Tag: big-finish

Doctor Who Audio Review: Not Everything Should Reach Its Potential

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who: The Second Doctor Adventures: The Potential Daleks is another pretty interesting audio collection from Big Finish Production which was directed by Nicholas Briggs. Michael Troughton returns to the recording booth as the Second Doctor, originally portrayed by his father Patrick. Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury reprise their longtime roles of Jamie and Zoe. Emma Noakes continues her time aboard the TARDIS as Raven, the Doctor’s fellow Time Lord, who is thought to be working on behalf of the High Council of the Time Lords to handle the renegade.

Briggs and Mark Wright split writing duties on the three interconnected episodes in this particular set which also feature the Daleks, who is also voiced by the versatile Mr. Briggs.

The guest cast is also comprised of Clare Corbett, Jacqueline King, Lara Lemon, Callum Pardoe, and Gary Turner.

Nicholas Briggs’ script, Humpty Dumpty kicks off the collection. The old nursery rhyme seems to be the catalyst for a temporal disaster. The planet Skaro is about to be resurrected a million times over. This is the planet where the Daleks originated. The Doctor and his companions will be split between two time zones as they begin a final battle.

This isn’t the first time a common verse is a significant clue to a nightmarish plot in a Big Finish story, but the device is compelling yet again due to the reliable talents of Briggs. The performances are as usual just as compelling. Troughton continues his efforts to breathe new life into his father’s Doctor Who legacy and does an admirable job. Troughton’s impression of his father still sounds a little off at times, but he generally gets the job done.

Padbury and Hines are portraying older versions of their characters, so they don’t have to bother with trying to sound several decades than their actual ages. They still sound great in spite of their understandable vocal variances.

Mark Wright, who is also producer of this release, follow up with Secret of the Daleks. The TARDIS has followed a space/time corridor created by the Daleks to a peaceful tropical world. The inhabitants seem peaceful enough, but there is a menace lurking underneath the paradise. A confrontation with the new Dalek Emperor is imminent, and one member of the Doctor’s party has a secret of their own.

Wright cranks up the action in this script quite effectively. As usual, some of the action moments are a little hard to determine just on audio, but it’s still enjoyable. Noakes gets to show off her versatility as an actress in this one when she gets to do her own take on the Doctor as well. It turns into a bit of a jumble of a plot, but in all the right ways.

Troughton may not always sound like vocally identical to his late father, but he brings a similar enough energy in his performance where it isn’t too distracting. I can still recognize and imagine the Second Doctor in the midst of this chaos seemingly on the edge of panic but holding on to that heroic determination to defeat the monsters. The humor of that era is also quite intact.

Finally, it takes the combined writing talents of Nicholas Briggs and Mark Wright to bring this collection to a conclusion with War of the Morai. The Doctor and his friends are back in a region known as the Vanishing Point where they try to help some old allies known as the Morai to avoid the ruthless intentions of the Daleks. A friend who was thought to be lost has returned, and the mysterious Raven must make a choice.

This story refers back to a previous boxset in which I shall have to listen to again to remember the significance of the Morai.

It was still a fine conclusion, and there were some interesting character moments. Noakes also was a delight as a recurring character. She was basically an original companion created by Big Finish and seems to be an amusing and interesting foil to the Second Doctor. There were also times when Raven and Zoe were forced to collaborate, and an interesting dynamic was forged there as well. Raven had a typical haughtiness displayed most of the Time Ladies the audience have met over the years, but Noakes brings in something more than that as well. Really, the writers gave her a depth for Noakes to play in, and she uses that quite nicely.

As a reminder, this range takes place after the Second Doctor’s trial just after he was sentenced to be exiled to Earth with a new appearance but before that sentence was actually carried out. Jamie and Zoe had been sent back with most of their memories of the Doctor erased but have returned to fight alongside him after they had lived their lives in their respective time zones. I am not a fan who was all that interested in what has become known as season 6b, but Big Finish has won me over in this one. Although it seems that something in this range has concluded, there is a new series in the works and there are certainly more adventures and troubles awaiting this version of the Doctor.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Early Days With Ace

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who: The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Wicked! is an audio boxset which takes the audience back to when Ace first joined the Doctor in the TARDIS in this trilogy of episodes. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred once again prove themselves to be more than capable of replicating the enthusiasm they displayed when they started out on the television series almost four decades ago.

