Doctor Who – Thin Time

By Dan Abnett

The TARDIS is unmoored in space-time, resulting in a rather peculiar appearance in the 19th Century, on Halloween night. The Doctor specifies that on this night, the barrier between worlds is thin, resulting in strange apparitions and occurrences.

Charles Crookshap, a novelist of science fiction, has been having dreams that his future self has been communicating with him and providing knowledge. He has redecorated his dining room at the request of his future self for a specific event that will change his life. The Doctor is puzzled by Crookshap’s story and worried by the designs on the dining room walls which are actually sub quantum computations to take advantage of the thinness of time. Crookshap had called his good friend and confident John Hobshaw by to witness the event when he would meet his future self, then this Doctor fellow showed up and things went sideways.

Creatures from outside of time attack the manor house and threaten the Doctor and the others as they attempt to find some way to bolster their defenses and close the gap. The Doctor ruminates that he has left his companions behind given the grave and dangerous nature of his travels. He realizes that perhaps he was wrong to leave them behind as they had already decided to live the mad dangerous life they live with him.

Thin Time is a thrilling and atmospheric tale combining themes of classic horror and classic Who to deliver a great adventure. There is also a surprise guest from voice actor Jacob Dudman that will have you punch the sky. A grand story, Thin Time is the first part of a double story release alongside Madquake and can be ordered directly from Big Finish.

Doctor Who – The Caves of Androzani

The Caves of Androzani

Story 135
Written by Robert Holmes, directed by Graham Harper
Transmitted: 8–16 March 1984
“You have the mouth of a prattling jackanapes, but your eyes tell a different story.”

Doctor Who had been running for 21 years in 1984. The program had been many things; comedic, historical, dramatic and strange… but rarely was it as dramatic and action-oriented as it was in The Caves of Androzani. The story is something of a worst case scenario. Each week, viewers had traditionally seen the Doctor and his companion(s) arrive in a situation, get captured, escape, and foil the villain. In this story the setting is far more violent and the villains outside the ability of the Doctor’s powers to stop them. This is not a tale about alien invasion or mad scientists. This is a story about corrupt business and government involved in a never-ending drug war. Seldom had Doctor Who attempted to tell such an important story, translating current events through its unique lens of science fiction. But this story used a script by one of the all time great authors of Doctor Who, Robert Holmes (Spearhead from Space, Carnival of Monsters, The Time Warrior, The Ark in Space, Pyramids of Mars, The Brain of Morbius Talons of Weng Chiang, etc) in perhaps his best form. It was also directed by Graeme Harper, a young somewhat newcomer to the role who would go on to direct some of the most striking Who stories ever (even into the new program when he returned for Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel, Doomsday, 42 and more.

Peter Davison had signed on for three years as the Doctor when he was asked to take on the part by John Nathan-Turner. During the program’s 20th series, Davison’s second, he became increasingly frustrated and decided to stick to this plan. He later regretted this decision as his final year was a vast improvement (and it shows in his performance that he was far happier with the material as well), but we will never know what a fourth year of Davison as the Doctor would be like. Yet, if you are going to go out… there are few swan songs better than Caves of Androzani.

Looking for some sand for an off-screen repair job, the Doctor lands on desolate Androzani Minor. When Peri points out that they are surrounded by sand, the Doctor points out that he requires specific sand for his glass blowing, a technique that he learned in a monastery long ago. All of this dialog is lost on screen, but contained in the script which develops the interplay of the Doctor and Peri, something that will become more important as the plot unfolds. The Doctor is famous for walking blindly into dangerous situations, but here Peri vocally asks herself it is wise to just wander into some dank caves on an alien world.

Soon, Peri has become infected with a fungus unknown to the Doctor and they have become embroiled in a private war between troops from Androzani Major and some mercenary gun-runners supplying arms to  the rebel Sharaz Jek.  Mis-identified s criminals, the Doctor and Peri are executed by firing squad.

The powerful Trau Morgus watches the events unfold from Androzani Major, where he brokers deals with the government to prolong the war indefinitely. Unfortunately, the President of the local government has decided to bow to the public’s need for spectrox, a unique miracle drug that can more than double one’s life form, a material found only on Androzani Minor which is under control of Sharaz Jak and his army of androids.

While it appears that they are dead, Peri and the Doctor were actually replaced by android replicas at the last minute and abducted by Jak. They find that their savior is somewhat mad and driven by a vengeful blood food with Trau Morgus that goes back many years when Morgus left Jak for dead in a mud flow. It becomes clear early on that the Doctor is stuck in a dire complicated situation that he must extricate himself from before he and/or Peri are killed. Then he discover that the fungal infection is terminal. The odds have seldom been so against the Doctor and rather than vanquish evil, he must instead dig deep if he hopes to survive this time.

Using his wits, the Doctor escapes captivity only to become captured by Stotz and headed back to Androzani Major to meet his employer, Trau Morgus. Yes, Morgus is playing both sides of the war on drugs and profiting quite well. Somewhat madly, the Doctor breaks his restraints, gains control of the ship and crashes it back on Androzani Minor. Dodging bullets fired by the mercenaries and explosion of scalding mud shooting from the center of the planet, he desperately attempts to find a cure to spetrox toxemia… this in turn leads to a quest into the bowels on the planet to draw milk from the giant vampire bats.

Not an easy day for the Doctor. I am puzzled if there is a single story in which he must undertake a more demanding quest that challenges him to the limit of his abilities.

