The Last Adventure: The End of the Line (2015)

The Last Adventure is the special release which gives Colin Baker the send off that he deserves. The unceremonious way in which he was dumped is not the way that any actor in the role should be treated. If anyone was going to give him the send off that he deserves then Big Finish was going to be the one to do it. There was a slight problem before I even started to press play on my generic MP3 player. The audiobook version of the download is in one block which is four hours and eight minutes which is a long track and with my mp3 player it cant do what an ipod can do and pick up where you left off if you want to play a different track so I have to remember where I was before I can even start. They did this stunt with the latest New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield and its one that I hope they stop soon.

Anyway back to the first part of this series which is called The End of the Line and is the debut of Constance Clarke who is going to make her debut in the main range in September but this its hard to imagine that her debut would have been better in that story. I have to say that this was a truly superb start to the boxset because its atmospheric and also all the performances are perfect. I like how the Master is bought into this story but writers Simon Barnard & Paul Morris have come up with a genius way of getting around the fact that Anthony Ainley isn’t alive and that is by saying that Keith Potter is an avatar that the Master has created because his plan is so dangerous.

I also loved the fact that the Master went with such as normal name as Keith Potter because it’s not the sort of name that he would have gone for because he normally would have gone for something that had a tie in with Master so it was a surprise really. The appearance of the Valeyard at the end of the piece ended it on a really strong note and it immediately increased the tension. Even though he has a little speech, Michael Jayston came close to stealing the show. That is how good he is. I was slightly distracted by Anthony Howell because I am so use to hearing him in The Avengers and he uses exactly the same voice but does actually give a different performance as Tim Hope.

Colin Baker seems to be in a new stride. It almost becomes boring to write that he doesn’t give a terrible performance. However he seems to be better than normal and I think that he is just enjoying himself and it almost sounds like he is stress free (despite whats going on). Miranda Raison is perfect casting as Constance. I love how it seems like it feels they have been together for years even though this is their first outing. Its difficult to pin down exactly what it is about the character that I like but there is something and both Baker and Raison are going to make a good combination in the main range.

The opening story of this boxset had to hit the ground running and it does it very well indeed. By the end of this story I was glad that I had bought it and was looking forward to carrying on with the rest of it. I just wish that they hadn’t put it all in one release.

The Secret History (2015)

The Secret History is the 200^th release in the main range and is the final story in the Locum Trilogy. I remember when the range reached 100 back in September 2007, I wasn’t totally impressed with it partly because I wasn’t convinced that you could tell a story in 25 minutes and to do it four times would be impossible. Years later I re-listened to it and thought that it was a better story than I gave it credit for. This story sees the Fifth Doctor team up with Vicki and Steven and as they are companions of the first Doctor it seems inevitable that the story is a historical adventure and whilst listening to this story I found myself thinking about the 2001 release The Council of Nicaea which I really like and so the idea of this set up seemed to be the one with the most potential.

The first scene between the Doctor, Vicki and Steven is dealt with quite quickly. This might be because the third time round the novelty is becoming repetitive so there is no need for a long scene about the who’s and why’s. The first part of this story does feel like its going at a casual pace.

The big reveal of this story is that the person that he has behind all of the locum trilogy is the Meddling Monk and I didn’t see this coming although it sort of makes sense when you think about it. The previous two stories have been dummy runs for the Meddling Monk. The Monk is going to try and make the Doctor interfere with events forcing the Timelords to notice and take action against the Doctor. As plans go it’s convoluted to the stage that the Master would be suing for copyright infringement.

The supporting cast are all entertaining enough. Lysette Anthony is quite good as Sophia. Anthony has previously appeared as Clara Harris in Assassin in the Limelight (2008) and as Hazel Bright in Hothouse (2009) and so she shows us on more than one occasion how good she is. Another BF regular is Tony Millan who last appeared in Situation Vacant (2010). His contribution to the story was enough to make his characters memorable. Having Graham Garden back in Doctor Who is always a good thing and he seems to thrive playing the Monk so hopefully it wont be another four years before returning.

As a story it worked out quite well. It was a nice setting that got even better when the Meddling Monk. Peter Davison was on fine form and it was nice to have Peter Purves and Maureen O’Brien involved in a full cast audio even though it could be argued that they get pretty close to this type of story in the early adventures. As the final story in the Locum Trilogy it was the best largely because it actually attempted to answer the questions as to why Doctors were popping up where they should. I can’t say that it was a largely successful trilogy but that is because it had quite a lot to live up to with the set up and the anniversary.

Big Finish has accomplished a lot in 200 releases and sixteen years. The stories have been largely good and some classics like Live 34 and The Chimes of Midnight. Its quite impressive that Big Finish have managed to find 200 stories that could easily work on TV and I look forward to the next 200 releases.

