The Land of the Dead [5th Doctor & Nyssa]

One quibble excepted I really enjoyed The Land of the Dead. I particularly enjoyed the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa partnership. One of the problems with the televised Fifth Doctor is that he is occasionally overloaded with companions and as a result none of them get to 'breath' much. Sarah Sutton's Nyssa in particular gets swamped by the more belligerent Tegan and the needier Adric. So on occasions, such as Kinda, she gets stuck in the TARDIS with a glorified headache.

Which is a shame as I always liked Nyssa and not just for her skirt dropping Terminus but because I always felt there was an interesting story to be told and that she and Davison had a really good chemistry.

So one of the strengths of this is that it is just the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa.

Also Nyssa's back story informs her responses to what's going on and in particular her scenes with Tulung (Neil Roberts) are made all the stronger for that and there's a rather moving moment - which I'm going to remember inaccurately - when they are talking about tradition and science and looking up at the sky and seeing the whole universe and death. Sarah Sutton plays it beautifully too.

I really like Peter Davison's 'new' take on the Fifth Doctor too. It's interesting that Peter Davison's stint with Big Finish is less often praised than both Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker's. I think that's done to how the Sixth and Seventh Doctor's eras on television are perceived and that their Big Finish careers have taken on an almost a redemptive quality. So that anyone who thinks Colin Baker is a bad Doctor just needs to take a corrective course of Big Finish adventures to recover their senses. Ditto with McCoy. However Davison's take on the Doctor is generally well-received, perhaps with the exception of its own stars*, and as a result Big Finish is seen more as a continuation than a redemption but I think there's more going on here.

I've gone over some of this ground in the review of Phantasmagoria but I think that the Big Finish Fifth Doctor is the Fifth Doctor Peter Davison wishes he could have given us on television. It's pretty well-known that he thought he was too young for the part when he was cast originally and now he's the right age. Perhaps I'm reading too much into all of this but that's my right as a citizen of a post-modern universe.

To sum up all of that: Davison's brilliant.

The Land of the Dead is set in Alaska and would be as bleak as the environment if it wasn't for the dry humour of architect Monica Lewis (played with panache by Lucy Campbell) whose main reaction in a crisis is to abandon her internal monologue in favour of an avalanche of sarcastic verbiage. She and the Doctor spend quite a lot of time together and it's a finely played relationship. In fact Monica makes you think about Tegan and how much better Tegan would have been if she'd been written more like Monica.

There's not really a villain in this story. There's a slightly mad millionaire called Shaun Brett (Christopher Scott) who is really in need of some help to get over his father's death more than anything else and there's an out and out monster (which had this been a Davison television adventure would have been a sorely disappointing man in a terrible costume : see The Arc of Infinity and The Caves of Androzani for examples) which is limited in intelligence but dangerously hungry.

In fact you might argue that a theme in this story is about leaving the past alone. Digging up the rocks brings back a rather unpleasant monster from the past, digging up the past drives Shaun Brett and Tulang almost insane.

Whilst another theme is the clash between tradition (of family, tribe or society) and science. The clash is most obvious in Tulang and Gaborik (Andrew Fettes) who are Native Americans, of the Kuyokon Tribe. The use of Native Americans as a kind representation of lost traditions, a lost connection to the land and a lost wisdom is a bit of a cliché, which is my minor quibble with the story. Perhaps recent discussions with friends about the use of Nazi's in Doctor Who have made me more focused on this line of thinking but there's something a little off with it. If Doctor Who's Nazis come out of the Indiana Jones tradition, then their Native Americans come out of the X-Files.**

But perhaps I'm being overly harsh. In fact I definitely am but I think one needs to be careful to avoid turning a whole complex group of people into a short-cut for an idea. Or just a plain cliché.

That really was my only quibble.

Listen and enjoy.



*There's nothing more depressing than listening to some of the Davison era DVD commentaries as the cast slag off their own work.

**For an interesting introduction to the perceptions of Native American culture I recommend Rich Hall's TV documentary 'Inventing the Indian'

Light At The End (Big Finish's 50th Anniversary Story)

I'll make an initial admission. I've been looking forward to this more than I have The Moff's TV 50th. Why? Because much as I enjoy New Doctor Who, I'm a Classic Who boy* and I'm a fan of Big Finish's work in general so I was convinced it would be good.

And it is.

Fanbloodytastic in fact.

There.

Review done. No spoilers.

In fact I'd say if you were thinking of testing the Big Finish waters this would be the perfect story to begin with. You get all the first Eight Doctors**. Yes, all of them. No, I'm not going to tell you how you can work it out for yourself. Like I did. That's part of the fun.

You also get a lot of familiar companions to join the fun. In fact the only oddity would be the presence of Charlotte Pollard with the Eighth Doctor as she is - so far - a non-television companion but that just provides you with an excuse to go back and listen to Storm Warning and begin the Eight Doctor's adventures with Big Finish.

Seemless.

That's not to say this is uninfluenced by New Doctor Who. I'd suggest that the story might have had a far different ending if the New series hadn't already led the way with...ah...spoilers.

I think the reason this works so well is that there is only one villain. There's no attempt to crowbar in the usual suspects and over-stuff the villainous pudding. We mainly deal with one main villain here and it is The Master, played with oleaginous malevolence by Geoffrey Beevers. (That's not a spoiler btw. He's in the trailer and on the cover of the CD for heaven's sake.) And it allows the Doctor's to shine. It's a lesson in how to do a multi-Doctor story without losing the stories shape.

And this really is all about the Doctor's.

Each gets some time to do his thing. Each gets some juicy lines, although Colin Baker gets the best big speech and Peter Davison gets the spookiest and darkest moments.

In fact at points towards the end of Part One when the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa are investigating an 'incident' it is genuinely creepy as hell. There's a dawning realisation about what is to come - or at least I had one - and that just adds to the darkness. It's incredibly powerful and possibly the highlight of the whole thing for me.

