Seagullslost's Doctor Who (and others) audio reviews

t’s A Wonderfull War - An Eight Doctor Story Doctor Who: Christmas - It’s A Wonderfull War and Other Stories The Doctor is on a asteroid, its the last independent mining operation, Galen is trying to keep the community going, but all isn’t perfect. This starts off with Vekin, so its time war audio, but then switches to the mining world, which is narrated, and you wonder where is going and why. The Doctor is more in the background for this third/half of the episode. They have American accents, another audio I listened to earlier in the year did the same thing Americans accents for absolutely no reason. I’ve said before if this was a US production I wouldn’t question it, but it just felt unnecessary. Things shift a gear as you’re made aware of the Daleks and the situation on Oblivion isn’t as simple as it appears. The Doctor is much more involved. But I started to lose track of the plot. Going from a story I’m not that interested in, to having more and more situation changing info thrown...

Presents of Mind- A Smith and Sullivan Adventure Doctor Who: Christmas - It’s A Wonderfull War and Other Stories It my first time hearing Christopher Naylor as Harry, and as with Sadie, its not all there, but its good enough to enjoy the story. Unfortunately only a couple of minutes in and the audio was ruined as Harry mentions flash lights. With Big Finish going to so much trouble to accurately recreate the time the stories were made in, its such a bizarre way to spoil them. It even more odd when Lavinia then says torch minutes later, its quite disappointing that they can’t check the scripts for errors. Without any context, other than a set I’ve not heard, I’m supposing that Sarah and Harry are friends again after both leaving the Doctor. Here they are on their way with Aunt Lavinia to enjoy Christmas, but the train journey isn’t with out its issues… K9 is sounding a little old now, Its still John Leeson, but with the now younger cast it stands out more. Annette Bandland Plays aunt La...

Legacy of Blood                               Doctor Who: Christmas - It’s A Wonderfull War and Other Stories              Ellie Higson , its 1962, long gone are her friends Jago and Litefoot . Not that’s its stopped her. Aided with their notebooks she has something to investigate. Help would be appreciated, just as well the Sixth Doctor turned up. I started listening to The Jago And Litefoot series a couple of years ago and have only reached the end of the sixth series, so this is jumping ahead a bit for me. With both the actors no longer with us, you do feel the sense of sadness, which is what Ellie feels. So a Jago and Litefoot story with out Jago or Litefoot. The story itself centres around vampires or at least the resurgence of. If you followed the J&L series you may remember Sanders , from series 2, well this deals with his legacy. It may be a bit of a spoiler, unles...

The Dalek Occupation Of Winter              Doctor Who The Early Adventures 5.1                I was looking for something with a festive feel, with winter in the title and having bought this a while ago it seemed like an obvious choice. Its a terrific story -  didn’t evoke the cold time of year I’d hope it would, but it more than made up for it. The Doctor , Steven and  Vicky arrive on the planet of Winter , all would seem to be well. Happy people, the latest batch to excel in their fields have graduated and are to be sent to the research centre, never to be seen again - a slightly worrying aspect. What’s more concerning is finding out the Daleks are there; appearing to be friendly and working with the people of Winter. Much like the Power of the Daleks or Victory Of The Daleks , this is a similar theme. We know the Daleks are evil and are hiding the fact, but what’s their plan? It does take until ...

Unholy Night -A Missy Adventure                        Doctor Who: Christmas - It’s A Wonderfull War and Other Stories                 Missy finds herself stranded on a planet, its permanently Christmas and a brief stay turns into something much longer as its all just too perfect. The stand out aspect of this is Michelle Gomez , she’s just fantastic. Her performance is every bit of that as the Tv version . The story: its Christmas fun . So not the most in-depth or thought provoking and very American in its approach. Its an enjoyable romp, and does what it says on the tin. Of course you know there’s more to Noel Falls than at first meets the eyes, as Missy eventually finds out.  A pretty standard plot. Fun but unremarkable.

The True savour of the Universe The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 4.4 The people have lost patience with the Doctor, maybe he isn’t the person to save them but perhaps the Master can. On one hand an android is going around asking what it will take to vote against the Doctor. The Doctor meanwhile admits that using the apocalypse clock may save a portion of the universe but  the calculations are problematic and the forces it could unleash may cause more harm than good. And Benny? Well she’s stuk in the middle of it all. So there’s a bit going on in this one, Mark Gatiss returns as the Master and is up to his old tricks. The trouble saying that is its not his old tricks as this is an alternative 3rd Doctor and its easy to forget that.  This brings in a few elements of the form this, and the last series, the counting nuns, the apocalypse clock, mentions of the emporium etc, so a few thins are coming together. There is enough mystery to keep you interested, what is the Mast...

