Excellent Cybermen Sale at Big Finish!

This weekend the Cybermen are back in Neil Gaiman’s The Silver Nightmare and Big Finish is celebrating with these amazing audio stories. The silver-clad cyborgs have plagued Doctor Who for generations in various incarnations. In the audio format they are no less deadly. If you are new to Big Finish but a fan of classic Doctor Who, there is a wealth of imaginative and fantastic adventures.

DOCTOR WHO: CYBERMAN WEEKEND OFFER

This weekend, it’s the return of one of the Doctor’s greatest foes on TV: the Cybermen! And to celebrate, we’re doing a special offer on all our Doctor Who Cyber-stories, from main range classics such as Spare Parts and Sword of Orion to Benny story The Crystal of Cantus, stage play The Ultimate Adventure and the complete Cyberman spin-off series. Visit the Big Finish Bargains page for details…

Each story is available at £5 on CD or download (£20 for the Cyberman 2 box set), or you can buy a bundle of the entire lot – 20 releases! – for £100. The bundles button is displayed on all the product pages of the items in the offer, and you can find everything in the Big Finish Bargains section.

1.1. CYBERMAN: SCORPIUS (click to order)

1.1. CYBERMAN: SCORPIUS
THE HUMAN RACE IS ABOUT TO BECOME EXTINCT.

Mankind is fighting a long and costly war with its android creations in the Orion System. The deadlock must be broken at all costs. The president of Earth must think the unthinkable…

‘There is nothing to fear’.

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153. THE SILVER TURK (click to order)

 

153. THE SILVER TURK
Roll up! Roll up! To the great Viennese Exposition, where showman Stahlbaum will show you his most wonderful creation, the Silver Turk – a mechanical marvel that will not only play for you the fortepiano, the spinet and the flute, it will play you at the gaming table too!

But when the Doctor brings his new travelling companion Mary Shelley to nineteenth-century Vienna, he soon identifies the incredible Turk as one of his deadliest enemies – a part-machine Cyberman.

And that’s not even the worst of the horrors at large in the city…

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135. Legend of the Cytbermen (click to order)

135. LEGEND OF THE CYBERMEN

The Cybermen are on the march through the Hundred Realms, killing and converting as they go. Resistance is useless.

Trapped on the outermost fringes of the battle, the Doctor and Jamie are astonished to encounter an old friend: astrophysicist Zoe Heriot.

It’s the happiest of reunions. But what hope is there of a happy ending against the unstoppable Cybermen?

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34. SPARE PARTS (click to order)

34. SPARE PARTS
The story of the genesis of the Cybermen. One of our listeners’ favourite releases. Dark, moving and terrifying…

On a dark frozen planet where no planet should be, in a doomed city with a sky of stone, the last denizens of Earth’s long-lost twin will pay any price to survive, even if the laser scalpels cost them their love and hate and humanity.

And in the mat-infested streets, around tea-time, the Doctor and Nyssa unearth a black market in second-hand body parts and run the gauntlet of augmented police and their augmented horses.

And just between the tramstop and the picturehouse, their worst suspicions are confirmed: the Cybermen have only just begun, and the Doctor will be, just as he always has been, their saviour…

58. THE HARVEST (click to order)

58. THE HARVEST
On the morning of October 12th, 2021 Hex woke up. He was expecting to go to work at St Gart’s in London as normal and, that evening, have a great time in the bar of the White Rabbit, celebrating his 23rd birthday.

But after his ex-flatmate is wheeled into A&E following a bike accident, and the strange young woman from Human Resources tries to chat him up and an eight-foot tall guy in a Merc tries to run him down, Hex realises things are not going quite as he expected.

Then in a Shoreditch car park he meets the enigmatic Doctor who explains that he’s an extra-terrestrial investigator and something very strange is going on up on the thirty-first floor of St Garts.

Therefore, aided and abetted by the Doctor and his other new friend ‘Just McShane’, Hex decides to investigate. Trouble is, everything that goes on at the hospital is being observed and noted by the occupants of the thirty-first floor. Occupants who are none too pleased that people are poking their noses into business that doesn’t concern them. Occupants who will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that no one discovers the truth.

86. THE REAPING (click to order)

86. THE REAPING
On the morning of 9 May 1984, Peri woke up. She was expecting to spend the day relaxing in Lanzarote and, that evening, leave her mother and stepfather to go travelling with some guys she’d only just met.

But things don’t always go as expected ­ as her friends and family discover when, four months later, she returns home having travelled further than anyone could have imagined.

Meanwhile her friend, Katherine Chambers, mourns her father and Peri finds herself meeting some other familiar faces.