The guest cast in this set is comprised of Luke Barton, Tom Alexander, Alexandra Barredo, Simon Callow, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Ekow Quartey, and Paulo Vieira. Samuel Clemens returns to the director’s seat for all three episodes. I was not sure about the notion of going all the way back to the beginning of Ace’s travels in the TARDIS, but the set is overall quite good.

Alison Winter kicks off the set with Backwards and in Heels, which takes place in 1920s Soho. Ace and the Doctor are swept up into a [peculiar treasure hunt, and an alien presence has the young companion questioning her decision to accompany the Time Lord.

This story was a decent one if not the most memorable. I like the setting, and Ace being kind of impressed with a 1020s flapper. The friendship between the two lead characters starts to solidify as Ace gets a taste of what like traveling with the Doctor could entail.

Katharine Armitage follows up with The Price of Snow which takes place in the futuristic ski resort where some guests have disappeared, and the authentic snow seems to have some suspicious origins. There is also an unfortunate rift between a daughter and father.

This story is a bit better than the previous one. The alien menace at the heart of this one is new and not that badly realized. Tom Alexander is pretty compelling as the owner of the resort and the architect of the dangers as he uses some pretty ruthless calculations to keep his alien guests fed.

Finally, it is Alan Ronald who brings this set to a close with The Ingenious Gentlemen as Simon Callow delivers a hugely campy yet powerful performance as Don Quixote. In this case, the windmills may be something that is needed to be fought. Ace begins to notice some strange parallels between the partnership of Don Quixote and Sancho and her association with the Doctor.

Callow is absolutely magnificent, and the Doctor’s childlike joy at meeting him is perfectly performed by McCoy.

Obviously, this is the episode I consider to be the best in this collection.

I have to say that Sophie Aldred being able to pull off her younger voice when she is now in her sixties is quite impressive. I know that Aldred is a well-practiced voice artist, and I shouldn’t be that surprised, but her precision is still something to appreciate.

McCoy has also not missed a step here, and he is much older.

The idea of returning to Ace’s early travels seems like it should have been done earlier, but Big Finish continues to develop their stories and characters quite masterfully.

Big Finish Audio Review: The Doors To Dark Gallifrey Should Remain Closed, But Where’s The Fun In That?

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Big Finish Productions begins a new trilogy of Dark Gallifrey audio plays with The War Master: Part One with David Warner and Lisa Bowerman an alternative Unbound Doctor and Professor Bernice Summerfield. James Goss is the writer with Scott Handcock serving as director.

The supporting cast is comprised of Jason Forbes, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Tariye Peterside, and Homer Todiwala.

Bernice Summerfield is traveling with a Doctor from another reality. Warner has previously played this version in a series called Doctor Who Unbound. Benny is intrigued by the prospect of unlocking the secrets of something known as Dark Gallifrey, however she and the Doctor have yet to discover a familiar adversary also has his eyes on the same prize.

This play is somewhat interesting, but it’s a little confusing on the first listen since it basically unfolds backwards. Bowerman and Warner are a good match since they are both so experienced as actors. Bowerman has been around Big Finish pretty much since its kickoff in 1999. Warner is just British acting royalty at this point. This was apparently one of his last projects since he died in 2022.

The performances were solid, but it’s hard to really understand what is going on due to the method of experimenting with basic storytelling. Trying to tell a story backwards just seems to work a little better on a more visual medium.

Derek Jacobi has yet to make an appearance in this first installment of the trilogy, but I am looking forward to his entrance.

I found this to be an underwhelming start. but not because of the caliber of performances. I just don’t like too many mental gymnastics going on in just trying to follow a plot.

Anyway, the sound effects are fine. The other actors seem to be well-considered in their casting. The technical demands are admirably met.

Hopefully, the next installment will have more Jacobi, and Warner’s take on the Doctor will become more engaging for me.

Doctor Who Audio Review: The Silence And The Queen

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Last Queen of the Nile is a set that contains two Doctor Who audio dramas released by Big Finish Productions and features Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. Baker is joined by Louise Jameson as Leela. Jon Culshaw reprises his interpretation of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who was originally portrayed by the late Nicholas Courtney. There are two episodes to discuss in this post, so I will get on with it.

