Seagullslost's Doctor Who (and others) audio reviews

Collateral Victim Gallifrey War Room 1.3 The Norvis galaxy: whatever happens its gets destroyed. Either the Daleks take over and turn it into weapon manufacturings, or the Timelords wipe it from existence to stop them. Though the Timelord Bandar was sent enact its removal from time ,it seems the planet Mellacron has somehow evaded its deletion. Leela, Velkin and Rasmus are sent to to investigate. Its amazing how much is packed into this hour long episode. They find themselves on Mellacron, but also drift into different time zones. Bandar arrived much earlier and has been advancing technology, but even he doesn’t know the full story. It does illustrate how far the TImelords are willing to go, in winning the war, and, as with the War Doctor, some decisions are not easy. Though there is little evidence that any Gallifrayan is bothered by the actions the ‘have’ to take. Some of Veklins deeds are questionable and it does make for an interesting drama. There are a number of twists and turns,...

The Passenger Gallifrey: War Room 1.2 A Dalek ship is heading for Gallifrey, but there’s only one occupant - a Timelord. Its Leela’s job to make contact. A lot of this audio seems just about trying to verify that the Timelord is who he says he is: Kalgoth. He’s the only survivor of a battle with the Daleks and his memory has been affected. Leela herself is quite sedate, following orders quite obediently. I was expecting something to come of it but no, not here anyway. Also she’s not a major character in this episode either. With no Romana or Narvin, she’s the only constant of the Gallifrey series.The others are present, Veklin, Olistra - I’ve been trying to remember why I know the voice, its Carolyn Pickles I know her from the TV series Bluebells, but that was a long time ago. It has the usual twists and turns, but the fact is that every time I came back to continue listening I found I couldn’t remember what was happening and had to go back. For the last 15 minutes I did consider just ...

The Mystery Of The Missing Hour Sapphire and Steel 2.6 A man narrates a story: the time he and his family went on an archaeological expedition to Cairo in 1926. Sapphire and Steel - or rather Shuffle and Sixpence - the amateur detectives - are players in a rather cliched tale, full of stock characters, that comes across as a hammily performed, detective story by an am dram group. So what is going on? Its narrator (Colin Baker) tells of when he was younger and when the murders happened. The interesting thing is that even Sapphire and Steel appear not to know who they really are. It is part comedy and sends up the medium at times. The narrator, for instance, saying something only for it to cut to1926 and the younger version to repeat it.  There are mysteries and clues along the way, both in the story being told and the bigger issue.  Arthur Travers being seen in two places at once, and what really happened to his parents. Shuffle/Steel asking why people keep announcing where the...

The Last Days Of Freme Gallifrey: War Room 1.1 Leela now a prisoner on Gallifrey, is fitted with a compliance collar. She does the Timelords bidding or she suffers, it not much or a choice. Here the mission is to stop the Daleks and Fremians becoming allies. Travelling back to before the alliance, Leela is almost immediately taken by the people of Freme. It does feel a bit strange to force Leela to work for the Timelords - a primitive, Surely there must be more suitable agents. Its a reasonable story, all the regulars are present, Rassilon, Veklin, Ollistra, No Romana though. I am impressed with Louise Jameson, doing so many Leela stories, set at different places in her timeline. This is an older wiser Leela and its well performed. The resolution is nicely done, The Daleks themselves don’t make an appearance, and I must admit my concentration wasn’t all there, but I feel I would have liked to of had the world of Freme and its situation expanded on. 

Dark Tides                                                 The Ninth Doctors Adventures 4.7                                                                             It maybe the future where the Doctor and Rose have travelled but its also a era of decline, a dark age. The Knights of Atlas seek a treasure aboard a lost ship, now reachable from the Dark tides. This is a welcome change from the Powell estate audios. The future, space, spaceships - a bit of space opera. Though with the Knights, and Rose being called ‘fair maiden’ there’s a hint of an historical, though it doesn’t last that long. It does feel that the Doctor is back where he belongs.  The lost ship isn’t as deser...

A Life Never Lived  Timeslip vol. 3 Simon, Liz, Jade, Neil and Charlotte, enter the barrier and find themselves in early 1914, just before the start of WW1. Its not an alternative timeline, the big twist being that they encounter Flora - a suffragette, who is Liz’s great grandmother. What’s more its the day before she dies… Its not quite what’s expected from Timeslip - not that I’m an expert. Though the first TV story was just set in the past, I think the big draw for me was seeing the alternative futures that started with the second tv story. This comes across more as an historical Doctor Who, its even only 4 30ish minute episodes.  It is enjoyable, the lads having to work as debt collectors, finding somewhere to live etc. The stuff with Fora is interesting - being a suffragette and the challenges she’s faced. You do want Liz to tell he what the future will be like. There is some nice debates as to whether saving Flora from her death will change time and history as they know ...

The Locked Room The Companion Chronicles 9.4 Once the ruler of a people he left the TARDIS to lead, Steven lives hidden away. His granddaughter Sida, now president, gave him money to build a radio telescope, but what exactly is he doing? So first off to appreciate this story to its fullest, you really need to not only know the TV series, but have heard the previous two ‘older Steven’ CC’s, and the Oliver Harper CC trilogy. I, so far haven’t heard the first older Steven, or the last Oliver Harper CC. I suppose that what happens when you pick up stuff in the sales. It didn’t impair my enjoyment, but you would be quite lost without doing some research first. The first Doctor does feature in this, indeed Steven has been working hard and has managed to contact/summon up up the Doctor. Unsurprisingly it involves both Steven and Sida being locked in a room. Of course there’s a twist - a third element that harks back to the Oliver Harper plot.  As I said it helps to know whats happened bef...

The Kamelion Empire                              Doctor Who Monthly Adventures 249                                                    Kamelion and his kind receive a recall signal: its time for Kamelion to go home… Its not quite the homecoming as the Kamille are all but gone, the remains of kamelions are scattered around but the Locus can revive his species… I’ve not been that complimentary of Kamelion in my reviews of the previous 2 audios. It feels that he’s one trick pony, just gets taken over by a stronger mind. Once you know one story, you know them all. This audio does for Kamelion what Domain of the Voord did for the Voord, which is to fill in the back story and expand on the little we’ve been told. The only issue with giving Kamelion a backstory is that part two is almost one l...

Burrowed Time The New Adventures or Bernice Summerrfield Buried Memories 5.4 The final in this set and its come too soon. A distress signal takes the Doctor and Benny to a museum, where they learn about a planet when the people fought a war in which a bomb wiped out pretty much all existence of them. But there’s a mystery - a tale of an underground train that’s  still running. Its not long before both the Doctor and Benny find themselves underground on the mythical train, and they’re not the only ones there. I quite like the idea of the race being more underground dwellers. The train having to bore its tunnel as it goes as the rock caves in as soon as it passes. Also it keeps itself going by reconstituting the minerals to bores. The Doctor mentions he’s had several bodies, though as this is a alternate third doctor, he’s not not actually had many. Of course there’s complications on the train, how’s its kept going and has been keeping the people ‘alive’ and its all interesting. Anot...