Dark Eyes 2 (2014)

Dark Eyes 2 is the sequel to the award winning special that was released in 2012.It’s been a while since the first Dark Eyes release and I decided to not listen to that again before embarking on this release. I don’t think that it made any difference really because I knew who Liv Chenka was and also knew who Molly was an her relationship with the Doctor so any other bits of information would either be repeated in this series or not really be relevant. The last time that we heard from the eighth Doctor it was in the excellent ‘Night of the Doctor’ which did the great job of listing all of the Big Finish companions on TV (or the BBC website at least) for the first time. Nicholas Briggs wrote the entire first series of Dark Eyes but this time he has allowed others to write for him and this means that we get different types of stories.

When you look at the cast list of this release it seems like they have plucked all the good things from the special releases they did in 2012, its essentially a greatest hits for the Doctor but apart from Molly, the hits are from the McCoy era. Firstly is the return of Liv Chenka.Liv Chenka previously appeared in ‘Robophobia’ back in 2011.Nicola Walker is a big name actress and from the very beginning until the end was brilliant and its surprising that when I was listening to ‘Robophobia’, I couldn’t have imagined that she would be the character that she would turn out to be in this series.
At the start, Chenka is working for the Daleks. Working might be too strong a word but in the eyes of other people of Nixyce VII, she is and is seen as a traitor (hence the title). The thing that strikes me about Chenka’s role is that its very similar (every so slightly) to that of Susan Mendes in the ‘Dalek Empire’ series. It’s not a mirror opposite but I only came to that conclusion after she’s a tiny bit defiant to a Dalek. Despite a brief line at the very beginning its 10 minutes before the Doctor appears again. Pretty soon he has been turned into a roboman which even though its implied on the cover, I didn’t think would happen. It’s 30 minutes before the Doctor and Liv are reunited and its not a normal welcome as it was the seventh Doctor. It’s always good to see how a different Doctor interacts with a past character/companion and it works just as good as the sixth Doctor and Charley.
Despite only having of an hour and six minutes running time (the longest of the four), the first part of this story moves along at quite a quick pace. I never felt like the story was waiting for something big to happen and that was the result with the rest of the release as the whole thing moved at either a good casual pace or breakneck speed. A no time during the entire four hours and thirteen minutes did I find myself bored or disinterested. I might have been confused but it doesn’t take much to confuse these days.

It’s quite interesting that they don’t bring Molly back until the second episode. The White Room has an interesting opening two or three minutes. What starts off as interesting soon turns to puzzlement about ten minutes later when I am a little confused as to what is going on but that confusing state doesn’t last for long as there are more references to the white room. There’s something that doesn’t quite sit right with me about the character of Molly and I thought that Liv worked better with the Doctor than Molly. Though in the third part they do work quite well together.

The next familiar thing to pop up are the Viyrans who appeared between 2008-2009 largely in the Sixth Doctor and Charley stories. I have always liked the Viyrans and was delighted that they were bought back and genuinely didn’t know that they were going to be in this.

I felt like as the story progressed the tension and drama was really being cranked up to 11 and the end of the ‘episode’ is the best ending that we had until this point as Alex McQueen makes a brilliant return. He was easily one of the best things about UNIT: Dominion and it was one of the main reasons why I pre-ordered Dark Eyes 2. The final episode is where the Master and the Doctor finally get to meet and their first scene is one of the highlights of the entire story. I must admit that being a bit thick, I didn’t realise that it was McQueen at first until the very last moment of Time’s Horizons. Alex McQueen is chewing up the furniture and if I did have a critiscm of this series it would be that he didn’t feature more in it. When you’ve got a great piece of casting such as McQueen playing the Master in the way that he does, I would want more of him.

Paul McGann is simply superb from start to finish. He really has found a new lease of life since he left the main range and went off on his own. Since the Lucie Miller/To The Death epic end to series four of the Eighth Doctor adventures, McGann’s Doctor has taken on a new slant and very much like Eccleston’s Doctor. McGann hasn’t won the Best Doctor category at the Toms Tardis Awards since 2011 but I suspect that he could (and perhaps should win it this year).

The final scene between the Doctor, Liv and Molly is a nice lovely scene and felt like the best way that these three should depart. It would have ruined the whole thing if it had just been a quick goodbye but they gave some time to it and it then led into the Doctor’s final scene where he interacts briefly with a soldier before leaving almost immediately. The appearance of Frank Skinner is a total surprise (shows I didn’t pay too much attention to the cast list on the Big Finish website). At first I thought it was him and then doubted myself but its unmistakably him and its just a nice surprise to end the release.

