Return of the Daleks (2006)

Return of the Daleks was first released as a special for the subscribers of the regular Big Finish stories in December 2006. The previous story to be given a subscribers special treatment was Cyptobiosis which was frankly a mixed bag. With the word Dalek in the title there was a heightened sense of anticipation. What is so special about it is that it combines Doctor Who and Dalek Empire which is the most successful and arguably the most popular spin off from the main series. The last Dalek Empire story was in October 2004 and it was a nice to have the old familiar characters of Susan 'Angel of Mercy' Mendes and Kalendorf back. This story also features the Seventh Doctor minus Hex and Ace which was good because that would have complicated the story and taken ten minutes to have to explain things. This story was written by Nicholas Briggs who was behind the Dalek Empire series.

The story is set on the planet Zaleria which is at the beginning of the story is occupied by the Daleks but it turns out to be actually Spiridon. The story takes place during the Dalek Empire series and so there is some knowledge required to understand what is going on. I like how it this story has a direct link to the Third Doctor story Planet of the Daleks and the whole purpose of the story is that the Daleks are trying to get to the frozen Daleks that the Doctor helped freeze. The Doctor also seems a lot more mysterious than in normal stories, it harks back to the mystery that surrounded his version of the character in his final two series as the Doctor. I quite liked the return of the Ogrons. I like the idea that they are sort of the Daleks slaves. They previously appeared in Day of the Daleks and in Frontier in Space. They helped add that touch of nostalgia from those stories. There is an air of nostalgia in this story ranging from the classic series to the Dalek Empire series.

I liked how despite the significant lapse in time, the Gareth Thomas and Sarah Mowat have got the voices down to exactly the same as they were. If you just listened to them in the chronological order then you would be able to tell because the voices are the same. The narration is also something that I quite like in this story. Christine Brennan has a really nice voice and that is what helps make it seem like the massive story that it is. Other members of the supporting cast include Hylton Collins who plays Mendac and Jack Galagher as Aytrax. Both characters are really well acted characters and are written well. Collins also provides the voices for Dorla, Zalerian and the Ogrons with Galagher doing the voices for the other Zalerian and some of the Ogrons. The rest of the Ogrons, Daleks and Talamar are provided by Nicholas Briggs. All voices are well acted and the voices all add to the adventure and create a nice image in my head.

Even though Slyvester McCoy was in this story he wasn't the driving force of the plot and he did what you would expect him to do when he is involved with the Daleks and that is to try and send them packing without what they came for but this time he tried hard not to get involved which I thought was a nice change. The end of the story was a nice moment for McCoy as it was quite sad and moving. Gareth Thomas was on top form in this story as Kalendorf, I have always liked his character in the first two series as Thomas has a nice voice that makes you wish he had his own spin-off series called I, Kalendorf or something equally amusing. Sarah Mowat was also very good as Susan Mendes. The Angel of Mercy character is a curious one and it the scheming side that is shown in this story. One thing I liked was towards the end when the Doctor had the chance to blow things up and trap the Daleks again he decided against it so that Kalendorf would live and continue working with Susan Mendes and went to work for the Daleks only to turn on them was a brilliant twist. Nicholas Briggs who is probably the only person who could write this story and to his credit on the second listen I thought that it was a better story because I realised that it was a story really to fuel the Dalek Empire story along a bit to remind people of what the series is like. On second examination I think the story is good with good character development and a very sad end.

The biggest flaw in this story is that it doesn't quite know what it wants to be.. Does it want to be another instalment of Dalek Empire or does it want to be a Doctor Who story? When I first listened to it back at Christmas 2006 I was a little disappointed because of this confusion however on second listen I had a different reaction to it, I think that it actually quite good. I think that as a stand alone story there are some elements that might be lost. Like why should the listener really care any more about Susan Mendez and Kalendorf than they would about anybody else that would be captured by the Daleks. For those like me who have heard every instalment of the Dalek Empire series will know exactly why we should care about them.

