Audio Drama

Big Finish Review: Doctor Who – Maker of Demons

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

I could almost feel like when Matthew J Elliott wrote ‘Makers of Demons’ that he had read my review of ‘Fiesta of the Damned’. I am not enough of an ego-maniac to think so (and he wouldn’t have had enough time) but it’s like he missed any of the pitfalls I found in ‘Fiesta’ to deliver a wonderful story (with due respect to the fore mentioned story!)

The story is straight-forward and engaging. The Doctor and Mel have been to the planet Prosper to settle some humans in with the locals (the Mogera) and negotiate a treaty to make this possible. Leaving behind a new and sustainable energy source ‘Doctorium’ (discovered and named by guess who!). Years later The Doctor, Mel & Ace return to the planet; but the peace has been shattered and the Mogera have been transformed into monsters, seemingly by Doctorium; but as you might guess there is more to this than meets the eyes.

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Big Finish – Doctor Who: The Chimes of Midnight Limited Vinyl Edition

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

When Big Finish first got the rights to add the 8th Doctor to their line-up it was such an exciting moment. At the time we only had one TV outing for this Doctor and a few books. Yes, the first adventure sets a tone for a Doctor but there was still so much to know about him. So once we were getting 8th Doctor audio’s what would they do with him? Some of these first audio’s seemed to lean into the suggested psychic powers from the TV movie; others tended more toward a sense of mystery, but the best included a heavy sense of wonder and excitement to them and an adventuring spirit buoyed on by his new companion Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Pollard (Edwardian Adventurer).

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Big Finish – Doctor Who Early Adventures 3.1: THE AGE OF ENDURANCE

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

As this is my first review of an ‘early adventure’; I’ll talk briefly about this range.

It’s been really good to see classic doctors revived and companions brought back in the ‘early adventures’. There were some really nice companion chronicles, but Big Finish doing full cast audio adventures have slightly ruined me for narration when we can hear a story with a full cast acting it out. These early adventures are mostly acted out with a full cast, with occasional narration to set the scene. The companions like Frazer Hines as the Second Doctor and William Russell as the First do such a good job you feel like they are there and I’m really glad they made the brave decision to do early Doctors replacing the actors we miss so much.

978-1-78178-378-8-1 Continue reading →

Big Finish: Phillip Hinchcliffe Presents Doctor Who – The Genesis Chamber

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

Phillip Hinchcliffe had a lot to live up to from his much esteemed producing of Doctor Who when he re-joined Tom Baker for the Big Finish adventures. With his first couple of adventures he more than delivered; as he does with The Genesis Chamber.

Set at a human colony where half the people live inside a domed city and procreate using a genesis chamber and the other half live outside in the wild in a tribe and do their procreating the old fashioned way. At the start the Doctor and Leela meet up with some joy riding nobles from the domed city; who crash land in the tribe and from then on nothing will be the same for either of the peoples on the planet again.

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Big Finish Review: Fiesta of the Damned

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

It’s really nice to still see a story come up in any part of the Doctor Who world that is based on real historical events and especially when it’s a part of history that is maybe less well used in modern fiction.

Now when you are dealing with a history based episode you have a few choices. You can go for a straight telling of the events and get the Doctor and companions mixed up in established events, like classic DW story ‘The Romans’. You can create a secret threat to history that the Doctor must defeat to save the timeline a-la ‘The Unquiet Dead’. Or you can add in a supernatural element that the writer makes part of the original events as they did in the ‘Fires of Pompeii’. This story tries to have its cake and eat it too on this front.978-1-78178-891-2

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Big Finish – Doctor Who: 4th Doctor Adventures – The Pursuit of History / Casualties of Time

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Head Reviewer & host of Gallifrey Stands podcast)

I have been looking forward to this 2-part adventure! Not only is it always a pleasure to have Tom Baker stepping back into his role as the 4th Doctor, but to have the return of David Warner as Cuthbert and Toby Hadoke as Mr Dorrick is something not to be missed. These characters were originally introduced at the end of 4th Doctor series 2 (The Dalek Contract and The Final Phase) alongside Tom and Mary Tamm’s Romana 1. So it is a little bittersweet when you hear on the extra’s Nicholas Briggs talking about how bringing in Lalla Ward for this series meant that they could continue some of the storylines left open from Tamm’s adventures. As always though the trick of making you feel like it’s the same person no matter which Romana you are dealing with is achieved; something we maybe take for granted sometimes.

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Big Finish Review: Torchwood – Broken/Made You Look

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Head Reviewer & Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

Time for a round-up of the latest Big Finish Torchwood releases and my first review since Indie Mac User became an official reviewer for Big Finish (fanfare and bunting released!).

First up we have the long awaited Broken. Exploring the gap between Ianto saying goodbye to his Cyber girlfriend and really stepping into the thick of the action as a full member of the Torchwood team. In a recent panel hosted by yours truly, I got to ask Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto himself) about this adventure…

‘That’s a question quite a lot of fans ask, what happens between Yanto hiding a cyberwoman in the basement and suddenly being promoted to a fully-fledged member of the team. That sort of arc wasn’t really investigated in the show but this is an audio piece that really delves into that and answers a lot of question the fans might have had.’

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Big Finish Review – Doctor Who: The Churchill Years Vol. 1

Posted on by indiemacuser

Written by Doctor Squee (Host of the Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

Big Finish continue to expand their range and it’s another box set to take place in the ‘new Who’ era.
This set see’s Winston Churchill, played by the ever entertaining Ian McNeice, meeting up with 3 of the Doctor’s incarnations throughout his life time over 4 adventures.

This included a full cast with McNeice voicing the Doctor’s in the narrative form. Continue reading →

Review – Doctor Who: The War Doctor: Vol 1: Only the Monstrous

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Host – Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

Mild spoilers below!!!

When it comes to the War Doctor a lot of people get it wrong. I try not to sound arrogant as I write that; but I think it’s true.

People have said that for the Doctor to be that disgusted with himself from the War and to deny his name he must have done something really bad; something maybe even evil. I’ve never felt this. All the Doctor has to do to not consider himself good is simple. He has to either not live by his personal code (which is so well summed up in Day of the Doctor) ‘Never cowardly, nor cruel. Never give up, never give in’.

He also needs to never be a pragmatist, because part of being the Doctor is always to find the unquestionable right thing to do something when it seems impossible.

For me this is what is tackled so well in this box set.  Continue reading →

Big Finish Review: Torchwood – Fall to Earth

Posted on by indiemacuser

Written by Doctor Squee (Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

twab0102_falltoearth_1417_cover_largeTorchwood was a slow grower for me. You always knew it had the potential to be a great show, but it needed to find itself first. It started by feeling the need to prove it wasn’t Doctor Who by swearing every other word, talking extremely frankly about sex and pretty much having everyone wanting to do it with everyone else. It quickly calmed down, toned down the swearing and to a lesser degree the sex and slowly became the show it was capable of being. Yes it was for adults, but it didn’t feel the need to overdo it to prove it. The height of its success was being turned into a mini-series in Children of Earth; which gave us a great story with a heart-breaking end. So when I heard that Big Finish were bringing the show back in Audio form my interest, to say the least, was peaked. Continue reading →