Doctor Who: Serpent Crest Pt1 Tsar Wars

For the majority of people in the world who have heard of Doctor Who, I would be prepared to bet that the first actor they think of connected with the role is Tom Baker.

I think it is fair to say that he inhabited the role in a way no actor before or since has done, so it was delightful when, a few years ago, he decided to embrace the role one again, and perform in both these audio adventures by AudioGo and a new series from Big Finish.

This particular story is the first in a new story arc written by Paul Magrs, who Who fans will be familiar with from his many contributions to Who Lore, not least the creation of the wonderful IrisWildthyme.

Fan’s of Robbie Morrison’s 2000AD series Nicholi Dante will no doubt see something familiar about the title of this story, as well as being equally familiar with the setting.

Here, the Doctor and his faithful housekeeper Mrs Wibbsey are swept from their peaceful cottage into a world of court intrigue in a far future modelled very much on late 19^th Century Russia.

The story unfolds cleverly, with a number of nods towards Imperial Russia, and there is some amusement to be had in seeing Baker having an absolute ball playing dual roles, one of which is a not-so-sly nod at one of the parts, apart from the Doctor, that he is most famous for.

As well as being a good self contained adventure, this also sets up an interesting story arc for the rest of the series and has an ending that insists the listener comes back from the next instalment.

Doctor Who: Serpent Crest Pt3 Aladdin Time

This is the third in the Serpent’s Crest series from AudioGo, starring the amazing Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor.

I think, before we get to the story itself, that this is the most remarkable thing about this. Baker, after all his years away from Who, seems to have embrace the role as fully as he did when playing it on television.

It is all too easy to imagine his wide eyed stare and mischievous grin as he delivers the lines. And as I said previously, some of the lines sound very much like Baker adlibs. Apologies to Paul Magrs, the writer of this series, if I’m way off in this!

Anyway, The title may be a groan inducing pun, but this is a fun packed adventure. It is lighter in tone than the two stories that  preceded it.

As the name suggests, it is based around the Aladdin story. Magrs plays it well too, with the Doctor’s reactions to everything helping to steer the narrative away from what could so easily have been cliché.

Worth a special mention is the very Who spin he gives on one of the staples of the Aladdin story. Here, the magic carpet is something that will definitely bring a smile to the face of any listener.

Likewise, the magic lamp is also subverted, although to be honest, I had been paying attention throughout the previous episodes so guessed this one.

What I did not guess, though, was how this story ended. It doesn’t have quite the cliff-hanger ending the others had, but even so, I’d say it is an ending that intrigues the listener even more than the others…

 

Doctor Who: Serpent Crest Pt2 The Broken Crown

This picks up immediately at the end of the previous AudioGo story, Tsar Wars, with the Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey lost somewhen in the past. 

We quickly find out when they have arrived, and hard on the heels of this information, the adventure unfolds around them.

This one has a delightful Dickensian feel to it, and there is a nice atmosphere to everything.

As always, Baker is extraordinary in the role. His energy and enthusiasm is infectious and there were time that I wondered, knowing Baker’s public persona as I do, if there were places where he was ad-libbing.

Most of the cast are fantastic, but they are let down a bit by some stiff acting from the younger members of the cast, although they manage to sell the big moments well enough when they are required.

The story is narrated by Gus Harvey, who plays one of the children, and he does very well, although sometimes the language he uses seems far beyond that of a ten year old boy.

This is the second in a series of adventures, and for a long time I was wondering how and why, and indeed if, this story was connected to the one that had went before. But connected it is in quite a clever way, and one that I really should have spotted. And as we know, these are the best kind of plot twists.

As with Tsar Wars, this one ends with a cliff-hanger, one that for my money is even better than the previous one, and demands you listen on.

Doctor Who The Stones of Blood audio review

When I first saw this I thought- Wha-? Hold on! This is the third in the Key to Time stories! Where’s the second one?

Then I remembered that the second tale, The Pirate Planet, was written by a certain Mr D Adams, and thus is one of the stories that has never been adapted into a novel or  any other medium. Which is, of course, a crying shame, but not something we should concern ourselves with here.

Here we revisit the Stones of Blood, which is for my money, one of the nuttiest Who stories there is. Trans dimensional spaceships, blood drinking stones and druid magic… now, normally these things would not hang well together in a single story, but somehow David Fisher manages to throw all these disparate things at a wall and make them stick.

I have a soft spot of this story on screen- Baker has arguably never been better than he was during this period, and Mary Tamm oozes cool and class and they sparked off each other wonderfully.

But does this come across in the audio book, being that the narrator here, Susan Engel (who of course starred in the original TV production), is neither Baker or Tamm?

Well, for the most part it does, thanks to the standard of writing and the skill of the reader. There are a few times she sees to miss the beat in a line or pronounces words in an odd way, but nothing that detracts from the listeners enjoyment. And there is also the added bonus of having John Lesson cameo in the role of K-9.

Best of all? The monsters. How so, you say?

Well, as I’m sure you know, on screen the Ogri were… poor. It’s hard to make someone pushing a rock shaped object at an actor look threatening, but the description of them in the book is clever enough to actually make then seem like a credible threat.

So- Good stuff again for AudioGo- when’s the next one!?

Doctor Who The BBC Radio Episodes pt4

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, here we review the final two discs in the set.

