Big Finish's Mighty Mouse Moment

Librarian in the TARDIS - Bonus Review #3

SPOILER WARNING! This review contains some mild spoilers for “The Light at the End.” I stay away from major plot elements, but I do mention a few minor things that most “Spoiler Free” reviews have taken pains to omit. Read at your own risk!

Title: The Light at the End
Written By: Nicholas Briggs
Team TARDIS: Seriously? If I list everybody, we’ll be here all day!
Adversary: The Master
Originally Released: October 23, 2013
Range: Special 50th Anniversary Release

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -
November 23rd 1963 proves to be a significant day in the lives of all eight Doctors...

It's the day that Bob Dovie's life is ripped apart...

It's also a day that sets in motion a catastrophic chain of events which forces the first eight incarnations of the Doctor to fight for their very existence. As a mysterious, insidious chaos unfolds within the TARDIS, the barriers of time break apart...

From suburban England through war-torn alien landscapes and into a deadly, artificial dimension, all these Doctors and their companions must struggle against the power of an unfathomable, alien technology.

From the very beginning, it is clear that the Master is somehow involved. By the end, for the Doctors, there may only be darkness.

My Review -
(I'm making a habit of this "Bonus Review" thing, aren't I?)

When many fans heard the news that the BBC’s officially official 50th Anniversary special wouldn’t have any Classic Doctors, the uproar was... somewhat deafening (and I won’t lie, I was a bit disappointed myself - even though in my brain of brains, I knew there was no respectful way they could do that. Not on TV - and then they managed to do that with “The Name of the Doctor,” but that’s another discussion). But when we heard further news that Big Finish had their own 50th Anniversary special to contribute to the festivities, well, a lot of people (yours truly included) had this to say about it -



(I swear, there were probably fans filking this song to fit the situation in their heads).

All the Doctors who’ve ever done anything for Big Finish, the main companions who’ve turned up for the ride, PLUS a shedload of cameos from other companions, AND they’ve finagled a way to get Doctors One, Two, and Three into the story???

 THE ULTRA, SUPER-DUPER, AWESOME, GOLD, PLATINUM, TITANIUM EDITION IF YOU PLEASE!
(the download, though. I have nowhere to store CDs anymore).

Okay, since last spring, we’ve had developments aplenty in the 50th Anniversary department and, speaking purely for myself, I don’t think we’re in any danger of “The Day of the Doctor” being a disappointment (the perpetually malcontented notwithstanding). Still, it’s very fitting that Big Finish got “The Light at the End” together and that they did it so spectacularly - pretty much par for the course with Big Finish’s output. And it’s even more amazing that they got it out a month earlier than most people expected (“most people” meaning “me”).

Now, from a fan’s perspective, multi-Doctor stories are really, really cool. In a fan’s mind, all the Doctors and all the companions exist together in the same space. We may not see them in a story all together, but they are all part of the same franchise and the same over-arcing stories. That’s why there is so much multi-Doctor and companion fanart. Here are but three examples (I have these wallpapers on a rotation on my laptop - they make me giggle) -


Doctor's Girls Wallpaper by ~mimi-na on deviantART


Doctor's Boys Wallpaper by ~mimi-na on deviantART


Muppet Dr Who by ~mimi-na on deviantART

(Yes, Muppets. Your arguments are invalid)

The tough thing about creating multi-Doctor stories is things get a little tricky. Beyond actor availability (whether it’s schedules simply not matching-up or something much more major like the fact that many past Doctors and companions’ actors are no longer with us), there’s the issue of a decent story that gives all the characters enough to do that it’s worth having them around. “The Five Doctors” did it brilliantly - it’s a story that knows it’s fanwanky-celebration of the show and it doesn’t try to be anything else other than that. And the audience is okay with that. Personally, I watched “The Five Doctors” before I’d seen any other Classic Who. I knew enough going into it that I treated it like a sampler of all the Classic series had to offer. When it was over, I wanted to reach back and learn who these characters were and see more of their stories. Consequently, I absolutely adore Classic Who. And I’m somebody that used to shy away from black-and-white TV shows, but now the black-and-white Doctor Who stories are among my favorites!

Anyway - back to “The Light at the End.” I don’t want to give anything major away, but I do want to hit on some of the things I loved about it -

Let me start with the special version of the theme tune, which is a fantastic mix of all the different versions of the theme, plus a few additions that the Big Finish music crew threw in to make it all work. And it is PHENOMENAL! Now, I don’t know if it’d work in a regular Main Range story, but for this 50th Anniversary Extravaganza, it fits the bill perfectly. What’s great about the opening theme tune is that it creates an atmosphere in which you know that they’re throwing the kitchen sink into this story, and everyone’s excited about it. It’s fireworks and cannons and bright lights and razzle-dazzle and AWESOME!

But then you have the ending theme. They end - not on the HUGE BLOWOUT theme - but on the simple end-credit theme from the First Doctor’s era. It fits so well with the tone of the ending of the story - you could almost imagine this being a TV story: You’re sitting in front of your TV, having enjoyed this feast of sights and spectacle, but are slowly reminded of the show’s humble-yet-brilliant beginnings. The original Delia Derbyshire theme playing it’s haunting melody as you imagine the screen flashing through black-and-white scroll of the credits (which would be a lot longer than the average Hartnell-era cast and crew list, but you get the idea). And you’re back to where everything started. Which is what the 50th Anniversary is supposed to be celebrating.

There are some great interchanges between the eras and I don’t want to spoil too much, but I have to make mention of the interactions between the Fourth Doctor and the Eighth Doctor. I love that they have (as much as they can) the oldest Doctor playing off the youngest Doctor. Now, I don’t know if Tom Baker and Paul McGann were actually recording their lines together at the same time or if those audio tracks were mixed in post-production, but it actually sounds like Four and Eight get along splendidly. I never would have pegged those two incarnations of the Doctor as being friendly (it just never crossed my mind), but I was pleasantly surprised that it worked and I could actually imagine Four with his scarf and mess of curly hair working together with the dapper and suave Eight and I just loved it.

As I am wont to do, here’s a list of things that I found absolutely charming -

- When the Sixth Doctor and Peri see the Seventh Doctor and Ace, Six says “That’s a future version of me.” Peri replies, “And a future version of me!” You wouldn’t think Ace and Peri would get along, but they actually do.

- Leela’s insistence on calling Charley “Charlotte.” Leela and Charley worked just as well as Four and Eight did.

- Ace: “Weapons don’t always work.” Says the girl carting around homemade Nitro-9 in her backpack...

- Five and Nyssa. Just... Five and Nyssa. All of their scenes. Their placement within the story is one of the most masterful things I’ve seen Big Finish do in the history of ever! I will love them until the end of all things and no one can convince me otherwise.

Of course, everyone was curious how in the world they were going to get the First, Second, and Third Doctors into this story. And I have to say, Big Finish carried it off in the best way they possibly could (and in such a way that gave me “Fangirl SQUEE!” all the way down the freeway - I admit to bouncing up and down in my seat and clapping my hands while the car was speeding along at 70 mph on the freeway. But it was only once - okay, twice - and there wasn’t much traffic anyway) and it’s actually kind of a no-brainer, when you think about it. Especially if you’ve ever listened to any Companion Chronicles featuring William Russell or Frazer Hines and heard their performances of the First and Second Doctors, respectively. Sure, you’re fully aware that it’s not actually William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton, but there’s a little bit of audio wizardry that goes on that makes it okay. And I’ve never heard Tim Treloar before (at least, his name wasn’t familiar to me), but his Third Doctor was really great and I have nothing but high praise for it. So, yay Big Finish for using the resources you have!

Now, it’s me you’re talking to. And you might be wondering (or you might not be) - how was the story, oh She Who Loved Story Above All Else. And I will say this - even though this was a multi-Doctor and multi-companion full of whizz-bang and flashing neon lights and pure awesomeness - the story was top-notch. Nary a plothole remained after all was said and done and everything was explained to my satisfaction. And there was even a little emotion to bring it all home (there’s a little moment at the end when the Third Doctor says something to Sarah Jane - and you know darn well that Elisabeth Sladen would be in on this thing if she were here to do it - that’s just about when I lost it). The story was full of happy moments and sad moments and poignant moments and funny moments - everything that Doctor Who has been to so many people in the past 50 years. It may have not always been on the best terms with the audience, but the audience kept coming back. And even brought a few new friends along the way.