This story is well worth a listen. I would advise you at some point to purchase at least the first series of Dalek Empire because according to some websites, Return of the Daleks is aimed between the first two episodes. Once you’ve done that then buy the rest because they are a superb piece of entertainment and shows how evil the Daleks can really be.

Voyage of the Damned (2007)

This Christmas special received more hype since the show returned in March 2005. Most of the hype was because Pop star Kylie Minogue was going to star in it. I was really looking forward to it to though there was one slight irritation and that is I wish Martha would have stayed until the end of this story instead of Last of the Timelords. It would have been nice to see the Doctor and Martha on the Titanic together. But anyway that’s not going to detract from the story.

It was a strange idea to set it aboard the Titanic but then you learn that it was in fact a spaceship called Titanic and that to me was a curious decision by RTD. The idea that asteroids hit the Titanic and it starts floating towards Earth which mirrored the tragic events of the real Titanic seemed quite insensitive because of the huge losses of life that the event produced. But getting to the actual story itself one of the things that I noticed was how much like the Poseidon Adventure it seemed but that only really appeals to the story, it’s a Christmas special so it should be a bit different from the normal stories. The Hosts were well thought of, they seemed truly menacing from the beginning they came onto the screen. The removing of their ‘halo’ from above their heads was a truly scary moment. The individual characters in this story were all well written and well acted. The Van Hoofs stood out the most for me, they seemed really genuine and when they were introduced to the Doctor as being mocked for dressing up differently to the other passengers then you knew that they were they for sympathy and when Morvin Van Hoff died it was truly a surprising moment and then moments later she gives up her own life was another sad moments.

Kylie Minogue was the most surprising thing for me, I wasn’t expecting that much from her and when in this story she wasn’t brilliant but she was a lot better than I thought she was going to be. The main reason behind this is because the story wasn’t centred on her which is what I thought it would be. She was more of a companion to the Doctor than I thought would be the case. The other thing about this story that I thought was the best thing about this story were the special effects. The effects in Doctor Who since 2005 have been of the highest order but in this story they excelled in what are some of the best effects I have ever seen in this show. The sequence when they were trying to get across the walkway sort of thing and looking both up and down was truly spectacular.

The main problem that I do have with this story is that the plot was a bit weak. When the show finished I thought that there didn’t really seem much of a point to the plot. The fact that Max Capricorn set the whole asteroids hitting the Titanic so that it would crash into the Earth just to throw the board members who got rid of him thrown into jail seemed a tad bit ridiculous. I know that this isn’t a traditional main-series story but they could have worked harder on finding a plot that actually worked, as such it let down what was otherwise a rather good story. It wasn’t as good as The Runaway Bride as it also lacked pace but despite those negative aspects I still thought it was a enjoyable Christmas Day story and one that will deserve another viewing to really get a proper perspective of this festive episode.

The Kingmaker (2006)

The Kingmaker is the second story that came from Nev Fountain. Many fans of this range will remember that he wrote the 2003 story ‘Omega’. This story also features Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor except this time he’s with his two ‘regular’ companions of Peri and Erimem. This is the fifth time that this combination has been used (not including The Eye of the Scorpion where Erimem wasn’t a companion). This story is quite a bizarre story that has several interesting elements but also has several flaws.

The first thing that I liked about this story is that the setting. Set in the fifteen century I like it when a story goes back into that time era. Stories like The Marian Conspiracy and The Time of the Daleks have used their settings to push a story along and with the Kingmaker the setting is not really the pushing force of this story because the basic traits of it could be used in any time zone really. Another thing that I liked in this story is the relationship between Peri and Erimem. With this being their fifth story together their relationship is taking on that of sisters. They look out for each other in this story and it was nice at time when Erimem got annoyed with Peri and vice versa. The scene where the robot appears in the TARDIS and is talking to the Doctor was a nice comedy moment which wasn’t too annoying and didn’t detract from the scene.