Peter Davison in The Caves of Androzani

Target mock-up of The Caves of Androzani (click to visit the artist’s Etsy shop)

The performances of the guest cast are phenomenal from John Normington as the conniving Morgus (who strangely delivers monologues directly to the audience) to Maurice Roëves as the gun-runner Stotz. However the real star here is ex-ballet dancer turned actor Christopher Gable as Sharaz Jek. There is a fine line between going over the top and delivering a solid performance as a villain in Doctor Who and Gable hit the mark dead center. Largely covered head-to-toe in leather, his Phantom of the Opera-like Jek creepily fondles Peri every chance he gets and exchanges barbs with the Doctor that indicate his intelligence and scarred psyche. He is one of the absolute best and most tragic of Who villains.

The Doctor confronts the villainous Sharaz Jek

Peri is terrorized by Sharaz Jek

While Holmes’ script and Harper’s direction are stunning and it cannot be argued that this is Davison’s strongest performance as the Doctor, it is difficult to talk about this story without bring up the ending. Previous regeneration stories (Tenth Planet, The War Games, Planet of the Spiders and Logopolis) approached the notion of one era ending and another beginning in their own way. Harper, however, had his own vision. Late at night, the director later recalled, he had been listening to the Beatles’s A Day in the Life and was inspired by the ending of the song in which a symphonic cacophony builds to a veritable explosion. He got the idea that regeneration was similar, as the Doctor’s previous life flashed before him and he was blinded by a steadily building eruption of cellular rebirth.

The moment remains the finest depiction of regeneration, even by the standards of the current program which is no doubt inspired by Harper’s vision. In Logopolis, we had seen the Fourth Doctor haunted by images of his old travelling companions and vicious foes urging him to accept death, giving the impression that it was a personal struggle to push this change into motion. In Caves of Androzani, this is amped up as an argument takes place between his companions who encourage the Doctor to live on only to be countered by an overwhelming image of the Master who all but commands the Doctor to die. It’s a very emotional moment, made all the more poignant by the appearance of young Adric, whom the Doctor had failed to save.

The Fifth Doctor meets his final end

Peter Davison’s finest hour is upstaged by… Nicola Bryant’s cleavage

“Change, my dear… and not a moment too soon.”- the new Doctor arrives

The resultant arrival of Colin Baker, looking more lively and vibrant than ever, is almost disturbing. There is no touch of hopeful rejuvenation or of beating back death. This Doctor is a stranger who is far more alien than any other incarnation to date (but that’s another story…).

As classic stories go, The Caves of Androzani has a massive reputation for being one of best alongside Genesis of The Daleks, Carnival of Monsters and Talons of Weng Chiang. The non-stop action, unusual direction and superb guest cast make this story stand out on its own. It is thrilling to watch the development of the Fifth Doctor, who had traditionally remained on the sidelines, spring forth to rescue his companion in the end. Fans of the modern program are less likely to be surprised by this, but at the time it was startling to see such a strong focus on saving Peri, a companion that he hardly knew. This is of course more of a reaction to the Doctor’s guilt over Adric’s death and how he has steadily witnessed the universe around him darken into a violent place (as seen in Warriors of the Deep, Resurrection of the Daleks and Frontios). I bring this up because Classic Doctor Who was so much a serialized program that lacked the resources to develop a character, yet if one looks closely that is what happened with the Fifth incarnation, building toward this moment in which he realizes that to save just one life, he is willing to sacrifice his own.

For Doctor Who fans at the time who had quickly grown to love Peter Davison as the youthful and often confused yet brave Doctor, this was a very powerful moment that has yet to be topped in the program’s history. There was an opportunity in Tennant’s reign to similarly address this but it all got very self-serving in the end, didn’t it? ‘I don’t want to go’ indeed. Yuck.

Highly recommended and available n Netflix.

Also recommended :

OUTSIDE IN: 160 New Perspectives on 160 Classic Doctor Who Stories by 160 Writers

Doctor Who the Handbook: The Fifth Doctor

Doctor Who: Kinda

Doctor Who: Resurrection Of The Daleks

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited 5-8

Doctor Who and The Emerald Tiger

‘The Emerald Tiger’

Written and directed by Barnaby Edwards
Story 159
Released April 2012

In the jungles of Calcutta, a strange curse has been passed down, the curse of the Emerald Tiger. Much like the mark of the werewolf it turns the victim into an animal, but unlike that myth, the tiger eventually solidifies into a mass of jade. Nyssa has fallen under the curse and in order to save her, the Doctor must unravel this mystery and brave the land of impossible jeweled creatures, and a gun-happy English rogue.

Edwards fully admits that The Emerald Tiger is his ‘big budget film’ version of Doctor Who and it shows. The Doctor lands the TARDIS in Calcutta, 1926 to see an historic cricket match only to get swept up in an amazing adventure almost at once. A man is driven into throws of violence and charges through the throng of commuters at the train depot where the TARDIS has become parked. He is shot dead by the devious Major Cyril Haggard but not before marking Nyssa who immediately falls into a painful coma.

The TARDIS is hoisted into a nearby train as luggage. The train has been purchased for a private trip by Lady Adela Forster. Finding an ideal opportunity to evade the police, Haggard jumps onto the train, as do Tegan and Turlough who are determined to get the TARDIS back. Unfortunately between them and the time vessel is a massive emerald tiger with jeweled eyes and claws.

Close behind, the Doctor gives chase after the train via hot air balloon, turning the burner on its side to act as a makeshift jet engine, and attempts to gain access to the train and while he manages to rescue Turlough and Lady Forster, he fails to save Tegan whose car has become separated from the others and crashes into a vast crevasse. It’s a very moving moment and one in which the Doctor succumbs to grief over the believed death of his friend. Of course when she re-appears, the cliffhanger is strangely a cry of ‘Tegan?!’