Last of the Cybermen (2015)

There are certain words that immediately raise expectations when you include them in a title and Cybermen is one of them. This story sees the Sixth Doctor reunite with Jamie and Zoe and so perhaps the dynamic of this story isn’t quite a surprise as in the previous story. The Sixth Doctor, Jamie and Zoe all appeared in the 2010 Legend of the Cybermen which was one that I wasn’t a huge fan of but I did have expectations when pressing play on my generic MP3 player. Like The Defectors, the action in this story starts off pretty much straight away. Very little time is wasted in trying to shoehorn Colin Baker into the story and unlike Jo Grant, both Jamie and Zoe seem more willing to accept the situation they find themselves in.

The first two thirds of the story seem like your normal Doctor Who story but it’s the final third that is interesting and the one that makes it feel like it’s trying to be a story in its own right instead of just being part of a celebration or story arc. I thought that having Zoe as the Cyber Planner was a nice move and was similar in making Tegan the sacrifice in The Entropy Plague. I thought that both Frazer Hines (2010 Toms Tardis Award Winner for Best Companion) was on fine form and Wendy Padbury was also on fine form and in particular when she was the Cyber Planner. This was a good story for Colin Baker and its rare to have Colin Baker on anything less than fine form but he seemed to be having fun in his new surroundings. Lucy Liemann was the best of the supporting cast as Zennox although there was something good about the performances of the other cast members.

I wanted this story to be as good as other Cybermen stories and better than The Defectors and one of those desires was met. It isn’t the greatest Cyberman story but neither is it the worst. I was listening to Sword of Orion recently and it impressed me how despite being 14 years old is still a cracking good story and I don’t know whether the same will be said in 2029 about this story. The only thing that hasn’t been addressed in this story and it’s the question of what or who is causing the Doctor’s to find themselves in unusual situations. Nothing is even mentioned about this and its something that I think could have been sneaked in somewhere.

Rating

The Defectors (2015)

The Locum Trilogy of stories are building up to the 200^th release in the main range. The initial idea of the trilogy is to put Doctors with companions from earlier in the shows past and that in itself is a nice idea because it’s one that must have been imagined by fans for years and now Big Finish are going through with it. The great thing about this idea is that it gives the older companions the opportunity to feature in a full cast audio which is a bit of a rarity for the likes of Katy Manning or Maureen O’Brien. The first in this series is The Defectors which sees the Seventh Doctor team up with Jo Grant. It’s always interesting to know the logic for going with the combinations that they do but one would suspect that it’s partly down to scheduling but anyway we have the combination that we do and Nicholas Briggs is the one that gets the series underway.

Briggs doesn’t let the grass grow under his feet and the action instantly gets going. There is a lot of confusion in the early stages. Sadly the confusion seems to mask the fact that this story is slightly difficult to follow. It’s one of those stories that doesn’t make any sense to me but didn’t mean that I hated it. It’s a perfectly functional story but I think that it would have made more sense to have a familiar threat to just add that killer punch. One of the few successes of the story is the dynamic between Sylvester McCoy and Katy Manning. I have become so use to hearing Sophie Aldred and Philip Olivier bickering with McCoy’s Doctor, that it was a nice refreshing change to have someone else interact with the Doctor.

Something that come to grate on me recently and its not just a Big Finish problem is to do with the character of The Brigadier. The Brigadier is away and out of the picture which is convenient and to be honest this is something that bothers me because everyone knows that Nicholas Courtney has passed away and so if you are going to use the character then either cast someone who sounds like Courtney or don’t have him in it.

Nicholas Briggs is one of the most prolific writers in Big Finish and over the years he has written such classics as The Sword of Orion or The Nowhere Place but I think that on this occasion he has missed the mark and its not the best start to the Locum Trilogy that there could have been. Normally the middle story of the series tends to be the weakest but I think come the end of The Secret History, I don’t think that this story will be the best.

Rating - 6/10

The Entropy Plague (2015)

The Entropy Plague is the final story of this series which has been very hit and miss. I thought that Mistfall was highly enjoyable and yet Equlalibrium totally missed the mark so I was hoping that this story would end the series on a high note and whilst not as good as Mistfall it was far better than Equilibrium. This is a story that has been several years in the making and so this story had more riding on it than most series finale’s.

One of the things that I like about this story is that it is high on action and high on drama. The thing that Jonathan Morris can do really well write a story that utilises characters really well and engages them in a story which feels like it could be used on the TV. I like that Nyssa’s child Adric has been bought back and Morris utilises the flashback plot device that has become famous due to shows like Lost but unlike Lost, this story has an ending that makes sense. Morris always has one (narrative) eye on the regulars and the other on the story and each episode sees one regular telling Adric the story and its hard to think of many writers that would take this creative approach.  

The story sees the TARDIS land on Apollyon which is in a weird state at the beginning of the story because entropy is going to cause the end of the world but people are either trying to escape or party. The only way to escape is via a portal and it can only be opened via a human sacrifice which is a rather grim idea. What makes the idea even grimmer is that Tegan is going to be used as the sacrifice.

