Tag: doctor-who

Doctor Who Audio Review: The Destiny Of Mondas Revisited

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who: Genesis of the Cybermen is an audio drama from Big Finish Productions that revisits the origins of the Cybermen, a feat accomplished already in a previous release entitled Spare Parts. This story was originally conceived by Gerry Davis and adapted by David K. Barnes. Peter Davison returns yet again to the role of the Fifth Doctor and is accompanied by Janet Fielding as Tegan, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric. The director is David O’Mahoney. Nicholas Briggs again fires up the voice modulator to portray the Daleks. The remainder of the guest cast is comprised of Michael Abubakar, Nuhazet Diaz Cano, Kelly Price, Colin Tierney, and Evie Ward-Drummond.

The TARDIS has crashed on a world where a king is dying, and one of his sons is trying to save his civilization from a catastrophic shift in the planet’s orbit. The Doctor and his friends offer their help, but he soon realizes that he has arrived on the planet of Mondas at the birth of one of his greatest foes. The Cybermen are about to rise yet again and plan to survive by any means necessary.

This release is one in the range known as The Lost Stories. It was a script that was considered for the television series many moons ago and was ultimately scrapped.

Although this one isn’t bad, I still prefer Spare Parts. Genesis of the Cybermen is still worthy of a purchase and a listen though. The performances of the main cast members remain strong and distinctive. Davison still puts in a compelling performance even is he sounds noticeably older than he did forty years ago. The banter between the main cast is still compelling and amusing at times.

The guest cast is also well-chosen as is usually the case. Colin Tierney in particular has a complex role as the one who is fiercely loyal to this people and creates the Cybermen, one of the most horrific races in Doctor Who lore. It’s a suitably complicated story without going overboard. There are some interesting themes involving family and leadership explored.

The descriptions conveyed of the conversion process to become a Cybermen are as horrific as ever. Genesis of the Cybermen still does better than merely getting the job done as a source of entertainment. More Fifth Doctor is never a bad thing anyway.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Ghost Safaris And Stolen Memories

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The range of Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas featuring the Fourth Doctor continue with the latest satisfying release entitled The Hellwood Inheritance. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson reunite as the Doctor and Leela, respectively, for two stories contained in this set. Ken Bentley and Jamie Anderson share directing duties. Both stories turn out pretty well, but with Baker and Jameson in the lead, that’s going to be a likely outcome.

Alan Barnes starts off with a bit of spookiness in The Hellwood Inheritance. The guest cast includes Rosie Day, Chris Jarman, Richard James, James Meteyard, and Tamzin Outhwaite.

The Doctor and Leela arrive on the grounds of Hellwood Manor where they have a troubling encounter with a headless knight that pursues them through the grounds. After that escape, they meet the architects of what is planned to be a ghost safari and shown the “ghost catcher”. The Doctor is not sure that he is being told the whole truth about what powers the device, and a more sinister plot than a mere supernatural entertainment park is revealed.

I wouldn’t call this a real standout story, but it gets the job done as far as being entertaining. Tom Baker still sounds strong and engaged in the role even though he is close to his ninth decade at the time of recording. Jameson still slips into her most well-known character with ease.

I love a good ghost story in Doctor Who, and this fits the bill. There are not many scares or chilling moments, but the humor makes up for it. The performances are solid enough. The writing is not all that bad. Barnes has been associated with Big Finish and Doctor Who for some time, and his reliability as a writer remains evident here.

The episode still falls a little short of what I think would be among the more highly regarded stories in the range, but it still shouldn’t be overlooked. Tom Baker is well into his nineties here, so I am cherishing every new performance I can get.

The Memory Thieves is written by Phil Mulryne. The guest cast includes Daisy Ashford, Ayesha Antoine, and Wayne Forester.

The TARDIS arrives on a colony world in the future where strange pulses emanate from the forest, and the colonists lose their memories. The Doctor and Leela are separated by an earthquake. They have to earn the trust of the colonists in order to help them stop the force known as the Abeyance.

I had some trouble getting into this one. Baker and Jameson are still worth the time, but I didn’t find the story all that interesting. It’s not a terrible effort by Mulryne, but I did not find this particular contribution all that memorable.