But just imagine one of those moments happening on screen! It’s clearly impossible and can only be achieved in this audio format. That kind of took me out of the story at first as this adventure was such a rollicking whirlwind of action, but the writing and performances were so strong that it became lots of fun. Rather than a traditional dip into the past, this was something wholly other.

The Doctor (Peter Davison) and Turlough (Mark Strickson)

Along with pulling out all the stops in creating a blockbuster story, Barnaby Edwards also took inspiration from Kipling’s The Jungle Book, Haggard’s works and Indian folklore. It’s all done with adoration and it shows. The fantastical moments are very moving and the setting is so firmly established by the sound masters at Big Finish that you’d think you were in Calcutta.

As a Fifth Doctor story, this works very well as it features the Doctor unwittingly thrust into a situation where he is in over his head and separates the crew into their own stories. Beyond the first part there’s sadly not much for Turlough to do and Nyssa spends a lot of time in a dream-like state, but Tegan fares the worst. Earning the ire of Major Haggard, she becomes the object of a million she-devil curses.

Of all the cast members, I think that Janet Fielding’s voice has changed the most, but she performs with such gusto that I can forgive it. After all, Peter Davison sounds like he goes to bed at night with a pack of Silk Cut in his mouth!

Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Nyssa (Sarah Sutton)

A fanciful high adventure tale, The Emerald Tiger is an unusual Doctor Who story, but in this case that makes it a lot of fun as well. I have enjoyed almost all of the Davison Big Finish installments. While not as colorfully written as the Colin Baker stories, they have an intensity and character all their own.

The Emerald Tiger can be ordered directly from The Book Depository, with free worldwide shipping.

New Doctor Who toys: Retro Dalek and Post-Regeneration 5th Doctor

Just announced for exclusive release from Forbidden Planet are these two amazing Doctor Who action figures.

(announcement via TardisNewsroom)

When I first learned of a line of 5 inch tall toys based on the long-running series, I was somewhat baffled. Incredibly detailed and articulated, they were impressive, but as the characters on screen did little else but talk and run down corridors, wasn’t an ‘action figure’ a bit of an odd thing to make of William Hartnell and the other actors who played the part of the time traveling man of mystery?

Of course now I own them all… so… yeah.

As testament to the enduring legacy of the TV program, these action figures by Character Options and Bif Bang Pow! are as much an important part of the Doctor Who mythos as the Target novelizations and the radio dramas. Not only are they replications of the characters as they appeared on screen, they capture iconic moments such as the regeneration of Tom Baker into Peter Davison in Logopolis and Castrovalva. A figure of Davison in the full coat has already been released, but this version is the new Doctor sans coat in shirt sleeves (a kit-bash of the recently released Keeper of Traken 4th Doctor with a retooled Davison head).

I do like that in addition to the Master’s TARDIS, they have included a shrunken Logopolitan.

This marks the seventh version of the 5th Doctor in toy form by Character Options… and yet we still do not have a decent figure of the Anthony Ainley Master (the released figure features a breathtakingly accurate sculpt of Ainley’s plugged onto a John Simm body).

Ah well… he’s surely on the way.

Doctor Who Action Figure Collectors Set: 5th Doctor Castrovalva

The newly regenerated Fifth Doctor escapes with his companions back to the TARDIS. Suffering from post-regeneration trauma, he only narrowly manages to save the ship from destruction as it plunges back to Event One, the hydrogen in-rush that preceded the creation of the universe.

He then seeks sanctuary in the peaceful domain of Castrovalva, only to discover that it is an illusory, dimensionally paradoxical trap set for him by the Master with the unwilling aid of a kidnapped Adric. The Doctor eventually wins the day by enlisting the help of the Castrovalvan people who, although also part of the Master’s creation, are nevertheless able to exercise free will.

The Master’s TARDIS
Whilst on the planet Traken the Fourth Doctor discovers that the Master, his long time nemesis, is trying to take control of a complex Traken bio-electronic power known as ‘The Source’. The Source would allow the Master unparalleled power, and the ability to regenerate his dying body. When the Master’s TARDIS is destroyed by the power feedback of The Source it is revealed he has another and thus he escapes to encounter the Doctor again. Their next encounter finds the Master’s TARDIS, with its fully functional Chameleon Circuit, disguised first as a Police Box and latterly on the planet Logopolis, as a sandstone Doric column. The Master’s TARDIS stayed in this favoured form during several encounters with the Fifth Doctor, before changing once again.

Contents:
1 x Post-regeneration Fifth Doctor action figure.
1 x Shrunken figure accessory.
1 x Master’s TARDIS as a Stone Column.

(click to pre-order in the UK)

I’m not a big fan of the Bif Bang Pow Master, Doctor and Sontaran figures, but this Dalek looks really great. The attention to detail is impressive and the larger scale is very attractive to me as well.

Doctor Who Retro Action Figures: Dalek

Daddy, where do Daleks come from?

Grounded in the “Genesis of the Daleks” serial of Doctor Who that marked the first appearance of Davros, the creator of these evil mutant cyborgs, this extraordinary Dalek Action Figure stands approximately 7″ tall. It features wheels and “neck” articulation, along with Bif Bang Pow!’s famed retro styling that takes one back to the bestselling figures from the 1970s and 1980s. Order yours now… or face extermination!

Produced by the BBC, Doctor Who is the longest-running sci-fi TV series in the world. The award-winning show presents the adventures of a time traveler known simply as “the Doctor.” Along with his companions, this mysterious Time Lord journeys through time and space using his TARDIS, which appears from the outside to be an ordinary police phone booth.

