The Kamelion Empire is a story of two very clear halves, one is a moody tale going into the unique and interesting history of Kamelion’s people, and the second half a generic run-around with a very one-note sneering villain. The problem comes from the fact that this is supposed to be one story, not two like last month! Still, does the good outweigh the predictable? Let’s find out!
The first ever Big Finish story starring Kamelion is now in the books, meaning this second (and third, I guess) story in the run has a little less intrigue around it, and if anything highlights a potential flaw in writing for the character: originality. Both stories once again feature Kamelion being influenced by another powerful mind, the only real plot point he had on TV, and a plot point from the previous audio story… Still, are Black Thursday and Power Game still worth listening to? Well…
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…
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.
Castrovalva is the first story where the plot properly revolves around the after-effects of the regeneration, after the last three were pretty much regular stories with a new actor in the lead role. The story features our new Doctor in a weakened state, physically and mentally, leaving him sidelined for portions of the story (though not as sidelined as Adric!). Castrovalva also features The Master, making it three in a row for Anthony Ainley. So let’s see if this jumble is a fun mix or not!
Eye of the Scorpion introduces us to Erimem, the should-be Pharaoh who ends up travelling with The Doctor and Peri (yes, the Fifth Doctor and Peri, which is a rare combo nowadays!) It’s also very nearly a pure historical, though the run of Doctor/Peri/Erimem has several actual pure historicals, so if anything it having a sci-fi element in its plot is more note worthy… Anyway, let’s have a look at Eye of the Scorpion then, shall we?
Thomas Brewster is an odd companion, in that his two stints in the TARDIS are less Doctor-Companion and more “person forcing himself on The Doctor for a while”. It’s an interesting concept, but Brewster can be on the obnoxious side… As for his debut story? It’s good, full of atmosphere and some fun characters, though the music lets in down, especially when it’s played by itself for 20 seconds… Anyway, let’s take a look!
Sinister cows on the moon! That’s about all you need to know about “The Lunar Strangers”, the next story from Doctor Who Magazine included in the “Land of the Blind” graphic novel. I mean that literally as well, once that core concept has been established, there isn’t really anything else to say about the story… Let’s have a look anyway!
The main range takes a brief detour from the trilogy format to give a solo Fifth Doctor story based around him meeting a previously unheard/seen incarnation of UNIT. Admittedly this is to set up a lose trilogy of UNIT stories in the main range that will be split up throughout the year (so not really breaking from the trilogy format, but hey-ho…) and if this is anything to go by then… I’m not that interested. It’s a fine story, The Doctor in particular is well handled, but it’s slow going, and when it gets going it soon stops again. Let’s have a closer look, and try not to accidentally type “The Halifax Rift” while we’re at it…
After what I felt was the first weak story in the Fifth Doctor / Adric / Nyssa / Tegan audios with Ghost Walk, I’m happy to report that Serpent in the Silver Mask is back to being great fun, with plenty of humour and a really fun murder mystery plot. Let’s take a look at this… Doctor Whodunnit! … Sorry (also goes without saying, as I always put a spoiler warning, but as this is a murder mystery it’s best to skip to the “overall thoughts” and see if it sounds good if you haven’t listened to it yourself yet…)
Hogan Reviews 