It’s always fun to get some new stories with the Fourth Doctor and Leela, and this particular set was entertaining enough for me to still recommend to my fellow Whovians to give it a go.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Puccini, Iceland, And The Mara

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Deadly Strangers is the latest Doctor Who audio boxset from Big Finish Productions to feature the always welcome return of Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, and the three stories contained within are eclectic and engaging. The director is Ken Bentley. Jaye Griffiths and India Fisher accompany the Time Lord as Lady Audacity Montague and Charlotte Pollard, respectively. The guest cast in each story are predicably well-chosen. As usual, I will proceed with a few brief comments on each story.

Matthew Jacobs gets things rolling with Puccini and the Doctor. Tim McInnerny portrays the celebrated musician Giacomo Puccini, who wrote the famous opera, Madama Butterfly. The Doctor is not alone in being an extraterrestrial interested in the arts created by humanity. A mysterious and beautiful woman named Tura will change the lives and forms of those who are unable to answer her riddles. What is meant to be a mere visit to appreciate beautiful music and meet one of the minds who create it turns into another attempt by the TARDIS crew to protect the Earth from another dangerous alien presence.

McGann has lost none of his energy in his performance as the Doctor. Jaye Griffiths proves to be a welcome addition to this team. Charlotte is forced to grapple with some intense feelings for the Doctor. Both of the current companions perform wonderfully in their roles. Audacity is certainly one of the better recent creations from Big Finish.

The ploy itself is pretty interesting because Princess Tura, portrayed by Tania Rodrigues, turns out to be quite as malevolent as she first seems. Jacobs takes his audience on a pretty compelling and complicated examination of love.

It’s an interesting story that creates a nice blend of fantasy and a glimpse of history and culture. Not a bad start here.

Women’s Day Off by Lisa McMullen brings the Doctor, Charley, and Audacity to Iceland, 1975 where the women are on strike, but a young girl is terrified of her own powers that she cannot quite control.

Once again, another alien visitor is trying to get home, but he has an important component to find, and the girl known as Kyla may know something about that.

Molly Harris and George Watkins are included in the guest cast and prove to be quite effective, which is the usual result for Big Finish casting.

The title of this set is a little perplexing since the alien visitor once again turns out to be a likeable fellow. It is a bit of a departure that no one wants to actually conquer the Earth and subjugate everyone, however McMullen does make this suspenseful regardless.

The women’s strike in Iceland is an actual historical event but not a well-known one, so it was nice to receive a little nugget of knowledge I didn’t have before.

It’s a pretty good episode that is well-performed even if the stakes are relatively low for a Doctor Who tale.

Finally, a dangerous interloper appears in The Gloaming by Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle which completes this set. Gloaming is a luxury sleep clinic which orbits a dead world and contains rich Sleepers in suspended animation. A dark presence the Doctor has encountered before has entered their dreams of the Sleepers and threatens to take over the Time Lord’s friends. The Mara has escaped from the dark places of the inside once again.

This was a strong finish for this set. The Mara is a delightfully mischievous and deadly opponent for the Doctor, and it was great to have it back. Hopefully, the Mara are used sparingly because the rarity of their appearances makes their delicious malevolence a treat.

The final episode is my favorite, but the whole set really works well. Audacity is a recent addition to the gallery of companions, and she has grown on me quite a bit. Audacity Montague is an aristocrat from the Regency era of England, and Griffiths seems to have the perfect voice for someone of that origin.

Paul McGann is as effusive and charming as ever as the Doctor. Charlotte Pollard is one of the early Big Finish companions, and India Fisher still easily finds that voice after two decades of playing her.

Big Finish has another jewel with this one. Three pretty solid stories with a formidable TARDIS team make Deadly Strangers one of the better ones to start off the 2025 releases.

Doctor Who Audio Review: The Early Days Of Exile

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Doctor Who and the Brain Drain is a Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish Productions with great performances but a bit too long of a running time for the plot. Nicholas Briggs serves as director and co-writer alongside Richard James while Tim Treloar returns as his version of the Third Doctor as originally played by the late Jon Pertwee. Daisy Ashford portrays Liz Shaw, who was originally performed by her mother, Caroline John. John Culshaw once again fills in for the late Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart.

The talented guest cast is comprised of Mark Elstob, Susan Harrison, Rosalyn Lendor, Glen McReady, Callum Pardoe, and Milo Ratter.

This story begins soon after the Doctor is forced to regenerate by the Time Lords and sent to earth in exile where he joins forces with UNIT alongside his old friend, the Brigadier. He has yet to obtain his antique car he had named Bessie. The Master has yet to make his first appearance.

