Big Finish Doctor Who 117 - The Key 2 Time - The Judgement of Isskar

On a planet where Time stands still, the Doctor meets a woman who is just a few minutes old. She is a Tracer, sent into our Universe by her makers to locate the six segments of the Key to Time. This being without a name wants the Doctor to be her assistant, but she doesn’t tell him the whole truth. Not at first.

Their first port of call is Mars, where a society that one day will become Ice Warriors lives in peace and civility. But the Doctor’s arrival will change all that. The universe is dying, a choice must be made, and the Judgement of Isskar will be declared. The price must be paid - even if it takes centuries…

Big Finish kick off 2009 with the release of the ‘Key 2 Time’ trilogy, starring fifth Doctor, Peter Davison. However, if you are after a more in-depth look at certain characters then check out the companion chronicle release – ‘The Prisoner’s Dilemma’. Even though it acts as a prequel to the trilogy, you’re not missing out on any of the story if you are unable to purchase a copy. However, if you’re a stickler for the development of a characters back story, then by all means - check it out! The story stars Sophie Aldred as Ace and like all companion chronicles – it’s a great listen!

Anyway back on the main subject! Let’s go back to 1978 and we are introduced to Romana and the mysterious Guardians, who are both after ‘The Key To Time’, which is a crystal made up of six different segments that can give the holder the power to rewrite the state and balance of the universe. However each segment has been scattered throughout time and space and could be disguised as anything! So the poor old Doctor has to find them and restore the balance. Don’t worry – it isn’t as confusing as I’ve told it!

I think it’s a good move by Big Finish to do a sequel to that classic series. This first story – ‘The Judgement of Isskar’, is a wonderful start! We’ve got Ice Warriors, before they where ‘Ice Warriors’, insect people who are at war with each other and of course a new companion – Amy (played by Ciara Janson). Amy is a humanoid ‘tracer’, which was the device which the fourth Doctor used to find the Key last time. However this time, the Key is decaying and Amy and her sister Zara (Laura Doddington) have been tasked to find three segments each by their masters – 'The Grace', before the key destroys itself - and the universe!

From start to finish, this audio just pulls you into the narrative. The pre-Ice Warrior Mars is a fascinating concept, which has never been explored by the television series before. There is also a nice nod to ‘Red Dawn’, an early Big Finish audio, with The Ice Warriors. But it’s the performances of the two sisters, Amy and Zara that I’m most impressed with. It’s like listening to a long-established partnership between the two characters, which in reality is just barely over an hour long!

Another partnership I was impressed with was the one between Amy and The Doctor. I felt that the new-born and naive Amy was great foil for Davison’s ‘old man in a young person’s body’-type Doctor. It was almost like being back in 1963 and William Hartnell’s old professor-type Doctor I wonder, what with Peri stuck on ‘a planet of rain’, which starts the story off and no Erimem anymore, will Amy get to stay on with The Doctor, beyond this trilogy? I hope so but its very early days!

Overall, this is a great start to what could be an epic story. All credit to everyone involved for producing yet another Big Finish masterpiece! I’m very rarely disappointed with a monthly release, so let’s hope this continues for the next 12 months - as there is some very intriguing stuff to come!

5/5

Next Time: The Doctor and Amy continue on their journey, this time they encounter ‘The Destroyer of Delights’!

Matt Smith - The 11th Doctor

It was a decision met with excitement and surprise as the BBC announced who would take over from the outgoing David Tennant as ‘The Doctor’ in 2010. Well, from the names being banded about nobody had said that Matt Smith would be in with a shout.

So low and behold, by 7pm on Saturday 3rd January 2009, everyone knew that the 26 year-old, the youngest actor to play The Doctor, would be the next man in the TARDIS.

At first I was a little disappointed, I thought that his age was too young to be taken seriously as a 900 year-old Timelord, but boy I cheered up when the man himself was interviewed!

No disrespect to Matt but he just looks and sounds weird! Not bad weird but brilliant, fantastic, superbly weird – just what The Doctor should be like! I personally think he’ll be great, its just unfortunate that we have to wait a year to find out!

In the interview he stated that he had six months to learn the history of the show and to create his own character. It was pleasing to see him talk so passionately about the role and I was left wondering what direction the show is going in. Rumours suggest that the new head writer, Steven Moffat, may take the show back to a mysterious and dark tone. That’ll be great but I would prefer it to be like the mid-Tom Baker era rather than the Sylvester McCoy era, which is the one that has been rumoured!

I think it’s fair to say that Matt isn’t the most famous of actors. He is just at the start of what could be a great career. I just hope that Moffat has tied him to a long contract because we are running out of Doctors! If you want to check out his work, then he has starred with Billie Piper in the two Sally Lockhart stories, ‘Ruby in the Smoke’ and ‘Shadow in the North’ as well as an episode in series one of ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl’. But he is perhaps best known as one of the leads in the political series ‘Party Animals’.

Whatever happens, I for one can’t wait! Well done Matt and good luck!

Matt Smith Interview

Doctor Who - The Next Doctor

This year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special was expected to throw up a few surprises – and boy it did!

