Reviews and thoughts about movies, books, pop culture, and Doctor Who
Author: Peter Kanelis
I was born in Portland, Oregon and currently reside in Texas. I am an avid reader and movie watcher. I also am a long-time Doctor Who fan and collect the audio dramas as well as watch the television series. I have been writing reviews of this nature on social media for a few years now and want to expand on that practice.
Still Life is the mystery novel by Louise Penny that brought Chief Inspector Armand Gamache to the table of intriguing fictional detectives.
Gamache works for the police department in Quebec and heads up the homicide unit. He is sent out to Three Pines, a lovely little village, when the kind old lady is found dead after being shot with an arrow. She revealed a peculiar painting to be displayed at some art fair. There is some question whether this was a deliberate murder or a tragic hunting accident. Gamache has his team and his own intuition to help him reveal the truth as to why Jane Neal died in the most lovely of settings.
This novel was published in 2005 and is the beginning of a pretty solid series of mysteries. Gamache is clever and a bit more sensitive than many of his counterparts. He has a loving wife and a devoted family. Unfortunately, he often seems to come into conflict with his superiors.
Anyway. it’s a pretty good debut. Penny doesn’t really do much of an origin story here. Gamache has worked with members of his team for some time. Gamache is not new to strange homicides. I sort of liked that she chooses to start off her series with an already experienced investigator.
The actual crime is pretty interesting in spite of a somewhat cliche setting.
There is a pretty good subplot where a rookie investigator joins the team and causes s bit of an uproar, seriously testing the usually patient chief inspector.
Penny is quite a popular writer, and the affection appears to be well deserved.
Next, I call upon Freida McFadden once again as she introduces me to The Inmate.
Doctor Who: The War Doctor Begins: Comrades-In-Arms is another compelling collection of episodes presented by Big Finish Productions in which Jonathon Carley channels the performance of the late John Hurt as the Time Lords once known as the Doctor. Ajjaz Awad returns as the cyborg known as Case, a new piece on the board as the Time War continues to rage between Gallifrey and the Daleks.
Barnaby Kay serves as director for the three stories that are each worthy of appreciation for a variety of reasons. Most of all the War Doctor, who I sort of had a derision reaction to when he was first introduced in the fiftieth anniversary special The Day of the Doctor, has become more fascinating under the auspice of Big Finish Productions.
Of course, Nicholas Briggs fires up his voice modulator to voice the Daleks. The guest cast for this collection is comprised of Michael Amariah, Tiegan Byrne, Beth Chalmers, Esmonde Cole, Sophie Khan Levy, Georgia Mackenzie, Deeivya Meir, and Lynsey Murrell.
The first episode to discuss is entitled A Mother’s Love by Noga Flaishon. The War Doctor, played by Jonathon Carley, has arrived on a Time Lord field hospital known as Haven. It is operated by an Artificial Intelligence known Medbay Operation Mainframe or MOM. The War Doctor also has another encounter with an old ally known as Case, who was partially converted to a Dalek but was able to override the programming. A new but dangerous friendship is developing between her and the War Doctor, but they may not have time to explore that before MOM and the Daleks interfere.
This first story is pretty good. The idea of Case willing to enter into the Time War on her own terms. Carley’s impression of John Hurt’s voice has done nothing but improve. Also, the difference between this incarnation and the other Doctors is slowly coming to light. The War Doctor desperately wants to show the compassion displayed by his other selves, but he is a warrior now. Also, Case has become a fascinating conundrum herself. If there isn’t enough of a reason to be suspicious of AI, this story just adds fuel to that particular fire.
Berserker by Timothy X. Atack brings the War Doctor and Case to face the most dangerous of Daleks. One that has gone made from the centuries of isolation and not being able to kill anyone or anything. In an underground bunker, the War Doctor and his new companion have to face an insane threat that is a ruthless killer at the best of times and each other as it becomes apparent how the War Doctor can use his companion as a devastating weapon against the Daleks.
Briggs puts in a deliciously terrifying performance here. He is the expert over the years he has portrayed the Daleks, and he achieves a new level of insanity with this piece. The more mercenary tendencies of the War Doctor also become more evident, although the more familiar traits are not entirely gone. The War Doctor does genuinely care for Case and still wants her to make her own choices on how she wants to fight in the Time War. The conflict and suspicion displayed is well written, and Carley knows how to hit those right notes of sorrow and determination that John Hurt could exude so well when he first played the part.
The middle story has plenty of merit here.
