Seagullslost's Doctor Who (and others) audio reviews

Doctor Who Monthly Range 234 : Kingdom Of Lies The Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric arrive on a planet divided by a, not so happy, couple. The couple are The Duke and Duchess, who only a year into marriage are now at loggerheads. So much so that the Duke has hired an assassin. When the TARDIS team find themselves on either side of a dividing line, each pair, therefore on a ‘different’ side, they both opt for the same survival method: they are the assassins come to kill the other’s spouse. It is a bit of a challenge to suspend the disbelief, just happing to have the same idea as each other. And a somewhat outlandish one at that. It does lean more towards comedy than a serious drama, as long as you’re onboard with that then there’s fun to be had. Things change half way through when the real assassin turns up, from there it become the usual runabout. Patsy Kensit features in this - a bit of a blast from the past - for me, a name I've not heard or seen for quite a while. It takes a more ...

The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles : Volume 3: Geronimo!   Part  3 :The End Its a bit of a running start in this one, as things are already in motion. Its a spaceship, the Doctor has been bitten and is dying, but also its Valerie that been bitten and is dying not the Doctor so what is going on? So firstly, it is slightly annoying to have the pre credits sting/clifhanger: the fact that the Doctor is - minor spoiler - dead - only for a few seconds later, after the title music, to find out that, that’s not the case. Its very click baity, but its a minor quibble. The plot itself is interesting, there are two timelines running parallel. It something we’ve experienced before, though I am struggling to give an example. However one reality has the Doctor bitten and dying and in the other its Valerie.  Time spiders are the cause, something that the Timelords had thought wiped out. The fact the Doctor seems intent to carry on with that plan and kill them is a little worrying, surely th...

The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles : Volume 3: Geronimo!   Part  2: The House Of Masks Responding to a call at the end of the previous episode the Eleventh Doctor and Valerie find themselves in the 18th century Venice during carnivale. Trying to find the woman who made the call they head to a plaazzo and have, or rather enjoy a ball. This is a fairly standard story. A crashed space ship unnoticed by the carnival, a malfunctioning computer and things not quite what they appear to be. All happening behind the gusto of period clothing and the ball and dancing. Its a good enjoyable tale, but nothing outstanding, unique or memorable for that matter. I find that very good or very bad audios gives you lots of scope to detail what it was that made it as such. When you have little to say but enjoyed it then, its good but unremarkable, which is what this is. As an adventure to experience more of the Eleventh Doctor it does its job. Valerie was good, but I didn’t feel that much was done with...

The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles : Volume 3: Geronimo!   Part 1: The Inheritance A research base in the future and something is causing many deaths. When the Eleventh Doctor arrives needing a tool to defuse a bomb, he meets, Valerie. The two are charged with finding a cure of whatever it is thats killing people. I listened to Spirit of The Season at Christmas, as I like to enjoy a festive audio or two at that time of year. My first foray into post Tenant audios. I’d never really been interested in actors being replaced when the current one are still alive, but I wanted something new. I was pleasantly surprised, Jacob Dudman does a very Matt Smith, as with others who have stepped into another actors shoes, its very good, not quite the same but close enough. Its not a bad jumping one point, Spirit of the Season had a few things I wasn’t aware of, in this audio he meet Valerie for the first time. So you don’t fees you’ve missed anything. Without giving too much away, their money is infe...

Tales From The Vault The first in series six of the Companion Chronicles Charlie Sato meets Ruth Matheson at the UNIT vault - a place where all the alien artefacts are kept. Is he ready for his new job and the horrors that lie in the Vault? I was a few minutes into this before I remembered it was a companion chronicles release. Usually these adventures start with an old companion telling a story. Here it begins much more like any other full cast audio. Set in the present without any bookends. Charlie Sato and Ruth Matheson maybe familiar names, I had to look it up but I’ve heard them in the Screaming Skull - one of the Worlds Of Doctor Who episodes. These two characters are played by Yee Jee Tso and Daphne Ashbrook - the Eighth Doctor companions for the TV Movie. Though they’re not playing their original roles it does fit in the the Companion theme. As Ruth shows Charlie around the vault we get to find out more about some of the artefacts, and get to hear past companions. A voice recor...