With everyone on the internet arguing over who ‘The Next Doctor’ is, nobody really noticed that there was a story to be told. Those that had bothered, had dismissed it as a remake of the Big Finish audio ‘The One Doctor’, where a man pretends to be The Doctor to make himself some money.

Thankfully, RTD came up with his own idea, as we learn that Jackson Lake (David Morrissey) stumbled across some of the Cybermen’s ‘Info Stamps’ and they made him believe that he was The Doctor, thanks to the information stored on them. It was a good plot, far better from what we suspected and the marvellous acting of Morrissey, made it all the more better.

The main plot of the story has a number of Cyberman, who escaped from the void as it ‘blew up’ during the events of ‘The Stolen Earth’/’Journey’s End’. They find themselves trapped in Victorian England and they have enlisted the help of the much-scorned Miss Hartigan (Dervla Kirwan) to help them infiltrate London and build something...

This something turns out to be a ‘Cyber King’, which is a giant robot-cum-factory. It rather spoiled the episode for me, even though this is Doctor Who, some things should not be done! Although the CGI and sound affects were top notch, it seems that pleasing Christmas audiences with things like this has priority before the actual storyline. Still, it wasn’t as embarrassing as the Queen from ‘Voyage of the Damned’!

However, apart from that, I did thoroughly enjoy this story. The performances of everyone involved was top notch, with Morrissey and Tennant working together, brilliantly once again after their stint in the BBC drama ‘Blackpool’. Velile Tshabalala was also great fun as ‘Rosita’ but I really did think that Dervla Kirwan was a little bit underused. I thought that we should have heard more of her back-story, which apparently involved her being a matron in a workhouse but she got peeved at everyone. It didn’t really make sense to me, especially with it being set in Victorian times, some of the language and set pieces all sounded a bit modern to be honest.

Overall, the episode is a lot of fun that doesn’t really add to the mythos of the show. I do hope we’ve seen the last of the Cybus Cybermen, at least for a while, as I’m hoping for the return of the Mondas Cybermen. Although I would love to see a ‘Cyberman War’!

8/10

Next Time: We’ve got a bit of a wait until the next episode – ‘Planet of the Dead’, which hasn’t even started filming yet!

Big Finish Doctor Who - 2008 Subscribers Special - Return of The Krotons

The dead planet Onyakis is being plundered by the last survivors of the human race, and their leader, Commander Cobden, will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Already there are rumours of those who stand against him mysteriously disappearing. But when the Doctor and Charley find themselves on the side of those trying to expose Cobden, they discover something far more sinister.

Deep in the mines of Onyakis, alien technology is reactivating. Power is flowing. Something is forming in the darkness…

This years Big Finish ‘Subscribers Special’ sees the return of classic Doctor Who monsters ‘The Krotons’!

The Krotons only appearance on television was in December 1968, in a serial that ran until January 1969 – exactly 40 years before the release of this audio. The Krotons themselves are a strange ‘crystalline lifeform’ that need people to use ‘learning machines’ to power them.

I would advise you getting hold of a copy of ‘The Krotons’ before listening to this. I believe it is available on VHS and on ITunes. Surely it won’t be long before a DVD release?

In the audio, The Doctor and Charley find themselves lost. Not for the first time, the TARDIS is knackered and they’ve been left with no clue where (or when) they are. It turns out that this story shares some nice parallels with the 4th Doctor serial ‘The Ark in Space’, which was about human colonies. The ‘ark’ that appeared in that story (Nerva) gets a couple of mentions, which should keep old school fans happy! The story does build up rather nicely but the finish is quite disappointing.

Overall, the audio is just a bit of harmless fun that offers a good insight into The Krotons. I was a little disappointed with the pace of the story, which as mentioned, built up very well but the way everything was resolved was disappointing. However, the performances of the actors (including the legendry Philip Madoc) really do stand out rather well.

2.5/5

Big Finish Doctor Who 116 - The Raincloud Man

Having just defeated the Krotons, the Doctor is treating Charley to a hearty English breakfast, when an intriguing mystery suddenly presents itself. And to solve it, they must plunge back into the criminal underbelly of Manchester, where an old friend is up to her neck in alien trouble.

But what seemed like a mere mystery ends up being a life or death struggle at the centre of an interplanetary war in which the stakes are so high, the Doctor or Charley must gamble and lose their identity. And throughout, the lone figure of the Raincloud Man may hold the key to success or failure.

The guys over at Big Finish bring out their final story of 2008, which sees the return of Manchester and DI Menzies (played by Anna Hope) in ‘The Raincloud Man’.

One thing I can say about it, is that it is pure classic Doctor Who! The story takes a while to get going but that really makes it all the better to listen to!

With it being set after ‘Return of the Krotons’ (the subscriber’s release which is reviewed here) The Doctor and Charley find themselves having breakfast in a café. But when Charley spots something strange, about false £1 coins and Manchester, The Doctor looks up an old friend.

This turns out to be the tireless DI Patricia Menzies, who apart from doing her day job is now taking care of the aliens who ask her for help, after the events of ‘The Condemned’. She agrees to help The Doctor, any way she can but she herself is busy investigating a number of strange deaths. When Charley accompanies her on a visit to an alien who can see the ‘possibilities of time’, she is told that she must tell The Doctor the truth about herself. But when the alien turns up dead, Charley is arrested for murder…

It’s another intriguing story that adds more mystery to Charley’s story. It can run the risk of being a little bit tedious but for how its okay! The audio also takes a nice twist after the second part and the story benefits from it.