First of all, Conspiracy of Silence by Jonathan Morris gets things going with the return of the Silence, which were a creation of the rebooted version of Doctor Who. Nicholas Briggs provides the voice of the spooky creatures who are forgotten once one looks away. Charlie Hayes plays a female UNIT soldier named Nolan while Jon Culshaw returns with his impressive imitation as the Brigadier. Of course, John Leeson must be mentioned as one’s favorite robot dog, K9.

The Brigadier has asked for the Doctor’s assistance to investigate the mysterious disappearance of an oil rig crew. The Doctor, Leela, and K9 accompany him to the rig to see what answers can be discovered. They find the Silence waiting in the shadows and disrupting their memories of their encounter.

The Silence is an interesting creation in the series, and it seems hard to have them conveyed just through the audio format. This story does end up working in spite of an unusual structure. The second half of the story backtracks and fills in some gaps since our courageous heroes couldn’t remember their fight with the Silence.

Morris handles these challenges quite well, although it takes some concentration to follow how the narrative unfolds. All of the main cast are in top form even though they are quite up there. I think Tom Baker was in his eighties at the time this story was recorded, and he still has much of the same energy displayed on the television series over four decades ago.

Morris delivers another solid script that gives the actors some great moments and fans another dose of fun nostalgia.

The Last Queen of the Nile by David K Barnes has the TARDIS crew get ensnared within the tumultuous love story between Cleopatra and Mark Antony. The guest cast is comprised of Pippa Warner-Bennett, Timothy Blore, Samantha Lawson, Michael Lumsden, Ben Porter, and Blake Ritson.

The Doctor, Leela, and K9 encounter Mark Antony just outside Alexandria in Egypt. He eyes K9 as a gift for his beloved Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra. The Doctor and Leela are forced to witness one of the best known and tragic romances in history as they fight for their lives and escape within the TARDIS.

This is also really quite good. Bennet-Warner and Lumsden are pretty compelling as the two powerful yet doomed lovers. I am not sure how historically accurate this adventure actually is, but it is arresting. The bond between Leela and Cleopatra is well performed and seems to be quite natural to have Leela so drawn to the most famous queen in history.

Tom Baker performs with his usual cheeky yet commanding air as the Doctor. Big Finish continues to keep the traditions of the eras while also exploring new aspects of familiar characters. The writer even has the Doctor and Leela at odds to an extent, which was not something really seen in the television series.

Anyway, the set as a whole is quite good. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson continue to display a familiar and reassuring chemistry while still relating fresh stories.

Even if the first story may take more than one play to better follow the plot, it will be worth it.

Big Finish Audio Review: Wilde Times For Jago & Litefoot

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Jago & Litefoot Series Four continues the audio adventures of the intrepid investigators of the macabre in Victorian London and is entertaining enough which is to be expected from Big Finish Productions. Christipher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter return to the microphones as Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot alongside a pretty good guest cast and strangely familiar voices in four episodes directed by Lisa Bowerman.

The guest cast is comprised of Victoria Alcock, Christopher Beeny, Elizabeth Counsell, Alan Cox, Mike Grady, and Terry Molloy. Bowerman also returns to her role as the barmaid Ellie Higson. I also can’t forget to mention that Louise Jameson and Colin Baker are the extra special guest stars.

Jago in Love by Nigel Fairs is the first episode, and the title sort of gives away what happens. Jago, Litefoot, and Leela have taken a holiday to Brighton where Jago falls for a music hall singer named Abigail. There is something tainting this romance as a strange pair of men have followed them. Also, there is another strange presence in the shape of Professor Claudius Dark, but the professor may be an old friend with a different face.

This one is a pretty good setup for the arc the other episodes are going to take. The strange pair of Mr. Hardwick and Mr. Kempston are kind of intriguing as shadowy, menacing figures.

Overall, the episode is not really great, but it gets the job done with setting up the other mysteries which confound Jago and Litefoot.

