Seagullslost's Doctor Who (and others) audio reviews

Borrow Or Rob Eighth Doctor Adventures Time War 6.4 Back on the ship in the Void, The Doctor, Alex, and Hieronyma/captain are being attacked. This carries on from where The Road Untravelled left off, Cass having fallen through a doorway and presumed dead. They suddenly have to defend themselves.  I was somewhat underwhelmed but this. The ‘reflections’ that seemed so interesting in ‘The Road Untravelled” become mundane. They’re not getting accurate readings from what’s outside, and the reveal of what’s really going on turns an interesting premise into something rather dull and ordinary. Cass eventually turns up, and yet again maybe not quite the version she was. And brings a whole new set of mysteries.  There are a couple of twists, though the one that began in ‘The Road Untravelled’ - with the ‘Cass-cade’ episode being a bit of a detour - the momentum has gone. The build up isn’t as satisfying as maybe it should. The set as a whole seems to be a two parter with a prelude and a...

The Road Untravelled Eighth Doctor Adventures Time War 6.2 At the end of the last episode the Doctor and co had got out of the fake reality they were in. Now they find themselves on a spaceship in a void space. With 'Nowhere, Never' having some unanswered questions, this doesn’t do much to help. The ‘Captain’ seems to be known by the Doctor and it's one of those times where you’re suddenly trying to work out if you should know them as well. With so many different Big Finish ranges it's hard to keep up: Hieronyma Friend - the captain, we encountered as the non existent passenger in Meanwhile, Elsewhere. Yeah I had to look it up! Conrad Westmass plays the Captain, with his previous role as the Eighths companion C’rizz, it's a little odd, but it maybe due to the character he’s playing. The void space has reflections, and they are reflections of the ship hence the title. Other versions, but which version will make it out? Add to that the ship is of old Gallifrayan origi...

Cass-Cade                                                       Eighth Doctor Adventures Time War 6.3                                                    Cass is on a space station, a queue for the food counter is where she meets the Doctor and Alex who don’t know her. Suddenly she’s somewhere else, where she meets the Doctor and Alex who don’t know her, and, well… you get the idea. Its tempting to say this is a more straight forward story, yet that is isn’t. The space station is falling towards the sun and Cass is jumping around time meeting the Doctor and Alex at different points in the adventure, each time as if for the first. Like much other such adventures it starts to come together and you can build an idea of what’s the ...

Nowhere, Never                                                         Eighth Doctor Adventures Time War 6.1                                                                                                 Cass - a house wife, doing her daily routines. The Doctor and Alex in some strange hospital during the war. None of them knowing who they really are. When I first listened to The Natural History of fear, C’rizz had only just joined as a companion so I wasn’t so familiar with his voice. With that audio, like this, with the main cast not quite playing themselves so it was almost like he wasn’t there. It was only a ...

Day of the Vashta Nerada                                           Classic Doctors New Monsters 2.4                                A distress call brings the eighth Doctor to a research lab. The lab is experimenting with the Vashta Nerada, but the Doctor isn’t the timelord(s) they were expecting… Its a pretty run of the mill story. Again as with the first set, this eighth Doctor story is set during the Time War. I was going to complain about it being unnecessary but coming out in 2017, I can understand that it was still a novelty at the time. The Timelords and the lab are working together to produce a new ‘weapon’ - genetically modified Vashta Nerada. Something that can be targeted at their enemy. But, as the Doctor asks, How will you stop them when they’ve succeeded? It’ll be no surprise that things go w...

Previously, Next Time                                              The Eighth Doctor adventures Cass part 3/4                                 There was some interesting stuff at the end of Vespertine , Alex ‘saw’ The Doctor on the ship with Bliss , and it wasn’t the Doctor’s future. The Doctors', or even the whole universes timeline is wrong. The starts with a bang, literally, as there’s an explosion and you may wonder if you’ve accidentally skipped to part two, but no. The Doctor, Alex and Cass are interrogated and accused of destroying an ancient monument, except that when they first arrived the rest of this world - its people - didn’t exist… I really enjoyed part one. Its told in flashback as, as the each of the TARDIS crew is interviewed they retell how they came to be here. The Daleks ha...

Vespertine                The Eighth Doctor Adventures Cass 1.2                   The TARDIS materialises on a research base, itself built above the wreck of a ship. The ship of Hudson Sage , noted explorer. But the Vespertine was never found was it? This is a step up from the last episode, a bit more intrigue. The research team have suffered a bout of illness and are awaiting the relief team. The wrecked ship turns out to be a sea ship made of wood and they go to investigate. Mild spoiler They find that Hudson is still alive and time locked, and so is part of the ship as it still looks new. With that and the fact the the rest of the crew abandoned ship, means there is quite a bit more going on here than first appears. So there’s enough mystery to keep interest. One thing with this episode and the last is that its easy to ...

Meanwhile, Elsewhere                       The Eighth Doctor adventures Cass part 1                    Following on from Time war series 4 this… well doesn’t. Bliss is no longer traveling with the Doctor , but in her place is the Doctor’s great grand son Alex . After a couple of brief scenes we find Cass reporting for duty on board a ship. She meets a passenger that doesn’t exist, doorways to strange places and of course the Doctor. I was a bit disappointed with this, though it had the ingredients for a good adventure I found it a bit pedestrian. A lack of excitement and somewhat uninspiring, just unremarkable. I’d listened to the first 40ish minutes by this point, then having came back to finish it, it had gone up a gear. Suddenly it was interesting. It does comes across as a bit Curse of Fatal Death , but you’d have to listen as its the ‘twist’ at the end.  Its a bit too ea...