Once again Anna Hope was outstanding and here’s hoping she can return again. Michael Fenton-Stevens also offers great support as the mysterious boat-owner, Brooks.

Overall it’s a very good story that is a little slow in places but still manages to make you listen to every word!

3.5/5

Next Time: It’s the start of ‘The Key 2 Time’ trilogy as the Fifth Doctor is joined by new companion Amy in ‘The Judgement of Isskar’

Big Finish Doctor Who - The Stageplays - The Curse Of The Daleks

The space ship Starfinder is taking two dangerous criminals for trial on Earth. En route, they crash through a meteor storm and have to make an emergency landing on Skaro – the planet of the dreaded Daleks. But Captain Redway and his faithful crew don’t anticipate any trouble. After all, the Daleks were defeated fifty years ago and now they are completely inactive. But when a crate full of mysterious devices is discovered and the Daleks start to come back to life, it becomes clear that there is a traitor amongst the Starfinder’s crew… A traitor intent on reactivating the power of the Daleks!

Doctor Who: The Stageplays concludes with the Doctor-less ‘Curse of the Daleks’ and it’s just as good as the previous two!

Originally performed in 1965, the play is notable for being Terry Nation’s first attempt at performing 'live Daleks'. The original play was performance at the Wyndham's Theatre in London. Elements of this story were used in the Second Doctor’s first full serial - ‘The Power of the Daleks’.

Much in the style of the excellent ‘Dalek Empire’ series, we are given a tale of how a group of people are forced to land on a now-deserted Skaro. The Daleks are believed to be long dead, despite there still being Dalek casings scattered across the planet’s ruins. But when a mysterious crate is found on board the ship, it is long before the Dalek’s rise again. What is in the crate and who is behind the rise of the Daleks? Is it the two prisoners? The passengers? Or even the flight crew? Or is it the Daleks, up to their old manipulative tricks?

Despite there being no Doctor, the play is still as good as a normal Big Finish play. Linking narration is provided by Nick Briggs, who as always voices the Daleks. Despite hearing his voice again, Briggs’ is an excellent narrator and puts a nice touch on the play.

I especially enjoyed the performance of Michael Praed, who played the mysterious prisoner Ladiver. I thought his performance really held the play together and the whole thing certainly hinged on that!

4/5

Overall, I’ve been very impressed with this series of stageplay adaptations, I do hope that Big Finish will adapt more spin-off stuff. I would love to hear some of the Virgin New Adventure books, being adapted!

The Podcast With No Name (Subtitle: CyberColin Undressed) - Episode 5

5 - The ‘If I Get Drunk Yes I Know I'm Gonna Be I'm Gonna Be The Man Who Gets Drunk Next To You’ Podcast.

In this edition, Colin presents clips recorded live at Collectormania Glasgow. Where he was foiled in his attempts at stealing Georgia Moffett's underwear and the awful recording device put paid to any decent sound.

Still, he had a good drink!

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Check out Colin's report, below

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes 11 & 12 - Enemy of the Bane

The second series of the SJA comes to an end with ‘Enemy of the Bane’, which has some rather interesting guest stars!

With Luke having nightmares about The Bane, who created him, his fears are realised when Rani’s mother is kidnapped and Sarah is left a message. It turns out to be from none other than Mrs Wormwood (played by Samantha Bond), last seen in the first SJA episode – ‘Invasion of the Bane’.

It turns out that Wormwood needs Sarah’s help to track down a mythical device, which would open a portal to another dimension. All this and she’s also being hunted down by her own kind.

Sarah needs help and there’s only one man to call upon, no not The Doctor – THE BRIGADIER! Now retried, the Brig is still UNIT’s special envoy and is in the middle of a meeting with a UNIT major before Sarah walks in. The Brig can’t wait to assist her and he helps Sarah and Rani get into UNIT’s high-security storage warehouse. But I don’t understand why they just had a card reader on the door, if it was so high-security!

It’s not long before they are caught, as the UNIT major is on the prowl but thanks to the Sonic Lipstick (Ahhh!) they get away and head back to the house. Unfortunately, Mrs Wormwood has been doing her best to er worm her way into Luke’s life and saves him and Clyde when they are infiltrated by a Bane.

For no reason at all, Kaagh (Anthony O'Donnell), the Sontaran from the first episode of the series, pops up and assists Wormwood. We learn that Kaagh is now a mercenary and is trying to steal the artefact for Wormwood. The pair make their escape with Luke, while the others are tracked down by the UNIT major – who happens to a Bane! But thanks to the Brig’s walking stick-cum-gun, he’s quickly dispatched. I won’t look at old people in the same way again!

With the Brig staying behind to clean up the mess, the others go off and try to find Luke, who has been taken to an ancient monument in which the artefact, The Tunguska Scroll, fits into and opens the portal. Luke, being the only human there, has to insert it and he does. The portal opens and after Luke runs to Sarah, Wormwood is furious but after being attacked by her earlier, Kaagh does the honorable thing and pulls her into the portal.