(click to pre-order in the UK)

Doctor Who – The Five Companions

The Five Companions

By Eddie Robson
Release date: December 2011
Special release X

“When we have defeated the Rutans, we will reduce the Daleks to a footnote in the pages of history.”
“Well, uh, good for you.” 

Steven Taylor is lost. Once the leader of the Elders, he has found himself in a strange hostile world populated by Daleks. Before he can break into a run or plan a counter-attack, he is rescued by another former companion of the Doctor’s Ian Chesterton, now an old man. The two adventurers struggle to unravel the mystery of their predicament, but are unaware that other former time travelers are nearby. Sara Kingdom encounters Polly, whom she warily accepts as a friend rather than a foe, but both recognize that they are in dire peril when a dinosaur roars into view. In the heart of what appears to be a maze of death, Nyssa of Traken is urged to continue her work on reversing the process that brought the Daleks into this Death Zone, where the Daleks, Sontarans and other monsters battle each other for the entertainment of a mad Time Lord.

One of the weirdest and most fanciful of Big Finish’s releases, the Five Companions is set alongside the Five Doctors, the 20th anniversary special starring Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Peter Davison (and featuring Richard Hurndall and archive footage of Tom Baker). During that story, the Fifth Doctor apparently took a mis-step while using the teleport device given to him by the Time Lord High Council. The miscalculation lands him in the middle of a nest of aliens who are fighting a never-ending war. Additionally, a few of his old traveling companions have also been pulled from their time streams and are stranded in a Death Zone made up of a Sargasso of spacecrafts.

The Five Companions is a bit of fun, really, and the only full cast audio outings for Purves, Marsh, Wills and Russell. There is a lot of fannish material thrown around as Steven recounts his life as leader of the Elders (where he was left at the close of the Savages) and Ian cheerfully talks about his life with Barbara and how she cajoled him out of retirement back into teaching (a reference to Ian’s aborted return in Mawdryn Undead when he was later replaced by the Brigadier). Even Polly gets to weave some post-Faceless Ones tales about her and Ben. Sara Kingdom only hints at her complicated existence when Steven exclaims that she should not be alive.

It’s more of a meeting of continuities than characters!

But thankfully the story is about more than just story lines and fictional continuations of these beloved characters and how their lives continued after they parted ways with the Doctor. It’s about the Doctor not appreciated his companions or acknowledging the impact they had on him at the time. It’s a celebration of the traveling companion, and it’s only right that some rather obscure choices were made in this respect. The eras of the first and second Doctor are still somewhat hazy to modern fans and even to some followers of the original program. Choosing Steven Taylor, Sarah Kingdom and Polly, three companions whose adventures are mostly lost to viewers, was a bold move.

Aneke Wills, William Russell, Jean Marsh, Peter Purves and Sarah Sutton

The Doctor is quite playful in this story, dashing away from a platoon of Sontaran soldiers when they are distracted and later lashing together an escape ploy that could transport them all to safety or explode. This fits in perfectly with the modern dizzy Fifth Doctor portrayal that Davison has taken on in the Big Finish stories. He appears to be distracted much of the time, dangerously so, yet he always manages to save the day. He often congratulates himself on this skill as well.

Peter Davison (The Doctor) in Terminus

The Five Companions is a touching story as each of the characters has a moment with the Doctor in which he or she comes to a realization about their time together. Polly discounts her contribution to the fight against monsters to making the tea, but the Doctor points out that it was Polly who faced the Cybermen at Smowcap base and challenged their lack of emotional range. The Doctor realizes that he never voiced his appreciation of her bravery… and seems rather sad and sincere. Steven seems to be on the verge of blaming the Doctor for deserting him on the planet of the Elders, but the Doctor insists that he knew Steven would make the best of it.

And even though Ian is a very old man, he has the courage of ten young men. Bemused, the Doctor realizes that Ian has faced more horrors than any of them and always came out on top. The brave and brilliant Nyssa shines as the voice of reason, even though Ian would rather charge headfirst into peril, and it is her ingenuity that saves the day in the end. Cold and cunning, Sara Kingdom takes down several foes, but is astonished when Polly uses her stiletto heeled shoe as a weapon against a Sontaran. Posh bird indeed!

A holiday present to the fans, the Five Companions is very ropy and the plot is so thin that it barely serves as the framework of a video game, but as a partner to the Five Doctors, it’s a lot of fun.

Released as a special CD or download, The Five Companions is only available to subscribers… so go to the site and subscribe today!

Click on the link to visit the Big Finish sale page

New Doctor Who Big Finish releases for 2012

The Sixth Doctor and his latest companion Flip encounter the Wirrn and the Fifth Doctor and his retinue meet the war criminal Magnus Greel in The Butcher of Brisbaine in forthcoming audio adventures.

Later in the year the Seventh Doctor will embark on a trilogy of stories that promise big changes for him and his companions. Also, a series of short stories with the Sixth Doctor and a set of adventures with the Eighth Doctor are planned. Maybe we’ll finally get some new graphics of Paul McGann in his revised costume?

Details are slim on most of these releases. More as it becomes available.

Click on any of the images below to pre-order from Big Finish or order them in the US from Mike’s Comics.

158. Wirrn Isle
Starring Colin Baker as The Doctor and Lisa Greenwood as Flip Jackson
By William Gallagher
Release Date: 31 March 2012
The year is 16127. Four decades have passed since the colonists of Nerva Beacon returned to repopulate the once-devastated planet Earth – and the chosen few are finding the business of survival tough.

Far beyond the sterile safety of sanitised Nerva City, transmat scientist Roger Buchman has brought his family to an island surrounded by what they once called Loch Lomond, hoping to re-establish the colony he was forced to abandon many years before.

