Alixion is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions and is the latest addition to The Lost Stories range. The addition has its good points, especially with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred leading the cast as the Doctor and Ace, respectively, however it’s a bit of a confusing mess as far as the story goes at times.
This story was originally intended to be produced during the television era in the 1980’s, however that is when the series got cancelled. Robin Mukherjee wrote the script and was able to adapt it to the audio format. David O’Mahoney serves as the director. Ali Bastian, Jon Edgley Bond, Matthew McQuinn, Beverly Longhurst, and Shri Patel make up the guest cast. Even O’Mahoney himself lends his own vocal talents to the effort.
Another planned holiday for the Doctor and Ace goes awry when they arrive at a luxury resort that has been compromised by an entity that feeds off memories and regrets. The Time Lord and his young friend have to face their own darkest secrets and fears as well as a malevolent alien who can inflict the most diabolical of mental tortures.
The plot itself sounds pretty intriguing; however, I think this would have worked better on television since there is quite a bit of flashbacks.
McCoy and Aldred are too good themselves to make me regret listening to this, so I may just need to return to this one to get a better grasp of the events that I can only picture in the mind’s eye.
The Seventh Doctor can be considered one of the more complicated incarnations depicted, and this story does play with that, which still keeps things intriguing.
I know I called this episode a confusing mess at the top of this post, but that doesn’t mean that I disliked it overall. Sometimes, the joy of listening the performances of pretty much any of the Doctors and their companions does carry manage to carry me to some significant enjoyment, and this experience was no exception.
I have found that listening to the cast and crew interviews most of these releases now contain does help my comprehension of the story quite a bit.
In spite of my occasional perplexion of some elements of the plot, I still found quite a bit to appreciate about this release and hope that McCoy and Aldred have a lot more gas in the tank to perform new stories to represent their era of the series.
Doctor Who: Past Forward is a Doctor Who audio set from Big Finish Productions which sees the welcome return of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor as the arc featuring with Harry Sullivan and Naomi Cross seemingly comes to an end. The structure of these stories is a little different in that there is essentially four-part story with a separate two-part adventure wedged in between, and it does work rather nicely.
Eleanor Crooks is back as Naomi Cross while Christopher Naylor resumes his impressive efforts to emulate the late Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan. Sara Griffiths joins the fray as Ray Jenkins, who was introduced in the television serial entitled Delta and the Bannermen. The guest cast of this series is comprised of Laura Aikman, Lydia Baksh, Daon Broni, Cavin Cornwall, Josh Cowdery, Alasdair Hankinson, Katherine Jack, Holly Jackson Walters, and Gary Turner.
The directing duties falls yet again to Samuel Clemens, who as usual keeps a steady hand by probably just letting the actors get on with the job.
Doctor Who veteran writer John Dorney is the writer of With the Angels, which has the Doctor encounter the Weeping Angels, which were first popularized in the television revival during the David Tennant era. It still works to have earlier Doctors meet these strange, malevolent consumers of time energy.
This time, the Angels have been fashioned into chess pieces. The Doctor, Harry, and Naomi will be pulled into both the past and future as they are recruited once again by UNIT to save Earth from another invasion by the terrifying Angels that one cannot take their eyes off.
In the second half of the story, the Doctor has been able to say goodbye to Harry and Naomi and pick up a new companion in the shape of an old friend, Ray. It’s kind of a unique transition, but it is done quite cleverly. Ray probably would have been a fun companion in the television series if things had worked out differently back then, but audiences now get to see how that would have worked. The also intriguing choice that was made was to have Ray picked up twenty years after her first encounter with the Doctor and she has lived a life of her own. Ray was probably in her late teens or early twenties when she was introduced over three decades ago, but it seems a good choice for Dorney to have seasoned that character a bit while still making her recognizable.
Sandwiched between the middle of With the Angels, is Lizzie Hopley’s Catastrophix where acompany’s experiment with Time if bringing about the Earth’s early demise. The Doctor has promises to Harry and Naomi to keep and ensure their safety after their encounter with the Angels. Also, this is where Ray gets a proper reintroduction.
The story itself is pretty good. Hopley is becoming one of the reliably interesting writers for Big Finish.
As usual, McCoy’s performance is outstanding even though he does have to do a bit of a double act when it becomes clear that he is being manipulated by a very familiar presence.
The team of Cross and Sullivan will be missed aboard the TARDIS, but the addition of Ray seems to be the start that could be equally compelling.
The exaggerated American accents by some of the guest cast was a little distracting, but I have gotten kind of used to it over the years of listening to Big Finish.
