The Chaos Pool (2009)

Well its all comes down to The Chaos Pool. What this had to do was conclude the biggest story that Big Finish have done for quite some time in a satisfactory manner. To help with this they enlisted Peter Anghelides who is new to Big Finish and that makes it good because then he isn’t bogged down with the expectations of fans. Whereas the Fourth Doctor had 26 episodes to try and find the six segments we only have 12 episodes and at times it might have felt a bit rushed but at least with all three scripts we have been offered things that have been very positive to the whole story arc.

The return of Laura Doddington as Zara helped to bring back the sense of the purpose of this story. When she left the Doctor and Amy in The Judgement of Isskar we never knew where she ended up or when. In this story she has ended up on Escaton which is some sort of research vessel which has a familiar passenger. It was well known that Lalla Ward was going to be appearing in that story however I just assumed that she was going to be Madam President Romana. When the Doctor hears her voice and assumes that it is Romana I was hoping for one of the reunion moments that we seldom get in Doctor Who. That’s because as with any drama things don’t always go to plan and we get the realisation that its Princess Astra.

I liked the idea that The Chaos Pool was this sort of magical place that even the Guardians couldn’t find. It was like it was heaven equivalent for Science Fiction. The idea that its where the main action would take place was well built up throughout this story and it didn’t disappoint. The arrival on the planet where in fact the whole story started was very atmospheric and you knew that the story had moved up a gear and you really were going to get your moneys worth.

Peter Davison was very good in this story. He was completely believable throughout the entire Key 2 Time story. Ciara Janson put in her best performance of this series because she was genuinely in stress when she was trapped in with the segments. As time went by she got more and more distressed which added to the tension that I felt when I was listening to this story. Janson has really been the best thing about this series. She has played Amy with an innocence that we seldom get with a companion and she hasn’t been annoying at any time throughout this series which is unusual because even Evelyn or Lucie have got on my nerves from time to time. Laura Doddington was really good in this story because she played Zara in this story with compassion and also a nice side which hasn’t been seen in this series. Her relationship with Par grave helped create the impression that she has managed to integrate herself in the ship which is quite similar to the master and how he was able to integrate and manipulate people to do the things he wanted.

Lalla Ward was superb as Madam President. She played the role like she did back in 1979 and I thought she really showed how good she was in the fourth episode. The way she was in this story just had me thinking to when she appeared in the Armageddon Factor back in 1979. She has a no nonsense attitude to anyone who attacks the ship and prevents the crew of the Escaton from doing their job. Ben Jones was good in this story as Captain Pargrave. He has an innocence which is ultimately forgotten as they get towards The Chaos Pool. At the beginning there was a sort of shyness to him where he seemed to bury himself in his job to try and forget his feelings towards Zara. Out of all the characters in this story it was the one of Commander Hectocot that I disliked. Toby Longworth is known for diversity of voices and in this one he manages to play the 80 year old with a bad hip very well however its when the Doctor wants the Satchel back and Hectocot refuses to give it to him and yet he never shows any desire of what he wants to do with it. I just thought that the character of Hectocot was good in theory but unfortunately detracts from the main story for me. David Troughton also made a welcome return to this story, the Black Guardian is a good character in this story and whilst I would like to have heard more from the Black Guardian not because I think it would add more to the story but because it means that we hear more from David. Also deserving of a mention is Cate Hamer who plays the voice. Computer voices are very underrated in Science Fiction I find but in this case the voice was very good and interacted well with the different members of the casts.

Peter Anghelides has written a story that lived up to my expectations. The conclusion to the Key 2 Time had to be something different and it really was different. I had to listen to it a few times to try and understand it but once I did it showed what a great story that Anghelides had written. Hopefully it wont be long before we hear from him again. Lisa Bowerman has directed another good story. Its nice that she is getting her fair share of the regular releases because before Destroyer of Delights she had only done a few of the Companion Chronicles which don’t really stretch a director. With this story she was able to show she can handle doing a story with has such a high level of expectations. Apart from the Hectocot bit which she couldn’t really do much about because it was a script problem.