87. THE GATHERING (click to order)

87. THE GATHERING
On the morning of 22 September 2006, Tegan woke up. She was expecting to spend the day relaxing at home and, that evening, tolerate a party thrown to celebrate her 46th birthday. But things don’t always go as expected, ­it’s been over twenty years since she chose to leave the Doctor. She’s got a job, mates… a life.

Meanwhile her friend, Katherine Chambers, makes a decision that could change all their lives, and Tegan discovers that you can never really escape the past.

1.3. THE BLUE TOOTH (click to order)

1.3. THE BLUE TOOTH
“I suppose that was one of the Doctor’s most endearing qualities: the ability to make the bizarre and the terrifying seem utterly normal.”When Liz Shaw’s friend Jean goes missing, the Doctor and U.N.I.T. are drawn to the scene to investigate. Soon Liz discovers a potential alien invasion that will have far-reaching affects on her life… and the Doctor is unexpectedly re-united with an old enemy…

17. SWORD OF ORION (click to order)

17. SWORD OF ORION
One of our very best-selling releases. Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor along with his brand new companion Charley, in action with the Cybermen for the first time.The human race is locked in deadly combat with the ‘Android Hordes’ in the Orion System. Light years from the front line, the Doctor and Charley arrive to sample the dubious delights of a galactic backwater, little suspecting that the consequences of the Orion War might reach them there. But High Command’s lust for victory knows no bounds.

Trapped aboard a mysterious derelict star destroyer, the Doctor and Charley find themselves facing summary execution. But this is only the beginning of their troubles. The real danger has yet to awaken.

Until, somewhere in the dark recesses of the Garazone System, the Cybermen receive the signal for reactivation…

Doctor Who and the Night of the Stormcrow

‘ Night of the Stormcrow’

Story XI
Written by Marc Platt, directed by Nicholas Briggs
Released: December 2012

“Out there in the night, there is an emptiness… a darkness.”
“Could be just a lack of breakfast.”

The Doctor and Leela land just outside the Mount McKerry observatory during an auspicious evening. A visitor from the stars has come to Earth, which delights Professor Gesima Cazalet who has named it her ‘stormcrow,’ but when the darkness seems to move and kill, that wonder turns to terror.

Stormcrow was released as a special one-off and features the pairing of the Fourth Doctor and Leela, and fits perfectly into the early Graham Williams era, blending Gothic elements with witty dialog and richly drawn humanistic supporting characters. Night of the Stormcrow feels not too dissimilar to Image of Fendahl or Horror of Fang Rock, both stories that center on supernatural threats revealed to be extraterrestrial in origin.

The Doctor is at his eccentric best, charming the rattled scientific crew stranded on the isolated island site and the huntress Leela is in fine form, playing the savage from out of time in touch with her instincts. The crew of the observatory are out of their depths, unaware of what their research has attracted or the power it holds.

One of Classic Doctor Who’s strongest suits is atmosphere. The greatest of its stories may admittedly be lacking in production value or impressive special effects, but a unique alignment of top notch acting talent, sharp scripting and superb direction have resulted in memorably evocative adventures such as Talons of Weng Chiang, Kinda, and the Curse of Fenric (just to name a few). In the audio format these strengths come to the fore and are immensely successful.

Writer Marc Platt (the man behind 1989′s Ghostlight) was inspired by sleepless nights when he was seized by almost palpable anxieties. This translates well in a claustrophobic thriller where the monster is at once invisible and inescapable. There are few truly spooky Doctor Who stories that hearken back to the good old days when the program launched viewers behind the sofa, but this one is up there.

Doctor Who -Night of the Stormcrow was only available for a limited time, but may be ordered from The Book Depository with free shipping worldwide by clicking on the link below:

Doctor Who and the Stealers of Saiph

‘The Stealers of Saiph’

Story 3.12
Written by Nigel Robinson, Directed by Lisa Bowerman
Released June, 2009

As a lifelong Whovian, I resisted the audio format of Doctor Who for some time. It just sounded to me like a false continuation of the program. To be fair, watching Doctor Who took an amount of willing suspension of disbelief and he audios are no different. I now possess a vast library of Big Finish audio dramas that I enjoy at my leisure and can say with some authority that they are well worth the endeavor and feature some of the finest writing of the entire legacy of Who.

Creating an adventure during the Key to Time era is a challenge to say the least. Full of wit and whimsy, this was one of the more creative periods of the program and sits awkwardly between the Hinchcliffe Gothic and Graham Williams’ last year as producer when quality control flew out the polystyrene window (causing the wall to wobble). There’s  a lot of opportunity here, but the risk is in getting the tome wrong or the characterization too broad, especially considering that this included the Fourth Doctor long before Tom Baker was on speaking  terms with Big Finish. As such, Mary Tamm was asked to play an entire array of characters including the ostentatious Doctor Number 4.

