The Scapegoats (2009)

The fifth story from this third series of Eighth Doctor & Lucie adventures sees them travel to Nazi occupied Paris. Pat Mills has written this story and is his second story following on from the 2008 story Dead London. The thing about Dead London was that it was a strange story that had enough different elements to make it a good story. It was clear just from the front cover that we were going to get something different in The Scapegoats. The setting was quite strange I did find the goat idea was quite funny as the baa’s became entertaining. Also Lucie’s desire/obsession to meet Ewan McGregor leads to some funny scenes between her and first encounter with Max Paul which was a mix between humour and disappointment. The friendship between them was very sweet and well acted between Smith and Rhys.

I quite liked the idea that someone gets disfigured for the tribe was quite an interesting idea. Another good idea was that when Max Paul had his head cut off and it was able to come back on because of the technology they get the head back at a time when it was attached to his body but it leaves a time scar. The Baroque Tribe need the Doctor’s TARDIS to power up the re-animator which becomes less effective every time it is used. That was a good plot point because it added some tension and created a purpose to get the Doctor involved in the action. The reason why Max Paul is going through this is simply because it’s a tradition. It just shows that just because it’s a tradition doesn’t mean it should continue. This shows the stupidity of what is going on here. Also the moment when Mother Baroque and the Doc found Lucie & Max at the machine led to another point to prove how stupid some tribes can be. It was that their tribe would make Max’s last day a misery because of his feelings towards a human.

Paul McGann put in another great performance as the Doctor. It did take him quite a while to get really get involved in this story. It was only once he got captured by the Gestapo. Once he encountered the Baroque tribe he seemed to get back right into his usual stride of being very witty with the enemy. Sheridan Smith performs very well in this story and her reaction to Max Paul and the events at the Theatre des Baroque is similar to what we would all have. As she spends most of the story with Max Paul its not doubt expected that that is where most of the action is starting from. Paul Rhys plays Max Paul and was very good. He seems friendly and someone that Lucie instantly trusts. His character is written as some sort of celebrity with the billing of The Most Assassinated Person in History but behind that claim is the tragic reality that he has to go through to keep his family happy. As the story progresses you feel sorry for him because of what he has to endure. Christopher Fairbank is very good as Doc Baroque. His voice is very strange but what I suppose we would come to expect from anyone playing a goat. Its clear that he has some influence over Max Paul. He has a dramatic presence and delivers himself very well. There were occasions where he was very sinister which I thought suited the tone of the story.

Samantha Bond is the big name star of this story. Formally Miss Moneypenny during Pierce Brosnan’s time as James Bond and in this story she plays Mother Baroque. Her selective hearing is something that most people have in reality so its funny that someone in this story has it. Bond has a nice voice and she is a very good actress so she thrived in this role and made a change for baddies in this story. She developed a nice relationship with Doc Baroque and had some nice dialogue with the Doctor. Clifford Rose who had appeared in the 1980 Tom Baker story Warriors Gate plays Major Treptow in this story. His involvement slowly gets bigger and better as the story gets going and in part one he spends most of the episode just with the Doctor. Thorston Manderlay is very good as a Lieutenant. His character was developed to work with the Major and as such he did well. He wasn’t the most memorable character that has ever appeared in a Big Finish play but he had a purpose and he served it well.

I think that the cliffhanger is the worst that has been used for quite sometime. In fact I am struggling to think of one worst. It just comes out of the blue with very little build up and I just thought that it was very poorly written. When the story resumed there was no drama just an explanation as to what is going on. What on earth was going on when the cliffhanger was being written, even a weak attempt at a dramatic cliffhanger would have been better than what we got. I also thought that the trauma that Max Paul was going through went on far too long and was quite uncomfortable. Admittedly there is the question of why they are showing but its not a threat and there’s no real menace to it.

The ending of it was good. The fact that the Baroque tribe could go back to their home world was a refreshing change. Normally the baddies would be killed or arrested and it was a nice conclusion to the story. When the story finished we had another burst of plot in the Lucie commented that the Doctor seemed sad since the events of Orbis. The Doctor comments that Orbis is the darkness but its been shown by the light and its those that he aims for the adventures which I thought was a really nice and touching conclusion cause it’s the first time that I can recall previous adventures being mentioned in this way.