But something else resides in the Loch. A pestilent alien infestation that the Doctor, beaming in from Nerva City, remembers only too well from his time aboard the Beacon…

The Wirrn are back. And they’re hungry.

159. The Emerald Tiger
By Barnaby Edwards
Starring Peter Davison as The Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan and Mark Strickson as Turlough
Release Date: 30 April 2012

160. The Jupiter Conjunction
By Eddie Robson
Starring Peter Davison as The Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan and Mark Strickson as Turlough
Release Date: 31 May 2012

 

161. The Butcher of Brisbaine
By Marc Platt
Starring Peter Davison as The Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan and Mark Strickson as Turlough with Angus Wright as Magnus Greel
Release Date: 30 June 2012
‘Marc Platt has extrapolated a whole world from a few enticing phrases in “The Talons of Weng-Chiang”. So if you ever wanted to know more about the advance of the Filipino Army on Reykjavik, Findecker’s discovery of the double nexus particle, or the murderous origins of the Peking Homunculus, you can’t afford to miss “The Butcher of Brisbane”… which, as the title suggests, begins with Tegan’s arrival in the ruins of her home town…’ (via Whotopia)

Via TardisNewsroom

Doctor Who Big Finish- Omega

Omega

Story 47
Written by Nev Fountain
Released August 2003
“I must say of all the metaphors I have been in, this is by far the nicest.”

Part of a set of adventures exploring the super villains of Doctor Who (Omega, Davros, the Master and finally Zagreus), Omega is an oddity among oddities. The story begins with the Doctor seemingly aboard a time travel cruise where the experiments of Omega that birth the civilization of Gallifrey are re-enacted by second rate actors. The patrons seem only marginally interested as the story of Omega’s sacrifice in the creation of the Eye of Harmony is dramatized. Only the Doctor seems concerned, but that is because he was called to be there.

Actor Peter Davison was at the beginning of his career when he took on the role of the Doctor back in the day and frankly he suffered the whims of producer John Nathan-Turner and frustrated script editor Eric Saward during his three year reign. In many ways, he was prevented from establishing a firm persona of the Fifth Doctor for fear of a comparison to his predecessor, Tom Baker. In the Big Finish Productions, Davison is given free reign to develop his character as he chooses (more or less) and the result is mystifying. A doddering English gentleman wandering the pathways of space and time, the Doctor appears young but is in fact far older than can be imagined. His past haunts him like a familiar ghost and this story embodies that trait perfectly.

Nev Fountain’s Omega is a story about history and legend and how it can be rewritten by historians for political reasons. The character of Omega appears on the surface to be a booming megalomaniac with dreams of conquest but in actuality he is a tortured soul who has become lost in his own history.

Surprisingly (SPOILER) The Doctor only really arrives mid-way through the adventure in a very clever turn of events that places the tale on its head and then spins it like a coin (if you’ll excuse the extended metaphor).

In Johnny Byrne’s Arc of Infinity, Omega used the Matrix to take over the form of the Doctor and in the process absorbed parts of his experiences. Taking them on as his own, Omega believes that he is a terrible villain, responsible for the demise of an entire race during his experiments. The truth is that this memory belongs instead to the Doctor, who apparently destroyed an entire life form by accident. It’s a rather staggering reveal in that the villain is in awe and disgust by the Doctor’s ability to live with the consequences of his actions.

I am quite happy that Davison’s Doctor flatly states that he accepts his actions with difficulty without milking the moment or drawing it out in some angst-ridden manner (as other Doctors might). It speaks volumes to the depth of the Doctor’s character and his alien nature. He walks in eternity and calls no place home, after all. On top of that, this is the gentleman’s gentleman, the Fifth Doctor, and he bears the weight of the universe on his shoulders with nary a twinge of worry.

Omega is a trifle convoluted and over-populated with colorful characters, but they are all very well portrayed and the clutter is in actuality a facet of the tale itself. The unraveling of legend takes place through the separation of several layers of myth and fiction until what lies bare is the truth… for all its flaws.

The script is full of charm and sharply barbed wit, taking stabs at soap opera and television as well as the edutainment racket. Omega is revered by Sentia (voiced by the voluptuous Caroline Munro) who wishes to marry him in a ritual as symbolic as it is romantic, but her sentiments are built on half-truths, legends and lies, much as you’d imagine the history of a time altering society such as Gallifrey would be.

Omega is a superb story in that it utilizes the strengths of Peter Davison’s Doctor and fleshes out his relationship with Omega as well as his tenuous connection to Gallifrey. A captivating tale that fits into the fills yet mote of the gaps in the continuity of the program, Omega is another patch on the legend of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who – Omega can be purchased directly from Big Finish Productions and local retailers such as Mike’s Comics.

New Releases from Big Finish in 2012

There are some very exciting new releases from Big Finish Productions in 2012 ranging from the new spin-off series Counter-Measures featuring the precursor to U.N.I.T. led by Rachel Jensen and Group Captain Gilmore (first seen in 1988’s Remembrance of the Daleks) to the new adventures featuring the classic 5th through 8th Doctors and of course the return of Tom Baker to the role of the Doctor.

All titles can be pre-ordered at the official Big Finish site.

