Scavenger (2014)

The final story of the Sixth Doctor and Flip series takes on a distinctive spacey feel to it. The Doctor and Flip find themselves on the Mandela. The idea that there is a programme that is launched which is an attempt to clear up some of the debris and space junk that is orbiting the earth. What I liked about this is that its something that is a problem today. If you have seen the fantastic film ‘Gravity’ then you will know the problem. The programme is being run by the Indian Space Agency and this was another thing that I liked because it would have been so easy to just have the English space agency.

The familiar name as far as I am concerned was that of Anjli Mohindra who plays Jyoti Cutler in this story and played Rani in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’. I thought that Jyoti was instantly a good character and I thought that Mohindra played the character exactly as the character should have been played. Another fine performance came from Kate McEwen who plays Jessica Alloway brilliantly. Tariq Bhatti is also worth of a mention as Salim the Mission Controller who was quite interesting with his little secret.

The main performances were very good but I thought that Lisa Greenwood gave the greater performance and this seemed to have come out of nowhere. During the course of the three releases I think that Greenwood has not put a foot wrong and she gives her best performance of the series in this story. The final episode is where Greenwood stole the show as far as I was concerned because it was such a heartfelt performance that its probably fair to say that Flip is one of the strongest companions that Big Finish currently have. Colin Baker’s performance was good and he bounces around the story in his usual manner.

I was a big fan of Gallagher’s previous Sixth Doctor adventure ‘Wirrn Isle’ but I think that this wasn’t as good as that story. I started off really involved in the story but found that the middle part wasn’t as engaging. My attention was then bought back in the fact episode where things really did seem to be reaching for a satisfying conclusion. The end of the story was a complete shock and I think it’s the perfect cliffhanger for the next sixth Doctor series. The main business with Alloway was dealt with but Flip’s future is in doubt. It’s a bit like the cliffhanger with Hex’s future but I think that Flip’s isn’t quite as intense. As good as the cliffhanger was, the problem is that it will clearly be sometime for this to be resolved (October at the earliest which is unlikely even though Big Finish haven’t put any details on the website). Scavenger is a good way to end the series.

Spaceport Fear (2013)

Last year, William Gallagher gave us the highly gratifying ‘Wirrn Isle’. This year sees him return to contribute to the first set of Mel stories since 2007. The story sees the Doctor and Mel arrive at Tantane Spaceport where a war is raging on between the tribes. Where a creature called the Wailer is feeding on the unwary. This much is made clear via the Big Finish website because the problem is that for a long time I didn’t really know what was going on. It almost felt like there was a lot of nothing going on.

The first episode didn’t grip me in the way that I would have liked. Now I have a three listen rule and it generally works as ‘if it takes me three attempts to listen to the story then it there is a problem with the story’ and I’m afraid to say that this was the case with Spaceport Fear. I honestly can’t say that I understood what was going on. I found this story difficult to follow and thought that it lacked anything that gripped me.  It was way into the third episode before I started to warm to it but that was only when things were explained that I started to appreciate it a bit more but I felt that it came just a bit too late. Something that did work for me were the cliffhangers. I thought the first cliffhanger was the first moment when I thought something important was happening. The next two were also quite good.

The central performances were all good despite the fact I couldn’t follow what was going on. In particular I found Bonnie Langford’s performance to be top notch and it shows what can be done with the character when you take out all the screaming that she had to do on TV. Colin Baker’s performance was also quite good and even when I wasn’t following things I still thought that he was typically good form. Despite the story not necessarily hitting the mark I still thought that there was good chemistry. The supporting performances were all ok but I found myself rolling my eyes whenever Pretty’s name was mentioned. Beth Chalmers was instantly recognisable as both Galpan and Beauty Swanson. Ronald Pickup did have some good scenes but was again given a rather odd name (Elder Bones). I thought that the fact that the supporting characters weren’t particularly strong was an issue.

I must say that Spaceport Fear is a rather disappointing adventure. It’s not the worst release that I have ever heard and I suspect that come awards time this one might do rather well but for me it just didn’t gel very well and after being disappointed with ‘The Wrong Doctors’ I get the feeling that my hopes for this Mel series aren’t going to be realised.

Rating – 6/10

 

Wirrn Isle (2012)

I'm sad to say that we have come to the final story of the Sixth/Flip trilogy. I have grown to like the character despite how every fibre of my being should want to dislike the character. We have the return of the Wirrn who first appeared in The Ark in Space in 1975 and surprisingly made a return in 2009 to go up against the Eighth Doctor. In the interviews, Nicholas Briggs recalls how Jason Haigh-Ellery was surprised that Wirrn Dawn was the one of the best selling stories of that series and so what is surprising isnt that this was the case but that its taken three years for them to return. Written by William Gallagher who had penned Doing Time which was one was of four stories to form the release 'The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories' from 2010 and was given the idea of bringing back the Wirrn. The story is set on Earth in 16,127 where we meet the descendants of the Nerva Beacon (two Nerva related stories in the space of three months - note). There is a family that have suffered a tragedy years before but are trying to get on with their lives.