It was a so-so story with the only highlights being the Brig and Kaagh. It was great to see Nicholas Courtney reprise his role and I hope he still has something left in the tank to make an appearance in Doctor Who, I’m sure he has!

The plot of Luke/Wormwood played on the whole children’s problems with adoptive parents and I thought that was done well, as many children would be able to identify with that. But I just felt that story lacked that ‘killer punch’ that previous episodes had. Even a mention of The Doctor between the Brig and Sarah would have been welcome!

7/10

Overall, this series has been a massive improvement on series 1 and many elements of the stories could even stand up to those in Doctor Who! For a children’s programme, the production values are excellent and you have just got to look at the calibre of the guest stars to see why this series is so excellent – not many children’s programmes can boast that!

Next Time: No more Sarah Jane Adventures this year but don’t worry series 3 is on its way in 2009!

The Podcast With No Name (Subtitle: CyberColin Undressed) - Episode 4

4 - The ‘We’re Not Gonna Sit In Silence, We’re Not Gonna Live With Fear’ Podcast

In this week’s stench of unprofessional rubbish, Colin reviews the BBC version of the Conan Doyle classic ‘The Lost World’, also reviewed is the latest adventure for The Scarifyers – ‘For King and Country’, starring Nicholas Courtney and Terry Molloy. And finally he talks about the upcoming Collectormania Glasgow event.

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The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes 9 & 10 - The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith

The Sarah Jane Adventures continue to deify children and make the adults enjoy it even more, in this latest story - ‘The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith’.

Okay I still have the odd gripe, but you can’t deny that this series has been the most groundbreaking CHILDREN’S PROGRAMME for a long while. That’s what it’s supposed to be – a programme for kids! I wish I had something so spectacular when I was a lad! The ITV series ‘Knightmare’ was considered cutting-edge when I was young – it looks like an absolute joke now!

This story continued the high standard that this series has already set. As always, Daniel Antony (Clyde) was great and stole every scene he was in. Young Rani is looking every inch ‘a Maria’ and even Luke is looking - quite normal!

Even the writing on this series doesn’t ‘dumb it down’ to kids. We even have a returning character, created in the SJA universe – The Trickster, to deal with! The ugly one (as he’s known among kids – I think!), has to create a world of chaos, so he could feed upon it – but the only way to do that is to take Sarah out of time – again!

So that gives us the opportunity to browse, once again, into Sarah’s back-story. Orphaned as a child, we never really learned a lot about Sarah’s past life before The Doctor. We do here, as Sarah ‘gives in to temptation’ and goes through a ‘time fisher’ (created, of course by the Trickster) and tries to prevent her parents deaths.

When she does, the future changes but thanks to the ‘box’ which featured in the Series 1 story, ‘Whatever Happened To Sarah Jane’, Clyde and Rani where protected from The Trickster’s changing of history. Thankfully all is put back in the correct path, as Sarah’s parents – who quite quickly realised who the old Sarah was – corrected history.

This episode wasn’t without its great moments. For one, the appearance of the TARDIS, ‘The Doctor’s Theme’ in the background and Sarah’s running towards it – only for it to be an actual 50’s Police Box! Then there was her scenes with her parents – surely too much good acting for a kids show?

But here comes my main gripe – why does Sarah, a very experience time-traveller, who told The Doctor in the episode ‘School Reunion’ that ‘everything has its time and everything must end’ so quickly become very naive? I found it quite strange that she decided, so quickly, to break the rules of time-travel. Yes I understand the need to see her parents but Luke already warned it that it could have been a trap and she just dismissed it! I just found it very out of character.

Overall though, it was a good episode that I thoroughly enjoyed.

8/10

Next Time: I HAVE ONE THING TO SAY: BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG! BRIG!

The Podcast With No Name (Subtitle: CyberColin Undressed) - Episode 3

3 - The 'I Can't Decide, Whether You Should Live Or Die' Podcast

In today’s bucket of delights, I’ll saying a big happy birthday to Doctor Who by reviewing the audio – called, er Forty Five. I’ll also be reviewing the BBC three series ‘Funland’, which is a sick but funny thriller. And I’ll also be talking about the joys and frustations of buying stuff from Ebay!

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Happy 45th Birthday Doctor Who! 23rd November 1963 - 23rd November 2008

45 years and still as good as ever. Doctor Who is not a television programme, it’s a hobby, a job, an obsession, whatever you want to call it. It has taken over people’s lives, their childhoods, relationships, marriages and children. Who would have thought that in 1963, a science-fiction educational program, aired on the BBC was going to turn into the huge fandom monster it has created? These fans could be anyone, mainly nutters but there’s always someone who can appreciate the production values of ‘Sliver Nemesis’. Or is it just me?

These fans kept the flame alight during the barren years since 1989 and are now reaping the benefits in this golden age for Doctor Who. The children’s educational program from 1963 is now the UK’s best loved drama.

Each decade of the programme has had a special anniversary episode(s). We’ve had the ‘Three Doctors’ in 1973, ‘The Five Doctors’ in 1984 and the unforgettable (in many ways) ‘Dimensions In Time’ in 1993. However, perhaps the most celebrated anniversary was the 40th. Just a month beforehand the fans received the best news ever – Doctor Who would be returning!

