Starlight Robbery (2013)

The second story in this series sees the return of the Sontarans. It’s quite nice considering how long it took for the Sontarans to make an appearance in the Big Finish world that they are now regular visitors to it. The story picks up straight from Persuasion as Garundel is trying to sell the Persuasion machine along with the inventor’s body.  This story was written by Matt Fitton who’s previous seventh Doctor adventure wasn’t a great one if I remember right. I think that after Protect and Survive it was always going to suffer but this time it didn’t have that problem though I did enjoy Persuasion.  The story has a fun opening episode where all the characters are brought together

With Klein and Will mingling in with the crowd it does feel like it’s a newer version of Ace and Hex. It doesn’t quite have the same magic to it but I like Klein and Will and so enjoy the fact that they got to have much of the limelight in the early part of these stories. I thought that Tracey Childs has shown us that there is more to Klein that the Nazi scientist stuff and it’s a good performance from Childs. It’s appearing to be a sound move to bring the character back and she works well with Will Arrowsmith and it’s a good performance from Christian Edwards. I do hope that Edwards is bought back in future stories because I do think that the character of Will is rather good and fun to listen to.

I think that Stuart Milligan stole this story to be honest. He’s been in a number of stories over the last several years and he always puts in a great performance but in this story as Garundel, he is superb. I like the character and how he reminds me of Garron from The Ribos Operation. He isn’t trying to con people but he does have the gift of the gab and he’s great from start to finish. I also thought that Ziv was a great complimentary character to Garudenl. Jo Woodcock did well in being Garron’s number two and also being a romantic interest for Will.

The Sontarans don’t feature as much as I would have expected and normally that would be a big problem for me but due to the fact that I enjoyed this story so much I overlooked this and just went along with it. I think that Dan Starkey is great as the Sontarans and I thought that whilst they were a bit in the background at first they more than made up for it in the final episode and they were well used here and credit to Matt Fitton for making them seem different to what we’ve been used to. I  found Starlight Robbery quite fun. It could so easily have just been a very pedestrian story with the Sontarans being predictable or the story getting bogged down with whether Klein would find out about her past. I did chuckle at the line where WOTAN was mentioned. It seemed like a cheeky reference and I thought that it was the perfect ending to an enjoyable story.

The Alchemists (2013)

The only thing that I knew about this story before I started to listen to it was that it was due to come out earlier in the year but it got switched. The Alchemists arrives and its simply a historical story which takes place in Germany in the 1930’s where some of the greatest minds of that period are meeting. The history lesson was quite interesting as I enjoy history and especially this period so whilst there wasn’t a great deal of drama to speak of there was enough here to keep me interested.

I haven’t been a massive fan of the Susan stories in the companion chronicles as I don’t think that Carole Ann Ford has the same delivery style as William Russell or Peter Purves or even Anneke Wills and so I struggled to stick with this story. Susan never really takes the reigns of the story when the Doctor isn’t involved in the story. It’s one of the finer stories for the character of Susan because she doesn’t come across as annoying as she has done in the past and stories like To The Death and An Earthly Child for the Eighth Doctor shows what can be done with the character. Sadly this story doesn’t allow for that. Another problem with Ford’s performance is that when she has to do a German accent she cant do it. She seems to do a French accent and stick a few German words in there. It becomes a distraction which is a shame. Wayne Forester is quite good as Pollit though there are moments in the story where he’s not quite as nice and he delivers a rather disturbing performance.

I think that this is a perfectly fine adventure. It doesn’t have the dramatic feel to it that something like The Library of Alexandria has or Mastermind but I still found that there was something that was ok about this story. It certainly has the atmosphere to it and it’s a nice period of history and I think that different people will probably get something from it and some may even defend it but in this instance it isn’t one of my favourites.

Benjamin and Baxter (2013)

Anyone who has been a big fan of the Jago and Litefoot will have been looking forward to this release since it was announced. This is basically one of those sort of interviews that you would see on Sky Arts where actors talk about their life stories. Nicholas Briggs sits down with Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter and they discuss how they met and how their lives ended up with them reuniting some decades later for Big Finish after only appearing in two episodes together.

The interview starts off with a nice introduction with Benjamin and Baxter showing how much fun they have together and its impossible to not find them complete charming. We also know what sort of interviewer Nicholas Briggs would be and its a good one. He allows Benjamin and Baxter to say what they wanted and asks interesting and direct questions. After the introductory section the dynamic duo are split up and we get a lovely opportunity to hear both actors without letting the humour get in the way. The first to be interviewed solo was Christopher Benjamin. Benjamin's story is lovely to listen to and he talks about it with the sort of style hat most interviewers would dream of. He talks about growing p during the Second World War and the early stages of his careers in the latter stages of the 1940s. He is quite frank when he talking, at one point he considers himself a poor father for being on tour so much. His whole story is very interesting and its a shame when his section was over.  When we get to Trevor Baxter's part I think this release goes from being good to excellent. I thought that not only did Trevor Baxter tell his story very well but his life story has been crammed full with a rich tapestry of theatre work. I knew nothing of his life (or Christopher's). We get a nice bit of plolitical discussion from Baxter which does come as a bit of a shock but its a nice moment as its clear that Baxter knows what he's talking about and hasn't got his ideas from a group of idiots in a pub. Baxtern then talks about how there are things in his life that he is disappointed about but he doesnt grumble and instead seems to have enjoyed his life and thatnrefreshing to hear someone talk about their life and not have any bitterness. Like Benjamin's story, I was sad when it ended as he could have carried on talking and I wouldn't have minded.

When they are reunited we get them talking about their time returning to the roles of Jago and Litefoot and whilst they enjoy doing the stories they could tell you one story from the other which normally would be a big snub but to be fair Baxter is 80 and Benjamin is 78 and so they can be forgiven for not being hot on what the have done. We get a nice bit of a wish list from Benjamin about looking into Jago's life before he met Litefoot. 

Nicholas Briggs is fantastic in this story and does a great job as the interviewer. He shows interest in their stories and asks interesting questions whilst allowing Baxter and Benjamin to answer the questions in full. He doesn't inteript them and instead of being Jeremy Paxman he is more like Michael Parkinson and that's a great thing. Benjamin and Baxter is one of my favourite releases of the year. I was hoping that this release was going to be a good release and that it would keep my interest and not only did it do that but I found myself totally engaged in their stories and wanting to spend more time in their company. I genuinely can't find any fault in this release and that's a rare thing in any release these days. Benjamin, Baxter and Briggs are a credit to Big Finish and I loved this release.