The Gathering

"That's what he does. He takes away your control."

Writer: Joseph Lidster
Format: Audio
Released: September 2006
Series: Main Range 87

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Tegan

Synopsis

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...

Verdict

The Gathering was a great story! It was a rather emotional one and after 87 releases, Janet Fielding finally reprised her role as Tegan for Big Finish. Although she didn't quite reprise the role in how we were used to seeing her on screen with the Fifth Doctor. Instead, we got to see her after her departure in Resurrection of the Daleks and back in her native homeland of Australia. I thought it was a brilliant idea to have the Doctor reunited with Tegan 20 years after she had hastily left him. There was a lot of emotion there and the dialogue and relationship between the pair really was excellent. It was the highlight of the story for me and learning that Tegan then had a brain tumour made the story all the more heart-wrenching. The Doctor's reaction to that was quite saddening as he could see that she was just plain miserable and wanted to know why. Tegan's reaction to seeing him at her birthday party was good and I liked how she immediately deduced that she wasn't the reason why he was present. The connections this story had with The Reaping were wonderful and I rather liked how it served as both a prequel and a sequel. I can't imagine how difficult something like that is to write but Lidster pulled it off. The flashbacks of that story and setting up some important elements of it here were great and I liked how Kathy Chambers was back for an immediate return. I really liked her but I was quite surprised by her actions. Seeing the effects that The Reaping had on her was most intriguing and in a world where we rarely see the aftermath of the Doctor's adventures, seeing how his appearance in her life changed her really brought a new dynamic to Doctor Who. Tegan's life had been turned upside down and after seeing the world things could never be the same for her and even after only one encounter, Kathy's life had been drastically altered. Her relationship with James was quite shocking and given how she had seen first hand how deadly the Cybermen could be, the fact she wanted to use their technology, as well as killing Eve, to save Nate was deeply disturbing. The Doctor's brief visit to the Gogglebox was great and I loved how Alan was a huge fan. The references to An Unearthly Child, The Chase and The Visitation were terrific and I also loved the comment about the Doctor's seventh incarnation. The references to Planet of Fire and particularly Logopolis and The Caves of Androzani were very good too. The way the threat of Kathy using Cyber technology was dealt with was pretty good and I liked how this story also loosely set up the events of The Harvest but whilst being a tremendous story, a little bit more needed to happen in the opening part I think. The story only being two parts was different too and hearing just the Fifth Doctor and an older Tegan was welcomed. Overall, a great audio!

Rating: 8/10

Ice Station Alpha

"The whole energy industry is going to change overnight."

Writer: Matt Fitton
Format: Audio
Released: 30th June 2016
Series: UNIT: Shutdown 04

Featuring: Kate, Osgood, Josh, Sam

Synopsis

Caught between human greed and an unstoppable alien power, Kate Stewart leads her closest allies on one final, desperate mission. This could be the very last chance for the human race.

But the UNIT team has been declared rogue, and ruthless military forces are in pursuit as they race across the globe. Kate calls Lieutenant Sam Bishop to their aid, while Josh and Osgood head out across the frozen Antarctic plains to try and prevent a disaster no-one else knows is coming.