The story is set in 1929 at a luxury hotel on the coast of Southern France. The Doctor is content to try his hand at painting but Romana is bored and dangerous close to becoming the love object of the socially awkward Tommy Creighton. The booze-distilled Madame Arcana is obsessed with the stars and seems eager to take the Doctor to her private rooms to share her research. The Doctor of course treats this as a threat on the level of his deadliest of foes.  In the end, Romana is content to explore the nearby caves which house something very sinister and very alien. ‘The stars are not right!’ Madame Arcana intones through a haze of gin and she is not wrong. An alien intelligence is attempting an invasion and only the Doctor and Romana stand a chance of stopping it in time.

I had avoided Stealers from Saiph for some time as it had a lackluster reputation that perhaps is due to the fact that Tamm is the only voice talent in the entire drama (there is traditionally at least one other voice actor on hand). It had been some time since Tamm had played Romana and there is more than a little awkwardness in her depiction of the Doctor. However, it is still a ripping yarn that shares a few traits with Stones of Blood in its terrestrial setting and eccentric female guest characters. The monster itself, a protoplasmic ooze that lurks in the cave, is an excellent monster and I can easily imagine it realized on the screen.

In the end, this story excels at recapturing a beloved period of Doctor Who with one of its many lovely ladies, sadly no longer with us. I had partly chosen this story as a stop gap while I awaited the arrival of the new Fourth Doctor adventures that also feature Mary Tamm and it fit perfectly.

Doctor Who -The Stealers of Saiph can be ordered from The Book Depository with free shipping worldwide by clicking on the link below:

Doctor Who -Tales from the Vault

Tales from the Vault

Story 6.01
Written by Jonathan Morris, directed by Lisa Bowerman
Released July 2011

Warrant Officer Charlie Sato has been welcomed into a top security installation called The Vault, where U.N.I.T. stores a number of rare artifacts from alien invasions thwarted by the Doctor. Taking him on a tour of the Vault’s holdings is Captain Ruth Matheson who shows Charlie that each alien object has its own story, and in some cases they can even speak for themselves.

One of the more innovative adventures from Big Finish, Tales from the Vault is an anthology story featuring tales from the First, Second, Third and Fourth Doctor’s eras. It’s an incredibly interesting way to utilize the vast mythology of Doctor Who and put it all into perspective. Reuniting the companion team from the 1996 TV Movie, Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso, large portions of Tales from the Vault was recorded in installments during other sessions with Peter Purves narrating a story from the time of Steven Taylor and the First Doctor via an old wax cylinder, Katy Manning’s voice as Jo Grant through an old cassette recording about a strangely possessed military uniform and Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot who weaves a yarn about a weird crystal that can store one’s mind and more. It was a real treat to hear the late Mary Tamm as Romana interrogated by U.N.I.T. about a painting that can show your death.

There are all of these little nods to the classic series and it is hilarious to hear Charlie and Ruth spin through much of Joe’s recording as she natters on about frivolities or makes tea for the Doctor. In essence, Tales from the Vault is a very charming celebration of the many different eras of Doctor Who.

All of the individual stories come together as Charlie and Ruth must fight off a bizarre invasion centuries in the making. Luckily they are armed with carefully placed clues left by the Doctor over the years, narrowly defeating a deadly threat from beyond. Daphne Ashbrook has of course starred in a previous Big Finish tale with Paul McGann, and it is always strange to hear an American in one of these audios. Yee Jee Tso is a bit awkward in my opinion as a voice actor, instilling some enthusiasm that I imagine would translate better in live action. Nevertheless, the reunion of these two is a welcome one and the concept has legs, as they say.

Doctor Who -Tales from the Vault can be ordered from The Book Depository with free shipping worldwide by clicking on the link below:

Click to pre-order from Big Finish

The sequel to Tales from the Vault, Mastermind, is available for pre-order.

8.01 Mastermind

OUT IN JULY

Synopsis: The Vault – an archive of alien artifacts securely stored deep beneath the Angel of the North.

There’s also a prisoner in the Vault. An extraterrestrial known as the Master. He has been on Earth for some time, but now he’s under lock and key.

This is his story.

Or, as Captain Ruth Matheson and Warrant Officer Charlie Sato discover… perhaps it is theirs.