Thumbs up, five stars, 10-for-10, standing ovation - whatever ranking system you want to apply here, it applies. Big Finish lived up to their name and gave us all a cracking good story to help us celebrate and honor the show we love so much. And when the adventure is over, echoing through all time and space, are these simple words -

“Come along. Back to the TARDIS.”

***
Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 11.2 - Winter is coming (direwolves not included. Darn it).

Previously -
Review 11.1 - While Greater Love Lies Further Deep

What Happens On New Vegas...

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 9.02

Title: Night of the Whisper
Written by: Cavan Scott and Mark Wright
Team TARDIS: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness
Adversary: The Whisper
Originally Released: September 2013
Range and Number: Destiny of the Doctor #9

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -
New Vegas, 23rd Century — a sprawling city huddling beneath an artificial atmospheric bubble on a distant moon. Pleasure seekers flock there from every corner of the galaxy, to take in the shows and play the tables in the huge casinos. But beneath the glitz and the glitter, organised crime rules the streets.

Whilst Rose Tyler works as a waitress in the Full Moon nightclub, Jack Harkness poses as a reporter for the Daily Galaxy. Meanwhile, the Doctor is helping the police department with their investigation into the Whisper, a strange vigilante that has been terrorising the city's underworld. But the Doctor is also on a mission of his own — to save Police Chief McNeil's life at all costs.

My Review:
I had resigned myself to having no audio story to review for the Ninth Doctor, but then I realized that I could do what I’d done for the Fourth Doctor and review the “Destiny of the Doctor” audio that Big Finish has been producing with AudioGO this year. And since “Night of the Whisper” came out just before I was gearing up to post my review of “The End of the World,” I thought it was perfectly good timing (though I do have an audio-only adventure for the Tenth Doctor that I’m planning on reviewing already, so don’t expect this to be the norm).

This story is remarkable in that it’s the first one that Big Finish has worked on with characters from New Who (licensing rights and all that stuff). It’s also remarkable in that it’s the first of the “Destiny of the Doctor” range that is not performed by someone who was once a companion. Nicholas Briggs, veteran voice actor and executive producer for Big Finish, takes on the roles of the Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness - as well as other creature characters AND the narrator. And I have to admit - I really like his Christopher Eccleston voice. It’s quite good.  There is a bit of a sense that it's a shame that they couldn't get Billie Piper or John Barrowman to perform this story (heaven knows that Eccleston would have been out of Big Finish's price range), but Nicholas Briggs steps up to the plate and does a fantastic job in this installment of this series.

I will say that it was strange to have a pre-theme-tune, cold open for these audios. At first, I thought my copy was defective because I was expecting it to start out with the theme song. But, nope - they went with the New Series tradition of cold opens, which I appreciate (along with the tradition of using each Doctor’s specific version of the theme that Big Finish has employed for quite some time now).  It put me very much in the mode of the New Series for this story and that was a nice little acknowledgement of how the Doctor's stories have been told since 2005.

As for the story itself - after you think about it for, like, ten seconds, the setting is patently obvious, this being a story where Captain Jack has come on board for the ride. Of course they’d go to a planet (sorry - it's really a moon) called New Vegas and of course Jack would have once been on the committee that voted the place as the most debauched in the universe. Nothing Jack does in this story surprises me. Even though this is an audio adventure and I've come to expect a certain kind of storytelling from Big Finish's Classic Doctors’ stories - this still very much fits in with the tone of the Ninth Doctor’s era and could very well be a taste of what a second Eccleston series would have been (complete with Captain Jack being his silly, flirty self instead of the great big ball of overbearing-angst that he became in Torchwood. But that’s neither here nor there).

The story starts out fun and innocent enough - strange goings-on on this moon and Team TARDIS splits up to investigate. And I have to comment on one Miss Rose Tyler. In my previous review, I commented at length about her potential to be a remarkable companion and how she proves herself in small ways in her first stories. Well, by this time in her time-and-space travels, Rose has grown into that potential. Her first appearance in this story, she is working undercover as a waitress in a diner that the Whisper has been known to attack and she’s trying to find out information. One her own. By herself. While the Doctor and Jack are off doing their own investigations.

In the Ninth Doctor’s era, I think it's safe to say that there’s a tonal shift after “The Doctor Dances.” Number One: Jack joins the team and adding a companion to an established Team TARDIS always shakes things up (and because I’m talking about Captain Jack Harkness - *insert obligatory double-entendre here*). Number Two: Rose has been on enough travels and adventures - and she even gets split off from the Doctor for a significant amount of time - that she finally feels like she can handle herself without the Doctor hovering over her shoulder all the time. And he seems to feel the same way. Of course, the Doctor isn't too far away, should Big Trouble happen and Rose does need his help, but she’s proven herself to be a perfectly competent companion (unlike a certain not-quite-companion-because-he-failed-the-audition in Adam. Poor guy - how would you like to be known as the one who lost the chance to travel in the TARDIS simply because you just couldn't hack it?) I’m not quite certain where that change came for Rose, or if it was simply a gradual thing and all of a sudden we realized how much she’s grown since she first met the Doctor. I tend to put it after “The Doctor Dances” - mostly because a lot of spin-off Ninth Doctor media takes place after that story.

This story is also quite representative of most Ninth Doctor stories.  There's a neat balance of the Ninth Doctor's fun, silly, happy-go-lucky side with that gritty, grim, serious side that he's well-known for.  I don't want to get into spoiler territory here because this is new enough that people might not want to have the twist ruined, but the Doctor's response to what the Whisper really is absolutely bone-chilling.  And it's nothing more than what the character would usually do in these situations.  That is all down to Nicholas Briggs' spot-on portrayal of the Ninth Doctor.  There were a few times that I wasn't certain that they didn't get Christopher Eccleston to come read this story - Nick Briggs is just that good!

Maybe if all the New Series stories they do for "Destiny of the Doctor" are as well-done as this one, we could possibly see some more Big Finish stuff from the New Series.  Fingers crossed!

***
Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 9.03 - Not sure if this is what nature had in mind for the human race...

Previously -
Review 9.01 - Welcome to the End of the World

No Companion Left Behind

Librarian in the TARDIS, Bonus Review #1

Title: Tales from the Vault
Written by: Jonathan Morris
Featuring: Captain Ruth Matheson, Warrant Officer Charlie Sato, Jo Grant, Zoe Heriot, Romana I, Steven Taylor
Adversary: Kali Carash
Originally Released: July 2011
Range and Number: Companion Chronicles 6.01

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -

Welcome to the Vault — jokingly known as "the Museum of Terrors" — a high security establishment where UNIT keeps all of its alien artefacts.

New recruit Warrant Officer Charlie Sato is given a guided tour by Captain Ruth Matheson, and the archive reveals some dark secrets. An army jacket, a painting, crystal and a wax cylinder all hold a grave significance, and their stories are told by the Doctor's companions: Steven Taylor, Zoe Heriot, Jo Grant and Romana...

My Review:
Okay, okay - I know I said I was done with Big Finish. Turns out the Doctor’s Rule #1 is also my Rule #1 (as far as springing surprises on my readership goes, anyway).

One thing that I've appreciated about this blogging project is the opportunity to revisit Doctors and companions that I've grown to love and highlight why I love them so much. Another thing I've enjoyed is the chance to take another look at other characters that I might not have given a fair chance to, or that I've never encountered before. I wanted to give as many companions their due as I could but because of the format I chose, I ended up ignoring a few companions that I wanted to talk about. And the fact that I was flying by the seat of my pants in the very beginning and hadn’t settled on a firm system - I kind of feel like I gave short shrift to the First and Second Doctors’ eras and those are stories that I want to revisit at a later date (just not quite sure how to do it yet).

Conversely, when I learned that Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso had indeed done a Companion Chronicle for Big Finish - though not as Grace Holloway or Chang Lee - I was very intrigued. When I learned that Companion Chronicle also featured four companions from the Classic Series - several of whom I adore but didn't get to talk about in Librarian in the TARDIS - I resolved to review it and give them at least some kind of due.