Verdict

Ice Station Alpha was a great audio adventure and a very good way to conclude Shutdown! This second series of UNIT's new era spinoff has been terrific and a nice extension to Extinction. I now look forward to the rest of the boxsets that have followed but for now this was a good conclusion to the series. It went how I kind of expected and I liked how Felicity Lyme was back in a prominent role following a quiet spell in the previous two stories. Kate turning the tables on her was excellent and I really liked how they continued to stand off in dialogue. They really have had an interesting relationship during this series. Sir Peter having talked to the higher ups and keeping UNIT out of the Alpha station was good but he really didn't seem the most intelligent of people so Kate could easily put UNIT in the driving seat. Hearing Sam back again was good and I liked how he was leading the UNIT soldiers in command. Josh was brilliant once again and I really liked how he was taking prominence when it came to sorting things with Dokan. I thought he was excellent once again and his appreciation of the human race and how they had been able to thwart the Tengobushi up to this point. His communicating with the Kamishi masters was intriguing and I rather liked the change in style of this story with the aliens actually not appearing to be too evil. They had gotten their power cell and were now just hoping to eliminate all trace of Kamishi science. Lyme was the problem and Kate understood that. Her generator being able to produce energy from out of nearly nothing was good but Kate really wasn't sure if the human race was ready for such a power. It would put all of the energy companies worldwide out of business and create a deadly monopoly. The standoff at the setting of the Antarctic was excellent and I really enjoyed the battle between UNIT and Cerberus. The third party being Dokan and the Tengobushi was good and I liked how the concluding moments saw Josh kiss Osgood. She clearly liked that which was intriguing and I do wonder whether anything will come of it in the next series. Josh's emergence at the ending was a nice touch and the conversation between the Kamishi master and Kate was a real highlight. She was defending the human race and assured the master that their secrets would be kept. Osgood provided them with the memory loss trace and the Kamishi saw that it was spread across all those who had learned of their science. It was a nice way to wrap things up and I liked the end meeting between Kate and Sir Peter. She saw that he forgot also which was a great finish. Overall, a great ending to a brilliant little boxset!

Rating: 8/10

The Battle of the Tower

"I don't like clever. I prefer my aliens stupid."

Writer: Andrew Smith
Format: Audio
Released: 30th June 2016
Series: UNIT: Shutdown 03

Featuring: Kate, Osgood, Josh

Synopsis

The threat is now clear, and Kate Stewart retreats to UNIT HQ with her most trusted colleagues. She has no choice but to place the Black Archive into lockdown, and the Tower of London is where UNIT will make its stand.

While the capital sleeps, an alien horde is gathering, ready to rise from the shadows to attack Earth's greatest defence force inside its own stronghold.

The Tower is infiltrated, and UNIT must hold the line. At any cost. Lock and load...

Verdict

The Battle of the Tower was a decent story that continued Shutdown, the second series of the new UNIT audio adventures, and whilst it was good I have to say I was hoping for a little better. It started right where Death in Geneva concluded and there was an action-packed opening before the titles but it didn't really take off from there which was a shame. We continued to learn more about the Tengobushi which was good and I liked how there seems to be a clear hierarchy amongst the Kamishi and their masters. We got to hear a glimpse of them at the end which was intriguing and the finale is set up rather nicely now. That in itself is a little weird as this episode really did have the feel of the finale with the looming battle but things didn't quite materialise as I hoped. Kate was terrific once again and I liked how when she wanted a meeting with Felicity Lyme she just had Josh kidnap her. That was pretty great. Josh had another solid showing and he really is proving himself to be a brilliant part of the UNIT team. Osgood continues to shine and I like how she deduced that Kamishi science was far in advance of human ability. There was a mesh of nervous system and circuitry in the power cell that Dokan so craved. Osgood had actually activated it too which brought some intriguing consequences but I always had the feeling of wanting something more from the story. What we got was good and some of the information was both interesting and exciting but there wasn't quite enough oomph. The Tengobushi infiltrating the Tower of London was good but the nature of their attack only being a diversion meant it couldn't quite be as much of a spectacle as one might hope. Josh and Kate working out that their attack was static was good but then Kate ended up just giving Dokan the energy supply. The Kamishi didn't want any chance of that technology being replicated so all who had been exposed to its truth were still to die but Dokan's masters had detected usage in the South Pole. How that will connect with the rest of the boxset is yet to be seen but I look forward to finding out. The mentions of Andromeda and Kate's father were good and I did like the connection made with Kate's comment of remembering UNIT training but I just felt that this episode was missing something to take it into a higher rating. It was still very decent though and I do hope that it has set up the finale. Because as a whole this series has still been excellent and I look forward to its conclusion. Overall though, a decent story!

Rating: 7/10

Death in Geneva

"One of our people has been killed, and the killers have taken her body..."

Writer: Andrew Smith
Format: Audio
Released: 30th June 2016
Series: UNIT: Shutdown 02

Featuring: Kate, Osgood, Josh

Synopsis

With few people left to trust, and with assassins on their tail, Kate and Osgood race to UNIT Command in Geneva. Will General Blair be able to help them?