This story was a fine conclusion to the Key 2 Time story and didn’t disappoint as a stand alone story. There were some fine characters and also the shift in setting helped maintain interest in the story.

The Magic Mousetrap (2009)

2009 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Main Range Story

Very often there are stories that have me completely breathless by a shocking revelation and that is what happened in The Magic Mousetrap. The story starts off with a mystery. Just how has the Doctor managed to end up in this situation? Also where were Ace and Hex.? Slowly things started to fall into place and it was revealed that Ace and Hex were controlling events to a degree and that it was they who were playing the Doctor.

The first surprise was of course the revelation of the Celestial Toymaker. It was a different version to the Michael Gough incarnation and the explanation of how he ended up in the Sanatorium was a very smart explanation. Its certainly not what I would have come up with. With the sound effects and the descriptions that they used to describe the Toymaker I just had an African Tribe Wooden Skeleton which had a clockwork heart and mouth. The second surprise was that the Alpine Sanatorium wasn't in Switzerland on Earth but still in the Celestial Toymaker's world. It could have been a totally silly plot point but somehow with everything involved it just made the story The Celestial Toymaker is a very popular character amongst Doctor Who fans and in my opinion he is a very intriguing baddie who only appeared once in 1966. His appearance in this story was refreshing on a character that has always had potential and should have made more appearances than he did. After the revelation that the Toymaker was involved it became obvious because of all the clues that had been put in place such as the fact the inhabitants were playing games and when the Doctor and Queenie were outside Queenie made a comment about a canvas and then Snakes and Ladders was being played elsewhere in the snow. The game that the Toymaker had people playing in Part 4 was typical Toymaker. The revelation as to why everyone is in the Sanatorium was very well thought out. The Doctor, Ace, Hex and the rest were playing against the Toymaker when he lost and everyone had a part of the Toymaker buried in their mind and they were having the shock therapy to try and forget what was happening and about the Toymaker. The idea being that after a certain time the Toymaker would just fizzle away and die was quite clever and as usual in Doctor Who it was close but no cigar.

Sylvester McCoy was very good in this story and played the role well of someone who manipulates people but on this occasion was being manipulated. It was very strange to see the Doctor in this position but once he realised what was going on it was back to his best. Sophie Aldred put in her best performance as Ace. Out of the two of them she is the one that has the plan and also is the one least likely to put it to an end because the Doctor is involved. These parts required them to put on posh accents and with Aldred it was difficult to tell it was her at the beginning whereas despite his best efforts Olivier just can't shrug off his scouser accent. It was quite unusual to see the roles reversed because in practically every Seventh Doctor adventures it is the Doctor that knows what is going on and it is the companions that are in the dark. Philip Olivier also puts in a good performance as Hex but he still seems to be occupying the role of teachers assistant. He tends to fall back into that role when he isn't doing his posh voice which doesn't really work because you could tell it was him whereas with Aldred you wouldn't have been able to guess.

All the guest stars put in superb performance which was helped by the restricted atmosphere of a sanatorium in the Alpine. My favourite character of the story was Queenie Glasscock played by Nadine Lewington. I really liked the character because it was one of the roles that could be a companion if Ace or Hex has gone completely. Its unclear who played the Toymaker but whoever did the voice should get some praise because it was chilling but also strong and posed as genuine problem for the Doctor. I also quite liked the Ludovic Comfort character which I thought was well written and well acted by Paul Anthony-Barber. My only disappointment was the silent character never got revealed to be an instrumental character and was being silent for some secret reason.

Matthew Sweet previously wrote the 2006 story Year of the Pig which is a story that I didn't like at first but after a while it was ok. This was by far a superb story which had me gripped from start to finish. He should be encouraged to write more stories like this in future. What he did well was have characters that worked well in the story and had a setting that was restricted but something that was a believable setting. Ken Bentley has directed a good story that utilises all the great elements that Sweet. He has always been a good director and was a wise choice for a story that could have been confusing and also the music used in the story was nice. This was down to Richard Fox and Lauren Yason. The year was clearly obvious thanks to the 1920's music. It was quite similar to No Man's Land (2006) which used to the music to help add the setting.

