#23 - Dalek Empire - A Retro Review

In the first of a series of new Tomfiles, I look back at one of Big Finish’s earliest success stories and whether it stands up to the high quality that Big Finish have become known for since it started making Doctor Who stories fifteen years ago. This first part looks back at the first series. Dalek Empire was the first thing that I listened to that was made in the Big Finish world. I remember buying it at a Memorabilia Fair in 2003 not knowing much about Dalek Empire or Big Finish. I also bought this along with a few Eighth Doctor main range releases. Dalek Empire is one of the first big successes that Big Finish had. There was the Bernice Summerfield series that Big Finish launched first but this was the first series that they had created.

The Dalek Empire series started back in June 2001 and having listened to it recently, the first thing that struck me was just how well it stood up to todays standard of Big Finish storytelling. The only thing that is missing from these releases is the noise that is made when the Daleks move. It’s important (but not vital) to have heard two main range releases in the form of ‘The Genocide Machine’ and ‘The Apocalypse Element’ (both from 2000).

The first instalment of this opening series was called ‘Invasion of the Daleks’ and the plot was exactly that. The Daleks invade Vega 6. The thing that is littered during this series is the narration done by Joyce Gibbs.

There are three main characters introduced in this series and they are Kalendorf (played by Gareth Thomas), Alby Brook (played by Mark McDonnell) and Susan Mendes (played by Sarah Mowat). It’s Susan that becomes quite integral to the whole thing because she soon becomes defiant in the face of the Daleks and the Daleks use her to try and improve moral and productivity levels of the slaves. She becomes known as the Angel of Mercy. I think that the relationship between Kalendorf and Susan Mendes is one that works from the very moment that they have a scene together. Thomas does a great job of making Kalendorf sound ordinary at first and then to be a Knight and can communicate telepathically.

This opening story attempts to tell everyone that listens what to expect and its pretty clear by the end of the first part that its going to be a story on an epic scale. We know who the important characters are and it’s a solidly written opening story and one that wouldn’t be out of place in todays Big Finish output.

The thing that I noticed about the second part ‘The Human Factor’ is that it feels like the foot has been taken off the accelerator a little bit. That’s not to say that it’s a poor story or even a substandard adventure but there is a definite change compared to the opening story. Susan Mendes’ involvement becomes more important and clearer and this causes a nice bit of tension between the two. This part is the first one that has what I would class as a proper cliffhanger. Alby is shot at by unknown forces and it seems like his involvement is not going to go on for much longer. This part is also another one that has relations to the main range and that is the Garazone System which featured in ‘Sword of Orion’ but there is a time difference between the two stories. Whereas it might be necersary to have listened to The Mutant Phase and The Apocalypse Element, I don’t think that is the case for ‘Sword of Orion’.

By the time you finish the third part ‘Death to the Daleks’, there is no denying the epic scale of this story. The characters feel like they are old friends with Alby Brooks coming across like the slightly rebellious and likeable brother who despite letting his heart rule his head, doesn’t seem to be as annoying as if he were in some Hollywood romantic comedy. At this stage of the adventure the story needs some fresh blood in it and that happens in the form of Mirana (played by Teresa Galagher). She is someone who seems to be a running sore for Brooks and seems like the perfect person to be alongside Brooks. The release builds to those famous words being uttered by the Angel of Mercy and before this happens there is a lovely scene between Mendes and Kalendorf which shows how close they have become even though they do take swipes at each other from time to time. Her death is the ultimate shock in the story and shows that even one of the central characters isn’t immune from the axe. The penultimate story in a series or serial has to do a job of making the final instalment to be an unmissable finale.

It’s interesting when the final part ‘Project Infinity’ starts because it would be interesting to see how the loss of one of the key characters would affect the story. One thing is made clear is the purpose of the narration that we had been hearing since the very beginning and its down to the Angel of Mercy having formed a link with her.

Alby has gone a little bit crazy at the death of Susan Mendes and seems to do some crazy things to try and prove that she’s alive. What’s quite clever is that Briggs slightly distracts us with the possibility that there is something else going on. The twist that Mirana is actually working for the Daleks is something that I didn’t see coming (or remember).

The ending of this final part is not what most people at the time would have been expecting. The Daleks are basically going to have a war with each other. In the ‘Big Finish Companion Volume 1’ its explained that Nicholas Briggs knew that there was going to be a Dalek Empire 2 and that’s clear from the ending that this is the case and it’s the best ending to a Dalek Empire release up until this point. What I like about the story at this point is that there is still plenty of room in this adventure and with the addition of new Daleks there is even more that can explored.

This series has been fantastic to listen to. Aside from the lack of sound effect on the Daleks, this series is just as strong as ‘Counter Measures’, ‘Jago and Litefoot’ or even ‘Graceless’. Despite it being made thirteen years ago it sounds just as good as it did back in 2001. I look forward to listening to the second series and the second of these new Tomfiles I am going to see whether the second series suffers from the Big Finish version of the difficult second album.

#22 - Re-evaluating a Story: 100

Whilst waiting for the Big Finish to release the November releases. I thought that I would do something different. I would go back and listen to all the releases that I haven’t been particularly kind to over the years. See whether time has changed my opinion of a particular release or whether its still the same as before. The first story that I am going to look back at is the 100^th main range release called (oddly enough) 100. Released back in September 2007, this was Big Finish’s way of celebrating its milestone. It was the released during a year of transition as Gary Russell stepped to one side and Nicholas Briggs took charge of the range and we were treated the single episode stories but this was the first one where each of the four episodes were a stand-alone story.

When I first reviewed it back in October 2007, I said that the four stories were “disappointing” and rather foolishly said that you can’t tell a good story in 25 minutes and that you need at least 60 minutes to make a story work. Oh how truly stupid I have been. This is the review that saw me get an e-mail supposedly from Robert Shearman outlining his point of view. It was worth being this wrong just for that.

The first story was 100BC written by Jacqueline Rayner and in my 2007 review I commented how when Evelyn feigned an ailment is the first time that I disliked the character of Evelyn. I now think that it’s a shame that Evelyn and the Doctor are at odds because the dynamic of the group is so good and it’s not nice to see them fall out. After  a while Evelyn’s attitude does get a bit tiresome and I found myself rooting for the Doctor to get his point across and prove Evelyn wrong. It’s a good opening story. The second story features Mozart and I described this as a poorer story than 100BC and that’s wrong. I think that actually its marginally better because they are both good stories but it’s because this is bonkers but in a good way. I still think that Mozart’s attempted suicide is quite surprising considering that Big Finish rarely goes into this territory. The story has the sort of things that you would expect from a Shearman story and that’s the charm of it. I also can’t believe that I never made mention of the Soprano’s inspired ending to the episode where it cuts off mid-sentence. The third story was written by Joseph Lidster and my main gripe with it seemed to be that it spent too long building up the story and then rushed the end. My opinion of the episode is that it was different to the previous two episodes. In the 2007 review I seemed to have blacked out and missed the ending because the end of the episode came out of nowhere but its clear to even a blind spiel-snake that this episode has an ending and also a good one. Evil Evelyn was quite fun to listen to but I think that whilst it didn’t have same sort of feel as the previous two stories it felt more emotional and that’s not a bad thing as Lidster’s two releases from the year before (The Reaping and The Gathering) had a nice mix of emotion and science fiction. Another enjoyable release.  The final episode was my favourite part in my 2007 review and in 2013 it is still my favourite release. The tense created that the Doctor only has 100 days left is one of the things that I like, another thing is that the Doctor gets to go back and spy on himself.  By the end of the episode I thought that I was 100% correct in my opinion and it’s the only instance of the four stories that nothing changed.

Since we have had several releases like this such as The Company of Friends, Forty-Five and most recently Recorded Time and Other Stories, one thing has showed that it is possible to tell a story in 25 minutes and I was wrong and would like to apologise to Jacqueline Rayner, Robert Shearman, Joseph Lidster and Paul Cornell for being as harsh as I was to it. I think that compared to the other single four part stories that BF have produced its not the best but its still a lot of fun and an enjoyable release and was the template for future releases of this type.

Next Time: Flip Flop

#21 - Season 1 Review

This is the first of my season reviews.

I have really enjoyed this first season and think that the ‘marathon’ is going far better than it did when I last did it in 2010. I know that there are going to be episode which I am going to struggle to pluck up the energy to sit through the episodes but I have to remember that they are only 25 minutes long. There have been some days when I have wanted to watch more than just one but I have to be disciplined and stick to an episode a day. What I have struggled with sometimes are the reviews. Normally I aim for over 600 words and I have stuck to that but sometime I have struggled and especially with Marco Polo I was writing between 400-500 words. At the end of this first season I have written just over 28,500 words which is (if I’m allowed to be modest) is an astonishing word count.

The first series of Doctor Who was 42 episodes long and it was a varied and overall enjoyable experience. Out of the 42 episodes, only seven don’t exist on DVD or VHS and that was Marco Polo. The experience of listening to an episode a day was made easier by looking at the telesnaps from Doctor Who Magazine. Out of 8 stories in this opening series, half of them had been historical stories and I must admit that this is one of the things that has changed since I started this journey. Normally historicals aren’t something I have had a negative reaction and actually I have responded well but The Reign of Terror was the exception to the rule. Half of this story was good but the other half wasn’t and it shows the limitations of doing historicals in a science fiction show. The lack of episodes on DVD or VHS is going to be an bigger issue in future series but

It’s great how the Doctor has mellowed over the course of the season. For the first dozen episodes he was a really moody character and it must have seemed odd to some people at the time as to how they were suppose to like someone who is so unlikeable. This started after Inside the Spaceship and there were several moments from this period where they are all best friends and it feels much more like a team. Barbara and Ian go from reluctant travellers to just embracing the whole experience. There are moments especially in the early stages where it becomes quite important to the story but apart from The Reign of Terror its sort of a case of if we get back then we will leave. Susan was the most disappointing part of the crew because due to the writing she goes from a strange strong woman to a whiny teenager. Occasionally the writing would suit the former but mostly that would last two episodes before resorting to the latter.