It isn’t just the television episodes that are eagerly awaited though, audio dramas, books, magazines, toys, conventions and many other things are at the top of any fans list. But for this particular anniversary, it is Big Finish who are celebrating with the release of their special audio, made up of 4 one-part stories, the mind blowingly named - Forty Five!


This audio sees Sylvester McCoy taking on four separate stories, following the releases of Peter Davison’s ‘Circular Time’ and Colin Baker’s ‘100’ (which was to celebrate Big Finish’s 100th Doctor Who release). Each of the four stories, in this audio, are linked by Forty Five or its numerical version. It becomes apparent, whilst listen to this, that it’s another example of quality planning by Big Finish and thier writers.

The CD kicks off with ‘False Gods’ where we meet Howard Carter in Egypt, some years before his major discovery of Tutankhamun. The Doctor, Ace and Hex are forced to materialise there, after they hit a time distortion. The trio land and soon encounter Carter and his students. But they are soon spilt up and divided in different periods of time. It’s a nice story that ticks along nicely but the last 10 minutes in particular are excellent.

Part two of this audio is the story ‘Order of Simplicity’, which sees the trio land on a windswept island in the year 3380 after The Doctor receives a coded transmission. He learns that a professor based on the island, needs help to crack a code. But something sinister seems to be behind it, what is the code really for and why is The Doctor so keen to crack it? This story is designed to be very creepy and the apparent 19th century décor in the professor’s house, for the year it’s set in, does seems a little strange! It’s an interesting enough story but its one of those that you’ll have to listen to carefully – it has a sort of ‘Ghost Light’ feel to it!

Part three is ‘Casualties of War’ and is the best 20-odd minutes on the CD! It’s VE Day but The Doctor is busy tracking the signal of an alien device. It seems that a local thief has got his mucky hands on a large quantity of alien artefacts and is already using one to great affect. The Doctor needs to find him quickly, apart from the device being dangerous, some ‘old friends’ from a couple of past Big Finish audios are on his trail and are determined to get back the artefacts, at any cost. This story sees Ace given more back-story and it also seems that the Hex ‘arc’ is getting ready to unravel itself. All in all, it’s a wonderful story that will leave you wanting more!

The final story of the audio is also as well delivered as the previous three. Although, ‘The Word Lord’ is the most strangest story I’ve listened to for a while, its well worth it just for the David Tennant impression – you’ll know what I’ll mean if you’ve heard it! The story starts with the trio under arrest for materialising in a high-security bunker, just when a Russian politician is murdered. But thanks to a UNIT link, they end up helping the people there but they have only – 45 minutes to do it. You probably can see where this is going but quite surprisingly, it doesn’t get annoying!

We may or may not see certain characters again, something which could be interesting next year, as each Doctor will have a trilogy of audio releases in consecutive months! As always, the pairing of the 7th Doctor, Ace and Hex remain one of my favourite’s and they pull each story off particularly well. I think we’ll be delving into Hex’s back-story soon but don’t hold me to it!

4/5

Next Time: It’s Christmas, so The Doctor and Charley are in – Manchester. Don’ worry, I’m sure the ‘Raincloud Man’ will be good!

Big Finish Doctor Who - The Stageplays - The Seven Keys To Doomsday

The series of Doctor Who: The Stageplays, continues with ‘The Seven Keys To Doomsday’, which stars Trevor Martin as the Doctor. Martin had previously played a Time Lord in Patrick Troughton’s last (regular) story – 1969’s ‘The War Games’, which was the first time we had learned (and saw) where The Doctor was from.

Originally performed in 1974, Jon Pertwee was originally going to play the role but Trevor Martin was offered it instead. Martin’s Doctor is supposed to be an alternate 4th Doctor but he doesn’t half remind you of Jon Pertwee’s incarnation, but I’ll talk about that later. Another interesting cast note is that Wendy Padbury (who played Zoe during Patrick Troughton’s reign as The Doctor) played Jenny, The Doctor’s companion in this story.

Martin does a wonderful job as The Doctor and I would love to hear from him again. True, he does remind you a lot of Jon Pertwee’s incarnation but that’s no bad thing! Perhaps the script was indeed written for Pertwee’s Doctor, rather than a brand new Doctor. However, what makes Martin’s Doctor so good is that from his first couple of sentences, you can hear the warmth and the ‘granddaddy feel’ that old-school Doctors had – something which we miss in this new era of Doctor Who.

The audio opens up, with surprise, surprise, Nick Briggs playing the injured and regenerating Doctor. Despite it only being a small role, I’m getting sick of hearing his voice! I don’t mind him doing the Daleks or the Cybermen, as he does a wonderful job but do we really need him playing in almost every audio? His voice is easily recognisable and you just think ‘oh, it’s Nick Briggs’ rather than the character he’s playing and it does throw you off your thoughts. Or is it just me?

Back on topic and the audio starts off rather nicely. Jenny (played by Charlie Hayes – the real-life daughter of Wendy Padbury) and Jimmy (Joe Thompson) are a couple who have gone to watch a play at a local theatre. But as they take their seats, a blue box materialises on stage and out steps a man, a dying man. Everyone thinks its part of the act but Jenny realises it isn’t and helps the man back into his box.

