary Shelley’s time in the TARDIS, the future looks good.

The Elite (2011)

2011 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Lost Story

The third series of the Lost stories returns with the Fifth Doctor. This story takes place straight after Arc of Infinity where Tegan returns after briefly leaving the show which happened during the end of one season and the beginning of another. The idea came from Barbara Clegg who had written the 1983 story ‘Enlightenment’ and the plot was taken further by John Dorney who wrote the truly brilliant ‘Solitaire’ and ‘The Rocket Men’. The story takes place on an unnamed planet where there is a battle going between the Elite and the rejects. The Elite are led by the High Priest.

Now if you cant get who the High Priest is by the end of the first scene then your just not trying very hard. At the end of the second episode, its revealed that the High Preist is actually a Dalek that had crash landed on the planet and had forced the people of this planet to build him a new unit and had deliberately started a war in order to speed up the technology because of a quite clever theory that war speeds up the urge of creating new technology. Now the idea that there is a sole Dalek in a story is nothing new and as proved in the 2005 story ‘Dalek’ its possible to make a story out of just one but in a truly brave and impressive moment. The Dalek gets killed and this starts off a civil war which is where the last third of the story draws its action from.

If I had a quibble with this story then its that Nyssa doesn’t really get a great deal to do apart from getting brainwashed and wanting to kill. This is a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things but since I am a Nyssa fan it always bugs me slightly when she isn’t in the centre of things. Sarah Sutton is always good in any story that she appears in. Peter Davison gives his best performance for sometime in this and the Doctor’s reaction to seeing the Dalek is one of the best moments in this story. Janet Fielding also gives a good performance and it feels like is comfortable with playing the mouthy Australian again. This combination without Turlough is surpringly good and is used far better than the TV version. The big name in this story is that of Ryan Sampson who appeared in the 2008 two part story ‘The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky’. In this he plays Thane who becomes one of the most important and arguably one of the best of the supporting characters. I found his character in the Sontaran story to be rather weak and in this I couldn’t tell that it was him and this meant that it wasn’t until after finishing the story that I knew who he played.

Now despite guessing the cliffhanger of episode two, I was still glad when it happened. It’s very rare for a Doctor Who story to surprise me. Partly down to the insistence of Big Finish/BBC in having the Daleks in the title. When I started listening to this story I didn’t think we would get a Dalek story in the Lost Stories series. In the September 2011 issue of Doctor Who Magazine, they preview this story and Dorney is quoted as saying people might guess what happens at the end of episode two (which I did) but if they guessed what would happen in episode three then he would be “amazed”. I have to say that I didn’t guess what happened but neither was I as impressed with it as episode two’s ending. That’s not to say that it isnt a good one but I just prefer number two.

This is one of the strongest Lost Stories for quite sometime. It’s a story that seems to be heading in one direction which looks like it is going to be great and then changes into something else that is just as great. This has to be in my top 2 of best ever Lost Stories. John Dorney has done a very good job in writing an simple yet creative adventure and is putting together a very strong run of stories. This is a good start to the Lost Stories series and I am looking forward to the next story with baited breathe.