Into the Dalek

I thought this one was good, but not great. I think I preferred "Deep Breath" overall. The parallels with "Dalek" and "Jubilee" didn't bother me, since I thought this story was sufficiently different. From what I have read online, fans seem to have liked this one a bit more than me. It was fun to see Daleks just wanting to kill everyone and the action sequences were fun. I continue to love Capaldi's Doctor early on. The special effects were well done, but I have never really found the shrunken people wandering inside a machine to be very convincing. I would really like a season or two of the show without the Daleks.

I am intrigued by the character of Danny Pink, after an albeit short introduction. I am also curious about where Moffat is going with this afterlife arc. It's interesting to me that we've seen two "people" arrive in The Promised Land/Heaven so far. One, sacrificed herself to help the Doctor. The other, depending on whether you believe he jumped or was pushed, may have sacrificed himself at the Doctor's behest too.

I admit to having low expectations for next week's story. I have found Gattis' writing in Doctor Who to be uneven but, I did enjoy both of his season 7 stories. I am not that excited about the concept of Robin Hood with robot(s). Hopefully, it will be better than I think.

I hope to have reviews of "Flip-Flop" and "Omega" up over the next few days.

Project: Lazarus

It would seem natural that in the 40th anniversary year for Doctor Who, that Big Finish might plan a multi-Doctor story to celebrate, right? So, I can only imagine the excitement of the fans when word of this sequel to "Project: Twilight" was announced with both Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy starring in it. I know that a year or so later I was quite excited to hear this story featuring two Doctors. Well, this isn't really that. It's really two different stories: one with the Sixth Doctor, and one with the Seventh Doctor. Although, the Seventh Doctor story does feature Colin Baker. Confused? I don't blame you. This story is definitely not the multi-Doctor story it purports itself to be. It seems odd to pull this sort of bait and switch in an anniversary year. Surely Big Finish wouldn't do this again in the same year would they? Would they?! Possibly misleading advertising aside, this is a fun story. It's certainly not as good as "Project: Twilight", but it's still pretty entertaining - particularly its first half.

The first disc features the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn with the Doctor finally announcing he may have had a breakthrough finding a cure for poor Cassie who was turned into a vampire in "Project: Twilight". Mysteriously, the TARDIS brings them to Cassie years after they left her instead of immediately afterwards as the Doctor was trying to do. After meeting with Cassie, they get swept up into the evil machinations of The Forge and reunite with the enigmatic Nimrod. Except from now on, Nimrod is a lot less enigmatic and more overtly villainous. This is one of my disappointments with the continuing stories involving The Forge. Nimrod was more of a dark anti-hero in his first story. While he does make a good sinister villain, I can't help but feel like it's a bit of a wasted opportunity not to leave him as a "tweener". One impressive aspect of The Forge is that it really feels like writers Scott and Wright came up with the idea for (an albeit more evil) Torchwood before Russel T. Davies did. Or, perhaps Torchwood is an homage? The highlight of this first half is its ending. Things go very badly for the Doctor and Evelyn, and their reactions are incredible. The Doctor is just about murderously, livid at Nimrod, and Colin Baker is just terrifying. Evelyn, is simply devastated, and it leads to one of my favorite scenes between the two. (More of poor Evelyn being put through the ringer!) When the Doctor tries to comfort a grieving and furious Evelyn it's heartbreaking. I absolutely love his sad line, "I don't always win," and Colin is just so magnificent here. I know I say it over and over again, but it's another example of the range the Sixth Doctor that was never given the chance to reveal itself on the TV show.

The second half of the story isn't quite as good, but it's still pretty fun. The Seventh Doctor arrives at the Forge when detecting some odd disturbances in the vortex, and is stunned to encounter his previous regeneration working for Nimrod as a scientific adviser. Or is he? As is often the case, I enjoy Sylvester McCoy's Doctor much more without a companion.... particularly without one particular companion. In fact, the faux Sixth Doctor ends up being the companion for this story. It's a lot of fun when the Doctor quickly susses out what's going on in The Forge. It's a simply priceless moment when he asks the "Sixth Doctor" a simple question that he doesn't have the answer for, and when a stammering reply is all he gets, simply walks off - "I thought so!" Moments like these are when McCoy's Doctor truly shines. Things progress a bit into cliched territory with some of the sci-fi tropes of cloning stories. Still, the ending ends up fairly exciting with the destruction of The Forge and the Doctor's escape. Credit also to Colin Baker, who delivers another knock out performance in the second half of the story. Even if not in the true multi-Doctor way I was hoping for, both McCoy and Baker play off each other wonderfully.

