Tag: Doctor Who

UNIT, Nemesis: Agents of the Vulpreen

UNIT, Nemesis: Agents of the Vulpreen

(Big Finish, 2022)

Audio box set cover: UNIT, Nemesis, Agents of the Vulpreen (Big Finish, 2022)

1. The Man From Gallifrey

by Andrew Smith

Hasper (Glen McCready) proves a worthwhile character, but otherwise this story serves primarily as set-up for subsequent instalments. Effectively worked, save that its sacrifice is followed by the almost totally irrelevant ‘Power of the Dominators’, which comes across as a broadcast error.

 

2. Power of the Dominators

by Kenneth Grant

The humour would work better if: the Dominators weren’t such derisory adversaries (their deadly plan built around unnecessary human interactions); the script didn’t pepper scenes with vlogging-type exposition; Harry Sullivan weren’t so caricatured; and/or UNIT made any use whatsoever of its mandate/manpower/weaponry.

 

3. The War Factory

by Lizzie Hopley

A strong female cast, which unfortunately is wasted somewhat by a story that skips about all over the place rather than focussing on one or two key elements. Yasmin Mwanza impresses as Private Lauren Huff. Angela Bruce/Brigadier Bambera makes a welcome return.

 

4. Ten Minutes in Hell

by John Dorney

The time dynamic and Kate Stewart’s relationship with her fellow prisoner lend a certain distinction to this otherwise straightforward action piece. It’s a perfectly respectable almost-standalone story, but doesn’t offer a lot in terms of concluding the box set as a whole.

Doctor Who: The Snowmen

Doctor Who: The Snowmen

by Steven Moffat; dir. Saul Metzstein (BBC, 2012)

TV poster: “Doctor Who: The Snowmen” by Steven Moffat; dir. Saul Metzstein (BBC, 2012)

Moffat finds just the right way to realise the ‘retired Doctor’ scenario first proposed by Douglas Adams. While the snowmen/Great Intelligence plot proves a little perfunctory, this beautifully acted Christmas special sails along on characterisation and humour (while teasing another Clara introduction).

Doctor Who: Kingdom of Silver / Keepsake

Doctor Who: Kingdom of Silver / Keepsake

by James Swallow (Big Finish, 2008)

Audio drama cover: “Doctor Who: Kingdom of Silver” by James Swallow (Big Finish, 2008)

An unusual three-plus-one-parter. The Cybermen themselves don’t offer much, but the androids serve (with considerably more nuance) to explore the grey area between human and artificial life. Terry Molloy plays an authority figure without megalomaniacal ambitions, which makes for a nice change!

Doctor Who: The Angel of Scutari

Doctor Who: The Angel of Scutari

by Paul Sutton (Big Finish, 2009)

Audio drama cover: “Doctor Who: The Angel of Scutari” by Paul Sutton (Big Finish, 2009)

A straight historical adventure, engagingly scripted and giving Ace and Hex some room to breathe. On the downside, Sutton resorts to the usual, lazy trope of a mentally unhinged human adversary, while needlessly dredging up famous personages (Florence Nightingale, perhaps, but Tolstoy?!).

Doctor Who: City of Spires

Doctor Who: City of Spires

by Simon Bovey (Big Finish, 2010)

Audio drama cover: “Doctor Who: City of Spires” by Simon Bovey (Big Finish, 2010)

Colin Baker and Frazer Hines make for good listening, undiminished by the passing years. The story, while diverting enough, exists mostly to reunite their characters, the Overlord proving a paltry adversary even by Doctor Who’s standards of dim villains with dubious schemes.

Doctor Who: The Time Vampire

Doctor Who: The Time Vampire

by Nigel Fairs (Big Finish, 2010)

Audio drama cover: “Doctor Who: The Time Vampire” by Nigel Fairs (Big Finish, 2010)

Two episodes of untethered timey-wimeyness, deliberately written to be explicable only in retrospect. All very clever, but it doesn’t make for a great listen. Louise Jameson narrates as Leela, and she and John Leeson play all the parts (including a sketchy Doctor).

Doctor Who: The Natural History of Fear

Doctor Who: The Natural History of Fear

by Jim Mortimore (Big Finish, 2004)

Audio drama cover: “Doctor Who: The Natural History of Fear” by Jim Mortimore (Big Finish, 2004)

More ambitious than the usual run-around. The dystopia, however, is both overplayed and oversimplified, outlawing all questions, yes, but in standard interrogative form only (not other means of eliciting information), and having persons raised without such phrasings still instinctively reaching for them.

Derelict Space Sheep