COUNTER-MEASURES
STARRING SIMON WILLIAMS, PAMELA SALEM, KAREN GLEDHILL AND HUGH ROSS
FEATURING: ALASTAIR MACKENZIE AS JULIAN

CAST: Simon Williams, Pamela Salem, Karen Gledhill, Hugh Ross, Alastair Mackenzie as Julian

SYNOPSIS:
After the mysterious events at Coal Hill School, the British government has created the Counter-Measures group, a specialist team that investigates strange phenomena and dangerous technology. Their first missions will involve a haunted warehouse, a ground-breaking artificial intelligence, a mysterious new town and a threat to the future of the country…

Four full cast audio dramas plus behind the scenes documentary
AUTHOR: TBC
RELEASE DATE: 31 July 2012

DOCTOR WHO: THE LOST STORIES – THE FOURTH DOCTOR CD BOX SET
STARRING TOM BAKER AND LOUISE JAMESON
(Duration: 300′ approx)

CAST: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela)
The Foe from the Future: Paul Freeman (Jalnik), Louise Brealey (Charlotte), Blake Ritson (Instructor Shibac), Mark Goldthorp (Constable Burrows), Philip Pope (Father Harpin), Jaimi Barbakoff (Supreme Councillor Geflo), Dan Starkey (Historiographer Osin), Camilla Power (Councillor Kostal)

The Valley of Death: Nigel Carrington (Emissary Godrin/Dr Summersby/Announcer), Delia Lindsay (Overlord Saldor/Newsreader), Jane Slavin (Valerie Carlton), Anthony Howell (Edward Perkins), David Killick (Professor Cornelius Perkins), Richard Bremmer (General Hemmings/Valcon/Taxi Driver)

SYNOPSIS:
The Foe from the Future
The Grange is haunted, so they say. This stately home in the depths of Devon has been the site of many an apparition. And now people are turning up dead. The ghosts are wild in the forest. But the Doctor doesn’t believe in ghosts.

The TARDIS follows a twist in the vortex to the village of Staffham in 1977 and discovers something is very wrong with time. But spectral highwaymen and cavaliers are the least of the Doctor’s worries.

For the Grange is owned by the sinister Jalnik, and Jalnik has a scheme two thousand years in the making. Only the Doctor and Leela stand between him and the destruction of history itself. It’s the biggest adventure of their lives – but do they have the time?

The Valley of Death
A century after his Great-Grandfather Cornelius vanished in the Amazon rainforest, Edward Perkins is journeying to the depths of the jungle to find out what became of his ancestor’s lost expedition. Intrigued by what appears to be a description of a crashed spacecraft in the diaries of that first voyage, the Doctor and Leela join him on his quest. But when their plane runs into trouble and ends up crash landing, everyone gets more than they bargained for.

The jungle is filled with giant creatures and angry tribesmen, all ready to attack. But in the famed lost city of the Maygor tribe, something far, far worse is lurking. Something with an offer to make to mankind. Who are the Lurons and can they be trusted? Will the Doctor defeat the plans of the malevolent Godrin or will he become just another victim of the legendary Valley of Death?

AUTHOR: Robert Banks Stewart, adapted by John Dorney; Philip Hinchcliffe, adapted by Jonathan Morris

RELEASE DATE: 31 January 2012

155. DOCTOR WHO: ARMY OF DEATH
STARRING PAUL MCGANN AND JULIE COX
(Duration: 120′ approx)

CAST: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Julie Cox (Mary Shelley), David Harewood (President Vallan), Carolyn Pickles (Lady Meera), Eva Pope (Nia Brusk), Mitch Benn (Commander Raynar/Karnex), Joanna Christie (Sherla/Baden/Tox), Trevor Cooper (Captain Maddox/Stennan/Sentries)

SYNOPSIS:The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Mary Shelley to the continent of Zelonia, on the frontier world Draxine – where, many moons ago, the twin citystates of Garrak and Stronghaven bore testament to mankind’s colonial spirit.

That was before the sinister death cult of Garrak’s President Harmon took hold – and Garrak annihilated itself, utterly, in an apocalyptic explosion. Before the bones of Garrak’s dead came back to life, and its skeletal citizens began marching, marching, marching on Stronghaven itself.

But what do they want, this army of death? And can anything stop them? In search of answers, the Doctor and Mary must journey into the dead heart of a dead city to face a terrifying adversary, whose ambitions transcend the stuff of life itself.

AUTHOR: Jason Arnopp
DIRECTOR: Barnaby Edwards
RELEASE DATE:31 December 2011

156. DOCTOR WHO: THE CURSE OF DAVROS
STARRING COLIN BAKER AND LISA GREENWOOD WITH TERRY MOLLOY
(Duration: 120′ approx)

CAST: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Lisa Greenwood (Flip Jackson), Terry Molloy (Davros), Ashley Kumar (Jared), Jonathan Owen (Napoleon Bonaparte), Rhys Jennings (Captain Pascal), Granville Saxton (Duke of Wellington), Robert Portal (Marshal Ney), Christian Patterson (Captain Dickson), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks)

SYNOPSIS: It’s been a year since Philippa ‘Flip’ Jackson found herself transported by Tube train to battle robot mosquitoes on a bizarre alien planet in the company of a Time Lord known only as ‘the Doctor’.

Lightning never strikes twice, they say. Only now there’s a flying saucer whooshing over the top of the night bus taking her home. Inside: the Doctor, with another extraterrestrial menace on his tail – the Daleks, and their twisted creator Davros!

But while Flip and the fugitive Doctor struggle to beat back the Daleks’ incursion into 21st century London, Davros’s real plan is taking shape nearly 200 years in the past, on the other side of the English Channel. At the battle of Waterloo…
AUTHOR: Jonathan Morris
DIRECTOR:Nicholas Briggs
RELEASE DATE: 31 January 2012

157. Doctor Who: The Fourth Wall
STARRING COLIN BAKER AND LISA GREENWOOD
(Duration: 120′ approx)

CAST: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Lisa Greenwood (Flip Jackson), Julian Wadham (Augustus Scullop), Yasmin Bannerman (Dr Helen Shepherd), Hywel Morgan (Nick Kenton/Jack Laser), Martin Hutson (Matthew Howland/Lord Krarn), Tilly Gaunt (Olivia Sayle/Jancey), Kim Wall (Chimbly/Head Warmonger), Henry Devas (Junior/Warmonger)

SYNOPSIS:
Business is bad for intergalactic media mogul Augustus Scullop, whose Trans-Gal empire is on the rocks. But, having retreated to his own private planet, Transmission, Scullop is about to gamble his fortune on a new show, made with an entirely new technology. And the name of that show… is Laser.