But when death follows UNIT all the way from the English countryside to the snowy slopes of the Alps, Captain Carter finds himself in a race against time.

As the body count rises, Kate struggles to separate friend from foe, danger circles Osgood ever closer, and, high in the mountains, Josh comes face to face with the enemy...

Verdict

Death in Geneva was a great little story and a very good continuation of the Shutdown series of UNIT! It continued very nicely from where Power Cell left off and I really thought it transitioned the story nicely. I was quite surprised that Felicity Lyme didn’t make an appearance but I guess with the foreign setting that was understandable. General Grant was a new character that was introduced and it was rather nice to get to hear one of the UNIT higher ups in action. His admiration for Kate was terrific to hear and I liked the confidence he had in her when it came to his memories being extracted. The reveal of the creatures who did so much killing in the previous episode was welcomed and they have quite an elaborate name! The Tengobushi though were simply taking instructions and I liked the mysterious voice we initially heard that was obviously they’re master. More details came later in the audio with the emergence of Dokan, a Kamishi. I thought it was interesting that they were after an energy supply that they claimed to be theirs and their reasoning for being on Earth, despite heir claim of being all high and mighty, was to retrieve it. The brutality in which they gained the knowledge of its whereabouts through General Grant was brilliant and I liked how they weren’t messing around. The cameo appearance of Sir Peter was welcomed because of how well Kate attacked him. She was superb in that moment and really did question why someone from the Ministry of Energy and Environment was talking down on her rather than someone with jurisdiction from the Ministry of Defence. That seems to be the obvious place of leaks coming from the British Government but I do get the feeling there is a little more behind it. The Kamishi being able to change their appearance to suit their environment was good and I liked how it made them a walking chameleon circuit. Osgood’s ringtone being the TARDIS dematerialisation sound was wonderful and for that brief moment I did think the Doctor was going to show up. I’m sure it won’t be long before he makes an appearance in this series. It really is very good. Josh having an incident and losing Anna made him realise that Kate and Osgood were in danger and he knew he had to take his own journey abroad. He saved Osgood in the nick of time which was great and I also loved how she had a spare inhaler that allowed her to emit a deadly gas. She really was quite resourceful and that makes her a very loveable character. She also gained knowledge of the Tengobushi and saw their appearance which was very good. They weren’t human and I was also surprised by how much they didn’t sound metallic this time around. They don’t seem so threatening now that the Kamishi have been revealed but I’d argue they’re more interesting now. The relationship between Kate and Grant was good throughout and I liked how once the hitchhikers died just over the border, he gave his absolute full backing to the mission. Osgood deducing that it was the Tengobushi that had committed the murders was good and I also liked how she was targeted continuously. I’m intrigued by that. The ending was very good though and again set up the next story in the boxset very nicely. The Tower of London seems like a perfect setting for a story and with a battle for an energy supply the premise, I look very forward to listening. Overall though, a great story!

Rating: 8/10

Power Cell

"You really think someone is selling our secrets?"

Writer: Matt Fitton
Format: Audio
Released: 30th June 2016
Series: UNIT: Shutdown 01

Featuring: Kate, Osgood, Josh

Synopsis

Osgood and Captain Josh Carter are sent to investigate the disappearance of a UNIT scientist.

Meanwhile, alien technology has fallen into the hands of Lyme Industries, and Kate Stewart can't persuade the company's CEO, Felicity Lyme, to give it back.

But the UNIT team find themselves fighting a third battle when innocent people start to die. Who are the mysterious assassins? And what does Felicity Lyme want with top secret alien technology?