Of course this man is The Doctor and he regenerates into Trevor Martin. It seems that The Doctor is in the middle of a mission for the Timelords and takes Jenny and Jimmy along for the ride. We learn that The Doctor is trying to find seven crystals which in the wrong hands, could be the key to the destruction of the universe.

The plot is very much like The Key To Time series that was aired in 1978. Infact you could say that series took its inspiration from Seven Keys To Doomsday!

The story has been adapted well, even more so than ‘The Ultimate Adventure’. It’s a little short in running time but the CD’s are packed with extras, so you won’t feel disappointed!

As mentioned Trevor Martin does a wonderful job as The Doctor but credit must also go to the support cast and especially Charlie Hayes who played Jenny, who sounded every much companion material!

4/5

Next Time: The Stageplays concludes with ‘Curse of The Daleks’, with no actual person playing the Doctor but narrated by – Nick Briggs. Brilliant!

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes 7 & 8 - The Mark of the Berserker

When I first saw the actual ‘Mark of the Berserker’, I immediately thought - ‘Mark of the Rani’! I’m not sure what game the writers are playing but I’m sure they're having a good laugh!

As for this story - I quite enjoyed it! Gary Beadle, most famous for playing Paul Trueman in EastEnders, pops up as Clyde’s Dad, also named Paul, in this Sarah-lite story. Pressumably she was away filming the Doctor Who episodes ‘The Stolen Earth’/’Journey’s End’, when this was being filmed.

Considering the SJA is a kids show, they don’t half go into the relationships of kids and their parents quite a lot! I think its something kids, in this day and age, can relate to. Apart from all the alien stuff of course!

The story starts in the school, as a young lad is being picked on by some other lad’s. But he produces something out of pocket - a pedant, which apart from leaving a strange mark on his hand, also makes people do whatever he says! It may sound good but the lad is being taken over by something and he just about gets rid of it, just as a nosey Rani (not the one mentioned earlier!) finds him in the cleanest gents I have ever seen!

Rani takes it home and quickly realises its powers. But she also realises that it’s very dangerous, so she drops it off at Sarah Jane’s, who is away, undercover at a hospital.

Meanwhile is Luke sleeping over at Clyde’s. The next morning however, Clyde’s Dad turns up out of blue and asks to spend some time with his son. His mum is reluctant but Clyde goes along with him and his Dad tries to win his son round. But Clyde, in a vain hope of trying to impress him, tells him about all his work with the aliens and even takes him round to Sarah Jane’s attic to show him all the artefacts they had collected. Paul is impressed but he hears something - the pendant is calling him. He unconsciously takes it and he proceeds to take his son away to ‘have a nice time’.

It seems that the pendant is quickly taking him over and Paul makes his son forget about Luke, Rani and his Mum and takes him on a ‘shopping’ trip. So after a free Ferrari and nice clothes later, Paul wants more for his son and intends to find them both a yacht! And they’ll get one – as the pendant can make people do whatever the person wearing it, wants!

Luke and Rani are stuck and there is only two people who can help them – Maria and her Dad! It’s nice seeing the pair back and it was a nice surprise, to be honest! Maria’s Dad hacks into UNIT to get some info about the mark and we learn that it is ‘The Mark of Berserker’ and if Paul didn’t recover – then he would turn into a Berserker, who would be hell-bent on taking over the world.

Together with Clyde’s mum, they follow Clyde and Paul, thanks to a bit of hacking and tracking a mobile phone signal! Of course, when they find and try to stop them, Clyde doesn’t know who they are and they try to plead with Paul to remember who he is. It all looks bleak, as Paul is turning into a Berserker but then – Sarah Jane arrives!

Although it was quite ante-climatic, Sarah helps to save the day, along with Clyde, who remembers her. Paul is made to remember who he is by his son and the Berserker is gone.

Clyde spends a moment with his Dad, who realises that he hasn’t been a great Dad and he and his son part on good terms. Clyde makes his mum forget what happened, thanks to the pedant, before throwing the device into the water. Do you think that’s a great idea Clyde? What if someone fishes it out?

It was a good story, without doing anything spectacular. There were some touching scenes, especially at the end with Sarah Jane and I think the kids would have enjoyed this!

8/10

Next Time: A boy comes through a time fisher but why is Sarah Jane tempted to go back in time, once again?

The Podcast With No Name (Subtitle: CyberColin Undressed) - Episode 2

2 - The 'We Dream The Same, Dream We Want The Same Thing’ Podcast

In this edition I’ll be reviewing the goings at the annual Children In Need Night, where cult TV played its part. I’ll also be pulling a British cult comedy DVD from the arse of obscurity and reviewing Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Finally, I’ll be ranting about the dwindling number of public houses in Britain.

Download Direct Here (Right-click and select 'Save Target As')

RSS Feed http://cybercolin.mypodcast.com/rss.xml

Bernice Summerfield 9.4 - The Diet Of Worms

Series 9 of the Bernice Summerfield audios concludes with ‘The Diet of Worms’ and it isn’t as strange as it sounds!

