Antillia The Lost is a strange one to review as it’s more formulaic than the previous story but Margaret was far more… bearable as a companion, even if it was only due to her personality being reset to “generic companion” throughout the story. Still, if you like your pulpy sci-fi clichés, um, pulpy then you’ll have a fun time, so let’s take a look!
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The latest set of Fourth Doctor adventures is here once again comprised of two four-parters thrown in a box to match the other Doctor Who releases, so I won’t be including the box title. It kicks off a “new era” of sorts as Margaret from last year’s “The Ravencliff Witch” is brought on board as a companion alongside Leela and frankly… I just don’t think it works. I said in the review for that story that I found it odd she made a big enough impression to get the permanent gig when she was one of the few potential companions that didn’t stand out to me at all, and, well… sadly my gut feeling was right, at least in my opinion. That’s the problem with recording so many stories in advance I guess! Well, either way, let’s take a deeper look into “Ice Heist!” and see what does work, shall we?
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The Return of Jo Jones’ second and third story sadly follow on from the first in being perfectly fine but a bit dull and predictable. The two-parter format doesn’t help, but I’ve heard good two-parters before so it’s not an excuse really! Oh well, let’s take a look at “The Conservitors” and “The Iron Shore”, shall we?
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“The Return of Jo Jones” is an odd boxset. Apparently this reunion of the Third Doctor and an older Jo came about from Katy Manning saying she was struggling to do the young Jo voice but honestly her performance here doesn’t sound that far removed from her other Jo voicework anyway… Still, if it makes her happier to continue then sure, why not? Sadly this opening adventure is as plain as it comes in plot and characters, so doesn’t really get the “new” era off to a flying start, but hey-ho. Let’s take a look!
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The Shades of Fear set comes to an end with a double whammy of the returning Vashta Nerada and the Vermeen from the start of the set, opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of name value but it oddly works really well. Plus a few actually interesting guest characters and a great use of the audio medium all come together to make one of the better Ninth Doctor stories to come along in a while. Let’s take a deeper look…
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The final set of Ninth Doctor Adventures Series 2 has arrived (though frankly I should probably just start counting them as individual sets at this point, Mr. Eccleston seems to be fully invested now!) and it comes in form of “Shades of Fear”, and while there isn’t a two-part finale like last time the opening story of this box and its final episode are strongly connected… Oh and the one in the middle is a bit crap. Let’s take a look!
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The Time War: Cass boxset ends with a two parter (or the length of a four parter, if you want to think of it that way!) that once again proves to be a fun story to follow with a good “Time War screwing everything up” plot, a great set of new characters and the TARDIS trio is once again on fine form. So let’s take a look!
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The Eighth Doctor Time War stories return and with The Doctor’s great grandson from an alternate timeline Alex already settled in. As the name suggests Big Finish shows that no companion is off limits for them once again as the box features Cass, the woman The Doctor met moments before her death and his regeneration. How do they meet up now? The Time War! That’s all the excuse you need for timeline muddling scenarios… So let’s take a look at these first two single part episodes, shall we?
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In the last of the review catch-ups from 2022 we have the fourth War Doctor Begins boxset with more great Jonathon Carley in the lead role. Once again if you’ve read my “Top 10 Doctor Who Stories of 2022” list from a few months ago you’ll know I was quite fond of this three-parter, so let’s just dive straight in!
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Despite being such a visual enemy the Weeping Angels once again appear in a really good audio story with Albie’s Angels. It puts focus on Helen and her family in a way that’s not embarrassingly out-of-nowhere and heavy handed like in the past and it really works. Now I’m a little late with this review so paradoxically this has already appeared on my “Top 10 Doctor Who Stories of 2022” list so its quality might not come as a surprise, but hey-ho… let’s take a look anyway!
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Hogan Reviews 