I think that this is a stronger series than the first and that’s due to the fact that we have had different writers but also the fact that we know there will be a Dark Eyes 3 (out in November 2014) and a Dark Eyes 4 which means that we will be getting more Eighth Doctor adventures pretty soon. I have liked how varied the entire series has been and how they took a gamble structuring the series like they did but I have to say that it’s a gamble that paid off big time and easily my favourite release of 2014 so far.

White Ghosts (2014)

The second story in this third series is an Alan Barnes story which in the past has tended to mean that its going to be something that requires the listener to pay close (very close) attention and if you don’t do that then you might lose something. I always think about Brotherhood of the Daleks which is the most baffling story that Big Finish has ever produced.

At the end of the previous story there was a bit of a row between the Doctor and Leela due to her actions and there is still a bit of a frosty atmosphere but the Doctor seems to be less bothered than Lela. The Doctor has forgiven Leela for what she did and it’s nice that they have settled the fallout from that story and the Doctor is happy to place the blame for her behaviour at the Timelords which might be a bit of a cop-out but I think that it was a nice quick way of getting over it and in a satisfactory manner.
 
Virginia Hey is the big name in this. I say big name but I must admit that I don’t know who she is. A little look on Wikipedia sheds some light and shows that she was in Farscape, Mussolini: The Untold Story and also most impressively was in a Bond film (The Living Daylights). I thought that her performance was perfectly fine, its not the greatest performance ever but I thought it was played perfectly for what the story was and Virginia Hey has done well.

Tom Baker and Louise Jameson are really good in this and it feels like the relationship has developed far more in the short time that these two have been together than they ever did when they were on TV. That might have more to do with the fact that they didn’t get on so well when they were on TV and now they are much better with each other. Also Leela has been written for in a better way so that the Doctor treats Leela differently and this has meant that we got what we did in the previous story and this continues here.

Even though the second half is longer than the first I must admit that the whole thing flew by and that was surprising. The first episode moved along at quite a good pace and the story was perfectly fine. I think the fact that that the story has a shorter running time than a monthly range adventure meant that Alan Barnes doesn’t have the time to tell a more complex story which is probably a good thing but that might be slightly unfair as Barnes has written standard stories in the past.

I think that this series is different to the first Leela series and that’s a good thing. The big selling point in the trailer for the first series was to suggest that it was going to feel like Saturday tea-time in 1977 and there were aspects of this story which felt like I had an idea of what this was like some six years before I was even born.

The Sleeping City (2014)

The first companion chronicle story of 2014 sees William Russell return to the range. The story was written by Ian Potter who wrote ‘The Revenants’ and I liked that story so I had high hopes for this story, especially as I enjoyed ‘The Library of Alexandria’. I’ll be honest and thought that Maureen O’Brien was going to appear in the story as Vicki appears on the cover as normally the people involved appear on the cover. I know that’s not always the case but in my brain it makes sense.

The story sees Ian back in his own time being accused of being a traitor and having to tell an adventure that he, Barbara, the Doctor and Vicki had when they visited the city of Hisk. I like how in the early moments there is a nice little bit of nostalgia and that’s a brief moment before the story moves to Hisk.

The story starts off quite well with a nice atmosphere created by what Ian Potter had written and the music and sound effects used to create this world. William Russell’s wonderful delivery also helped to create a feeling quite early on that this was going to be a fun story. The problem however is that despite the best efforts of everyone involved, the plot isn’t the greatest that it could have been.

I do wish that John Bank would have been given more to do as Gerrard. The character had a scepticism and sinister feel to him that would have been better had he been given more than just an interviewer. The scenes where Gerrard and Ian Chesterton were talking together were fun and was the only real time that there was any spark to the story. The rest of the time it just felt like things were moving along at a rather normal pace which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

There are things that I quite liked about this story but unfortunately for some reason it didn’t click as I would have expected. It’s the last time that William Russell will be involved in the Companion Chronicles range before it finishes in June. Since he first appeared in the range in 2009, I have always found William Russell to be fantastic even when the story hasn’t been on par with his performances.

