Phantoms of the Deep (2013)

The latest Fourth Doctor adventure takes place under sea. I can’t recall in the 10 years that I have been listening to Big Finish plays that a story has ever taken place in the sea. When the story starts the TARDIS is on the bottom of the ocean.
 
K9 was actually quite good in this story. He serves a purpose instead of running out of energy after 10 minutes. The moments when K9 goes bad are amusing but its still the best performance or anything approaching the best that I think we have had from K9 for many years. In fact I would probably say that he was the best character in the entire piece. The Doctor was his usual self and Tom Baker played him in the only way that he could be played in this story. Mary Tamm is really good as she doesn’t put a foot wrong in this. The most noticeable name on the credits is Alice Krige who I remember as playing the Borg Queen in the Star Trek movie ‘First Contact’ back in 1996. Here she plays Dr Patricia Sawyer and what I like about the character is that she seems to just go along with things after the initial reluctance to trust either the Doctor or Romana. By the end of the story she sacrifices her life is probably a tad bit soppy but to be honest it was the best way really that she could leave the story. It’s a noticeably small cast which I always like as it means that there are less name and characters to have to remember.

This story wouldn’t half as good were it not for the mystery of what is at the bottom of the sea. There is a squid that is quite intelligent and there is also someone who has been trapped and kept alive for 100 years but to him it doesn’t seem that long. The squid as it turns out is looking for intelligence and was keeping the office alive, it shows that the squid though might be powerful aren’t without compassion.

Jonathan Morris is one of Big Finish’s top writers and I think that the reason is he knows how to tap into what makes a good story. It’s not complicating things for the sake of doing so but doing a story that could easily work on TV. This is another fine offering from him and I like the reference to the Great Space Elevator which Morris wrote and was released in the companion chronicle range back in mid-2008.

I really liked Phantoms of the Deep as it had that ‘base under siege’ vibe to it and as the TARDIS had gone there was no realistic way of anyone escaping alive. It’s a very atmospheric tale which is helped in a large part by Jamie Robertson who creates a wonderful atmosphere. I think that this story would have worked better as a four part adventure as opposed to two, that said I think that it’s my favourite story of this series so far.

 

Smoke and Mirrors (2013)

The latest instalment in the Destiny series sees the first classic element to come into this series. The story has been written by Toms Tardis Award winning writer Steve Lyons who has introduced the Master into the adventure. The story sees the Doctor answer a distress call and the TARDIS lands in a fairground in England in the 1920’s. The Doctor meets up with Harry Houdini.
The story plods along rather well and the introduction of the eleventh Doctor seemed to work better in this story. It seemed better thought out that in previous adventures and despite its brief but sudden appearance in the story it seemed to fit the style of the story. The introduction of Houdini is something that works really well as its always fun to hear about famous people that the Doctor has encountered. He is the worst name dropper in history but its still fun to hear the names that he has encountered.

The Master wasn’t physically in the story but trapped in glass whilst still seemingly being in Castrovalva. I thought this was a clever plot point and actually made the Master seem more menacing than he ever did when he was on TV during this era. It’s the first time that someone from the classic era has been bought into this series and its good that it was the Master as I think that he’s not perhaps used as effectively as he could be but here he’s used well.

Janet Fielding was very good in this adventure. I don’t remember her doing this sort of thing before so I found her delivery style to be soothing. It’s a shame that she doesn’t do more of these sort of stories (would have been great in a companion chronicle) because she manages to make the story seem engaging and enjoyable. Tim Beckmann was very good as Houdini. From the very early moments that Houdini is in the story its clear that Houdini is after something and Beckmann manages to make me feel sorry that the Doctor isn’t more forthcoming than he is.

I really enjoyed Smoke and Mirrors and it was a very good story with good performances from Janet Fielding and Tim Beckmann. Out of the five stories that we have had so far, this has been the most satisfying since Hunters of Earth.

