Doctor Who Audio Review: Miracles, Time Loops, And Fools

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Helter Skelter is the latest Doctor Who audio boxset to feature Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor released from the incredibly prolific Big Finish Productions. The director is Ken Bentley, and listeners get the added treat of having Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson reunited as companions, Tegan and Turlough.

Other cast members include Jack Barton, Paul Cottle, Helen Pearson, and Emily Woodward.

This set does have the Doctor and his friends facing some new adversaries, so that’s a good start. The first and third stories are interlinked, which is evident in that the script writers were Lauren Mooney and Stuart Pringle.

They kick this collection off with Field of Miracles in which the Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough arrive in a small English village in 1951. Things seem to be going a little too well for the people there in a nation that should still be recovery from the Second World War. All sorts of wishes are granted, including the return of those who have died. Of course, there is a terrible price to be paid for these miracles, and the Doctor encounters a malevolent alien presence that is too pleased to collect.

The story is a pretty good idea, although something like this has been explored before in the genre. The leads are continuing to put forth compelling performances, as expected. The chemistry between the TARDIS crew still carries the story confidently in spite of any questionable choices. I wouldn’t judge it to be a standout episode, but pleasant and engaging enough for me to not to be terribly harsh in my opinion. Mooney and Pringle manage to prove themselves to be reliable enough for me to stay interested in their contributions to the series.

Helter Skelter is next on the list. This was written by James Moran. The Doctor’s efforts to take his friends on a holiday are thwarted by the bio-engineered planet and amusement park getting blown up with them on it. Then the day resets, and Tegan Jovanka is the only one who recognizes they are caught in a time loop.

Another story that is amusing because we have a bit of a role reversal with the Doctor being a bit more in the dark than usual. It’s Tegan who recognizes the problem and has to steer her friends toward the resolution of this time loop. It’s another fun and interesting notion that has frankly been a bit overdone. Fielding does get to have fun with Tegan’s seemingly natural state of exasperation. Ultimately, the Doctor does save the day, which I hope isn’t too much of a spoiler, but I was relieved that some traditions were spared in this episode.

It has some amusing moments and performances throughout the episode, but it still is not likely going to resonate all that deeply with the listeners.

Finally, the Doctor and his companions encounter the wish-granting aliens from the first episode in Land of Fools, once again written by Lauren Mooney and Stuart Pringle.

The TARDIS arrives in London, 1980, where Tegan realizes she can say good-bye to a friend who died then. Some new company seems to be running things around there, and London seems to be in some kind of restricted state. The team is split up, and the Doctor starts to realize that some recently encountered enemies have cropped up again.

This story is actually pretty good and serves as nice conclusion to this set. I didn’t find the Asteri to be all that compelling because they were described as crystalline, and it was hard to picture them in the imagination. There were some moments that were more emotionally significant.

As a whole, this release is fine to add to the collection, but not much of it stood out. As Peter Davison ages, it does get harder to imagine him as he appeared onscreen during his era. His performance is still fine, but that aged raspiness he has developed is a little distracting. I still look forward to his participation and hopes he has more scripts heading his way than he knows what to do with.

I am not sure we have had the joy of having Turlough and Tegan together on their own before. There was a series with them alongside Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, but that was not onscreen. It was pretty cool to revisit that era because they are a favorite TARDIS team of mine.

Helter Skelter didn’t quite hit the ranks of phenomenal storytelling, but it sure was not anywhere near the rubbish heap. There is still much to enjoy.

Book Review: Even In The City Of Light, There Are Shadows

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Paris: The Novel is a pretty dense piece of historical fiction written by Edward Rutherford.

The saga is presented through the eyes of several families and their descendants over a few centuries. Of course, Rutherford delves into the Reign of Terror, the French Revolution, and the Nazi Occupation. The story weaves back and forth between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries as several stories wind through way through time and place. Rutherford presents many facets of this city rich with culture, art, and violence.

