Big Finish

Review: Doctor Who – Beyond War Games

Posted on by indiemacuser

Written by Cavan Gilbey

Season 6B is something of a controversial subject amongst fans; many like the use of the Doctor as a Gallifreyian agent being part of his punishment prior to regeneration while others see it as undermining the very effective and emotional ending of The War Games (a personal favourite of the regeneration stories, narrowly beaten by Logopolis). Personally I’m relatively indifferent to Season 6B since, or at least until this boxset, it was something that just seemed slightly lame. But now I must admit I am fully sold on telling stories during this sub-season since Beyond War Games is shockingly compelling and some of the best Second Doctor material Big Finish have published in a long long time; not since The Black Hole have I been this enthusiastic about dedicated releases from one of my favourite Doctors.

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Review: Doctor Who – Silver & Ice

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Jacob Licklider

18 months. It has been 18 months since Big Finish Productions has released a solo Seventh Doctor audio with Sylvester McCoy in the role. The Grey Man of the Mountain was released in December 2020. It is now June 2022 and in between we had one small cameo in The End of the Beginning and a Short Trip read by Sophie Aldred, but that has finally changed. Silver and Ice has been released after a long time coming and it’s honestly not entirely what I expected. While every other Doctor’s set has been tied around some theme with Forty, Water Worlds, and Beyond War Games all work around a theme with The Annihilators and The Outlaws featuring central stories. Silver and Ice is odd as the two stories it contains, Bad Day in Tinseltown and The Ribos Inheritance really have no connection outside of being two stories featuring the Seventh Doctor and Mel. They almost feel as if there was an intention for them to make up a Main Range trilogy, especially if the second set, announced to be Sullivan and Cross – AWOL, continues the format. This disconnect makes me feel a bit odd about giving the set as a whole a rating as these are essentially two stand alone stories and perhaps would have been more effective had they been released as two single releases.

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Celestial Toymaker’s Audio Adventures at Big Finish (retrospective)

Posted on by indiemacuser

Written by Cavan Gilbey

So the Celestial Toymaker may very well be returning to the television; rumoured to be portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris, although previously played by Michael Gogh of the Burton Batman fame.

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Review: The Fourth Doctor Adventures – The Nine

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Jacob Licklider

The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Nine has a weird title. Originally announced years back as simply The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Series 11: Volume 2 following the naming scheme of Series 7-10, but with the transition of the greater Big Finish output going to box set releases with their own individual subtitles is given the title The Nine because the character of the Nine appears in the first story, The Dreams of Avarice, alone. The other two stories, Shellshock and Peake Season, are completely unrelated adventures for the Fourth Doctor, Peake Season not even meant to be released in this series as it was added later and recorded in 2020 and not in 2017-2018. A more fitting subtitle would have been Solo Volume 2 since this is a set which contains three stories where the Fourth Doctor is travelling alone after The Deadly Assassin and a friend of mine suggested on Twitter that this series was similar to the run of Virgin New Adventures which in the span of four books would pitch a potential companion, with Bernice Summerfield being the companion chosen. For this series it would be Margaret in the winning role but The Dreams of Avarice, Shellshock, and Peake Season have characters who feel as if they are meant to be companion candidates which would have enhanced the set had this been called Solo Volume 2.

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Review: Torchwood – Dead Plates

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Cavan Gilbey

Billis Manger seems to be something of a fan favourite character in the Torchwood community;
appearing in a grand total of two episodes of the television series. For many the character made an
immediate impression as Murray Melvin brings a slimy charm and eeriness to the villain, but that
wasn’t enough for me to want to see him return. However Big Finish, if they are to be known for
anything, are known for their resurrection in interest for characters who might not have gotten fair
innings on the television. That brings us to the latest monthly range offering; Dead Plates. Manger
has previously appeared in four other audio entries but this is my first experience with the character
in this format. And based on what I’ve heard here, I may just go and listen to more.

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Review: The War Master: Self-Defence

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Jacob Licklider

The Trial of a Time Lord 2: Electric Boogaloo is not the title of the release I am reviewing today, but perhaps it should be and I mean that lovingly. The War Master: Self-Defence was announced on the hook that the War Master would be sharing a story with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor, and with this announcement I stopped paying attention to the releases of plot summaries which is why it threw me for a loop when at the end of the first episode the War Master is put on trial by a race of god like beings from before the Time Lords after an introductory adventure in the set sets up the premise. The middle stories are flashbacks, though one feels like it may just be a flash forward a la Terror of the Vervoids. There is also no adherence to the format of A Christmas Carol looking explicitly at past, present, and future, just an opener, what’s used by the prosecution, the defence, and the final verdict which brings the Tenth Doctor into the story. Like the best installments of The War Master: Self-Defence is hung on a very solid story arc where each episode serves some sort of purpose to layering the plot to a point that explores the genuine depths the War Master will go to get his way. Like Master of Callous before it, Self-Defence is one where everything is re-contextualised at the end and an emotional hit is pulled off that although you can see it coming from a mile away, it just clicks and enhances both the performance of Derek Jacobi as well as the side characters.

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Audio Review: Survivors – Crusade

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Ian McArdell

‘Crusade’ is the latest Big Finish audiobook set in the world of Terry Nation’s Survivors – a
1970s post-pandemic tale of those who lived after a virus dubbed “the Death” wiped out
much of the world’s population. Slotting into the latter part of the show’s first series, the
story is coloured by events from one of its most traumatic episodes.

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Review: Doctor Who – Out Of Time (Volume 3)

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Jacob Licklider

Out of Time has been an interesting little trilogy of stories, held together by the rather simple premise as the Tenth Doctor meets one of his previous incarnations and they have to fight a big villain. These releases were all recorded in 2020 when lockdown began and released annually with Wink being the final installment featuring the Tenth Doctor, the Sixth Doctor, and the Weeping Angels.

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Audio Review: Sherlock Holmes – The Fiends of New York City

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Ian McArdell

The latest outing for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, The Fiends of New York City, takes place in the stifling summer of 1901. Surprisingly, despite its title, it has very little to do with New York and instead, rather more to do with the new power behind London’s criminal underclass; The Seamstress of Peckham Rye.

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Audio Review: The World’s of Blake’s 7 – Heroes And Villains

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Ian McArdell

Heroes and Villains is the latest release from The Worlds of Blake’s 7 range from Big Finish. Exploring the universe away from the Liberator, boxsets so far have focussed on fellow freedom fighter Avalon, the mysterious Clone Masters, Colin Baker’s bombastic villain Bayban the Butcher and the  insidious criminal organisation known as The Terra Nostra. Each of these releases have seen members of the show’s original cast appear.

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