Beyond the Sun (1998)

The second Bernice Summerfield is very different to Oh No It Isn’t. Whereas Oh No It Isn’t felt at times like a pantomime, this felt very much like a more grown up adventure. The writer of this story is Matt Jones who would go on to writer the 2006 Doctor Who story The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, Jones has adapted this story from his own novel. As I am still getting use to the Bernice Summerfield series, it’s nice that they have done a straight forward (relatively so) story. The story sees the introduction of Bernice’s ex-husband Jason Kane who is kidnapped and Bernice is involved in a conflict between the Ursulans and the Sunless. There is an issue as the Sunless have invaded Ursu to try and retrieve technology that was stolen from their home world. It’s a nice situation to use in the story and it’s done very well.

Sophie Aldred and Anneke Wills are the two actors from the Doctor Who world to grace the Bernice Summerfield world. Aldred seems to having a whale of a time playing Miranda who seems to be a very unlikeable person, she almost seems to be like Cruella de Ville. She starts off as a very condescending person but that quickly changes when it emerges that she is after the figurine and is willing to kill to get it. Wills on the other hand is very different and is very likeable, I think that as Doctor Kitzinger she is a warm person who seems not to far removed from Polly.

The relationship between Bernice and Jason was quite an interesting one because they weren’t on speaking terms at the start of the story then once Jason is kidnapped she seems to warm to him slightly but after they are reunited where there is a brief moment that Bernice seems happy to see Jason its back to normal. Stephen Fewell does well as Jason Kane and it’s a nice character that isn’t in the story enough for my liking. Hopefully in future stories he will return.

The journal entries are a wonderful way of telling the story. Aside from the lovely music that they use it’s a nice way to break up the scenes and helped at times with the plot development but really for me it’s the music that I think is truly superb. Lisa Bowerman is very good as Bernice in this story as she gets to do be the Bernice that I think she should be and that is a female Indiana Jones. She is believable as a leader and delivers the comedy stuff very well and it’s balanced just right with the dramatic stuff. I found Tameka to be annoying because some of the lines seemed slightly off. There was one moment where just moments before she is about to be sucked out of an air lock she is more worried about her hair. Not the most important thing in such a situation. Apart from these brief moments I thought that Jane Burke was good as Tameka, the character is designed as someone who clearly doesn’t really like the slow methodical nature of archaeology. I really do like Lewis Davis as Emile Mars-Smith who comes across as a slightly weedy person but that maybe why I like the character. The rest of the supporting characters are very good as you would expect from Barnaby Edwards and Nicholas Pegg.

I still find myself getting put off by the swearing, its mild but it’s still unusual to hear from a Big Finish production. Beyond the Sun is an enjoyable story which I liked far more than Oh No It Isn’t. I don’t think it’s perfect but it’s reasonable and has aged well over the last 14 years. If I had one issue with this story is that the tracks are way too long. Most Doctor Who releases have tracks that are usually at most seven minutes long. Of the eight tracks that make up this story, five of them are over 10 minutes long with the longest being 19 minutes and 55 seconds long. There is no need for this. Thankfully it looks like the next release has more reasonable durations which is good. I am starting to see why Bernice has been going for 20 years in book and audio.

Rating – 7/10

The Impossible Planet (2006)

The Satan Pit is a very creepy story that doesn’t have a good rating. Out of all the two-parters that the show has done since it’s return it is the one that the lowest average rating (6.15m). Also The Impossible Planet is the four least watched viewing figure (6.3m). The first time that I saw this one I liked it but not as much as other people did. It aired the day after my birthday so I was still in a good mood and having Doctor Who back on TV was still a new thing to get use to. The story is quite a dark story where the Doctor and Rose land on a Sanctuary base where the first people (I say people what I mean is aliens with spaghetti sticking out of their mouths) are the Ood. There is writing on a wall that the TARDIS cant translate and to add to their woes they have become separated from the TARDIS. The Impossible Planet title is revealed straight away in that its orbiting a black hole which as we all know is not possible. It didn’t take long for the ‘that’s Ood’ joke and it was good that they just got it out of the way.

Things start off creepy and gets worse with people hearing things and in the case of Toby Zed, seeing writing all over his body and his eyes go red. However it all disappears after Scooti’s death. Scooti’s death was quite horrific considering the timeslot. Watching Confidential afterwards it was good seeing how they achieved Scooti floating towards the Black Hole. After that the story gets even more darker with strange things happening. I liked the scene between the Doctor and Rose when they discuss having to settle down and get a mortgage and a house. It’s a nice little moment which is ruined by Rose shielding a desire to live together. I also liked the comedy moments which is what the story needed considering all the dark content going on.

