“Fear of the Jedi” was the Marvel comic running alongside the final few bits of Phase 3, but sadly due to this it didn’t really get to do… anything. The main action on Eriadu was seen in the Adventures comics and the Trials of the Jedi book finale, leaving this to be some space dogfighting and, um, that’s about it. Still, always nice to see Keeve and Sskeer I guess?!
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Time to look at two full cast audio dramas starring Jon Pertwee, Elizabeth Sladen and Nicholas Courtney written by Barry Letts! Exciting right?! … Well, it should be, but sadly the stories also suffer from an awful comic book caricature companion known as Jeremy Fitzoliver. *shudder*. That being said out of the two stories Paradise of Death is the better one, so let’s take a look!
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“The Return of the Doctor” is the second in the new run of Thirteenth Doctor audio dramas and is an improvement over the first in a lot of ways. The previous story was more about setting up a new status quo with a very basic story, this is focused on the relationship between The Doctor and Yaz and does that extremely well, but I will admit the world they decided to do this on wasn’t all that interesting… let’s take a look!
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Budokai 2 is where the Dragon Ball Z games finally clicked for me. The cel-shaded art style was great, the roster was bigger and more varied and there was a lot more to do. Hell back then I even really enjoyed the QTEs that happen frequently during matches, something I’ll admit to disliking now, beyond the odd beam clash or high-speed punching, anyway. The thing I most remember about Budokai 2 though is the story mode, which instead of anything resembling a traditional set up is a strange board game thing, plus this game has a bunch of “what if?” fusions which are a really fun feature that sadly never returned, even in the direct sequel. So, let’s take a look!
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The second DBZ movie, titled “The World’s Strongest Guy” in Japan and just “The World’s Strongest” in English speaking markets (one of the least edited titles of the bunch!) sees Goku and co. take on Dr. Wheelo, a scientist who has put his large brain in an equally large mech and wishes to transplant it into the world’s strongest body… for some reason. I mean, if he’s a scientist rather than a fighter I don’t really get the appeal, but whatever! It gives us Goku, Piccolo, Gohan and Krillin at their Saiyan Arc levels of power and throws in some love for Master Roshi while it’s at it, so it can’t be all bad. Let’s take a look!
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“The Last Queen of the Nile” is the titular story for this final box of this year’s Fourth Doctor Adventures and really goes out on a high. A “pure historical” (in other words our time travelling heroes and their timeship are the only sci-fi elements) which is rare for any non-Hartnell Doctor but even rarer four Mr. Baker, but it really succeeds in its goal of showing the “Whoniverse’s” version of Anthony and Cleopatra with real dramatic gravitas, while also not forgetting to have a bit of fun here and there. Let’s take a look!
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We take yet another trip to Peladon as our look at Third Doctor TV stories ends for now. The Monster of Peladon sees Jon Pertwee’s Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at the Citadel for more political satire / on-the-nose analogies, Ice Warriors and everyone’s favourite talking green penis Alpha Centauri. What’s that? You’re bored of the Alpha Centauri / penis gag?! Well, too bad, it’s impossible to resist, especially at six visual episodes…
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After the fun but very tame and green-blood-filled Zombies episode of “What If…?” I wasn’t super-excited about a whole series spun off from it, but you know what? It was really fun actually, mostly because they went for the higher TV rating / Age rating and therefore upped the gore (with red blood!) and even some casual swearing but still kept things light and comic-booky. It’s an odd mix, but one that really worked, so let’s take a look at what I assume is “Season 1” given it ends on a cliffhanger…
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“Conspiracy of Silence” is the first part of the “Last Queen of the Nile” box, a two-parter compared to the titular story’s four, and honestly it does feel like they were worried a historical themed boxset wouldn’t sell so added this in so they could stick a recognisable monster on the front. That being said though this is actually quite a fun story, the first part shows us the story from the perspective of our main cast complete with Silence memory wipes, and then the second part is the same story again but fast-forwarding through repeated scenes while showing all scenes with the Silence in, completing the picture. It’s a fun idea, so let’s take a look!
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Normally I don’t do two very similar stories together like I’m going to here with the two Peladon stories, but when choosing the Third Doctor TV serials for this mini-marathon the Peladon stories were the ones I’d watched the least in their respective seasons, so… why not? “The Curse of Peladon” is a rare off-Earth story for the Third Doctor and Jo and also a rather unsubtle look at Britain entering the European Union, which was all the talk at the time (… That ended well…) but all that being said, is it still entertaining?! Let’s have a look…
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Hogan Reviews 