Verdict

Power Cell was a fantastic audio adventure and a brilliant start to the Shutdown series of UNIT. It’s been far too long since I listened to the great first series of Extinction and with the excitement of the new releases involving the Silence, Silurians and Daleks to name a few I just had to get back on the trail for this new series spinoff. And boy did the second series begin with a bang! I thought it was an excellent story from start to finish and the team really is terrific. Kate Stewart was magnificent and I loved how when she couldn’t get what she wanted, knowing that something was suspicious, she took matters into her own hands. The disappearance of Professor Harrison was a good backdrop for the story and I liked how we heard his death at the opening of the story. Osgood finding the brain residue when investigating his home was rather disturbing but it immediately showed just how deadly the attacker was. We only really heard snippets of the metallic monster that was the culprit for the deaths in this audio but with three audios left in the series, I like that we don’t really know too much about it. I’m sure we’ll find out as the series rolls on. Osgood was absolutely brilliant in this adventure and she really is just a magnificent character. Hearing at the quiz with old friends was good but I’ll be interested to see how she copes knowing that both Jay and Jeff are dead. Jay’s noble sacrifice was very emotional and just when I thought we’d be getting another member of the UNIT team, he unleashed a grenade taking his life as well as the two deadly automatons that were hunting Osgood. The story behind Lyme Industries taking over the Harrison’s research facility at King Henry’s University was good and with them being an energy company, Kate didn’t like the prospect of potential energy supplies being leaked. And leaks were happening. She suspected them from the very top. I like the idea of UNIT being infiltrated from the very top and the concern that Kate has was shown at the conclusion of the story when it was revealed she was going to Geneva with this case. That really does interest me so I can’t wait for the next story already. Cerberus were an interesting organisation and the idea of a standoff between them and UNIT outside Lyme Industries was very good. The back and forth conversations between Kate and Felicity Lyme were marvellous and I’m really looking forward to the inevitable dialogue between them for the rest of the boxset. The connections the latter might have to the killer creature is also something I’m looking forward to hearing - if there is one at all. Osgood telling Jay about her job at UNIT was great and I liked how there was a holographic appearance of the Eleventh Doctor. He and Osgood were fantastic together. The death of Kenton Eastwood was quite sad too and the idea of Kate and Josh breaking in to retrieve the UNIT property was good but I really liked how they weren’t the first ones there with the idea of intrusion. The pair were helpless to save Kenton and his death was pretty gruesome it must be said. Just what are this deadly species? I look forward to finding out. Josh was excellent and I liked the continuation from the previous series with his superhuman abilities. Nothing too noticeable but noticeably different which I really liked. The relationship between Lyme and Peter Latcham was another interesting one and the theme of partnership in the story was very good. This seems to have set things up for the rest of the boxset perfectly and I really can’t wait to listen to the rest of it. Overall, a brilliant start to the second series of UNIT!

Rating: 9/10

Technical Hitch

"He's been alone in his dream for some time now..."

Writer: Dan Abnett
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 4th November 1989
Printed in: The Incredible Hulk Presents 5

Featuring: Seventh Doctor

Synopsis

The Seventh Doctor continues his lonesome travels and arrives in a most peculiar place. He is greeted by a strange individual who is overjoyed to have some company. All he wants to do is play some games, but something isn't right...

Verdict

Technical Hitch was not the greatest of stories, I have to be honest. It continued my reading of the Nemesis of the Daleks graphic novel which I am glad to be reading a bit more often now but I do feel like the idea of five page stories could go on to hurt the content the more I read so I will be sceptical when it comes to reading future stories from this collection. I really do think that the absence of a companion is hurting things but even then when I come to think about the format, the desire to do mostly standalone stories tells me that there isn't really that much room for one to be present. It's a paradox! With just five pages to play with, I am very surprised that things haven't gone the way of Hunger from the Ends of Time! and have more stories spread over one part. Anyway, this story was just a bit weird I thought and not much at all actually happened. The Doctor arrived and was greeted by Admiral Vayle who was overjoyed to see him. The Doctor was quite taken aback by how excited Vayle was and as you would expect, he wanted to know what was going on. Vayle told him the whole scenario in a simple sentence which I found quite quick and it really was just as simple as there were others with him in the past and now there weren't any others anymore. Even for a five page comic story, I thought this was far too simplistic and it really was difficult to find some major highlights. I did like that the Doctor wanted to help as soon as he knew there was a problem but even then the resolution seemed a little bit too easy. I know the conclusion was pretty much in the story's title but it was quite underwhelming which was a shame. When the Doctor located the circuitry beneath the grass, the resulting shock or transportation that happened didn't make much sense because even some distance away from where the Doctor arrived, the TARDIS somehow managed to board the Da Gama ship as well. There was no explanation for that and it just didn't really make much sense. Not a lot else happened and the Doctor simply solved things by telling the computer voice onboard the ship that there was a problem with the technicalities that allowed Vayle to have artificial friends. The computer simply corrected the technical hitch and the Doctor was on his merry way. He had given Vayle his friends back which was a nice touch but as a whole, this story wasn't the greatest. I am well aware that the page limit is a huge factor in that but there have been great stories that have managed to work in the five page limit in this collection thus far. Overall, improvements are needed!