Written By: Jonathan Morris
Directed By: Ken Bentley

Cast: Geoffrey Beevers (The Master), Daphne Ashbrook (Ruth Matheson), Yee Jee Tso (Charlie Sato)

Doctor Who and The Rocket Men

‘The Rocket Men’

Story 6.02
Written by John Dorney, Directed by Lisa Bowerman
Released: August 2011

The companion chronicles series from Bog Finish is sadly going away shortly. The program is primarily about the Doctor, of course (tell that to Davies and Moffat), but each of the supporting cast members have made an indelible mark on the legacy of Doctor Who (aside from Adric, apparently, who has yet to return… kinda). The companion chronicles explores the deeper characterization of the companions as well as recreating the feel and atmosphere indicative to each era. The 1960′s was a period of intense experimentation and high quality drama. This was back when the program still had Verity Lambert holding the reigns and a stress on sophisticated storytelling.

There are so many wonderful previous companions and some incredibly talented actors and actresses, but for my money, Ian Chesterton played by William Russell is the best of the lot. To add to to potential, the romantic relationship between Ian and Barbara is played up. Ian of course has strong feelings for her, but his proper English stature and the awkwardness of their situation makes it impossible for him to make a move, as it were. In the Rocket Men, Ian questions his adoration of Barbara and his own courage to risk shaking up the status quot and revealing his true feelings.

John Dorney’s script is razor sharp and split between cause and effect throughout, providing listeners with glimpses into the future then switching back to the past when one moment is reflected by another. Arriving on Platform Five, it appears at first that the Doctor and his companions have found a much needed respite from their adventuring. A pleasures spot, there seems to be no bug-eyed monsters or mad scientists in sight, leaving the travelers at ease to simply enjoy the breathtaking vista of an alien world.

The Doctor becomes involved in some intense scientific experimentation while Barbara falls slightly ill, leaving Ian somewhat frustrated as he can neither use his brain as a scientist nor his heart by accompanying Barbara. He tries to make the best of things, but there is a pang of dread in the back of his mind.

Ian and Vicki are keen to explore the milky skies of Jobis in the spacecraft answer to a glass bottomed boat where they see diamond-like insects and massive manta-ray-like creatures floating in serene peace. That peace is broken by the arrival of mercenary Rocket Men. Seeking to control the entire platform, the Rocket Men are led by the brutal Ashman (played by Gus Brown), a kind of pulp villain complete with a tooth-gnashingly cruel kind of blood lust  Ashman is after the diamond insects which tantalizingly hover in the air all around them, but stealing them would greatly upset the natural way of things. The Doctor’s clever mind must work at record speed and from remote (as he is on another platform) to assist, but will he be in time? It is only Ian’s bravery, his willingness to throw caution to the wind and risk it all that saves them all.

One of the most brilliant scripts that I have had the pleasure of hearing, the Rocket Men is a gripping drama with plenty of action, lots of emotion and heaping amounts of nostalgia. I was also quite impressed by the way in which the story switched tenses so easily, something that would appear to be gimmick in a lesser writer’s hands. It’s a truly magnificent story that makes me quite sad that this spinoff will soon come to an end (Nicholas Briggs has since stated that the Companion Chronicles may continue as specials or box sets, so maybe I shouldn’t weep into my flannel too much).

Doctor Who The Rocket Men can be ordered from The Book Depository with free shipping worldwide by clicking on the link below:

Doctor Who and The Auntie Matter

‘The Auntie Matter’

Story 2.01
Written by Jonathan Morris, directed by Ken Bentley
Released January, 2013

Big Finish has been producing stand-out dramas for years, but even though the quality has been superb many fans have been waiting with baited breath for Tom Baker to join in. The actor was reluctant to become involved until he saw some scripts that suited him. Last year saw more new stories starring the Fourth Doctor than we had seen for some time including a full series of new stories and two lost ones. Teamed up with Louise Jameson as Leela, the new stories were outlandish and off-the-wall, even the Dalek one. This was an entirely different style of Doctor Who than fans of the traditional Big Finish were used to, and they heard Colin Baker sing!

This year a new series has begun, but set later in the Doctor’s life, just after he had assembled the Key to Time and defeated the Black Guardian.