So, all in all, while not living up to its predecessor, or its billing, "Project: Twilight" is still fun. The return of Nimrod is welcome, and The Forge is a pretty interesting, evil version of UNIT or Torchwood. The conclusion of the first half is riveting stuff, and while the second half doesn't quite live up to that, and reveals that this may not have been the story we were exited for, it's still a pretty good bit of fun. The strong run of Big Finish releases in 2003, continues. When will it be derailed?

Rating: Great

Deep Breath

Quick thoughts: I really enjoyed the episode. If I were ranking it with my rating system for the audios, I would probably put it on the high end of the Good scale. I generally think that most of the "introduce a new Doctor" stories are weak stories. My least favorite of the classic series would probably be "Time of the Rani" while my favorite would be "Spearhead from Space". As for the new series, my favorite (and this would be my favorite Doctor introduction story overall) would be "The Eleventh Hour" which I rate about as highly as all of the best Who's from the modern era. While I didn't like "Deep Breath" nearly as much, it's still miles better than "The Christmas Invasion" which I find fairly torturous to sit through on repeated viewings until the Doctor finally wakes up.

I enjoyed this episode a lot more. The story was solid, if not spectacular. But, I just love what I have seen so far of Capaldi's Doctor. I think many long time fans of the classic series are a bit predisposed to like the 12th Doctor. He just feels more like a classic Doctor than any of the modern versions have. I also think Jenna Coleman was tremendous. A lot of my friends don't really like Clara very much, but I have always found her to be fun. One thing's for sure, Jenna is an excellent actress. I thought she was riveting in the breath holding scene. Of course, the ending minutes were emotional and lovely. I am very excited about this new season of Doctor Who, and I may end up writing more of these first impressions for each episode.

I hope to have a review of "Project: Lazarus" up in a day or two. I need a night where I am not exhausted to write it.

Creatures of Beauty

This is one of my old favorites by Nick Briggs. When I first heard this a decade or so ago, after I realized early on that the tale was being told out of chronological order, I first thought naturally of "Pulp Fiction". This is definitely not one of your run of the mill Doctor Who stories for other reasons as well. In many ways I always thought of the 5th Doctor as more vulnerable than his immediate predecessors. While the 3rd and 4th Doctors always seemed to take charge of things quickly, it always seemed like the 5th Doctor would be swept up in events, and struggle to work his way out of them.

This is a very bleak tale. It's can easily be interpreted as an allegory on pollution and/or global warming. The setting is a planet which has been half way destroyed by a lethal radiation that was accidentally delivered to their atmosphere by aliens trying to dispose of a dangerous source of power. By taking some illegal short cuts, the aliens ultimately doomed the world of Veln when they had an accident near the planet. The vast majority of the people of Veln are now genetically deformed and will not live beyond a few more generations. This leaves them understandably full of bitter hatred towards the Koteem who doomed them to their tragic end.

As noted above, this story is told out of chronological sequence. While it would be easy to call this a gimmick, it truly does work well. It also allows Briggs to leave out some details that would seem like huge holes in the story, but ends up working well with the listener already trying to fill in gaps just because they know they are hearing things out of order. The star of this show is David Daker, who was unforgettable as Irongron in the Pertwee classic "The Time Warrior". On the surface, Daker is the most villainous character in the story. The head of a corrupt government police force which brutally arrests Nyssa, he is beyond bitter at the cruel hand fate has dealt him. He also has contempt for the few "beauties" he has to encounter. Besides Nyssa, the ultra-wealthy have expensive surgeries to restore a "normal" appearance. As nasty as Daker's character Gilbrook is, he isn't a cartoon villain. One of the final scenes where he recounts how his grandfather told him about the Koteem ship's explosion (visible in the sky) which rained down the deadly dyestrial pollution that would doom their planet, his performance is very understated. As awful, and unlikeable as he has been in this story, you can't help but feel pity for him.