The Magic Mousetrap is the best release of 2009 (so far). It has everything that you could want from a Doctor Who adventure. Some people complain about the use of another 'classic' villain but I think that as long as they are used in the right way and more importantly a different way from what we are used to then it doesn't really matter. What they have managed to do is give a different dynamic to a companion that people have written about and talked about for well over 40 years and I think that what they did in The Magic Mousetrap was well done and deserves to be praised.

Orbis (2009)

Following on from the shocking conclusion of Vengeance of Morbius this story had to start off with a bang and in the areas that it needed to achieve this in it worked. As the Doctor and Lucie had been separated all that was wanted was the reunion between them. After listening to Vengeance I was really looking forward to this story as I was hoping for an adventure which saw more Morbius however what we got was something completely different. This story is written by Alan Barnes & Nicholas Briggs who have both written for the Eighth Doctor series seem to want to try and combine their efforts because they know that people’s expectations are so high. Alan Barnes has recently written Brotherhood of the Daleks which many feel was the most complicated story that Big Finish have done. Also for this story there is a new format. Instead of 8 x 50 minute stories that were released once a month. There are now 16 x 25 minute episodes that are first downloaded every Saturday which with the absence of a new series on TV is a good move by Big Finish. Its unusual that Big Finish are doing this as they have never tried this before. For this series there is a bigger reason for trying to get the cliffhangers right.

We discover that the Doctor is in fact alive and living on a planet called Orbis. What’s unsettling about this is that there is something missing from the Doctor’s persona. It’s all tied in with what happened against Morbius and the fact that the Sisterhood transported the Doctor to Orbis. The relationship he forms with the inhabitants is one that shows the Doctor is smart but isn’t quite sure about himself as he is trying to make a TARDIS but not sure exactly what to do next. Meanwhile Lucie has been captured by the Head-hunter who is trying to operate the TARDIS.

The use of Headhunter has made up for the way the character was used during series 2. In the first series she was a very sinister character that had very few good points whereas in Series 2 in Grand Theft Cosmos she was more of a comedy figure which was wrong in my opinion. She was integral to the who point of the story and that was good to see. Hopefully it won’t be the last that we hear of her. Katarina Olsson has appeared several times in the last two series and her voice helps create a character that is sinister and is very dangerous. Paul McGann was very good in this story and this new version of the Doctor is sort of a reboot of his persona. The first meeting of the Doctor and Lucie was quite a downbeat moment in terms of emotional. He managed to seem the same but make it ever so slightly different. Sheridan Smith is still developing even after 16 episodes and she is becoming a strong character that could stand on her own two feet and not necessarily needs the Doctor. She played having a magical bullet in her head really well and was really good in one moment she was really overjoyed in seeing the Doctor again and then gutted when the Doctor didn’t recognise her. By the end they were back together and it wasn’t quite what we were use to as Lucie would have to show the Doctor why they were such a good team and that’s something that we haven’t had to encounter.

Of the guest cast the most notable is that of Andrew Sachs who is most famous (apart from a certain phone scandal with two BBC employees) is being Manuel in the Fawlty Towers series. In this story he played Crassostrea but I think that they tried to hard to disguise his voice. In his previous story The Boy That Time Forgot his voice was slightly different but you could tell it was him even if you didn’t read the credits. In this story however I had to read the credits and even then I could really tell. Laura Solon is very good in this story as Selta because she plays a companion like role in the absence of Lucie. Her confusing of the Doctor’s words and sayings I quite amusing and was gave a sort of innocence to the character. It was great to have Katarina Olsson back in the story as The Headhunter. I thought that the character was really well used in the first season and when she appeared in season two she was poorly used but that was more to do with the story. You knew that she was up to something that was more than trying to relocate the Doctor but it was going to take a while for the truth to come out. Olsson is very good as The Headhunter and this is the way that she should be used. Beth Chalmers was also very good as Saccostrea, Chalmers has been in several Big Finish plays and she always puts in a good performance. Other good performances include Barry McCarthy who had appears as Yanos.