The Doctor, Liz and the Brigadier attend a symposium that introduces a new revolutionary treatment for memory loss and dementia, however there are also peculiar reports of sightings of mythical creatures around the site in Scotland. The Doctor suspects a malevolent alien influence at the heart of the mystery. The supposed miracle cure appears to be anything but. The Doctor disappears, and Liz and the Brigadier have to conduct their own investigations.

There seems to be an enemy who knows the Doctor, but he has yet to meet them.

This was an effort to recreate the seven-part episodes that were prevalent in the program’s seventh season which introduced the Third Doctor. The problem is that even in Doctor Who, those serials can feel a bit of a drag.

Treloar’s version of this Doctor is still quite compelling. Culshaw and Ashford also do well with their roles, which they have taken over from previous actors.

I also liked that the Doctor was absent for a couple of episodes, giving Liz and the Brigadier a chance to shine a bit as they proceed with their search for answers. I enjoyed how the Doctor re-entered the fray toward the climax of the story which seems to draw inspiration from The Hound of the Baskervilles when Sherlock Holmes is also left out of much of that story.

The story’s exploration of dementia is handled with some appropriate sensitivity in spite of the science fiction elements. It does demonstrate the heartache experienced by family members and caregivers of those afflicted effectively without slowing the pace of the story much. Other aspects slow the story down but not that.

There are some flaws that have more to do with the bloated length of the story, but it’s still pretty good. I just wish that Big Finish did more to represent the era without feeling like it needs to copy every aspect. I mean, it’s okay to have shorter stories.

This particular release is pretty good, but I don’t know that it’s the most shining example of the talent available to the company.

I don’t really like to quibble too much about a new Third Doctor adventure from Big Finish. This story is better than what the title would indicate. Pertwee’s era did have a few clunkers when it came to titles, but this is still a more than adequate release in many ways and certainly worth the time it takes for a listen.

Doctor Who Audio Review: The Doctor And Stephen Taylor Reunite For One More Escape

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Living Darkness is a new Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions and has a really moving reunion between the First Doctor and Steven Taylor. This play was written by Jacqueline Rayner and directed by Helen Goldwyn. Stephen Noonan reprises his efforts to emulate William Hartnell’s portrayal of the First Doctor and is really getting better at it. Peter Purves returns as former companion and ruler of another world, Steven Taylor. He is quite a bit older than when he traveled with the Doctor, and Purves puts in an awesome performance.’ Lauren Cornelius turns up later in the play as Dodo Chaplet, originally portrayed by Jackie Lane in the television series back in the 1960’s/

Other guest actors include Jack Ayres, Trevor Littledale, Dido Miles, and Helen Phillips. As usual, everyone does a stellar job with their roles.

Steven Taylor was once the ruler of a planet where he had been left by the TARDIS. He had a family and is still grieving the death of one of his daughters. He is around the century mark in terms of his age, but he has remained relatively fit and is as sharp-witted as ever. He had thought that his adventures had ended when he parted company with the Doctor and Dodo, however he has regained conscious aboard the spaceship that seems to be some type of prison transport. He has met other unwilling passengers and is investigating whatever terrors lie within the dark corridors when a familiar old man arrives introducing himself as the Doctor. The ship crashes on a planet where the most violent criminals are also sent. Someone or something has taken Steven and the Doctor out of time and placed them in a grueling fight for survival.

I had a little trouble following this story, but the presence and performance of Peter Purves was too compelling for me to mind that much. It’s not a bad story, and Rayner is a long-time writer for the franchise with some real talent and love for the series. It’s actually not a bad epic, and I will enjoy listening to it again in the not-too-distant future. Stephen Noonan continues to improve his portrayal of the First Doctor. He is getting closer to imitating Hartnell’s particular verbal inflections. Of course, the best William Hartnell is always going to be William Hartnell, but I appreciate Noonan’s efforts. Noonan actually sounds very different when using his normal voice, so his impersonation of Hartnell is quite impressive. I am always open to more First Doctor stories.

I can respect that Purves has really changed very little vocally even though he is well into his eighties. I also liked that just because Steven is even older than that, he sounded anything but frail and soft. Steven still retained that tenacious, bulldog tendency that was so prevalent when he was introduced into the series over fifty years.

This is one of those times when the performances really help when the plot is a little soft. The plot is actually pretty good here, and there is some interesting character development occurring throughout the story.

When Steven and the Doctor really recognize each other as genuine, it is actually rather moving. Purves still sounds great in these releases, and I hope he has several more left to do.

