Seagullslost's Doctor Who (and others) audio reviews

Dead and Buried                                       Star Cops Mother Earth 1.5                                     With Mother Earth apparently over and done with, the ISPF have their hands full. On one hand Devis investigates coffins that don’t seem to house people that actually existed. While Nathan and Kenzy pay a visit to the only residential building on the moon where a burglar has died… With Priya if off on a course and Paul taking a little bit of a back seat, it does put the original Star Cops members to the front. It is nice to have Kenzy back and this time a proper star cop again.  This starts with a ...

The Flames of Cadiz Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles 7.7 The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara arrive in Spain, as usual its not a good time to be in as the Spanish are at war with English. Catholic and Protestant - a religious war. Its not a bad place to set a story in, its open to all the usual trapping that make a successful early Doctor Who story. And the ‘typical’ historical periods have kind of been done.  It is a tale of two parts. In the first, Ian having a coin with Elizabeths head, means he’s captured as a protestant and his future is bleak. In the second half, its Ian who wants to meet Sir Frances Drake, and this does stretch believability a little. Through it does add tension as the Doctor thinks he will change history and so has an agenda of his own. But it feels a little tacked on, with the peril in the first half being dealt with are they really going to temp fete again? This is a four parter, and with the length, the four members of the TARDIS team, and other chara...

 A Forest For All Seasons.   Doctor Who Short Trips: A Feast of Steven 1.1 The Doctor, Steven and Vicky arrive on a planet, and Vicky soon sprains her ankle. Though there are people about something isn’t right.. At first the locals don’t seem to be able to see or hear Steven and the Doctor as they go for help, but as they go back for Vicky they find she’s become one of ‘them’, and there is a woman Steven is interested in. Its a great setup, it reminds me a little of the first episode of the space museum, the intrigue of what’s going on, all the little things that don’t add up. I’ve heard a few Peter Purves/Steven Taylor audios recently - just the way its worked out as I buy a lot when the sales are on. But they’ve really done some nice work expanding the character. Here Steven kind of has a relationship, or at the least the potential for one, some its nice to have him fleshed out more. I’ve not listened to many Short Trips, but this could be just another Companion Chronicle. P...

Doctor Who The Companion Chronicles The Elixir of Doom This is a Jo and Iris Wildthyme story. It continues from the events of Find and Replace. Though you don’t need to know what happened, you may be a little confused if you haven’t heard it. But in 2010 Jo met Iris and they started to travel together. In this they go to LA in the 1930’s: the movies, a party and a film that never got finished. Beside the monsters, there’s a shot in a film where Iris is sending a message… I’ve said before you can’t go wrong with a Katy Manning audio. The fact she plays her own two roles: Jo and Iris, she great at other voices so it come across as more of a full cast audio. The narration switches between Jo and Iris, and at one point even Iris comments that its her narrating now. If you’ve listened to Find and Replace (if you haven’t, then do, it great!) and Iris audios, you’ll know that story telling tropes are played around with, its great fun and not to be taken too seriously. The Doctor does features...

The Third Doctor Adventures. 7.1 The Unzal Incursion Liz Shaw launches Hotspur, a new system to detect alien threats. The Fulcrum facility is training new recruits. An alien race call the Unzal is in contact with people on Earth and when Unit personal start turning against their superiors, The Brigadier, Doctor and Liz find themselves alone and on the run… With the main cast all being played by different actors, you might think Is it time to stop? but it still works. The accents are all played a little upper class and maybe they were but its just more noticeable when you’re anyalizing them. Liz Shaw does get a better chance to shine in this one. She starts off as the main scientist, with the Doctor looking on. What’s more at one point in the script she says, When did I stop being call Doctor Shaw, so righting some wrong there. This has all, the right ingreidents for a third Doctor story, the music, action, chases aeroplanes etc. It is a bit like the Torchwood plot where the heroes and ...

Doctor Who The Companion Chronicles 8.1 Mastermind This is set in the Vault, with Ruth Matheson and Charlie Sato, played by Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Tee Tso, better known for their roles in the TV Movie as Grace and Chang Lee. This audio is slightly unusual for a companion chronicle as it also stars Geoffrey Beevers as the Master. The Vault, if you’re not aware, is a UNIT  facility holding alien artefacts; its Ruth’s and Charlies job to guard it. It is a follow up to the Tales of the Vault, the earlier Companion Chronicle. I say that but they have featured in another audios. The Master is a resident of the Vault, only waking an hour every five years, and precautions have to be taken. They take the opportunity of his waking to find out how he ended up I the Vault. The Master narrates his life existing on Earth in his decayed form. With the cast doing different voices for the people the Master talks about, its easy to forget this is a companion chronicle and not a full cast audio. Esp...

Doctor Who  The Lost stories Operation Werewolf This was one of those audios I’d seen, didn’t know much about but wanted to listen to. Micheal Troughtons 2nd Doctor I’ve quite enjoyed, so that was another draw for me. The Tardis team of the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, arrive in Normandy a couple of days before D-day. They soon get separated, meet the resistance, Nazi’s, get brainwashed, and find the Nazis are developing Transportation equipment - so just the usual day to day stuff. Operation Werewolf, if you didn’t know was a plan by the Nazis to put agents behind enemy lines, so this runs with that idea. Its started well, but I lost interest as it went along. I went to a convention recently and Nick Briggs commented that, people complain that there are audios where not much happens, and that, that’s how the stories were. With this though I wasn’t gripped, I didn’t feel the story driving forward. There are some nice sequences, but I did have to remind myself of what the story was about....

Blakes 7 Crossfire 2 4 The Scapegoat The Liberator crew are in the market for guns. However the old president is still clinging on to the idea of regaining power, and there a video of Villa confessing to his crimes, but that’s not Villa… It feels like a fairly normal set up, a contact the crew can buy the weapons from, a seemingly ordinary planet, the federation - or at least the old president lurking about and with that video of someone claiming to be Villa, is this a trap? After a bomb explodes it turns into one of those stories where everybody is separated and nobody is sure whose still alive. Each member gets to do something, some more than other perhaps, but it feels often the case where charter get sidelined since there’s no room for them to be in the plot. The old president is trying to kill two birds with one stone, regaining power and discrediting the Liberator crew. Its something Tarrant has to argue with a citizen about - that they aren’t terrorists but freedom fighters. Vil...

  The Ten Thousand Ton Bomb                                                      Star Cops: Mother Earth 1.4                                  Devis interrupts a Mother Earth fanatic while planting a bomb, giving the Star Cops an opportunity to send Paul Bailey undercover in the operatives place. Nathan isn’t having an easy time either, the new station: the Vasco da Garma , is about to have its grand opening, with all the dignitaries and security it involves. Things don’t go well uncover for Paul back on Earth, the audio starts with him getting a beating, you do feel for him. There i...

Blakes 7 Crossfire 2 3 Erebus While working on Orac, Avon has discovered information, federation plans that could be of great use, all they have to do is obtain the disc on the planet Erebus. Erebus is where the old president is currently residing, and its Villa and Tarrant that have to go to the trouble of locating the data. As they do it occurs to the rest of the crew its all a little to easy, might it be a trap? It is! It comes early in the plot, and I’m not sure is was a good idea. It is a bit of a Blakes 7 trope all the effort they go through to end up no better off than they started. Knowing this so soon in the audio, take away a bit of the tension - you know its all for nothing. Dayna is somewhat uninvolved - I’m assuming due to taking the lead in the last episode, but it does feel conspicuous. There’s a lot of asking left or right in the script, so much so that at one point they even reference Stealers Wheel. And Avon being duped so easily is a bit out of character, but then Av...