Tag: fourth-doctor

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.

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: Even The Doctor’s Memory Could Use Some Repair

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Broken Memories is the title of the latest Doctor Who audio collection from the Classic Doctors New Monsters range, and Big Finish Productions once again releases an intriguing and enjoyable collection of tales featuring numerous incarnations of Time Lord.

The premise of this series, which is directed by Barnaby Edwards, is to have Doctors from the classic era face monsters and adversaries that were introduced in the current run that started in 2005. It’s an ambitious idea that almost always pays off. I tend to enjoy the series, and there are four in this particular set to briefly examine.

Tom Baker is up first as the Fourth Doctor in Invasion of the Body Stealers by Jonathan Morris. He is joined by Sadie Miller, who has taken the role of Sarah Jane Smith. Miller’s mother, Elisabeth Sladen, originated the performance, so Sadie is able to breathe new life into one of the most popular companions to enter the TARDIS. The Doctor and Sarah arrive in time to offer aid to crashed spaceship and encounter the body-swapping criminal organization known as Harmony Shoal. I am not that fond of the title, but the story is actually pretty good. Baker still sounds great, and Sadie Miller does a pretty job emulating her mother. There is a truly chilling moment when one of the supporting characters is about to have his brain ripped out of his skull, and the sound effects and score actually freaked me out a little. Anyway, it’s a promising start to this collection.

The Queen of Clocks by Jacqueline Rayner features Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, and he is accompanied by the always welcome Bonnie Langford as Mel. The Clockwork Droids are invading a kingdom with a peculiar obsession with time. The Doctor and Mel are about to learn of a tragedy that had started well before their intervention. In spite of the absurdity of the plot, there is a clever yet heartbreaking twist on the horizon. Baker and Langford, as usual, perform this one beautifully. There were some moments that were a little picture to pull into imaginary focus, but that’s always a risk when listening to Doctor Who in this manner. Rayner has contributed to the franchise in some form or another for many years, and this contribution affirms that she has earned the repeated invites to write something new. It has one of those revelations that I wasn’t expecting but felt that I should have been. Anyway, Rayner’s offering here is quite engaging, but there is little reason to expect anything less.

David K. Barnes has a two-part story featuring the race known as the Silence. Once someone turns away from a member of this race, they cannot retain the memory of that encounter. The Eighth Doctor arrives in the city of Sunset during the events of The Silent Priest and to find some solace from the Time War. Paul McGann delivers another masterful performance here. Two rival criminal gangs are at war, and a mysterious priest who no one can remember meeting holds the key to bringing peace. Nicholas Briggs voices the Silence with the correct amount of creepy, sibilant whispers and hisses. This was pretty good, and the Silent featured here was much more interesting than I remember from those in the television series. The overdone Eastern American accents were a little off, and that distracted me a bit. Overall, it was an interesting story and sets up the concluding story quite well.

Sylvester McCoy returns as the Seventh Doctor as he arrives sometime after his future self. The Silent City finds the Doctor looking into an unusually successful casino which has come into being after crime has apparently disappeared. The Doctor is facing the outcome of an adventure he has yet to experience. McCoy is back in all of his Scottish glory, and he also delivers his usual enthusiastic, r-rolling vocal talents. It’s great to see him, and this story ties matters up quite effectively.

I liked all of the stories, although the first one stands out a bit more in spite of its questionable title. All of the Doctors featured showed their formidable talents in spite of their advancing years. This is a collection that is worth the time.