This is really a perfect story for the 5th Doctor. Briggs wanted to have a story where the Doctor doesn't really try to save the day, but just tries to escape. In that regard, this reminds me of the best 5th Doctor TV story "The Caves of Androzani". Briggs also cleverly explores the notions of unintended consequences of the Doctor's arrival on planets. It's a rare story where the listener ends up knowing much more about what really happened on this doomed planet than the Doctor and Nyssa do once they escape in the TARDIS. There is also a lot of moral ambiguity. There seems to be a group of well meaning rebels who have a "cure" for the people of Veln. But, when the plan is revealed to the Doctor (and the listener), a lot of ethical questions are brought up.

Briggs also directed the story, and provided the music. Briggs' music is generally recognizable. It's often consists of dark, sinister melodies, and that is certainly the case here. It really adds to the overall atmosphere of the story. My only real gripe with this production is that the voice effect of the Koteem is a bit too similar to that of the Cybermen in "Sword of Orion".

This story is another example of how Big Finish at times makes a much more adult brand of Doctor Who. I am also surprised the TV show has never ripped off this idea of telling a story completely out of sequence. I really enjoyed this story the first time I heard it a decade ago, and my opinion hasn't changed listening to it this week. There are a lot of nice touches, like the creepy echoing of Daker uttering the word "beautiful" at times in the story. It's great when late in the story, you hear the context for the quote. The ending is a great shocker as well, further punctuating the depressing tone. While this couldn't be more different than the classic it follows, it just emphasizes how diverse Doctor Who can be. This is part of strong run for Big Finish in the show's 40th anniversary.

Rating: Great

Doctor Who and the Pirates

This one is among my favorite Doctor Who stories ever. If you've never heard this before, then I strongly advise you to check it out for yourself so (like me the first time I heard it) you listen to it without any warning of what's coming. Suffice it to say that it is unique, funny, tragic, and brilliant. I am somewhat amazed that the TV show has never ripped it off (or adapted it). So, if you have never heard this story, just stop reading now, order the story and enjoy. Feel free to yell at me if you don't like it. (Seriously, stop now.)

Of course this story is famous (or infamous) for being "the musical one", but as completely delightful as the 3rd part is (and I love it), it's really so much more. This is really a story within a story. The heart of the story is Evelyn telling a suicidal student a story in a desperate attempt to convince her to change her mind. The genius of the story is that having the Doctor and Evelyn recount a genuine recent adventure in a way that allows for embellishment by both characters, makes this story simply hilarious at times, but doesn't undermine the tragedy and how deeply it affected Evelyn.

The humor is really sublime here. Evelyn's insertion of every pirate cliche is nearly as funny as Sally's complete annoyance at it. Having a character narrate a story is not a unique convention, but I can't ever remember it being used so appropriately and brilliantly as in this story. It's not just a literary device for getting the story told, it's essential for the story's pace and humor. I also love the way Evelyn (and later the Doctor) just barge into Sally's apartment and begin regaling her with this outrageous story. The first half of the story is full of laugh out loud moments. The episode two cliffhanger is one of the funniest ever. I was both amused and aghast to think of what was to come in episode three when I first heard it. Little did I know that episode three would be the one I would listen to the most out of all of the entire catalog of Big Finish!

The songs are just superb. Adapted from various Gilbert and Sullivan songs, the lyrics are both genius and hilarious. Colin Baker's performance of Gallifreyan Buccaneer is simply spectacular. I can't imagine any other Doctor pulling it off, and he just knocks it out of the park. I doubt there will ever be so many Doctor Who continuity references crammed into a few minutes ever again. Die hard Who fans will be dazzled by the sheer volume of stories, characters, and villains mentioned, but be too busy laughing to bother trying to remember them all. The other songs are wonderful too, and are used as a brilliant segue into letting you know what the story is actually about and why The Doctor and Evelyn barged into Sally's apartment. The singing performance of the cast is heroic. Special mention to Helen Goldwyn (Sally) whose voice is simply gorgeous. The work of music director Tim Sutton is amazing here. While some of the music is a little too obviously synthesized, the fact that Big Finish could pull off a production like this at all is a near miracle given the time they had to do it and the budget they operate with.

It's quite a shock when things turn violent. When Jasper has a crewman's tongue cut out, the sound effects are quite over the top, and they need to be to put across the change in tone. The beginning of Jem's death is quite disturbing too, and it establishes how traumatized Evelyn was by it, despite most of it happening "off camera". These two horrific events are the crux of the story, since they establish why Evelyn is in the state she is in, and why the Doctor was willing to help her with Sally. But, more on that later... Oddly enough, this is the start of a mini-arc for Evelyn where she is put through the emotional and physical ringer.

