Shadow of the Sun is a “Lockdown Special Release”, recorded entirely from the casts’ homes. How does that effect the release? It doesn’t, other than a bonus Fourth Doctor release in May… which sounds good to me! The actual story is two parts bog-standard run-around, one part interesting religious examination. Does that mix work?! Let’s find out!
This month’s Main Range audio sees the return of the Sixth Doctor, Constance and Flip trio, plus the audio debut of the Ice Warrior “Ice Queen”. All this plus regular Ice Warriors, Ice Lords and Time Lord technology, and that’s a lot of returning or familiar elements, but what about the new Vultriss race? Does it all add up to a good story?! Let’s find out!
Subterfuge is the last of the three “Seventh Doctor meets a renegade Time Lord while travelling alone” trilogy, and thankfully unlike the previous two, this is really good! A lot of that has to do with Rufus Hound’s incarnation of the Meddling Monk, but it’s also just a good script in its own right. So let’s take a look!
The fourth and final story in the ninth series of the Fourth Doctor Adventures (Numbers!) is an odd one. The setting and some of the scenes are really great and get the old imagination going, but some of the script is slow going, and the villain over-written. Does it balance out, or does it swing one way more than the other? Read on!
Series 9 of the “Fourth Doctor Adventures” continues onwards, but after the all-out classic of “Chase The Night”, what chance does “The Planet of Witches” have to stand out? Well, to be fair, it goes in a completely different direction and is perfectly fine. I guess the month in between listening sessions helps! So let’s take a closer look at the next Doctor-Romana-Adric-K9 four parter, shall we?
In the second of a strange makeshift “Seventh Doctor travelling alone meets a renegade time lord” trilogy, The Psychic Circus is actually, as you’d imagine, far more a prequel to the McCoy TV story “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy” than it is anything else, which is fine if you have a fond attachment to the serial… me? It’s alright, but did I need a two hour drop of backstory? Let’s find out!
Unexpected hit alert! Chase The Night was a genuine treat to listen to, with the still-fresh quartet of The Doctor, Romana, Adric and K9 finding themselves on a most unusual planet with a strange twist involving a train and the planet’s rotation. Want to know more? Well, read on then!
It’s a rare thing, but it’s time for a new-to-Big-Finish Doctor-Companion team! Yes, in what is possibly the last TV team yet to be recaptured via full cast audio drama (with the original cast members), we have the start of a four-story series involving The Doctor, Romana and Adric trying to escape from E-Space. Purgatory 12 also does that classic Big Finish thing of filling in a gap in character development, as Adric starts to come to terms with the death of his brother, something never really explored on the original show. Does it work? Let’s find out!
I was really looking forward to this release. As you may know from previous reviews here, I love The Eleven, he’s always good fun, and to see how he got captured before the opening to Doom Coalition was exciting. Then they throw in an older Ace, which is an interesting new string to the Doctor Who bow, and man… Really excited. *sigh*… A shame really…
Let’s try and catch up with the Big Finish audio releases from the past few months, shall we? Starting with December’s offering of the final War Master box set (… for now) titled Anti-Genesis: it’s your standard “altering history causes the timeline to go all crazy” story, but it has some great ideas and performances at its core. Let’s take a closer look!
Hogan Reviews 