Tag: big-finish

Doctor Who Audio Review: The Doctor Joins Another Revolution

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Revolution in Space, the latest Doctor Who audio drama to feature the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith, is quite entertaining even though it does seem to drag on a little too long sometimes.

Big Finish Productions continues its efforts to bring new adventures for the Third Doctor, who is continued to be performed by Tim Treloar. Sadie Miller takes on the role of Sarah Jane Smith, who was originally portrayed by her mother, Elisabeth Sladen. Prolific Doctor Who contributor Jonathan Morris brings another solid script to the range with Nicholas Briggs returning to the director’s chair. The guest cast includes Juliet Aubrey, Richard James, Barry Aird, and Charlie Norfolk.

The story takes place on a colonized asteroid in the furthest reaches of Earth’s solar system. While the asteroid is being mined for vital minerals, a prisoner with growing and terrifying psychic powers is planning her escape. The denizens are also plotting a revolution to break the control that the Earth government exerts on them. The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith arrive just in time to get swept up into the maelstrom of fear and discontent. The psychic abilities that some of the people, including Sarah, comes at a fatal price, and the Doctor has his hands full in his efforts to stop an unhinged prisoner from wreaking havoc and saving Sarah’s life.

There is a lot to appreciate about this release. Tim Treloar’s impression of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor continues to improve. Sadie Miller is able to emulate her mother as well, while showing her own acting abilities. Juliet Aubrey is perfect casting as the villain, Zyla Kalstein. The sound effects are, as usual, quite effective. The effort to emulate the Third Doctor’s is quite successful.

Big Finish Productions usually are quite successful with the quality of writing, and Morris is certainly one of their more reliable contributors. Revolution In Space is a solid addition to the range, and many elements work nicely, but it is not really a unique adventure. In some ways, I rather wish Big Finish would not necessarily stay devoted to the somewhat cheesy, grating musical score of the Third Doctor era.

This story has six episodes and does feel a little strained at times, which was often a problem noted in the television series. Still, there is a good chance I will appreciate it more when I listen to it again. Once again, the performances and some of the dialogue really helps with forgiving the downfalls here. Doctor Who does require some forgiveness and grace in order to properly enjoy it, but Revolution in Space, in spite of its flaws, is still one of the better adventures. Jonathan Morris still proves himself to be an interesting and capable writer, and I hope he still has plenty of time to bring many more ideas to the table of Big Finish.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Who’s Up For A Little Chaos?

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Another pretty decent yet familiar sort of Doctor Who audio novel has been released from Big Finish Productions. Colin Brake is the author of The Chaos Cascade. One big twist is that there are three narrators this time as opposed to the usual single performer. Dan Starkey, Beth Chalmers, and Rebecca Root share storytelling duties and are directed by Nigel Fairs.

Reality is about to be destroyed yet again, and the Doctor is aided by one old enemy and a former companion in his quest to unite three pieces of a device known as the Triskelia. If this was an onscreen adventure, Peter Capaldi would be portraying his version of the Doctor. Michelle Gomez would be Missy, the female incarnation of fan favorite villain, the Master. Rebecca Root reprises another Big Finish role, Tania Bell. Tania has previously met the Eighth and Ninth Doctors, and is currently living another former companion, Liv Chenka. They have to contend with other parties searching for the Triskelia, and not everyone has the same altruistic motivations as the Doctor.

Brake is a solid writer and crafts a pretty decent adventure here. The problem is that the audience has seen the Doctor have similar quests. The banter between the Doctor and Missy is amusing, clever, and pretty close to how they would be if viewed on the television set. Brake clearly knows and can replicate the characteristics established onscreen and in previous audio episodes and is able to make it seem pretty fresh.

The narrators also do well, unsurprisingly, and are aided by the sound effects and musical score. I appreciate that Starkey can sound uncannily like Peter Capaldi. Since Capaldi has not shown any interest in revisiting his Doctor, Big Finish has a pretty solid path to representing the Twelfth Doctor without his participation.

Overall, this latest offering in the audio novel range is a solid enough contribution, but the whole galactic quest angle risks being overdone in spite of the new mixture of Doctors and companions.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Never A Box Of Delights For The Doctor

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Box of Terrors is a Doctor Who audio novel released by Big Finish Productions. Lizzie Hopley is the writer while Jon Culshaw steps up to the mic to perform this eight-hour behemoth of a story. It’s a really a behemoth by Doctor Who standard. Culshaw is a well-known impressionist in the UK and does quite an uncanny impersonation of both Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee.

The Doctor’s third and fourth incarnation unite against a threat that could release several powerful and malevolent forces into the cosmos. Also, the Doctor’s companion, Sarah Jane Smith, has the rather unique experience of encountering herself. The Master and Omega are at the heart of the chaos as well. They turn out to not be the only dangerous Time Lords to cause an intergalactic mess for the two iterations of the Doctor to unravel. Hopley throws quite a bit, including a metaphorical kitchen sink, into this story.

The release has some pretty fun elements to it. Culshaw is a fantastic narrator as well even when he isn’t slipping into the vocal impressions of the two Doctors featured in this story. His enthusiasm for the franchise and Big Finish is infectious and really helps out when listening to even the more average of stories. Big Finish always does well with the sound effects, and this one is no exception.

Hopley is a competent writer, and she had some interesting ideas, however the story here sometimes felt bloated with so many villains and different versions of the same characters running around. The basic idea is intriguing to fans sometimes, but this felt a little too busy at times and bit too challenging to keep everyone straight. Some of the descriptions and events were a little hard to picture in the mind’s eye, which was distracting at times. Fortunately, Culshaw’s performance really makes the experience worth the time.

To be fair, I am not a Doctor Who fan who just relishes multi-Doctor episodes. Big Finish usually handles these stories better than the television producers for the BBC, and this contribution is still better than what we would have gotten onscreen, more than likely. Fans now have an experience with these two particular Doctors, and that’s fine. I just wish I had found a bit more enjoyment out of it.