With the story being light of positive vibes, the performances are appropriately downbeat. I thought that all the performances were very good and in particular Peter Davison.  

The Entropy Plague is one of the best Fifth Doctor stories for quite sometime. Jonathan Morris is on fine form and he has written a story that has a lot going on and not only does the story get wrapped up in a proper way but the series is wrapped up in the same way and my confidence in the range is back at its usual high after the wobble of the previous story. There is just one question that still remains which Morris has in a way created and that is just where does this Doctor/Companion combination go because it would be nice if future stories with this combination aren’t tied to this story arc that we have had. It would be nice to have a more familiar Nyssa as opposed to the older Nyssa that we have had all this time.

The Cloisters of Terror (2015)

I will make a confession and that is I have listened to this before the previous story Suburban Hell. Due to the fact I have these stories listed on my phone in alphabetical order and not numerical means that occasionally this sort of thing happens. Anytime that Jonathan Morris’ name appears on a Big Finish release then its cause for excitement because he has such a strong track record. This story features the return of Rowena Cooper who plays Emily Shaw or Dame Emily Shaw. Shaw is the daughter of Liz Shaw and was last heard in The Last Post. If you haven’t heard that release then I strongly recommend that you should because it’s one of the strongest companion chronicle stories in the range.

The story takes the Doctor and Leela to Oxford where they encounter three ghostly nuns. This bit alone is enough to lure me in and the ideas in general are really good. The idea that the nuns are trying to stop things from going a bit boom boom by kidnapping people every so often is one that works in the confines of this story but its not one that would work in a four parter. The music helps create a nice impression and credit should go to Jamie Robertson.

The performances are all really good. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson now come across like they have been doing this for a long time not just three or four years. It’s even more impressive when you take into consideration that they weren’t the best of friends on TV. Rowena Cooper’s previous performance in The Last Post was lovely and whilst this performance was good it wasn’t on the same level as that one. Hopefully this wont be the last time that we hear from Dame Shaw because I think that it’s the sort of character that could appear in a story every so often. Richenda Carey makes her third Big Finish/Doctor Who appearance and this time she plays Sister Frances Beckett. I thought that Beckett was a strong and enjoyable character. Jane Slavin makes her seventh appearance opposite Tom Baker and her fourth of 2015 following the Novel Adaptions. She was quite good as an Ancient Nun. The character was quite good but all the performances were good so Slavin’s performance sort of gets lost in the shuffle.

I thought that the first half was stronger than the second. There were aspects of the second part that I liked so its an enjoyable release from Jonathan Morris and Nicholas Briggs. The thing is that I keep in my mind that the Cybermen are coming in this series and just want it to get closer as quickly as possible. The Cloisters of Terror is a good story and one that I recommend to people if they want to have chills and suspense.

Return to Telos (2015)

When it was announced that the Fourth Doctor would be encountering the Cybermen again, I was really excited because the Doctor only had one adventure with the silver monsters and its always good when these two elements encounter each other. The Fate of Krelos was a good opening story because it was wonderfully atmospheric and yet totally engaging. An argument could be made that Krelos was a case of style over substance whereas this story is one of substance over style. All the good work that Nicholas Briggs had achieved in Krelos was undone quite spectacularly in this story. Nicholas Briggs is one of the best writers in Big Finish and when he gets to write a story I find myself totally engaged with what he has written and when he gets to direct as well then its like poetry. If you haven’t listen to 2006’s The Nowhere Place then I highly recommend that you do. When The Fate of Krelos finished I thought that this adventure would be wonderful and so it’s with a heavy heart that I say that Return to Telos is a huge disappointment.

There were things that I liked about this story. I thought that it was a nice touch that they used the Cybermen from Tomb of the Cybermen in this story. The Cybermen from this period of time are the best designed in terms of style and voice and I thought that it worked well. I also liked that they went to the trouble of getting Bernard Holley to reprise the role of Hayden. If I didn’t know better I would swear that it was from that story.  Michael Cochrane is always fun to listen to because he is one of the best actors to be in Doctor Who and even when he stars in things such as Brotherhood of the Daleks he is still entertaining. Any chance of getting Frazer Hines to do a Patrick Troughton is one that should be taken and I loved at one point Hines would be doing Troughton and then Jamie. It would be great to think that he did it all in one take.

What disappointments me about this story is that I don’t quite understand why it was decided to include Jamie and Hayden. If they had been taken out then the business with the Fourth Doctor and Leela would have worked much better. I think like most people that there was going to be something more epic about this encounter bearing in mind that it’s the final story of the season but instead it just feels like a normal release.

There is also the small matter of the different console rooms which seems like it could be quite a big plot point but it doesn’t live up to expectations and that is ultimately how I will remember this story in years to come. Maybe I am being too harsh but I cant help but note the disappointment that I felt when the end music played. Like I said earlier, if they took out Jamie and Hayden then this review would go differently however it is what it is and sadly this story does nothing to the Cybermen’s menace or enjoyment.