Anyway, the whole chess trope for this Doctor worked, although it’s hard to picture what was going on during the climactic match between the Time Lord and rich snob who instigated the whole catastrophe with the Angels.
This set was one of the better ones to be released this year from Big Finish, and McCoy’s enthusiastic performance is still a welcome distraction from the pressures of everyday life.
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.
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.
The Ruins of Kaerula is a Doctor Who audio boxset from Big Finish Productions, which has a few promising features, but it’s a bit middle of the road in many ways. Tom Baker is reunited with Louise Jameson as Leela and John Leeson as that well-known robotic dog designated K9. There are three episodes to examine a bit, however two of them are directly linked to each other.
The guest cast includes Robyn Addison, Zora Bishop, Jonathon Carley, Barnaby Kay, and Reece Pantry. Jon Culshaw also returns to portray Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, whose role initially belonged to the late Nicholas Courtney. Helen Goldyn, Nicholas Briggs, and Jamie Anderson share the directing credit.
Scriptwriter Phil Mulryne starts it off with The Remains of Kaerula. The TARDIS is forced down to the planet Kaerula where the Doctor, Leela, and K9 encounter containment camp and strange creatures lurking in the nearby caves. There is a rupture in Time, and the Doctor learns that a catastrophe from the planet’s past has invaded the future as well.
Tom Baker still does well in the lead role as the Fourth Doctor. It’s one of my favorite TARDIS teams, so it was still a worthy effort to listen to this one. As usual, the performances were fine. I was just underwhelmed by the story. Multyne captures the main characters well enough. I just didn’t fine the plot to be all that memorable or as interesting as some of the more recent episodes this past year.
The Ruins of Kaerula is also written by Phil Mulryne and serves as a prequel. The Doctor and his companions have been forced back to Kaerula in the past where they meet some different versions of those encountered in the earlier episode. An experiment is about to go very long, which could bring some serious temporal damage to the universe.
I found this to be a little better than the earlier story. It is an interesting idea to have the Doctor deal with both the cause of a catastrophe and the result. There’s a risk of that idea being overused since he is a time traveler.
The third episode, which is written by Tom Foley, is entitled Cry of the Banshee. This one was quite a bit better mostly because Brigadier Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart meets Leela and K9 for the first time. The Brigadier has requested some help during a peace conference when a delegate from Ireland dies mysteriously. The Doctor learns that it is believed a Banshee is lurking around the conference, however he suspects that it is something else.
The Brigadier joins the Doctor and Leela in the TARDIS after the Doctor finds that the source of this phenomenon originates in a space station orbiting Jupiter. The Brigadier ends up adjusting to his strange, new surroundings as everyone knew he would.
The growth of respect between the Brigadier and Leela is pretty fun to hear. They get off to a tough start when they first meet, but circumstances force them to figure out how to work together.
Jon Culshaw’s impression of Nicholas Courtney’s distinctive, authoritative baritone is quite uncanny.
The story seems a little self-indulgent, but it works. The resolution is somewhat surprising in a pleasantly unexpected way.
Anyway, the set as whole is fine, but I don’t think it’s going to be remembered as one of the great ones. Still, more Tom Baker performances are always welcome. In spite of my nonchalance about this release, I am still glad to have listened to it.
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 Productions has started the Fifth Doctor on a very epic audio adventure with Tim Foley’s Doctor Who-Hooklight 1. Peter Davison is joined by Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, and Matthew Waterhouse. Ken Bentley returns to the role of director. There is a very intriguing surprise with Paul McGann lurking the shadows of the story as the Eighth Doctor. The guest cast is also impressive with Kieren Bow, Alan Cox, Ruby Crepin-Glyn, David Holt, Celia Imrie, Harriet Kershaw, David Shaw-Parker, Theo Solomon, and Issy Van Randwyck.
This release if the first six episode of what is going to be a whopping twelve when it is all over.
The TARDIS crew has basically landed unwilling on a planet called Morning. The Doctor has become aware of the presence of ancient and powerful substance known as Hooklight. Tegan, Nysse, and Adric are caught up in one of the Doctor’s more epic adventures that could lead to the end of all of the universe. The Doctor rarely plays for lower stakes. There is a being known as the Oracle, and he seems to know the Doctor very well.
This is a very promising story. The main cast puts in a typically compelling performance. Peter Davison is a solid performer, but he seems a little more energetic than usual with this one. Waterhouse is now a man in his sixties playing a teen-ager, and he kind of pulls it off. He sounds very much like he did when he first started in the role in the early 1980’s. Fielding and Sutton remain consistently enjoyable as Tegan and Nyssa.