Overall this story is an ok opening story. I still think the Blood of the Daleks is the best of the opening stories that has been done but the openings for Series 1 and 2 are structured differently and so it would be unfair to compare them. Alan Barnes & Nicholas Briggs did a good job keeping the pace of the story going and not rushing the reunion of the Doctor and Lucie. Barnaby Edwards who is one of the best Directors in Big Finish also did a good job trying to create an atmosphere and keep the listener engrossed in the story. This new format is quite interesting and also releasing it as a weekly download is a good idea as without a proper TV series this is going to be the next best thing. The only change that has occurred is that each story has cliffhanger so we get more cliffhangers for our money than before.

Planet of the Dead (2009)

The first of the specials is one that is very different from other Doctor Who.

Michelle Ryan was actually very good in this story. I wasn’t quite convinced about the whole posh lady accent partly because of her stint in Eastenders or about why she was Lady Da Souza title as it didn’t really serve much of a purpose. However she did the temporary companion role well. David Tennant was very good in this story as he didn’t have any silly emotional stuff to try and deal with. He did have a brief snog with Ryan but that was about it.

The crew on the bus were all well written and all served a purpose which I though was going to be difficult as it was just one episode and a lot to fit in. None of them were annoying and they all reacted as anyone would. Thought the death of the bus driver was quite good and afterwards I thought that it was kind of obvious as at least one person dies in these situations.

The introduction of UNIT was an important part of it as the Doctor without his TARDIS would have struggled to get back to Earth. The idea that UNIT were going to abandon the Doctor seemed quite unreal because of everything that the Doctor has done for UNIT it seemed like being slapped in the face. It was a nice bit of continuity using the Captain that appeared in Turn Left. We saw a peculiar site of a UNIT officer pointing a gun at someone that wasn’t a monster or baddie.

The flying aliens (forget their name) were very impressive and the explanation about what they do and the reason for how the wormhole was caused were very impressive. The idea that the sand was once buildings and trees and other human things made the setting even more grimmer than the title could suggest.

If I do have one problem with this story is Lee Evans. I like the character of Malcolm and I thought that there was some wonderful scenes between him and the Doctor but I am not sure that Lee Evans was right for the role.

Overall I really enjoyed the episode, it was a nice simple enjoyable story that had everything you could want from a special.

Resistance (2009)

The extended third series of The Companion Chronicles finally sees Polly get a chance at telling an adventure she had with the Doctor. I listened to this story after listening to Anneke Wills narrate the Target Novelisation Doctor Who and the Cybermen and apart from the story it was Wills’ voice that made the release special for me. When Polly appeared in Doctor Who between June 1966 and May 1967 she was a good companion that seemed to work very well in the world of Doctor Who. When she left it was very sad but it was the fact that in the Faceless Ones she didn’t really have a proper send-off. I am quite surprised that it has taken all this time to bring Polly back to the Doctor Who world. The return of Polly was one that I looked forward too because I think that she is a companion that would do well in new Who. Even though when she originally appeared in The War Machines that she was a girl of the swinging 60’s she still would be able to work with the new style stories.

The story is set in February 1944 during the Second World War. This isn’t a setting that has really been used in Doctor Who for the simple reason that it was a terrible time in history that resulted in the death of millions and it can be quite easy to try and make light of it. This story sees Polly telling her story and then someone else would be telling their story. It’s quite an strange way of telling as story though it happened in The Prisoner’s Dilemma where Ace would have her scene and then Zara would have hers. It got me quite frustrated listening to it as the story was progressing as it hadn’t happened before. This time it wasn’t so bad and was expected. The thing that amazes me in this story as well as all other Companion Chronicles is how the writer manages to get the story feeling like that particular period in Doctor Who and also getting the relationship of the companions and Doctor right. This story manages to offer something new to the character of Polly and give a back story that has only really been happening to characters since Doctor Who came back in 2005. With Polly we learn that she had an uncle who died in a Prisoner of War. There begins the classic Doctor Who point of wanting to change history but being unable too. In this story it was unsure as to whether Polly would try and alter history or leave it be. Then we discover than this person we were led to believe is her uncle is in fact not and just someone impersonating him which was a nice twist.

