More Doctors will feature in pre-recorded cameo appearances for the immersive show Time Fracture!
Doctor Who
Review: The Ninth Doctor Adventures – Ravagers
Review by Jacob Licklider
Raise your hand if you weren’t expecting Christopher Eccleston to come back to Doctor Who? Okay, whoever doesn’t have your hand up is clearly lying, because it was one of those things that nobody ever thought would happen, and even more so, would happen so soon, but here we are, May 2021, and the first of four Ninth Doctor Box sets from Big Finish Productions are out in the world. Ravagers was written and directed by Nicholas Briggs showing just how much enthusiasm he had for the first Doctor he worked with on television when Doctor Who came back, and structured like a three part miniseries. This format is actually really good for Doctor Who, as single hour long stories which aren’t connected in any way becomes incredibly difficult to properly develop a new setting and new characters all in a single episode. While each episode has its own title (Sphere of Freedom, Cataclysm, and Food Fight) as this is a miniseries, this review will be looking as Ravagers as one continuous story, which is the best way to look at this box set anyway as each episode ends in a cliffhanger before the final episode opens up the series of box sets to what is clearly going to become a new era of Ninth Doctor adventures.
Big Finish pulls upcoming release due to ongoing John Barrowman scandal
Doctor Who audio producers Big Finish have announced they will not be moving forward with the release of the story Torchwood: Absent Friends.
Originally set for release this month, the story would have reunited John Barrowman’s Captain Jack Harkness with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor.
John Barrowman removed from Doctor Who: Time Fracture following accusations
Interactive adventure Doctor Who: Time Fracture is set to go live later this month following COVID-related delays. Torchwood star John Barrowman was originally scheduled to reprise the role of Captain Jack Harkness for the live event in the form of a pre-recorded clip, but has since been dropped following allegations of exposing himself.
BBC Studios to release K9 audio annual
BBC Studios have today announced a brand new audio in their Doctor Who audio range K9 Audio Annual.
BAFTA suspends Noel Clarke following sexual misconduct allegations
BAFTA has suspended the membership of actor Noel Clarke, along with his recent Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award following numerous sexual harassment and bullying allegations made in a Guardian report published Thursday.
Review: The First Doctor Adventures (Volume Five)
Review by Jacob Licklider
There is something odd about the First Doctor Adventures Big Finish range. As it features the cast from An Adventure in Space and Time in the roles of the Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara it is classified as a range for the New Series, however, each set has been in some way or another a fitting tribute for the television show’s first few years, especially Season 1, where each story essentially alternates science fiction and pure historical with the occasional a la The Space Museum or The Edge of Destruction thrown in for good measure. Each episode even is given its own individual title as the first three seasons would often do, and they move directly one into the next, with The First Doctor Adventures: Volume Five even ending implying that there will be a volume six. This is also a range which has lost the novelty of having full cast First Doctor stories, which isn’t a bad thing, and was indicated by the previous volume including the Daleks in a sequel to the very first Dalek story. Volume Five goes back away from bringing back any returning elements, though the second story does take some cheeky nudges to future stories and events for the Doctor in particular, selling itself on two very interesting titles and the promise of a story with William Shakespeare and pairing a veteran writer with a new writer.
David Bradley and John Barrowman will cameo in Time Fracture
David Bradley and John Barrowman are reprising their roles as the First Doctor (first played by William Hartnell) and Captain Jack Harkness, in pre-recorded cameo appearances for the immersive show Time Fracture!
Review: Time Lord Victorious- Echoes Of Extinction
Review by Jacob Licklider
Echoes of Extinction is a release with a troubled history. Originally announced for a November 2020 release with the final Big Finish release for the Time Lord Victorious event as a download and vinyl exclusive at certain UK supermarkets, boasting Paul McGann and David Tennant both portraying the Doctor before the COVID-19 pandemic delayed it, making the vinyl exclusive to Big Finish’s own website. Now it is April 2021 and Echoes of Extinction has finally been released, making it the final installment in the event to actually be released in the event. It is also interesting as being made for vinyl, it is essentially two interconnected stories, each approximately 28 minutes to accommodate the vinyl’s limitations. This is also a multi-Doctor story in the vein of Heart of TARDIS, where each Doctor’s plot affects the other’s while never actually meeting each other. The story follows the same format as the main range story Flip Flop which each disc could be listened to individually and in either order. For full transparency, I listened to the story in the order they were presented in the Big Finish app, with the Eighth Doctor’s story first followed by the Tenth Doctor’s story, rounded off with the customary bonus interviews as is with these ranges.
Review: Doctor Who – Dalek Universe 1
Review by Jacob Licklider
The Dalek Protocol started off the Dalek Universe miniseries with a fairly standard but enjoyable tale with no real connection to what would become the series at least based on the first set. And a day later, Dalek Universe begins itself properly with the first three stories in the miniseries being released to acclaim. To make what’s most likely going to be a long review short, Dalek Universe 1 is a brilliant start to the miniseries and if you haven’t already, go do yourself a favour and buy it. This is one of those sets that I cannot critically evaluate without losing my restraint on spoilers so from this point forward. You have been warned. Each installment of Dalek Universe 1 is truly part of a miniseries, blending together which helps as two of the episodes are from John Dorney, and the third deals with the character fallout from the previous two episodes before moving along to what will eventually become the conclusion of the set while transitioning into the second set. An interesting note, this set barely features the Daleks, like The Dalek Protocol before it, they are an off-screen presence bar a few scenes, the writers instead electing for setting this around the time of The Daleks’ Master Plan and dragging the Tenth Doctor out of time into his own personal timeline.
Indie Mac User 