Set in the roaring 1920′s, The Auntie Matter Drawing heavily from P. G. Wodehouse, The Auntie Matter concerns the trails and tribulations of Reginal ‘Reggie’ Basset. He is desperately looking for a wife who can stand his awkward social graces (or lack thereof), but she must meet the demands of his Aunt Ligeia. Unfortunately, Reggie’s aunt takes over the young women’s bodies as her own. Not only does Reggie remain a bachelor, but his memory is also wiped so that he believes he has been raised by a steady succession of similar but different aunts. Let’s not dwell on the fact that they each resemble someone he proposed to…

When the Doctor and Romana become embroiled in this mess, things only get worse. On the run from the Black Guardian, the Doctor is determined to develop some kind of device while Romana wanders into town, bored to tears. She is soon propositioned by Reggie and brought back to Basset Hall by his robotic valet. Meanwhile the Doctor has detected alien technology emanating from the hall and takes his maid Mabel as a stand-in companion. There is a lot off fuss over not telling Romana about the arrangement which of course Mabel misunderstands.

The Auntie Matter is a delightful and silly romp through a period setting with robots, cackling evil alien body snatchers and buffoonery.

There are golden times that still shine in our memory with a glamour that even age does not damage. For many Doctor Who fans, that era is the Key to Time series that saw so many wildly different types of adventures set within the Doctor Who universe amid clever and humorous scripting along with a daring leap into the unknown that is rarely seen these days. No returning monsters, no references to the past and an entirely new tonal shift into the realm of the absurd. Even attempting to set a story in this era is a dangerous move and not one to be taken lightly.

Luckily, Jonathan Morris (author of Bloodtide, Flip-Flop, The Haunting of Thomas Brewster, The Eternal Summer and Protect and Survive to name a few) handles this task with consummate skill. Blending comedy with wit and style, the Auntie Matter is one of those rare stories that I can easily picture in my mind as a televised serial.

Tom Baker and Mary Tamm recording 1978′s The Pirate PLanet

Sadly, actress Mary Tamm passed shortly after recording of this series was completed. Only 62, her death shocked those closest to her, Tom Baker included. There is a lovingly adoring speech that Baker delivers about his co-star and friend, saying how marvelous it was to know her and to have known her. It is a bitter-sweet experience to hear them together again, but this foray is a testament to their time together.

Doctor Who and The Auntie Matter can be ordered from The Book Depository with free shipping worldwide by clicking on the link below:

Big Finish new releases

EIGHTH DOCTOR SPECIAL OFFER FOR TWO WEEKS!

It’s a massive special offer for the next fortnight, as the whole four-series run of Eighth Doctor Adventures (34 stories in total) is available for £5 each on CD or download. Or you can buy a complete series for £35 (£40 for the fourth series).

Starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Sheridan Smith as Lucie Miller, it finds the pair thrust together by the Time Lords and, as they get to know and rely on each other, taking part in a series of wild and wonderful adventures fighting Cybermen, Ice Warriors, Zygons, Krynoids, Wirrn, the Giant Spiders, fallen Time Lord Morbius and, of course, the dreaded Daleks – at their most evil and terrifying ever!

Add to that killer robots, horrific beasts and a range of psychopathic villains, and you’ve got a recipe for epic, fast-paced adventures. For a taster of those adventures, we’re also offering the chance to download the first half of series two tale Max Warp - guest starring Graeme Garden, James Fleet and Duncan ‘from Blue’ James – absolutely free as a podcast. Just pop over to the podcast page and download or stream it now!

The offer will end on the morning of Saturday 2 March.

171. THE SEEDS OF WAR (OUT IN MARCH)
Humanity is emerging from a long, exhausting war. Against an enemy so powerful, so implacable, it seemed unstoppable – right up until the moment it stopped.

Now, despite its ‘victory’, the human race is on its knees. The Doctor and Mel join its struggle for survival to try to ensure it has a future.

A race against time takes them from the Great Tower of Kalsos to the Reliquaries of Earth. In an epic journey across the ten systems, their fates are intertwined with one family. The Tevelers are to feel the effects of war more than most…

The Doctor has a plan. Mel is sure he can save the day. But something is lurking. Watching. Waiting. A presence the Doctor knows of old. But just how far does its influence pervade?

The Eminence awaits…

Written By: Matt Fitton and Nicholas Briggs
Directed By: Barnaby Edwards

172. ELDRAD MUST DIE! (OUT IN APRIL)
“A Doctor, curse his name, threw me down among the dead… but I endure. I am Eldrad… and I must live!

A nuclear icebreaker, foundering in Arctic waters. Seabirds washed up in the fishing resort of Ambermouth, their wings encrusted with crystals. A shining artefact of uncertain provenance, up for sale on an auction site.

All of these things are linked, as the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough are about to discover. Linked to the rebirth of a genocidal tyrant, presumed dead many years ago…

For the sake of the planets Earth and Kastria alike… Eldrad must die!