What I didn't count on was how Grace and Lee would invade my headcanon when I listened to this. Even though Daphne and Yee Jee are playing different characters (as Big Finish does not have the rights to anything from the TV Movie, other than the Eighth Doctor), I kept hearing Grace and Lee in their performances, so I thought that maybe Ruth and Charlie were really Grace and Lee. In Grace’s case, I had no problem imagining that the American division of UNIT contacted a well-connected heart surgeon who’d been involved with a certain San Francisco Incident that, rumor had it, also involved the Doctor. Chang Lee would be a little more difficult to pin down - but I imagine that he finally got out of the gang scene and joined the military because he thought it would be a good way to improve his life. UNIT, being UNIT, eventually realizes that Lee was involved in the same incident that brought Grace to them and they approach Lee with an offer to join UNIT. Maybe Lee feels a twinge of regret at not having taken the Doctor up on his original offer to travel and this is the next best thing (who knows? The Doctor’s worked with UNIT before, maybe he’d come back again!) And the name changes? Witness protection. Standard operating procedure for UNIT (hell, they have the power to issue international gagging orders, so why not?)

Anyway, I know this is a cracked idea, but it works for me. No fanfic will come of it (trust me - you don’t want me writing fanfic), but it’s fun to play around with these theories. Besides, every time I watch the TV Movie, I keep wanting more and more of Grace's and Lee’s backstories and since I never got it out of official channels, I can make it up myself. It’s not any better or worse than what anyone else would come up with, is it?

The beauty behind “Tales from the Vault” is the idea of archiving stories for others to hear about and enjoy (or, in the case of UNIT Secret Ops, to hide and cover up). On one level, if you listen to enough Companion Chronicles, you start to feel like these companions are actually telling the stories to an audience - maybe the grandkids have come round for tea and another one of Gran’s or Gramps’s fantastic stories of traveling with the Doctor. Some of the Chronicles actually have the audience written into the story, such as Polly holding a press conference in “The Forbidden Time” or Liz writing to her mother in “The Last Post.” So, for UNIT to actually take parts of these stories and put them in archive is kind of a commentary on what the Companion Chronicles actually do.

Also - and this is a theme that creeps up in Doctor Who a lot, especially in New Who - how important stories are. How keenly you feel it when you know there are pieces missing (which Who fans are all too aware of). All of the stories in “Tales from the Vault” are just pieces of the story of Kali Carash - pieces that Ruth and Charlie work to put together to complete the whole (well, it’s more out of Charlie’s curiosity than anything).

Talking briefly about each companion in turn - I've already reviewed a Jo Grant story, but it’s so great to have a recording of her doing day-to-day UNIT stuff. Also, that Charlie calls her “a legend” is really neat too - then Ruth starts the tape. The joke that she would leave the tape recorder running while she made tea is absolutely charming. Jo’s part of the story - about a jacket that is possessed by an entity who takes over whoever touches it - is what gets the overarching narrative going, even though you don’t really think about it at the time.

The next companion to be featured is Romana I (played by Mary Tamm). Her part is actually from one of Captain Matheson’s first missions for UNIT Special Ops, so Ruth is heard interviewing Romana after an incident with a painting that shows the viewer the exact nature of their death, which in turn leads to the viewer going mad. The painting is held in the UNIT vault with instructions to only use it as a last resort - but at least it’s locked up in the vault. This Romana is very much a young, inexperienced Romana who hasn't quite found the appeal of Earth people and she has that haughty air about her that would be condescending in anyone else, but is positively glamorous in Mary Tamm’s portrayal of the character (Romana I has always been my favorite Romana and sometimes I wish there was more of her outside of the Key to Time season).

Zoe Heriot’s (played by Wendy Padbury) involvement in this story is quite unique. A copy of her mind has been transferred into a crystal that was used to wipe people’s memories (it didn't actually wipe Zoe’s memory - this is just a copy. But it’s an interesting choice by the producers of this audio, considering what ultimately happens to Zoe in the TV show). Using Zoe’s voice, the crystal tells the story of when the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe got involved with an investigation of bank robberies in which the victims never remembered how they were robbed. The Doctor figures out that the robbers were using the crystal, stops the robbers from using it anymore, and gives the crystal to UNIT for safekeeping. This crystal is a big reason why UNIT Special Ops can cover up a lot of big alien invasion-type events and Ruth even says so (which was a dangling plot thread that I didn't even realize was dangling to begin with).

As Ruth and Charlie are leaving the vault, an alarm goes off on a time capsule with a wax phonograph recorder. Turns out, the time capsule was set to open at this exact time and this recording is of Steven Taylor with a warning that only gets half communicated (apparently, wax doesn't last very long). Steven was the companion I was most excited to hear from in this audio. I felt like an absolute dope when I realized I hadn't reviewed any Steven stories when I covered the First Doctor’s era (to be fair, I could hardly pass up the chance to fangirl flail over “The Rocket Men” - which is another review that I want to revisit later. And “The Keys of Marinus” is just way too good. You know - I think I should do a First Doctor rewatch... hm... I'll add it to the schedule).  As wonderful as Ian and Barbara are and as much as I adore Vicki and Susan - Steven is the real heartbreaker of the Hartnell era. Partially because most of his stories are missing (sad face), but also because his character is just so compelling. It’s hard to pin down my favorite Steven story because watching him find his time-traveling feet in “The Time Meddler” is just lovely, his relationships with the Doctor, Katarina and Sara Kingdom in “The Dalek Master Plan” are so tragic, he’ll tear your heart out in “The Massacre,” and he’s so cute in “The Gunfighters” and “The Celestial Toymaker” (if anyone wants my top list of missing stories to find, my answer would be anything with Steven). Meeting Peter Purves at Gallifrey One last February didn't hurt my enthusiasm for the character, either.

So, yeah, Steven Taylor - love him to pieces. And his segment in this audio is great too (sort of wish he got more time in this story, but I can listen to his other Companion Chronicles because they’re amazing!)

What’s fun about this entire story is how each of the different companions’ stories seem to be disconnected, but end up working together to resolve the problem. I won’t go into the resolution because it’s a great ending to a wonderful story and it’d be nice for you, Dear Reader, to have some surprises going into this audio.

Other things I loved:
- “You should see the security kitchen.” Loved that nod to “The Ark”
- UNIT Special Ops was involved in covering up the events of the millennium in San Francisco (Even more fun that Ruth was the one talking about it).
- Wondering what that “giant” thing was that the Doctor fought with UNIT that neither Ruth nor Charlie told the whole story about.

To conclude - this may be part of the Companion Chronicles range, but the deviation from the usual formula is a special treat for the listener. This story makes it feel like the Doctor’s lives are interconnected, even though you typically only deal with one incarnation at a time (special multi-Doctor episodes excluded). And it’s cool to remember that the Doctor’s companions are always a part of his life, even though he may not actively refer to them all the time. I love getting multi-companion stories and I only hope we get to see more, not to mention more with Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso. I think my third big wish - apart from finding a shedload of missing episodes and getting Paul McGann a spin-off Eighth Doctor miniseries is that the rights to Grace Holloway and Chang Lee could be resolved and we could see their stories played out in Big Finish or some other medium. But for now, I’ll take my headcanon of Ruth Matheson and Charlie Sato being pseudonyms for Grace and Lee and that they went to work for UNIT.

(Hey, if Ace can go to the Academy on Gallifrey to become a Time Lord, anything is possible).

***
Next time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 9.01 - The modern world started with “Rose” - but this is the episode that sold me on Doctor Who

Previously -
Review 8.03 - “What Are You Going To Do Next?” “I’m Going... Somewhere Without Copyright Infringement”

The Not-So-Dark Mystery of Time and Space

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 8.02

Title: Invaders From Mars
Written By: Mark Gatiss
Team TARDIS: Eighth Doctor, Charley Pollard
Adversary: The Laiderplacker, Cosmo Devine
Originally Released: January 2002
Range and Number: Big Finish Main Range, #28

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -

Hallowe'en 1938. A month after a mysterious meteorite lit up the skies of New York State, Martian invaders laid waste to the nation. At least, according to soon-to-be infamous Orson Welles they did. But what if some of the panicked listeners to the legendary The War of the Worlds broadcast weren't just imagining things?

Attempting to deliver Charley to her rendezvous in Singapore 1930, the Eighth Doctor overshoots a little, arriving in Manhattan just in time to find a dead private detective. Indulging his gumshoe fantasies, the Doctor is soon embroiled in the hunt for a missing Russian scientist whilst Charley finds herself at the mercy of a very dubious Fifth Columnist.

With some genuinely out of this world 'merchandise' at stake, the TARDIS crew are forced into an alliance with a sultry dame called Glory Bee, Orson Welles himself and a mobster with half a nose known as 'The Phantom'.

And slowly and surely, something is drawing plans against them. Just not very good ones...