This is a tricky read because it was hard to on the ability for retention since there are so many characters to follow, and Rutherford chose a more nonlinear approach in presenting this lengthy tale. There are a couple of maps and family tree to help out.

HIs prose is not especially verbose or difficult, but there is a kind of elegance to it that feels so rarely experienced in modern literature. Rutherford is known for these epic volumes about various well-known cities or locales that take place over long stretches of time.

This one is a somewhat intimidating read but still an enjoyable one. This is the second novel I have read by Rutherford, and I have no intention of it being my last.

I am back to a more familiar genre but takin on a new author. The next literary indulgence on tap is Death on the Island by Eliza Reid.

Film Review: Blood In The Snow

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Dead of Winter is a surprisingly decent action film released in 2025, starring Emma Thompson as a recently widowed who is distracted from her efforts to scatter her husband’s ashes on a remote lake by an apparent kidnapping. The film is directed by Brian Kirk. The script was written by Nicholas Jacobson-Larsenand Dalton Leeb.

Other cast members include Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, and Laurel Marsden.

As mentioned before, Barb is a woman who recently lost her husband. She decides to set out to a favorite fishing spot of theirs where she intends to scatter his ashes. On the way, she gets detoured by a blizzard where she happens upon an isolated cabin. She finds a peculiar man who does give her some helpful directions. She notices some blood on the snow and is told it was from a recently slain deer. Sometime later, Barb witnesses a young woman whose hands are bound attempting to escape the previously helpful man. Barb figures out that the woman is held captive for some unknown reason by a couple. Her efforts to free the woman goes awry and a cat and mouse situation starts to ensue across the frozen landscape which could lead to Barb making a heart-wrenching sacrifice for a woman she does not know.

Emma Thompson is one of the most respected actresses out there, and this role is a nice addition to the resume. The usual elegance she exudes is submerged by the weary, saddened persona of Barb.

Judy Greer plays the desperate, frenzied woman known as Purple Lady, who is the actual mastermind of the abduction.

The performances were quite good, and the reason behind the abduction is rather chilling, if a little implausible.

I thought it was interesting that many of the characters were not given actual names. There are billed as either Purple Lady or Camo Jacket.

There are moments where Barb is remembering how she and her husband got together, and a heartbreak that kept them bound together.

Not everything in the plot hangs together all that neatly, but Thompson still carries the lead role well enough to make some oversights forgivable.

Judy Greer is also quite compelling as the lead villain. She can pull off psychotic mania quite convincingly without getting too outlandish.

Anyway, this film was not something that seems well-known. I found it quite by accident, but it’s worth a look. Dead of Winter is one of the few films in recent years that was effectively and darkly diverting.

Doctor Who Audio Review: The Doctor Always Shatters The Illusions

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Beware the City Of Illusions is a pretty compelling Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions and is likely to be one my favorite First Doctor adventures. Nicholas Briggs has written an interesting script which he also directed. He also composed the score.

Stephen Noonan is back with his rendition of the First Doctor, in which he channels the distinctive vocal peculiarities of the late William Hartnell. He is joined by Lauren Cornelius as an older version of Dodo Chaplet, who was originally portrayed by the late Jackie Lane. Anneke Wills reprises her role of Polly Wright. Other cast members include Barnaby Edwards, Amy Rockson, Becky Wright, and Anna Crichlow. Briggs even manages to get a little bit part as well. The guy is everywhere on this one, which is by no means a complaint.

The Doctor has been whisked from his TARDIS and is apparently floating around the time vortex when he is deposited on Earth where he encounters a companion he has yet to meet from his point of view. Polly Wright is doing some work for the British government in her later years and is investigating a city that is designed to lower carbon emissions or something supposedly environmentally beneficial. Of course, it seems too good to be true, and the Doctor is caught up in the investigations. Also, Dodo Chaplet is also involved and has a secret alliance with Polly, who are acting on a cryptic warning the Doctor once gave a long time ago. There is a peculiar benefactor who seems to have an agenda that is not as friendly to the human race despite appearances. The Doctor may not know the reason for his strange warning himself, but he is soon to find out and has two friends to back him up, even if he has yet to recognize one of them.