Overall this was a good story. Not the best of this range but its still worth listening to again.

The Magician's Oath (2009)

The tenth story in the extended companion chronicles series sees Mike Yates tell his story of an adventure he had with the Third Doctor. Mike Yates was played by Richard Franklin between 1971 and 1974. In the end his character had a nervous breakdown and had to go off to a retreat. This sort of character development was unusual in Classic Doctor Who. This story is the first story to come from Scott Handcock who according to Wikipedia was a production runner of Doctor Who Confidential. This story seems to be set in the present as the dialogue seems to indicate that he has left UNIT and so has the Brigadier.

The first thing that I like about this story is Franklin himself. When the voice is right then the story could be the phonebook and it would still be interested. Franklin gives a nice straight forward performance and he manages to get the right tones for Jo, The Brigadier and the Doctor. He opted to go for tones instead of doing impersonations that very rarely work in these stories. He also managed to bring back that thing which was obvious on the TV and that was the relationship between Jo and Mike. It was obvious to everyone that they had feelings and at the end you felt sad that they never got together and Jo went off with that Welsh Hippie. The story itself is quite a good one, UNIT are trying to solve what the cause is of these freak cold snaps that can turn a public area like Hyde Park into a ice rink killing everyone. The character of Diamond Jack was well written and what I liked most was that he had a past to him that almost made you feel sorry for him because he had been exiled to Earth (like the Doctor) and had his mind erased which was quite horrific. I quite like the idea that there are different version of Jack. The first is the form that he takes now so that he can blend in with everyone and then there is his true form which seems to be a springy monster and then there is the card which has his memories on it and what he is really like. Why the people who exiled him to earth don’t just destroy it is a mystery to me and that’s my only problem with this story. The final scene which was set on the walkway between the towers on Tower Bridge was really really dramatic and had me gripped all the way, it shows what can be achieved with this range that doesn’t always happen. The cliffhanger was a nice one which is another area that other companion chronicles has because whilst it can be difficult to create an effective cliffhanger its something that needs to be really thought about for it to work.

Richard Franklin was very good as mentioned as Mike Yates. Yates isn’t the a character I would have thought off for a companion story but I am glad someone did because it gave Franklin to show us what Yates would be like now. Hopefully they will ask Franklin to do more stories not just in this series but in the main one. Michael Chance was very good as Diamond Jack and he gave the character a very clear aura of menace about him and the fact that he had the power to kill people in a truly horrific way whenever he wanted. You felt his desperation and sadness in certain scenes which made it difficult to know whether you were supposed to hate him or like him.

Scott Handcock has written a good story for his debut. It was a nice gentle paced story that accelerated when it needed to. The back story behind Diamond Jack was a very good creative move and added some tension in the latter scenes that I really enjoyed. Nigel Fairs was very good as the director. Fairs has directed several of these stories and is really good at keeping the pace and the story going. His previous story was The Transit of Venus which is one of the best stories of the season and perhaps in the entire series.

The Mahogany Murderers (2009)

2009 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Companion Chronicle

The Mahogany Murderers is a unique point in the Companion Chronicles. This story is the first story in the Companion Chronicles series that doesn’t feature the Doctor in any shape or form. It is also the first time that a story from this series features someone who didn’t actually set foot inside the TARDIS or travel with the Doctor. However it’s a testament to the popularity of the characters of Jago and Litefoot that this story has been chosen to be released at this point.

This story does have a disjointed way of telling with Jago telling his side of the story and then Litefoot interrupting and vice versa. I quite liked the end of the episode because there is the revelation from Professor Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago says “Your climatic ending was better”. Normally I would have been disappointed with such a strange ending but somehow due to the good feeling that I held this story in I loved it. The Professor’s story was entertaining as his reaction to the wooden mannequin and then for it getting up was priceless. It was however Jago’s story that was perhaps the more interesting as it in his side that we learnt more about what was going on. The two sides meshed quite well. I did like how they made references to The Talons of Weng-Chiang and also a brief mention of the Doctor. I think that failure to do this would have led to this story feeling a bit hollow but thankfully they stuck these references in to please the die-hard fans like myself but not alienate newer fans.