Back in the real world, far from the realms of small screen sc-fi fantasies about monsters and aliens, the Doctor is interested only in watching Test Match cricket… but finds himself drawn into Scullop’s world when his new travelling companion, Flip, is snatched from inside the TARDIS.

So, while the Doctor uncovers the terrible secret of Trans-Gal’s new tech, Flip battles to survive in a barren wilderness ruled over by the indestructible Lord Krarn and his pig-like servants, the Warmongers. And the name of that wilderness… is ‘Stevenage’.

AUTHOR: John Dorney
DIRECTOR: Nicholas Briggs
RELEASE DATE: 29 February 2012

158. DOCTOR WHO: WIRRN ISLE (no official cover art currently available)
STARRING COLIN BAKER AND LISA GREENWOOD
(Duration: 120′ approx)

CAST: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Lisa Greenwood (Flip Jackson), Tim Bentinck (Rohert Buchman), Jenny Funnell (Veronica Buchman), Tessa Nicholson (Toasty Buchman), Rikki Lawton (Iron), Dan Starkey (Sheer Jawn), Helen Goldwyn (Dare), Glynn Sweet (Paul Dessay)

SYNOPSIS: The year is 16127. Four decades have passed since the colonists of Nerva Beacon returned to repopulate the once-devastated planet Earth – and the chosen few are finding the business of survival tough.

Far beyond the sterile safety of sanitised Nerva City, transmat scientist Roger Buchman has brought his family to an island surrounded by what they once called Loch Lomond, hoping to re-establish the colony he was forced to abandon many years before.

But something else resides in the Loch. A pestilent alien infestation that the Doctor, beaming in from Nerva City, remembers only too well from his time aboard the Beacon…

The Wirrn are back. And they’re hungry.

AUTHOR: William Gallagher
DIRECTOR: Nicholas Briggs
RELEASE DATE: 31 March 2012

159. DOCTOR WHO: THE EMERALD TIGER (no official cover art currently available)
STARRING PETER DAVISON, JANET FIELDING, MARK STRICKSON AND SARAH SUTTON
(Duration: 120′ approx)

CAST: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa)

SYNOPSIS: TBC
RELEASE DATE: 30 April 2012

Doctor Who Big Finish- Loups-Garoux

Loups-Garoux

“Money, like tomato sauce, covers a multitude of sins.”

Story 20
By Marc Platt
Released May 2001
In Rio De Janeiro, the Doctor and Turlough are enjoying the sights, sounds and tastes of carnival. It’s a fun introduction that showcases the Fifth Doctor’s social awkwardness as a scantily clad dancer chats him up and Turlough urges him on. In these Big Finish adventures, Davison has developed a very charismatic and somewhat professorial take on the Doctor that hints at Patrick Troughton’s scatter-brained mastermind while adding some elements of the modern English gentleman.

The pairing of the Doctor with Turlough on screen, while under-developed, was one of the high points of the Davison era for me. The Doctor-companion routine had become quite staid in 1983 and introducing a character who sought to kill the Doctor only to have him change his mind and flit about time and space instead is either incredibly poor or very invigorating. I like to think that the Doctor could see something of the rebel in Turlough and respected it as a kind of mirror to his own personality. Whereas the Doctor hides his darker nature with a veneer of morality and good manners, Turlough flaunts it openly as a brash youth who is just too good for school. This quality in Turlough’s character is not only entertained in Loups Garoux, it is picked up as part of the story. It is said that Turlough has ‘something of the wolf in him,’ and while that may be true, that scares him. While he puts on a cool and snide facade, deep down Turlough is saddened that anyone who gets close to him seems to suffer. It’s moments like this that I dearly wish had made it on screen.

Using the werewolf myth and adding it to a cyberpunk setting, the Doctor finds himself wrapped up in the wild exodus of the austere Ileana de Santos, fearing the pursuit of ‘the Gray One’ whose breath she can feel on her neck as he draws closer. Ileana is portrayed as a sophisticated and proud woman, but also as a sad outcast running from her fate, trying to hold onto what is hers. The Doctor is deeply moved by her plight and identifies with her as well, which unfortunately Ileana thinks of as a romantic advance. The Doctor of course is merely doing the right thing as any gentleman would, and finds himself in the middle of an ancient struggle when the Gray One comes calling.

The narrative of Loups-Garoux switches out occasionally to the character of Rosa, a hot-blooded young woman on a bold mission. She’s a marvelous addition to the script and feels like a missed opportunity as a companion. But perhaps less is more in this case. I’m also tickled by the scene in which she encourages Turlough to bunk with her for the night, coyly calling him ‘yerpie boy’ as she beckons.

The story has a wealth of rich characters, exciting sequences and also new situations for the Doctor and Turlough to more fully flesh out their parts (a job started in Phantasnagorica), but it also has one of my favorite staples of the Troughton era, food acting. I’m not sure what it is, but whenever there was a scene in which the Second Doctor and Jamie ate, I grew more fond of them. Whether it was a plate of sandwiches, machine-made food on a space rocket or a hasty cup of coffee, it made them seem more real. The sequence where Turlough questionably tries to eat his questionable burger smothered in tomato sauce is very touching to me for that reason. It makes the experience more real somehow and also provides fuel for the Doctor’s quip later on.