The Name of the Doctor (2013)

The final story of the 33^rd series has an awful lot to live up. Many people thought that we were going to find out the name of the Doctor. I must admit that I thought that it could only disappoint me so I had low expectations.  The pre-title setting is mind blowing. There’s no other way of describing. We get to witness the very moment when the Doctor and Susan run away in the TARDIS. What happens over the course of the next couple of minutes. We get to see the first seven incarnations in some shape or form. This proves that this episode is going to be an epic finale. The course of the second half of the series has been building up to this moment.

Trenzalore is where the Doctor is buried. It’s a place that no one should ever go. It’s always intriguing when something new is mentioned and we are expected to believe that it’s a vital part of the Doctor’s history. It’s a wonderful place (in a weird kind of way).  But its where the TARDIS is now left to rot. I must say that the decaying TARDIS was visually stunning. It’s quite impressive what they managed to do. The beam of light that is where the console once was is a nice bit of effect.

The Whisper Men are strange looking creatures who are conduit for Doctor Simeon (from The Snowmen). They are an effective creature even though they don’t really have much to do apart from the sequence when they are told to stop the hearts of the Doctor and co.

Something that was well known was that ‘The one with the gigantic head’ or River Song as she is known makes a return (not welcome in my mind). I thought that she was actually quite restrained in this. Yes there were some moments of the old River but I thought that this was a very good performance from Alex Kingston.

The Great Intelligence makes a welcome return and so does Richard E Grant. Doctor Simeon may have died but his spirit is being used. To be honest, Steven Moffat could have come up with any excuse to bring Richard E Grant back and I wouldn’t have minded because it was a great piece of casting back in ‘The Snowmen’ and its still a great bit of casting. Every scene that he was in was fun to watch. His final scene was absolutely fantastic and what Simeon is planning on doing is so audacious that its brilliant. Grant plays it exactly as it should be played.

There is a good mix of high tension and humour. The scene where the Doctor is playing Blind Mans Bluff is funny and its made funnier when the Doctor calls the kids ‘the little……Daleks’. It’s perhaps the only real moment of humour in the entire episode.

Matt Smith is fantastic in this episode and shows why he is such as good Doctor. He carries the entire episode. From the moment where he gets emotional talking to Clara to where he is looking at the beam of light in the decaying TARDIS and talking about the light being his own personal timeline was possibly his best moment since becoming the Doctor. Jenna Louise Coleman is very good in this and she plays second fiddle to Matt Smith which is how it should have been but her influence on the story is still important and the fact that Clara has an influence on how the Doctor got into the TARDIS is something that is quite fun to think about. Coleman has been great from the first scene she was in and has continued to be so. Dan Starkey, Catrin Stewart and Neve McIntosh haven’t been people that I have rated highly in the previous episodes but in this episode they have shown me why they are so good. Yes they have largely comedic responsibilities to the narrative but they do have the ability to be convincing when they are required to be serious.

The final few moments were always going to lead into the 50^th Anniversary special and what we

 ge is the best, the very best ending to a series ever. It was spoilt by some newspapers that John Hurt was going to play the Doctor but the excitement comes from wanting to know just exactly who he is. Yes the credit says the Doctor but I think that it should be taken with a pinch of salt because if there is one thing that we should have learnt since Steven Moffat took the reigns of the show is that not everything is what it seems. Despite being in it for just a few moments it’s a great debut from John Hurt who has appeared in Harry Potter and Merlin and now Doctor Who.

There were some important special effects and they are largely bringing people back from the past and making it look right. The moments with William Hartnell are the most impressive shots that we have and its really really well done. They’ve made the picture grainy so that Jenna Louise Coleman shots match and it makes it work. There are a few moments which are a bit ropey such as when the Second Doctor is running. When he runs towards the screen his style changes to the way that it is when it runs away from the camera. Apart from that the special effects should be applauded for what they have managed to pull off.