Rating: 5/10

Gaze of the Medusa

"Something happens to me here, and I'm trapped in stone, for two and a half thousand years!"

Writers: Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby
Format: Comic Strip
Released: March-September 2016
Printed in: Titan 4D 1-5

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane

Synopsis

When the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith took a trip to London in 1887, they didn't count on being dragged into a petrifying alien conspiracy that stretches all the way back to Ancient Greece! Pursued through the streets by the fearsome Scryclops, and at the mercy of the mysterious Lady Emily Carstairs, the pair must team up with Professor Odysseus James and his adventurer daughter, Athena, to avoid a horrifying fate - one already set in stone!

Verdict

Gaze of the Medusa was an excellent comic strip adventure! This was a nice little purchase in the January sales and reading a Titan comic story all in one go was quite different from my normal approach through purchasing Doctor Who Comic over the last few years. It does make you realise just how lengthy and detailed each part is and when five come together to make a story you really do get something quite special. This was my first story from Titan Comics from the Classic era and I must say I was very impressed. The writers captured the feel of the Fourth Doctor with effortless ease and the characterisation was brilliant with Tom Baker's likeness being well captured. Accompanying him was Sarah Jane and this pairing really was something quite special so seeing them reunited for a brand new adventure was a real treat. They were joined in the story by Athena and Odysseus who made a great father-daughter pairing and their relationship brought some emotion to the comic strip with the tumultuous conclusion. The pacing of the adventure was fast which provided excitement and I did think the cliffhangers were all very good - especially part one's. Sarah Jane seeing herself petrified in stone was terrific in itself but the reveal that she had been that way for over two millennia really was a shock. I thought Emily Carstairs made a fantastic villain and her deal with the Medusa was quite heart-wrenching. The evil creature was just using the women who yearned to see her children again to break free of her prison. I thought the reveal of Zeus, or at least the creature that inspired the myth, came a tad late but that just meant a pacy conclusion which I was absolutely fine with. The Doctor working everything out with such speed was great and I really liked his admiration for Athena. If these comics ever get the nod to be extended into a full series then I think she'd make a very good companion. Odysseus was also great and the way in which he was killed was pretty brutal. The Doctor wasn't going to let him die in vain though and needed to keep Athena on his side. The Scryclops were good and the name I must say is genius. I liked how they had limited capacity to see into the past and future but the Doctor not being exactly right about that provided a very humorous moment. I loved the Doctor's comment about the Weeping Angels possibly a myth and it shouldn't be too long before he gets to meet the real thing. I thought the reference to The Myth Makers was wonderful and I also liked that the Doctor gave the Medusa a chance before containing the horror. The causality loop was a good resolution to what was a fantastic story! Overall, excellent.

Rating: 9/10

Landbound

"They felt I shouldn't be interfering in the affairs of others quite so freely."

Writer: Selim Ulug
Format: Audio
Released: December 2017
Series: Short Trips 7.X

Featuring: Third Doctor

Synopsis

He was the captain of a ship once. Since being stripped of his authority, he is lost. Landbound. Then he meets a kindred spirit, a man who has also lost something.

In a small seaside town, both Ronald Henderson and the Doctor want to move forward, but one of them must first come to terms with his past...