My Review:

Oh Big Finish. I’ve already sung your praises for giving the Sixth Doctor a new lease on life. And now, I get to gush about your extensive line of Eighth Doctor audios. It’s like Christmas and my birthday have come all at once! (except I don’t have to listen to my dad whinge about how I’m not married or listen to the airheaded goofballs my brother brings home. So, really, it’s nothing like my birthday or Christmas).

So, the TV Movie didn’t quite work out as a pilot for a rebooted Doctor Who series (I’m certain that there’s an entire blog post about the whys and wherefores of that). But the Eighth Doctor Adventure novels continued under BBC Books’ licensing and the Eighth Doctor features in the comics as well. Which is all well and good - but a huge part of the persona of the Doctor comes from the actor playing him. Even when I read a Doctor Who novel, I still would like to be able to picture that particular actor’s performance as I read (that was partially my problem with “Ten Little Aliens” - the Doctor, Ben and Polly were not at all how they would be played on TV). We have the TV Movie, yes, but Whovians are insatiable (well, most of us are. Some still can’t get over the fact that Tom Baker is no longer playing the Doctor on TV) and we want MOAR, dammit!

And there, Big Finish enters the stage.

The geniuses behind the behind-the-scenes documentaries on the Classic Who DVD range recently produced a series called "Doctor Forever" in which different aspects of the Doctor Who franchise outside of television are discussed. "The Apocalypse Element" is the the installment on Big Finish and Doctor Who audios in general (it's available on the Special Edition of "The Visitation") and is very much worth your time and money (hell, the entire DVD is worth your time and money).  This documentary goes over the genesis of Big Finish, in that there were a group of dedicated fans who thought Doctor Who could have a home on audio. At first, Paul McGann’s agency said he wouldn’t be interested, but when McGann himself actually heard about it, he was excited and gung-ho for the idea (according to people like Gary Russell and Nicholas Briggs - and I assume that those guys ought to know about things like this, so I’m taking it as gospel truth).

And thus, Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor got a new lease on life. It’s not the TV series that some of us want for Eight, but it’s pretty damn close.

I haven’t listened to the separate Eighth Doctor Adventures series with Lucie Miller, nor have I had the pleasure of listening to “Dark Eyes,” but I often hear fans whose judgment I trust expound upon the virtues of those stories and I can’t wait to listen to them when I finally get the chance.  But I can talk about the start of Eight’s Big Finish run, which is pretty solid. “Storm Warning” is consistently considered a pretty good first outing and “Sword of Orion” is quite notable as well. “The Chimes of Midnight” is touted as a masterpiece and I can’t say I disagree. But one that I always, always, always enjoy - for vastly different reasons - is “Invaders From Mars.”

(And I didn’t realize that Mark Gatiss had written it until I looked it up on TARDIS Wikia. So, there is that).

“Invaders From Mars” is Eight’s “The Kingmaker” - it’s fun and quirky and rompy. And it’s got a crapton of American Nostalgia, which is a little odd for a British institution like Doctor Who to tackle. But I figure if it’s done right and not too much, it can be quite fun (and it’s appropriate for an audio adventure to celebrate the Golden Age of Radio).  I don't even mind the goofy American accents because, well, to someone from the American West, people back East (particularly in New York and points northward) sound pretentious and funny anyway.

The time period this is set in is the famous Halloween broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" that sent everyone into a panic, thinking Martians were invading Earth. Most historical events Doctor Who has tackled have been super-serious things, like World War II or the French Revolution or the eruption of Mount Vesuvius over Pompeii. But this historical event has an element of lightheartedness and humor at the center of it, which lends itself to the lightheartedness and humor in this story.  Even the actual aliens that are threatening to invade are kind of clownish and silly, but that's perfectly okay because the rest of the story is a bit silly too.  Even down to the classic, old-timey "Ba-da-dum-dum-DUMMMM!" audio cue that plays throughout the story during scene changes and at cliffhangers (which is even blended into the traditional Doctor Who end credit sting that Big Finish continues to utilize in their stories).  This story succeeds because it doesn't take itself seriously, so even the over-the-top exaggerated caricatures (which might annoy some fans) aren't that bothersome.  Best of all, it allows Paul McGann and India Fisher to indulge more in the fun side of the Doctor and Charley's personalities - which they both do beautifully.

Recently, I've been going over the Eighth Doctor's Divergent Universe arc which gets downright dark and gritty.  Some aspects of that I like, but most of the time it gets very heavy and I want to find something more light.  Even in the early Eighth Doctor Big Finish, there is a sense of weight that foreshadows how dark and heavy the writers are willing to go with this.  But I like that they allowed themselves a break from that heaviness and were able to step back for a breath before diving into the head-spinny-and-very-serious "The Chimes of Midnight" (which is one I very much enjoy, don't get me wrong).  It's good to take things seriously, but don't discount the fluffy stories just because they're fluffy.  Certainly, fans cannot live on fluff alone, but neither can we subsist on a diet of nitty-gritty, grim-and-dark, soulsucking horror.

This story is a neat little tribute to classic 1930s radio and "The War of the Worlds."  It's fun and enjoyable and definitely worth a stop before heading into the next story in the Eighth Doctor's timeline - "The Chimes of Midnight."

***
It's interesting that this particular promotion came up while I was writing this review.  Paul McGann chose his favorite Eighth Doctor Big Finish plays and people can vote on their favorites from that list and whichever ones gets the most votes, Big Finish will offer them at a discount.  Most of them are from the Lucie Miller range (plus the "Dark Eyes" boxed set), so I haven't heard them myself, but it's still a neat little list.  Give it a look and a vote if you feel so inclined.

Also - seeing as this is the last Big Finish review this project with undertake *sad tear* I'd like to plug "The Minister of Chance" audio drama that both Paul McGann and Sylvester McCoy are in.  Taking the plunge into Big Finish Doctor Who has given me an appreciation for audio stories and I wanted to branch out into other audios and see how I liked it.  And after listening to the first episode, I quite like it!  So, check them out too.

***
Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 8.03 - Big Finish helped keep Eight alive - but the novels got there first.

Previously -
Review 8.01 - Mostly Dead is Slightly Alive

Taking "Delete, Delete" To a Whole New Level

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 7.02

Title: The Harvest
Written By: Dan Abnett
Team TARDIS: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hex (joins)
Adversary: Cybermen
Originally Released: June 2004
Range and Number: Big Finish Main Range #58

Summary: (from TARDIS Wikia) -
On the morning of 12 October 2021, Hex woke up. He was expecting to go to work at St. Gart's in London as normal and, that evening, have a great time in the bar of the White Rabbit, celebrating his 23rd birthday.

But after his ex-flatmate is wheeled into A&E following a bike accident, and the strange young woman from Human Resources tries to chat him up and an eight-foot-tall guy in a Merc tries to run him down, Hex realises things are not going quite as he expected.

Then in a Shoreditch car park he meets the enigmatic Doctor, who explains that he's an extra-terrestrial investigator and something very strange is going on up on the thirty-first floor of St. Gart's.

Therefore, aided and abetted by the Doctor, and his other new friend, 'Just McShane', Hex decides to investigate. Trouble is, everything that goes on at the hospital is being observed and noted by the occupants of the thirty-first floor; occupants who are none too pleased that people are poking their noses into business that doesn't concern them; occupants who will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that no one discovers the truth...

My Review:
This is new territory for me, I don’t mind admitting.

For some reason, the Seventh Doctor’s Big Finish stuff has kind of fallen through the cracks for me. I attached myself early on to the Fifth Doctor, so I devoured all of his Big Finish stories (well, most of them). I also heard how good the Sixth Doctor’s Big Finish was and I was eager to sample those. And the Eighth Doctor... well, that’s pretty much all that there is available, is there? The Seventh Doctor was one that I always meant to go back and listen to, but just never did for... reasons. Honestly, I have no good excuse (beyond time constraints). So, when I was in the Dealer’s Room at Gallifrey One last February, I saw a chance to get some Seventh Doctor Big Finish (I usually get the digital downloads from BigFinish.com, so getting the CDs was a new experience). I asked the guy at the table which one he’d recommend and he told me that “The Harvest” was a good one, so that’s the one I bought (and I will die if it turns out the guy who sold it to me was a director or producer of Big Finish and I didn’t recognize him - it’s hard to recognize people when all you know of them is their voices!)