I think that because I had relatively low expectations (due to not wanting to be disappointed) I have to admit that this is one of the best episodes from a extremely strong series. Everyone was on top form and no one put a foot wrong. It’s bonkers and brilliant in different measures and it sets up the 50^th Anniversary special brilliantly and its just incredible that we got everything from this episode in 45 minutes whereas Russell T Davies would probably have got 70 minutes with 10 minutes of emotional padding that serves no purpose. Moffat uses the time wisely and the result is superb.

The Library of Alexandria (2013)

The latest Companion Chronicle is another First Doctor adventure featuring William Russell. The previous adventure was ‘The Flames of Cadiz’ which was a story that I struggled with and wasn’t a favourite of mine. This story was written by Simon Guerrier who has a great track record in the Companion Chronicle series having written the Sara Kingdom trilogy.

The Library of Alexandria takes place in the 5^th Century are like most stories from that era of the show, the TARDIS crew are suppose to be having a holiday but as always that plan doesn’t tend to last very long. The story is mainly a historical but has a few sci-fi nuggets thrown in for good measure.

There are many things that I like about this story but the main thing is the relationship between Ian and Barbara is given a lot of time here. In the Sarah Jane Adventures we learn that the pair have married and its clear during their near two-year time on the show that they would end up together and so its nice that its worked into the story. Something unexpected that crops into the story is a love-triangle between Ian, Barbara and Hypatia. I did find Barbara’s jealousy to be amusing and not something that we would associate with Barbara.

Ian is the only person out of the TARDIS crew to actually work and its nice and typically selfless of him to not really mind. The rest are looking at the scrolls and enjoying themselves. He likes to work so it gives him time to think, to try and work out all the strange and alien things that they have seen.

Story moves along at a good pace and then it suddenly introduces an alien threat which I must admit I forgot about because I was so engaged with the story. The aliens are called the Mim and they are very well realised creation and they are defeated in a way that is clever and well done.

I have not attempted to hide my enjoyment at William Russell’s performances in these stories. Even when the plot hasn’t been particularly good you can always rely on Russell to help get you through it. I got the feeling that the Ian we get in this story is a lot more calmer and relaxed than in previous stories. The dialogue helps to emphasise this and it means that the style of the story changes. The friendship between Ian and Hypatia was one that seemed to be built of respect and it was another thing that I enjoyed about this story. Susan Franklyn was very good as Hypatia. She could easily have been a bit of a of an unlikeable character who would be reluctant

There was a moment where I thought that I had missed something. At the end of one scene we are led to believe that Susan and Barbara have died and then it cuts to another  scene and there is a moment where their fate is left in the air but as we know they don’t die it’s just a case of waiting to see where they are and we learn that they were helping save the scrolls from the library.

The Library of Alexandra is a lovely story that restores my faith in the First Doctor Companion Chronicles.  It’s the second month in a row where I have been bowled over by the storytelling. Whereas with ‘The Scorchies’ it is because I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it turned out to be, with The Library of Alexandria it was a more traditional companion chronicles and as a result I would have to say that this is the strongest story in the series so far this year. Simon Guerrier has written a lovely story that feels like the era it comes from yet feeling more modern that previous First Doctor Companion Chronicles.

 

Nightmare in Silver (2013)

This is the episode that many have been waiting for. Not just because it’s a Neil Gaiman episode but it’s the return of the Cybermen in what I am going to say is their best outing since they returned to the new series. Gaiman said he wanted to make the Cybermen scary which is a good thing to hear as I don’t feel like they have had a good run since returning in 2006. The first story that they appeared in was ok but since then they haven’t had that fear factor that they had during their 1960’s heyday. The story sees The Doctor and Clara take the brats on a space trip. Angie and Artie were the kids introduced at the end of the story and before we know whats what they arrive at a futuristic theme park.