Even though this series has been hit by delays, you still get the feeling that we haven’t really got anywhere in developing the characters of Benny and Peter. Yes, Peter has grown up but we haven’t really pushed his character enough, ditto Benny. It should be interesting to see what Big Finish do next year, with hopefully a much longer series than just 4 stories!

Back to this audio, where Benny finds herself applying for a job at a ‘depository of knowledge’, which holds almost every written artefact that comes from Earth. However, after learning that the job is no longer open, as the depository is having finical difficulties, Benny gets set to leave. But in the vaults of the depository, something is hiding in the books. Something that repeats out loud the text of the book, before the reader can read it. Can Benny solve the mystery and help to save the timeless artefacts from going missing, forever?

It’s a rather better listen than I have described it, to be honest! It doesn’t really kick in until halfway through, then you’ll enjoy it. It has some nice moments, Mrs T. the robot cake-lady steals the show, as she at one point babysits for Peter! The last couple of minutes in particular are really good and should lead us into series 10, when it comes along. I for one can’t wait!

Overall, ‘The Diet of Worms’ is a bit of old fashioned Benny fun (if there is such a thing!), it really complements this season well, as a couple of stories that aren’t really content heavy. I’m hoping that the writers will step it up a gear when series 10 arrives!

4/5

Next Time: There’s no word yet on the details for series 10 but keep your eyes peeled on the Big Finish website for all the latest news!

Colin's Podcast - The Podcast With No Name (Subtitle: Cyber Colin Undressed) - DOWNLOAD NOW!

Join Colin, as he hosts his own unique podcast - The Podcast With No Name (Subtitle: Cyber Colin Undressed). Colin covers mostly British, cult television, audios and books. Be it Sc-Fi or Fantasy - it's all done! So get ready to listen to the worse podcast you'll ever listen to! Sprinkled with humour and libelous content, it sure isn't like any podcast you've ever heard!

1 - The 'I've Got The Face But Sadly Not The Voice' Podcast

In this edition, Colin talks about Doctor Who - David Tennant's departure and reviews the series 4 and Torchwood sountracks, as well as the latest Bernice Summerfield audio story - 'The Diet of Worms'. All of which come neatly wrapped in the biggest pile of unprofessionalism, since Sarah Palin.

Download Direct Here (Right-click and select 'Save Target As')

RSS Feed http://cybercolin.mypodcast.com/rss.xml

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes - 5 & 6 - Secrets of the Stars

Russ Abbott continues the trend of ‘this year’s most bizarre casting in a children’s television show’, in this story - ‘Secrets of the Stars’.

The comedian, best known for his sketch show in the late 80’s, plays a fake astrologer, Martin Trueman, who is given ‘the gift’ of the stars, after he is hit by a unknown force. Trueman can now perform a number of correct predictions, which creep out Sarah and the gang when they go and see one of his shows.

Before the show everyone fills out a card, with their name and date of birth. Luke gets a little upset, as he doesn’t have a birthday, as he was ‘activated’ in ‘Invasion of the Bane’.

It makes for a very interesting plot, as Trueman’s plan is to make everyone in the world to obey his will – by using their star signs to control them. Apparently astrology exists on almost every planet and was once a real thing – in a universe that was here before our own. Not sure if many kids could understand that!

There are some nice nods to classic Doctor Who characters, the Draconians and there’s even a flashback scene with The Doctor, using clips from the episodes ‘School Reunion’ and ‘Journey’s End’.

Later, Clyde is possessed by Trueman and intends to kill Sarah – but doesn’t, after Luke tries to persuade him. Meanwhile everyone on the planet is being possessed, star-sign by star-sign.

The team head down to Trueman’s theatre and try to stop him. It looks bleak but Luke realises he is the only one who can stop it. He is able to discharge the energy generated by ‘the Ancient Lights’ as he was never born – so he doesn’t have a star-sign. They try and save Trueman but he instead ‘joins the stars’ rather than being put in jail, after his plan involved taking over every broadcast signal, to get his message through.

The first part built up really well but I was a little surprised to see that an adult relationship provided a bit of dynamic, when Trueman’s client was taken over and her husband was a bit peeved. Considering this is a children’s program, I feel that the writers don’t dumb down the stories too much and that is to their credit.

I was a little bit disappointed with part two, I just didn’t buy the whole star-sign stuff, controlling everyone on the planet. Russ Abbott was great though and it was nice to see him back on television, apparently he’s going to join the cast of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ soon and at 61, he’s probably one of the youngest members of that cast – ever!

7.5/10

Next Time: Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown, who is banned from television, guest stars as Sarah’s estranged husband. Fat bastard!

David Tennant - Thank-You! - A 10th Doctor Tribute 2005-09

It’s with a little bit of sadness and shock that I write about the announcement that David Tennant will quit his role as The Doctor after the 2009 specials. It was always something that was going to happen but it was rather a shock when he announced it at the National Television Awards, where he picked up the award for best actor.

David has been a great servant to Doctor Who, even outside of filming, he has been promoting the show tirelessly and always has time for the fans. And that’s because he’s a fan himself!