The story does have a link to ‘The Ark in Space’ and it seems that after the Fourth Doctor helped the in habitants of the Beacon they returned to Earth but things aren’t as straight forward as they had hoped. Along with the humans, it seems the Wirrn have also beamed down and have set themselves beneath the Ice in Scotland. The thing about the Wirrn is that they are a visual creation and so there has to be something about their voices which makes them a credible threat. There also has to be an emotional link to one or more of the characters that we meet and in Wirrn Isle that is done because one of the Wirrn is the son that the family we meet lost. I quite liked the idea of their been a lake full of Wirrn and think it would be realised well on TV.

Lisa Greenwood is very good in this story and has continued her strong performances from the other two. This is her best performance to date because she has to go through so much in the space of four episodes. At times I think she outshines Colin Baker which is a very rare thing to do. Speaking of Baker I thought that he has had a better run of stories this year than the Thomas Brewster series. Baker revels in this story. They have a very good chemistry which has the potential to be up there with Six/Evelyn. The ‘big’ name in this release is Dan Starkey who has clocked up a number of Doctor Who appearances over the last coupld of years most notably as a Sontaran. I also quite liked Tessa Nicholson who plays Toasty Buchman, I thought that she was a very good character and Nicholson played her very well. She was like a younger version and possibly more innocent version of Flip.

I quite like Wirrn Isle. It feels more like a classic Doctor Who adventure and ends the series on a very high note. Had this been any other series then this would be a stand out story however due to The Curse of Davros and The Fourth Wall it doesn’t quite become the best however it is still one that could be listened to on its own and still be enjoyed

The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories (2010)

For the last few years, there has been a single release that has consisted of four single stories. This year it was the turn of the Fifth Doctor to get this treatment. What is quite special is that one of the writers won a competition set up by Big Finish and was won by the curiously named Rick Briggs. I suppose anyone who submitted a story for the competition and didn’t win might be slightly envious of Rick for this opportunity and are eager to see what he produced that won him this spot.

The Demons of Red Lodge is the first story written by Jason Arnopp and sees the Doctor and Nyssa wake up to find out that they don’t remember where they are and after investigating the surroundings they find that the speara (not sure about spelling) are planning an invasion and are trying to convert the inhabitants and the first stage is to basically knock them out and then the second stage is to take full control of their personalities. The Speara are trying to convert the Doctor and Nyssa but think that their human and when they try to copy the Doctor’s two hearts affect the plans of the Speara.

I really liked this story. It’s a I thought that there was enough threat from Speara and it was great how the Doctor and Nyssa seemed genually scared at the beginning of this story. With a few tweeks this could easily make a hour long or even four part drama. Jason Arnopp has written a good opening story and it’s a good starter for this release.

The second story is the one written by Rick Briggs called The Entropy Composition. It sees the Doctor and Nyssa arrive in 1968 in a prog rock musician called Geoff Cooper who wrote a song called White Waves, Soft Haze that was never released. He is accompanied by Erisi and there are clues early on when the animals disappear. Erisi is a Entropy Siren and the music is basically eroding all the music on the archivist planet and is creating chaos. There is a lovely scene where the Doctor and Nyssa are trying to convince Mrs Malloy who they are and Nyssa trying to pretend she’s a swinging 1960’s girl but not understanding what the term groupie means.

I found this a harder story to understand than the previous one. It took a few listens to fully understand it and that shouldn’t really be the case in a 25 minute story. Don’t get me wrong I do think that it’s an interesting story but when you have such a short amount of time to tell a story then it should be far simpler than it was. I did like the characters that Briggs has written. I thought that Mrs Malloy was a lovely character and her exit was quite a shock and Naloom was also very entertaining as the archivist.

The third story was called Doing Time written by William Gallagher and sees the Doctor in a prison on the planet Folly. The opening dialogue was a mirror of the opening scene of the BBC Sitcom ‘Porridge’. The Doctor collects a future echo that tells him a planet is going to explode but arrives a year too early. He is put in prison by a very nasty Governor who has desires of becoming President. The whole story is very entertaining story that sees the Doctor create an interplanetary version of the Cricket Ashes.

It’s a good story with some good characters and in particular Susan Kyd as Governor Chaplin. She was very entertaining throughout and was probably the best guest character of the entire release. Gallagher has written a fun and often amusing story.

The final story of this release is called Special Features written by John Dorney and is a 25th Anniversary DVD commentary to a 1970’s horror film called Doctor Demonic’s Tales of Terror. This is an original way of telling a Doctor Who story. It’s quite a brave attempt because commentaries are improvised and require the viewer to be actually seeing the images as opposed to just listening to the action. There is a lot of talk between the contributors about a curse and the bad luck that befell some of the cast. I thought it was a really good story because this takes place over the course of 20 or so minutes and in one long scene. The story manages to pack a lot in despite the short running time but this is thanks to the writer.

All the cast do a great job and along with Dorney’s writing this is my favourite story of the entire release. John Dorney has been one of the shining stars in 2010 with Solitaire springing to mind and he does another good outing with this story. He’s managed to make this episode seem like it was done like a normal commentary.

So the final regular release of 2010 is a good one. They were all good in their own way and despite the Rick Briggs story, they were all very straightforward and enjoyable. On the subject of Rick Briggs I think that he should be allowed to write a full four part story like Steven Hall did this year with A Death in the Family because I think that he could do a good job. The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories should be listened to by anyone who likes short stories and who likes creepy stories.