The Cybermen got a new look which was a lot more svelte than previously. They seem to have shed the flairs and were able to do a lot more things as a result. They moved at lightning speeds which was realised in a great scene where everyone else was moving slowly and the Cyberman was moving fast. Then there was the moment when the Cybermen positioned its head in an attempt to lure one of the soldiers to it and then kill it. The idea that the Cybermen are all part of a network and that energy was used to help the Cyber Planner win his chess match against the Doctor meaning the other Cybermen were immobile was a great one.

I thought that this was Matt Smith’s best performance because it was just superb. Playing the Doctor and the Cyber Planner meant that he was switching from one persona to the other. He seemed to enjoy playing the Cyber Planner. Smith can always be relied upon to give stunning performances and he doesn’t let the show down when needed. Despite having to do the Mary Poppins routine, Jenna Louise Coleman is very good and doesn’t put a foot wrong from start to finish. Warwick Davis is best known for playing Willow and also being in Star Wars and Harry Potter and is very likeable in this as Porridge who turns out to be the Emperor. The character was funny and also managed to come across as one of the good guys.

I’m sorry but the brats served absolutely no purpose whatsoever. I cant imagine why they were included because all that happened was that Angie was whinging about no signal and being blasé about stuff (though it was clear later on she seemed to just being a teenager) and Artie was just being a typical boy by being bowled over by things. They may go on to having sound careers but Eve de Leon Allen (Angie) and Kassius Carey Johnson (Artie) are on a hiding to nothing because their characters serve only one purpose which is to get in the way of the story.

Neil Gaiman is a huge asset to Doctor Who and has succeeded in making the Cybermen scary again. After the brilliant ‘The Doctor’s Wife’, he has managed to match that story with a superb story that restored some pride in the silver machines and this series’ good run continues and it all boils down to the final episode where we get to know a what the Doctor’s name is (??) and also who Clara really is. It’s going to be a long week.

Eldrad Must Die! (2013)

The first story of the Fifth Doctor series sees the return of Eldrad. Having only been used once in Classic Doctor Who would have been a reason not to use him now but Big Finish have a very good track record of making one hit wonders work on audio. The story takes in the seemingly idyllic resort of Ambermouth where everyone seems like they have stepped out of a 1980 country drama. In fact the early part of this story was quite soothing and there was almost a possibility of not wanting the story to continue as I was enjoying the surroundings.

This seemed like Turlough’s story which was totally unexpected (even though I had seen the cover) and it was nice because it seemed like we were getting to see a bit more of Turlough to go with what we had in ‘Kiss of Death’.  The characters that Turlough meets in the dreams sequences where Turlough is talking to people from school are obviously Davison, Sutton and Fielding but they are still believeable. We also get to meet someone from Turlough’s days at school but I was a little disappointed it wasn’t Ibbotson but it’s a nice tie-in and works well. As the story progresses, Turlough’s involvement becomes more and more integral and Strickson plays the character brilliantly in what might be his best performance since Kiss of Death.

Peter Davison shows why he won the Toms Tardis Best Doctor award last year. He is very good in this story and revels in dealing with a classic era villain. I think that Davison’s Doctor really have developed nicely over the last couple of years. I think the writing has gotten better for his character and I just hope it continues.  As the Best Companion, Sarah Sutton gets the short straw as at one point she gets left by the Doctor. She suffers from the only real problem in these series and that’s too many characters and a plot which doesn’t really have time to allow any other plot strands to keep the companions busy. Being as good as she is, she does the best with what she is given but she does suffer in this story. Janet Fielding plays Grand Theft Auto in this as she steals a car to try and help Turlough. I thought that when Tegan reveals that she has been infected was a well handled moment and played brilliantly by Fielding.

It was great that they managed to get Stephen Thorne to reprise his role as Eldrad. I think that it was a brave thing to leave Eldrad out for as long as they did so that when Thorne does get to make an appearance its even more enjoyable. Thorne was impressive as Eldrad and its at this point that I felt like this story was complete and I became glad that they had bought back Eldrad.