What we have is that the wooden mannequins are in fact prisoners who’s souls have been taken from their real bodies in prison and put them in these wooden dummies is a superb idea. It’s the sort of thing that is so bizarre that it works somehow. Its towards the end of the story that we discover that all this has been down to a Dr Tulip but we never know whether he is alien or whether he works for aliens. Then we have the introduction of Jack Yeovil who seems to be a big gang leader who is desperate to get out of prison.

It’s amazing that after 32 years that Christopher Benjamin (Jago) & Trevor Baxter (Litefoot) sound exactly the same. It seems hard to believe that they haven’t played these characters since 1977. I always liked Jago because I think that he is sort of cheeky chappy with a good heart. Benjamin has recently appeared in Doctor Who appearing alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate in The Unicorn and the Wasp. In this story he slipped back into the role like a duck to water. Trevor Baxter also returned to the role of Litefoot like he only played it a month ago not 32 years ago. In the interview at the end of the story the pair of them as well as Lisa Bowerman seemed to get on which shines through.

Lisa Bowerman is the only other star of this story. She has a brief role as Ellie but it is her directing that is what I would like to write about. This is her best story as director because she manages to get the disjointed storytelling entertaining and with such eerie sounds and it helps that Benjamin and Baxter are so enthusiastic and clearly enjoying themselves. Andy Lane has written a superb story, getting the characters spot on and interacting so well with each other after 32 years. Compared to his first story in this series Here There Be Monsters, The Mahogany Murderers is a thoroughly entertaining and at times completely amazing story and that is what makes it a contender for story of the series.

Here There Be Monsters (2008)

2008 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Companion Chronicle Story

Here There Be Monsters is the opening story of the Third Series of Companion Chronicles. It’s safe to say that this range has become more popular than anyone could have imagined and its impact is felt through other ranges in Big Finish. Such as Highlander, Robin Hood and Dark Shadows have benefited from this simple yet effective format. The third series is going to be 12 stories long instead of the previous 4 releases which came out for Series One and Two. This first story sees the return of Susan Foreman who was the very first companion in Doctor Who way back in 1963 played by Carole Ann Ford. Ford played Susan from November 1963 until December 1964 and whilst is the first of the companions she isn’t the most highly regarded which is a shame because she did have potential and there were areas of her character that just were not explored. She was always written as a child that just got into scrapes as the adults did all the exciting stuff and that’s the main downside to the early years of the show is that they never really explored what a character could do. Nowadays you get companions with families and husbands or boyfriends but you got none of that stuff in 1963.

It is nice to hear Carole Ann Ford back in Doctor Who. I always wished she had stayed in the show for longer but I understand her reasons for leaving. I wish that they had bought her back in Series One or Two but at least they bought her back and gave a story that really showed a grown up Susan instead of a child like Susan. I also thought that Stephen Hancock put in a good performance as The First Mate. Hancock biggest role of his life is playing Ernie Bishop in the popular soap Coronation Street from 1969 until 1978. I didn’t realise this until I looked it up on other websites. It’s quite important that in these stories the supporting actor puts in a good performance. Hancock does this which is very well and his interaction with Susan is very gentle and sincere which I liked a lot.

This story is written by Andy Lane who is making his debut for the range and whenever we get a new writer it’s always quite difficult to judge what sort of story we are going to get and that can be quite exciting. Lane has written a very good script that whilst it is brilliant it is a good first attempt. What he has managed to do is capture the essence of the group and the dynamic that we all know from that period. Lisa Bowerman is making her directing debut with this story. She is really better known as Bernice Summerfield who she has been playing for 10 years but also appeared in the last of the Classic Doctor Who’s in Survival (1989). I don’t think that the story flows quite as well as it perhaps could. There are several moments especially early on where you are just praying that it will move on a bit quicker. By the latter part of the story it has got up to a good pace and enjoyable.

This is an enjoyable opening story for the third series of the companion chronicles. The music and sound effects really added to the action but it doesn’t dominate and allows the actors to take centre stage. The setting was very good and what it managed to do was feel like it was one of the many 1960’s Doctor Who stories that only exist in audio format.

Wirrn Dawn (2009)

Wirrn Dawn is the fourth instalment of the Third Eighth Doctor & Lucie adventures. This story sees the return of the Wirrn to the series. Their only appearance was back in 1974 in the Tom Baker story The Ark in Space. They are a monster that are more effective as a visual one so it was a curious choice for Big Finish to use but very much like the Autons in Series 2 they tried to do something different with a well known monster.

