The 2019 run of Main Range stories kicks off with a first for Big Finish, despite celebrating 20 years with the Doctor Who license this year: Kamelion! The silver robot whose prop creator sadly passed leaving no one able to actually use the thing, so it was swiftly written out of the TV show… hooray? Well…
Ophidius introduces us to Destrii, who will go on to become a companion for the Eighth Doctor down the road, but it’s also the first Doctor Who Magazine comic to be published in full colour, which would continue from then onwards, so once again this Audio / Comic Companion Debut Story has more of an impact than just the new companion. While Ophidius is the lengthier story, Beautiful Freak is perhaps one of the more well written and sombre stories in Doctor Who in general, so is definitely the star of this double bill. Let’s take a closer look, regardless…
It’s been a little while, but we’re back with more Blake’s 7 from Big Finish. Following on from the three-box series “Crossfire”, the first box of “Restoration” not only settles the cliffhanger from the end of the previous set, but also puts us on an interesting course going forward, as any good follow up should do, while not forgetting plot points already set in motion… So let’s take a closer look at these four episodes, and kick off “Audio Series 5”!
Endgame is not just the debut for Izzy, but it’s the start of the Eighth Doctor’s great run in Doctor Who Magazine. As his Big Finish audio tenure went on the Doctor got more and more cynical and sarcastic, where as these comics have him just like in the TV movie: very excitable and funny. Izzy is a great companion too, a “nerdy” character within a very nerdy sci-fi series works great. So let’s take a look at Endgame (the story, not the whole Graphic novel…) and kick off the Eighth Doctor’s lengthy part in the Audio/Comic Companions Debut Marathon!
Original Sin introduces us to Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej and is an adaptation of the novel of the same name from back in the 90s “New Adventures” range. Given their final stories haven’t been adapted into audios I wasn’t going to include them in this marathon, they’re really Book companions rather than Audio or Comics, but Big Finish have started releasing new, audio only stories with The Doctor, Chris and Roz so that made them… straddle the line. Given their intro story has been adapted into audio though, I thought it’d be fair game! So let’s take a look!
2019’s first, and only, televised Doctor Who story was at the very least a good one. Despite being the weakest of the writers in his own show-ran season, Chris Chibnall managed to tell a good story and put a unique spin on a Dalek tale, something very hard to do after 50+ years of the evil pepper pots. So let’s take a deeper look at Resolution, and then I’ll update the Thirteenth Doctor page for the last time this year… already. (not bitter or anything…)
Last year The War Master took the top spot, a story that didn’t even feature The Doctor at all… This year? Well… It may not be as different as I’d have hoped, especially given 10 new TV episodes and some good offerings from Big Finish that don’t feature Derek Jacobi, but….
Unlike the next story in the Audio / Comic Companion Debut marathon, this novel adaptation certainly makes sense in the audio category as Bernice Summerfield has made more audio appearances than she did during her initial novel run. Love and War is suitably dramatic and does a great job of introducing Benny, but the main thing was a rather nasty turn for Ace that sees her leave The Doctor is a huff… So let’s take a look!
So I thought with the blu-ray season sets being released now I’d watch and review at least one story from each season as they come out, rather than do the whole season in one go and ruin potential marathons for down the line. For Season 19 I chose Four to Doomsday, as I had already covered Castrovalva for the “Debut Story Marathon”, and it was the one I hadn’t seen in the longest… that wasn’t called Time-Flight… Let’s take a look then, at the story that is actually Davison’s debut in the role, recording-wise.
The Sixth incarnation of The Doctor is once again travelling alone in The Hunting Ground, our last main range audio drama story of 2018, and boy… it’s not very interesting. It gives off a vibe of the writer having a core concept but not knowing how to either spread it across two hours, nor how to write cliffhangers. Still, it’s not all bad! Let’s take a look in more detail…
Hogan Reviews 