The story itself is a nice one which doesn’t have an alien monster or someone trying to take over an alien planet but was perhaps the most personal of all stories. It makes a refreshing change when this is the case though it is not a practise I would like to see made permanently but in this case I am glad there were no monsters. We learn a lot about Polly in this single story than we ever did when she was on TV. We learn that her Uncle was a Prisoner of War and actually died there. When she encounters who she believes to be her uncle we are then pressed into the trying to change history story strand. Its something that has been debating and talked about since Doctor Who began and that is if you met someone from your past or your families past would you do something to change their future which would ultimately change your future or would you leave things as they stand. During this time we see a different side of Polly which is where she doesn’t feel like she needs the Doctor and she doesn’t need Ben or Jamie and knows better than they do. Once the Doctor, Polly, Jamie & Ben get back together you think that it is the end of their adventure and they leave with the moral message of leaving History alone but then there is another twist to the story and it the revelation that the person we think of as Polly’s Uncle is in fact not her Uncle and really someone who is pretending to be him. It’s a sad revelation as you feel the disappointment of Polly. Especially after she deserts the Doctor at the train station. The pace of the story is a slow burning one but by part two is moving at a quick enough pace to keep the listener entertained which is the way it should be in this particular story. As long as there is enough to keep the listener entertained then the pace can start as slow as it likes before speeding up.

Steve Lyons has written several Big Finish stories over the last few years. Since 2000 he has written The Fires of Vulcan (2000), Colditz (2001), Gallifrey: Insurgency (2005) the very good Blood of the Daleks (2007) and the 2007 Toms Tardis Story of the Year Son of the Dragon. So he has a track record of writing very good stories and with Resistance he keeps that trend going. Lisa Bowerman deserve credit for directing a story that uses Anneke Wills’ voice to keep the listener interested but soon allowing the story to take centre stage. Anneke Wills seems to be enjoying herself reading this story and whilst she manages to capture an essence of the Second Doctor it is Ben that she does best. The bond that the two characters have was always evident on TV but in the beginning of the story it is bought back to our attention. John Sackville is also very good in this story as the Pilot. He does well in making sure that the listener believes that the Pilot is in fact Polly’s Uncle right up until the end.

Overall this is a very good story. I wish/hope they would do more Polly stories as I think Anneke Wills has a very good voice for audio and she has shown in the Target Audios and her several appearances as Charley’s Mother that she has a nice warm voice which you would listen to even if she were reading the phonebook.

The Destroyer of Delights (2009)

2009 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Guest Star (David Troughton as The Black Guardian)

The second instalment of the Key 2 Time series sees the first full appearance of the Guardians both Black (played by David Troughton) and White (played by Jason Watkins). Now I am not a big fan of historical stories really as I think that they will tend to focus on a particular moment in history however from time to time there are stories that work really well and have me gripped from start to finish. This was Jonathan Clements first contribution to the main Doctor Who range having written Immortal Beloved (2007) and Brave New Town (2008) which were stories that could best be described as enjoyable stories that you would be quite happy to listen to again and again with Brave New Town being the stronger of those stories.