Loups Garoux is like one of those lost New Adventures novels that Virgin published back in the day. Author Marc Platt is economical with his use of the cyberpunk elements, restricting them to changes in geography and technology that is easily acceptable, such as the ident process that easily tags both Turlough and the Doctor as outsiders or the monetary system. It’s all so stylishly done that the setting comes off as exotic and smart.

Marc Platt is one of the best writers of Classic Doctor Who in the 1980’s. His 1989 story Ghost Light was of course adapted from an earlier story about the Doctor returning home to Gallifrey (later expanded into the novel Lungbarrow). Both are overly ambitious grand tales that can lose focus from characters to far out ideas, but that is not the case with Loups Garoux where the script is a marvelous blend of inspired concepts and sparkling characters (along with some fine dialog). I am usually able to appreciate the Big Finish audio adventures for what they are, but in this instance I so want to see the story as a televised serial. Perhaps Platt can be invited to write for the BBC Wales series sometime so he can show them how it’s done. In the meantime I’m happy for his output here.

Doctor Who – Loups Garoux can be purchased at local retailers such as Mike’s Comics and online from Big Finish.

Read other Big Finish reviews at the Daily P.O.P. here.

Doctor Who Big Finish- The Mutant Phase (Dalek Empire III)

The Mutant Phase

“Fate? Never heard of it.”
Story 15
Written by Nicholas Briggs
Released December 2000

The TARDIS is torn out of the vortex by a time tunnel and arrives to find an army of Daleks stalking the ruined remains of Earth in the 22nd Century. Attempting to escape a doomed part of history that the Doctor had already visited, the time traveler finds himself at the other end of the time corridor in the 43rd century, when only a small group of humans have survived the onslaught of a deadly menace alien to the Doctor. What is this strange new monster that is so dangerous even the Daleks fear it? What is the ‘Mutant Phase?’

The second installment of the Dalek Empire ‘crossover’ is an oddity. It’s very well crafted and features some sterling work from Peter Davison and Sharon Sutton, but he plot is a run around of the weirdest kind.

A science expedition Thal craft is caught in the middle of a galactic disaster as bizarre creatures cause uncanny amounts of damage that leads to Skaro, home of the Dalek Empire. In the time vortex, the TARDIS is caught in a time tunnel leading to the Earth during a Dalek assault during the 22nd Century. Desperate to escape an army of robomen and Daleks along with a vicious strain of deadly wasps, the Doctor manages to dematerialize but due to the time tunnel arrives at a later point in the time line, but the same location. However, the time line has not progressed as it should have.

Confronted by a trio of survivors, the Doctor finds that he has jumped past the Dalek Invasion only to find that history has taken a turn for the worse. The planet Earth is nearly completely uninhabited, wiped out by a menace that the Doctor assumes to be the Daleks, if only anyone knew what a Dalek was. Thal scientists eventually catch up with the Doctor and recruit him for an unlikely mission, to save the Daleks from extinction.

The Thal scientists explain that a mutant strain is passing through the Dalek race, causing them to become monstrous creatures resembling massive insects. The mutation must be stopped because the new creatures are unstoppable and pose a threat to all life. Of course the Doctor is difficult to convince that he must save his deadliest foes, but in the end concedes, though his brain is obviously turning over some clever ideas as to how and why he will help.

Amazing fan animation based on The Mutant Phase

Like the Daleks in the Dalek Empire series (highly recommended), these are the conniving and brilliant versions of the Doctor’s arch enemies before they became second-stringers for Davros. The big development point in this take is that the Daleks are terrified of the Mutant Phase to the point of mania. It makes sense that a deviation in their genetic makeup would be abhorrent to them, so this is an interesting idea but it doesn’t exactly get played out as well as it could have in my opinion. However, I cannot get enough of these Machiavellian Daleks as they are portrayed in Big Finish Productions and find that I often steer my attention toward them, skipping over other releases to get to their next appearance.

Additionally, the return to the Earth of the Dalek Invasion period is a very appealing concept for me as I hold that classic story in high esteem. The audio adventure filled my head with droning robomen, the human survivors scurrying for shelter in a bombed-out charred city and the Daleks soaring by on hover sleds. This is the kind of material that the BBC Wales version of Doctor Who should explore as it builds on the ideas developed in classic Doctor Who that never made it to the screen due to budgetary restraints. I’m often frustrated that the classic series had magnificent ideas that ended up looking like a bunch of Marx toys while the new series has a bigger budget and the advantage of CGi yet seldom offers up the same level of quality scripts to go along with the stunning imagery they are capable of.

The narrative structure, like the plot, is a bit of a mess. Parts of the story take place in different time zones and involve situations that are caused by events that occur later in another time zone on Earth of the distant future, or during the Dalek Invasion. It asks a lot of the listener to keep up with all of this and as it is a Dalek audio adventure, much of the experience is full of screeching and explosions, along with the new sound of the roaring bug-like monsters dubbed the Mutant Phase.

Even with these limitations, The Mutant Phase is quite good if only due to Davison’s performance. A restrained actor, he humbly tip-toes through many parts of the story only to emerge as a genius at the end when he reveals what he was doing all along. Of course, the resolution is part of the time paradox that caused the Mutant Phase and the alternate time line which is a bit annoying, but Davison’s quip at the end makes it rather charming.

Art by Lee Sullivan from DWM Issue 299

Doctor Who – The Mutant Phase can be purchased at local retailers such as Mike’s Comics and online from Big Finish.

Read other Big Finish reviews at the Daily P.O.P. here.