Dr. Eighth
by Adam Hargreaves BBC, 2017)
The Eighth Doctor offering very little by way of (televised) source material, this volume was a real chance for Hargreaves to exercise his imagination. Unfortunately this manifests largely in absentia. Readers need not persist beyond the cover illustration and the rainbow-cake planet.
Doctor Who: Wirrn Isle
by William Gallagher (Big Finish, 2012)
Bringing back the Wirrn was ambitious but Gallagher has recaptured at least some of the tension and body horror of The Ark in Space. The Sixth Doctor is well-written for a change and, notwithstanding some egregious character irrationality, the story works well.
Doctor Who: The Silver Turk
by Marc Platt (Big Finish, 2011)
Mary Shelley encounters badly damaged Cybermen; thus, Frankenstein. The idea would later find its way to television in The Haunting of Villa Diodati (2020), but Mary also echoes Rose Tyler’s empathy from Dalek (2005), the resonances circling back through TV and literature.
Doctor Who: The Creed of the Kromon
by Philip Martin (Big Finish, 2004)
Philip Martin’s two serials were highpoints of Doctor Who during Colin Baker’s all-too-brief tenure. Creed of the Kromon features Paul McGann’s Doctor but carries a similar vibe, suffusing its SF setting with a depth and complexity rarely seen in weekly adventure serials.
Doctor Who: Animal
by Andrew Cartmel (Big Finish, 2011)
As Cartmel the script editor, so Cartmel the writer: an eye for the big picture; blithe on particulars. Funky musical transitions cannot enliven this ponderous, time-wasting run-around. Meantimes, Sylvester McCoy retreats into affability mode, presumably to medicate against banal and ham-fisted dialogue.
The Black Archive #34: Battlefield
by Philip Purser-Hallard (Obverse Books, 2019)
The sections on Arthurian legend outstrip the casual reader’s needs (Purser-Hallard is an authority). The remaining chapters delve astutely into Battlefield’s production-level evolution and aspirations, piecing together a cogent analysis of where this unheralded story succeeds and what it might have offered.
Doctor Who: Scherzo
by Robert Shearman (Big Finish, 2003)
An experimental, at times very disturbing two-hander played with considerable finesse by Paul McGann and India Fisher. The premise is to be lauded but lacks execution (at both script and production level). Though not incongruous, the unceasing background mosquito whine was ill-advised.
The Black Archive #35: Timelash
by Phil Pascoe (Obverse Books, 2019)
Pascoe approaches Timelash without an obvious agenda to push, motivated by a fondness for the story yet making no attempt to proselytise. His exposition is centred around the use of HG Wells as a character, and evinces the creative bleed-through between texts.
Dr. Seventh
by Adam Hargreaves (BBC, 2017)
Though drawing a pretty faithful Seventh Doctor (and Ace), Hargreaves manages the almost inconceivable feat of making his Cheetah People less threatening than those of the original serial. In mitigation, the Master’s cameo is era-appropriate in its preening reveal and blustering fizzle.
The Black Archive #33: Horror of Fang Rock
by Matthew Guerrieri (Obverse Books, 2019)
Guerrieri is clearly an erudite writer and diligent researcher. However, the four constructs by which he interprets Horror of Fang Rock seem associatively rather than directly relevant; the non-Who works he analyses tend rather to dominate, relegating Horror itself to the background.