It was 2005 and David Tennant burst onto the scene in the BBC Three drama – Casanova, written by Russell T Davies. His portrayal of the famous character was absolutely fantastic and that probably secured his dream role to play the Timelord he had religiously watched as a lad.

Rumours have been circulating that Tennant was always going to succeed Christopher Eccelston after the 2005 series. I suppose with the main members of the Doctor Who team, cutting their ties with the show after 2009, we will find out the truth behind the goings on in that first series.

Fast forward to June 2005 and we had known for months that the revived series was going to lose its Doctor. The production team were furious the news got out and since then they have fought to keep the programme’s plots a secret. But not many fans expected David Tennant to appear at the end of ‘The Parting of the Ways’ as the newly regenerated Doctor! It was a nice surprise, the first of many!

From his 10 seconds on series 1, David took the role on and became, arguably, the most popular Doctor ever. Women love him, men love and want to be him and he turned out to be a stalkers dream! But fair play to him, he stuck with it and handed in superb performance after superb performance.

Now I’m not a massive fan of his first series but the final two episodes of the 2006 jaunt where quite simply some of the best ‘Who’ ever. David had finally settled into his cheeky, geeky and quite brilliant characterisation of The Doctor and from then on – it was bliss. His chemistry with other cast members is always fun to watch and even his little quirks, which he brings to the role, are done very well.

However one thing that could be missed though, is his influence on the programme itself. He had recommended many things for his character to do and even had a say in a couple of casting decisions.

He has said he wants to go out on a high – well he certainly is! He still has a long year of specials to get through and that can go as slowly as possible!

So thanks David and good luck! Bring on the specials!

Big Finish Doctor Who 114 - Brotherhood of the Daleks

The TARDIS materialises. Despite console readings to the contrary, the Sixth Doctor and Charley step out, unexpectedly, into an alien jungle, where they find themselves stalked and then ambushed. They have landed in the middle of one of the Dalek wars, and this time the tactics used by both sides are threatening the very nature of reality.

I don’t know how to review this audio. On one hand its one of the most landmark Dalek stories that Big Finish has done. On the other, it’s the most bizarre pieces of writing this side of ‘Ghost Light’!

Okay, you can actually follow the story so the Ghost Light comparison is a bit harsh but imagine if Terry Nation based the Daleks on Communists instead of Nazis – that is what ‘Brotherhood of the Daleks’ is basically about!

The first disc (or two parts, whichever you prefer) pulls you into the story brilliantly. The Doctor and Charley land on what The Doctor thinks is an ice planet but instead its Spiridon, first seen in Jon Pertwee’s ‘Planet of the Daleks’ in 1973. But is it Spiridon? The TARDIS doesn’t think it is!

The Doctor and Charley meet a team of Thals who are waiting to be rescued, whilst they are on the run from Daleks. One of their member has been killed and they seem rather trigger-happy and after the TARDIS disappears, will The Doctor, his ridiculous deerskin apparel and Charley, get out alive?

It’s a gripping listen but once you get to part three, that’s where it all goes bonkers! At times you’re not sure what is real and what is not real. Considering this is a fiction anyway, it gets all the more confusing! Add to that the fact that the Daleks seem to remember Charley (from the audio) ‘Terror Firma’ - you’ll struggle to keep up!

It’s quite interesting to see what this story does to the Daleks. I suppose it ratifies the fact that the Daleks will never change but I would like to see a continuing arc of different Daleks, with a different agenda. Big Finish toyed with this in the ‘Dalek Empire’ spinoffs (which are a great listen, if you’re into Daleks) but I would like to see a change in direction with future Dalek stories. Let’s stop using them as joke devices, which is what the television series has done and make them into the menacing threat they should be!

As always, Colin Baker and India Fisher are on top form as the 6th Doctor and Charley. The Charley story arc is also getting that little bit more interesting. Although I do hope we have this pairing for a few years yet, I hope this plotline isn’t done to death! It isn’t surprising to listen how easy the two have settled down together. I do get the feeling that the 6th Doctor could fit in with every one of his past and future companions and that is all due to Colin, who apart from being loveable, has the best name in the world! Me and him and so much in common!

Michael Cochrane (who plays Murgat) is the main guest star in this audio. He has appeared in the television stories ‘Black Orchid’ and, (surprise, surprise!) Ghost Light’. He also appeared in the 7th Doctor audio, ‘No Man’s Land, which is well worth digging out!

There are also over 30 minutes of extras, which are also well worth a listen. If only to hear people trying to talk normally, but having the Dalek sound affect on their voice! As always the behind the scenes stuff is very informative and adds that little bit of gloss to each release. Just hearing about how India Fisher wanted to re-record a scene because she wasn’t happy with it, just shows how much work everyone puts in and that’s just great to hear. It does make you wonder how a small company like Big Finish, gets all its releases out and at the same time, maintain the high quality they have set themselves.

Despite the strangeness of this release, it’s still a good story that has plenty of twists and turns, more so from part three onwards! You may have to listen to it at least twice to understand what’s going on, though!

4/5

Next Time: its “HAPPY 45th BIRTHDAY DOCTOR WHO!”, as Big Finish will be celebrating by releasing ‘Forty Five’, with the 7th Doctor, Ace and Hex.