Written By: Marc Platt
Directed By: Ken Bentley

173. THE LADY OF MERCIA (OUT IN MAY)
The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa to the University of Frodsham, close to where the warrior queen Æthelfrid fought a desperate and bloody rearguard action against the savage Danes. Over a thousand years later, in 1983, battle is still being raged, with student activists taking on savage funding cuts… and disrupting a conference about Æthelfrid convened by history professor John Bleak.

Meanwhile, over in the Physics Department, Dr Philippa Stone is working night and day on a top-secret project – but can her theoretical time machine really be the solution to the university’s problems?

Present and past are about to collide – and the results, as the TARDIS crew is about to discover, will be far from academic!

Written By: Paul Magrs
Directed By: Ken Bentley

174. PRISONERS OF FATE OUT IN JUNE
Twenty-five years ago, with Richter’s Syndrome running rampant throughout the galaxy, the brilliant biochemist Nyssa, formerly of Traken, bade a painful farewell to her young family… and set off into the space, in search of a cure for this deadly disease.

She never returned.

Now, her grown-up son continues her work on the penal colony of Valderon, still desperate to make the breakthrough that eluded his presumed-dead mother.

So when the TARDIS lands on Valderon, bringing the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa to its fortress prison, the scene is set for a painful reunion… but not only for Nyssa. The Doctor’s past is about to catch up with him too…

Written By: Jonathan Morris
Directed By: Ken Bentley

2.05. PHANTOMS OF THE DEEP OUT IN MAY
On their mission to explore the Mariana Trench at the very bottom of the ocean, the deepest and most inhospitable place on Earth, the crew of the deep sea vehicle Erebus make an unusual and startling discovery.

A battered blue police box.

As the Doctor, Romana and K9 join them on their journey, the submariners soon discover that the TARDIS is not the only unusual find lurking on the sea floor.

Super-intelligent squid, long-lost submarines and their miraculous occupants are only the start of their troubles. The Goblins are coming. And they won’t let anyone out alive.

Written By: Jonathan Morris
Directed By: Ken Bentley

7.12. COUNCIL OF WAR (OUT IN JUNE)
At the Doctor’s request, Sergeant Benton is investigating ghosts and missing people in Kettering, while undercover as a local councillor

And that’s how he comes to meet Margery Phipps.

An alien incursion in the town hall leads them on a journey to a terrible future – where Margery discovers how she changed a world, and the life of a whole civilisation hangs in the balance…

Written By: Simon Barnard and Paul Morris
Directed By: Lisa Bowerman

BLAKE’S 7: THE LIBERATOR CHRONICLES VOL 3 RELEASED

We’re full of love for our listeners today on Valentine’s Day, and our gift to you is a brand new Blake’s 7 box set: The Liberator Chronicles – Volume 3, aka The Armageddon Storm…

When mercenary Del Grant alerts the Liberator crew to the existence of a new Federation super-weapon, Avon leads an epic battle to avert catastrophe…

The Armageddon Storm is a huge story told across three discs, and reveals what happened during the unseen-on-TV Galactic War. It stars Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila) and Jan Chappell (Cally), returning to the roles they made famous on TV, and they’re joined this time by the also-returning Tom Chadbon as Del Grant, a character who first appeared in the 1979 Blake’s 7 episode Countdown. Listeners may also remember him as Duggan in much-loved TV Doctor Who tale City of Death, alongside Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor.

Written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright and directed by Ken Bentley, Blake’s 7 - The Liberator Chronicles: Volume 3 is available to download now, and CD box sets will be mailed out today.

Also available now is our highly-praised full cast Blake’s 7 audio drama Warship, reuniting the entire original cast, and its accompanying ebook.

Blake’s 7 was created by Terry Nation (who also created the Daleks for Doctor Who) and ran for four years on BBC TV. It focused on a team of resistance fighters aboard their advanced ship the Liberator, who battle the corrupt forces of the Federation. The Liberator Chronicles: Volume 3 is part of a series of audiobooks that is being released in a licence deal with B7 Media.

Lost era of Doctor Who returns

For me, the 1960′s is the most wildly inventive and vibrant era of Doctor Who. It’s also a time that is largely lost to fans due to the destruction and loss of so many film canisters containing the material from 1963-1968. William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton set the groundwork for the character of the Doctor for years to come.

Soon, Big Finish will expand on this period of the program with new audio adventures. This will replace the ‘Lost Stories’ with ‘The Early Adventures.’ The Companion Chronicles starring Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Jean Marsh, Peter Purves, Maureen O’Brien, Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines, and Wendy Padbury are all highly recommended and superb examples of what can be accomplished in Doctor Who without limitations.

I am very eager to see what comes next!