I was not sure about Noonan when he first started out in this role, but his interpretation of the First Doctor has grown on me. It is noted in the cast interviews how much work and research he puts in, and it really shows here.

2025 seems to be off to a great start with this release, and I hope more First Doctor stories are in the can.

Big Finish Audio Review: Jago And Litefoot Get A Little Help

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Jago & Litefoot Series Three is a pretty decent addition to the audio series reuniting the two Victorian investigators of infernal incidents with an old friend in the shape of Leela, portrayed by Louise Jameson. Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter reprise their celebrated roles of Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot in this new collection of episodes released by Big Finish Productions. Lisa Bowerman returns as Ellie, their favorite barmaid. Conrad Asquith reprises his role as Sergeant Quick. There are four episodes to discuss briefly here.

Just to review, the Jago & Litefoot series is a spinoff of Doctor Who. They met during the television serial entitled The Talons of Weng-Chiang during Tom Baker’s era in the role of the Doctor. Louise Jameson returns to lend a hand in this series as Leela. Leela has been sent from Gallifrey to help close some time breaches which have been plaguing Victorian London. It’s fun to hear them banter back and forth once again.

The first story to discuss is Dead Men’s Tales by Justin Richards. Beings known as Wet Men have been lurking around the streets and alleys of London. They have risen from the Thames looking for a lost member of their crew. The idea of ghosts from the future are first explored here.’

Leela gets to go undercover as a barmaid under the tutelage of Ellie Higson, portrayed by Lisa Bowerman, and the moments is hilarious. Jameson is quite an experienced actress and handles the moment quite deftly.

Anyway, it’s a fairly interesting story, but Richards has done better in the past.

The Man at the End of the Garden by Matthew Sweet explores the idea of a fairy tale coming alive. It was an okay script, but it was not that memorable. I did like that Big Finish actually cast a child for the role of a little girl at the center of the problem. They do not always do that. Eden Monteath is the name of the young actress, and she did a good job. The cast interviews at the end revealed that she took the part seriously but likely had fun as everyone attests to happening when recording at the studio.

Jago and Litefoot get a taste of the future in John Dorney’s Swan Song. More ghosts from the future haunt the New Regency Theater, which was recently bequeathed to Henry Gordon Jago. In the future, a lab will be built where time experiments are being conducted. This was a much more engaging story than its predecessors, but that’s not surprising considering it’s from Dorney.

Finally, another long time Doctor Who contributor, Andy Lane wraps up this set with Chronoclasm where the mastermind behind the disturbances is revealed. Philip Bretherton steps from the shadows as Elliot Payne. Jago, Litefoot, and Leela get some unexpected help from another Henry Gordon Jago.

It’s another competent script from a talented writer, but Lane has also done better in previous works.

Overall, it was an enjoyable listening experience, but the inclusion of Leela just seems like such an obvious move. Still, Louise Jameson does that part so well, so it was still nice to have her join in the hijinks.

The set serves the purpose of being enjoyment accompaniment in the car, but there is not much that I found to stand out other than the guest appearances.

Doctor Who Audio Review: A Carriage To Chaos

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Lord of Misrule is a Doctor Who audio novel from Big Finish Productions that is kind of an average story that is helped by a masterful narration and performance by the incomparable Jon Culshaw. Paul Morris is the writer and manages to craft a decent if unremarkable tale for the range.

The adventure features the Fourth Doctor, who would have been portrayed by the equally incomparable Tom Baker is this wasn’t an audio novel performed by Culshaw. It takes place starting off in 1901 and also features popular Victorian denizens Professor George Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago. The Doctor is accompanied by Romana, as portrayed by the late Mary Tamm.

The story in London 1901 where the Doctor and Romana are visiting friends, Jago and Litefoot when they are made aware of people being taken off in a ghostly carriage. Other people with scattered memories appear in their place. It seems the carriage is ferrying people between the years of 1901 and 1801. When Romana and Litefoot are counted among the mystery, the Doctor and Jago pursue them and find themselves in a strange predicament with an alien influence at the heart of it. Also, an aristocrat wants to usher in an age of chaos and is wanting to be the one to choose the Lord of Misrule. The Doctor has his hands full with trying to find his missing friends, locate the alien influence that takes resides in the minds of unsuspecting humans, and trying to keep the fabric of society intact.

I usually don’t mind a lengthier Doctor Who story, but this one felt a little slower than usual. I also think that Jago and Litefoot run the risk of being overused by the writers.