But fundamentally it's a wonderful tribute to my favourite television series. There's call backs to old stories with some lines - even Battlefield! There's Tom Baker's voice. There's Sylvester McCoy's rolling rrrrrrrrrrrr's. There's whispers of voices fondly remembered. There's Colin Baker's sparkling indignation and Peter Davison's soft power.***

It's a fine celebration made by people that obviously care. The Moff will have to work bloody hard to make me feel as happy after I've watched The Day of the Doctor and I hope he does.







*42 year old boy but when it comes to Doctor Who still that fascinated, geeky and mildly terrified 7 or 8 year old boy
**Or whatever number they're going to be once The Moff's taken his pet theory out for a run in The Day of the Doctor
***I know what I mean by this even if you don't. If you buy me a pint, I'll explain.

The Eight Truths - World Wide Web

The Eight Truths and Worldwide Web (8TWW) bring the third season of Eighth Doctor to an end. They also mark the end of The Headhunter's (Katarina Olsson) story arc. I have raved about Katarina Olsson's performances before. She's fantastic and The Headhunter is an interesting character, although I found her a little annoying in Orbis but I wonder if that is the story more than the character.

8TWW in fact brings a close to one outstanding thread from Orbis so hopefully I shall never have to mention that story again.

The Doctor and Lucie are on Earth. The Doctor has gone off to help with a dodgy Mercury probe and Lucie is going shopping. It's whilst she's shopping that she bumps into a familiar old face, Karen (Kerry Godliman) associate of the Headhunter or former associate. She's now involved with a organisation helping people to find their true potential. Lucie is entrapped and made to cut herself off from the Doctor.

The scenes around the Eightfold Truth are great. The understanding tone of voice adopted by the people involved, the treacle language of self-help gurus regurgitated and the dash of spiritual frippery all make it rather convincing. I like the fact that the Eightfold Truth is headed by Stephen Moore's Clark Goodman.

Stephen Moore is, of course, best known for being Marvin (The Paranoid Android) in the original Hitch-hikers Guide To The Galaxy Radio Series and there's something about his voice that's both mildly melancholic and mildly comforting. To me at least. And he's a very British choice of Cult leader. No Showbiz Messiah complex here. Just a plain old-fashioned conman.

He's being professionally scoffed at by journalist Kelly Westwood (Sophie Winkleman) who is out to debunk the whole Eightfold Truth Cult. Kelly and the Doctor link up.

However Goodman is being manipulated by someone...and that someone is The Headhunter who is in possession of the Stellar Manipulator she palmed all the way back in Orbis and working for some familiar - well, familiar-ish - Doctor Who foes.

All of this is gradually revealed. The Doctor's story gradually pulls itself towards Lucie's. The Mercury probe, looked after by Dr Avishka Sangakkara (Sanjeev Bashkar), has ceased working and the Doctor's help makes him realise that there's Gallifreyan technology at work here. Then there's the crystals...

The cliffhanger is an excellent on with both Lucie and the Doctor facing dangers of their own. How will our heroes escape?

 

When we start Worldwide Web the Doctor's been in a coma for 28 days. Things have moved on. Plans are afoot. Or afeet one should say. On Eight Legs.

 

The villains are the Spiders of Metabelis 3 headed up by their Queen (Beth Chalmers). Applause here for Big Finish getting the Spider voices to sound just right. Sorry, the Eight Legs. They so hate being called Spiders.

 

Lucie has been taken over by the Queen. But lucky for us the baddies think the Doctor is dead, which is rather foolish of them and the strain of the operation - and keeping her minions happy - has allowed Lucie to get out of her own mind. A bit.

 

The scenes between Lucie Lucie and Queen Lucie are great and Sheriden Smith does a wonderful job of make Queen Lucie perceptibly different to Lucie Lucie by flattening her voice and taking all the warmth out of it. It's rather lovely.

 

I also like the fact that the Spiders have their arguments too. They're broken into factions and the Queen can't entirely trust everyone. Then there's Goodman, who has realised what he's let loose, and finally Karen who having been 'spidered up' against her will has something of a grudge against the Headhunter.

 

It's all leading to a rather interesting climax. The Doctor does his thing, Lucie does hers and the Headhunter suprises everyone in a rather brilliant little sequence. The Eighth Doctor's 'I never really understood her' almost being an echo of The Fifth Doctor's 'There should have been another way.' There's some weird stuff inside and around the Stellar Manipulator and some philosophising on what it means to be alive.

 

This is a fun end to the third season of Lucie Miller and Eighth Doctor adventures. The two leads get to have a lot of fun, various story arcs come to their end and they're off to Blackpool for Christmas. What could possibly go wrong?

 

 



The Cannibalists (8th Doctor & Lucie Miller)

I really enjoyed The Cannibalists, which managed to be what Orbis failed to be: a funny, off-beat story that didn't feel quite like anything else. It helps that it is written by Jonathan Morris, who can manage the balance of seriousness and humour pretty darn well and is becoming not just one of my favourite Big Finish writers but one of my favourite Doctor Who writers full stop.

The vibe of this story tome is less television Doctor Who and more the Doctor Who Weekly Comic Strip. You can imagine this sitting alongside The Iron Legion for example. Titus, for example, is a 'big' character in the best sense and comes bursting out of the speakers courtesy of a mighty performance from Phil Davis, who seems to be channelling Johnny Rotten in robot form.

Which brings me on to another point about this story. The Doctor and Lucie are the only organic characters in it. Everyone else is a robot. Sentient robots mind but robots. The story is set on Haven, where robots are preparing for the eventual return of human beings. Unfortunately something has gone awry and the robots have developed free will and divided into two (or three) classes: the Assemblers, the Cannibalists and...well...Drones. Unfortunately the Assemblers are old, battered and out-dated and the Drones are reduced to just one, last survivor: Servo. The Cannibalists, led by Titus, are about to win.