Whereas the Judgement of Isskar took a long time to get started, this story got off very quickly. The immediate resolution of the cliffhanger was well completed and was a believable conclusion. This is always a potential banana skin because expectations are so high that the writer could have written something so out of the ordinary and so bizarre that it would have been a disappointment but in this case it wasn’t. Liked the link to the Black Guardian Trilogy from 1983 and mentions of Turlough and how the Black Guardian forced him to try and kill the Doctor and the tracking device that was put in Tegan’s Tiara in the story Enlightenment. It was nice lump of nostalgia that might be confusing to new fans but for older fans like myself it was expected and Clements didn’t go overboard but just stated the bear facts. The story paints the Guardians not as the mighty and powerful figures that we have previously known them as but as weak and not at all mighty. There was a comedy feel to the way that the characters have been written. By the end of the story we get the point that they are a bickering couple that are just waiting for the Doctor the save the day, just sitting in the background waiting just like they did in the original Key to Time series. There was a slightly uncomfortable scene where Amy is slapped and wondered what the relevance of this was and whether it was suitable with this being a story that could be listened to by children. It was the only time that there was such an uncomfortable moment in this story which take a bit of the shine out of the story.

Peter Davison puts in another good performance. He had a good opening scene with the Black Guardian and also an enjoyable scene with the White Guardian. He carries to story along well buts it is his moments with the Guardians was the highlight of this story. The Guardians have always been portrayed as mighty and powerful but it was different to see them in this powerless situation. David Troughton was a superb as the Black Guardian and his performance was superb from start to finish. . His version of the Black Guardian was completely different to what Valentine Dyall portrayed between 1978 and 1983 but then this should have been and was the case. There was certainly a comedy element to the role. The idea that the Black Guardian who was playing Lord Cassim was hoarding all the gold so that he could leave that planet was quite a smart idea. Jason Watkins was also good as The White Guardian and as Legate of the Caliph though he was better as the White Guardian. He worked very well against Troughton and their rivalry was well acted out between the two. Ciara Janson was very good as Amy in this story. Amy continues to develop well showing some nice human emotions and her lack of knowing what they are and how to deal with them. Despite there being no Zara in this story for the character to bounce against she still put in a good performance. There is still a feeling that she is a more intelligent version of Erimem I do wish they had included Zara in this story in some way as it does give the impression that her character isn’t as important as we were led to believe. I think that if Zara was so important then they could have found something for her and that would have helped add to the drama in the story.

All the guest stars performed well in this story and none really stood out but then that’s probably the best thing because with everything going on it was always going to rely on the strong main characters and not really digress to lower and less important characters. I think Bryan Pilkington played a nice character in the form of Prince Omar, the character created enough of a drama for Lord Cassim to create some entertainment for us to enjoy.

Jonathan Clements has written a good story that continues the Key 2 Time story strand going well and it is a clear and simple (ish) story that as we know that the collecting of the segments isn’t going to be quite like what it was in the original series. This is probably Clements best story so far, it has everything you would want from a story and whilst it takes a while to really get into it, once you do then it totally grips you. Lisa Bowerman did a good job as Director. She has really started to develop well as a director and whilst at times the story is hit and miss she has proved herself to be a competent director and this is perhaps her best work. The story kept a consistent speed once it get into its stride and never slowed down even at the end. The twists were well done and came totally out of left field. This was an improvement on The Judgement of Isskar but to me the setting could have been changed.

The Destroyer of Delights did exactly what it was supposed to do and that is to maintain interest in the story until The Chaos Pool. It was a better story than Judgement of Isskar.

The Judgement of Isskar (2009)

The first part of the Key 2 Time is curious story that works but doesn’t quite hit the mark in terms of leaving me satisfied with the end result. The original Key 2 Time saw the fourth Doctor spend 26 episodes collecting the six segments. In this version of the Key 2 Time we have just 12 episodes, just what would or could Big Finish do that would compare with the 1978/79 adventure?

The first thing that strikes me about the new companion Amy is how similar she is to Erimem. Throughout the story she developed well and so that similarity with Erimem was still there but not as strong as it was at the beginning. Her opening scene was very well written and was just as good as the opening scene in The Ribos Operation. I liked the explanation that was given as to where Peri was, they could have easily just placed this story in another part of the Doctor’s timeline but instead they went for the idea that she is on the planet with the Doctor and that she is merely elsewhere. Amy as a character is well written. She could be a very good long term companion as long as the producers can develop the character beyond what they did with Erimem. I liked the moment when Amy was given the choice of going with Zara or stay with the Doctor and how despite the odds she decided to stick with the Doctor and that was quite a strong moment.