The upside is Jon Culshaw is a masterful narrator. He has been doing impressions of Tom Baker for years and is the likely solution once Baker is no longer able to perform since he is now in his 90’s. He also really nailed the distinctive vocal range of the recently deceased Christopher Benjamin, who originally portrayed bombastic theater manager, Henry Gordon Jago. Unfortunately, he has a much harder time imitating Mary Tamm, but that is quite forgivable for obvious reasons. Culshaw’s enthusiasm for relating the story is infectious without feeling overacted.

The production of this release is first rate, but I had some trouble staying engaged with the actual story. It seems that Paul Morris has yet to be counted among one of my favorite Doctor Who contributors.

Still, it’s a release that doesn’t need to be ignored. I will likely revisit this one since it really isn’t a terrible effort. Culshaw’s performance really saves this one from a more pronounced rejection.

Doctor Who Audio Review: The Battles Keep Coming

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The War Doctor Begins: Battlegrounds is a decent but unspectacular addition to range of War Doctor audio adventures from Big Finish Productions. Doctor Who has a myriad of ranges, and this one does remain fascinating overall, but this particular set struck me as being pretty average. Jonathon Carley continues his portrayal as the War Doctor, which was originated by the late John Hurt. Louise Jameson is the director of this set, and she does a good job.

The War Doctor was an incarnation who was denied by his other selves because of some of his actions taken during the Time War. He has denied himself his usual name, which makes introductions a little awkward to new characters. The War Doctor is not really evil, but he is a bit more ruthless than his other iterations.

As expected in this range, there are three episodes.

The Keeper of Light by Phil Mulryne begins where the War Doctor has a new companion and appears to be investigating strange signals that come from a lighthouse. It seems like a familiar type of adventure for this Time Lord, and he is only too happy to look into it. The problem is that he finds that his sense of reality may not be as reliable as he hopes.

The performances are great as usual. Carley continues to improve on the development of this character, and his impression of Hurt’s unique voice is impressive.

Rossa McPhillips continues the battle with the Daleks with his story entitled Temmosus in which the War Doctor has to convince a group of Thals that they are actually on the same side. A battleship the War Doctor has constructed has been stolen, and a Thal commander is trying to negotiate with the Daleks, which is not going to work out the way he hopes.

This is an interesting story as well. It seems overdue to bring in the Thals in this Time War saga since they shared the planet Skaro with the Daleks.

Finally, Timothy X Atack closes out this set with Rewind, which is actually the best out of this three.

The planet Lacuna is reliving the same day under an attack from the Daleks. Ignis Abel finds a lone man in a castle who may be the architect of their situation, but he was trying to save their lives. The War Doctor wants to break the population from the time loop he constructed, but doing so may leave them at the mercy of the Daleks.

Sarah Moss plays the optimistic and curious Ignis and is kind of the lead in this story. Her scenes with the War Doctor are well written.

The unique take on the repeating day is that the population is aware of the predicament and remember each time when the cycle ended with the Daleks slaughtering everyone.

The set is pretty good for the most part. I love that Louise Jameson has been expanding her role at Big Finish Productions beyond just playing Leela.

Carley is quite the find with his ability to emulate John Hurt’s distinctive voice.

Even if I didn’t find much that stood out, it’s still not a bad collection. Carley’s performance is quite astonishing. I wasn’t initially enthusiastic about the introduction of the War Doctor, but I am enjoying the heck out of this range of Big Finish audios even if that enjoyment comes at different levels.

Doctor Who Audio Review: Fifty Years Of The Fourth

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Curse of Time is a Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish Productions and is a special effort to commemorate fifty years of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. Jonathan Morris writes a pretty good script, which is directed by Helen Goldwyn. Baker is joined by Sadie Miller as Sarah Jane Smith and Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan. The guest cast is comprised of Rosemary Ashe, Scarlett Courtney, Angus Dunican, Andrew French, George Naylor, and Terence Wilton.

While answering a summons back to Earth, The TARDIS is pulled through the time vortex into what is thought to be medieval times but is in reality in the far future after humans had fled solar flares that threatened the planet. They have returned, but they are dark secrets awaiting them as well These are the descendants of the humans from a certain Ark in Space. The Doctor and his friends have become legends, but a secret enemy is lurking in the caves, and he needs some help from the Time Lord and is not just going to ask for it.