The Brood of Erys (2014)

The middle story of the series is one that struggles to compare to the opening story for whatever reasons. The opening story was a very good adventure which saw the return of Sil so I wasn’t surprised when that had the effect that it did on me. It would be interesting whether this story would have the same effect. There was a interesting opening couple of minutes. There was a moment which I thought wasn’t particularly good for Flip and that’s when she wants to let the Drachee inside the TARDIS. It didn’t seem like a bright thing to do and it just seemed to be an irritating moment and would have been the sort of thing that Peri would have done. Thankfully this was a brief moment and Flip went back to her own self. The opening scene where the Drachee are approaching the TARDIS is a great way of introducing the character. I thought that the Drachee were a wonderfully realised creation and think that they were the minions from Dispicable Me of this story but probably wouldn’t have looked as funny as they do.

Colin Baker puts in a great performance and is able to do this due to the story. Baker can always be relied up to throw himself in the story and he definetly does this. The double act of the Doctor and Flip is a refreshing one and one that Andrew Smith uses brilliantly. Lisa Greenwood also puts in a good performance and apart from the minor blip at the beginning of episode one, Flip continues to be a breathe of fresh air and there are several moments in this story that show why Flip is one of the best companions that Big Finish have. All the supporting cast members did well and the characters that they played were fun.

I love the idea of a living moon. It just seems like a totally wonderful idea and used to utter perfection in this story. The moment that the word avatar was mentioned I’m afraid my mind started to think about the James Cameron movie. Even if it wasn’t intended I’m afraid that that’s what happened.
The final scene where the Doctor tries to justify his decision to leave Susan on Earth in ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ was a surprising scene but I thought that it was a lovely little scene. It ends with the Doctor thinking about Peri and I liked this bit because it seemed like the Doctor was thinking about an ex whilst his current partner was standing right in front of him. I thought that Flip reacted quite well as I would probably have reacted differently had it been me there.

I wont pretend to say that I understood everything that went on in this story but what I can say is that I enjoyed this story. I think that the final episode is where things started to get bit out of hand and harder to understand. It might not have had Sil but what it did have was a great story and several great moments. The best thing that I could say about this story is that I would love to see how they would make this work on TV. A middle series story that works on it own merits.

Luna Romana (2014)

Luna Romana is the final part of a special trilogy to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Doctor Who. It’s also the first story of 2014 and what Luna Romana needs to do is to end the trilogy on a satisfying note so there is no pressure on Matt FItton.

This story features two Romana’s. The only problem is that this story was due to feature Mary Tamm however due to her sad passing away this meant that some quick thinking had to be undertook by the Big Finish team. Do they abandon their ideas or do they do what they have been doing with the Doctors for the last seven years and just get someone to pretend to be the character. Cleverly they chose the latter and I have to say that this was a great idea because they chose wisely about who they would get to play the first Romana. Julie Landau has a difficult job to do and try to be Mary Tamm which was always going to be a tall order and at first I just didn’t think it was going to work and the rest of the story was just going to be awful to listen to but after a while I forgot about this and got use to Landau being Romana and I thought that she could have been a good Romana on TV.

Terry Molloy has been really good in these stories and in fact I think he saved the best until last because the version of Stoyn that we here is very unhinged and became a great interest in the story. As the story progressed I thought that Terry Molloy should be given more non-Davros roles to play because he is a really underrated actor. Lalla Ward is always fun to listen to and she does a great job and has some great lines.

The main problem with this story is that it’s way too long. It’s 120 minutes which is double the length of a normal Companion Chronicle story. This means that there is an awful lot of time to fill. The first episode just didn’t grab me really and I couldn’t understand what purpose it had to the story. After that though the story did pick up and that’s when I felt like I was enjoying the story. I still think that the running time undermined all the good work that Matt Fitton had done.

I think that the way that Stoyn meets his end is rather sad. I cant help but feel sad for the character because of the way that he has been treated in the trilogy. The Doctor has been quite unpleasant to Stoyn and if it were the Master then it wouldn’t have been problem but because Stoyn isn’t the Master it just leaves a slight sour taste in the mouth.

Luna Romana isn’t my favourite story of this trilogy but I still think that there is a lot of like about this story and that is primarily the cast who all work well together and whilst the plot is good its slightly ruined by excessive running time. I want to end on a positive note and I will by saying that the brief clip of Mary Tamm at the beginning of the story was a nice touch and I thought that even though she wasn’t actually involved in the story

 

The King of Sontar (2014)

It’s hard to believe that we are on our third series of Fourth Doctor Adventures. When there was a time when we thought that Tom Baker would never appear in a Big Finish adventure, we have got more adventures coming and to kick off the third series of adventures we welcome back the Sontarans. The last time we had a Sontaran story it was in ‘Starlight Robbery’ which is to be fair not the most serious story that they have ever been in so one thing that I like about this story is that it uses the Sontarans really well.