This particular episode deals with elements that come up more in recent years as far as the plot goes, but Briggs knows Doctor Who enough to make this work. He does a good job of making this version of the Doctor somewhat sharper than he often appeared onscreen, but he still manages to keep him quite familiar. Noonan’s impression of Hartnell’s impression is getting better. He can’t quite sound exactly like Hartnell, but that’s getting more forgivable with each performance in these audios. It is also fair to expect that Noonan will add some of his distinctive style into the performance. The writing is also good enough to allow me to just enjoy the ride without being overly critical. Noonan is said to really study Hartnell’s performance each time he is commissioned to do one of these things, and that does show. Even if the First Doctor isn’t quite my favorite, I still have found plenty to enjoy in that era immensely, and I look forward to hearing the next installment in this range.

The story is a somewhat standard science fiction trope of an intended utopia going off the rails, but Briggs does a good job with it. The inclusion of both Polly and Dodo, albeit older, is also quite charming and done with a certain audacious creativity that I can respect.

Crichlow plays a character named Lillian Maggs, who was Polly’s assistant and friend, and had the right amount to spunk to spark with the Doctor. She was another sarcastic, likeable woman who seems to get a little overused in this series, but I couldn’t help but enjoy her banter with Polly, and eventually with the Doctor.

The Doctor displayed his usual crustiness and suspicion, but he also came across as shrewder than he was often written, and I found myself enjoying that. Noonan also does intentionally throw in some of the gaffes that Hartnell was known for in the original series, but it seems less distracting here.

It’s a long story, but Briggs manages to avoid most of the traps that tend to lead to a dragging middle. He writes it well enough for me to just enjoy being in this Doctor’s orbit without sweating any potential plot holes.

Anyway, this particular audio experience is likely one of the stronger ones to come out this year, which is usually how I feel about a Nick Briggs script.

Film Review: Spirits Below The Surface

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Below is a supernatural thriller that was released in 2002 that had an interesting premise that could have been executed better onscreen. David Twohy directed this film, which he co-wrote with Darren Aronofsky, Lucas Sussman.

Cast members include Olivia Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Holt McCallany, Zach Galifianakis, and Scott Fleming.

The story takes place aboard an American submarine during the Second World War. The crew collect three survivors from a sunken hospital ship. One of the survivors turns out to be German. The crew start hearing strange voices and sounds echoing throughout the corridors of the submarine. The American submarine recently lost its commanding officer to the sea, and it is not immediately clear as to how that happened. There are secrets to uncover, and some spirits will not be at peace until they are revealed.

The script has an interesting premise, but that’s about all. It was a struggle to remain interested in this one. The cast was fine, and Bruce Greenwood is usually a solid presence when he is cast. The actual performances were fine, but no one really stood out. It was full of the usual creepy jump scares, although there was a scene with Holt McCallany and a mirror that was actually kind of clever and appropriately eerie.

Basically, it’s another film that manages to avoid being truly terrible but is still rather unremarkable. That is kind of a shame since I am kind of a sucker for spooky stories in tight places.

Film Review: Not Everything That Goes Up Is Going To Come Down

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Fall is an interesting if somewhat predictable survival thriller film that was released in 2022. Scott Mann serves as director of this script which he also co-wrote alongside Jonathan Frank.

The small cast includes Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Mason Gooding.

The film starts off with the husband of one of our intrepid heroines falling off a rock face to his death. Becky Connor, played by Currey, spends the following year in isolation and intoxication, grieving the tragic plunge her husband took when her best friend Shiloh Hunter, played by Gardner, shows up and convinces her to accompany her on a climb of a decommissioned radio tower that reaches about 2,000 feet into the sky. The idea is to spread the ashes of the deceased husband from the top of the tower. Plans go awry when the ladder crumbles to the desert floor, leaving Becky and Hunter with no way to descend safely.