Finally, this trilogy comes to a close with Phil Mulryne’s Memnos. The War Doctor and Case have arrived at a secret base where a project known as Memnos has been launched. The idea is to preserve the memory of planets and civilizations devastated by the Daleks. Case also has a chance to find her origins before she was so corrupted by the Daleks. The Dalek Time Strategist also is on their trail and has his own plans for Case.
There are some heart wrenching moments between Case and the War Doctor as she becomes more uncertain as to his loyalty and motives for trying to help her. The Time Strategist also emerges as a most dangerous and despicable foe.
This is another fascinating entry into the range. It also is a strong finish to the set. The lead actors are excellent in all three stories. It is surprising that this is becoming a favorite range for me.
Also, it is slowing becoming clearer as to why the War Doctor made the decision to end the Time War with the destruction of both sides, which haunted him when the new television series was aired in 2005.
In spite of this bold direction in the franchise, it is reassuring that many other elements of the Doctor’s nature shine through at times. There are even some familiar moments of humor even in the midst of such a dark backdrop.
As usual, the sound engineering is stellar. There is little to criticize here. Some of the action sequences are hard to imagine occasionally, but there is plenty to still enjoy and at times marvel as these episodes blare from the speakers.
If one has to be in a Time War, the War Doctor would be the one to have in their corner. Although it is sad that John Hurt is no longer with us, Jonathon Carley is more than capable of honoring him with his participation in this series.
Win is a pretty good thriller written by Harlan Coben and features a character usually seen in the Myron Bolitar novels. Winston Horne Lockwood III gets to tell his own story here. He is the extremely wealthy, hedonistic financial consultant with a knack for avenging the misdeeds and abuses committed by others. He is charming, yet ruthless. He has few friends but has had many lovers.
Win is met by FBI agents who take him to an apartment which is occupied by a corpse. He does not know that dead man, but he does recognize a rare painting and a suitcase that were stolen from his family home a couple of decades previously. His cousin was also abducted and assaulted around that time, and the perpetrators were never found. Win starts his own investigation which brings him to a confrontation with family secrets and a notorious incident of domestic terrorism which is also connected to his missing heirlooms. He does have a hefty fortune to help him unearth these secrets, but he also has a unique disinterest in playing by the rules. Win’s search for long overdue justice gets the attention of those whose ruthlessness and desperation may cause him to face his own mortality in ways that may surprise even him.
Win is kind of an antihero one would hope to have in their corner in the most dangerous of times. It’s a pretty good mystery with q few unexpected twists. Win operates in a pretty fascinating level of society. I liked the way Coben threads two or three seemingly unrelated atrocities together.
Win’s almost constant crowing about his wealth and how much he enjoys the advantages is refreshing and terribly amusing.
Coben is a consistent and solid writing talent. Coben does expose a depth in Win that seems so rarely glimpsed when he is alongside Myron. I like Myron well enough, but I am glad that Coben resisted the temptation to include him in some kind of literary cameo.
I also think that writing this in first person was a good choice made by the author.
It’s a good read, and I wouldn’t mind another novel told from Win’s perspective.
The unending literary journey brings me to Louise Penny’s Still Life.
A Right to Die by Rex Stout is a mystery featuring Nero Wolfe and is apparently some attempt to address the civil rights movement going on when this novel was published in 1964.
A black man firsts visits Wolfe and his assistant, Archie Goodwin, to ask for help in looking into a white woman who has become engaged to his son. Wolfe and Paul Whipple had met once before, and that chance encounter made an impression on Whipple. When Wolfe decides to see what he could come up with, the young women is brutally murdered, and the young man is on the hook. Wolfe is convinced that Dunbar Whipple is innocent, and he has no shortage of suspects to investigate as he attempts to make sure that true justice prevails.
This isn’t one of the more memorable entries into the Nero Wolfe series, but it isn’t bad. The plot doesn’t get overshadowed by the cultural issues that serves as the backdrop. Wolfe’s lack of racial animosity seems more of a matter of practicality more than any real sympathy or sentiment.
There is still the familiar humor stemming from Archie and Wolfe sort of bickering, which is one of the draws for me to this series. This series is a somewhat unique because the narrator and assistant to the lead detective isn’t really in awe of his deductive abilities and is willing to give him a hard time when his ego seems to be getting a bit too inflated. Archie also has the street smarts and charm to gather the information Wolfe needs to hit upon the correct answer to these problems that come to their door.