I did enjoy Eldrad Must Die! I could have done without the extremely repetitive ELDRAD MUST DIE line but aside from that it was good to have our very own fab four back where they belong and the most enjoyable main range story of the year. Most Marc Platt scripts tend to verge on the cryptic side but every so often, he produces something which puts all that complexity  to one side and just tell a standard Doctor Who story that still manages to draw you in and I’m relieved that Big Finish have made this story work.

The Crimson Horror (2013)

After the impressive Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, I was hoping that they could continue the good form. I must say that when I saw the trailer at the end of the last episode I thought that it would be a bit dry in terms of action. That’s not what we got here. According to Wikipedia, this was the 100^th episode since the show returned in 2005 (not including mini-episodes). The story take place in Yorkshire in 1893 where the Doctor is trying to take Clara to London and as they have rolled up in the North there are plenty of impressions which are quite amusing but maybe not to any from Yorkshire. It seemed like this was going to be a Doctor-lite episode as its quite sometime before we see him. It seemed like Vasta, Jenny and Strax were going to be the stars of the episode but that wasn’t the case. The main plot sees people coated in red and rather amusingly dubbed ‘the crimson horror’. We are introduced to Mrs Gillyflower who is preparing a rocket that will detonate above the country and this will be of great benefit to Mr Sweet.

The whole Sweetville village did seem to remind me of Bournville where on the outside people live but once they go in they don’t come out again. The whole secret of who Mr Sweet is was one of the things that I was wondering about as the episode progressed and I must say that I didn’t see it coming. Having said that the revelation didn’t seem to have a punch to it. Once I thought that I didn’t see it coming, my thoughts moved to how silly the creature looked.

The two most noticeable performances in this story came from Dame Diana Rigg (former Mrs James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) and her real life daughter Rachael Stirling. Diana Rigg plays Mrs Gillyflower. Now the character would have been just a mad old woman who has a weird creature attached to her chest but with Dame Diana Rigg it becomes something more entertaining as she plays it exactly as it should be with a certain amount of campness. It was still an enjoyable performance but I thought that Stirling’s performance was a lot more restrained and much more engaging. When we are introduced to Ada, she is a blind, disfigured woman and forms an attachment with ‘monster’ who is the Doctor. As we learn that the disfigurement was caused by her mother, it seemed to compound the sympathy that we were suppose to feel for her. It was a lovely performance.

The main issue I have with Steven Moffat is how he has managed to devalue both the Silurians and Sontarans in just a couple of years. Strax is basically below Madame Vastra as she seems to enjoy bossing him around. So whenever the show returns to these two characters I just remember when they use to be great.

The central performances were all good. Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman continue to work well together and their relationship seems a lot more enjoyable to watch than the Doctor/Amy which I never had a problem with before until Clara came on the show. Despite my reservations to what Moffat has done to the characters. I thought that Neve McIntosh and Dan Starkey were quite comical and at first I liked that but then I remembered that Starkey is playing a Sontaran and Strax being in a comical situation where he gets directions of a kid called Thomas Thomas (Sat-Nav joke) seemed like another nail in the Sontaran coffin. Catrin Stewart plays the strongest character out of the three as Jenny. She could easily slip into the Jago and Litefoot series of adventures and be a rival to Ellie.

The final scene where Clara returns to nanny duties and those annoying kids show pictures of her adventures that she has had in previous adventures was quite good because I was wondering just how Clara was going to get out of this one. However sadly the trailer shows that those annyoying kids would be joining the Doctor and Clara against the Cybermen. Oh well.

As an episode I think that The Crimson Horror was far better than I was expecting. It was typical Gatiss and I did enjoy it. I wouldn’t say its one of the best  or even the best that Gatiss has ever done but in the current run it’s enjoyable. This whole series continues to impress.
 