The opening scene was very well done as it was very dramatic and you got the impression that something big was going to happen. Then the action moves to the Doctor and Lucie who land on the spaceship and encounter the crew just before the Wirrn attack. I liked the idea that the Wirrn would infect a human so that they would take in all of the human’s knowledge and that would keep a peace between the two creatures. I thought it was a really good idea because it gives you a mixed feeling because obviously you wouldn’t want anyone to die and get tuned into a Wirrn but then on the other hand if it can guarantee peace then it might be a sacrifice that needs to be made but then again would you be willing to sacrifice yourself? I like the fact that they have kept true to the Wirrn sound and not gone for a 21st Century version. Changing the setting also helped move the story along. To begin with it was or seemed to be on a spaceship but then moved onto the planet. Korista VII was a superbly named planet and what I imagined it to be was to be in some fields in the middle of Asia where there are no people, no roads and very few animals and just the isolation of it all. The cliffhanger is what I didn’t like about this story. This one just seemed to be somewhere for the plot to stop and didn’t really have me gripped and wanting the next episode to come along. I was just thinking ‘Is That It?’ so I was really disappointed which is a shame because the others for this series have been really good.

Paul McGann puts in a superb performance in this story. He really seems to be enjoying playing the role. When he comes up against the Wirrn it isn’t like he is out to kill them or wipe them from existence but he just works out what is going on and finds a peaceful way out of it. Even when he is leaving he has to try and convince Delong not to kill the Wirrn. Sheridan Smith is also very good in this story as she stands up Salway several times throughout the story. In particular I like how she protects Farroll from being killed even though she was slowly turning into the Wirrn. Of all the guest stars the biggest name was obviously Colin Salmon who has appeared in a few James Bond films from 1996 to 2002 and also appeared in the 2008 Doctor Who story Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead. I was expecting him to play a management type character or as it is in the military some sort of general so it was nice that he got to play a lower ranked character. The character of Salway was your typical big man who when the going gets tough actually shirks any attempt to try and fight.

Also in this story is Daniel Anthony who plays Delong. Now Anthony is not someone that I know a lot about however on Wikipedia (the source of all correct knowledge) he plays Clyde Langer in the Spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. I must admit that the character of Delong is the only low point of the story and that is because at the beginning he was the voice of reason but as time progressed he obviously changed which wasn’t a bad thing however when it became clear that things were ok and were going to be fine he still played the untrusting fool. He did slightly redeem himself when he told the Doctor he was going to stay and to try and help peace which I thought was nice. Beth Chalmers is an actress who has appeared in several Big Finish plays over the last few years and can be relied upon to come up with an interesting voice and in this story she plays the Queen and even when the Queen is coming to the end of her life you still get a sense that she has human qualities which help add to the drama. Ian Brooker was very good in this story as Winslet, Brooker can always be relied upon to create a good voice and use in well.

Nicholas Briggs has written and directed this story and when he does both you always get a really strong story. Prime example is The Nowhere Place (2006) which is one of the best stories of the year. What Briggs has done is added something new to what we all new about the species called the Wirrn. With such a short amount of time to tell the story he has managed to keep the plot moving and only having characters that contributed to the story. Jamie Robertson also deserves some credit for staying true to the Wirrn sound and for also creating some truly memorable music which makes you think that he is wasted in audio and should be working on films or something like that.

Overall I think that this story is a very strong story. All the characters were well written and well acted and what was so good about them was that there was that sense they don’t trust each other then that all changed and by the end of it all the better characters. This series is really getting along very well and the new format is working better than I thought. On reflection there is no need why it should be any different because the series one and two stories were 50 minutes and so the only difference with series three is that there are cliffhangers which the eighth Doctor doesn’t get enough of.

The Beast of Orlok (2009)

The Beast of Orlok is the third story of the third series for the Eighth Doctor and Lucie. It is a story that has a nice setting and also a mystery that needs solving. In my opinion it is a classic Doctor Who story which has a nice setting and a monster/myth that seems to be terrorising the locals. By this point in the series the relationship between the Doctor and Lucie seems to have mended. Following on from Orbis and Hothouse it was very important that their relationship gets back to where it was back in Season 2 because whilst you want something new from the duo you don’t want it to change too much so that loses its appeal.