Even if this particular novel failed to make an impression with me, the series as a whole is one that I would recommend for mystery readers with a sense of nostalgia. Rex Stout is dubbed as “the grand master of detection” on the cover. I don’t know about that, but it’s still pretty fun to indulge in the exploits of the brilliant, pompous Nero Wolfe, and his snarky, debonair assistant, Archie Goodwin.
In my next literary indulgence, the sidekick gets the spotlight. Windsor Horne Lockwood III is the ruthless, yet loyal friend to Harlan Coben’s creation, Myron Bolitar. This time, he has his own story to tell, simply entitled Win.
Dark Gallifrey: Morbius Part Three by Tim Foley wraps up this audio play trilogy in the Dark Gallifrey series presented by Big Finish Productions. Samuel West continues his portrayal of Morbius, a tyrannical Time Lord once defeated by the Doctor.
Samuel Clemens serves as the director for this play, which stars Mina Anwar, Rachel Atkins, Justin Avoth, Andrew French, Janet Henfrey, and Lara Lemon. Tom Baker reprises his role as the Fourth Doctor to take down Morbius when he was centuries younger.
Captain Argento of the Proteus, an ancient Time Lord vessel that traversed the Vortex until is ran aground on a most unusual island. Morbius lives again and plans to resume his brutal conquests. Argento has called for help; however, she receives a most unexpected answer when the Doctor, or some representation, is projected from the future. The Doctor almost died when he last challenged Morbius. Of course, that has yet to happen from Morbius’ point of view. It’s a mess, but the Doctor has appeared which gives the captain and her crew more of a fighting chance to prevail yet again.
I finished the first trilogy of Dark Gallifrey, and I am hooked. I liked the other characters. Captain Argento, played by Rachel Atkins, is pretty compelling, and her scenes with the Doctor are wonderfully performed.
Baker’s inclusion is a pretty good treat as well. At times, he seems to overact a bit, but he still sounds great, and I never regret listening to his performances.
I don’t usually get into the spinoffs, but I think I will see this one through.
Kiss by Ed McBain is a fairly good crime thriller featuring the 87th Precinct.
There are a couple of interesting plots going on. First of all, a wealthy wife is apparently the target of a murder attempt. She is nearly pushed into the path of an oncoming subway train. She files a police report. Her husband hires a private investigator from Chicago to help guard her, however there is a deeper plot when the identity of this new sentinel comes into question.
Detective Steve Carella is attending the trial of a man accused of murdering his father, and he gets another more personal reminder of the flaws in the justice system.
McBain is seen as one of the icons of the crime fiction genre. He’s a decent writer; however, I was not that enamored with this particular story. There was no real mystery since the point of view kept shifting to the conspirators.
The chapters dealing with the trial were pretty compelling. Apparently, the murder of Carella’s father took place in another novel.
McBain displays a certain amount of authentic knowledge of police procedures in the novel. The city where these detectives work is unnamed, but the likely inspiration is New York City.
The novel is enjoyable enough, but it’s not likely to make any long-term impression.
Another crime fiction classic is next on the reading queue, and it is A Right to Die by Rex Stout.
The Cosmos and Mrs. Clarke is a Doctor Who audio boxset released by Big Finish Productions and is pretty good for the most part. It’s not quite at the level of a relative masterpiece, but the team of Colin Baker and Miranda Raison as the Doctor and Constance Clarke deliver endearing and compelling performances as usual. The set is directed by Samuel Clemens and contains three stories.
Terry Molloy, usually known as playing Davros, is cast as a different, yet familiar, historical figure. Other cast members include Lara Lemmon, Carly Day, Vivienne Rochester, Anthony Townsend. Katy Manning, who usually portrays companion Jo Grant alongside the Third Doctor, reprises her other role, Iris Wildthyme.
Now that my usual pattern of introduction is done, let’s see how the stories fare under my scrutinous attention.
First off, there is The Story Demon, written by Julian Richards. The Doctor and Constance Clarke arrive on a distant world where the colonists are having to fend off strange attacks from beasts known as the Birnamen. There is some question as to these attacks being what they seem when something known as a Story Demon is in the settlement, and that something is apparently a Dalek.
Nicholas Briggs has returned to the mic, fitting it in among all of his other duties with the company, to voice the Dalek. It’s a pretty successful effort to have a Dalek story in a bit of a different context. The story is interesting enough. Baker and Raison continue to develop their chemistry quite successfully.
