Doctor Who The Twin Dilemma audiobook review

You will all (well, all the Who nerds reading this at least) know that this is the first broadcast story that starred Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.
Now, as I have said here before many times, there were a lot of things wrong with Who during Baker’s run, but he was not numbered among them.
One of the major problems, in fact let’s be honest, the major problem, was the standard of storylines. It was as if nobody was trying sometimes. Or if they were trying, they were trying to produce the poorest piece of work they possibly could.
And to give them credit, they started as they meant to go on with The Twin Dilemma!
Now, here is a confession of sorts. I don’t think I have seen this story since it was originally broadcast, but I still have a lasting impression of how poor it seemed to be.

It was either this or a picture of The Doctor strangling Peri

I was also puzzled when listening to this audiobook, because it was quite unlike the story I remembered watching on television all those decades ago. And then, upon reading the liner notes, I discovered that the author of the book, Who script editor Eric Saward, had rewritten the original story extensively for this adaptation.
However, while the book is, in places, very good, it also falls flat a number of times. Saward seems to have a love for ludicrous similes. “With the vitality of a lecherous stallion” is one that sticks in the mind (well, it would!).
There are also lots of examples of poorly turned phrases that should not have made it passed the editing stage. “Moribund carcass” for example.
Having said that though, there are flashes of wit and cleverness. Saward is clearly going for a Douglas Adams vibe in this book, with his frequent digressions as he pauses the story to explain some piece of background information, usually with an impressive degree of imagination and skill.
The book is read by Colin Baker, who attacks the often purple prose with great gusto.
Yes, I know I bang on about it all the time, but Baker really is a very fine actor, and arguably he is worth the money for this audiobook alone.

The Twin Dilemma is released by AudioGo.

Doctor Who Recorded Time and Other Stories review

According to the interview with the director of this Big Finish audio, it has been almost a year since The Demons of Red Lodge. Doesn’t seem like it! In fact, if I was a lesser man, I would do a Who related joke like ‘time flies’ or something, so be thankful that I’m better than that.

As with the aforementioned Demons of Red Lodge, this is a collection of four short stories, each in a slightly different genre and has a different Doctor and companion- this time we have the Sixth Doctor and Peri.

The first, Recorded Time, is an historical Who. I’m always surprised when I find an historical story like this, because I find it incredible that Who has not visited this time already. You’d have thought that Henry VIII would have been an obvious one to have been done before, but not so.

This is a good story with a good cast. It revolves around a clever plot idea and does not outstay its welcome. My only complaint is the same one I have with all ‘modern’ Who historicals: I would like to see an historical adventure every now and then it is just an historical, with no sci-fi elements thrown in.

Next up is Paradoxicde. As the name suggests, this one has a lot of fun with the idea of time travel and paradoxes, something which is strangely rare in Who. There is also a really nice full-blown sci-fi feel to this story, and we get to see the darker, more ruthless side of the Sixth Doctor, something that Baker does very well.

These two were good, but they have saved the best for last and second last.

A Most Excellent Match should, in theory be really stupid. It should be a mess of cliché and lazy jokes, being that it pastiches 19^th century literature by way of a dangerously tired sci-fi plot device.

But it is so well written and so well performed that it easily rises above any danger of being rubbish. Baker and Bryant seem to be having an absolute ball in this one, and if I had to pick one of these shorts that I would like to see expanded into a full length adventure, it would be this one.

The collection ends with Question Marks. Again, this one starts with cliché: the cast, the Doctor and Peri included, begin the story suffering from amnesia. As one would expect, intrigue ensues as suspicions and paranoia grows.  

What wasn’t expected, by me at least, was the gut punch of a twist at the end.

All in all, this is a great collection, better, I think, that Red Lodge, and that’s saying something.

Doctor Who The BBC Radio Episodes pt3

Over the years, the BBC have produced a number of their own Doctor Who audio adventures.Audio Go have just released them in a box set, and we’ll be reviewing the stories included in the collection individually.

Next up is Slipback

While the series on the television was being ill served by the then powers-that-be at the BBC and forced into a year and a half long hiatus, the Sixth Doctor and Peri turned up on the radio in this adventure.

As with The Ghosts of N-Space, I can remember this one being on the radio, but didn’t catch any of it at the time.

What we have here are six short episodes, which isn’t a problem in itself, but the arrangement of the Who theme during this era was particularly bad, and having to listen to it so many times in such a short time did not do wonders for my ears!

But on to the adventure itself. It is a bit of a mixed bag, truth be told. There are some good ideas in there, but they never seem to gel together into one whole story. Some of the stranger plot ideas- like the captain who produces exotic diseases through his skin to threaten his crew- don’t actually make much sense.

