Doctor Who made its triumphant return to our screens on New Years Day with Series 12, Episode 1 ‘Spyfall‘ guest starring Stephen Fry and Lenny Henry.
However, there was one big reveal on the episode that has fans talking; when the character of ‘O’ played by Sacha Dhawan was revealed to be classic Doctor Who villian ‘The Master’. The Master had not been seen since the face-off between his female incarnation ‘Missy’ and a previous incarnation (played by John Simm) during the Series 10 Finale.
Review by Ian McArdell
Bridging the gap between Mother Earth and the latest series, Mars, Big Finish has released a Star Cops audiobook. A thriller which trades on a most precious commodity in space exploration, ‘The Stuff of Life’ looks at some of the implications of colonising the red planet and the infrastructure needed to do so.
Review by Jacob Licklider
The War Master: Anti-Genesis is the fourth, and potentially final, installment in Big Finish’s War Master range starring Derek Jacobi. Unlike the other Big Finish ranges dealing with the Time War, the War Master does not have an overarching plot through each of the four box sets as they are placed around this Master’s personal timeline. Anti-Genesis sets itself apart from the other three box sets, as unlike the previous sets, it is less a standalone War Master release, but a crossover with the Gallifrey range, featuring Sean Carlsen and Pippa Bennett-Warner as Narvin and President Livia, respectively. It is also a plot which reflects on Genesis of the Daleks and that stories implications for the Daleks and Time Lords, while placing the War Master directly in the action. For this review there will be spoilers for each of the stories in the set. As the set was only recently released, a non-spoiler review for those who have not heard it or are wary about spoilers: it is an excellent set. Derek Jacobi as always gives an excellent portrayal of the Master and giving him one scheme throughout instead of other sets giving him a scheme a story helps bring the set into a focus. The overarching plot is engaging and truly feels like a story involving a time war, instead of simply relying on Daleks and Time Lords engaging in traditional warfare. It’s a set that’s worth your time and should be picked up as soon as you can.
Review by Michael Goleniewski
‘Blood on Santa’s Claw’ represents Big Finish’s Doctor Who Christmas special as well as the only real holiday special we’re going to get for 2019 (minus the Thirteenth Doctor comic special that won’t be looked at until next year). The release is an anthology set of four stories featuring the Sixth Doctor and Peri and represents a few big milestones for the team being the first real holiday story they’ve gotten as well as introducing a new companion in Peri’s new boyfriend, singer Joe Carnaby played by Luke Allen-Gale. It’s an interesting idea and one that deserves attention and acknowledgment for being so out of the blue in giving a relatively lesser-known Classic Doctor a Christmas special and (provided it’s good) should be something Big Finish should definitely take to heart for each holiday season with other older Doctors.
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Review by Jacob Licklider
The Lost Stories range from Big Finish Productions had a four series run from 2009-2013, making a range of stories entirely out of television stories which for one reason or another never made it to the series. The range ended due to the amount of viable scripts drying up; with remaining stories being from creators who would not allow Big Finish to adapt them for one reason or another or stories which weren’t far enough along in development to facilitate a full adaptation. This year Big Finish have given the range a brief revival with two stories from the 1980s not produced during the original run for the former reason, featuring two distinct Doctors and two distinct feels to their stories.
Review by Jacob Licklider
The Early Adventures range from Big Finish Productions is a chance to tell full cast stories with the characters from the 1960s eras from Doctor Who. The range has currently run five series alternating between the First and Second Doctors, and this month the sixth series was released, however, instead of the standard four release across the final four months of the year there were only two. While truncating this series to two means less content, the sixth series is a prime example of quality over quantity from a range that has already had some of the strongest stories featured. This series, while being firmly part of the Second Doctor’s era, is a celebration of the 1960s era of Doctor Who as a whole creating a “what if” idea of a Fifth Anniversary Celebration.
Two infamously “lost” Doctor Who stories have been resurrected in all their beautifully-produced audio drama glory today, with the original cast returning to bring them back to life – thanks to Big Finish.
Review by Michael Goleniewski
Dead Man’s Switch represents this particular critic’s first foray into Torchwood audio dramas. While being somewhat familiar with the show and its characters and stories, they had never grabbed me as anything that was absolutely required listening especially with the last television season ‘Miracle Day’ leaving a particularly nasty taste in my mouth.
Review by Jacob Licklider
Big Finish’s Doctor Who: Short Trips range provides an excellent writing opportunity for new writers for the company to test their strength in a short story format. The 30-40 minute short story format with a single narrator almost forces writers to become creative with how they approach telling a story. November 2019’s release is one such story from a new writer, Jaine Fenn, who before working for Big Finish has written several science fiction novels. Hall of the Ten Thousand is her debut Short Trip, an Eighth Doctor story set early in his run narrated by India Fisher in character as Charley Pollard.
Review by Jacob Licklider
There is something incredibly important to be said about these double releases for the main range. They have their pros and cons: they allow double the story, but only half the time which can create issues in depth of characterisation; but what they may do best is allow two new writers to introduce listeners to their style and their shot to write for Big Finish Productions.
Indie Mac User 