I’m afraid that I’m going to become a statatiscian and talk about ratings and stuff like that. Episode 1 of An Unearthly Child got 4.4m though this is dubiously put to the death of President Kennedy the day before. By the end of the first Dalek serial, the rating had jumped to over 10 million. Two more episode would get over the 10 million mark (Marco Polo: Assassin at Peking & The Keys of Marinus: Snows of Terror). After ‘The Keys of Marinus’ figures would start to decline due to the summer months. The lowest rating apart from the first episode would be ‘The Sensorites: A Race Against Death’. The ratings would rebound to finish on 6.4 million.

My ratings for this story have also varied. The first episode got 8.67 out of 10 and only The Daleks: The Dead Planet would get a higher rating (8.70). The lowest rated episode was actually the final episode of the season which got 6.50. Amazingly out of 42 episodes, only 4 episodes got less that 7/10.

The first season has done well in establishing the series and for most people it is the Daleks that made Doctor Who and made this season but I like to think that it’s the steady hand of Verity Lambert and David Whittaker that helped cement these characters into the public’s consciousness.

Average Ratings for Each Story

An Unearthly Child – 7.83

The Daleks – 7.65

Inside the Spaceship – 8.42

Marco Polo – 7.32

The Keys of Marinus – 7.41

The Aztecs – 7.50

The Sensorites – 7.38

The Reign of Terror – 7.14

#20 - My Doctor Who Marathon

Back on May 16, I embarked on a journey to watch and listen to every Doctor Who episode from An Unearthly Child until whatever the current episode is when I reach the end. In all I think that it will take just over two years to do this. I was partly inspired by a chap called Will Brooks who on Doctor Who Online who is doing exactly the same thing. He's about six months ahead of me as he is just starting on the Troughton era.  I did do this before but it was back in 2010 and then I didnt stick to it and watched sometimes several episodes in a day. The whole marathon became a bit of a struggle and so I was a bit unsure whether I wanted to do this but I started as was seeing how long I could keep it going.

The beauty of this marathon is that I do a review of each episode and this means that I re-evaluate the stories and certain characters. At this moment in time I am of episode two of The Aztecs and one thing that I have noticed is that I can see why Carole Ann Ford has had mixed feelings about her role over the years and why she only lasted a year. Sometimes the character is really well written for and strong and then other times you just wish that she would just shut up and its an early indication of why three's company and fours a crowd because most of the time Ian and Barbara  are the grown ups and are given the mature things to do. Ian is the action hero and has to several times save the group and there are moments where Barbara is quite strong too and my opinion of the characters has been strengthed since the marathon started.

Another thing that I have been impressed with is how in the space of 20 odd episodes the crew have gone from being a reluctant team to best friends who would die for each other. The directing has been something I have appreciated more because I think that Waris Hussein has been very impressive and so has Christopher Barry. The writing has been noticeable because Terry Nation and John Lucarotti have written two stories each so far and Nation has done well with 'The Daleks' and 'The Keys of Marinus' and Lucarotti did an ok job with 'Marco Polo' and much better with 'The Aztecs'.

I will keep you updated on how my opinions of stories and people have changed over the future episodes but you can follow me @tomstardis on twitter to see my progress.

#19 - The 6th Toms Tardis Award Results - Part 3

In the final of trilogy tomfiles to do with the 6th Toms Tardis Awards. I reveal the full results of the Special Releases, Bernice Summerfield and Counter Measure categories.

Best Special Release

1. Dark Eyes (30)
2. UNIT: Dominion (21)
3. Voyage to Venus (13)
4. Love and War (9)
5. Voyage to the New World (1)

Best Special Release Writer

1. Nicholas Briggs - Dark Eyes (25)
2. Nicholas Briggs & Jason Arnopp - UNIT: Dominion (17)
3. Paul Cornell & Jacqueline Rayner - Love and War (14)
4. Jonathan Morris - Voyage to Venus (11)
5. Matthew Sweet - Voyage to the New World (1)

Best Special Release Director

1. Nicholas Briggs - Dark Eyes (21)
2. Nicholas Briggs - UNIT: Dominion (12)
3. Ken Bentley - Voyage to Venus (11)
4. Gary Russell - Love and War (7)
5. Ken Bentley - Voyage to the New World (1)

Best Special Release Cover Art

1. Alex Mallinson - Dark Eyes (15)
2. Alex Mallinson - Voyage to Venus (11)
3. Alex Mallinson - Voyage to the New World (5)
   Andy Lambert - Love and War
4. Alex Mallinson - UNIT: Dominion (3)

Best Special Release Music & Sound Design

1. Fool Circle Productions - Voyage to Venus (14)
2. Andy Hardwick - Dark Eyes (5)
   Martin Johnson - UNIT: Dominion
3. Steve Foxon - Love and War (3)
4. Fool Circle - Voyage to the New World (0)

Best Counter Measure Story

1. The Pelage Project (12)
2. Artificial Intellegence (8)
   State of Emergency
3. Threshold (5)

Best Counter Measure Writer

1. Ian Potter - The Pelage Project (10)
2. Justin Richards - State of Emergency (9)
3. Matt Fitton - Artificial Intellegence (7)
4. Paul Finch - Threshold (3)

Best Bernice Summerfield Story

1. Bad Habits (12)
2. Vesuvius Falling (3)
   Everybody Loves Irving
3. Brand Management (1)
   Paradise Frost
   Shades of Grey

Best Bernice Summerfield Writer

1. Simon Barnard & Paul Morris - Bad Habits (8)
2. Tony Lee - Vesuvius Falling (6)
3. Miles Richardson - Everybody Loves Irving (3)
4. Christopher Cooper - Brand Management (2)
   David Llewellyn - Paradise Frost (2)
5. Scott Handcock - Shades of Grey (1)

Best Bernice Summerfield Director

1. Gary Russell - Bad Habits (6)
2. Scott Handcock - Shades of Grey (4)
3. Gary Russell - Everybody Loves Irving (3)
4. Gary Russell - Brand Management (2)
   Scott Handcock - Paradise Frost
   Gary Russell - Vesuvius Falling

Well thats all the categories out now. Once again my I say thankyou to everybody who voted and with 2013 being the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who and some big things coming up it looks like the 7th Toms Tardis Awards will be another close run thing.

#18 - The 6th Toms Tardis Award Results - Part 2

Part 2 of the results which look at the Companion Chronicles, Jago and Litefoot, Fourth Doctor Adventures and Lost Stories.

Best Companion (Companion Chronicle)

1. Caroline John (22)
2. William Russell (20)
3. Louise Jameson (8)
4. Peter Purves (5)
5. Frazer Hines (3)
6. Wendy Padbury (2)
7. Jean Marsh (1)
8. Anneke Wills (0)
   Richard Franklin
   Maggie O'Neill
   Amy Pemberton

Best Companion Chronicle

1. The Last Post (20)
2. The Time Museum (11)
   Return of the Rocket Men
3. The Selachian Gambit (3)
4. The Wanderer (2)
   The Jigsaw War
   Project Nirvana
5. The Anachronauts (1)
   Binary
   The Uncertainty Principle
   The Child
6. The Rings of Ikiria (0)

Best Companion Chronicle Writer

1. James Goss - The Last Post (25)
2. James Goss - The Time Museum (9)
3. Cavan Scott & Mark Wright (6)
4. Matt Fitton - Return of the Rocket Men (5)
5. Steve Lyons - The Selachian Gambit (3)
6. Simon Guerrier - The Anachronauts (2)
7. Eddie Robson - The Jigsaw War (1)
   Simon Guerrier - The Uncertainty Principle
   Nigel Fairs - The Child
8. Eddie Robson - Binary (0)
   Richard Dinnick - The Wanderer
   Richard Dinnick - The Rings of Ikira

Best Companion Chronicle Director

1. Lisa Bowerman - The Last Post (28)
2. Lisa Bowerman - The Museum (5)
   Lisa Bowerman - Return of the Rocket Men (5)
3. Ken Bentley - Project Nirvana (4)
   Ken Bentley - The Rings of Ikiria
4. Lisa Bowerman - The Wanderer (3)
5. Lisa Bowerman - The Selachian Gambit (2)
6. Ken Bentley - The Anachronauts (1)
   Lisa Bowerman - The Jigsaw War
7. Lisa Bowerman - Binary (0)
   Lisa Bowerman - The Uncertainty Principle
   Nigel Fairs - The Child

Best Companion Chronicle Cover Art

1. Alex Mallinson - The Wanderer (11)
2. Alex Mallinson - The Time Museum (10)
3. Alex Mallinson - Return of the Rocket Men (9)
4. Simon Holub - The Last Post (6)
5. Simon Holub - The Child (3)
6. Iain Robertson - The Anachronauts (1)
   Alex Mallinson - The Selachian Gambit
   Alex Mallinson - The Jigsaw War
7. Iain Robertson - Binary
   Alex Mallinson - The Rings of Ikiria
   Anthony Lamb - The Uncertainty Principle
   Mark Plastow - Project Nirvana

Best Companion Chronicle Music & Sound Design

1. Howard Carter - Return of the Rocket Men (13)
2. Alistair Lock - The Selachigan Gambit (6)
3. Richard Fox & Lauren Yason - The Last Post (5)
4. Richard Fox & Lauren Yason - Project Nirvana (3)
5. Andrew Edwards - The Wanderers (2)
   ??? - The Jigsaw War
6. ??? - Binary (1)
   Richard Fox & Lauren Yason - The Rings of Ikiria
7. Toby Hrycek-Robinson - The Anachronauts (0)
   Richard Fox & Lauren Yason - The Time Museum
   Richard Fox & Lauren Yason - The Uncertainty Principle
   Nigel Fairs - The Child

Best Lost Story

1. The First Sontarans (27)
2. Foe from the Future (13)
3. The Masters of Luxor (7)
4. The Guardians of Prophecy (4)
   The Rosemariners
5. Power Play (3)
   The Valley of Death