This film started off pretty well. The twists and revelations that unfolded throughout the film were somewhat rather uninspiring. I was focused on how they were going to get down to really care much about whatever tawdry secrets were going to be revealed.

The cast was well chosen. I did not catch anyone putting forth any dresdful performances.

Although there were some scenes that were a little jarring, the overall plot did not feel that unique. I guess one can say that radio towers are not used that much as a setting of peril, so that’s something resembling originality.

It’s a pretty absurd plot, but I have seen worse. Although saying that I enjoyed the film seems a little overstated, it was devoid of merit. It was a fairly decent piece of cinema but likely not worth a second viewing anytime soon.

Book Review: When Terrorists Meet An Executioner

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Flight 741 is a 1986 adventure novel featuring Mack Bolan who is also known as the Executioner. Bolan was created by Don Pendleton many moons ago. I think the author of this particular one is a guy named Mike Newton who is given some sort of credit on the copyright page.

Anyway, this is obviously a leisure read in the extreme. It’s a fun indulgence but nothing too surprising here.

Mack Bolan is a super antiterrorist operative who has appeared in numerous novels probably about thirty to forty years ago. He was part of the men’s adventures range of Gold Eagle publishing. Each book had a significant body count because Bolan was not one to bother with courts and trials when it comes to terrorists.

In this particular installment, Mack Bolan is traveling under an alias from Munich to New York when his flight gets interrupted by a hijacking. He takes a pretty brutal beating when trying to save a flight attendant from certain indignities. Once the ordeal is over, Bolan is thirsty from some good old-fashioned vengeance. Unlike the most people, Bolan is more than capable of getting it. He embarks on a pursuit of a known terrorist who goes by the moniker of “the Raven” and finds this guy to be quite elusive, especially since he employs body doubles. He comes across an old flame who is no stranger to this type of danger, and his ruthless hunt is now tempered by his desire to keep another girl safe from aforementioned indignities. Anyway, Bolan is justifiably angry, and a group of crazy hijackers and their sponsors have well earned their executions.

So, the Mack Bolan series is not something to stimulate the higher intellects of the world. It is brutal and can really crank up the testosterone levels if one has an overactive imagination. It’s great even if the writing is not the best. No one is going for the Pulitzer here.

I liked the book because most of it is the aftermath of the hijacking and how Bolan settles the score. There are different perspectives, and the reader gets some more insight into the history of the villain as well. It’s still great when Bolan catches up to him and lives up to his own codename.

There are some efforts to flesh out supporting characters which I appreciated. There was some display of tenderness from Bolan when it came to his lady friend, Toby Ranger, who end up in danger. Bolan is the good guy, so that was not surprising, but it did lend itself to giving some depth. In spite of his more brutal proclivities, there is a sense of gallantry I can respect.

This isn’t a great novel by any means. The genre doesn’t quite lend itself to that, but it was enjoyable enough to make it likely for me to pick up another Mack Bolan escapade in the near future.

My next step on the pleasantly unending literary journey brings me back to Edward Rutherford with his novel of historical fiction entitled Paris. I had read London some time ago and enjoyed it, so I think I will see what his take on the City of Light.

Big Finish Audio Review: Missy Takes The Stage

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Dark Gallifrey continues with Michelle Gomez reprising the role of Missy in an audio drama cleverly titled Missy: Part One. This is the latest rather compelling Doctor Who spin-off series from Big Finish Productions. This episode is written by Rochana Patel and directed by John Ainsworth.

The supporting cast is comprised of Bruce Alexander, Jonathan Case, Amerjit Deu, Jon Edgley Bond, and Paksie Vernon.

For the uninitiated in this series, Missy is the female iteration of the villainous Time Lord known as the Master. She arrives on a remote planet in the midst of a heist by two thieves. The Doctor was known to have visited this world, and a play commemorating the visit is being performed. Missy, at the moment, is unfettered by the Doctor’s intervention, so she can find something of a better nature or indulge her more malicious instincts at her leisure.