  G allifrey: Time War - Volume 3 Part Four: Unity Romana and Narvin arrive on the planet Unity and meet an old friend: Leela Leela herself has a family of sorts, but is she ready to rejoin Romana? Its not a bad story, one of Leela associates is ill and needs medication, Romana and Narvin have other plans though. With the TARDIS being stolen and the Daleks alerted to its presence, there is some peril. The real interest comes torwards the end with some desperate measures considered. There does seem to be a bit of history repeating itself with this set, once before Romana and co left Gallifrey. This is perhaps the least Gallifrey related set so far not to mention a little removed form the Time War. Its enjoyable but not outstanding, its the last ten minutes that anything worthwhile happens.  Overall an enjoyable set.

The War Doctor Begins : Forged In Fire Part 3: The Shadow Squad Eliminating the Dalek time strategist would seem to on the cards in this adventure. Commodore Tamasan has been sent on a mission, though why someone of her rank has been sent is a little unclear. However the Doctor is on the same mission himself. I think I maybe changing my feeling toward the War doctor audios, as I found myself enjoying this.  It has a film/novel feel to it, with the Doctor and Tamasan in a bar looking for a contract and there being a time shift and unexplained occurrences. There are some nice ideas, the Squad mentioned in the title have been created to prevent the Dalek time strategist form being able to interfere with their mission. The Strategist exciting in all versions of time and thus being able to alter the past to change the future. Time war stories have never been that gripping to me, however sometimes they throw up an audio that hits the nail on the head. Going from probably dropping the war...

The War Doctor Begins : Forged In Fire Part 2: Lion Hearts A Timelord solider is being debriefed, her latest mission was to rescue a Tharil prisoner named Biroc, she thought it was a solo mission until another timelord showed up: the Doctor. I’ve said before that the War Doctor audios haven’t really been for me. Listening to the Doctor playing solider boy isn’t really my cup of tea. I’m watching The Deadly Assassin at the moment, seeing these old, dodgery, stick-in-the-mud people and then hearing these soldiers hell bent on winning the war is hard to reconcile.  I also feel that the Doctor shouldn’t just be a pawn in the game and should just turn up and do what he believes to be the right thing. In this he does more or less do that. The addition of Biroc - the Tharil from Warriors Gate is a nice touch but adds little to the plot. You feel that maybe there's a pint to it, that there’ll be a reason for his inclusion but none that I can remember. As with the previous episode, Light th...

The War Doctor Begins: Forged in Fire Part 1: Light the Flame I first heard Jonathan Carley as the War Doctor in the Once and Future Coda. I didn’t realise it was the war Doctor at the time, but hearing him here it is quite a good voice likeness. For me this was an odd decision, I wasn’t keen on the War Doctor audios. The War Doctor and the time war were not depicted as I had imagined so I always felt a little let down by them, but as it was on sale why not? I do tend to jump in to audios without doing any research and its not always the best idea. This continues almost directly on from the TV minisode, where the Eighth Doctor regenerates, so it very much helps to keep that in mind - I did go back and watch it in fact. Its set on Karn and the war is getting nearer, the Timelords are pleased the Doctor has joined the cause and plan to upgrade the TARDIS but that’s not all they’re after. It is very talkie, its almost half way through before anything really starts to happen. The war Docto...

The Final Act Jago and Litefoot 5.4 I had meant to listen to this in December but opted to go for an Eighth Doctor and Charlie set instead. I do miss stand alone episodes, being able to just put on a story and not having to know what happened in all the previous ones first. I started this but found that I hadn’t really taken it in so again, listened to something else. Picking up from the Bloodchild Codex, (which I missed to write a review for, so can’t refer to my notes). The series arc, that of the events of Talons of Weng Chiang now seem to be coming to a head. I found similar issues to previous attempts and getting though it. Just generally being a little lost. With elements such as Mr Sin and the time cabinet, it feels that this should be somewhat epic or at least live up to the highly thought of TV story. But early on Jago’s theatre show appears to be higher on the list of priorities. I didn’t get a sense of urgency, or real peril, and I lost interest. I’m not saying it wasn’t enj...