The Warehouse

The Warehouse is the middle story of this series and after being impressed with We Are The Daleks, I had high hopes for this story. This story has been penned by Mike Tucker who is writing his first story for Big Finish since 2003’s The Draconian Rage for the Benny range and its been 14 years since he wrote a story for the main range when he wrote the superb Dust Breeding back in 2001. The set up is that the Doctor and Mel arrive in the for mentioned Warehouse which at first seems to be a parody of the sort of Warehouses used by Amazon or other big companies with stocktakes being done repeatedly. There is a line in this story which hit home with me when the Doctor says “What about the shops on the high street?, they’ll become something of a novelty” For someone like me who works in retail this is a slice of reality in Doctor Who.

For the second story running, Mel’s computer abilities are used in a story. I recently re-listened to The Juggernauts which is 10 years old and that is another example of Mel being used much better than she was ever used during her time on TV. Bonnie Langford seems to be happy playing Mel which isn’t something that could have been said in the late 1980’s but with the quality of writing that Big Finish has come up with in recent years it means that she can show what the character can do. Sylvester McCoy is also having fun with the story and now that he hasn’t got to deal with dark matters like he did when he was co-starrting with Philip Olivier and Sophie Aldred.

At the end of the day the thing about this story is that it is neither terrible nor great. I don’t think that this story is Tucker’s best because I think Dust Breeding gets that honour. The main cast were fun to listen to and I think that the supporting cast all did their best. However despite the great performances and the good central idea I cant say that I understood this story. It started off well enough and I thought the idea of the warehouse being some sort of source of food/help to people on the planet below was quite good but I just couldn’t get into despite the very good performances. It’s still the case that the middle story in a trilogy series is the weakest but compared to the middle story of the previous trilogy (Equilibrium), this is a slightly better story. I am still impressed with how good Mel has been used in this series and look forward to the Sontarans returning.

The Genocide Machine (2000)

The Genocide Machine is the first story to feature the Daleks in the Big Finish range. It’s the first Dalek story since Remembrance of the Daleks (1988). The story is written by Mike Tucker who worked on the show during the last few years and also worked on such shows like Red Dwarf.

The Daleks are known for not being impatient and also for not giving in. So it was quite ingenious that the Daleks had been waiting in some sort of cave. There was a sense of Déjà vu when Ace got copied and her duplicate was took into the library. This mirrors the Daleks plan in Resurrection of the Daleks (1983) so it’s not a new plan so there is not the air of the unexpected. Also the Time tunnel reference in episode two was also first mentioned in that 1983 story.

This story sees a character that could have been a really good companion. Bev Tarrant was a role that would have worked well with Ace and I could see their relationship be more like brother and sister. Louise Faulkner was very good as Tarrant and I liked how she could have been a new Bernice Summerfield.

The fact that Prink wasn’t able to speak was quite funny, it gave a comedic feel to the beginning of the story. It was part four before we even heard the talkative cataloguer speak. Elgin was a very good character. I felt Bruce Montague gave the character a feeling that he could be trusted and gave the idea that you could be trusted. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred sound as good in this story as they did in Survival. The relationship between them is very enjoyable to listen to and is one of the highlights of the early parts of this story.

There were a few things that I found strange. First thing was how strange the Daleks sound. They almost don’t sound like Daleks. Even the strange sounding Daleks back in Day of the Daleks (1972) weren’t as bad as these ones. Ok the Emperor Dalek sounded quite good but the rest of them were weird. It’s not a brilliant story but just average. I think that this being the first Dalek story there was a lot of expectation and it just didn’t work. The pace of it wasn’t particularly fast at time it was frustratingly slow but it’s early days for Doctor Who in the Big Finish world so give it a few stories and we might see what can be done.

Dust Breeding (2001)

Dust Breeding has the hallmarks of an early classic. It has all the classic elements needed to make a truly great Doctor Who story. Eerie setting, strange goings on and a familiar adversary that it portrayed as one character but turns out to be someone else. It has the feel of Earthshock (1982) when the Cybermen shocked us all when they appeared at the end of Episode 1. The Master makes a shocking return for the first time since Survival (1989). Before this revelation he is Mr. Seta (must have taken the writer ages to this that one up!).

The revelation of the Master is quite a different one. It’s the first adventure he has after Survival and the body that the Anthony Ainley Master has been taken away and he is being controlled by the creature that is hidden away. Geoffrey Beevers who played the Master in The Keeper of Traken (1980) was very good as his voice was very sinister and creepy. Another name from the TV series was Caroline John (Beever’s wife) who played Liz Shaw in 1970. She was good as Madame Salvadori, though I do think she over did the voice a little. This story sees the return of Bev Tarrant who appeared in The Genocide Machine (2000). There is a great deal of suspension of belief to think that Bev Tarrant just happens to be on Duchamp 331. Don’t get me wrong I like the character but I think that she should have been put into the story as a companion. I think the setting on Duchamp 331 was a brilliantly thought out place. A planet where the wind sounds like a bunch of Daleks gave a brilliant red herring before the real revelation. I like the idea that the base is a sort of truckers rest stop that you would see on the Motorway services.

Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred were on good form again. The first episode of this story really shows how their relationship has developed over the years and since the very first Big Finish adventure. The scene in the art gallery part of the TARDIS was a nice touch and added a bit of the early aspect of the Doctor/Ace relationship.

This is a very good story. It was better than The Genocide Machine but that’s because it was structured so well with interesting characters and a wonderful setting.