I was initially quite skeptical of this whole notion of turning the Master into a woman when it first came to pass on the television series. It’s still not my favorite direction for the series, but I have to admit that Gomez does put forth an engaging performance. As usual, Big Finish can take something the television series has introduced and turn into something that is usually more palatable to the ears.

Missy also seems to be acquiring a companion, mirroring her more crusading counterpart, which would be interesting as this trilogy progresses.

As expected, the cast does keep up quite effectively, and the sound design is expertly done. Patel seems to relish the chance to write for this psychotic whirlwind now known as Missy and puts that enthusiasm on display.

Dark Gallifrey seems to be sticking around for a while, and I plan to continue collecting them. Welcome to centerstage, Missy!

Film Review: Practice Can Make One A Perfect Killer

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Ballerina is a pretty average addition to the John Wick film franchise and stars Ana de Armas a dancing assassin named Eve Macarro. Len Wiseman serves as director of this film, which was written by Shay Hatten.

Keanu Reeves makes a pretty impressive appearance as the morose, lethal John Wick. Ian McShane, Gabriel Byrne, the late Lance Reddick, and Anjelica Huston also appear alongside the petite, murderous ballerina.

Eve Maccaro is a child when her father is murdered by rival assassins. She is taken in by a syndicate known as the Ruska Roma. She is trained as both a ballerina and assassin. When she encounters and kills a member of another group of assassins, she embarks on a mission of vengeance that her side doesn’t want. She is besieged from all sides that want to stop her from executing someone known as the Chancellor, played by Gabriel Byrne.

The action sequences were pretty well done. I just had a hard time sympathizing with the main character. I didn’t find Macarro to be all that menacing in between her fight scenes. I barely was impressed with her during the fight scenes.

Reeves’s inclusion was really the only thing that held my interest. I was pleased that he had a little more than just a cameo.

Ana de Armas isn’t a bad actress, but she isn’t that memorable in this role. She made more of an impression in the latest James Bond film a few years ago.

The movie manages to not taint the franchise or anything, but it didn’t add much to it. It’s just one of those obvious franchise money grabs from the studio that seems destined to stretch into cinematic eternity.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Even The Short Trips Can Be Hazardous

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who: Short Trip Rarities is a collection of audio short stories featuring the Eighth Doctor, as played by Paul McGann. McGann isn’t really in these since they are narrated by a pair of compelling performers. These stories were previously released only to Big Finish Productions subscribers. Hugh Ross narrates the first one while Stephen Critchlow relates the remaining three.

Late Night Shopping by Matt Fitton has the Doctor and Lucie Miller help a shop worker fend off some peculiar alien tomatoes or something like that. It’s a strange yet amusing tale. There’s not much very notable here, but at least it wasn’t terrible.

The Caves of Erith by Alice Cavender has the Doctor and Lucie spending Christmas at a remote village. There are some strange bats living nearby, and the innkeeper has a secret of his own.

This story was a little better. Steven Critchlow is a talented enough narrator. He has shown up in much of Big Finish’s works.

Tuesday by Tony Jones has the Doctor reunited with an old friend in the shape of Harry Sullivan, however Sullivan has no recollection of his previous encounters with the Time Lord. Also, this is no ordinary Tuesday. It is supposed to be Christmas, but that doesn’t appear to exist either.

I am not one who needs to have old companions revisited all the time, but I sort of liked this meeting. Harry is older and maybe a little wiser but still familiar. Jones did a good job imagining Harry at a different stage in life than what was seen onscreen.

Finally, Paul Starkey’s An Ocean of Sawdust brings this set to a close. The TARDIS brings the Time Lord to a young boy’s bedroom where a wooden eel acts as the flooring, and the boy won’t get off his bed, which he treats as a life raft. The Doctor may be trapped in someone’s imagination and is not sure how to return to reality.

A rather imaginatively surreal story is presented here that is a little hard to conjure in one’s mind.

This is a reasonably entertaining release, but there is nothing that really stands out here.