Cover artwork and story titles for the first volume of Big Finish Doctor Who – The Ninth Doctor Adventures starring Christopher Eccleston has been unveiled today.
Due for release in May 2021, Doctor Who – The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Ravagers is a full-cast audio drama box set comprising three fantastic stories all written by Big Finish’s Creative Director, Nicholas Briggs.
Review by Jacob Licklider
Terror of the Master is a bonus audiobook included in the limited edition of Masterful written by Trevor Baxendale and narrated by Jon Culshaw. Unlike other releases from Big Finish Productions, this is not an audio drama, but an audiobook with the occasional sound effects and as such it can only rely on the actual prose of the storytelling and the narration. Culshaw is an excellent narrator, using his impressive vocal range and variety of impressions to bring to life the Jon Pertwee era. While Masterful was a celebration of the Master, the incarnation played by Roger Delgado was not included due to Delgado’s tragic passing in 1973, so for the limited edition only Trevor Baxendale was commissioned to write a three and a half hour story featuring the Third Doctor, UNIT, and the Master; set right after The Green Death. Like many of the Pertwee serials, ‘Terror of the Master’ has a political bent, once again tackling pollution and the increasing global temperatures with a kindly scientist promising to fix Earth’s problems with a revolutionary new process that only he can know the exact details of and behind him is the Master. The Master has plans to take over the world using an alien creature in a story that most closely resembles that of The Claws of Axos with Dr. Drake in place of Axos and the Axons, without the Tory MP. On that front Terror of the Master is a fairly standard affair from Baxendale, with a prose style (and runtime) that intentionally feels like that of a Target Novel of a standard serial that would have been released during that time period.
Review by Jacob Licklider
“I am usually referred to as the Master…universally.”
This immortal line, first aired 50 years ago, introduced Doctor Who fans to Roger Delgado and the Doctor’s arch enemy the Master. And now, to celebrate this momentous occasion, Big Finish Productions has brought together all surviving TV incarnations of the Master and a host of others for a three hour audio drama, ‘Masterful’. Released 50 years to the day of Episode One of ‘Terror of the Autons‘, there are two editions of this release; the standard three disc edition and the limited eight disc edition which contains a disc of bonus features, an original audiobook by Trevor Baxendale, and two previously released Short Trips. This review is only looking at Masterful the story (see our Terror of the Master review here) So, should you buy Masterful? Short answer, yes, of course you should, James Goss provides three hours with a brilliant cast pitting Master against Master, playing to each incarnation’s strengths and giving listeners a real treat to see how dysfunctional each incarnation can be when forced to cooperate. Continue reading
John Barrowman is back as Captain Jack for the 50th monthly Torchwood audio adventure from Big Finish Productions, teaming up with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor.
Review by Jacob Licklider
When Torchwood was first conceived as an arc for Series 2 of Doctor Who it was established in universe by Queen Victoria, so having Big Finish Productions producing a series of audio dramas based on Torchwood, doing releases with Queen Victoria as a prominent character is a given. Big Finish Productions cast Rowena Cooper in the role; and several monthly range releases, and an appearance in The Torchwood Archive established her as the definitive Queen Victoria. The final Torchwood monthly range release for 2020 is The Crown which is promoted with a striking image of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria in a straitjacket and padded cell with a skeleton looming. This image, combined with a vague product description, can only lead a potential listener to buy this on intrigue.
Big Finish Productions previously announced that in association with BBC Studios Christopher Eccleston would reprise the role of the Ninth Doctor in a brand new series of audio adventures. Today they posted a photo eccleston with his script, further confirming his return and the set is now available for pre-order from BigFinish.com.
Review by Ian McArdell
Chosen is the latest Blake’s 7 novel from Big Finish, released in audiobook form. Set in Series A, between the episodes ‘Mission to Destiny’ and ‘Duel’, it meets the crew early on, still working out their dynamic as they deal with a host of dangerous situations.
Continue reading
Review by Michael Goleniewski
‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ is honestly a bit of an annoying release to review right off the bat because it takes place not only after the previous Time Lord Victorious story ‘Enemy of My Enemy’ but also after the main thrust of the Time Lord Victorious event covered in the novel ‘The Knight, The Fool, and the Dead’ and its sequel ‘All Flesh is Grass’ which is yet to be released at the current time of writing. Its description as quote ‘Die Hard with Daleks’ by both its author and Big Finish as a whole is a fairly apt one and Lizzie Hopley’s script wastes no time in immediately jumping into that idea. With the Daleks last seen allying with the Eighth Doctor and venturing into the Dark Times in the prior audio story, the narrative catches up with them after an unspecified amount of time in the aftermath of what must’ve been an immense battle. Working to stay afloat in the Time Vortex in a rapidly disintegrating saucer, the titular pepper-pots are struggling to survive. But they have bigger problems on their hands for the Doctor is still alive and causing havoc onboard in the hopes of finding his TARDIS and getting away.
Review by Michael Goleniewski
‘Genetics of the Daleks’ is perhaps the biggest surprise story in the whole of the Time Lord Victorious arc as it features the earliest Doctor involved in the entire saga so far and yet somehow happens to be one of the last stories timeline-wise in regards to how the Daleks themselves pertain to the big event. Its trailer makes it feel like ‘Alien’ with a lone pepper-pot instead of a xenomorph akin to how the recent final Eighth Doctor TLV audio was basically ‘Die Hard’ with a whole army of ‘pepper-pots’ at it’s disposal and the Doctor in the John McClane role. And similar to said audio, ‘Genetics’ delivers pretty much that exact premise albeit with a few twists along the way.
Review by Michael Goleniewski
The first of two Big Finish Main releases for December 2020, ‘Plight of the Pimpernel’ sees the Sixth Doctor and Peri caught in the middle of one of the most infamous events in European history. France 1793; the French Revolution and the bloody Reign of Terror are in full swing with heads rolling from the blade of the ‘National Razor’ on a daily basis. It’s a radical and deadly time for the population of the country but a few small lights of hope are working to make a difference, including a mysterious masked hero saving lives in the country and calling himself the Scarlet Pimpernel. But as to who the Pimpernel actually is and who is hiding under the mask, that’s where things get a little strange as the Pimpernel is supposed to be a fictional character and not an actual force for good. With the Doctor and Peri in extended undercover in England and several forces human and inhuman working to put the Pimpernel out of commission, the situation is about to get even more complicated than even the TARDIS team is anticipating to the point where an understudy of sorts may be required to figure things out and save the day…..
Indie Mac User 