Beautiful Things by John Dorney has Jago and Litefoot encounter one Oscar Wilde, played by Alan Cox. Litefoot seems to have some grudge against Wilde, but he cannot indulge that since there are bodies turning up that need his expertise. Leela, played by Louise Jameson, is also there to assist, and the audience catches another glimpse of the peculiarly familiar Professor Dark.

This one was pretty good and an obvious riff on Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey. Dorney is certainly one of the more reliable contributors to Big Finish Productions and continues that track record with this one.

Matthew Sweet gives us another “trapped on a train” adventure with The Lonely Clock. Leela and Ellie get more involved in trying to save Jago and Litefoot before time runs out in more ways than one.

This one was a little hard to follow at times, but the performances as ever are compelling enough for me to forgive any plot holes. Also, Professor Dark is finally revealed at the end to have a much more familiar and welcome identity. Since it’s Colin Baker in the role, we can all surmise what that really is.

Finally, it is the great Justin Richards who ends this set with The Hourglass Killers. Leela, Jago, and Litefoot are joined by a certain wandering Time Lord and an old friend of, well…practically everybody here. The true enemy is revealed, and the stakes are even higher for well…practically everybody.

Anyway, this is a bit of a collection for the longtime Doctor Who fans and could be accused of being a bit self-indulgent, however it is written well enough to enjoy the ride.

Colin Baker pretty much is guaranteed to deliver an energetic and compelling performance, and his enthusiasm is just as strong as in this set as one would come to expect. I also marvel at the ingenuity of the writers who come up with how to present Jago’s preposterous affinity for alliteration in his dialogue. Anyway, this is one spinoff series that seems to have a deserved legion of fans among us Big Finish consumers.

Not every scene was as clear as I would have preferred, but it’s still a fun journey. One should also extend a bit more grace when it comes to audio performances. That medium is probably one of the trickier ones to pull off for those who write and produce them, and these four writers still did more than come through for this particular listener.

Doctor Who Audio Review: A Story Demon, Iris Wildthyme, And Lots Of Mrs. Clarkes

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

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.

Doctor Who Audio Review: A Weekend Away With The Doctor And A Vampire

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

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.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Reflections And Invasions

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Mirror Matter is a Doctor Who audio novel produced by Big Finish Productions and turns out to be not as riveting as I had hoped. It is written by Kate Orman and performed by Jon Culshaw.

Mirror Matter is a hypothetical counterpart to real matter, but this story proposes to inject some intelligence into the strange phenomenon.

This adventure takes place in the early days of the Third Doctor’s era where he is working with UNIT alongside Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Liz Shaw not long after his exile by the Time Lord.

Strange spores have been detected, and the Doctor is able to identify it as Mirror Matter, which has been lurking on Earth for billions of years. He realizes that this Mirror Matter is not native to this planet, and the spores will change the nature of the planet and humanity on a fundamental level. There are also other human forces that want to take control of the Mirror Matter, but the Doctor knows that is not going to end well for anyone.

Culshaw, as usual, does a fantastic narration, which is enhanced by his impersonation of the late Jon Pertwee, who originally portrayed this version of the Doctor. Even if the story is a bit on the dull side, Culshaw seems to always help it make much more bearable with his enthusiasm and delivery of the prose.

The action depicted was a little hard to imagine at times. Also, I guess I had some trouble being interested in the concept of Mirror Matter, which is supposedly a real scientific idea.

Orman has been involved periodically with Doctor Who for years writing novels. She is an interesting writer, for the most part. There is nothing terrible about her writing style, but I just had a hard time staying interested in the plot.

I have plenty of memories of enjoying Orman’s previous works, and I expect that she will win me back.

As for Jon Culshaw, it is always great hear him coming through my speakers and this was no exception in spite of my other misgivings about this release.

I am still all for Big Finish, audio novels, and the Third Doctor. Hopefully, the next installment will be more engaging.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Hooklight Will Not Be Dimmed Easily

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who-Hooklight 2 brings a twelve-episode audio saga from Big Finish Productions to a most satisfying close. Tom Foley has done quite well with writing a very lengthy audio drama featuring the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison. Janet Fielding, Matthew Waterhouse, and Sarah Sutton continue to bring formidable performances in their roles as Tegan, Adric, and Nyssa, respectively. Ken Bentley returns to the director’s position with his extensive experience with this company.