Constance Clarke came from the World War II era and was a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. She is quite a no-nonsense sort of lady of her time, but she does have a warmth that makes her a natural friend to the roguish Time Lord. As usual, it remains a treat when Mrs. Clarke is on board the TARDIS.
This is a promising start to this particular collection.
Paul Magrs, the creator of the possible even more roguish Iris Wildthyme, played by Kathy Manning, steps up to the plate with The Key to Many Worlds. This serves as kind of a sequel to the First Doctor era serial entitled Marco Polo.
The Doctor and Mrs. Clarke arrive in thirteenth century Baghdad where the Doctor hopes to catch up with an old friend, Marco Polo, who has apparently lived a much easier life as a merchant. Polo is of course the legendary Italian explorer whose legend and history have that questionable mix that can be quite frustrating to the casual reader.
The Doctor finds there is another old acquaintance present. Iris Wildthyme is once again up to her usual mischief which this time results in the two time travelers switching bodies. Colin Baker and Manning are both pretty skilled comedic actors so there are some typically hysterical moments in which they play each other’s roles.
Anyway, Polo has decided to return to his homeland of Italy and another expedition gets underway with the displaced Doctor and Iris bickering the entire way.
Sadly, Magrs decides to apparently fabricate some kind of apparent homosexual relationship between Polo and some former servant who became a close friend. This episode makes no mention of Polo’s wife and four children he actually had in his real life. It doesn’t quite detract from the clever moments of humor, but it is a bit distracting if one takes a moment to give a cursory read on Polo’s biography.
I will say that it was quite fun to realize that Terry Molloy was portraying Marco Polo and does a fine job. He has played other roles for Big Finish other than the maniacal Davros and remains as gifted a performer as ever.
Anthony Townsend, who apparently died not long after his participation in this production, portrays Polo’s long-time companion, Tonio, who is a likeable presence in spite of some misgivings about how this relationship is presented.
Manning kind of imitating Colin Baker’s Doctor was just funny. Iris Wildthyme is a character that should be used sparingly, but I don’t recall really disliking a story when she pops up.
I have a few objections to this particular story, but it is quite clever and engaging for the most part.
Finally, it is Ian Potter who closes out this set with his script entitled Inconstancy.
On the planet Hoi, the Doctor and Mrs. Clarke find another crazy ruler and strange protean creatures who apparently can replicate other beings or people. Mrs. Clarke finds herself among a swarm that resembles her.
Potter presents this start as being narrated by the Doctor and Constance to two different people. It’s basically a flashback episode, which is not exactly a new literary device, but still effectively employed here.
Out of the three, this one kind of confused me the most. I may need to listen again to get a better grasp on what was going on. I thought it had a nice ending though. Baker and Raison continue to excel as performers. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait long for another pairing of these two characters.
The set as a whole is quite good, but not much really stands out. It sort of relies on what has become tropes of the series overall from both the television series and Big Finish creations. Still, the tropes are those I happen to appreciate. Well, I think the Cybermen still make for a much more interesting opponent for the Time Lord than the Daleks.
Nonetheless, this set is still worthy of being added to the collection and likely enjoyed more than once.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a somewhat encouraging addition to the Marvel Studios’ cinematic output and is directed by Matt Shakman. It took four screenwriters to come up with a reasonably enjoyable film, but they got there. Josh Friedman, Eric Pierson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer wrote the script with someone named Kat Wood sharing the story credit.
Pedro Pascal portrays Reed Richards also known as Mr. Fantastic alongside Vanessa Kirby as the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm. Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays Ben Grimm or the Thing. Finally, Joseph Quinn plays the Human Torch, Johnny Storm. Other cast members include Julia Garner, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, and Ralph Ineson.
This story takes place in some parallel Earth in 1964. It has been four years since the space accident which transformed this family of astronauts and scientists into superheroes. Reed Richards and Sue Storm have discovered that they are about to welcome a new addition to the family. They are also warned by a Silver Surfer that a planet eater named Galactus is on his way to consume the entire planet. When the Fantastic Four take another space trip to find out what this guy’s problem was, they find an absurdly powerful being who is willing to spare the Earth in exchange for the child. Obviously, the Fantastic Four have some understandable objections to this plan and make a harrowing escape back to Earth to come up with a plan to defeat the oncoming. During the escape, the baby is born after Galactus induces Sue to go into labor. The Fantastic Four also have to contend with a growing panic among the people they have been protecting for the past few years. They have to unite the people and come up with a plan to send Galactus on his way with an unfulfilled appetite and without the new child.