Big Finish Productions will be launching a brand new audio range in 2014. Doctor Who: The Early Adventures will comprise four-part stories starring the surviving lead cast members from Doctor Who’s black and white era.

“While working on The Lost Stories, we fell in love with releases like Farewell, Great Macedon and The Masters of Luxor, which combine narration with dialogue,” says producer David Richardson. “I suggested to executive producers Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery we could use that format to tell new stories for the First and Second Doctors, pushing the full cast elements in order to create big, impressive productions.

“The scripts for the first four Early Adventures are now in, and it’s so exciting to bring the early days of the series back to life in this way. The aim is for these to feel like lost television soundtracks. The first series will comprise First Doctor tales, and will feature an historical, a trip into outer space, a beautifully reflective character piece… and the return of a classic villain from the early years!”

Big Finish has also revealed that three of its Doctor Who audio ranges will be reaching their grand finales.

Doctor Who: The Lost Stories, the adaptations of scripts originally devised for television but never made, will end in December after a short final run of stories for the first three Doctors.Gallifrey, the much-loved spin-off centred on Romana and Leela on the Time Lord homeworld, concludes in spectacular style in October with series six. And The Companion Chronicles, adventures narrated by the Doctor’s friends, will end their monthly run in June 2014.

“It’s always sad to say goodbye to something, especially if they are popular,” says Nicholas Briggs. “But at Big Finish we feel we must always be moving forward, and finding new ways to tell exciting Doctor Who stories on audio.”

For those whose current subscription will leave them fewer than six releases from the end of the Companion Chronicles, we’ve added a four-release Final Season sub so it won’t be necessary to buy up to five titles at full price.

Blake’s 7 cast reunited for new series of audio adventures

If you live in the US, Blake’s 7 is the most amazing cult sci-fi program that may have slipped you by. Due to limited transmission on PBS stations and a lack of a distribution deal for the DVDs in this region, there are many potential fans who have missed out on this outstanding series. In the late 1970′s, Dalek creator Terry Nation crafted a new kind of science fiction adventure in which the heroes were a small band a terrorists fighting against the Federation aboard an alien spacecraft called the Liberator.

Starring Gareth Thomas, Michael Keating, Paul Darrow, Jan Chappell, Sally Knyvette, and Jacqueline Pearce, the series won critical acclaim on the BBC and attracted an older audience than Doctor Who. A ‘Dirty Dozen in Space’ concept program, Blake’s 7 heavily influenced Joss Whedon’s Firefly, a comparison that star Paul Darrow noted with some pride. Unlike Star Trek, Blake’s 7 offered a more cynical view of the science fiction opera in which drugs were used to subdue the general public, freedom fighters were tortured and had their entire lives rewritten and the truth always kept at bay. A small group of 7 dared to free all Earth people from the Federations’ control.

Gareth Thomas led his team with the zeal of a religious fanatic through two years’ worth of challenges only to lose it all in the midst of an intergalactic war that he unwittingly allowed to happen. In the wake of that disaster, sociopath/genius Kerr Avon unlikely leader of the remaining crew and continued the fight in Blake’s name. Leading the opposition was the conniving and sultry Servalan. With a legion of mutated creatures and a bloodthursty killer Travis at her fingertips, the odds were stacked in her favor. Yet she savored every victory with the passion of a cat playing with her meal.

All of that excitement has been revived in these new full cast audio adventures from Big Finish, and it just got bigger and better.

When mercenary Del Grant alerts the Liberator crew to the existence of a new Federation super-weapon, Avon leads an epic battle to avert catastrophe…

The Armageddon Storm is a huge story told across three discs, and reveals what happened during the unseen-on-TV Galactic War. It stars Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila) and Jan Chappell (Cally), returning to the roles they made famous on TV, and they’re joined this time by the also-returning Tom Chadbon as Del Grant, a character who first appeared in the 1979 Blake’s 7 episode Countdown. Listeners may also remember him as Duggan in much-loved TV Doctor Who tale City of Death, alongside Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor.

Written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright and directed by Ken Bentley, Blake’s 7 - The Liberator Chronicles: Volume 3 is available to download now, and CD box sets will be mailed out today.

Also available now is our highly-praised full cast Blake’s 7 audio drama Warship, reuniting the entire original cast, and its accompanying ebook.

Blake’s 7 was created by Terry Nation (who also created the Daleks for Doctor Who) and ran for four years on BBC TV. It focused on a team of resistance fighters aboard their advanced ship the Liberator, who battle the corrupt forces of the Federation. The Liberator Chronicles: Volume 3 is part of a series of audiobooks that is being released in a licence deal with B7 Media.

