The second half of the second “series” (or boxset, let’s face it) of the Eighth Doctor’s Time War adventures is a pair of pretty standard stories. Neither “In the Gardren of Death” or “Jonah” will make you jump out of your seat and praise how great they are, but neither will leave un-entertained at the same time. In fact they’re both good stories, but they just lack that spark of originality… so let’s see what I mean!
The Time War returns with the second series of Eighth Doctor stories set during the universe-altering period. These first two stories are entirely stand alone, with the first one being quite dark and dramatic, and the second being quite campy and fun (while still being the Time War, so not all laughs, obviously…) It’s a good double bill, so let’s look at them a bit more deeply, shall we?
The monthly range continues with a second “Sixth Doctor paired with a sort-of new companion for one story” … story, as The Doctor becomes paired with famed civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel during the time he was excavating the Thames Tunnel with his father. Sounds dull? Well, there are some ghosts… and an alien world connected to London via a bunch of portals… Also, there’s a good story as well! Hooray! Let’s have a closer look then!
Series 7 of the Fourth Doctor Adventures comes to a climax with a traditional four-part story featuring the return of Sutekh! This actually the second time Big Finish has brought the character back, but there is something special about hearing Gabriel Woolf voice the evil Osiran opposite the Fourth Doctor once again. Plus Sutekh-aside, there are some fun new characters as well! So let’s dig in, shall we?
The Bad Penny, despite having a pretty boring title and being set in London AGAIN, is actually really entertaining, a lot more than the previous story in the Fourth Doctor Adventures S7. Time paradoxes, aliens, time-displaced people, it’s a fun hour-ish ride, so let’s take a closer look!
The 7th series of Fourth Doctor Adventures kicks off its second half with The Shadow of London, and sadly it’s exactly as it seems by the synopsis: rather dull. It’s by no means bad, but it’s about as memorable as… that time… that thing happened. Still, let’s have a look at it anyway, if I don’t do it now I won’t remember enough to write the review later!
The Lure of the Nomad is written by Matthew J. Elliot, the man who brought us Zaltys (hooray!) and the Silurian Candidate (Oh God no…), but which is this more like? Sadly, the answer is the latter. While it has some decent characters and ideas, they’re are either ruined by bad acting or ruined by a Part 4 that if it were visualised would literally be everyone standing around and telling their backstories to each other. Oh well, let’s have a closer look anyway…
The second half of the first River Song series has a far more successful hit rate than the previous half, with the first episode having a good sense of mystery, and the second having fun interactions between River and the Eighth Doctor. While not perfect, it does end the series on a high, so let’s have a closer look!
This was on sale a while ago, and I finally have the spare money to pick up the odd spin-off series… that being said, it took a while for me to get around to listening to it, but here we are! The first two episodes of Diary of River Song start off seemingly very stand-alone, and although they turn out to be more connected than it first seems, they are fun mini-stories… Not amazing, but fun. Let’s take a closer look!
When this was first released in 2012 I was really excited to hear this story, and it didn’t disappoint! But what about listening to it a second time this past week, the uniqueness of a four-hour boxset now long gone, and the big twist at the end of Part 3 already known? Let’s find out if UNIT: Dominion still packs a punch!
Hogan Reviews 