Best Lost Story Writer

1. Andrew Smith - The First Sontarans (28)
2. Robert Banks-Stewart & John Dorney - Foe from the Future (15)
3. Anthony Coburn & Nigel Robinson - The Masters of Luxor (7)
4. Philip Hinchcliffe & Jonathan Morris - Valley of Death (5)
5. Gary Hopkins - Power Play (3)
6. Johnny Byrne & Jonathan Morris - The Guardians of Prophecy (2)
   Donald Tosh - The Rosemariners

Best Lost Story Director

1. Ken Bentley - The First Sontarans (25)
2. Ken Bentley - Foe from the Future (16)
3. Lisa Bowerman - The Masters of Luxor (9)
4. Lisa Bowerman - The Rosemariners (3)
5. Ken Bentley - Power Play (2)
   Ken Bentley - Valley of Death
6. Ken Bentley - The Guardians of Prophecy (0)

Best Lost Story Music & Sound Design

1. Howard Carter - Foe from the Future (12)
2. Jamie Robertson - The First Sontarans (11)
3. Andy Hardwick - The Valley of Death (4)
4. Steve Foxon - The Guardians of Prophecy (2)
   Toby Hrycek-Robinson - The Masters of Luxor
5. Simon Robinson - Power Play (1)
6. Jamie Robertson - The Rosemariners (0)

Best Lost Story Cover Art

1. Alex Mallinson - The First Sontarans (14)
2. Alex Mallinson - The Rosemariners (8)
3. Alex Mallinson - Foe from the Future (6)
4. Alex Mallinson - The Masters of Luxor (5)
5. Alex Mallinson - The Guardians of Prophecy (4)
6. Alex Mallinson - The Valley of Death (0)
   Alex Mallinson - Power Play (0)

Best Jago and Litefoot Story

1. Beautiful Things (19)
2. The Lonely Clock (12)
3. The Hourglass Killers (6)
4. Jago and Love (5)

Best Jago and Litefoot Writer

1. John Dorney - Beautiful Things (19)
2. Matthew Sweet - The Lonely Clock (11)
3. Justin Richards - The Hourglass Killers (7)
4. Nigel Fairs - Jago in Love (5)

Best Fourth Doctor Adventure

1. The Wrath of Iceni (10)
2. The Renaissance Man (7)
3. The Oseidon Adventure (4)
4. Destination: Nerva (2)
   Energy of the Daleks
5. Trail of the White Worm (1)

Best Fourth Doctor Writer

1. John Dorney - The Wrath of the Iceni (32)
2. Justin Richards - The Renaissance Man (15)
3. Nicholas Briggs - Energy of the Daleks (5)
   Alan Barnes - Trail of the White Worm
4. Nicholas Briggs - Destination Nerva (4)
5. Alan Barnes - The Oseidon Adventure (3)

Best Fourth Doctor Director

1. Ken Bentley - The Wrath of the Iceni (26)
2. Ken Bentley - The Renaissance Man (10)
3. Nicholas Briggs - Energy of the Daleks (5)
   Ken Bentley - Trail of the White Worm
   Ken Bentley - The oseidon Adventure
4. Nicholas Briggs - Destination Nerva (4)

In the final Tomfile, I will announce the full results of the special releases, counter measure and bernice summerfield stories.

#17 - The 6th Toms Tardis Award Results - Part 1

The 6th Toms Tardis Awards have come to a close. After 32 days of voting, there were just over 1,700 votes cast in 34 categories. In the first of three Tomfiles,

Best Doctor

1. Peter Davison (20)
2. Colin Baker (19)
3. Paul McGann (17)
4. Sylvester McCoy (14)
5. Tom Baker (12)

Best Companion

1. Sarah Sutton (25) Second time she has won this award (first back in 2007)
2. Philip Olivier (19)
3. Lisa Greenwood (13)
4. Janet Fielding (11)
5. Sophie Aldred (8)
6. Mark Strickson (1)

Best Main Range Story

1. The Emerald Tiger (33)
2. Protect and Survive (11)
3. The Curse of Davros/The Burning Prince (6)
4. The Butcher of Brisbane/Gods and Monsters (5)
5. The Fourth Wall (4)
6. Wirrn Isle/Black and White (2)
7. The Jupiter Conjunction/The Shadow Heart/1001 Nights (1)
8. The Acheron Pulse (0)

Best Main Range Writer

1. Barnaby Edwards (The Emerald Tiger) (29)
2. Jonathan Morris (Protect and Survive) (12)
3. John Dorney (The Fourth Wall) (9)
4. John Dorney (The Burning Prince) (7)
5. Jonathan Morris (The Curse of Davros) (6)
   Marc Platt (The Butcher of Brisbane)
6. Matt Fitton (Black and White) (5)
7. Alan Barnes & Mike Maddox (Gods and Monsters (3)
8. Eddie Robson (The Jupiter Conjunction) (1)
9. William Gallagher (Wirrn Isle) (0)
   Rick Briggs (The Acheron Pulse)
   Jonathan Morris (The Shadow Heart)

Best Main Range Director

1. Barnaby Edwards (The Emerald Tiger) (29)
2. Ken Bentley (Protect and Survive) (10)
3. Ken Bentley (The Butcher of Brisbane) (7)
   Ken Bentley (Gods and Monsters)
   Ken Bentley (The Burning Prince)
4. Nicholas Briggs (The Curse of Davros) (5)
5. Barnaby Edwards (1001 Nights) (3)
6. Nicholas Briggs (Wirrn Isle)
   Ken Bentley (Black and White) (2)
7. Nicholas Briggs (The Fourth Wall) (1)
   Ken Bentley (The Jupiter Conjunction (1)
8. Ken Bentley (The Acheron Pulse) (0)
   Ken Bentley (The Shadow Heart) (0)

Best Main Range Cover Art

1. Alex Mallinson (1001 Nights) (20)
2. Alex Mallinson (The Burning Prince) (17)
3. Amazing 15 (The Emerald Tiger) (6)
4. Simon Holub (Wirrn Isle) (4)
5. Amazing 15 (The Butcher of Brisbane) (2)
   Alex Mallinson (The Acheron Pulse)
6. Jamie Robertson (The Fourth Wall) (1)
   Barry Piggott (Black and White)
   Alex Mallinson (The Shadow Heart)
7. Richard Fox & Lauren Yason (The Jupiter Conjunction)
   Barry Piggott (Protect and Survive)
   Barry Piggott (Gods and Monsters)

Main Range Music & Sound Design

1. Howard Carter (The Emerald Tiger) (23)
2. Wilfredo Acosta (Protect and Survive) (5)
   Wilfredo Acosta (Black and White)
3. Martin Montague & Toby Hrycek-Robinson (The Burning Prince
   Jamie Robertson (1001 Nights)
4. Wilfredo Acosta (The Curse of Davros) (2)
   Jamie Robertson (The Fourth Wall)
   Richard Fox & Lauren Yason (The Jupiter Conjunction)
5. Howard Carter (Gods and Monsters) (1)
6. Fool Circle Productions (The Butcher of Brisbane) (0)
   Toby Hrycek-Robinson (The Acheron Pulse)
   Wilfredo Acosta (The Shadow Heart)

BEST SERIES

1. Fifth (The Emerlad Tiger/The Jupiter Conjunction/The Butcher of Brisbane) (33)
2. Seventh (Protect and Survive/Black and White/Gods and Monsters) (32)
3. Sixth (The Curse of Davros/The Fourth Wall/Wirrn Isle) (4)
4. Multi-Doctor (The Burning Prince/The Acheron Pulse/The Shadow Heart) (3)

In the next Tomfile, the results from the Companion Chronicles & Lost Stories will be announced.

#16 - Big Finish Review of 2012

Has 2012 been a good year for Big Finish? This is a question I ask myself every year and this year has been a resounding YES. There are many reasons why this is the case, not only did we have Tom Baker finally make his debut for the range but there were plenty of stories that had potential to do well. Not only did we have the Fourth Doctor adventures but Counter Measures debut this year and the Sixth Doctor joined Jago and Litefoot in their series before getting some special adventures in the TARDIS. Now I usually do series but series review but this year I have decided to change things by doing my top ten of the year, these are all the ranges that Big Finish do so lets start right at number ten.

10 – WIRRN ISLE
Reviewed Sunday March 25

Wirrn Isle is the first of two stories from the opening series that feature in the top 10. It was the second story to feature the Wirrn. I liked how it had a classic Doctor Who feel to it and had it been any other year then it would have probably been story of the year contender material however due to the previous two stories in the series then it doesn’t rank as highly. This was William Gallagher’s first full story after contributing a story to Demons of Red Lodge and Other stories in 2010 and it was a nice ‘sequel’ to The Ark in Space where the descendants of the Beacon now live. For me there was one supporting character that really stood out for me and that was Toasty (Tessa Nicholson) that I thought stole the show at times. At number 10 it shows how good the rest of the stories are in this chart.

09 – DESTINATION: NERVA
Reviewed on January 15

This was an important release for Big Finish. Possibly the most important since Big Finish started. Tom Baker finally makes his debut in his own series. I don’t know what the sales were/are for this but I imagine its high. It was clear that Big Finish weren’t going to sit on their laurels because this story the first in the series was written and directed by Nicholas Briggs which is a clear indication of how high expectations were for this series. This opening story was exactly what was needed, it wasn’t too complicated and wasn’t brainless stuff. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson were on fine form and it was comforting to know that things were going to be ok.

08 – THE FIRST SONTARAN
Reviewed on July 31

As I write this the votes are still being counted  so I don’t know whether it will win Best Lost Story but it is certainly my favourite Lost Story because it was a Sontaran story and also a Rutan story. This is the most back story that the Sontarans have ever had and there are some wonderful scenes that help make this a clear winner out of all the Lost Stories. I mentioned in my review that I had high expectations and they were met, this is the strongest Sontaran story that Big Finish have done and it shows that there is still some mileage in the Lost Stories series even though this was a rare feeling.

07 – THE EMERALD TIGER
Reviewed on Thursday April 26

This was the first story of the year that I genuinely thought would be my story of 2012. It was a story that was a historical story (of sorts). One thing that I liked in this story was the casting of Cherie Lunghi. In my review I commented that “I thought that Cherie Lunghi was very good because she started off as this quite stuck up and unlikeable character but as the plot moves on she becomes someone who has suffered tragedy and we understand why she is as she comes across.”. The Tegan/Nyssa/Turlough series have been one of the highlights of recent years and it was nice how it continued this year.

06 – THE CURSE OF DAVROS
Reviewed on Sunday February 5

The Curse of Davros was my story of the month for January and it saw the return of Davros to Big Finish. It also saw the introduction of Flip to the series as a companion. It wasn’t your usual Davros story as it saw the Doctor and Davros swap bodies. I thought it was the most refreshing use of the Davros character since Terror Firma. In my review I described this story as “The Curse of Davros is a very good start to 2012. Jonathan Morris has written another story that doesn’t get bogged down in science fiction complexities but just goes from A to B in the most entertaining manner. At no point did it become boring or slow or anything that required to stop and think. It has a strong plot and also has the Daleks and Davros to help add superb icing to a very nice cake.” On reflection it shouldn’t have been surprising that this was going to be a good year, it should have been a clear indication that the quality was going to be high.

05 – THE WRATH OF THE ICENI
Reviewed on March 19

The Wrath of the Iceni is the best story of this series of Fourth Doctor Adventures and it was my story of the month for March. The whole series was one bit learning curve for Leela and this was the peak of that series. She got to meet her human equivalent. In my review I said “I really loved this story and found it to be thoroughly compelling from start to finish. I was worried that it was going to get bogged down in something dull but to be fair there is a sound reason for the story being in its setting and a strong plot which makes me wish that this were a slightly bit longer because I thought that there was enough to pad this out to be a four parter. John Dorney has written another solid story and its a return to form after a mixed previous story.”

04 – THE BURNING PRINCE
Reviewed on October 11

The Burning Prince was the first in the Multi-Doctor series and it was by far the best story of the trilogy. It was also my story of the month for September and  I was impressed with just how the worked. In my original review I said “The story has a fairly linear plot and there aren’t really any surprises in this but to be honest I don’t mind that because the story is so action packed and the characters are so well written that its almost a relief that the story isn’t complicated.”. I also commented that “Peter Davison gives one of his strongest performances in quite sometime”.  I think that the best kind of stories are ones that come out of left field and you just don’t expect that they will be as good as they are.

JOINT 2ND – UNIT: DOMINION & THE LAST POST
Reviewed October 25 & November 10 respectively

I tried for a long time to try and pick one over the other with these two but I just couldn’t, I couldn’t even separate them for the Story of the Month award. UNIT: Dominion was the first of the special releases which I maintain is the best of the specials. It was a joy from start to finish and it saw the return of Raine and most importantly Klein who last appeared in the 2010 story Architects of History. Alex McQueen is the big name and plays a very important person in this story which was worth every single penny that I paid.

The other story was the last story to feature Caroline John as she died shortly after this was recorded and it was always going to be a difficult story to listen to but instead of feeling sad whilst listening to it I was gripped from start to finish and found it the best Companion Chronicle story of the year. I have felt that the Liz Shaw stories have been a bit hit and miss so it was a relief that this was her best story. It was a lovely way to end Caroline John’s time with Big Finish.

1ST PROTECT AND SURVIVE
Reviewed on August 11

So we have reached what I consider the best story of the year from Big Finish and it was a story that came out of the blue. Protect and Survive was my story of the month for July and Big Finish hasn’t done a really dark story since Nicholas Briggs took charge of Big Finish in 2007. So it was quite good when this story seem to hark back to the early days of Big Finish. I thought that from start to finish it was a wonderful adventure with a very limited number of characters and more importantly superb performances from Philip Olivier and Sophie Aldred. At times it was harrowing to listen to and that’s what is so good about this story which takes its name from a 1970’s Government leaflet about what to do in the event of a nuclear bomb going off.  I know that for many The Emerald Tiger is the best story of the year but for me this was better because it was bolder and more dark than Barnaby Edward’s story. Protect and Survive was my favourite Big Finish story of 2012 and my favourite for quite sometime.

It has been a truly superb year for Big Finish. There was a lot that could have gone wrong with the introduction of Tom Baker to the Doctor Who world and the special releases that Big Finish introduced in late 2012 could have also been a disappointment but that didn’t happen. 2013 looks like its going to be another great year because Bonnie Langford is to make her first Big  Finish  appearance since 2007 and Gallifrey returns for its penultimate series so in twelve months time I should have another tough job in trying to pick a top 10.

The Tomfiles: #15 - Big Finish Review of 2011

It’s that time of year again when I look back at the previous year of releases. Big Finish has continued to produce a high number of stories ranging several different spin-offs. We saw companions return and depart in some of the finest releases that Big Finish have produced. The year started of traditionally with January.

JANUARY – MARCH: THE THOMAS BREWSTER SERIES
Thomas Brewster finally returned in ‘The Crimes of Thomas Brewster’. It also marked the return of Maggie Stables after about two years out of the main range. The Crimes of Thomas Brewster wasn’t as good a starter story to the year as ‘A Thousand Tiny Wing’s. When we got to Feast of Axos, I found the series picked up as the Axos were a under appreciated story. The final story was ‘Industrial Evolution’ which I think was a disappointing end to the series. Ok it wasn’t a terrible story as it was written by Eddie Robson but I think that the whole series could be summed up as OK.

APRIL – JUNE: RICHTER 2
Due to the success of the previous Nyssa/Tegan/Turlough series in 2010. It was obvious and appreciated that they returned for a second series and actually I think that it was better. Heroes of Sontar marked the first appearance of the Sontarans in a Big Finish play and it was a brilliant adventure. This was beaten by Kiss of Death which I think is the best story of the year as it was about Turlough and was a wonderful story. The final story was the ‘weakest’ story of the series but only because the other two were so good. I still enjoyed ‘Rat Trap’ and would listen to it again if I got the chance.

JULY – SEPTEMBER: SEVENTH DOCTOR & ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
This series of adventures featured the Seventh Doctor travelling alone. For the first time since 2008, the Doctor who likes to roll his R’s had to save the universe on his own. The first story ‘ Robophobia’ saw the return of the Robots from ‘The Robots of Death’ and whilst I questioned the decision to bring them back I rather enjoyed the story. The series took a brief break as the main range celebrated it’s 150th release with Recorded Time and Other Stories which were four single stories. I rather enjoyed this release but then it went back to the series and two fantastic stories in succession. I really enjoyed this story and House of Blue Fire and along with Kiss of Death formed three of my favourite stories of the year.

OCTOBER – NOVEMBER: THE MARY SHELLEY TRILOGY
With Lucie Miller having left in March’s ‘To The Death’ it meant that the Eighth Doctor was free to appear in the main range for the first time since 2009’s ‘Company of Friends’. In fact its one character who appeared in that story that was chosen to replace Lucie and it was a bold idea to use a famous person from history. The relationship wasn’t the same as any that we had known since McGann joined Big Finish in 2001. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and by The Army of Death I had actually grown to like the companion as she had been played very well by Julie Cox.

The Silver Turk was the best story of the series and it was voted Best Main Range story in this years Toms Tardis Awards and its not hard to see why. I think that it was a different take on the Cybermen and uses the original design which I love. The next story The Witch from the Well is a perfectly standard story and Army of Death is actually the best story for Mary Shelley.

01) Kiss of Death (8.50)
02) House of Blue Fire (8.44)
03) The Doomsday Quatrain (8.38)
04) Heroes of Sontar (8.25)
05) Army of Death (7.99)
06) Recorded Time and Other Stories (7.88)
07) The Silver Turk (7.50)
08) The Feast of Axos (7.50)
09) Robophobia (7.50)
10) The Witch from the Well (7.50)
11) Rat Trap (7.25)
12) The Crimes of Thomas Brewster (7.13)
13) Industrial Evolution (7.00)

Average – 7.76


THE COMPANION CHRONICLES
The Companion Chronicles continued to be strong. It started off with a cracking CC in the form of Peri and the Piscon Paradox. It was a mad story which with any other writer would have been a terrible story but Nev Fountain found the right balance. 2011 saw a trilogy of adventures where we were introduced to Oliver Harper. He had a secret which turned out to be that he was a gay man in the 1960’s. Not the biggest secret but anyway but the end of the trilogy ‘The First Wave’ had a wonderful ending and was only beaten by the first story in the series ‘The Perpetual Bond’.

There were some stories which didn’t quite hit the mark. ‘The Sentinels of the New Dawn’ was the weakest story which was compounded by the fact that it was a Liz Shaw story. Another duff story was ‘The Forbidden Time’ which I just didn’t like at all.

This series shows no sign of getting tired and with the slight tweaks to the format, its nice to think where the series could go.

01) Peri and the Piscon Paradox (8.25)
02) The First Wave (8.20)
03) The Perpetual Bond (8.00)
04) The Many Deaths of Jo Grant (8.00)
05) Tales from the Vault (7.88)
06) Beyond the Ultimate Adventure (7.80)
07) The Memory Cheats (7.63)
08) Ferril’s Folly (7.50)
09) The Cold Equations (7.25)
10) The Rocket Men (7.00)
11) The Forbidden Time (6.75)
12) The Sentinels of the New Dawn (6.50)

THE LOST STORIES
The term Lost Stories was stretched somewhat in 2011 because we had the Seventh Doctor series which introduced the character of Raine to the show. I quite liked the character of Raine as she was well played by Beth Chalmers. The combination of Raine and Ace is a nice one and hopefully it will result in a main range adventure. We also had fifth Doctor series of adventures where it was just Nyssa and Tegan. It’s been a good year overall with 2012 looking to be another great year.

TOP 5 LOST STORIES
The Elite (8.38)
Thin Ice (8.31)
Crime of the Century (8.19)
Animal (7.69)
Earth Aid (7.56)

GALLIFREY
Gallifrey returned for the first time since 2006. I had listened to the previous three series in preparation to this series and I must admit that whilst this series was slightly more easy to understand than the other three it was still enjoyable. Some didn’t seem to enjoy it but I did and thought that the idea that the regular characters were looking for a new home was quite a good story arc. Hopefully it wont be another five years before we get Gallifrey V.

JAGO AND LITE FOOT – SERIES II & III
Jago and Litefoot returned for not one but two series of adventures and they got better with each series. Series 3 was my favourite of the two because Louise Jameson returned as Leela and it gave the series a freshness that some may feel it didn’t need but to me it made it seem like it was from the 1970’s.

Both series did have something in common and that was the best story was the first. Both Litefoot and Sanders and Dead Men’s Tales were the best stories of the series. It’s quite amazing that two characters that appeared once in the TV series back in the 70’s have managed to spawn so many stories with more coming in 2012 and hopefully beyond.

The overall feeling about this year is that its been a solid year. I don’t think the Doctor/Companion line up has been as solid as in previous years. I don’t think that it was necessary to have Thomas Brewster return and Mary Shelley was another curious if slightly better realised decision. 2012 is going to be a big year for Big Finish with the arrival of the fourth incarnation. I hope that when I do my review of 2012 that I will be saying it will be the best yet.

#14 - Missing Persumed Wiped....Not for Two of Them

Sunday 11 December is an important date for Doctor Who fans as it was confirmed that two episodes of Classic Doctor Who that were presumed wiped had been found. Episode Three of Galaxy 4 and Episode Two of The Underwater Menace have been found which reduces the amount of episodes lost to 106. Being on twitter there seemed to be a tension to find out what the news was, I was initially excited by the news but then thought that it wouldn’t b e anything major. I had hoped it would be the missing episodes of ‘The Daleks Master Plan’ but in reality thought it would be that the Christmas Special of Doctor Who Confidential would air.

However just after 5pm, the news seemed to leak out from some of the people I am following that they had found these two episodes. I must admit that my initial reaction was that of perplexment. I knew it would be missing episodes found but wish it had been for a story that was missing one episodes. It was fun being on twitter after the news had broke because some had felt excited about this news, thinking it was the best news for a long time and an early Christmas present and then some thought it was a little bit of an anti-climax. I think after thinking about it, I am in the middle. Possibly because I had mentally prepared myself and being a pessimist.

The first episode found was episode three of Galaxy 4 which was when they named individual episodes and this one was called ‘Airlock’. It originally aired on the BBC on Saturday 25th September 1965 and was watched by 11.5 million people, it was written by William Emms and directed by Derek Martinus. Before today all four episodes were missing and only the audio recording existed. I think there is a very brief clip that exists which sees the Doctor, Steven and Vicki on the Dravhins ship so its good to see a bit more of this story. The next episode was Episode 2 of The Underwater Menace which was aired on Saturday 21st January 1967. It was watched by 7.5 million people, written by Geoffrey Orme and directed by Julia Smith. Now that this episode has been found only the first and last episode are missing. This is a story that would benefit from being seen in its entirety as opposed to just on audio with 25 minutes.

Been a fan of Doctor Who its one of the biggest bug bears and fans who haven’t seen anything pre-Eccleston will be wondering what the fuss is about but for completists like me its quite significant news. Over the last twenty years we have been treated to dribs and drabs of episodes. The first big release of missing episodes was ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’ which was found in Hong Kong of all places. It’s a story that I was first introduced to via cassette tape (remember those days) and when I finally watched it on VHS some time later I was mesmorised. It’s only in later years that I have put it into context and whilst I think it’s a good story it has lost some of its shine since the early 1990’s. The most recent discover was in 2004 when an episode of the ‘The Daleks Master Plan – Day of Armageddon’ was found. It was great to see another episode from this epic as there were only two episodes to watch and ‘Day of Armageddon’ was from early on in the serial. It was an interesting episode and hopefully one day it will be found in its entirety.

I’m not a massive fan of these two stories but will appreciate that they have been found and hope that it wont be another seven years before we get more episodes. Hopefully we will live in a world where not one episode of Doctor Who is missing.

A guy can dream cant he!

The Tomfiles: #13 - 150 Not Out

Big Finish reached a milestone when they released their 150th Main Range release ‘Recorded Time and Other Stories’. In the 12 years since they were licensed to produce Doctor Who stories. Over the 150 releases the stories have varied quite a lot. Colin Baker, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy were there at the very beginning and Paul McGann joined in 2001. We have also been reintroduced to classic companions with only Matthew Waterhouse not coming back as Adric (though have we really missed him?). But we have also been introduced to new companions and that is what has made these adventures more than just Doctor Who on audio. These are new companions that we have seen from the start. I only started watching Doctor Who properly in 1993 so until the show returned in 2005, the Big Finish companions were the only ‘new’ characters that I have seen in their debut stories.

The format of these stories has changed over the years. From 1999 to 2007, the stories would be released in random order with a Fifth Doctor story being released one month and then a Seventh Doctor story being released the next month. Then after Nicholas Briggs took over as the executive producer of the main range we started to get ‘three + one’ releases. They didn’t really work because very often the three episodes would be great as they cut out all the padding that accompanies a normal four part adventure but very often the single part story would let the whole release down. It has taken me a while for BF to get a handle on these single episodes. But it was in 2008 when the format of the main range releases would change. Due to a story arc involving the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Thomas Brewster, it was decided that starting in 2009 there would series of stories that would be released one after another. So there would be three series of three adventures with a single release. With the Eighth Doctor having adventures in his own series, it would be Doctors 5,6 & 7 that would get their own series of adventures.

During these 150 stories we have seen some classic monsters return via BF. These include the Daleks, Cybermen and the Master which were obvious ones but it some of the lesser popular monsters that have returned. They included The Axons (Feast of Axos – 2011), Omega (Omega – 2003), Ice Warriors (Red Dawn – 2003 and Frozen Time – 2008), Rutan (Castle of Fear – 2009) and The Mara (Cradle of the Snake – 2010). It’s always a curious decision to bring back monsters that only appeared once or maybe twice in the classic era but usually its with good intentions and whilst I may not have been wholly positive about a story (Robophobia) I am always open to them bringing back monsters that only made a single appearance as long as it is justified.

The big names that have appeared in these 150 stories over the years has also been impressive. Names such as David Walliams (Little Britain and swimming the Thames), Mark Gatiss (League of Gentleman), Joe Thomas (Inbetweeners), Anna Masey (Peeping Tom) to name but a few. It’s always surprising to see the sort of people that will appear in audio Who as opposed to TV Who. To appear on TV Doctor Who I could understand because of the exposure it would give them but I think that the fact their in a Doctor Who is more of a personal thing than a professional thing.

The stories that have been done over the last 11 years have used a large number of writers. Some had written for the TV series and some would go onto write for the new series. In fact the 2002 story Spare Parts was inspiration for the 2006 David Tennant stories ‘Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel’ and in 2005 Robert Shearman adapted his 2003 adventure ‘Jubilee’ to become ‘Dalek. Due to the contract that BF has with the BBC it means that BF can’t use a monster or villain or even story if it mirrors one that is being used on TV. That’s why in the 2009 Lost Story ‘The Hollows of Time’ the Master wasn’t used as he was appearing on TV. It seems that this only really becomes a problem when they want to use a classic villain/monster, otherwise they are free to do whatever they want and the only restriction is really on what they want to do. There have been tendencies when the story has been complicated. The most obvious example of this was in the 2008 adventure ‘Brotherhood of the Daleks’ which is quite possibly the most complicated story that BF have done. Even Colin Baker wasn’t fully aware of what was going on. Most of the time it’s just me that doesn’t understand what’s going on but on some rare occasions like BOTD, it’s a group thing.

I decided to do a massive poll to decide what was the most popular Big Finish story in the main range. I suspected that ‘The Chimes of Midnight’ would have a good chance because it won the Toms Tardis ‘Story of the Decade’ award in 2009. If you didn’t vote then the way then let me explain how it worked. Basically I opened the poll so that you could select your 10 favourite stories. Not just one because I know how difficult that can be but 10.

Here is what I voted for in this poll.

1 – Live 34 (2005) 9 – The Chimes of Midnight (2002)
2 – Project: Twilight (2001) 10 – Medicinal Purposes (2004)
3 – Project: Lazarus (2003)
4 – Son of the Dragon (2007)
5 – Nocturne (2007)
6 – Enemy of the Daleks (2009)
7 – The Reaping (2006)
8 – The Nowhere Place (2006)

After all the votes had been counted the (not surprising) winner was the 2002 adventure ‘The Chimes of Midnight’. It got 51 votes, second was another 2002 adventure ‘Spare Parts’ which got 43 and quite surprisingly ‘The One Doctor’ from 2001 was the third most popular story with 38 votes. Now it is an enjoyable story but I don’t think that its one of the top 3 stories ever.

Winners of the Best Story category in the Toms Tardis Stories did as follows;

1999 – Phantasmagoria #42 with 5 votes
2000 – The Marian Conspiracy #8 with 29 votes
2001 – Project: Twilight #22 with 10 votes
2002 – The Chimes of Midnight #1 with 51 votes
2003 – Doctor Who and the Pirates #7 with 30 votes
2004 – The Harvest #27 with 8 votes
2005 – The Juggernauts #49 with 4 votes
2006 – Pier Pressure #84 with 2 votes
2007 – Son of the Dragon #22 with 10 votes
2008 – The Haunting of Thomas Brewster #36 with 6 votes
2009 – The Magic Mousetrap #36 with 6 votes
2010 – The Wreck of the Titan #6 with 32 votes

Out of 150 stories, there were only 16 stories that didn’t get a single vote. They were Minuet in Hell (2001), The Rapture (2002), The Sandman (2002), Nekromanteia (2003), The Creed of the Kromon (2004), The Roof of the World (2004), The Last (2004), The Game (2005), Three’s A Crowd (2005), Red (2006), Valhalla (2007), The Wishing Beast/The Vanity Box (2007), The Dark Husband (2008), The Chaos Pool (2009), Lurkers at Sunlight’s Edge (2010), Recorded Time and Other Stories (2011).

Some of these I kind of understand, I’m not wild about Minuet in Hell, Red, Valhalla or Nekromanteia but then there are some that I think should have at least got a vote such as The Game which has William Russell in it. I also thought that Recorded Time and Other Stories and Lurkers at Sunlight’s Edge should have received a vote. How something like …ish (111th with 1 vote) or Renaissance of the Daleks (60th with 3 votes) managed to score higher I will never know.

Big Finish have achieved a lot in 150 stories, they have used new and old monsters in these stories and also bought some popular combinations back. 2012 looks like being another good year with Tom Baker joining the Big Finish family but when/if we do a poll for the Best 200 stories I suspect that ‘The Chimes of Midnight’ will win. Congratulations to Big Finish, you were there when Doctor Who was on TV and you show that you can produce stories just as good as the ones on TV with a fraction of their budget.

To use a cricket term to describe my feelings about Big Finish -150 not out

The Tomfiles: #12 - Death of Doctor Who Confidential (2005-2011)

The news that Doctor Who Confidential has been axed has come as a great shock and sadness to a great deal of people. It has even prompted a campaign to get set up on twitter to try and bring the show back. This is due to the fact that the BBC has had its licence fee frozen by the Government until 2016. As a result this means that the BBC has to cut its budget by 16% as well as having to take control of the World Service and some of the costs of the Welsh language channel S4C. Over the last few months, the BBC has around 2,000 job losses as well as loss of sports coverage including Formula One.

The show was created in 2005 purely as a way that new fans to the show could understand its history and why the Doctor is the way he is and why the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than on the outside. It last around 45 minutes and in recent years has focused on interviewing the cast and looking at some of the people that make the sets and other stuff. Ok this is mildly interesting but after about 25 minutes I have found myself getting restless and wanting to change channels. In the most recent series, I have not even watched them because I have found them to be very poor in entertainment.

BBC Three has had its budget cut by 10% or £8.5 million pounds. According to the BBC website it’s “to nurture and develop shows for BBC One with some reduction in drama, music and entertainment”. Now this means that we are supposedly getting more original programming which will be worthy of the licence fee but considering this is the channel that gives us ‘Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show’, ‘Snog Marry Avoid’ and ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’ I’m not holding out much hope. However despite these shockingly bad shows they do show ‘Family Guy’, ‘American Dad’ and ‘Russell Howard’s Good News’ so if they do more of these shows as opposed to bridal vanity shows then that will be ok.

No other drama gets a behind the scenes show apart from Eastenders which occasionally and I mean occasionally gives us a one hour show. So why is Doctor Who so special? Most shows that are released on DVD get a behind the scenes disc and even when they release Doctor Who on DVD they present the cut down version of Confidential. Ultimately the main reason why DWC was axed was because it was probably too expensive. When you think about how much time is spent interviewing people, recording what’s going on and more then it must stack up to a whole lot. Considering what the ratings are for this show it’s a very poor return rate.

As long as Doctor Who is on the air, should we really be bothered that DWC has been axed. No, Doctor Who was and still is the main priority and the fact we are all getting so het up about it is frankly baffling. If the show were to come back in some shorter format then that would be fine but I won’t miss DWC. Let’s not forget that people are losing their jobs and some of them may find other jobs but some won’t and if you compare some job losses to the cancellation of a mildly interesting show then you should see which the inferior problem is. Doctor Who Confidential has been a supporting show to the main show but lets get our priorities right. DW is the show we should be enjoying and when they decide to cut that then we should get angry until then, let’s pause for a moment and wave goodbye to DWC.

The Tomfiles: #11 - Doctor Who Abroad

Doctor Who is a thoroughly British affair. Over the course of 32 series, the show has filmed all over the UK where in recent years the show has been filmed in Cardiff. However sometimes the show decided to get on a plane and film as Matt Smith said ‘Somewhere new’. Remarkably in the first 26 years, the show only ventured on foreign soil three time and that was over the space of six years. Recently the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory have been having adventures in the good old US of A but is filming abroad a good idea or does it ruin the flow of a story or even a season?

The first time that Doctor Who was filmed abroad was in the 1979 adventure ‘City of Death’ where the Fourth Doctor and Romana travelled to Paris in France for four episodes. The story itself is a very good story despite it coming from the Douglas Adams era where comedy was a big part of the show. There are large chunks of location filming to help establish the show’s setting, however it is essentially just the Doctor and Romana running around Parisian landmarks but its filmed beautifully.

Arc of Infinity was the second adventure to travel abroad but the show still stays in Europe by filming in Amsterdam. Like City of Death, the story features a lot of running around but there are still the familiar sights. To be fair to AOI, there is a bit more to the filming that running around. There is some standing about and sitting in a café but more importantly the big finale scene is on location with the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa catching up with Omega and shooting him. In terms of purpose to the story, the scenes in AOI are far better than COD.

Two years later The Two Doctors would be filmed in Seville Spain for reasons no-one can work out. It doesn’t offer anything to the story and you could have filmed it anywhere in the UK. There are some beautiful shots of Seville which makes it look a beautiful place. However ultimately the purpose of the location is dubious at best as a result it’s not entirely satisfactory.

It was rumoured that Doctor Who would have gone to Asia in the abandoned 1986 season which would have seen the Autons running amok in Thailand or somewhere near. Who knows whether this would have been a good idea or not but we’ll never know.

It would be eleven years before Doctor Who would film abroad and this time it would be different because it would be in the TV Movie where the story was filmed in Canada doubling for San Francisco. It feels more like a US drama than a British one which makes it stand out in the history of Doctor Who. There are some lovely scenes but as most of it is filmed at night unfortunately I don’t think it shows off the city as well as it could have done. Had the ‘pilot’ turned into a series then there would undoubtably have been more location filming and chances to see more of the scenery.

During the early years of Doctor Who’s return featured filming switching between Cardiff (and surrounding areas) and London and during the Tennant era there was only one time where it was based outside of the UK and that occurred in Fires of Pompeii where the show went to actually went to the same studio in Italy where the HBO/BBC drama Rome was filmed. This was a fantastic idea and one of the reasons why the story is so good is because of the location stuff. It would have been silly to try and replicate those scenes in the UK because it wouldn’t have been as good. It’s one of the best uses of foreign filming so far. The Eleventh Doctor would be the Fifth actor to film abroad with two episodes being filmed in Croatia. The first episode was Vampires in Venice where the filming is beautfil and does create a different impression to the series. Despite Vampires of Venice and Vincent and the Doctor being filmed in the same place it doesn’t show in the stories. It’s quite impressive how they manage to do this and the best thing is that I wasn’t thinking about whether it made sense but just being bowled over by the story and enjoying the filming.

The most recent excursion out of the UK saw the show go to the country with the biggest fan base outside of the UK. The show went to America and filmed in the Utah desert. Despite it being a desert the filming was very good and helped create the impact that the show needed to set the current series up. The reason for the story being set in America was plausible and so the location stuff needed to compliment it and it certainly did that in this story with some fantastic arial shots. Much better than what you would get here.

The issue of coincidence occurs whenever the show films abroad because some argue that its convenient that the aliens would invade/attack in a foreign country but then I take the approach that it’s no more convenient than aliens attacking/invading just the UK when there are bigger and more powerful countries that they could pick. I think that providing the reason for setting a story in a foreign country makes sense then it doesn’t make it any less plausible setting a story in South Africa or Finland or even Vanuatu than it would be setting it in the UK.

Filming abroad always gives a Doctor Who story an international feeling and with the show popular in all corners of the world it’s only right that occasionally the show ventures outwards to embrace that popularity and more importantly the cash. Recently Steven Moffat said in a newspaper article that £300,000 of the £1 million that it costs to make a Doctor Who episode comes from merchandise. I wonder how much of the remaininig £700,000 comes from international TV stations. Going beyond that the issue of filming abroad shouldn’t really exist and occasional excursions outside of the UK are a good thing and should be a regular thing.

The Tomfiles: #10 - Big Finish Review of 2010

Big Finish has continued to flower in 2010. They had continued with the successful series format and this year saw the return of a few familiar names and voices. It also saw the debut of spin-off series and the regeneration of a Big Finish series.

JANUARY – MARCH: THE KLEIN SERIES
This series saw the return of Elizabeth Klein who had previously appeared in the 2001 adventure ‘Colditz’. Nearly ten years later after fans had been asking for this and they got what they wanted. All three stories were very good as they dealt with the character of Klein well. They didn’t gloat about her being a Nazi scientist but rather her own individual morals. This was well handled in all three stories. The first story was A Thousand Tiny Wings which was what I thought was a truly superb story and it was dark and at times quite grim. Then there was Survival of the Fittest which followed Klein’s story which told of what happened to Klein after Colditz which was better than SOTF. The final story was The Architects of History which was the best story of the series, it was a fitting end to the series and showed me why people have been asking for Klein’s return since Colditz.

APRIL-JUNE: THE JAMIE SERIES
These three stories saw the return of Jamie as played by Fraser Hines. Jamie had only been heard of in the Companion Chronicles. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite as successful as I had hoped for. City of Spires wasn’t the best of starts as I wrote in my review “Ultimately though the main problem with this story is that it took way too long to get going. Had it not been for that final 20 minutes where pretty much everything was revealed, I would have found this a real disappointment.”. The next story was slightly better but the thing about The Wreck of the Titan as I mentioned in my review “When the story finished I found myself liking this story but not totally sure as tow why. I think that whilst it was mysterious for large parts of the story it wasn’t too confusing as for me to stop caring.”. The final story was Legend of the Cybermen which saw the return of Zoe Harriot to the series as played by Wendy Padbury and also it was the first Cyberman story since 2008’s Kingdom of Silver. In my review of the story I said “It’s the best story of the three but that’s not really a compliment. If I had to pick a fault with the story is that it spends too long getting started. The first episode has too much of Jamie and the Doctor running around the void. Its only when the Artful Dodger turns up that it really gets going. The thing about this story is that it has a lot of loose ends to type up and it does this effectively and in a way that a simple mind like mine can understand.”

Like I said before, it wasn’t quite as successful as I had hoped and I still can’t quite figure out why. It’s not Frazer Hines or Colin Baker’s fault as they performed well. The only thing that I think it could be is the whole story arc didn’t quite work due to the way that the series are structured the arc becomes quite important to the series. Hopefully if Jamie returns they will do something a bit simpler.

JULY-SEPTEMBER: THE RICHTER SERIES
These three stories saw for the first time since 1983. Tegan, Nyssa and Turlough return with the Fifth Doctor. Janet Fielding had only made one appearance since leaving the show in 1984 and it was in the 2006 story ‘The Gathering’. The first story was in my opinion the best. Cobwebs was curiously set after Nyssa had left the series in Terminus but before Enlightenment. For Tegan and Turlough it had been a few days but for Nyssa it had been 50 years. I wrote in my review that I thought “The whole thing about this story is clever”. I also commented on how “it was slightly disappointing that Janet Fielding didn’t make more of an effort to sound like 1980’s Tegan.” The next story was The Whispering Forest which couldn’t quite live up to what we had been in Cobwebs. There was some quite interesting stuff in it but it lacked some action or energy. The final story was The Cradle of the Snake and saw the return of Mara which made this story the best of the series. It was a fitting end to the series and as it was a Marc Platt story it was neither too complicated or too dull.

The success of this series and popularity has led to another series of Nyssa/Tegan/Turlough series of adventures being planned for mid-2011. Its wonderful news to have Tegan back as her 2006 appearance in The Gathering wasn’t brilliant and it would have been a shame if that were her only contribution. I look forward to this new series with great enthusiasm.

SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER: THE HEX SERIES
Another series and another series with great expectations from myself. It had been over a year since the last series with Ace and Hex and at the end of that series, Hex had been shot. The first story was Project Destiny and was the best story of the series. It saw the return of Nimrod who previously appeared in Project Twilight (2001) and Project Lazarus (2003). From start to finish it was wonderful and whilst it wasn’t the best Project story it was still highly enjoyable. Hex departed in a ‘mock’ exit which implied that he was leaving for good. The story had a wonderful lead-in to A Death in the Family. However despite all this, A Death in the Family was massive disappointment. Despite being voted Best Story in the Toms Tardis 2010 Awards, I found it too be the worst story for quite sometime. That’s democracy for you. The story saw the return of the Word Lord or Nobody No-one which I found exciting because I liked the character in Forty-Five as well the return of Evelyn Smythe. Neither of these could rescue it. The final story was Lurkers at Sunlights Edge which was a nice ending to the series. It wasn’t a fantastic story but there was something about it and it was way better than the previous story.

Overall the series was a disappointment. Apart from Project Destiny, I found the series to be aimless and without direction. Whereas the Klein and Jamie series had a end point and you knew where it would go there was none of that in this series and out of the three series I would rate this one bottom.

The final main range story of 2010 was The Demons of Red Lodge & Other stories which was a series of stories quite like The Company of Friends and Forty-Five. This year it featured the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. This was a good release and totally changes my original opinion of single episode stories. It shows that with the right story that 25 minutes is an ok amount of time to tell a story.


THE COMPANION CHRONICLES
It’s been another fantastic year for Companion Chronicles. A particular highlight was The Suffering which saw two companion tell their story. Shadow of the Past was another top quality story and would rank in my top three companion stories of 2010. Night’s Black Agents was ‘the fourth story in a trilogy’ story which was a cracking story. The final story of Series 4 was brilliant as it featured India Fisher who was returning as Charley and David Ballie who appeared in The Nightmare Fair. Series 5 started off with The Guardian of the Solar System

THE LOST STORIES
This year saw the rest of the Sixth Doctor stories with a varying amount of success. There were stories like Paradise 5 and The Macros (written by the late Ingrid Pitt) which were enjoyable and left me wishing that they had been made for TV. Then there were stories like Point of Entry and The Hollows of Time which were just dreadful. In particular The Hollows of Time which was meant to feature the Master but due to the character been used in the David Tennant finale couldn’t be used by Big Finish so we are left with a mess of a story that frankly wouldn’t have been saved even if the Master had been in it.

We also got the First Doctor and Second Doctor stories which were more like Companion Chronicles but were still enjoyable. In particular Farewell Great Macedon which was a fantastic release read brilliantly by Carole Ann Ford and William Russell.

JAGO & LITEFOOT
Well after months of waiting and a successful ‘pilot’ in The Mahogany Murderers. In June we got four adventures. All four stories were great in their own way but I think that the best was The Bloodless Soldier. I did wonder how the series would work. It’s one thing in a Companion Chronicle but its another when you have four hour-long adventures. However credit where its due they managed it. This worked so much that two more series have been commissioned. Christopher Benjamin & Trevor Baxter were superb and its crazy that it took over 30 years to get to this stage. After the successful return of Klein & Jago and Litefoot, I learnt one thing. Don’t fret.

EIGHTH DOCTOR ADVENTURES
It was announced this year that 2010 would see the last separate series for the Eighth Doctor. At the end of 2009, Lucie Miller said goodbye and we said hello in 2010 to Tamsin. However this final series had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster. The series seemed to be a bit lacklustre especially after Nevermore but then when we got to the Book of Kells things picked up and as we ended 2010 there are just a few more stories to go before this thrilling series concludes. It’s a shame in a way that the Eighth Doctor will have to return to the main range in 2011 because I think that the Eighth Doctor thrives from having more stories than the others and we will have to get use to just three stories a year instead of eight or ten.

2010 has been a superb year and was the best yet. There has been a concern for me at times that Big Finish have been stretching themselves too far but I think that they need to in order to find the revenue to continue making more Doctor Who stories. However it’s the quality side that I am more concerned about. Including the main range, Jago and Litefoot, Companion Chronicles, Lost Stories, EDA and the Four Doctors special, there were 47 releases and about 6 or 7 of them were duds which is quite a good percentage when you think about it. I go into 2011 with high hopes and a strong feeling that in twelve months time I will be writing that Big Finish has had another fantastic year. Everyone at Big Finish stand up and take your applause!!!

TOP 5 STORIES OF 2010
1. Guardian of the Solar System
2. Shadows of the Past
3. The Wreck of the Titan
4. Solitaire
5. Cobwebs

WORST 5 STORIES OF 2010
1. The Hollows of Time
2. Nevermore
3. Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code
4. Point of Entry
5. A Death in the Family

The Tomfiles: #9 - Series 31 Review

As the first series of Doctor Who with Matt Smith as the Doctor has now ended. It’s the perfect time to review everything about this series. From the look of the show to the different stories as well as the monsters/baddies but most importantly the main stars of the show. Ever since it was announced that Matt Smith would be replacing David Tennant as the Doctor, there has been a certain amount (some of it unfair) comments about whether Smith was too young and whether he was a big enough name to carry the role. I sat with my friends as we watched the final moments of ‘The End of Time’ and saw Smith ramble on about his fingers and legs and how he was a girl due to his long hair and not ginger. My friends seemed unconvinced and I simply told them to wait until the series had begun before making judgement. On the famous thing I personally I rather glad they didn’t go for a big name. The last time we had a big name (Christopher Eccleston) it seemed to make the show not seem like Doctor Who. When watching Eccleston you were thinking more of the ITV drama ‘The Second Coming’ and ‘Cracker’ instead of Doctor Who. Smith might be young but Peter Davison had that same problem and he turned out alright.

So Matt Smith was confirmed as The Doctor and Karen Gillan was the companion. Two unknowns in the biggest show on TV. If this wasn’t an indication that this was a revamp then I don’t know what is. Steven Moffat had written for the show since it returned in 2005 and was clearly a Doctor Who mad fan, so he was perfect to take over from Russell T Davies who I felt had become tired and lacking in original ideas. Moffatt would be joined by Piers Wenger and Beth Willis as Executive Producers. Two more things would be the source of much discussion, The Doctor’s outfit and the TARDIS interior. The Outfit has always been a big thing because it says a lot about the Doctor. From Hartnell’s Edwardian outfit to Colin Baker’s screaming mixed colour monstrocity. I have to admit that I really didn’t like the Tweed jacket that Smith was wearing when I saw it for the first time but it actually grew on me. The TARDIS was just as important that Smith’s suit. I’m still not 100% sold on it as it’s a bit too colourful for my likeing. I do like the different levels as it gives the TARDIS a different feel to it. With the little bits discussed through countless forums, it was the time to focus on the series.

This series saw the return of some familiar monsters. The Silurians returned after a 26 year abscence. The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood was an enjoyable story and the look of the silurians whilst wasnt perfect was a damn sight better than the new Daleks. The new fatter Daleks debuted in Episode 3 called Victory of the Daleks. This saw more pure Daleks become born but this seem to cause outrage as they just look awful. The colours werent an issue for me but when you look at them from the back they look like Gok Wan's been at them. This series's story arc was the crack in time. Way back in Episode 1 there was a crack in Amelia's wall. In every subsequent episode the crack appeared and in Episode 9 the Doctor put his hand in the crack and pulled out a piece of the TARDIS. It was revealed that the cracks in time were created by the TARDIS exploding and this was deemed to be the Doctor's fault and he was subsequently put in the Pandorica Box. As story arc's go its not the strongest that there has ever been. I think it was more to do with the fact that it was slightly flat in its execution.

Something that was a surprise was the romance side of the characters. Smith's Doctor and Amy didnt start getting smoochy or something that hogs the screen and gets in the way of the main action. Also the introduction of Rory was something that I was wary of but once he began travelling in the TARDIS I actually quite liked him. I thought Amy's Choice was the best example of how their romance was clear but wasnt vomit enducing.

In terms of ratings which is what everyone worries about these days its difficult to say that the series was a success. True, the ratings were more consistant than in any previous series but when you put all five series ratings side by side the fifth series was the fourth best in terms of average ratings. Only the 2007 series drew a lower average rating. The highest rating came with Episode 1 where 10.08 million viewers watched. The ratings stumbled between 6 and 8 million with the lowest coming for Episode 13 where only 6.12 watched. Its the second lowest rated Doctor Who episode since it returned. Only The Satan Pit from 2006 scored lower (6.08). That said, four stories are in the Top 25 (The Eleventh Hour, The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone and The Beast Below) with four in the middle and four in the bottom 10 (Vincent and the Doctor, The Hungry Earth, The Lodger & The Big Bang). In times when bugets are beein cut any any show that isnt performing well is given the unceremonial axe. Its a worring time when the show doesnt blow the ratings into the water.

Overall I really liked this first season. It was a better first series for a new Doctor than Tennant's. Whilst I wasnt totally bowled over by the Lodger I thought that the whole look and feel of the series was a breath of fresh air. It had a more adult feel to it and didnt feel like a warm and cuddly teddy bear which is something that always bothered me about the RTD era. The show wasnt perfect. I think that there was a times too much complicated speeches which I thought was unncersary. Also the revamp of the Daleks were a total flop as was the resolution of the Pandorica Opens cliffhanger. Hopefully when the show returns for a full series in 2011, it will be a bit more fun and not so headscratching. Out of all the five series that have been made by BBC Cymru, I would have to say that this season was the most consistant and the one that I will look forward to the most on DVD.

The Tomfiles: #8 - Big Finish Review of 2009

Has this been a good year for Big Finish? This year seems to have seen a high output that ever before. It was major milestone for the company as it celebrated its 10th Birthday in July. This year saw Doctor Who split into 3 part series. This was partly because the Thomas Brewster story was spread over several months which meant the story lost some of its flow. So in 2009 there was going to be three sets of three series and a single release. Also in 2009 there was the continuation of the Companion Chronicles series which saw the third series end in June and the Fourth begin straight away in July. Also after over a year of waiting the Lost Stories began with The Nightmare Fair but I getting ahead of myself. The Eight Doctor and Lucie adventures returned for a third series but it was different from the previous two.

THE MAIN RANGE
JANUARY – MARCH: THE KEY 2 TIME
THE JUDGEMENT OF ISSKAR, THE DESTROYER OF DELIGHTS & THE CHAOS POOL

The first series saw the return of the Key 2 Time. Back in the 1970’s Tom Baker spent 26 episodes looking for the segments only for him to destroy them. This time the Fifth Doctor had the task of looking for them. He didn’t have Peri (who seemed to be frozen in time) but was given a new companion in the form of Amy (played by ex-Hollyoaks star Ciara Janson). The first story was The Judgement of Isskar which was a bit of a mixed bag. The Ice Warriors returned for this one and at the end of it we were finally treated to one of the best cliffhangers that Big Finish have produced for quite a long time. The return of the Black Guardian. David Troughton won a Best Guest Star Award for his portrayal of the Black Guardian. In The Destroyer of Delights we were again treated to a weird story which seemed slightly more structured than the previous story. The final story of the series saw the return of Lalla Ward. Instead of playing Romana like we (ok I) thought she ended up playing Princess Astra like she did back in the Armageddon Factor. The thing about The Chaos Pool was that it was a slightly complicated story that did seem to drag at times. Overall the series wasn’t bad but neither was it anything to write home about.

SERIES AVERAGE RATING: 71%

APRIL – JUNE:
THE MAGIC MOUSETRAP, ENEMY OF THE DALEKS & THE ANGEL OF SCUTARI

The second series saw the Seventh Doctor reunited with Ace and Hex. The first adventure was voted Story of the Year by Toms Tardis Fans. This story saw the return of the Celestial Toymaker, his first appearance in over 40 years. This was a very good story with a great setting and the use of the Toymaker was original and enjoyable. The second story was what I would consider to be story of the year and that was Enemy of the Daleks. This story saw the Doctor and company arrive at a point of time where the Doctor knew that something bad happened there and he had to make sure that it happened. The Daleks were returning because the research being done on this base would have destroyed them. This meant that the Daleks were doing their invade and conquer bit but were just trying to survive. The final story of this series was never going to be as good as the previous two stories but was more of a character piece. Hex has never really had much of a push since he joined the TARDIS back in 2004 and this one allowed him to use abilities and to help. This story was set during the Crimean War and saw the appearance of Florence Nightengale. The side of Hex we saw was one that sneaking about behind the Doctor’s back. Whilst this was a good story it was the weakest in terms of adventure. Overall this series was the best so far and showed that this way of distributing the releases has some merit to it.

SERIES AVERAGE RATING: 81%

JULY: THE COMPANY OF FRIENDS

The only single release story of the main range in 2009 saw the Eighth Doctor return from the Lucie adventures. This story was effectively the 10th Anniversary story and saw four companions that the Eighth Doctor had in different forms. There was Fitz (Matt di Angelo), Izzy (Jemmima Rooper), Bernice (Lisa Bowerman) and Mary Shelley (Julie Cox). Apart from Bernice we never heard any of the other characters before in Big Finish and this story was a superb effort. Each episode was well structured and thoroughly enjoyable.

RATING: 84%

AUGUST – SEPTEMBER: THE CHARLEY TRILOGY
PATIENT ZERO, PAPER CUTS & BLUE FORGOTTEN PLANET

This was the most anticipated series of adventures of the year. We were finally going to see what was going to happen to Charlotte Pollard. The first story saw the second appearance of the Daleks this year. It also saw the return of the Viyrans who first appeared in Mission of the Viyrans back in 2007. This story saw Charley been trapped thanks to a character called Mila who was someone who has been infected with a disease and called Patient Zero. This story was very good from start to finish and the moment that Mila became Charley and there was the possibility that Charley might leave like this was horrific. Then there was Paper Cuts which saw the Draconians make their first appearance in Big Finish. The story wasn’t as good as Patient Zero but was better than I thought and considering it was by Marc Platt actually made a lot of sense. The final story of this trilogy was the story that I rated the highest. Blue Forgotten Planet was well and truly the final story featuring Charley and the explanation as to how the Eighth Doctor doesn’t remember anything that has happened between his sixth incarnation and Charley was explained in a very clever way. Overall this series was as good as it could have been considering it had so much expectation piled on to it. After eight years it was really sad to see the end of Charley.

SERIES AVERAGE RATING: 83%

OCTOBER – DECEMBER: THE STOCKBRIDGE TRILOGY
CASTLE OF FEAR, THE ETERNAL SUMMER & PLAGUE OF THE DALEKS

The final series of 2009 saw the Fifth Doctor get a second series and sees the Doctor return to Stockbridge which was a setting that was used many times in the comic strips in Doctor Who Magazine. The first story was set in the past, the second was in the present and the third was set in the future.

The first story was Castle of Fear which spent the first half of its life in comedy and then became deadly serious in the second half. The story saw the Rutan’s return to the series and set up and interesting link to the 1974 adventure The Time Warrior. Overall it was due to the comedic first half that put me off from enjoying this story. The second story was one that for most of the voting period was the favourite to win the Best Story gong. To be honest I found it very impressive. There was a lot of shifting about times and also things happening again and again. The final story of the year was the third story of 2009 to feature the Daleks and also the fourth in 15 months. This story was set in the future and was a slightly disappointing adventure and let down the Stockbridge Trilogy a little bit. Overall these stories were enjoyable and better than the Key 2 Time at the beginning of the year.

SERIES AVERAGE RATING: 76%

Overall the main range in 2009 has been a superb year. The three story series has been a fantastic success. In fact it’s the best year in terms of average ratings. It’s the best year since 2001 and was nearly 4.5% better than last year. The only stories that were weakest were the Key 2 Time series but on the whole its been a great year in the main range.

Now its time to look at the other ranges that have been released in 2009.


THE LOST STORIES

In November the Lost Stories were released with the Nightmare Fair and in December Mission to Magnus. These two stories were supposed to be the first two stories of the 23rd series back in 1986. Due to the high level of expectation the Nightmare Fair for me fell a bit below expectation and only got 81% whereas Mission to Magnus was a more enjoyable story and was paced at a better level which is why it got slightly better rating of 82%. The rest of the series is due to be released in the first half of 2010.

COMPANION CHRONICLES

SERIES 3
The last five stories of the third series saw Ian Chesterton, Polly, Mike Yates, Jago and Litefoot and also the First Romana tell stories of their adventures with their Doctors. It was the Jago and Litefoot one that was the best received and got 88% which was the second highest rating for this series only behind the brilliant Home Truths which got 90%. The final story was quite impressive, the first Romana tells a story where she is the only person in the story. Normally the actor playing the companion has someone else to act against whereas Mary Tamm was acting solo.

SERIES 4
The fourth series started the following month after Stealers from Saiph was released. The first story of this series saw the first sequel in the Companion Chronicles range. Home Truths was so well received that Sara Kingdom came back in The Drowned World. Also during the course of the first half of the series we had another adventure from Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines), King Peladon (played by David Troughton) told a third Doctor story. Romana II (Lalla Ward) was returning after her only other appearance in the first series. This start to the series was the best that I recall. Hopefully the second half in 2010 carries on this strong start.

EIGHTH DOCTOR AND LUCIE

With their being no TV series to speak of. The clever chaps at Big Finish decided to get the eight episodes they normally do and split each of them into two so we get 16 x 25 minute episodes which were available to download every Saturday.

The stories were all very good with particular notice to be drawn to Hothouse which saw the Krynoids return after their only appearance in the Seeds of Doom (1976). Also Wirrn Dawn saw the Wirrn make their first appearance in audio. Another return was the dreaded (quite literally) Eight Legs. This two part story saw the Eight Truths take over earth only to be foiled by the Doctor.

This third series was certainly different however I think that it didn’t quite have the same impact that I felt the second series had. That said it was the Christmas Special that was the most eagerly awaited release. Death in Blackpool won the Best Spin-Off award. This story saw the departure of Lucie. Lucie was the audio version of Rose Tyler but was more manageable. Her departure was very emotional and was the best ending for the companion.

AN EARTHLY CHILD

The subscribers special saw the return of Susan Foreman to a proper adventure (previously she was in Here There Be Monsters in 2008). The Eighth Doctor was the one that met his granddaughter some 30 years after the events of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It wasn’t about the plot but more about the emotional reunion between the Doctor and Susan. For anyone who doesn’t subscribe to the main range will have to wait until December 2010 before they can buy it and they will be in for a treat.

December saw the release of the second Cyberman series. I haven’t actually listened to this so this will probably be part of the 2010 review.

2009 has as mentioned been a fantastic year for all the different areas of Doctor Who. I have spent a small fortune buying the different series and I have to say that at no point during the course of the year have I regretted buying anything.

2010 has a lot to live up to!!!