The Medium is Not Enough

And so the chopping begins. C’rizz, all round irritant and obstacle to proper character development, is no more. He is an ex-companion. Woo hoo!

A holdover from the weirdy “Divergent Universe” era of eighth Doctor stories, it’s slightly fitting that his final story should be another weirdy alternate universe piece that explains at last the slightly uninteresting secret he’s been carrying with him ever since his exodus.

Trouble is it’s also a fittingly uninvolving story, full of interesting ideas that somehow fail to lift off thanks to the usual infusion of gobbledygook, poorly explained concepts and a resolution that’s somewhat incomprehensible.

Continue reading “Review: Doctor Who – Absolution”

Big Finish has been producing Doctor Who audio plays for quite some time now. In fact, it shouldn’t surprise too many people that 100 is in fact the 100th Big Finish release.

It’s an odd choice for such a numerically momentous occasion. Unlike the first play, The Sirens of Time, or the 40th anniversary play, Zagreus, this is no great gathering of Doctors, no massive continuity-wrangling extravaganza of story-telling.

In fact, it’s more of an internal congratulation, a gathering together of Big Finish writers from over the years, including Robert Shearman and Paul Cornell. Consisting of four short stories, it improbably stars just Colin Baker as the sixth Doctor and Maggie Stables as his Big Finish-only companion, Evelyn – seriously, that’s their A-team for their 100th release? Colin Baker maybe, but Maggie Stables?

As a bit of back-slapping, it’s fine. But as something you’d pay money for, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Continue reading “Review: Doctor Who – 100”

With the companion “Night of the Long Knives” just around the corner at Big Finish productions, I imagine there must have been some trepidation on Caroline Morris’ part when approaching this play.

The Big Finish companions are being wiped out in favour of their on-screen counterparts – and she gets to be the Bride of Dracula.

Not the vampire Dracula, mind, but Vlad the Impaler, that lovely East European warlord and “son of the dragon” from whom Bram Stoker got his original inspiration.

Never going to last, is it?

Continue reading “Review: Doctor Who – Son of the Dragon”