Mel

Review: The Sixth Doctor Adventures – Purity Unbound

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Jacob Licklider

The general thoughts going through the Big Finish side of the Doctor Who fandom when it was announced Ruth Madeley would be included as a new character in the 60th Anniversary Specials, is that Hebe Harrison would be written out of the audio series.  This has happened before with audio companions’ arcs being altered due to what was going on on television, C’rizz being the foremost example.  The expectation going into Purity Unbound was that Hebe would have to leave, but surprisingly that doesn’t happen in the final story, there are still more adventures to tel with this TARDIS Team and honestly the set is all the better for it.  The four box set story arc has been something in my eyes with its ups and downs, the second installment being the rockiest and the wait between sets not often helping matters.  Purity Unbound is the high point of the arc, mainly because the writers have found their way to a consistent theme and conclusion to this saga, using each story as a way to explore the aberrations to the timeline (and further aberrations) in different and interesting ways.  Jacqueline Rayner and Robert Valentine are joined by Mark Wright in scripting this final installment, all three writers keying in on the character journeys in particular, especially when concluding this story.  It should be noted that this is a story arc about a dictator heavily enforcing a eugenics program based on disability which is most explicit in this set so this review may be discussing themes that could be triggering for some.  For context, I am coming to this review from the perspective of someone who is physically disabled. Continue reading →

Review: The Sixth Doctor Adventures – Purity Undreamed

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Jacob Licklider

*** Warning: Spoilers Ahead ****

 

Let’s cut to the chase, Purity Undreamed is a set with a very weird starting point as an audio drama. Following on from Water Worlds and continuing on the development of Hebe Harrison it sets out to introduce several side characters who are attempting to recur, a new villain for the series, and end by setting up next year’s box sets for the Sixth Doctor and Mel (or at least that’s the assumption since they have not been formally announced yet to feature Mel). It’s a three-hour box set that is almost entirely setup from three different writers: Paul Magrs, Jonathan Morris, and Robert Valentine. Valentine is also serving as script editor with producer Jacqueline Rayner, both contributing as guides for the overarching story arcs. The biggest issue with Purity Undreamed comes from something that happens in the third story, setting up the villain which will be spoiled in this review, if you want non-spoiler thoughts then listen to this if you enjoyed Water Worlds as it maintains a lot of what went really well with that set although is a bit inconsistent. The behind the scenes for the second story, Reverse Engineering, reveals that Jonathan Morris had less time to complete the story, implying that another story may have fallen through. Because of this there is a disconnect between how the character of Patricia McBride, played by Imogen Stubbs, is characterised. This is not an issue of action, but of the character’s beliefs as the third story, Robert Valentine’s Chronomancer is a character piece meant to reveal that Patricia McBride is a woman harbouring bigotry going so far as to advocating for eugenics so the future is “better” and without disability. Continue reading →

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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Review: Doctor Who – Peladon

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Jacob Licklider

The 1963-1989 run of Doctor Who is fascinating in the fact that in the 160 serials (including The TV Movie in 1996), there are few stories that are direct sequels to previous stories, much less sequels within the same production team. Generally the closest you would get are stories like Attack of the Cybermen doing a sequel to The Tenth Planet and Attack of the Cybermen over a decade after the prequel’s release or Snakedance to Kinda and Mindwarp to Vengeance on Varos essentially being extensions of the themes of the previous story, but doing its own thing. The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon are an oddity as they both share the same setting, several of the characters, and feel like a natural extension of the same story. Peladon being the setting of both is a big factor in why the two stories feel so connected, the sets are the same and it feels like the planet is evolving and changing. The Curse of Peladon aired as the second story from Season 9 beginning at the end of January 1972, so as it is the 50th anniversary of Episode One while I am writing this, Big Finish Productions are celebrating with Peladon, a four story box set revisiting the planet throughout its history as well as continue the spirit of Peladon stories in reflecting the politics of the real world using allegory for a stark contrast of the good and bad of today’s world.

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Review: Doctor Who – The Quantum Possibility Engine

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

As the 7th Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) are having a casual chat on the Tardis, Mel (Bonnie Langford) comes in and stuns them; taking the ship. But why? Can our mild mannered computer tech have turned evil? Is she working for Josiah W Dogbolter (Toby Longworth) who is now president of the solar System? And will the Doctor find help in the mostly unlikely of places? Continue reading →

Review: Doctor Who – The Dispossessed

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Kenton Hall

Following the previous main range story Red Planets, I was looking forward to The Dispossessed; I’ve found myself enjoying the TARDIS team of the Doctor, Mel and Ace a lot more than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, I think great strides have been made with Bonnie Langford’s character on audio. And, perhaps most importantly, I was 13 when the Seventh Doctor and Ace were on TV. Like Ringo’s drums, they loom large in my legend. But there is a subtle chemistry between the two actors, only briefed tapped in their one joint TV story, that bubbles away nicely. 
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Review: Doctor Who – Red Planets

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Kenton Hall

There are so many Seventh Doctors. From the clowning, malapropism-spitting first season, through to the increasingly sharp and mysterious Seven of Sylvester McCoy’s final two seasons, there has always been much to dissect about the era, not least of which is the happily temporary end of the show in 1989. Continue reading →

Review: Doctor Who – The Silurian Candidate

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

The 7th Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Ace (Sophie Aldred) & Mel (Bonnie Langford) continue their new adventures together. The Doctor decides to stop off somewhere to take care of something. As it’ll only take a little while there is no need for the companions to come with him. Of course Ace doesn’t buy this and it turns out for good reason. The Doctor’s business involves the Silurians and soon they are all involved in the eternal struggle between the Earths original owners and the human race. But this time, the Silurians have an inside man. Continue reading →

Review: Doctor Who – The Blood Furnace

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Doctor Squee (Host of Gallifrey Stands Podcast)

The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Ace (Sophie Aldred) & Mel (Bonnie Langford) arrive in a recently reopened dock yard in Merseyside 1991. But how has the dock reopened under the Dark Alloy Corporation? Soon our heroes find alien involvement and when it turns out an old college friend of Mel’s is in charge at the docks, she is offered a job. The Doctor and Ace go in search of one of the aliens who is assassinating people and Mel mulls over the offer whilst offering computer help in the meantime.

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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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