This is the second story to feature Zara after her opening appearance in The Prisoner’s Dilemma. This one she was better than in the Companion Chronicles which I felt was a bit hit and miss. The interactions between Amy and Zara were always well acted and have the potential to cause some more emotional scenes in the future. Zara really showed how manipulative she can be. When she managed to convince the Ice Warriors that she could help them it had trappings of the Master and how he can convince people into doing what he wants and that shows that Zara could have potential outside of the Key 2 Time series.

Peter Davison was also very good in this story however it did seem to taking the back seat with the Amy and Zara characters leading and pushing the narrative along. Davison is a really good Doctor and it took a while for him to really get into this story but once he did he started to develop a strong relationship with Amy and another strong relationship with Zara if not for different reasons. Ciara Janson is most famous for playing Nicole Owen in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks from 2004-2007 plays Amy which is a character that hits the ground running and within minutes you feel like she has been in the show for years. The idea that she is picking character traits up from the Doctor and others is different for a companion even though there has never been a companion quite like Amy. Its good that Big Finish have managed to get someone who is from a big TV show even though she has long since left that show and wasn’t really a big name. Laura Doddington is also someone who we know will have a big impact in these three stories playing the sister of Amy Zara. The role of Zara is one that doesn’t seem to be one of the best baddies in Doctor Who history but there is enough to create enough tension in the search for the segments.

It was quite a surprise to have four of the segments found in this story. I thought that they would find two in this one and then two in Destroyer of Delights and then the final two in the Chaos Pool. I don’t think it’ll be a problem depending on what they do in those two stories. It was obvious that the Ice Warriors were going to be involved but at one point when the Ice Warriors had been left after the second segment had been found I wondered if that was it and if it was then why bother putting the Ice Warriors on the cover. Then obviously they returned and things were back to normal. The beginning of Part Three was one of the strangest moments I have ever felt listening to Doctor Who. A short monologue by Davison followed from a scene with the Ice Warriors in the aftermath of the destruction of Mars was a superb few minutes that had me gripped and it is at times like this that prove to me why Big Finish are superb at producing audio dramas. One of the things I liked about this was how much of a positive light that the Ice Warriors were put in. Whenever you mention Ice Warriors to anyone they think of bad guys which clearly isn’t the case. Isskar was a nice character who showed wisdom and knowledge and didn’t over react which was a relief. It was quite sad that the Ice Warriors decided to go with revenge against the Doctor instead of trying to rebuild Mars after the capturing of one of the segments

The shock ending of Part Four was absolutely fantastic. The closing minutes were all based around the ship being destroyed and you are focused on how the Doctor and Amy are going to get off the Ice Warriors ship and then David Troughton comes in with booming voice comes into all of it as the Black Guardian. I don’t think that I was expecting the cliffhanger for this story to grab me like it did.

Simon Guerrier has written several Doctor Who & Bernice Summerfield stories for Big Finish over the last few years and has also written some of the best stories. Home Truths which is a Companion Chronicles story was a superbly dark story and also wrote The Settling (2006) which saw the Seventh Doctor, Hex & Ace encounter Oliver Cromwell and in my opinion a fine story. Guerrier had a tough task in trying to get this story arc off and running and I whilst I don’t think its his best effort that is more to do with the requirements that were expected of him. Had it been a normal single story like The Settling or Home Truths then it would have been a Top 5 story at least. Jason Haigh-Ellery who is the Managing Director and Founder of Big Finish has contributed to Doctor Who several times of the last few years and always in the Directing position. I wonder whether its really what he wants to do as I think that due to the different elements that are running through the story its let down by the organisation. Haigh-Ellery tries to do his best however I think that in this case he doesn’t quite hit the mark.