However there is a possible way out. A big bad re-set button. Find it and the City can be re-booted. But what if it is just a legend? What if I doesn't exist?

Servo is played by Phil Jupitus. Servo too has gone rogue, but in a different way to the Cannibalists. Instead of violence though Servo has taken up writing poetry. One of my favourite bits of the whole play is Servo's little cough before reading one of his poems. That and the joke about Lucie's unorthodox protrusions, which I found amusing.

I have a wee bit of a quibble about the ending, which seemed...well...without giving too much away a little convenient. But it fitted with what had gone before. Plus I guessed the twist well before being twisted, but that's not a massive problem. I could have been wrong. And that I would never have told you in the review so points to me for being a smart arse.

The key thing is it was fun. Fun and funny. With good - if 'big' - performances from the cast in an unusual environment for the Doctor and Lucie. A sort of Web Planet but with robots not insects. The sort of story that, even now, would be impossibly challenging and expensive for the television Doctor Who to attempt. Plus all sorts of people would get sniffy about the jokes.

Give it a listen. It's good fun.

The Scapegoat (8th Doctor + Lucie Miller)

I really enjoyed The Scapegoat even if it was a little...inconsequential. Or was it?

The TARDIS is pulled off-course by a McGuffin and instead of hitting fin-de-siècle Paris and the Moulin Rouge as Lucie expects (and is dressed for) they find themselves in Nazi occupied Paris and with the TARDIS stolen. Just another typical day in the office.

Lucie finds herself appearing onstage at the Theatre des Baroque alongside the 'most assassinated man in Paris' Max Paul (Paul Rhys). It's very funny, especially when Sheriden Smith does Lucie trying to do proper acting. But there's also something rather creepy going on. With the goat headed Doctor Baroque - a rather marvellous and mellifluous Christopher Fairbank - and Mother Baroque - Samantha Bond - clearly up to no goa..good.

Meanwhile The Doctor finds himself in the company of the Gestapo: Major Treptow (Clifford Rose, a man familiar with playing Nazi's) and a nameless Leutnant (Thorston Manderley, which is a wondrous name for an actor). And despite all the hints of menace these are Nazi's of the Indiana Jones school as opposed to the realistic type. They're all bombast, pomposity and stupidity. The Doctor runs rings around them.

In the end this is another story where the villains aren't really villains. The Nazis are, of course, Nazis but they're the side dressing to the Baroques. But the Baroques, with their unpleasant traditions, are less out and out villains and more trapped by ritual and tradition. Even if Mother Baroque turns out to be more zealous - and dogmatic - of the Baroques. If the Wirrn in Wirrn Dawn are creations of nature, then the Baroques and The Scapegoat perhaps stand as a representation of nurture.

Perhaps I'm over thinking the whole thing.

Basically it is a rather amusing, rather inconsequential story. Well acted by everyone concerned, especially Sheridan Smith who is on great form throughout. I also like McGann's casual, almost piss-takingly easy escapes from the Gestapo. It's almost as if The Doctor takes them far less seriously than they take themselves. There's a line about the Nazi's not being the worst thing in the universe and it is as if the Doctor is doing his best to prove the point here by turning them into laughing stock.

I often think Doctor Who without humour somewhere isn't quite Doctor Who. The ability to laugh seems to be key to the whole thing. Villains can't laugh at themselves. The crime of taking oneself too seriously is an oft committed one in the Doctor Who universe. And laughter also represents hope: if we're still laughing, we're still here. Victory through mockery. Less survival of the fittest, more survival of the wittiest.

I'm trying not to give too much away but the fate - or potential fate - of Max Paul is movingly outlined but fought against by Lucie, then the Doctor. In fact all waffle aside if this story has a theme it is that you don't have to keep playing the part fate appears to have allocated for you. Losers don't always have to be losers. Victims don't always have to be victims. We can change the universe by changing ourselves. As the Buddha once said, 'Do not ask the world to change. Change yourself.'

On that positive note I'm off to save the world.

Wirrn Dawn (8th Doctor + Lucie Miller)

Wirrn Dawn is a game of two halves. The second episode is far stronger than the first.

The Wirrn, of course, made their first (and so far only*) appearance in Doctor Who in The Ark In Space and some of the themes of that story are reflected in Wirrn Dawn but it also adds elements of its own making the Wirrn much more 'sympathetic'. Their lifestyle might seem disgusting to us but  it's part of nature. The Wirrn are the Wirrn because the universe made them that way. They're driven by natural inclinations, not 'evil'.

That doesn't reduce the horror of what they do though and the human to Wirrn transformation process is not glossed over at all. There is pain here. Pain and fear.

In fact the one thing that comes through in this story is fear. Whether that's fear of the past, fear of death or change. The other thing, maybe the flipside of fear, is survival. The Wirrn survived, the 'Indig' survived sharing a planet with the Wirrn, the Doctor survives and wants to survive. Survival of the fittest.

It's a small cast story this. There's the Doctor and Lucie. I love Lucie Miller in this. She's pugnacious above and beyond the call of duty. Standing up to Salway (Colin Salmon) even as he's waving a massive gun at her. I love the way she recalls Rosto too as she's trying to convince the Wirrn not to kill her.

Salway and Delong (Daniel Anthony) are Galsec troopers. Farroll (Liz Sutherland) is a Galsec Admiral whose fleet takes a bit of a beating early in the story. Salway's a bully, (possibly) a coward and a racist. Delong is a kid. And an Indig kid at that, which means Salway feels he has a licence to bully him. Indig seems to be a slang word for the original human settlers of various planets. A snide, snarky unpleasant way to describe those people that Galsec is over-taking

Galsec (or should it be GalSec...anyway) are at war with the Wirrn but it doesn't look like a war either side is going to win without massive casualties and a lot of unpleasantness. It seems the first settlers on this planet - the name of which has escaped me - never fought the Wirrn.