The soundscape is well executed, but Big Finish has a lot of practice with that. I rarely notice any real problems on the technical end with their recordings,
There is a second half to this story to be released soon, and I am pretty anxious to hear that one. I am a little leery of having more than one Doctor in an episode, but Big Finish is usually considerably more successful in the writing of these adventures than what was aired on the television series. Paul McGann is also pretty much guaranteed to deliver his own captivating performance.
Hooklight appears to be on track to hold a special place in the hearts of Big Finish listeners. It’s a long one and will require a bit of patience, but I am enjoying the journey to unravel the layers of mystery alongside this Doctor and his companions.
Doctor Who: The War Doctor Begins: He Who Fights with Monsters continues the saga of the War Doctor, originally portrayed by John Hurt, and leads to a fascinating confrontation with a mysterious adversary known as the Barber-Surgeon. The set has three parts and was written by Robert Valentine and directed by Louise Jameson.
Since Hurt has been deceased for a little while now, Jonathon Carley has taken on the role which has been known in Doctor Who fandom as the War Doctor. This was a once unknown incarnation of the Doctor who had rejected his name since he had to fight in the Time War and use methods that his other selves would abhor. Carley does an increasingly amazing impression of John Hurt’s distinctive voice and puts forth a powerful performance.
The first part is entitled The Mission where the Time War Council enlists the War Doctor to hunt down and assassinate another Gallifreyan renegade known as the Barber-Surgeon. The Barber-Surgeon has been a thorn in the side of both the Time Lords and the Daleks. The War Doctor doesn’t like the nature of this mission, but this incarnation is the one most capable to complete it
The Abyss has the War Doctor on the Barber-Surgeon’s trail through the devastation of the Time War and his own past. The Daleks have also sent a Dalek Hunter-Killer played by Jason Merrells. The War Doctor and the Daleks have another confrontation in which the maniacal robotic conquerors may finally exterminate their most persistent enemy.
Finally, the War Doctor has to escape the Daleks and confront The Horror. Nicholas Le Prevost plays the rogue element in the Time War known as the Barber-Surgeon. He and Carley play beautifully off each other when the Doctor and the Barber-Surgeon finally meet.
Not that much known is known about the War Doctor other than he was the one who ended the Tine War by obliterating both sides. He was rejected by his subsequent incarnations following that event.
This set reveals how the War Doctor may have been influenced into that horrific, if necessary, decision.
It took me a bit to warm up to the first two episodes, but Carley’s performance kept me engaged, and the finale to this set was worth it.
This is probably one of the best sets in this range. Carley may be able to sound a lot like John Hurt, but he also demonstrates excellent instincts as an actor. He mastered how this version of the Doctor carries such determination and weariness in his voice.
The sound effects are excellently executed. There are times when the action sequences seem a little jumbled, and it was hard to picture what was happening in the imagination. Still, the performances of Carley and the guest cast more than make up for it. Louise Jameson even reprises her role of Leela, which was not unexpected but still pretty fun.
Anyway, I think I have resolved any misgivings I had about the creation of the War Doctor. This set is just great.
Buried Threats is one of the audio releases from Big Finish Productions that continues the Doctor Who range featuring the Ninth Doctor, played by the brilliant Christopher Eccleston. There are three episodes directed by Helen Goldwyn. Lisa Bowerman returns to the mic as Professor Bernice Summerfield, which is indeed welcome. The set is pretty good, but not much really stands out.
The first story by Lisa McMullen is entitled A Theatre of Cruelty. Alexander Vlahos takes on the role revolutionary artist and theatre director Antonin Artaud. Artaud is having dreams that are breaking into reality, and the Doctor suspects an alien influence as usual. The episode did introduce to me a new historical figure of which I was unaware. It had an interesting plot, but Eccleston has usual really elevates the story with his energetic performance as the Doctor. I enjoyed the episode, but I doubt I will remember much about it until I replay it.
The Running Men is the second entry written by Mark Wright and takes place in present-day Halifax in West Yorkshire. Fiona Wade is the main guest star alongside Eccleston. In this one, I learned about an infamous gibbet and an old legend about the spectral Running Men. In case anyone wants to know, a gibbet is like a gallows where people were executed long ago. A mysterious death brings the Doctor to the scene where historical tragedies are intruding on the present.
It’s also a good story where an uncommon legend is revealed to me. That helps me find some enjoyment and appreciation. It highlights a small piece of British culture and a town which apparently has some renown.
The performances are quite compelling here as is almost always case in a Big Finish release. Yet again, it’s an episode even with its interesting elements still doesn’t stand out as anything quite that unique.