The ending too, is one I’m not too sure about. Partly because it only seems to be there because it is a cool idea, and partly because it flatly contradicts something that happened in an earlier Who story. Sorry for that piece of continuity Nazism… sometimes I can’t help myself!

As always though, Baker is great. Even with the poorest of material on the screen, he gave it his absolute all, and the same is true here.

Doctor Who Industrial Evolution review

This is the third in the recent series of Thomas Brewster tales, and sees the Doctor and his companions in 19th Century England in the middle of the Industrial Revolution.

I’d be very surprised if the Doctor hasn’t visited this era before, but I cannot think of any examples off the top of my head. It is a wonderful time in history and absolutely ripe for just the kind of sci-fi adventure that the Doctor loves.

And boy do they go for it here. This was one of those rare times when I listened to a Big Finish Who and wished it was on the screen. I fear, however, that the SFX budget required to recreate the incredible steampunk monsters here would be beyond James Cameron, never mind BBC Wales!

Plot wise, this cracks along at a lovely pace. There is, or seems to be, an enormous amount of action going on in this adventure, but it is never at the expense of storytelling. And the story is a good one, and provides another interesting addition to what could probably be called ‘The Chronicles of Thomas Brewster’. What I liked most though, was that the ending I had assumed from the first episode was not anywhere near the one we got.

I really like Brewster- he’s a great character, and the relationship he has with the Doctor is excellently portrayed by the actors in question.

As usual, the acting is excellent and while I’d usually at this point in the proceedings point out who great Colin Baker is (and he is), I would have to highlight Paul Chahidi in the role of Townsend as a particular standout here. Also- the sound design in this story is some of the best I have ever heard in a Big Finish audio.

So, another good one from Big Finish.

Doctor Who The Feast of Axos review

Revisiting old Who monsters can be a bit of a hit and miss affair. A lot of the time the story can end up just being a tired retread of what had gone before or- arguably worse- is a missed opportunity that ends up wasting the effort.

The best thing to do, of course, is to not use them at all… unless the writer can think of something new to do with them. Thankfully, this is the case in this latest Big Finish Sixth Doctor adventure, and as you can work out using your considerable detective skills, this features the return of the Axons!

An Axon yesterday

Following on from the end of the previous Sixth Doctor tale The Crimes of Thomas Brewster, this story could rightly be subtitled The Temptation of Thomas Brewster, as the character gets some meaty stuff to do throughout the tale.

And as with the best of the Big Finish range, this one keeps the listener guessing, as plot points that are set up early play out in unexpected ways. One of the many cool scenes and ideas here comes in the cliffhanger at the end of episode three. It is simply a brilliant piece of writing. It leaves the listener genuinely wondering how the character is going to survive (indeed, I honestly thought that they were a goner), but the resolution of it in episode four is ingenious. Ingenious because it not only a clever idea, but also because it is something that had been mentioned a number of times in previous episodes, and so I really should have worked it out- all the clues were there, dammit!

As good as John Pickard is as Thomas Brewster- and as good as the rest of the cast are- this is really (more so than other adventures) the Colin Baker show. He gets to do something a bit different here- and does it brilliantly. I’ll probably repeat this again many times, but it is a delight to hear him as the Doctor- a role he so obviously loves and the relish with which he plays it is almost palpable.

 

The Crimes of Thomas Brewster

The Big Finish audios have done a lot of good things for Doctor Who. Keeping the series alive during the prolonged period off air was just one of their major contributions to the show. The other is the rehabilitation of the Sixth Doctor.

As any Who fans out there will know, the show was not served well during this era, with massive budget cuts, being shifted around the schedules by a company who (then) had no interest in it and culminating in the ignominious dumping of Colin Baker as the Doctor.

But Baker’s Doctor, who showed flashes of potential on screen, has been allowed to flourish in the Big Finish audios, and this one is no exception.

This story, set on contemporary Earth, also features one of the most interesting companions the Doctor has ever had- Evelyn Smythe. She is a middle aged history teacher and a world away from the screaming teenagers that this ancient alien usually hangs around with. Yes, yes, I know he hangs around with them for audience demographic reasons, but let’s just ignore that, eh?

Anyway- I’ve talked a lot here and not yet said much about the story.
Well, it’s a very clever one- in that it is both a sequel and a prequel to a number of audio adventures that have gone before. Such is the joy of time travel.

The cast are excellent- I didn’t recognise David Troughton at all and only knew it was him when listening to the extras.

As I have said about many of these before, this is absolutely crammed with plot. And by that I don’t mean it is overly complicated , slow and hard to follow, I mean that every second is given over to something important. There is no flab in this tale at all and it covers a hell of a lot of ground from when it literally hits the ground running in the opening scene to the unexpected final one.