This story it turns out is the story of how they survived, which the Doctor seems to have worked out for himself before the story ends. Paul McGann is apparently an incredibly laid back kind of chap and sometimes that spills through into his portrayal of the 8th Doctor. In this story he's so chilled out you could break him into little pieces and add them to your drink. So relaxed that he takes a rather large gamble based on an educated guess which will put everyone at risk. But that's a very Doctor-ish thing to do. He just does it in a superbly relaxed fashion hardly ever raising his voice, just adding a little urgency here and there. It's rather lovely.

So after all that rambling what do I think. I enjoyed it. It's nice when a story doesn't have an out and out bad guy, just a range of possible bad guys. It's nice to hear the Wirrn back with that distinct sort of squeaking creeping sound.

Oh and there's a little seed sown about Lucie's relationship with the Doctor when she's arguing with Solway about the dangers of putting the Doctor on a pedestal. I wonder whether that will pay off later?


*Not counting the Wirrn Corpse in Shada (?) , a novel and at one other Big Finish story, Wirrn Island

The Beast of Orlok (8th + Lucie Miller)

The Beast of Orlok is fab. Yes, there's a few Gothic clichés and in-jokes there but it's rather all rather fun.

We're in the Black Forest. It's 1827. There's terrified villagers, a mysterious Baron and his castle and then...then there is the Monster. Or the alleged monster. The dreaded Beast of Orlok, which had terrorised the area twenty years previously but is now back.

Or is it.

Well something odd is occurring and into this oddity step the Doctor and Lucie.

Of course it turns out that there's a lot more to the Beast of Orlok than meets the eye.

It's quite nicely done. There's some fine performances all around. Headed by the magnificent Miriam Margoyles as Frau Tod. Frau Tod is mother to Hans (Samuel Barnet) and Greta (Alison Thea-Skot) and something of an unusual woman. Particularly when it comes to her firm lack of belief in the Beast. I love Miriam Margoyles so it is nice to hear her on here. Frau Tod is really the hero of this story, which is lovely.

Frau Tod does not like the Baron Teuful (Peter Guinness). There's a reason for this, which becomes clear but the Baron is not a likeable chap. He isn't the most original character in the world being basically Frankenstein in all but name but he's satisfactory enough particularly as...well...not every cliché is what it might appear to be.

There's an officious burgomeister, Otto Pausbacken (Nick Wilton), who is one of those Doctor Who characters who officiousness and determination to misunderstand a situation in the name of a bit of petty politics is probably going to doom them to an unpleasant death.

Plus there's Judah (Trevor Cooper) hovering on the sidelines in a sinister manner but whose side is he on? Why is he so interested in Hans and Greta? All these questions will be answered. As will the biggest question of them all: who or what is The Beast of  Orlok?

You'll have fun finding out.

McGann and Smith continue their excellent work as The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller who are rapidly becoming one of my favourite Doctor and Companion pairings. I think if Lucie were a television companion you might have to tone her down a tad but on audio she's fantastically belligerent, loud and driven.

But I think the best thing about this story is that it is just plain fun: action, adventure and cake. What more do you want?

Hothouse (8th + Lucie Miller)

Hothouse is rather entertaining. Written by Jonathan Morris, who is one of my favourite Big Finish writers, it sees a return of the Krynoids via the classic Doctor Who trope: the person who does terrible things in the name of saving the world. The murderer with the best intentions. The person who believes the end justifies the means.

In this case it's ex-rock star Alex Marlowe (Nigel Planer) who has become a environmentalist and determined to save the world from itself. Accordingly he's been fiddling with Krynoids. Actually let me rephrase that. Alex has taken upon himself to experiment with the cuttings taken from the dead Krynoid from The Seeds of Doom by command of the then Head of the World Ecology Bureaux, Sir Colin Thackeray.

In fact the Doctor has been dragged into investigating Marlowe via the World Ecology Bureaux's Hazel Bright (Lysette Anthony). Lucie Miller (Sheridan Smith) has gone undercover. A quick scoot around on an official visit is followed by Lucie's sneaky investigation and it's when she stumbles upon...well...let's just say from that moment onwards it all starts to go horribly wrong.

And now I've stumbled across the 'spoilers' problem. I know this was released back in 2009 but I'm trying to avoid too many obvious spoilers because it - er - spoils the fun: that little twist, that horrible moment, that sudden unexplained frisson of terror. All popped by a throw away line in a review. I've already given away the Krynoids, although I must confess the cover gives it away so I'm feeling a little less than guilty about that.

Suffice it to say things look bad, then they look worse and then the story ends. Some people live. Some people die. Some people are heroic. Some people are stupid to the point of insanity.

The thing about the Krynoids - and what makes them truly horrifying in my opinion - is the body horror. The change from human to Krynoid. That loss of ones identity and humanity. It is a death as well as a transmogrification. If our consciousness is eliminated and replaced by that of another being the receptacle we're walking around in is just that:  a receptacle. A fate too horrifying to contemplate.

It's also quite a visual thing so Jonathan Morris does a fine job of making that horror visible through audio with a couple of key scenes, which I won't spoil. In truth as well as being a sequel to The Seeds of Doom, it also reminded me a little of The Ark in Space for reasons that...well...for reasons.

There's some lovely performances here. Nigel Planer gives Marlowe just the right level of pop star self-indulgence manifest as a desire to save the world through what can only be described as 'tough love'. Lysette Anthony does a fine job with Hazel Bright plus there's some nice support - in small-ish parts - from Stuart Crossman as Stefan Radek and Adna Sablyich as Christina Ondrak.

Very enjoyable and the perfect length to get me from home to office.

Which is nice.

Paul McGann is doing an excellent job with the Eighth Doctor (still) as he plays a slightly dazed version of himself. Still recovering from the events on Orbis (aren't we all) and still not quite sure about Lucie Miller. I do like the Eighth Doctor on audio. He's rapidly becoming my favourite Doctor.

Sheridan Smith also continues to do a fine job with Lucie Miller. There's so much energy there, even if her Northern bolshiness sometimes skirts the edge of cliché.