Other things I liked was the addition of Jon Culshaw who is known in this country as the best impressionist of Tom Baker. Arthur Smith was also a good addition to the story as his character was well written and wasn’t too serious but at the same time not too comedic. There were negative things about this story. For one I thought that the plot was a bit difficult to understand at times. At times I thought I understood this story but then all of a sudden it just shifted gear. Also I thought that the cliffhangers were not very good. They just didn’t feel like cliffhangers. To me, cliffhangers should make you stop and think ‘wow, whats gonna happen next’ but instead with this story you were left thinking ‘oh ok’. Also Peter Davison seemed to put in a background performance, not totally in the background of all the action but didn’t really take charge like he should have done and the way it was written. I cant figure out whether it was the setting of the story or the situation but Davison just didn’t seem on form in this story. Overall this isn’t a really bad story but just a mediocre one and one that could have been better had it perhaps been set in another time.

2007 Toms Tardis Awards

BEST DOCTOR - Colin Baker
BEST COMPANION - Sarah Sutton (Nyssa)

BEST MAIN RANGE STORY - Son of the Dragon
BEST MAIN RANGE WRITER - Steve Lyons (Son of the Dragon)
BEST MAIN RANGE DIRECTOR - Barnaby Edwards (Son of the Dragon)
BEST MAIN RANGE COVER DESIGNER - Barry Piggott (100)
BEST MAIN RANGE MUSIC & SOUND DESIGNER - ERS (Son of the Dragon)
BEST GUEST STAR - James Purefoy (Dracula – Son of the Dragon)

BEST EIGHTH DOCTOR ADVENTURE - Blood of the Daleks

SPECIAL RECOGNITION - Gary Russell

Old Soldiers (2007)

The third part of the companion chronicles sees Nicholas Courtney reprise his role for the first time in 19 years. The one thing that strikes me is how good his voice is, he sounds nothing like the Brigadier from the 1970’s but even so it is a nice voice and is easy to listen to like Tom Baker’s when he is narrating Little Britain. James Swallow has written this story and his previous contribution to the Doctor Who range was the 2005 story Singularity which was a slighltly dull adventure so I had a slight hesitation when I started to listen to it. The first thing that I noticed was the chronological setting of the story, it was set straight after the 1970 story ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’ which made it feel like a proper adventure.

The main problem I have with this story is that it seemed to really lack a proper menace. I found myself really struggling to enjoy this apart from Courtney. In fact Nicholas Courtney was the best thing in this story as it feels like he is telling the story from experience and his voice works well on audio and should be encouraged to do more Big Finish stories in the future. Swallow’s story was not terrible but compared to Mother Russia and Helicon Prime which were fantastic stories this one is the weakest of the series so far.

The Tomfiles #3 - Big Finish Review of 2007

Question: Has this been a good year for Big Finish?

Well, Yes and No. Without doubt the stories such as Son of the Dragon, Absolution and Nocturne have been absolute crackers with all the pace, emotional material and damn good acting that wouldn't be out of place on TV. But then there were stories such as Valhalla and 100 which were mediocre, bordering on poor. There were big changes to the line up that would see some of the biggest changes that Doctor Who has encountered in the Big Finish range since it was launched in 1999. Gary Russell, who had been the top man behind the series contributed to his final story in Nocturne and Nicholas Briggs took over. There was also a change to the story format with new three parters followed by a single stand alone story. 2007 also saw the 100th Doctor Who story produced by Big Finish to celebrate it there was a different type of story made.

