The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
dir. Peter Jackson (2012)
While some of the action scenes engender a real sense of peril, much of the film seems overstuffed with epic ‘lull’ (not to mention dwarf protagonists and musical bestirment). Martin Freeman is excellent. Sylvester McCoy makes the most of limited screen time.
Doctor Who: Spider’s Shadow
by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2008)
An uncredited one-part coda to Stewart Sheargold’s ‘The Death Collectors’. The in-story repetition is clunky at first (to the point of sounding like a recording error) yet gradually refines itself into a clever little time-trap mystery. Sylvester McCoy rolls with the punches.
Doctor Who: A Death in the Family
by Steven Hall (Big Finish, 2010)
Something of a masterpiece. Hall’s script is exceedingly clever in its own right and perfectly captures the essence of the Seventh Doctor. It earns its big emotional moments and features brilliant performances by McCoy, Aldred, Philip Olivier, Maggie Stables and Ian Reddington.
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.