Anyway, I decided to review “The Harvest,” basically because it’s one of the Big Finish CDs I bought at Gallifrey One. I’ve since listened to a few Seventh Doctor audios in the course of Traveling the Vortex reviewing some here and there, but none that caught my attention enough to warrant a place in these reviews. But, I’m open to new experiences and since Big Finish is Made of Awesome - I’m even more open to the idea of something completely new. So - here goes!

The first part has a lot of similar themes to the first episode of “An Unearthly Child.” Not direct callbacks, mind you. There’s no Coal Hill School or Foreman’s Scrapyard (well, an argument could be made for the latter, as there seems to have been a parking garage built on top of it. I hope Mr. Foreman got top dollar for that) - but we do go to Totter’s Lane. Ace has established herself as an employee of the hospital and people have noticed that there’s something strange about her. And the entire episode follows Hex - who is about to become the Doctor’s newest companion. The Doctor doesn’t even show up until the cliffhanger of part 1 and Hex’s first look at the TARDIS doesn’t occur until part 2. So, it’s not direct parallels, but there are enough similarities to warrant notice (besides - I get a kick out of any mention of Shoreditch or Coal Hill or Totter’s Lane or anything else to do with the very first Doctor Who episode. So, yeah, I’m going to talk about it).

The rest of the story, however, goes on it’s own track but it is no less enjoyable. Ace, ever the resourceful and independent companion, goes off on a task given to her by the Doctor, leaving Hex to be inaugurated by the Doctor on his very first adventure.

Even though this story is very much Hex’s story - I want to talk about Ace for a bit, since I didn’t do it before. Before I’d even started on Classic Who, I noticed that Ace was a lot of people’s favorite companion. I know this is said about pretty much every new companion, but Ace is very different to any of the others. She’s got an edge to her - which I guess falls in line with the hardcore punk trends of the late 1980s-early 1990s (and when I say “hardcore,” bear in mind that I saw this “hardcore” time period through the perspective of a young child. Hardcore is relative when you’re talking to a four-year-old). And while I haven’t read any of the Virgin New Adventure novels, that’s the kind of character Ace really became in that line. I can understand why people like that sort of thing - it’s not something I’m into, but I can appreciate Ace as a character. I can appreciate the layers that she has - she’s someone who exhibits a tough exterior, but those layers slowly get peeled away as she faces down her own demons. It may have been the first time that the televised stories dealt with a companion’s backstory (other companions have had plenty of backstory that didn't get dealt with on TV, but spin-off media has made the most of these formative events). Sort of like how the writers were trying to give the Doctor back some of his layers of mystery, Ace was getting hers taken away and I can see where that appeals to people.

(Huh - maybe I just talked myself into liking Ace more than I thought I did. Achievement Unlocked!)

As far as Ace’s role in “The Harvest” - Ace is a companion that isn’t likely to get captured just to get rid of her for the sake of the narrative. More often than not, she’s gets sent on an errand for the Doctor for reasons that she doesn't questions, but there's never a sense of "blind obedience."  The Professor needs something done, he needs Ace to do it, she’s going to go and the reasons why may or may not become clear later, but that doesn't matter right now. And that’s what happens here - it’s a classic Doctor-and-Ace plotline. Ace has infiltrated the HR department of St. Galt’s Hospital because there’s something screwy going on and the Doctor needs someone to investigate for him. The Doctor (presumably) mocks up an employment history and background so Ace can get a job there (as “Miss D. McShane” - but she goes by McShane at work) and she does her snooping at work while the Doctor hacks into the computers to find information his own way. They really are a spectacular team and they work brilliantly together - even when the Doctor doesn't need something blown up.

And then, there’s Hex. I don’t know too much about him, but I do remember listening to “Project: Twilight” and “Project: Lazarus,” which deals with some of his background - except you don’t know it until a later story (and damned if I can remember it off the top of my head right now - I know it has to do with Evelyn Smythe). His backstory is pretty complicated and I haven’t had the time to go through all of it - it’s more or less by dumb luck that I've stumbled on the bits that I do know and I’m not sure how much to tell without spoiling or divulging wrong information. Just know that there is a history with Hex and the Doctor and Big Finish probably does it very well - I just don’t know much about it yet.

(Tansy of Verity! has a really good post about Evelyn Smythe and she mentions the Big Finish stories where Evelyn Smythe’s storyline crosses paths with Hex’s backstory. I recommend her take on Evelyn, just as an overview of her character, but since some of it dovetails into Hex’s story, I’d recommend it for that as well. It’s not real spoilery at all, so you’re safe on that level).

As far as “The Harvest” as a story goes - since this was the first time I’d listened to this story at all, I listened to it again and made notes about things that caught my attention, now that I knew where the story was headed. The idea that the Cybermen would ever want to reverse-engineer themselves is such a fantastic concept, not to mention it bookends nicely with “Spare Parts,” which is widely regarded as a Big Finish classic - and rightly so (and I’m not just saying that because that story is a Five/Nyssa story - though that little detail doesn't hurt in my estimation). I don’t know if that was intended, but the fact that the Doctor was there for the origins of the Cybermen adds an extra level to the Cyberman mythos and a little extra kick to this story as well. The Cybermen have come to this time in Earth’s history because they believe that Earth’s technology is advanced enough to where they can replace all the metal and cybernetics with flesh and bone and humanity - even though the Cybermen were supposed to have eradicated their humanity a long time ago.

This story brings in some tough themes that the Seventh Doctor’s stories have been known to tackle (especially the novels, as far as I've been able to tell) - ethics of using cadavers for medical experimentation, organ donation, how far government entities ought to be involved in these exchanges (actually - some of this came into play in “Medicinal Purposes,” now that I think of it). And the idea that even some Cybermen would wish to go back to their former “weak” humanity - even that someone as high up as the Cyber-Leader would do such a thing - opens up a lot of interesting themes that haven’t been explored with the Cybermen before. Usually they just come in and blow stuff up (or kill the Doctor’s companions).  But this scheme gives new meaning to the Cybemen's catchphrases like "Upgrade" and "Delete" - upgrading to humanity and deleting their mechanical natures.

I enjoyed this story a lot. It represents a way that Big Finish can take risks with the Doctor and his companions (and even well-loved villains), yet still remain faithful to the original characters. It’s also an example of a story where these characters are given more to do and allowed to expand on their own backstory.  And if you can't do that in the audio adventures, where can you do it?

***
Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 7.03 - The Doctor finally remembers to take the trash out... six regenerations later.

Previously -
Review 7.01 - The Silver Linings Masterplan

A Meeting of History and Morality

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 6.03

Title: Medicinal Purposes
Written By: Robert Ross
Team TARDIS: Sixth Doctor, Evelyn Smythe
Adversary: Dr. Robert Knox
Originally Released: August 2004
Range and Number: Big Finish Main Range, #60

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -
Edinburgh, 1827. The infamous body snatchers William Burke and William Hare are at large. The local prostitutes dull their fear with cheap whisky. The graveyard owls are hooting. Business is good.

When accidental tourists the Doctor and Evelyn Smythe stumble upon one of Britain's most lurid, illuminating chapters in history, a simple case of interest in the work of dedicated man of science Doctor Robert Knox, quickly turns sour. Just what is that time-bending Scots mist? Whatever it is may put the very fabric of the universe under threat...

As always.

My Review:
Yeah, yeah, I know. Another Big Finish Sixth Doctor review... At this point, I’m not so much “bending the rules” as I've outright chucked them out the window. But I figure, the Fourth Doctor got two TV reviews - shouldn't Six get two Big Finish reviews? (besides, I’m discovering that I am having way too much fun with this stuff and I may find excuses to do more beyond November 23).

While finding a TV story for dear ol’ Sixie isn't too terribly difficult (there aren't that many to choose from), pinning him down one audio story is another endeavor altogether (I imagine I’ll have a similar conundrum when it comes to reviewing an Eighth Doctor audio). This is a result of combination of factors - fantastic storytelling, a new lease on life for the Sixth Doctor (you only have to listen to a few minutes of any Sixth Doctor story to know that Colin Baker is having the time of his life with this stuff), and wonderful original-to-Big-Finish companions. And, as far as I’m concerned, the poster child for wonderful original-to-Big-Finish companion is Dr. Evelyn Smythe. How could I stiff Evelyn in being featured in my blogging project? That would be a crime to the world of Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebratory Blogs!

(Apparently, I just made that a new sub-category of blogs. Go me!)