Finally, Professor Bernice Summerfield encounters a new Doctor to her in Matt Fitton’s Ancient History. Benny is looking into a long-ago disappearance of a warrior race known as the Korravin. When she sees a battered blue police box, she knows an old friend is nearby and another danger is about to be unearthed.
This time, the Doctor has initially slipped in incognito with an alias. Benny doesn’t recognize him at first due to the Time Lord’s propensity for regeneration. When she does figure it out, she is not too pleased, but they get past that soon enough and work together like the old days.
This one is probably the stand-out of the set because of Bernice’s presence. Lisa Bowerman slips into the role with such ease, and the chemistry with Eccleston is quite evident. I think Benny actually pairs up well with any of the Doctor’s iterations. The moment of recognition is as deliciously volatile and funny as I hoped. There is even a little time for Fitton to tug the heartstrings a bit as Benny tries to figure out what the Doctor has been up to since they last met.
Overall, the set is enjoyable but is only really notable in that Bernice and the Ninth Doctor meet. The three writers are well-chosen for their reliability. Some of the more obscure elements of British history given a spotlight is pretty cool. Eccleston still has the chops to keep his Doctor compelling in all of his manic and often morose behaviors. This Doctor has survived the Time War and the terrible choices he had to make and live with.
This set of audio dramas may not be listed as one of the iconic releases by Big Finish, but it is once again not one that deserves to be ignored, and I am certainly up to more Ninth Doctor exploits.
The Trials of a Time Lord is a recent Doctor Who audio drama released by Big Finish Productions and is another effort to celebrate forty years of the Sixth Doctor, portrayed by Colin Baker. It is a six-part saga with writing credits shared by three writers. Bonnie Langford and Nicola Bryant, who play Mel and Peri, respectively, join the Doctor against his battle against a plethora of old adversaries.
The writers, who ended up splitting up the story with two episodes each, are Katharine Armitage, Stewart Pringle, and Rochana Patel, and I have little objection to this slate. Jonathan S Powell directs this saga. The story does hold up pretty well in spite of a premise that sounds on its face, to be somewhat chaotic.
David Banks returns to voice the Cyber-Leader alongside Nicholas Briggs as the rest of the Cybermen. Terry Molloy reprises his role of Davros, the twisted creator of the Daleks. John Culshaw is also a part of the cast and does a passable impression of the late Anthony Ainley as his iteration of the renegade Time Lords known as the Master. Other cast members include Aruhan Galieva, Holly Jackson Waters, Samuel Jones, Rufus Jones, and George Naylor.
The Doctor and Mel arrive in a prison camp known as Cyberia in response to a distress signal and find themselves about to embark on a televised series of challenges which reveals all manners of menaces and allies.
Some themes are revisited such as the idea that the Doctor is being televised as he faces all sorts of threats and obstacles. This was already explored in the television story Vengeance on Varos, however I don’t mind the repetition here. There is enough of a creative effort to have this one come off as a bit more special.
Fans finally have Mel and Peri meet and interact, which was kind of cool to hear. Peri returns after living a life as a warrior king alongside King Yrcanos, who fans met in the original serial, The Trial of a Time Lord. Peri comes with some seasoning as a mother and a fighter. Normally, I would find such a character transformation somewhat implausible, but Bryant sells the performance well enough.
Jon Culshaw filling in for the late Anthony Ainley was kind of a surprise and may count as a spoiler, which I normally try to avoid. He does well enough, but he may need to practice that impression a bit more. It was still fun to imagine that version of the Master cropping up again, and Culshaw doesn’t really miss the mark entirely. It just wasn’t a bullseye impersonation. I will say this about Culshaw himself. I really enjoy his insights and comments during the cast interviews. He knows Doctor Who lore, probably better than most of the actors who portrayed the Doctor. He has such an infectious enthusiasm for the show and just seems like a joy to the rest of the Big Finish cast and crew.
Colin Baker still sounds energetic and credible in his role. The characterization of the Sixth Doctor has been improved greatly under the care of Big Finish writers over the past couple of decades. It was a sweet moment when he realizes that his friend, Peri, has really been reunited with him.
This is a story that feels a little chaotic and self-indulgent at times. I am somewhat leery of stories that just unleash all of the past enemies and story ideas, however this particular release handles this direction better than most. I also tend to sneer at three writers on one story, however the construction here kind of makes sense. The writers did work well together, but they worked on two episodes apiece separately. This division of creative labor would likely only work in a saga like this.
It’s an enjoyable and proper celebration of Colin Baker’s era, and I am glad that we are likely to get more adventures from Big Finish for some time to come.
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