We also have Paul McGann in the mix as the Eighth Doctor, who is also using the moniker, the Oracle. Alan Cox, Kieren Bew, Shogo Miyakita, Celia Imrie, and Theo Solomon are included in the guest cast.

The force known as Hooklight is attempting to control Nyssa. The Doctor and his friends have been scattered throughout various planets and times. They have to make their way to something called the Dark Forge where they must face the Oracle. The Oracle knows the Doctor quite well, and their connection is much deeper than the Time Lord can anticipate. The Doctor has to find a way to free his friend from the influence of the Hooklight and reunite with his TARDIS. Of course, forces are aligned against the Time Lord, and it will take all of centuries of experience and cleverness to keep a certain light from being lit.

Foley used the extra time quite effectively to explore the main characters and the significant guest characters. We get to see how Tegan fares in a long-term relationship, which is quite interesting and even moving at times.

The appearance of the Eighth Doctor is also well-handled, and Foley sort of avoids some of the usual tropes whenever a story features more than one incarnation. Paul McGann is still compelling and has a perfect voice for audio performances. He is just an interesting actor all around.

I thought the Fifth Doctor was an interesting choice to create a huge saga around, but it works quite well. I also thought Waterhouse was particularly good at almost sounding as he did when he originally played Adric forty years ago.

Davison’s voice has aged and deepened noticeably, but I think he makes a good choice in not trying too hard to imitate his younger self. I still enjoyed his performance, and there was an interesting and poignant moment between the Doctor and Imrie’s Kessica Myles. The Doctor has figured out that Myles is terminally ill and offers to be there for her if she needed to grieve her situation. It was a moment of sensitivity from the Doctor that would often be absent from the television series. It was beautifully performed because the emotional significance was played with that famous British subtlety.

I: am usually rather leery of this superlong sagas in Doctor Who because there is some drag. Although there are some moments that it strikes me how long this thing is going on, I enjoyed this one very much.

Big Finish chose to release this in two parts. If more of these hefty stories are to be produced, I think I would prefer the whole story to be released at once. I hope that Foley is willing to do another one of that size because he really seems to rise to the challenge.

Hooklight as a whole is likely to be the best release of the year. There is still plenty of releases to be announced, but this one will likely remain in the top tier of my favorites for some time.

Big Finish Audio Review: On The Isle Of The Dead, Morbius Lives Again

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Dark Gallifrey: Morbius Part Two is the continuation of a trilogy of audio dramas from Big Finish Productions that seems to be a very promising and poignant piece of entertainment. The series explores various Time Lords from Doctor Who and delves into the history of their home planet and their roles. The warlord known as Morbius appeared in the television series during the Tom Baker era, and now we get a taste of his history.

The story is written by Tom Foley and directed by Samuel Clemens. Samuel West is in the title role with Mina Anwar, Rachel Atkins, Justin Avoth, Mark Bonnar, Andrew French, Janet Henfrey, Lara Lemon, and Hywel Morgan making up the rest of the cast.’

The Gallifreyan battleship known as the Proteus has crashed into a realm known as the Isle of the Dead. The crew members find themselves in more peril than they understand when an old enemy thought dead is about to be resurrected. Captain Argento, played by Rachel Atkins, finds herself facing down doubts from her crew and her own health concerns. Meanwhile, the cult of Morbius is awaiting the return of their idol, and the galaxy is in the direst of jeopardies.

I don’t normally enjoy much Doctor Who that doesn’t feature the Doctor, but this is becoming rather fascinating. West has played Morbius in some previous audio plays, so it makes sense to continue to have him stretch himself a little further. West does a great job.

The story is actually supposed to remind the audience of the old sea adventures. The crew of the Proteus aren’t pirates really, but the mannerisms of the characters sort of put forth that vibe. Big Finish almost always gets the casting right, and this adventure is no exception. I kind of find the first mate, Mr. Middlewitch, a rather compelling character. Hywel Morgan has that role and just seems to relish it. I also think the name Middlewitch is kind of cool.

Anyway, I will soon be listening to the third and final episode of this ongoing series. Dark Gallifrey has delivered on an intriguing premise, and I am fascinated to hear the fate of the crew of the Proteus.