Evelyn Smythe is a history professor at Sheffield Hallam University when the Doctor meets her and she takes her profession very seriously. You just don’t mess around with Dr. Smythe - but she will treat you to her famously delicious chocolate cake if you’re having a rough day (she reminds me a lot of Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter, who is another no-nonsense-woman-with-a-squishy-candy-center that I adore to bits). I wanted to give Evelyn some time in these reviews because of her great contributions in the Big Finish canon - but I didn't want to review her first story, “The Marian Conspiracy,” because it’s one that gets a lot of attention (I may fudge the numbers here, but I’m not going to deviate from my mission to shower love on some largely unnoticed stories). Didn't want to do “Arrangements for War” or “Thicker Than Water” or “Doctor Who and the Pirates” for the same reason (that’s not to say you shouldn't listen to those because they’re fabulous and you totally should!) Plus, there are a few where Evelyn is the companion, but she doesn't do a whole lot and there wouldn't be much to talk about for her. But the one that I really liked that I hadn't seen many reviews of was “Medicinal Purposes.”

The basic premise of “Medicinal Purposes” is the time period during which the infamous grave-robbers/murderers, Burke and Hare, were at large in Edinburgh, Scotland. When I started listening to this story, I confess I’d never heard of these guys - or the rhymes or folktales that had materialized around their history. But, doing a little old fashioned research (read: I looked it up on Wikipedia), I learned pretty much all I needed to know to understand this story (and they say Doctor Who’s educational value ended when the Daleks showed up). Just for a quick-and-dirty summary - Burke and Hare were hired by Dr. Robert Knox to supply him with cadavers to study for his well-attended anatomy lectures. They started out with simply digging corpses up from cemeteries, but Knox eventually wanted fresher specimens to study, so Burke and Hare obliged by killing low-class nobodies (mainly criminals, drunks, and prostitutes) and delivering the bodies to Knox for study. It was when the people who attended Knox’s lectures started recognizing the victims that their little scheme got caught.

Just from reading the Wikipedia entry, the story is morbid and sad enough. But then you have a historian like Dr. Evelyn Smythe who actually meets the victims and to give voice to your own concerns - it’s positively gut-wrenching. Some of the first people the Doctor and Evelyn meet are Mary Paterson and “Daft” Jamie Wilson - who were both victims of Burke and Hare - and they’re such great characters. The Doctor takes a shine to Jamie in particular - noting that the Doctor once had another young friend from Scotland named Jamie (“a noble name for a noble young man”) and if that doesn't break your heart, I don’t know what will (oh, and the part of Jamie is played by a certain Scottish actor that you might have heard by the name of David Tennant. This was the last Big Finish Doctor Who he recorded before being cast as the Tenth Doctor). Evelyn tries to convince Mary and Jamie to get out of Edinburgh - not unlike Donna trying to convince people to leave Pompeii - even though she knows that their deaths are part of history.

The story poses an interesting question of morality - what Burke and Hare did in murdering those people was wrong. But those murders resulted in lots of medical advancements, which eventually would save lives. That’s the basis of an argument the Doctor and Evelyn have toward the beginning of the story and neither one of them comes up with a good enough solution. In fact, it cuts to the heart of Evelyn’s character - she wants to appreciate history and stay faithful to what actually happened, but at the same time she realizes that these are real people and these terrible things actually happened. Evelyn is a kind, tender-hearted person underneath her somewhat gruff, no-nonsense professorial exterior (she’s a lot like the Doctor in many respects and I think that quality of hers is what influences the Sixth Doctor toward becoming a much more softer and mellower person) and it’s tough for her to come to like Mary and Jamie, only to know how it all ends for the both of them.

Even though the Doctor and Evelyn have to let history take its course, it turns out there is another villain lurking around 1827 Edinburgh. It turns out that this particular time period has become a tourist destination, of sorts, for many entities that live outside time. They’re sort of like the Eternals from “Enlightenment,” but not really (at least, that’s what they reminded me of) and their idea of a great vacation is to experience history firsthand by inhabiting the lives of historical figures. Once the historical experience is over, it restarts within the time bubble and the next batch of people get to experience history, but they actually take over the people who lived through it - so, in a way, they keep reliving these horrible events (why this particular point in history has become such a popular tourist destination, I have absolutely no idea). The Doctor has to put a stop to this incessant repetition of time and set history back on its regular course - which means Mary and Jamie and all the other victims of Burke and Hare will die and the world will go on without them (but not without first becoming famous - as Jamie so joyfully observes).

I think this story needed a companion like Evelyn to bring out the humanity in these people.  Other companions could do it as well, but to have someone of Evelyn's maturity, morality and intelligence brings the whole issue to the fore.  Evelyn is a unique companion in many ways, but she reminded me a lot of both Barbara Wright and Donna Noble. This could just be because I watched "The Aztecs" and "The Fires of Pompeii" and listened to "The Reign of Terror" and "Medicinal Purposes" all within a month of each other - (it is the 50th Anniversary - MY TIME MUST BE CONSUMED WITH DOCTOR WHO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, right?) - but I could see so many wonderful similarities between these three characters.  Both Evelyn and Barbara have to reconcile their feelings about meeting these historical figures and seeing how human they are, while also maintaining that history must remain as it is.  And then you have Donna's impassioned pleading with the Doctor to "just save someone" at the end of "The Fires of Pompeii" - and as much as Evelyn tries to warn people, she can't.  Especially since the timeline's been messed with so much.  But it's the wanting that makes all the difference in the moral depth of a character and Evelyn has it in spades.

(Drawing these conclusions makes me want to see this little Trifecta of Awesome to meet up in a Doctor Who short story or something. There is a fanfic in which a young PhD student named Evelyn Smythe meets one Barbara Chesterton, who’s come to give a university lecture about the religious practices of the Aztecs. Evelyn and Barbara meet up again years later while Evelyn is traveling with the Doctor - and Six meeting up with Ian and Barbara again is so heartwarming that it turns your insides to goo and your day automatically becomes filled with sunshine, rainbows, ponies and strawberry ice cream.)

On the whole, Evelyn is a great addition to the companion lineup and we are damn lucky to have her along for the ride.  It's not so much that Six needed a humbling influence - he needs what the Doctor always needs: a friend.

***
Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 6.04 - The Sixth Doctor meets Winston Churchill. This should be interesting.

Previously -
Review 6.02 - Hello, Doctor. It's So Very Nice to Meet Me.

Hello Doctor. It Is So Very Nice to Meet Me.

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 6.02

Title: The Wrong Doctors
Written By: Matt Fitton
Team TARDIS: Sixth Doctor, Melanie Bush
Adversary: Mr. Petherbridge
Originally Released: January 2013
Range and Number: Big Finish Main Range, #169

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -
With Evelyn gone, the Doctor sets course for his destiny... in the form of his first meeting with Miss Melanie Bush, a computer programmer from the village of Pease Pottage, currently busy rehearsing with the local Amateur Dramatic Society – and blissfully unaware that her future is on its way, in his TARDIS.

Make that two TARDISes. Because at that very moment, a slightly younger Doctor is flying into Pease Pottage, too – returning his future companion Melanie Bush to her rightful place and time, after they were flung together during the course of his Time Lord trial.

Time travel is a complicated business – the iguanadon terrorising Pease Pottage being a case in point. But how much more complicated could things possibly become, if the wrong Doctor were to bump into the wrong Mel?

My Review:

Six and Big Finish. Seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. Ketchup and french fries. Shoes and socks. Fred and George Weasley. Melanie Bush and Pease Pottage.

(Sorry - not going to sing Grease. Just... no).

Choosing a Sixth Doctor audio story to review was hard. And not because there aren’t any good ones. Actually, pretty much anything that Big Finish does for the Sixth Doctor is going to be good (granted, I haven’t heard everything, but I’ve listened to a pretty good sampling and I haven’t found a stinker yet - *mandatory disclaimer about personal opinion and such*). It’s common knowledge that Big Finish has allowed Colin Baker to flesh out the Sixth Doctor in a way that he was not allowed to do on television. If for nothing else, Big Finish deserves all the praise and patronage fans can give them (but there are other reasons to throw money at Big Finish - some of which I’ve covered and some that I’ll get to later). While I did warm up to ol’ Sixie through his TV run, it was Big Finish that solidified him as a personal favorite.

There is always a thrill at the prospect of having past Doctors come back, even so many years later (doesn't matter that Peter Davison is so much older and doesn't look much like he did when he last played the Doctor, my fangirl senses go nuts every time I see "Time Crash").  It's partially nostalgia, but also fun at seeing the Doctor meet his past or future selves.  But we often get bogged down in thinking that the Doctor has to meet Five or Six or Seven or Eight or whoever and sometimes we miss the obvious - why not have the Doctor meet himself earlier or later in the same regeneration?

