Nigel Lindsay

Audio Review: The Worlds of Blake’s 7 – Allies and Enemies

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Ian McArdell

Of all the Blake’s 7 characters destined to grab centre stage in their own spin-off, I’m not sure I had ever anticipated Arlen (Sasha Mitchell). However, in retrospect, she’s one who was begging for a backstory; the insidious Federation security officer was responsible for bringing down the errant Blake, and all of Avon’s crew, during the show’s shocking finale.

Following Arlen’s story, this boxset has a wide timeframe. In the first adventure she encounters Cally prior to the telepath’s time with Blake, the second sits somewhere in Series B, and the third brings us Jenna Stannis, after her Liberator days.

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Audio Review – The Coming of the Martians

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Ian McArdell

Since going out of copyright, there have been a few projects based on H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds, adding to the extensive catalogue of adaptations already available.
While the most well-known versions might be Orson Welles’ famous 1938 radio play or Spielberg’s Tom Cruise fronted movie, both shifted the location and moved the story to their present day. Slightly more faithful is Jeff Wayne’s musical interpretation, which at least keeps the setting correct – although it has claimed the title and forced this adaptation to be dubbed ‘The Coming of the Martians’; originally the title of the first part of the novel. With a fresh take on the novel by Nick Scovell, who may be known to some for his re-staging of Doctor Who classics, Sherwood Sound Studios’ approach has remained incredibly faithful to the original text; this is a tale of a Martian invasion of the home counties, with the action taking place across Surrey and Hampshire, as well as London. Continue reading →