2007 started with Circular Time, which was a four part story with Peter Davison and also starring Sarah Sutton who was making her first Big Finish appearance since the 2005 story The Game. This was a poor story in my opinion as it didn't really seem to have much point to it. The only good part about it was the role of Sir Issac Newton which was played by the brilliant David Warner. I ended up giving this story 2 out of 5. February saw the Seventh Doctor star in Nocturne. This was a brilliant story which had me holding on to every word and by the end of part four was completely blown away which I thought was the best story for a long time and for most of this year was the best story of the year. March saw the return of the Daleks. This was Nicholas Brigg's first story as 'Executive' Producer. This story also featured a new look CD Cover which changed for the first time since Paul McGann's first adventure in January 2001. The story had been written by Christopher H.Bidmead who for new fans who haven't seen much of 1980's Who was the script editor for the end of Tom Baker's era and the beginning of Peter Davison's time in control of the TARDIS. Renaissance of the Daleks didn't have a written by credit but a 'From an Idea by' because apparently he was unhappy with changes been made to his precious script with his name on it. Even though this happens all the time and he must have done when he was script editor he was unhappy with this happening to him. The story was interesting and when I originally reviewed it I said that he should be encouraged to write more and I still stand by that statement. April saw the first three parter followed by a standalone story in I.D and Urgent Call. The three parter was ok but was slightly confusing as I didn't understand really what it was all about but I thought that it was good as three parts because its wouldn't have time to include any boring banter. The inclusion of Gyles Brandreth was one of the few highlights in this story based purely on his voice. The single parter however was not very good as I thought it was a completely pointless episode. May saw the second new style story telling with Exotron and Urban Myth. Unlike the previous release both stories were really good and enjoyable. The characters were well written in both stories and by the end of it I thought it was a good release.

June saw a return to the traditional format of a four part story but Valhalla was a very dull story which wasn't bad or poor like Circular Time but just didn't have a point to it. Slyvester McCoy was let down in this story with a poor story and no one to bounce his character off against as Ace and Hex had been written out of it for some reason. The story was written by Marc Platt who had penned the brilliant 2002 story Spare Parts and so I had high hopes of this release but was ultimately was left disappointed with this release. July saw Bonnie Langford return in The Wishing Beast and the Vanity Box. This 6th Doctor release featured Jean Marsh who had appeared along William Hartnell in the 1965 epic Dalek Master Plan and along the seventh doctor in the 1989 serial Battlefield. The three part story was quite good as if it had been four parts then it might have stumbled a little bit. The single parter was something that I didn't like as I though that even though it was a link to the Wishing Beast story it didn't really work because the pace and language used wasn't right at all.

August saw Slyvester McCoy return to in Frozen Time which was written by Nicholas Briggs who's last penned story The Nowhere Place (2006) was a brilliant adventure. Sure enough this story was also a well written, well acted piece of sci-fi. The biggest shock of the year came when it was revealed that the Ice Warriors were in main baddies. Unlike the companion-less story of Valhalla, McCoy was given a great script and had co-stars that complimented his Doctor. Nicholas Briggs is a brilliant writer and has shown time and time again that he can write a cracking script and it is only because he is doing the Dalek Empire and Cyberman series that we don't see more of his work. Early September saw release 99 and Son of the Dragon. This in my mind is the greatest story of the year. It was the sort of story that only comes round one ever few years and had the feel of an adventure that should be made for TV on my a big Sci-Fi budget. The addition of James Purefoy was a masterstroke in an adventure which will be around for a long time before being beaten in terms of quality writing and acting. Late September saw the 100th release in the brilliantly named 100. To celebrate this milestone four of the most popular writers penned a single episode. Paul Cornell, Robert Shearman, Joseph Lidster and Jacqueline Rayner. I was disappointed by this because I thought that single part stories just don't work. The only story that worked for me was the 100 Days of the Doctor which whilst wasn't brilliant was the best of a bad bunch.

October's release was Absolution which saw the first eighth Doctor story with C'Rizz and Charley since Memory Lane in late 2006. This was the second story in three which I thought was brilliant. Not because it wrote out the character of C'Rizz but because of the way of the exit. It was the most emotional story that has ever been done and actually made me Miss C'Rizz. Absolution saw three guest roles in the form of Robert Glenister who stars in the BBC Drama Hustle, Christopher Villers who stars in the ITV soap Emmerdale and Natalie Mendoza who stars in the BBC drama Hotel Babylon. November saw Peter Davison in The Minds Eye which had Owen Teale who had starred opposite Davison in The Caves of Androzani in 1984. The Mind's Eye was a really good story that was enjoyable but was let down by the single part story. December's story saw the exit of Charley in The Girl Who Never Was. Now this story was supposed to be the great ending for a character that had been with the eighth Doctor since he started the Big Finish plays in 2001. However I found it a little disappointing because it was more complicated than it needed to be. The ending was really heart breaking and was the perfect ending to a fine character. The special release that accompanied the The Girl Who Never Was. Return to the Web Planet saw the 5TH Doctor and Nyssa encounter the Zarbi in a story that was quite interesting. Another big name was Sam Kelly who was famous for starring in the BBC Comedy 'Allo 'Allo.