The opening scene was very impressive as it was setting the foundations of the Beast. When the Doctor and Lucie arrive in 1827 Germany there is the usual and often funny speech of thinking that they have arrived at Alton Towers but of course they haven’t. There was some good dialogue between the Doctor and Lucie. The speech that the Doctor gives Lucie to show when and where they are was very impressive and was a great example of just how smart this incarnation of the Doctor is. I also liked the opening scene when the Doctor and Lucie land and discuss the LTD button which either stands for Lucie to Drive or Locate the Doctor. These discussions show that their relationship is developing well and is going back to how it use to be.

Paul McGann was playing the Doctor with the cheeky intelligence that we come to expect from him now. His incarnation of the Doctor has benefited greatly from Lucie Miller as he seems to be trying to become the cool Doctor but constantly getting scorned by Miller. Sheridan Smith was continuing to develop well as Miller. Her character has one foot in the classic companion attitude of mocking the Doctor for having a craft that doesn’t go where it intends to (they were supposed to be going to Alton Towers Theme Park) and she also has one foot in the new era of being a companion of being feisty and intelligent. She had managed to cut out a lot of the gobby stuff that first appeared back in Blood of the Daleks (2007) but there is still enough to make her stand out on her own. Miriam Margolyes is the best of the guest stars as Frau Tod. She is always an actress that can be relied upon to give a entertaining performance no matter what is required of her. She is a mother that shows several times in this story just what sort of a woman she is. This was shown when she was telling the story of how she found Hans and Greta and that most people stayed indoors but she ventured out to see what was happening. Samuel Barnett (Hans) and Alison Thea-Skot (Greta) are very good in this story playing children who have grown up believing one thing and then thanks to the events of this story find out something else. They were characters that I found annoying to begin with by when the revelation was revealed they suddenly became nice well rounded characters. Nick Wilton was also very good as Otto Pausbacken (what a great name). Also Trevor Cooper as Judah contributed some good stuff to the story. Also last but by no means least Peter Guinness who played Baron Teufel. Guinness has amased quite a CV starring in such things as The Bill, Casualty and the 2005 BBC Costume drama Bleak House. Also he is married to Roberta Taylor who has appeared in Eastenders and The Bill but also starred in the 2000 play The Holy Terror and more recently the Doctor Who Magazine special release Cuddlesome.

Something I liked and only noticed this in the Extras interview was that not of the actors attempted to do a German accent which is a good thing because often when you get actors to try and do an American accent it is usually a horrible and stereotypical voice which ruins the story and I would listen to Assassin in the Limelight (2008) to see what I mean. Unless you get an actor from that country who can do the accent then you are doomed to fail and so just doing their voices in their normal English doesn’t diminish the characters or the action so it’s a lesson to future directors of Big Finish plays or radio plays in general that you don’t have to do the accent to get people to believe that is where the characters are from.

Barnaby Edwards writes his second story for Big Finish. His previous story was the 2008 story The Bride of Peladon which has similar feelings to The Beast of Orlok. What I like about this story is that it isn’t an alien invasion trying to use Earth as a place to stay until they can launch a war on Mars or Venus or something like that. He has also directed this story which is where Edwards is normally in production terms. He directed a story that kept this ticking along nicely at the beginning but then shifts the action to the cliffhanger and then beyond to the end of the story. I think that is a good thing when writer actually director their stories. Its not always a good thing because the writer has to have a good idea how they want the story to progress and I think in this category at the moment there is only Edwards and Nicholas Briggs who could do this.

Overall I think that this is a superb story that has characters that are well written and whilst some of it may be tongue in cheek (Hans and Greta) there more than enough to enjoy and go back time and time again. Barnaby Edwards has written another good story which even if your not a fan of the eighth Doctor or Lucie you would be hard pressed to find a fault with this story. I think that the story works well in the format of two 25 minutes and I think that it might even have worked in a four story format because there is enough going on that even with a little bit of padding you would still find it enjoyable.