An aspect of this story that I liked is that Morris doesn’t lean on the trope of bringing an old adversary out to face the Doctor. The story is a sequel to some of those in nineteenth season, however the plot is pretty original. It does a decent job of celebrating the Tom Baker era.

Sadie Miller is really sounding more and more like her mother, Elisabeth Sladen, who originally played Sarah Jane. Naylor is also pretty close to sounding like Ian Marter, who played Harry Sullivan in the television series. Tom Baker sounds pretty well and is as enthusiastic as ever, but I am starting pick up his nearly nine decades in his voice.

The episode isn’t spectacular, but it’s still pretty good. Even if it touches on some earlier stories in the television era, there is enough originality in the plot to feel like an unnecessary sequel.

This felt like a pretty good way to celebrate fifty years of the Fourth Doctor. Big Finish Productions avoided some of the usual trappings of such a milestone and gave its audience something more creative and unexpected in making this almost an ordinary Fourth Doctor romp.

Doctor Who Audio Review: A Celebration Of The Sixth Doctor

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment
Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor Adventures: The Quin Dilemma

Big Finish Productions releases an enjoyable Doctor Who audio boxset celebrating forty years of Colin Baker as the Doctor’s sixth incarnation. The Quin Dilemma contains six interlinked stories written by three authors and directed by Samuel Clemens. Bonnie Langford and Nicola Bryant reprise their roles of Melanie Bush and Peri, respectively. Miranda Raison and Lisa Greenwood return as Constance Clarke and Flip Ramon, a pair of companions created by Big Finish. Phil Labey accompanies the Doctor as a certain Herbert George Wells in one of the stories.

The Exaltation by Jacquelin Raynor kicks off the set and has the Doctor and Mel on the planet Arunopel where the Time Lord is checking out a temporal anomaly. The king is about to step down, but he is uncertain as to which of his five sons is going to inherit the throne. The king believes the Doctor responsible for the disappearance of his wife many years ago and sets his sons out to find him in various points in his timeline.

Chris Chapman picks up the story with Escape from Holy Island where the Doctor, Peri, and a young HG Wells are visiting an island in the year 739 on the eve of a Viking invasion, however the raiders that are coming may be something else.

It’s a pretty good continuation, and the idea of HG Wells being in the TARDIS beyond the one television adventure Timelash is a fun if rather predictable idea.

Robert Valentine brings in a two-part story featuring the Doctor now traveling with Mrs. Clarke and Flip Ramon on a planet in the midst of a civil war, and Sontarans interfering. Sibling Rivalry and Children of the Revolution are the titles of these two episodes. Also, the Doctor has to contend with potential kidnappers in the shape of two of the quintuplet princes on the hunt for him.

Chris Chapman returns to the story roster with The Thousand Year Thaw in which the Doctor and Peri encounter another of the Quin princes, a pleasant walk turns into another familiar fight for survival.’

This story is pretty notable because there is a very charming and enlightening scene in which the Doctor and Peri reflect on their friendship and recall the Doctor’s rather manic reaction to his regeneration. I always thought this Doctor’s introduction was one of the clumsiest introductions in the series. In The Twin Dilemma, the Doctor nearly throttles Peri to death in a fit of mania induced by the trauma of his transformation. Chapman comes up with a pretty plausible explanation as to why Peri decided to continue her travels with the Doctor after that horrendous episode. It was a great scene, and Baker and Bryant perform it masterfully.

Finally, we get the amusing pleasure of watching several versions of the Sixth Doctor interact with each other in Rayner’s The Firstborn. The various companions also meet up to find the answers to this potential paradoxical catastrophe.

Somehow the idea of four different versions of the same Doctor meeting up seems like it wouldn’t work on audio, but it comes off pretty well without as much expected confusion. Colin Baker sounds fantastic throughout this set.

Some stories are a little better than others, and I was rather pleased that some of the seemingly inexplicable choices that Peri made in the television series were addressed.

Jonnie Broadbent is the actor portraying the Quin brothers and does a pretty good job at vocally differentiating between the characters.

I have had mixed feelings about the Sixth Doctor before Big Finish rehabilitated him with much better writing that fleshed out the more appealing sides of his personality. Although much of his familiar brashness was kept, he also displayed far more moments of compassion and cleverness than in the television series.

There is a bit of muddling in the plot, but the performances and intended celebration of this Doctor makes it tolerable. Besides, Doctor Who is a bit of a muddle anyway.

The Quin Dilemma is a set that shouldn’t be passed over. May Colin still have many more years with Big Finish as well.