I should add that these reviews where written before the tragic death of Elizabeth Sladen, so reading it back now is a bit weird...

First up: Expedition Earth

This one is a bit of a curio- in fact both of the adventures on this disc are.

This first one is from the olden days when the BBC used to broadcast educational programs for schools during the day on television and radio rather than shows about houses and cooking. This particular one is a Who story featuring Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen. The story, what there is of it, is slight. It involves the Doctor and Sarah Jane flitting through time from the very birth of the solar system to when the Earth was fully formed and populated by animals. While doing this, they repeatedly encounter an alien intelligence who seems to do nothing other that hang around in space and shout about things.  

As I said, the story is largely irrelevant. It is really just a hook to hang descriptions of the various states of the Earth upon as Baker explains them to Sladen (and in turn to the listening child).

It’s not going to win any awards, but this was surprisingly fun- I suspect mainly because of the nostalgia element of listening to an schools broadcast for the first time in decades!

Whatever happened to..?

Carole Anne Ford doesn't actually play Susan in this, but y'know...

This was originally recorded as part of a series of radio plays focusing on different fictional characters and what they did after their story finished and broadcast on Radio 4.

It has an impressive cast, lead by Jane Asher in the role of Susan Foreman, and even features a lovely cameo from the mighty Claire Rainer. It is not without its problems though- mainly for the more… ‘dedicated’ Doctor Who fan. Some are pretty big howlers. Claiming the Doctor to be a travelling salesman, for example, which flies in the face of everything that had went before. There are factual errors- the play states that Ian and Barbara were left back seconds after they left with the Doctor, when in actual fact he left them back two years later.

Susan’s character largely contradicts everything we have seen since, but as this was well before the range of Virgin and BBC novels and Big Finish studios, this can be excused.

The comedy in the play is rather hit and miss too, but some of the jokes are absolute corkers. I also liked hearing what Ian and Barbara got up to when they returned. Barbara’s story in particular rings tragically true in that I suspect her reaction would be what most people’s would be.

Again, as with Expedition Earth, this is worth it for the curiosity factor.

Doctor Who The Ribos Operation audiobook review

This story is from what to many is the golden age of Doctor Who.

Tom Baker was at the height of his powers and he had iconic companions in the shape of K-9 and the wonderful Mary Tamm as Romana.

The Ribos Operation was the first in a series long arc of stories that had the Doctor scooting around the universe trying to locate and reassemble the six constituent parts of the Key to Time. I was but a young lad when this was on television, but even then I remember watching the final episode of the arc and wondering just what the hell the point had been… but we’re getting ahead of ourselves now! Let’s deal with this one first.

First off is the audiobook itself, which is written by Who stalwart Ian Marter (who played Harry Sullivan in the series) and based on a script by Robert Holmes. Because of the nature of this particular adventure- being the first in a long arc- things start off rather slowly as we have to set up not only the Ribos storyline, but the whole Key to Time thing as well.  In and of itself, when it gets going, the main plot is not that bad.

That is not to say it is without problems. The plot revolves around a pair of con men pulling a scam on the deposed dictator of a planet, which is fair enough. The problem is that the scam itself is so simplistic, unoriginal and transparent that I could not help but think that if he was this stupid, the dictator deserved to be deposed.

However, apart from that the writing is very good. The characters as all very well written, with the Doctor and Romana sparking off each other instantly and at times hilariously.

The story is read by John Lesson, who of course is famous for providing the voice of K-9. So when I now talk about his voice acting on this, you will know which character he manages to nail effortlessly. I think that because Baker has such a distinctive voice it is hard to hear anyone else trying his lines, but Lesson does it well nevertheless.

All in all this is a fine recording, and hopefully Audio Go will follow it up with the rest of the Key to Time season.

Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks audio review

A quick history lesson for all you young people out there before we begin. You know before these new fangled DVDs that you have? Well there was a thing called ‘video tape.’ Imagine that! Films on a big clunky tape! And before that, do you know what we had? Nothing.
That’s right- once a film or TV show was finished that was it- we’d never see it again, unless it was repeated sometime at a later date.
For something like Doctor Who, this was a terrible thing for the fans- sci-fi fans are a strange bunch and we like to watch the things we love again and again. But for Who, what we had were the Target novelizations. They were adaptations of the television scripts, and almost always seemed to be written by Terrance Dicks.

Now, why am I telling you all this?
Because in 1979 the BBC released a version of the classic tale Genesis of the Daleks on vinyl LP. By the way, for those too young to know- vinyl was what we had before CDs. What this release was, was abridged version of the episodes of the story with bridging narration read by the then Doctor Tom Baker.
Now Audio Go have rereleased it on CD, so a whole new generation can get to hear it.
First up, I should mention the packaging, which is a reproduction of the original LP sleeve. And then there is the CD itself, which is a thing of beauty as you can see:

The recording itself is a marvellous artefact, and an interesting piece of old merchandising. But as well as that, it is also very entertaining indeed. For all that we love the story, I doubt there are many fans out there who would deny that it is very flabby around the middle with a series of pointless capture/escape scenes padding things out. Shorn of all that, what you get here is an hour long version which amounts to all the best scenes, including the classic one where Davros and the Doctor speak “Not as prisoner and captor, but as men of science,” held together by some nice narration by Baker.

While I’m a big fan of most of the Who audio stuff, I’d go further with this one and say that it is pretty much essential.