A nice bounce after the disappointment of Orbis.

Orbis (8th + Lucie Miller)

So, let's cut to the chase. I didn't like Orbis much.

Now I've got to work out why. A contributory factor might be that I listened to this on my way home from a long day in the office, on a over-crowded and over-heated tube train. That never improves one's mood but I know from previous experience that a good Big Finish story over-rides that. It draws you in.

Orbis didn't do that.

Was it the setting? A water world occupied by intelligent jellyfish - The Keltans - and menaced by a race of belligerent giant clams - the Molluscari? I don't think so. After all I'm a big fan of The Web Planet, which makes this look positively unambitious, partly because it was on the television.

Was it the performances? No. Not really. The acting was pretty good. I particularly liked Laura Solon's Selta, the jellyfish with a thing for the Doctor. Andrew Sachs did a fine job of Crassostrea, the leader of the Molluscari on the verge of giving birth. Although what a hermaphrodite, giant clam psychopath would actually sound like is a moot point.

But I think talking about the performances sets a little alarm bell ringing about this story: the tone. It's like The Gunfighters. Pretty light-hearted and comedic until Johnny Ringo turns up. Or in the case of this story until the Molluscari land. When it all takes a turn for the unpleasant.

The ending in particular, which is in its way bloody horrible, doesn't feel right. It feels tacked on as if the writer's realised they needed to get the Doctor off of the planet and the only way to do it was to...well force the issue in as unpleasant a way as possible.

It doesn't feel very Doctor Who-ish.

And neither does the Doctor's own behaviour. Even allowing for the ending of Vengeance of Morbius would the Doctor really just settle down in such a way that with his TARDIS back, Lucie back and his memory back (which he seems to have lost in dribs and drabs over time) he wouldn't try to do something more than stay and die with the Keltans?

This is the Doctor we're talking about. A man who jibbed at being stuck on Earth for two years but is apparently happy to sit on Orbis for a lot longer than that as happy as a sand boy? That he wouldn't strain every sinew to escape. To get back to his TARDIS. Back to Lucie? Nah, it just doesn't ring true.

And then there's the bloody Headhunter. Back again. Up to her old tricks. I don't know why but I'm beginning to find the Headhunter a little tiresome. Nothing to do with Katarina Olsson's performance, which is perfect. More to do with the character. Here she is inside the Doctor's TARDIS. No, flying the Doctor's TARDIS. Armed with a gun that fires 'time bullets'. Time bullets. Even the Doctor scoffs at that.

I think it is the Headhunter's abilities to do anything and have everything that annoys me. Nobody likes a smart arse and the Headhunter is becoming the ultimate in smartarses. She's going to be back though, that much is obvious but should she be. There's only so many times she can pop up with a lovely plan and the special equipment, fail and then flee without a scratch before there's something irritating about her.

I don't know perhaps that response was conditioned by the long day and the tube.

Perhaps it is because I don't like stories which revel in carnage and then expect us to forget it all with a smile and pick up again next week as if nothing much has happened. Even though I know Doctor Who couldn't possibly be as 'real' as that because everyone in it would either be suffering from survivor guilt, PTSD or be a sociopath. Death is everywhere and nowhere in Doctor Who. It can be the most moving moment in a Doctor Who episode or throwaway death of another minor cast member no one really noticed or cared about. It can be the focus of an episode - as it is in a way in both Resurrection and Revelation of the Daleks - or it can happen over and over again without much proper comment.

So I didn't enjoy Orbis and perhaps having thought about all of that the reason I didn't like it was I don't like it when the Doctor gives up. There's enough acceptance in the world as it is. I like my Doctor to rage, rage against the dying of the light. Not go gently (or McGuffiny) into that good night.

Or maybe I was just tired and grumpy.

You decide.

The Whispers of Terror (Sixth Doctor & Peri)

The Whispers of Terror is a fine piece of Doctor Who and an exceptional piece of audio drama. In my humble opinion. Well, not so much humble as just mine.

I recommend you listen to it on headphones to appreciate the full aural glory of it. Set in a Museum of Aural Antiquities this is one of those Big Finish stories that takes full advantage of its audio status to add atmosphere and power to the piece.

It helps that Colin Baker has a fantastically brilliant voice for audio and that in this story you can begin to get a glimpse of what the Sixth Doctor could have been if he hadn't been knee-capped from the off by that ridiculous costume and an indifferent to hostile BBC Management. This is what we might have got if the BBC had cared.

Yes, the Sixth Doctor is pompous, bombastic and loud. But he's also clever, witty and rather endearing underneath all the bluster. He's certainly keen to do the right thing. And for me he's always been Doctorish. Even in the television years I liked Colin Baker's performance. In fact despite my love for Tom Baker it was Colin Baker that made me a Doctor Who fan in the proper sense. I was always a fan of the programme but there was something about Colin Baker's Doctor that pushed me over the edge into the whole deep Doctor Who thing and wanting to go back to the past. It was during Colin Baker's era that I'd borrow those six or seventh generation VHS copies of Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker stories that were virtually unwatchable when I think about it now.

Colin Baker was also the first Doctor I ever actually met in the flesh. One of the advantages of living in High Wycombe. He was brilliant.

In a way it is one of the worst things about the BBC's treatment of Doctor Who in the Eighties is that Colin Baker who wanted to be the Doctor and could have been a great Doctor given the chance. The fact that Big Finish have given him and new lease of Doctor Who life can only be applauded. It gives people a chance to see what might have been and gives Colin Baker a bit of kudos he so richly deserves.

End of rant.

He's ably supported by Nicola Bryant as Peri, who seems to pick up on her old companion ways with no trouble at all. One of the problem with the television Sixth Doctor and Peri relationship was that it always seemed too hostile to be true. They were always bickering. There's some of that snark here but it feels like the kind of friendly piss taking that (my) good friends do to each other. There's more of a feeling of warmth.