TV could conceivably do it.  Special effects are such that it can be done.  But having the Doctor meet himself in audio? That just takes some clever work on the part of the actor (and some very clever writing).

The Sixth Doctor is an interesting choice for this because of how much he has changed since "The Twin Dilemma."  That was always by design from the start.  The Sixth Doctor was supposed to start out as a patently unlikeable guy (chalk it up to regeneration gone wrong) and then over time would smooth out the rough edges and he'd become more... mature, I guess would be the word.  Of course, the Powers That Be had other plans and that never came to pass on TV.

If you've never heard any Sixth Doctor audios and just want to know how this Sixth Doctor compares to the one you know from TV - "The Wrong Doctors" is an excellent place to begin.  All you have to know is that he's traveled with a few other companions and he's mellowed out a bit. This story is a prime example of how the Sixth Doctor has changes during this regeneration and it also explores the long-term plans that were in place for the Sixth Doctor originally - for him to go from this brash, unlikable person to someone more kindly and (for lack of a better term) “squishy” - but still have that underlying edge that marks him as the Sixth Doctor.  But, in reality, he's just a big teddy bear.

(Hey - there's a marketing idea! A Sixth Doctor coat for Build-a-Bear! Even better - a Build-a-Bear range for every Doctor! Get someone on that!)

This story sees the Doctor right after the events of "The Trial of a Time Lord" when he is taking Mel back to her home in Pease Pottage (despite her protests that she didn't meet the Doctor in Pease Pottage - but he's too much of a know-it-all to listen).  This story also sees the Doctor right after Evelyn Smythe (an original-to-Big-Finish companion, whom I'll get to soon enough) has left.  The contrast between the two versions of the Sixth Doctor could not be more striking - and it's not just down to his decision to wear a much more toned-down blue version of his costume.  Doctor 6.1 is still pretty gruff and shouty, but Doctor 6.2 is more reflective and he makes the conscious decision to go find Mel - figuring that it's time that she takes the stage in his life.  Things go wonky when they figure out that Pease Pottage is a the scene of some Time Distortion Shenanigans involving a time energy being harvested through some weird time bubble (the mechanics of which I don't quite understand beyond "Some weird shit is going down and the Doctor needs to fix it."  Usually, that's all I need to know).  It's unclear whether or not the time bubble caused there to be two Sixth Doctors or what the deal is, but hearing Colin Baker play off himself as the 1980s Doctor and the 2012 Doctor is just so brilliant that I quit worrying about it after Doctor 6.1 got after Doctor 6.2 for wearing Necros mourning colors.

There is also a marked difference in Mel - who there is also two of.  Because the Doctor dropped Mel off when he did, there is a younger Mel trapped in the goofed-up Pease Pottage and there is an older Mel that has traveled with the Doctor... yet, not traveled with him (the wibbly-wobbly timeline of "Trial of a Time Lord" has just mucked everything up - sometimes it's just better to smile and nod and go with it.  And I'm not explaining it very well - but it is really good, trust me!)

I love that Big Finish is taking the time to explore what we never got to see on TV.  I love that it's tackling these difficult snares in continuity - which, there are few bigger snares than when Mel joined the Doctor and how the events of "Trial" are supposed to work out.  I love that we get to see the Doctor's personality smooth over and how he matures.  It's almost like Six was a petulant child (sometimes - not all the time) at the beginning of his regeneration, but his companions each have a marked effect on him in their turn and he becomes so much more than the scary, disturbed Doctor that tried to strangle Peri in "The Twin Dilemma" (he's never going to live that down - though he is trying).  It's like how the First Doctor was gruff and distrustful and suspicious at the very beginning, but Ian and Barbara brought out the good in him over time and by the time they left, he had this mischievous twinkle in his eye and a knowing grin and you can't help but love him.  It is such a joy to see how the Doctor's companions influence him for the better.  It's like he's recognized how much better he is with an entourage - not necessarily just to have someone to pass him test tubes and tell him how wonderful he is, but to point out when he's making mistakes and show him how much better he could be.  And he wants to be a better person, but he just needs someone to show him how to do that.  Once he gets the hang of it - it's a brilliant piece of work.

Anyway - Sixth Doctor and Mel. Cute as can be. I don't think any other Doctor/companion team has been so well-matched.  Not just the fact that their hairstyles are a '80s-Curly-Hair-Extravanganza - but they play off each other and their personalities fit like a dream.  I love Six and Mel.  There is a scene (kind of a crucial scene, so I won't spoil it) but Mel says that she misses the Doctor's old Coat of Many Colors (like I said, he's taken on the more subdued blue by this time) and the Doctor promises to go back to wearing that coat for her because she liked it so much.  It's such a sweet moment and beautifully written (and the fact that it fixes that particular bit of continuity is just an added bonus at the end of the day).  But it is cute that the older Mel calls Doctor 6.2 "Indigo Jones."

"The Wrong Doctors" is just a fun and fantastic celebration of the Sixth Doctor and one of the best outings for Big Finish.  It acknowledges that something went very wrong in one of the Doctor's lives (both in-story and in the messy world of television production) and sets out to make it right and knocks it out of the park.  Colin Baker is having a blast playing the Doctor and I get to have a blast listening to his performance. And there is nothing wrong about that.

(ba-dum-tish)

***
I found this audio clip of Colin Baker talking about the Sixth Doctor and he particularly mentions this story, but also about the ideas behind the Sixth Doctor's personality and where things were supposed to go.  I thought it be appropriate to include in this review, since I've had some of the same thoughts and ideas about the Sixth Doctor and it's quite nice to hear the Doctor himself give voice to some of those thoughts - "The Sixth Doctor was a Brave Idea"

(And here, I must cheer and applaud and whoop at the fact that the Sixth Doctor is "not just the embodiment of his costume." That statement made me very happy ^_^)

***

Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 6.03 - Watch Out, History! Here Comes Evelyn Smythe!

Previously -
Review 6.01 - Telling Conventional Fan Wisdom™ Where To Stick It

Doctor Who Discovers Twists in Time

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 5.02

Title: The Kingmaker
Written by: Nev Fountain
Team TARDIS: Fifth Doctor, Peri, Erimem
Range and Number: Big Finish Main Range, #81
Release Date: April 2006

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -

Dr Who encounters one of the most notorious characters from the past as he journeys through time to solve the great Historical Mysteries...

Not surprisingly, the Doctor becomes mixed up with Richard III himself as he tries to unravel the perplexing problem of who exactly killed the princes in the Tower.

Peri and Erimem also encounter a suspicious time traveller. Someone from the Doctor's own past. Someone who shouldn't really be there at all.

So who did murder the princes in the Tower? Perhaps it's best not to ask a question like that...

You might not like the answer...

My Review:

Did you happen to notice the TARDIS Wiki synopsis for this story refers to the Doctor as “Dr. Who?” There is a very good reason for that. One that I’ll get to in a minute. But first, some background.

This was one of the first (if not the very first) Big Finish audios I ever listened to. I couldn’t tell you why I picked this one other than I’d recently finished up all of the Fifth Doctor’s TV stories and was feeling slightly depressed because I’d grown so attached to Fivey (it’s only gotten worse in the intervening years) and I wanted more of his stories. And, for whatever reason, I zeroed in on “The Kingmaker” to give me my Celery-Boy fix.

And, honestly, I could not have picked a better story.

The story starts in sixteenth-century London with Peri and original-to-Big-Finish-companion Erimem taking in the local cultural flavor in the form of Shakespeare’s Richard III. There are some brilliant and hilarious moments of culture clash because Peri accidentally spoils the ending of the play for the crowd and Erimem (a princess from ancient Egypt who came thisclose to being crowned Pharaoh) knows how to take care of lustful pigs who try to grab her bottom (her penchant for breaking arms becomes a delightful running gag throughout the story). Peri and Erimem wonder about the mystery of who killed Richard III’s nephews. Shakespeare, of course, asserts that Richard did it in order to become king.

Just a quick word on history and literature in this context - my college Shakespeare class spent a unit on Richard III and we discussed endlessly whether Richard really was this venomous, evil little troll who killed his nephews in order to secure the crown or if Shakespeare was just engaging in propaganda because anything that made Gloucester look bad made the Tudors (as in Queen Elizabeth I’s family) look good. Of course, as with any discussion in a college-level humanities course, there were never any definitive answers - only broad, disinterested speculation. And honestly, probably no one really knows and even fewer people care (just like all those missing episode rumors that a certain beclowned website keeps peddling even though the rest of us are well and truly sick of it).

