Doctor Who’s 10th (since the revival) series is drawing to a close, but before we begin the big finale we get one last stand alone adventure. This time it’s the old “pseudo historical”, with The Doctor and Bill seeking out the Roman Ninth Legion, who vanished without record. The pair of course find out that an interdimensional, light-eating creature is responsible… I mean, come on historians! It was obvious! Let’s take a look…
My subscription to the Main Range audio dramas from Big Finish ended just before Christmas, and its taken me this long to find the funds to re-subscribe. On the plus side, I now have a good eight or so new Doctor Who Audios to listen to! On the negative side: this story. Ah well. I’ve heard good things about the next one, so let’s just get this out of the way, shall we? It’s not terrible, just not terribly interesting…
Having finally picked up my copy of “Emperor of the Daleks”, the latest collection of Doctor Who Magazine comics, it’s time to start the third part of the trinity of Doctor Who media I enjoy. All these stories were released in 92 / 93, where Doctor Who had been off TV for some time and Virgin books’ “New Adventures” line was popular with a good chunk of remaining fans, meaning two things: loads of continuity references due to a lack of new fans, and the appearance of Bernice “Benny” Summerfield from the books as a companion. Let’s take a look at the first two stories in the collection then…
The first full cast Audio Drama series from Big Finish comes to a rather epic conclusion as Travis makes an appearance… alongside the President of the Earth Federation himself! These are three top quality stories, showing this Audio Series to be a fine example for the medium and for Blake’s 7 stories. Let’s take a closer look!
What’s that? You thought Blake’s 7 was finished on this blog? Nope! As a big fan of the Big Finish audio releases for Doctor Who, I had to give their Blake’s 7 range a go, especially as the whole of the first series was relatively cheap! Let’s take a look at the first half of the first Full Cast Audio Drama series, shall we!
The Ice Warriors return to televised Doctor Who for the first time in a few years, and bring with them a new member class of their race: The Ice Queen. A new bit of continuity to an old race, and an ending that directly connects to 70s Who… a good mix there then! But what about the story itself? Well, Victorian era British troops against Ice Warriors… it was good! Let’s take a closer look…
Doctor Who does its first three-parter since, arguably in some people’s minds, the end of Series 3, and in doing so completely breaks my header template… Oh well! The modern three-part stories are roughly the same length as the classic six part stories you got mostly in the 70s, but this is looser than those. Really it feels like a two part story with Extremis serving as a prologue. Either way it was an entertaining story with some good, and new, villains, though the ending felt a tad rushed and cliché. Let’s take a deeper look!
Series 10 marches into a space station set story… with (sort of ) zombies! An odd mix and a not-so-subtle political message make this a good, though flawed, story.
Bill is back to her normal life, but she soon finds out that, somehow, once you’ve befriended the Doctor, even your normal life becomes dangerous and alien. Knock Knock was a really great, self-contained story, let’s take a closer look!
The 12th Doctor and Bill arrive in the past, ticking another time travel checklist box. Speaking of ticking boxes, it’s time for Bill to make the big discovery about the Doctor, and his… seeing people die problem…
Hogan Reviews 