Things get back on their mostly silly track after this. The two funniest characters in the story are the villainous Red Jasper, and the incompetent Captain Swan. Both are performed admirably by Bill Oddie and Nicholas Pegg. Being a Yank, I am unfamiliar with Oddie (or The Goodies) but his performance is just the right mix of silly and scary. Oddie is so over the top he almost, but never quite, goes too far.

Despite all of the fun to be had on this (mostly) silly romp, my favorite part is the end. When Evelyn leaves we are left with a quiet scene between the Doctor and Sally. Colin Baker is magnificent here. This is another one of those stories where Big Finish makes me weep for what could have been for the Sixth Doctor on TV, if the planned arc for the character could have been completed. Colin's quiet performance here is so lovely. He lets on how he is bending the rules here, allowing Evelyn to offer Sally one chance to change her mind. He is doing it because Evelyn is so sad, and he can't bear to have his best friend deal with another tragic death so soon. This is another one of those scenes that makes Colin Baker my favorite Doctor. I love the brash, angry, arrogant, blustery side of the Sixth Doctor, but in Big Finish he also gets scenes like these, and he is simply magnificent.

So, in case you can't tell, I really like "Doctor Who and The Pirates". Writer, Jacqueline Raynor recently tweeted that this was the best thing she ever wrote. While I can't claim to have read nearly enough of her work to truly know whether she's right or wrong, I do not hesitate in the slightest in agreeing with her. It's a masterpiece of comedy and drama. It's a uniquely told, original tale, and pushes the boundaries of what Doctor Who can be. This story is right around the peak of a lot of great Sixth Doctor and Evelyn stories, and now that those stories appear to be over, I already have great feelings of nostalgia for this classic pairing.

Rating: CLASSIC

The Dark Flame

This story features the 7th Doctor, Ace, and Bernice Summerfield. This was my second go round with this story, and my memory of this was not good. Much like with "Nekromanteia" before it, I had a slightly different reaction this time.

The first time I listened to this, I really found Bernice's constant snarky remarks to the villains to be excruciating. I thought it undermined both the villains, and the story. It also made me violently hate Bernice Summerfield, who I had only previously experienced in "The Shadow of the Scourge" where I had found her much more palatable. (I never read many New Adventures novels, as I never liked the 7th Doctor or Ace enough to bother after trying out a few of the early ones and not really feeling any desire to continue.)

Thankfully, I enjoyed the story a bit more this time through. Benny does grate on my nerves a bit, but not enough to derail the story. I suppose it could be argued that her flippancy works somewhat since it makes her more effective as a villain when she is taken over near the end. But, I'm jumping ahead a bit.

This story is an outer space romp, featuring another relic (perhaps this should have been placed a few slots away from "Nekromanteia"), and one of many God-like villains which seem to be littered throughout the Doctor Who universe. The Dark Flame is some all powerful so and so from the end of time that could break through and destroy the universe. Of course, there is some mad cult that worships this and is working to help it, for reasons that can only be known to the most devout wackos. Here we have devious villains, undead skeleton warriors, a friendly robot origin story (for fans of the Benny range), and of course Ace being her usual loud, abrasive self.

Still, it ends up being pretty fun overall. The peformance of Andrew Westfield in the dual roles of Remnex and the evil Emissary Vilus Krull is quite good. He does a good job of sounding quite different between the two characters, and Krull has the suitable amount of menace and cool confidence. McCoy does alright here. He's a little over-the-top at times, and annoyingly rolls his r's in some inappropriate times, but generally keeps his overacting to a minimum. Some of the twists in the plot work better than others, but the one setting up the cliff hanger for Benny's take over is well done. The ending is incomprehensible gobbledegook, but isn't any more guilty than say... the defeat of another all powerful god at the end of "Pyramids of Mars".

So, all in all, nothing spectacular, but a perfectly fine outer space, end of the universe romp. At least, this time through I wasn't outraged that Benny survived, and could see myself tolerating her in future stories (though I could use a break for now). A more permanent break from Ace would always be welcome. I still generally prefer the 7th Doctor with Mel, or (better yet) on his own. This is certainly better than "The Rapture" which will probably require a herculean effort to get through a 3rd time... far, far in the future.

Rating: Good