The setting is very good and also the decision to totally take the TARDIS out of play is a bold but brilliant move because it’s a tool and like people argument that the sonic screwdriver is something that the Doctor uses too much the same could be said for the TARDIS and it means that the Doctor has got to use his wits and intelligence if he is going to save the day. The base design is very good and it does feel like it goes on for miles and isnt build in a BBC studio. Credit to the set designers for making it feel claustrophobic and very drab and uninspiring. Seemingly always looking of bringing things from the classic era to new Who, this story sees Gabrial Woolf who voices ??. In 1976 he famously (too older fans) voice Osirian Sutekh in the classic Pyramids of Mars. Woolf had also appeared in the Big Finish plays Arrangement for War and Thicker Than Water and has a wonderful voice so was the right choice for this story.

The Ood are a slave race and its not until Planet of the Ood two years later that this would be dealt with in the centre plot. They are a telepathic race and they are been used by the beast. They seem quite dull when they are their normal selves but when their eyes turn red that is when they become truly impressive and scary. Their importance seems quite low key at the beginning but soon become integral to the plot, credit to Matt Jones (writer) for how he did this.

Watching back when it was transmitted I wasn’t as keen on it as I had been for other stories but watching it now I think it’s a cracking good story. I’m still not sold on the cliffhanger as despite how good the build up was the final few seconds were a bit disappointing. That said it’s a good start and a highly enjoyable episode.

The Satan Pit (2006)

Now we get to what has the honour of being the least watched new Doctor Who episode (out of 76 as of May 10, 2011). This half of the story deals a lot with fear. After the lukewarm feeling I had for the cliffhanger the story plows straight into the action. The story is split into two parts with the Doctor and Ida dealing with faith and what at the bottom of the big black pit and Rose and the others dealing with the mad Ood. I found the Ood stuff to be more interesting. The Ood scuttling around in the ventilation shafts is another scary image. In retrospect of what we learn about them in Planet of the Ood there is a sense of feeling sorry for them for what happens to them.

Mr Jefferson’s sacrifice is very handled and acted out by Danny Webb (who would soon after this appear in the Big Finish play ‘The Dark Husband’). It’s quite a noble death as he chooses to die by suffication quickly than by Ood which will probably be more painful. In fact it’s the style of deaths that stands out in this story. Scooti and Toby death were both great as was Mr Jefferson’s.

Normally a Doctor Who story its about trying to escape but in this story its about staying whilst the guest stars are trying to escape. With Rose not wanting to leave the Doctor even though there’s no clear way that the Doctor could have survived the fall. The story mentions Torchwood and the more important is that Rose is told that she will die in battle. This was the last story that Billie Piper filmed before leaving the show and it’s the start of the build up to her departure.

The Doctor and Ida are separated and its quite a good way of ensuring they stay down and not have a escape plan. This is where the stuff about the devil and similar things are discussed. There’s a nice little bit discussing whether the Doctor believes anything. There’s a lot about faith in Tennant stories and in a show lead by Russell T Davies (an atheist) its quite a unusual thing to see. I also found the Doctor’s goodbye to Rose to be quite sad. The CGI Devil is very good and looks better than something you would get from a Hollywood movie. The scene with the Doctor and the Devil is very good because it’s David Tennant doing all the talking and trying to work out why he was kept alive after falling to the bottom of the pit.

I thought that this part wasn’t as good as The Impossible Planet but it was still a better two parter than the ratings suggest and that I remember from the first time I saw it. It just goes to show that ratings aren’t the be all and end all. However what was about to come would make this two parter seem like the best Doctor Who story ever.

Dead Man Walking (2008)

This story follows on directly from Reset and the shock of Owen dieing after been shot by Jim Robinson. What follows is the finest 50 minutes that has been produced by Torchwood. There was so much going on that I lost track of the time and was really shocked when the episode ended.

There were so many scenes that worked very well like when Jack goes into the abandoned church where all the weevils are sleeping. The moment that Jack bought the box back to the Hub I instantly remembered the episode from Series 1 where Ianto says to Jack that Gloves come in pairs. Bringing back Owen seemed like an obvious thing but it was well done because it was interesting to see how Owen would react to being dead, the scene when Owen gets chatted up in the nightclub but Owen couldn’t go through with it was funny.

Martha was better in this story as she seemed to fit in with the Torchwood group for the first time. The moment where the glove attacks her and she ages quite a lot was a truly surprising moment but the make up didn’t really work like it did with the Doctor in Sound of Drums/Last of the Timelords. The special effects in this story are some of the best that I have seen in either Doctor Who or Torchwood ever. The skeletons/death effects were so realistic and the moment where the death figure walks towards the kid in the corridor was a truly terrifying moment. I thought the scene of the entire episode was where Owen fights the Death figure was so good effects wise and was so well filmed I was just waiting for something to go wrong and look dodgy but there wasn’t and I think it will take a long time for this effect to be beaten.

This was Owen’s episode and it just as well that this story occurred in the second series because if it had happened in series one then I don’t think that I would have liked it as much but the Owen that is in this episode was truly fantastic and the moments where his eyes turned black was a shocking sight and helped move the tension up.

This episode was the best one that has been aired in this series so far