Plus poor old Nicola doesn't get squeezed into the most revealing costume they can possibly find in order to keep the 'Dads' happy.

The Whispers of Terror features great performances from Lisa Bowerman as Beth Pernell, Matthew Breher as Visteen Krane, Peter Miles aka Nyder as Curator Gantman, Steffan Boje as Stengard and Nick Scovell as Detective Berkeley all of which compliment what's Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are doing.

And that's all I'm going to say. If you've ever said 'I don't like Colin Baker's Doctor' you should really listen to this. I might be alone in this (and I'm not prepared to have THAT canon argument right now) but to me you can't judge the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh or Eighth Doctor's on their television work alone. They've be given extended lives by Big Finish. Extended and better lives in a way because with audio drama you don't need to suspend your disbelief when looking at an over-lit obvious set or a man in a monster costume. It's audio. You're own brain can do it for you.

Open you minds to the audio people.

You'll thank me in the end.

You really will.

Sisters of the Flame - Vengeance of Morbius (8th + Lucie Miller)

With Sisters of the Flame - The Vengeance of Morbius another season of the Eight Doctor and Lucie Miller comes to an end. And it ends on a fine cliffhanger too, which I will try not to spoil.

Sisters of the Flame is effectively a Doctor lite story as the Doctor 'disappears' after dodging the Time Scoop, arriving on a mysterious space vehicle and getting grabbed, which leaves Lucie all alone. She's scared and worried, which makes her even more belligerent than usual.

Especially in her scenes with Rosto, the Giant Centipede Police Officer, who is bought in to investigate her stowawaying. Rosto (played rather brilliantly by Star Trek: DS9's Alexander Siddig) turns out to be a great character and after he rescues Lucie from an attempted kidnap attempt Lucie and he form a team. Investigators a-go-go. And Lucie apologises to Rosto for some rather unpleasant language she used on their first meeting.

Sheridan Smith is brilliant as Lucie Miller. All fizz and fight, although she does basically walk into her own kidnapping through failing to pay attention to passing Time Lord Straxus (Nickolas Grace).

It's the Time Scoop and Straxus that indicate the full risk of what's going on. The Time Lords appear to be in full flight. Gathering up every Time Lord they can find and bringing them back to Gallifrey.
In the meantime it appears that the Sisterhood of Karn (actually based on this story they should really be known as the Sisterhood Formerly of Karn as they've been booted off their own planet by billionaire Zarodnix (Kenneth Coley) to make way for....well...you can probably guess.) have been killing every Time Lord that falls into their hands, which is rather scooted over except that its clearly made at least one of them incredibly blood thirsty.

It turn out they've got the Doctor. And they want Lucie too. They want the Doctor and Lucie to kill them and they want that because Zarodnix is trying to bring Morbius back. Hence the Time Lord panic and the Sisterhood's murderous spree. It's not good.

The Vengeance of Morbius brings us in touch with the new, improved not quite Chop Suey Emperor Morbius, played with the right combination of intelligence, arrogance and cold blooded madness by Samuel West. Who is rather good.

I won't tell you how Morbius is bought back. Or how the Doctor defeats him. Or what happens. Just to say that there's some very clever stuff in The Vengeance of Morbius including a serious bit of timey-wimey stuff.

It's nice to get another glimpse of Morbius. I've always found him rather intriguing as a villain and in The Brain of Morbius we don't get to see him at his best. I think the television series has been uncomfortable about re-visiting him because of all that stuff about past regenerations when the Doctor and Morbius go mind-to-mind. There's controversy about who they are, although I think it is clear that the production team meant them to be earlier incarnations of the Doctor as an in-joke. Obviously no one expected us to analyse the story to death so it was just supposed to be a throw away moment but alas not.

However the point is whoever the current showrunner is can easily just turn around and say, "Sorry, they weren't the Doctor. Don't worry about it. Nothing to see here. Oh look and Morbius is back." Continuity is what we make of it.

Next up I'll solve the UNIT dating problem.

Or not.

Anyway...back to the story. Everyone seems to be having fun. There's some good performance, its nicely paced over the two stories being all about the setting of scene, introductions and explanation in the first episode but increasing the tension nicely as we hit the end of The Sisters of the Flame before picking up speed, tension and pathos as we make our way through The Vengeance of Morbius before ending rather brilliantly.

So listen and enjoy. The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller stories are turning into something rather good. McGann seems to be enjoying and to me he is THE Big Finish Doctor. All the others got - decent-ish - runs of television episodes whilst poor old McGann got Doctor Who: The TV Movie. So to me if you want to see the potential of McGann's Doctor you need to listen to his Big Finish stories.

And actually I'm starting to think that audio is the great medium for drama. It requires a bit more concentration, a bit more effort and allows us as listeners to stretch our imaginations in order to 'see' what's on offer, such as Giant Centipede Police Officers. It pays careful listening. It rewards it.

So if you haven't already listened to the Eighth Doctor audios do so now. That is an order.

Phantasmagoria (Fifth Doctor + Turlough)

If The Sirens of Times was a 'getting the band back together' multi-Doctor taster then Phantasmagoria should be considered the first proper Big Finish release. One Doctor (the Fifth),  one Turlough in a four part adventure with cliffhangers, grand-guignol villains with suitably evil laughs and a suitably impressive guest cast.

Written by and featuring Mark Gatiss (as Jasper Jeakes) it's not a bad little story this. The setting is London, 1707 and we begin our tale at the Diabola Club where Jasper Jeakes, Edmund Carteret (Jonathan Rigby) and Quincy Flowers (David Walliams) are playing cards but Carteret is bored and is keen for something more adventurous. He flounces out but finds himself drawn into a game with Sir Nicholas Valentine (David Ryall).

Meanwhile in another part of town the Doctor and Turlough turn up in the house of antiquarian Dr Samuel Holywell (Steve Wickham). Their sudden manifestation into his home is explained by the Doctor who states they've come to deliver the TARDIS to him. As usual in the situation the Doctor ends up making himself at home.