Also available, is Warship by Peter Anghelides.

An alien fleet stands poised to invade Federation space. The only vessel available to hold it back is the Liberator, commanded by Roj Blake and his crew.

As an intergalactic war breaks out, old enemies become allies, and friends will become separated.

And Blake will be forced to leave behind all that matters to him…

‘The real strength of Warship – as with the original series – lies in the interactions between the Liberator’s crew. All the moral ambiguities and questionable motives that made the original series so compelling are present in Warship. There are some outstanding scenes between Blake and Cally, and between Avon and Blake, with dialogue lines and performances equal to anything we saw on screen.’ – Horizon, the Official Blake’s 7 Fan Club

‘Writer Anghelides has constructed a classic piece of space opera that really wouldn’t have felt out of place as a televised episode. You can almost see the cast rocking from side to side as they weather the blasts from alien cannons.’ – SciFind

‘A triumph for all concerned. The dialogue falls under the tongues of the actors naturally, so more than ever before, you really feel as if this is an episode the BBC accidentally forgot to broadcast in 1979.’ – Sci-Fi Bulletin

‘All hail @anghelides for his mighty B7 audio Warship. What a treat! Get it from @bigfinishnow!’ – Gareth Roberts, Doctor Who writer, Twitter

‘Wow, Blake’s 7 Warship from @bigfinish is brilliant! I’ve been watching through the episodes just recently and this fits in perfectly.’ – Rob, Twitter

‘Now that Blake’s 7 Warship was quite a ripping yarn. Thanks to all involved!’ – Michael Z, Twitter

‘Just listened to Blake’s 7: Warship. Fantastically written, performed and mixed. More please!’ – Alex Skerratt, Twitter

‘Paul Darrow still sounds like Avon and Michael Keating doesn’t seem to have aged at all. It gets a standard by 4 star rating from me.’ – Eamonn Clarke

Click to order Warship

Doctor Who – Voyage to Venus

‘Voyage to Venus’

Written by Jonathan Morris, directed by Ken Bentley
Special 1.1
October 2012

The Doctor has taken his old friends Professor Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago from the familiar setting of Victorian London to the realm of space and time. Hilariously, the Doctor’s guests have a hard time appreciating the immense possibilities available to the TARDIS. They attempt to deduce their landing site as any number of foreign lands while the Doctor blusters impatiently. He has not merely taken them to some strange land, he has transported them to the planet Venus!

Voyage to Venus is the first of two Sixth Doctor specials co-starring Jago and Litefoot. Christopher Benjamin continues to be an absolute delight as the voluminous Henry Gordon Jago and Trevor Baxter is of course amazing as Professor Litefoot, the adventuring pathologist. Reunited from their seminal appearance in the 1977 classic The Talons of Weng Chiang, Jago and Litefoot have found a new fandom in the audio format. Three series and a special one-off, these two are an absolute marvel, combining sharp dialog, biting wit and strong personalities and some incredibly imaginative plots to create an outstanding run of auditory escapades.

The Doctor intended to impress his friends with a breathtaking trip to another world, he of course finds that they have landed in the midst of a dangerous landscape. The Doctor and his companions come into contact with a stampede of rhinoceros-like creatures called Shanghorns who are fleeing from a hunting party of Valkyrie-like warriors armed with state of the art weaponry riding hovering sleds out of a Buck Rogers comic strip.

I have a soft spot for this audio story because my son enjoyed it so much. As the father of a four year old, I am very protective of anything that my son sees or hears. Luckily this story was innocent and full of enough character and excitement that he grew instantly fond of it.  He was especially attached to the Shanghorns and of course to Henry Gordon Jago, to the point where he identified himself as the impresario. Admit it, Jago *is* larger than life.

This particular story is lots of fun in that it pairs up two companions gifted with voluminous vocabularies with the Sixth incarnation of the Doctor, the most brilliant and charismatic of his Eleventh personas. Jonathan Morris’ plot, involving a race of female warriors declaring their dominance over the indigenous life and the further revelation of the Venuisians’ origins is inspired as is the interaction between Jago and the aforementioned native Thraskin. There is a lovely scene when Jago entertains the Thraskin with some stage tricks that is touching. The Venusians are incredibly interesting and bizarre, one shows Jago her ‘husband’ who lives a scallop-like life attached to her hip.

There is so much potential in this short story that Morris and company delve into with gusto. For anyone looking for a less intense but intelligent tale with hints of the pulps, I cannot recommend this one enough.
Doctor Who Voyage to Venus can be ordered from The Book Depository with free shipping worldwide by clicking on the link below: