Audio and radio play reviews

An archive of the blog’s reviews of audio and radio plays.

Audio and radio play reviews

Doctor Who: A potted eighth Doctor guide

21 June 2007 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Paul McGann as the Eighth DoctorWell, Poly asked for it so here’s the definite but brief guide to the televised/audioised adventures of the Eighth Doctor. Basically, the TV movie and the Big Finish stories. I’m steering clear of novels, web animations, et al.

I’ll try to keep the reviews very brief, and hopefully you’ll all benefit from knowing the peaks and troughs of the first and only Scouse Doctor Who’s adventures.

I’ll start off with the TV movie as an example: don’t bother unless you watch it with the sound down, you’re drunk, you just want to see Sylvestor McCoy shot or you want to watch fanboys froth as they try to explain how the Doctor is/isn’t half-human.

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Review: Sapphire and Steel – Perfect Day

15 June 2007 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Perfect DayOn the face of it, writing a Sapphire and Steel story shouldn’t be that hard. You can more or less make it up since there are no real rules. The less you say about what’s going on, the spookier and more interesting it gets. The more alien you make the heroes, the better. Ideally, you should make it a four-hander involving Sapphire and Steel, maybe a five-hander if you bring in another element. And the plot should be about regular humans doing something more or less normal and then time deciding to pick on them for no reason.

Simple, huh? (Well, probably not. Cf Adventure Five, the only TV story that wasn’t written by PJ Hammond).

And yet the Big Finish team never do it. Instead of following those simple guidelines, they always populate them with half a dozen extra characters, and have to have some moral tale in which time decides to break in because gay people are forced to hide in the closet or someone doesn’t realise that death is inevitable and can’t be wished away. And, like some “very special episode” of Blossom, Sapphire and Steel have to learn something about “what it is to be human”.

Have a guess what happens in Perfect Day.

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Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Doctor Who – Urban Myths

11 June 2007 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Nicola Bryant and Peter Davison

In keeping with the new Big Finish policy of pairing up audio plays, Exotron comes with Urban Myths, an entertaining little piece of fluff of no real import. As the Big Finish site describes it, “In an expensive restaurant somewhere on Earth, three gourmets plan their evening. First item on the menu: the death of the Doctor.”

It’s really just an excuse for Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant to play different versions of their characters, as Rashomon-style, the assembled Time Lord assassins recall with less than perfect memories the events that caused them to believe that the Doctor needs to be killed.

As time moves on, events become clearer. It’s evident from the outset more or less what’s happening, so there aren’t any huge surprises. All the same, it’s entertaining and good for a laugh, particularly when Nicola Bryant’s doing a deep-voiced, evil Peri. A nice accompaniment to Exotron, but not worth buying the CD set for if you weren’t sold on the idea of Exotron.

Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Doctor Who – Exotron

11 June 2007 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

ExotronThat’s odd. Two Big Finish plays in a row, I.D. and Exotron, and they’re both about robots that have human personalities uploaded into them. Did we really need two of them? Certainly, if it were a choice between I.D. or Exotron, Exotron would win hands down, and not just because it’s got Peri in it.

Exotron is, for one thing, a far more interesting play. It’s not outstanding, you’ll guess what’s going on before the end of part one, and the whole idea of giant hyenas fighting a bunch of Transformers really doesn’t work as an audio play. But it’s still more entertaining than the load of computer code that was I.D.

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Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Doctor Who – Urgent Calls

8 June 2007 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Lauren and The DoctorAs mentioned yesterday in my review of I.D., Big Finish has started to pair up audio plays on its double CD releases. I’m not exactly sure what to make of this policy. Yes, it ensures that certain plays are no longer padded beyond their natural lifespans, which can only be a good thing.

But it does mean that you can end up with two plays of very disparate qualities bundled together. I.D., a three-parter, comes with the one-part Urgent Calls. Now I.D. had more than a touch of rubbishness about it. Urgent Calls, however, is a far more interesting play. Should you buy I.D. just to have Urgent Calls?

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