And then....well then all sorts of shenanigans happen involving an alien murderer, a couple of other aliens, a Maid, a Highwayman by the name of Major Billy Lovemore and a lot of people disappearing.

It's all rather fun and it does have the right feel of the Fifth Doctor's era even if Davison (obviously) sounds a bit older and his Doctor a bit wearier. I could be reading too much into this but I do think Davison has taken the opportunity to change his performance as the Fifth Doctor. He's on record as saying he thought he was too young for the part when originally cast and that he felt he'd be better when he got older. Now he is older and he's doing something a bit different. It's rather good.

Oh and I like the way the story stays true to the Fifth Doctor's era by having him invite strangers - in this case Dr Holywell and Hannah - into the TARDIS again, which he seems to do on a semi-regular basis in his television stories.

I think Mark Strickson sounds a little rusty on this as if he's still feeling his way back into both acting and Turlough. I always liked Turlough as a companion though so as it is all eminently forgivable.

The guest cast is lovely.

David Ryall gives Sir Nicholas Valentine the requisite moustache twirling nastiness and has definitely mastered the 'evil laugh', which is essential in a part like that.

Mark Gatiss gets his teeth into Jasper Jeakes, which shouldn't be difficult as he wrote the script. David Walliams is good to as Quincy Flowers (and does a short turn too as Watchman Ned Cotton). I like Steve Wickham's Dr Holywell to who copes magnificently with the Doctor's explanations and you could see Dr Holywell joining the Doctor for a couple of trips in the TARDIS.

Julia Dalkin also does fine work as the maid Hannah Fry, whose importance to the story gradually becomes clear.  There seems to be a standard period drama maid voice that must be taught in drama courses up and down the country and Dalkin gives it a nice trot out in this story.

There's a little horror here to, especially in the final episode where we get to wonder in the alien space ship. Actually there's a few bits and pieces in this story where it reminds me of The City of Death, although nowhere near as witty.

Overall though this is a rather fun and a good introduction to the Big Finish oeuvre and a new old Fifth Doctor.





You can buy Phantasmagoria from Big Finish here for only £5. That's 'only' the cost of a pint. London prices obviously.

Sirens of Time (5th, 6th & 7th Doctors)

Gallifrey is in trouble. The Knights of Velyshaa are about to invade. They've better weapons than the Time Lords. Vansell, a Celestial Intervention Agency operative, has arrived to warn them. But he might be too late.

And somewhere, somewhen the Doctor is involved.

Or Doctors.

Yes, it's the Three Doctors again. Except this time it's the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh and this time they're on audio. Welcome to the first ever Big Finish release from all the way back in 1999. When men were men etc.

Unusually for a multi-Doctor story it takes three episodes for the Doctors to come together. Each has an individual adventure and his own problems to deal with first whilst in the background (and indeed foreground) The Doctor is being manipulated.

The problem with 'The Sirens of Time' is that it doesn't quite know when to stop piling enemies in. There's a kind of desire to build to some kind of ultimate threatgasm that means just as we think we know what we're up against up pops another possibly bigger threat.

Or is it just a bluff? Or double-bluff? Or just a load of nonsense.

In a sense it doesn't matter a jot. Like all multi-Doctor stories (well, almost all) the plot is irrelevant to the fun of getting them all together. Surprisingly, especially considering the Sixth Doctor's involvement, the Doctor's are generally civilised to each other. There's a little mocking but in the end the scale of the threat, the mess that they're in and the rather terrible realisation that they might just have meddled a little too much keeps them on good behaviour.

It's nice to hear all the old Doctors again. Davison is the only one of the three that sounds drastically different. He's vocally aged and it helps actually. He sounds wearier, which almost suits the Fifth Doctor. Colin Baker is on fine form as the Sixth Doctor. As fresh as a daisy and relishing getting another chance at being the Doctor. He's got a point to prove and it shows. Finally Sylvester McCoy is also little changed. His Doctor seems a little more thoughtful but it is his initial adventure that kick starts the events of this tale.

As I said it isn't the best Doctor Who story ever but it does a job. It reminds us of each of the Doctors, re-introducing some of the greatest hits and foibles. It gives each of them a moment in the sun without any of them being over or under used.

It's also the best place to start with Big Finish who have reduced all their first 50 releases to a mere £5 on CD. Or less for the downloads. I'd snap 'em up if I were you.

Whilst I love Doctor Who in its original home, television; I think Big Finish have done an admirable job of keeping the Classic Series alive & kicking on audio. If you've never listening then you should do so. Hopefully as I blog these stories it'll encourage you to stick a toe into the waters.

You can't go wrong starting here but there is much more to come.

An Interview with India Fisher

Maltby Street Market Cakes Ahoy!!


I thought I'd kick off The Audio Centurion with something a little different. So after I visited discovering India Fisher's rather good cake stand at Maltby Street Market (actually Ropewalk) I sent a few questions to her via e-mail (with the assistance of The Terrible Zodin Fanzine), which India Fisher kindly took the time to answer.
 
So thanks to India Fisher for her time and patience.
 
This is my first attempt at an interview so all dumb questions are entirely my fault.
 

1. How did you get into acting?

I’ve always wanted to be an actress, I can’t remember wanting to be anything else. I think Carrie Fisher had a profound effect on me. If we had the same surname then maybe one day I could be Princess Leia too! I started by going to acting classes outside school (as my school didn’t do things like Drama only proper subjects!) and I entered lots of festivals as a kid and got the bug from there. I did English and Drama at Uni and then decided not to go to Drama school but just tried to get work and eventually got myself an agent.

2. How did you end up getting the part of Charley?

Jason Haigh-Ellery came to a show I was doing up in Edinburgh called NewsRevue. He asked me to audition for Big Finish. So I did. They gave me the part of Peril Bellamy in a Peter Davidson and then months later I got a call asking if I’d like to be Paul McGann’s companion.