The Boy That Time Forgot (2008)

2008 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNNER

• Best Guest Star (Andrew Sachs as Adric)

The Boy That Time Forgot is the second story in the Thomas Brewster story arc. At the end of the previous story, Thomas Brewster had stolen the TARDIS and left the Doctor and Nyssa stuck in 19th Century London. This story has been written by Paul Magrs who has written several stories such as The Stones of Venice (2001), Excelis Dawns (2002), The Wormery (2003), Horror of Glam Rock (2007), The Wishing Beast (2007) and The Zygon Who Fell to Earth (2008). This is a story that has a lot of expectations that were raised by the conclusion of the previous story but this story had far more important things to focus its attention on. The biggest thing to notice is of course the lack of a TARDIS. Now I’m not really fussed either way. I do like scenes which are set in the TARDIS and wish they would do more but then again when they don’t do scenes with the TARDIS I don’t really mind and it means that they can get involved straight into the action.

The setting was quite interesting because you don’t know whether its an alien planet or Earth in the distant past. It turns out that it is neither because it turns out that it is a primitive Earth that shouldn’t exist. Meanwhile in the city nearby where the Doctor and company are situated there are scorpions who we learn are ruled by a very clumsy and insecure sounding leader. The Doctor and Nyssa soon learn that it is Adric and through some weird string of events he has survived and has become the Scorpion King. I don’t know what the thinking was in using scorpions except that it might have something do with the fact that Scorpions might be magnificent creatures who are powerful and are probably quite loyal.

I think that the Doctor/Nyssa double act is one of the strongest acts in the Fifth Doctor era Due to the fact that they are so similar that when they do encounter Adric they are combined in their amazement and I think there might be a little bit of horror thrown in. The Adric that appears in this story is quite unlike the Adric played by Matthew Waterhouse between 1980 and 1982. That Adric was an annoying little oink in Pyjamas. The new Adric is very clingy and is after Nyssa which gets quite disturbing because you think that Adric is going to get violent against her. There would have been no point at bringing Adric back if you are going to just have the same old Adric so it was better to have a different actor to bring a different side to the character. That is something that Big Finish do well, bringing something back from the Classic era and giving it a new twist which is refreshing and shows initiative.

Peter Davison is very good in this story and puts in his best performance for quite some time. His Doctor never liked Adric for some reason and there was some great tension between the pair throughout this story. His Doctor has to deal with the loss of his TARDIS and trying to get it back as well as trying to get everyone back to their own time. Sarah Sutton always puts in an excellent performance. She is one of my favourite companions and its because essentially she is the Doctor’s equal both emotionally and intellectually. She isn’t one of those whiny people but always put logic to a problem and never just screams her way out of a situation. Andrew Sachs is the big name in this story as everyone knows him from Fawlty Towers but in this story he not only has to play The Scorpion King but he also has to play the 2008 version of Adric. Sachs manages to play Adric the right way considering the events of Earthshock. I really like Harriet Walter as Mrs Beatrice Mapp because she was playing the Jane in the Tarzan films. She seemed to form a double act with Rupert Von Thal played by Adrian Scarborough which I thought was very entertaining. Also Olivier Senton was very good as Kranlee with Claire Wyatt rounding off all the good strong cast by playing Madam Teegarna.

Paul Magrs has written a very good script that just has a light reference towards the Brewster story arc and just concentrates on the emotional point of being reunited with someone who the Doctor and Nyssa thought had perished but was in fact alive and well. I think that Magrs is a really good writer and I think that Horror of Glam Rock & The Zygon Who Fell to Earth are his best works but this one might beat those two. Barnaby Edwards who directs a large number of Big Finish audio plays does well to keep the story going and doesn’t let on too soon that the Scorpion King is in fact Adric. I personally think one of the best scenes was actually at the end where they are all back in their own time after all the events that went on. Something that also deserves a mention is about the music and sound effects which really helped distinguish the current time period against the prehistoric and that credit goes to Steve Foxon who has done a superb job.

Overall this story was a superb due to the fact that it was just a shock with the return of a character that splits fandom to those who like him and those who don’t. There was the pick up of the Brewster storyline at the end when the TARDIS returns. I didn’t know whether we would hear anything from Brewster and the minute (ish) bit at the end was enough to make it feel like it was part of the story arc. There was enough in the story to keep it at the four episode mark which was just the right limit.

A story that can should be listened whenever possible.