This franchise has really struggled in the past couple of decades to gain a reliable cinematic audience. This iteration actually manages to be quite suspenseful and entertaining. The cast is more likeable somehow. The chemistry between Pascal and Kirby was also quite endearing. Johnny Storm was actually kind of funny at times.
The film seemed to have a pretty good mix of humor and heart in the performances. The 1960’s setting worked pretty well. I also appreciated that there was not much time spent on another origin story.
Obviously, there was some ridiculousness to forgive since it is a comic book movie, but it wasn’t quite as hard as it has been in recent contributions from Marvel.
Anyway, I am not generally a Fantastic Four fan, but I can still appreciate some success from the producers and studios when they come up with a reasonably entertaining product.
A Woman Underground is a pretty interesting mystery novel by Andrew Klavan and is the fourth installment of his Cameron Winter series.
Cameron Winter is a university professor, who has a past as a dangerous government operative. He also has a peculiar tendency to get involved in the investigation of unusual crimes. He is not exactly psychic, but he has a gift of imagining how something actually occurred when it seems to baffle others who look into these misdeeds. Winter calls this tendency “a strange habit of mind”.
Winter has been seeing a therapist for a while due to overwhelming loneliness and guilt over some of what he had to do for the service of his country. He is one of the most dangerous men on the planet and also one of the most sensitive.
Winter starts to unravel a bit more when he believes that the first woman he ever loved tried to reach out to him because she was in danger. He comes across a book seems to spell out what her life may have been like in recent years. In the meantime, Winter is trying to convince a colleague to not leave his wife over some fantasy involving a hot student. During his therapy sessions, Winter discusses a previous mission to Turkey that went sideways in all kinds of ways including betrayal and very troubling revelations about those for whom he worked.
Winter has been a tortured soul since his first appearance, but he is even more troubled than usual, which is a state of mind that could get him killed as he searches for the lost woman who meant the most to him.
Klavan is a pretty thoughtful and talented writer who weaves his story through events of the character’s past. There is a pretty established pattern on how this Winter novels unfold, but the main plots are usually quite intriguing.
There are times when Klavan’s exposition seems to slow down the action a bit more than I would prefer, however it didn’t discourage me all that much.
There are some interesting twists in the story that I did not predict. Winter’s strange habit of mind got directed to a crisis that I wasn’t expecting, which was pleasantly jarring. He’s probably going to remain a pretty melancholic guy for some time in the series, but it was a bit troubling to read about his near complete mental unraveling. I did give a mental cheer when some of his usual sharpness started returning.
Klavan accomplished his goal, at least with me, in that I am most interested in where the next installment will take this complicated, curious professor with his strange habit of mind.
Next up, I will check in with the detectives of the 87th Precinct in Ed McBain’s Kiss.
Vampire Weekend kicks off a new range of Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish Productions. Jodie Whittaker has joined the stable of Doctors providing new adventures for us fans. She is joined by Mandip Gill reprising her role as Yasmin Khan.
This adventure is penned by Tim Foley and directed by Ken Bentley. Jeremy Ang Jones, Anna Crichlow, Mandi Symonds, and Daniel Walford comprise the guest cast.
Yaz has joined some friends for a weekend away for a wedding party. They have rented a large manor where they plan to enjoy the weekend. The Doctor turns up and is on the trail of an ancient enemy who turns out to be a vampire with more unusual appetites than others of its kind. The vampire is able to disguise itself as anyone in the group, and Yaz finds that she may not know her friends as well as she thinks.
It’s no secret that Jodie Whittaker’s era is not my favorite, but I was hoping that Big Finish would be able to make some improvements on how her version of the Doctor was written and depicted. If those hopes are to ever be realized, this episode didn’t really do it.
Foley is a pretty good writer, and he scored some pretty amusing lines in the dialogue. I had some trouble determining who was speaking during this thing because the women in the cast all kind sounded alike. Whittaker’s Doctor often speaks in rapid fire, so it takes me a bit to catch up.
Also, this vampire’s particular power was a little silly. Doctor Who has a lot of silliness, but I just found the schtick with this creature to not be all that interesting.
It pains me a little to be more critical than usual when it comes to Big Finish output, but this release earned my misgivings.
Now, am I going to give the next episode with the Thirteenth Doctor a chance. Yes, I will. I am likely to even listen to this episode again sometime in the future. This episode was not really terrible, but it just didn’t work for me as well as so much of the other content from Big Finish has.
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