(Sorry - tangented in the parentheticals there... now where was I?)

Actually, Richard comes off pretty good in this story. By no means is this story meant to be taken seriously. The tone of the storytelling reminded me a lot of “The Romans” - it’s grounded in history, yes, and there are plenty of serious moments. But on the whole, there’s plenty of dry humor and deadpan snark to balance it out and make it a good comedy.

But then there’s that whole scene where Richard tells the Doctor to kill the princes himself in order to keep the timeline stable - and there is not an ounce of funny to be seen for miles.

But then someone makes a short joke and Richard gets upset and you start laughing again.

This story is also quite meta. One of my favorite moments comes at the beginning when the Doctor gets cornered by a robot who is tasked with getting manuscripts from writers who have missed their deadlines.  Apparently the Doctor was hired to write a line of educational books for children that was supposed to be titled things like "The Doctor, Who Discovers Historical Mysteries."  Except somebody forgot the comma and designed a logo for the series (which looks suspiciously like the diamond logo from Tom Baker's era - going by the image on the CD cover) and the Doctor was stuck with the name of the series.  Considering how we fans constantly correct and argue about the title of the show and the name of the main character with the "not-we," it was amusing to hear Peri and the Doctor discuss the issue.

Also, this story is a classic example of the Fifth Doctor getting in over his head with certain wrong crowds, but still trying to be the consummate gentlemen.  Not that I enjoy watching Five in uncomfortable situations, but it is entertaining watching him getting out of those situations.

Peri and Erimem get separated from the Doctor, which makes for some great moments with the two of them trying to figure out how they’re going to get back (they really are a great team together in all their Big Finish stories. They remind me a lot of Jamie and Zoe - both from different time periods, but they become best friends and they each have someone to commiserate with when neither knows what the Doctor is doing).

Plus, the Ninth Doctor makes a cameo appearance in a total Big-Finish-not-going-against-the-terms-of-their-license-with-the-BBC-but-still-getting-away-with-it, so that's an added bonus (as is the appearance of not-Tom Baker on a tape recorder - it's actually the voice of an uncanny Tom Baker impersonator that totally had me fooled the first time I heard this one).

Anyway - it’s a really great story, one that I highly recommend. It’s quirky and fun and timey-wimey without being horribly confusing. But it's difficult to talk about this story without just repeating all the jokes and memorable moments.  It's much more worth it to listen to this story yourself and experience it on your own.  There is also a fantastic twist at the end which I won't spoil for you, but the Doctor definitely solves the mystery of Richard III and his nephews.

(But did the Doctor ever make his deadline? That's the next mystery - Doctor Who Discovers the Terms of Publishing Contracts).

***
Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 5.03 - Breaking the Nice Ones

Previously -
Review 5.01 - "It's Too Late for Pity." Actually, No It's Not.

So Much Cooler Online

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 4.03

Title: Babblesphere
Written By: Jonathan Morris
Team TARDIS: Fourth Doctor, Romana II
Adversary: The Babble Network
Release Date: April 2013
Range and Number: Destiny of the Doctor #4

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -

The violent, volcanic world of Hephastos is home to a colony of composers, painters, authors and poets, all striving to create the greatest works of art the universe has ever seen. But in pursuit of their goal, artistic collaboration has been taken a stage too far...

When the Doctor and Romana arrive, they discover the colonists have neglected their well-being and their once beautiful habitat, which has now succumbed to decay, and they are enslaved to the Babble network which occupies their every waking moment. Every thought, however trivial or insignificant, is shared with everyone else and privacy is now a crime.

The colonists are being killed and the Doctor and Romana begin to suspect that a malevolent intelligence is at work. With time running out, the two time travellers race to discover the truth before they too are absorbed into the endless trivia of the Babblesphere...

My Review:

I had THE hardest time deciding which audio story to review for the Fourth Doctor. I just want you all to be aware of this. I listened to a few Companion Chronicles and some of the new Fourth Doctor Adventures range from Big Finish, but none of them were really good enough (in my mind) to warrant a spot on this list. They weren’t bad, exactly, but I wasn’t excited enough about them to want to write much. But Traveling the Vortex (man, how many times have they saved my bacon in this project? They deserve all the publicity I can give them right now - EVERYONE! LISTEN TO THEIR PODCAST!!) is reviewing the Destiny of the Doctor series this year in conjunction with the various 50th Anniversary celebrations (which, Destiny itself is an audio series celebrating the 50th Anniversary, produced by Big Finish and AudioGO). Anyway, I listened to “Babblesphere” a few weeks ago in anticipation of Traveling the Vortex's review of it and I loved it! Truly, it’s the only Fourth Doctor audio story I’ve heard that I enjoyed enough to want to write about. Make of that what you will.

A word on Destiny of the Doctor - This series is most comparable to Big Finish’s Companion Chronicles where one of the Doctor’s companions is featured and the actor playing that companion narrates. One other actor is brought on to play one additional supporting character. The main difference between Companion Chronicles and Destiny of the Doctor is that the story isn’t necessarily narrated from the companion’s point of view (this is how, for the Second Doctor’s installment “Shadow of Death,” you can get Frazer Hines presenting Jamie’s point of view, but he can also step in and do a fantastic scene with just the Second Doctor and... another character that I won’t spoil for you, but it’ll probably be spoiled in this review, so never mind). It’s kind of a blend between traditional audiobooks and Big Finish’s Companion Chronicles and it works really well (at least, it has so far).

"Babblesphere" is narrated by Lalla Ward (who played Romana II on TV and continues to do so for Big Finish audios) and she does a fantastic job. About half of the story is told from Romana’s point of view, since the Doctor gets captured early on in the story. That’s an interesting flip of the typical trope of the companion getting captured and the Doctor has to face down the baddies. It’s a nice twist that I really enjoyed and Lalla Ward seems to have fun with the narration as well. Romana can more than hold her own as she explores the planet and meets up with what could be best described as The Knitting Circle Resistance (seriously - love these older ladies fighting against the Babble Network). Though I think the Babble Network later dismisses these ladies a little too soon when he (she, it, they, whatever) says that he can’t stand boring people. I mean, Romana seems to find them interesting enough. Hell, I think they’re wonderful!

While this entire story is fun and clever, the moment when I think the Fourth Doctor really shines is when he and Romana are overwhelming the Babble Network with mundane trivia. If there’s one thing the Fourth Doctor does well, it’s making a scene with mundane trivia compelling and exciting. Remember - this is the guy that randomly offers jelly babies to hardened adversaries in the midst of great danger. If there was ever a Doctor made for non-sequitur references, it’s the Fourth Doctor (Douglas Adams has his fingerprints all over that, certainly).

One thing that is fun about doing Classic Who stories in modern times is the ability to bring these characters forward into the future. You don’t have to be tied down to the time period in which their stories were originally produced, even though you do have to be careful about what characters from 1960s and 1970s Earth know on their own. Even then, you can handwave it as “Oh they traveled with the Doctor to two-thousand-whatever and saw the internet and smartphones and stuff like that” (but how fun is it to have mentions of creatures introduced in New Who - like the Krafayis and the Ood - in a Classic Doctor story? Not to mention Zagreus from Big Finish! Yay!)

So, it’s easy (and a lot of fun) to depict what I call for this story “Social Networking on Steroids” and have the Doctor and Romana fight against an entity bent on finding only the most interesting people and disposing of the boring ones (though, how the Babble Network got away from duck-faced selfies and Beliebers I have no idea) (and, just to depress you even more - Google Drive recognizes “Beliebers” as an actual word. There is no red squiggly line denoting it as not in the dictionary. God help us all).

As the Doctor and Romana leave the Babblesphere after the Babble Network is defeated (spoilers, sorry), Aurelius and Phyllis voice concerns about how the people are going to communicate to one another, since they’ve been so used to connecting telepathically on Babble. And I laughed at Phyllis’s complaint that people are still sharing more information than anyone wants to hear. And while this song is more about using social networking to project a more impressive version of yourself than what’s reality - it’s still funny (and William Shatner's in the video, so bonus nerd points for that).



***
Next Time, On Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 4.04 - That Was... A Book. Yup. Definitely a Book.

Previously -
Review 4.02 - Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before?