Doctor Who Lucie Miller review

Ah, now this review is going to be a challenge.

It is going to be very difficult to get through this without the review just being a gibbering series of disjoined exclamations of things like ‘Awesome!’ ‘Brilliant!’ ‘Genius!’ and the like.

Yes, it is really that good.

The Eighth Doctor series has been consistently high standard throughout, but this story raises the bar even higher yet.

So- what makes this one so good?

And in that question lies the problem! As you should know by now, I don’t do spoilers- even little ones- in these reviews, so that will make it difficult to talk about some of the very cool things that happen in this story, but I’ll try.

Firstly, there is very little of The Doctor in it. This means that the rest of the cast get to stretch their wings a bit and get into the meat of the plot, and watching them try to cope with horrendous life and world changing events without him there makes for some very good drama, with one character in particular going in a direction that is most unexpected.

In fact, I’ll deal with the main plot here. It is as audacious as it is clever. To think you could get away with doing it is one thing… but to actually do it and succeed is astonishingly impressive.

Then something happens about halfway through the story… and it was lucky I was listening to this alone in the car, because I suspect most people would have been shocked when I shouted a very bad swear word at the player when it happened. And I am bursting to say what it was (the thing in the story that is, not the swear word) but it is just too good a dramatic twist to spoil in any way.

And to cap all this excitement it ends on the mother of all cliff-hangers.
It may be hyperbole to say this is the best Big Finish audio I have listened to- but it’s damned close.

Dragon Age II trailer

Looks like my kind of game!

Razorjack gets a new website!

As I am sure you all know, Comic legend John Higgins wrote and illustrated the Graphic Novel Razorjack, which was released a while ago.

Well, things are heating up in the Razorjack universe, with a series of original novels based on the world and the characters about to be unleashed by Com.X.

And to help keep you informed as to all things interdimensional you should really add THIS WEBSITE to your list of favourites!

Doctor Who The Companion Chronicles- The Perpetual Bond review

My recent emersion in the Lost Episodes recording has given me a newfound appreciation of both Peter Purvis as an actor and the First Doctor.

So it was a rather nice surprise to put this on the player and discover that this companion chronicle features both. Indeed, it takes place in the immediate aftermath of the tragic climax of The Dalek’s Masterplan- so I was in the fortunate position of being full aware of what they were all talking about.

There are a lot of clever things about this story. I like the nice touches of lightness that are peppered throughout, and lord knows that it needs them at times. I like the way it easily invokes the mid-sixties setting. I like the story itself- it feels like something from the era- maybe not a contemporary Who though- it feels like an episode of The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone.

As well as the story itself, there is of course the message. And the message being set out in this story is done so with just the right amount of polemic. With subjects such as the ones addressed here, it would be all too easy to be unsubtle and to club the listener over the head, but it is just on the right side of this line. Indeed, the writer even does the ‘villains’ the service of allowing them to give you their side of the argument, and it is a testament to his ability that their argument is not entirely unconvincing, despite the horrendousness of what they are doing!

Best of all though, is Purvis. He exudes an easy charm and is effortless in his reading of the tale, and his ‘Doctor voice’ is very good. Special mention should also go to the second actor in this audio- Tom Allen. His is an interesting character and one who provides this story with its most unexpected surprise…

Available from Big Finish.

Conan The Barbarian poster

Starring Jason Momoa in the title role, this new screen version of Robert E Howard's Cimmerian warrior hits the cinema in 3D in August this year.
Here's the newly revealed poster:

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.

 

You are the LAW!

The LAW is coming- at it is you!
You can patrol your local neighbourhood in the guise of the country‟s most famous future cop thanks to a new Judge Dredd costume from Cesar, available later this year.
The fantastic costume gives you everything you need to get into full law-giving character – a full body jumpsuit with muscle padding, plus utility belt with pockets for your phone and  money, knee and elbow pads, detailed shoulder and eagle pads, boot covers, gloves and a shiny PVC helmet.
One of the most iconic British comic book characters ever created and the very antithesis of American spandex-clad superheroes, Judge Dredd has been bringing justice to the streets of Mega City One for three decades  – and is to return to the silver screen  later this year  with a Hollywood adaptation starring Karl Urban (Star Trek, The Bourne Supremacy) and written by Alex Garland (Sunshine, 28 Days Later).

We want one!