3. Is there much of you in Charley or is she completely different to you?

I’d like to think we’re both tenacious and ballsy. But then again I’ve never actually been faced with a scary monster so I might turn out to be an utter wimp. It’s hard to separate the two for me now really, as I feel over the years the writers have been great at melding things they see in me into the character of Charley. Although of course they don’t see me first thing in the morning before I’ve had a cup of coffee, they only see the nice India.

4. Did you know much about Doctor Who before you came on board? Had you seen Paul McGann's TV Movie?

Anyone of a certain age in the UK knows Doctor Who from their childhood. Tom Baker is the mental image I have when I say Dr Who, big hair, big hat, big scarf, big voice. I was never an ardent viewer, I was too busy playing with my Sindy dolls, and by the time I got old enough to get sci-fi Star Wars had hooked me. But Dr Who is part of the British TV pantheon, I knew what I was getting into when I started working for Big Finish, and it was great to be bringing new stories to the fans at a time when the BBC didn’t seem to be interested in Dr Who anymore. And yes I had seen Paul’s movie before I started working with him. But I was a massive fan of Withnail and I so that was more important really for me.

5. Were you told much about Charley's story Arc (as opposed to her Aunt. Sorry)?

Nope. I was kept as much in the dark as you were. In the first few seasons I used to get a new script and skip to the end to see if she died! And it was an utter surprise to me when they said I was coming back with Colin’s Doctor.

6. How did it feel switching Doctor's? How did it change Charley's role?

I was thrilled as I thought Charley was gone forever. Working with Colin was wonderful, he really is a lovely man and such fun to be in the studio with. It altered Charley dramatically too, she became older and wiser (which was no bad thing as I had been playing her for 7 odd years so she aged with me in some respects). But her time with the 8^th Doctor after C’rizz’s death and towards the end altered her view of The Doctor, she realized that no matter how much he meant to her, she would always just be one in a long line of companions to him, and he’d become numb to the deaths and departures of his companions over the decades. She stopped idolizing him and saw him as more of an equal. And then when she saw what she thought was him die she felt she couldn’t tell the 6^th Doctor that she knew his fate, so that in turn gave her an inner power. She was more in control, she thought she knew what to do for the best for him. And that ultimately meant erasing her from his memory. She was protecting him rather than the other way round. At that point I felt Charley became a woman.

7. Did you have fun?

Yes of course it was great fun. I always have fun when acting, it beats getting a proper job!

8. What is your favourite Big Finish play (that you've acted in or otherwise)? Why?

I loved Neverland as Charley’s story was coming to a climax. But I don’t really have a favourite.

9. Do you listen to your own stories?

Not really, I just can’t get past the thing that everyone has when they hear their own voices.

10. I found 'Scherzo' - the first of the Divergent Universe Arc with just you and Paul McGann - quite a tough listen as there's a lot of emotional stuff going on there. Was it hard to play?

No it was brilliant. I loved Scherzo and was so touched that Rob Shearman had written it as a thank you for Chimes of Midnight. We recorded it as a proper play, in as much as we rehearsed it once and did it in its entirety in one take. I love playing the emotional stuff and thought it was brilliantly written, my only worry was that I wouldn’t do it justice.

 11. After 'Scherzo' C'rizz came on board. Did that change Charley & the way you played her?

No. I loved working with Conrad and we became very close friends. But it didn’t alter Charley’s character. It obviously altered the dynamic of the Doctor and Charley as it became a threesome. But things had to move on.

12. I tried your excellent scones & home made raspberry jam on Saturday so is the stall going to be a regular thing?

Glad you liked them. We’re in talks to try and make it a regular thing so fingers crossed…

13. Have you read any of the 'Short Trips' which feature Charley? Did you find it weird reading in prose abut a performance you gave on audio?

Nope sorry I haven’t.

14. Would you like to try writing for Charley/Big Finish yourself?

God no. I leave that up to the professionals.

15. What's the most important thing you learned on your journey as the Eighth Doctor's companion between 2001 & 2007?

That you don’t have to hold your breath when it’s not your line! When I first started out I used to step away from the mike to breathe in between my lines as I didn’t want to ruin other people’s lines, then it was pointed out to me that we were all on separate tracks and no-one would hear me breathing anyway!!

16. What projects are you working on currently?

I’m still voicing Masterchef and Celeb Masterchef. I record various talking books and do odds and sods of voiceover work. But my main project at the moment is I’m pregnant, so I’m currently working on growing a baby – weird!

17. I see Nick Briggs is talking about stand alone Charley stories. Do you know much about this? Are you allowed to talk about it?

All I know is that it’s happening – am very excited to know more.

18. Have you ever looked at your Wikipedia entry? How inaccurate is it?

No but someone once came up to me and said “ooh we grew up in the same town” – so I replied “oh you’re from Stoke are you?” and they say “no Lytham St Anne’s” with a confused expression. I hadn’t a clue where Lytham St Anne’s was let alone it being the place I grew up. But she said she’d seen that was where I was born on my Wikipedia! So god alone knows where they get their information from. For the record I was born in London and moved to Staffordshire when I was 3 months old, and grew up in Stoke.

Welcome

Let me welcome you to The Audio Centurion, closely related to The Patient Centurion. Most people depart with a scream.

The purpose of this blog is to be a home to my reviews, thoughts and inane ramblings on and about the busy - and financially painful - worlds of Doctor Who audio. Which will, I suspect, mainly be Big Finish related but who knows where things will go. Real life has a habit of screwing up the best laid plans of mice and men.

I've already reviewed a large number of Eighth Doctor Big Finish stories under The Patient Centurion banner. If I can work out how to I'll shift 'em over here. If I don't, I won't.

If I really get myself in gear - don't hold your breath - I hope to get some interviews up here too. When I've asked people and then when I've...oh you know....at some unspecified future point.

Anyway here's to the future.

Look forward to your feedback, whinging, complaints, questions and cash donations.

Tony