The Justice of Jalxar (2013)

When Tom Baker joined Big Finish, one of the things that I was hoping for was a reunion between the Fourth Doctor and Jago and Litefoot. It would have been nice if it had been with Leela in either the first series or the next but actually listening to this it was good they did it with Romana as it gave the story a different dynamic. The story sees the Doctor, Romana, Jago and Litefoot on the case of a creature called the Pugilist and the Doctor is trying to get it off the Earth.

I was wondering where the story would rest in the Jago and Litefoot chronology. Baring in mind that we have had five series and two specials, a lot has happened since the events of ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’ and it I was looking forward to seeing whether any of those stories would be recognised. I thought that the story was a good one, I was hoping for something slightly more dramatic than what we got. But to be honest I wouldn’t have been happy unless we got a 90 minute special with Victorian London under. When you stop to think about it, your not going to get that in the middle of the series. The story does have the same vibe as The Talons of Weng Chiang and its plausible to believe that this story takes place 10 years after that story. I liked the idea of the Justician as someone who upholds the law on whatever planet is he on. His menace comes from needing someone on that planet inform him of the laws. I was thinking of the Red Dwarf episode ‘The Inquisitor’ which has the same sort of idea but funnier.

Mary Tamm does suffer in this story. Whereas in the previous stories she’s been quite involved in the plot (especially in the last two), here she is almost pedestrian. Jago and Litefoot are given all the good scenes and Romana. Tom Baker seems to be having fun going back to familiar ground with Jago and Litefoot. His good form continues in this series. Christopher Benjamin & Trevor Baxter are in the unusual situation where they aren’t the lead stars but they take this temporary demotion well and act like they usually do. I thought that Jago was at his funniest when he was travelling with Romana. It seemed right that Jago would travel with Romana and the Doctor would travel with Litefoot and George would be far more suited to what was going on that Henry. As a foursome they do work well together and the double acts were different but enjoyable.

As a Fourth Doctor adventure it’s perfectly fine. John Dorney and Big Finish assume that everyone knows ‘The Talons of Weng Chiang’ and so it doesn’t try and become a sequel and instead just refers to that story and gets on with this adventure. The Fourth Doctor’s reunion with Jago and Litefoot went just as well as it could have done. I cant say that it’s the best story of the series but there are things that I liked about this story and it’s one that I think will be better if I listened to it again in the future.

Babblesphere (2013)

The fourth in the series features the Fourth Doctor and Romana. The action takes place on Hephastos which is quite a creative place but there is something that allows them to connect with each other. It’s called the Babble Network which started off good but as with most thing soon became addictive and got out of control. The title isn’t the most exciting that there has ever been but about 51 minutes in, it suddenly becomes quite clever. There seems to be a pop taken at social media where everyone become addicted and daren’t be left out.

There’s a nice moment when the Doctor and Romana have both left their sonic screwdrivers in the TARDIS, assuming that the other would have bought it. The bit about the sonic screwdriver being charged is something that I must admit I was confused with. In all the years that I have been a fan I have never thought about the Sonic Screwdriver being something that you charge up like an iPod or a mobile phone. I did find myself chuckling with Zagreus was mentioned late in the story. Thought that was a nice bit of continuity.

The story moves along really well and I thought that the sound/music effects were rather well done but it’s the performances of both Lalla Ward and Roger Parrott. It’s refreshing to hear Ward’s Romana that isn’t trying to prevent political overthrow. We don’t get a stressed sounding Romana but a Romana from the TV which helped the story seem a bit more fun. Roger Parrott is also good as Aurelius. It was a nice character and Parrott seemed to enjoy playing it. It’s fun to think that the best way to stop someone is by thinking pointless babble and stuff that is so mindnumbing that only someone who watches The Only Way is Essex would consider it intellectual.

Jonathan Morris is a writer that you can trust to come up with an entertaining story. His credits include ‘The Haunting of Thomas Brewster’ which won the Best Story Prize at the 2008 Toms Tardis Awards. He has managed to write a fun story which felt very much of its time and you could easily believe it was a late 1970’s Doctor Who story.  

One of my favourite ‘Destiny’ stories so far.