Truant                                 The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 4.3                          Bernice is in pursuit of the Doctor, as he’s off into the wilderness doing this own thing! Well it doesn’t take long to catch up to him. He’s try to live the old days, having fun like he use to, trouble is that once they know he’s the president they surrender all too easily, can’t even steal a vehicle without them helping… With the last episode being a cut about the norm, it was going to be a bit tricky following it. This is an Ok adventure, the planet has been covertly taken over and the Doctor wants to put things right, but it's the Doctor wanting to be his old self that’s the nub of the story. Apart from the two stars, this also features Hattie Hayridge , who always be the other Holly from Red Dwarf to me, and Cartrin Stewart - J...

Asking For a Friend                                  The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 4.2                                        The Doctor is having a hard time being president of the universe - a doomed universe at that, maybe some counselling will help…. The structure of this audio is that it’s a series of sessions with the Doctor and therapist intercut with a number of interactions with Benny , flashbacks and such. There is no plot as such, being more of a reveal as to why the Doctor is behaving the way is, and “not the Doctor’ according to Benny. The Doctor is having to use diplomacy, negotiations, and bureaucracy to try and save people, planets and the universe, and its not easy. Gone are the days when’re he could sweep in, set the world to right in a day and swan off again. Now he has to ...

    The City and the Clock                                               The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 4.1                                                                    This adventure see the Doctor back as president on the universe, while Benny is back at what she does best: archaeology . The dig she’s in charge of is to uncover the apocalypse clock , which is where the Doctor visits her. Again there is that moment of coming back to a series and trying to remember where things were at the end of the last. The Emporium at the End , saw the return of the Master , but ended with The Doctor and Benny resuming their travels. So a little time has passed since then. The Doctor doesn’t...

Muse of Fire                            Doctor Who The Monthly Adventures                                    The Seventh Doctor , Ace and Hex find themselves in early 20th France, Paris to be exact - the roaring 20’s . Not only are they there but so is Iris Wildthyme and Panda , and somethings are not as they should be. I bought this audio based on its high ratings, but I fail to see why its got them. Its a bit of a slow burn, though we find early on that something isn’t quite right time wise, it takes a long time for it to develop. Heading towards the end of episode 2, I began to suspect that the whole audio was a long tease as to when the Doctor and Iris find out they’re both there at the same time, but when the moment does arrive (part 4 I think), its a bit of a damp squib. A lot of the important people have left Paris, Dal...

Dare You                The Ninth Doctor Adventures 4.3                       Once again the Powell estate is plagued with something ‘other’, this time an entity that works on you true feelings - the things you don’t say or do and dares you to do them.  It does feel a bit similar to the last story, but with the same setting and cast, its probably going to. But with Chris, Billie and Camile each doing a great job, its hard to complain about. I said for a while that the Ninth could do with a companion and this feels more in line with his Doctor . So the idea here is that all the things you want to say or do, the entity dares you to and then you do. Its a bit like where people can’t lie and start telling the truth, the stuff they really think but don’t say. It does come to a head when Rose says stuff to her mum, we don’t hear what she says but it’s not good, and you wonder whether their ...

Curiosity Shop                       The Eleventh Doctor Adventures 4.3                 On a planet caught up in a war, Valerie finds herself alone. Each day she visits Mr Foreman - a somewhat forgetful man, living in a junk yard , with a blue box called Barbara. Will the Doctor ever come back? This is really quite an enjoyable episode. Its told from Valeries point of view, and takes a bit of time to understand what’s going on. Each day Valeries visits the Doctor aka Mr Foreman, who seems to have forgotten who he is. Though each time he takes on a version of one off his personas, so its nice to hear him go though the various Doctors.  It's not a good situation for Valerie, being a cyborg , she pays the Doctor with a part of her body. Telling tales of the Doctor hoping he’ll remember. Then using what money she has to buy food. As time passes her quality of life reduces, until she herself...

The Warlock’s Cross                   Doctor Who Monthly Adventures                        So what did happen at Warlock’s Cross ? UNIT , Daniel Hopkins and the Doctor all find out together. Some kind of sentient space ship is buried, though UNIT dealt with it at the time, it seems that there is some unfinished business: Daniel Hopkins is needed. This started out promisingly, the hint of mystery, the fate of Daniel, the return of Klien , but its dull. The middle two episode are just the characters walking around caves, though ‘ship’ is making them see or hear things, its just isn’t interesting.  Elizabeth Klien - I remember the first audios she appeared in (so many years ago now), and she was quite an interesting character - a remnant of a defunct timeline. Here though she’s nothing special, just another person. This is the last of the Daniel Hopkins trilogy , and it feels m...