The idea of Leela encountering a Sontaran is always a good one and its not the first time that this has happened but as I started to listen to this I knew that this was going to be better than that first encounter. It’s easy to imagine a Sontaran version of Leela due to the way that Leela is

Strang is a unique Sontaran and doesn’t need armour and doesn’t get affected when he is struck on the back of the probic vent. Due to a glitch during cloning, instead of several Sontarans being born its good to think that he has several Sontarans in him. The main plot point about this story is Strang’s plan to spread his clones across the galaxy. It’s a relatively straight forward plot but its done in a very creative way and what the story has is a nice dose of morals which play a significant part in the adventure.

When the Fourth Doctor started travelling with Leela, it was with the intention of educating Leela. It seems sometimes that Leela needs to go back to the classroom and it leads to one of the best scenes that I have heard from Big Finish for quite sometime. I like how the Doctor goes with the very real possibility of sending Leela back home. Even though I know that this wouldn’t happen its still an emotional scene and both Tom Baker and Louise Jameson are brilliant in this scene. The Doctor does his ‘not angry but disappointed’ thing. This scene makes a very good story even better. John Dorney has written a solid story and it’s a solid start to the third series. I think that out of the three series openers, this is by far the best story and it shows that the rest of this season is going to be very good.

As far as the performances go, they are all strong. Dan Starkey has become synonymous as a Sontaran in the six years since he first played one on TV. David Collings played Poul in ‘The Robots of Death’ and I thought that as Rosato was a nice character played really well. The character of Rosato was a conflicted character that had some good moments. John Banks, David Seddon and Jenny Funnell all put in good performances as well but unfortunately for them they are somewhat overshadowed by Starkey, Collings and the regulars.

I listened to this after ‘Antidote to Oblivion’ and I thought that that story was going to be tough to beat but ‘The King of Sontar’ has managed to achieve that and I think that there is much more mileage in the Sontarans and with if we get more stories like this then the Sontarans could be more popular than the Daleks in the Big Finish universe. Maybe.

I have to try and find a fault with this story and……erm…..I’ll get back to you on that.

Antidote to Oblivion (2014)

The first story from the main range of 2014 is one that I was looking forward to for several reasons. The first is that it is written by Phillip Martin who wrote the 1985 adventure ‘Vengeance on Varos’ and also has also written a couple of stories for Big Finish over the years. Another reason was that it sees the return of Nabil Shaban who plays Sil. The third reason is that it sees the return of the partnership of the Doctor and Flip Jackson. Flip last appeared in Wirrn Isle back in March 2012 and I was worried that we wouldn’t hear from Flip again. I think that the character of Flip is a strong one and Lisa Greenwood has been a sound piece of casting. Anyway, the story sees the Doctor and Flip leave their holiday (isn’t it terrible when that happens!!) and arrive on Earth where Britain is pretty much bankrupt. I can see that there are parallels to whats going on in the real world. It’s the sort of thing that Barry Letts would have done and whilst I was aware that this was what Philip Martin was doing, I didn’t mind it and thought that it was well done.

I like the idea that they have contaminated the water so that the residents don’t see how depressing things are. The moment when they do see whats going on, it’s comes at just the right time and helps speed things along. The wrap up of the story is rather good and done well. I was glad that Sil got away and thought that the sneeze at the very end was quite amusing and whilst it might indicate that he’s got the black death it also suggest that he will return. There was a moment when towards the end the Doctor seemed to have to go on a quest to destroy the Black Death and no sooner was this raised than it ceased to be a problem and I was glad because I would have felt that this was a plot extension too far but it ended at just the right time and in the right way.

I like how they have created some links to the part of ‘The Trial of a Timelord’ that featured Crozier. Here we get his daughter who for quite obvious reason has some resentment towards the Doctor although like most characters in dramas, has a change of heart when she hears the truth. I thought that it was a great performance from Dawn Murphy and she was more than a match at times for Nabil Shaban. I could literally hear Shaban all day and not get bored. One of the things that I enjoyed about this story was that we got a lot of Sil. I think that Sil is a great character and that little laugh that he does is just as good as Frazer Hines’ impression of Patrick Troughton. I hope we get more adventures from Shaban because it would be a great source of entertainment.

I really enjoyed every aspect of this story. It’s a great combination with a great plot and it’s a strong start to the year. I thought that the main performances were solid and also the supporting characters were just as strong. I would be surprised if it weren’t in my top 5 stories in the main range. A strong start to the year and also the series of the Sixth Doctor and Flip.