This has been a big year for spin-off releases. January saw all four parts of the Companion Chronicles released. These feature companions of the first four Doctors who cant (or wont in Tom Baker's case) appear in audios. Maureen O'Brien read as Vicki for the First Doctor, Wendy Padbury read as Zoe for the Second Doctor, Caroline John read as Liz Shaw for the Third Doctor and Lalla Ward read as Romana II for the Fourth Doctor. The success of this series led for Big Finish to produce a second series which started in October. By the end of 2007 Peter Purves had read as Steven Taylor for the First Doctor and Frazer Hines read as Jamie McCrimmon. Both these audios continued to the strong stories that had been produced by the first series. The lack of 8th Doctor stories in the regular range was down to the fact that the Doctor was busy on the digital radio station BBC7 in eight brand new adventures. This was a success because it had created a new companion in the form of Lucie Miller who was played by Sheridan Smith. These stories were released every month from January to August. The success of the series must have made the writers and producers decide that C'Rizz and Charley were surplus to requirements. If that's the case then they have replaced two well established characters with one that isn't quite on par with them but with time has the potential of being one of the greatest companions in the audio Doctor Who's.

2007 also saw the return of the most successful spin-off series that Big Finish has ever had. Dalek Empire returned with two former Doctor Who stars taking the lead roles. Noel Clarke who had played Mickey Smith from 2005 to 2006 played Silus Kade and Maureen O'Brien who had played Vicki from 1965-66 was playing Angnes Landen. The series is really well written and any doubts that I had about whether Clarke would be right for the role or whether Nicholas Briggs had left it to long since Dalek Empire 3 went as soon as Part 1 was released.

So that has been 2007 in the Big Finish universe. 33 releases and out of the regular releases the following returns saw a average rating of 3.62 which was an improvement from 2006. It actually was the second highest rating since the Doctor Who range began only losing out to the 2001 rating of 3.83.

So what can we expect from 2008? Well I hope that they don't do as many three part stories followed by a single story because they just don't work. Also I hope that the quality of the stories continues to improve like they have done this year. More stories that don't have companions would also be good even though there should be at least one with every companion.

2007 has been a great year for Big Finish and 2008 looks like it could be even better.

Dalek Empire 4 - The Fearless (Part 4) (2007)

The fourth and final instalment of Dalek Empire 4 is even better than Part 3. The story is really about Kade finally confronting Landen about what how she has manipulated him to do her bidding. The actual story was quiet a good one as it was a good veichle for Kade and Landen to do some good scenes and highlight the point that they just dont get on and that Landen is manipulating Kade with him seemingly going along with it. The scene at the end where Kade shoots Landen was the best moment of the entire series as for a brief moment there was doubt as to whether Kade would actually shoot Landen or not. When he did it was something that was a total shock because you though that Kade had enough restraint to just give her Landen with the fear that he could have shot her. The end scene leaves it open for Dalek Empire 5 and I hope that there is because Noel Clarke has been impressive throughout this series with his character well thought out and well acted. Maureen O'Brien has been another great actress in this series. Her role of Landen has also been well written and it has been subtle but integral to the story and to the character of Kade.

What I also liked was how the end of this series was linked to the end of Series 1 where The Angel of Mercy shouted 'Death to the Daleks'. I thought that it gave this series a nice place of fitting in with the chronology of Dalek Empire. This part of the series was the most thrilling of the series and that is no disrespect to the other three parts because they have all been very strong stories.