Verdict

Landbound was a decent little audio story which saw me return to the Short Trips range for the first time in quite a while. I think my last audio from the series was Little Doctors back in around 2015 so it's fair to say that it has been rather a long time since I gave the range a listen. I am excited by the upcoming releases that feature the Meta-Crisis version of the Tenth Doctor and there are other stories that I want to take a listen of but I just haven't got around to purchasing yet. There's just so much content! The story was an interesting one and at 37 minutes long, I thought it was considerably longer than some of the audios in the range I have blogged in the past. However, one reason why I perhaps put off listening to the range is the fact that there is just one actor. On this occasion it was Nicholas Briggs and whilst I had no issue with his performance whatsoever, it's quite difficult to just listen to one actor for the entirety of a story. Even with the changing impression it's quite hard to devote time and admiration to the adventure but that's just the nature of the range. I thought it was clear that this story, the beginning of it at least, was set shortly after Doctor Who and the Silurians with the reference to it and that's a very intriguing point in the life of the Third Doctor I think. The story bared some similar comments from the Doctor to what I recently heard in Old Soldiers and I liked how he likened Ronald Henderson's position to his own. Henderson had been dismissed from his captain position on his boat and with the Doctor having recently been put on trial and exiled by his own people in The War Games, he could relate to his situation. The Doctor hearing about what had happened on Henderson's ship was interesting but I did think that he identified the species that devoured the metallic structure a little too easily. The Third Doctor definitely seems like the incarnation best associated to being in a pub so that was a nice inclusion. Once the Doctor left, I absolutely loved the development of him returning to see Henderson following the events of The Three Doctors when he regained control of the TARDIS. He visited again following Jo's departure in The Green Death which is brilliant to see just how much that exit affected him. I did quite like that the Doctor showed Henderson the TARDIS and the moment his ship was destroyed just to prove that he was exonerated of any blame. Overall, a decent and poignant adventure! Not bad for free.

Rating: 7/10

War World!

"The Doctor is about to be enlisted."

Writer: John Freeman
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 28th October 1989
Printed in: The Incredible Hulk Presents 4

Featuring: Seventh Doctor

Synopsis

Landing on a war torn planet, the Doctor has arrived during the midst of a deadly war. He is quickly enlisted for help but once the fighting is over, he'll discover that he didn't quite know who he was helping...

Verdict

War World! was a great little comic strip story that continued my sporadic reading of the Nemesis of the Daleks graphic novel. It was probably the best of the collection so far and I really did think that it had the potential for a brilliant story if it could be taken further in a longer story on television or audio. Maybe even a novel to explore the backstory behind the war that was ravaging Bellus IV. I thought the story had a lot of similarities to The Daleks in how the combatants, in this case the robots, had taken the war so far and had been fighting so long that the ways they were looking for victory had made them inhuman. They weren't what they used to be and instead they were robots. It was almost a mix of the Cybermen in the scenario on Skaro when the First Doctor encountered the Daleks for the very first time. I thought the artwork was pretty decent and seemed a little different to the previous stories in the graphic novel that I have blogged thus far. The characterisation of Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor was pretty decent with his likeness being pretty well-captured. I'm still not sure where these comics fit in the continuity with him travelling alone but because there is so much of his era that I am yet to explore with all the novels and everything so I can let that slide. Deldran was a good accompanying character and I liked that we got to know what had been going on in this planet's history. The idea of the combatants in the war knowing nothing else was intriguing and it helped explain the scale of the war but I would liked to have seen a little bit more of the robotic enemy. The Doctor continuing to have conversations with the TARDIS shows that a companion is needed but I did enjoy how he was met with guns following his exiting of the time machine. The quickness in which he solved the problem of the war was good but surprising but with just five pages to play with in a story, I guess there is only so much wriggle room. The ending being reminiscent of the Doctor's encounters with the Silurians in Doctor Who and the Silurians and Warriors of the Deep was quite poignant and I also liked how the Doctor was saddened by effectively bringing an end to two species to end the war. The final revelation that the humans were actually robots left by the Guardians was interesting and I quite liked the final comments about peace. Overall, a great comic strip adventure!

Rating: 8/10

The Phantom Piper Part 3

"I am sick of being seen as some kind of leader..."

Writer: Scott Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 11th January 2018
Printed in: DWM 521

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill

Synopsis

Kings College. The Moon. The Doctor, Bill and Chiyoko venture to the dark side to enlist the help of Alan Turing to decode the mysterious engravings on the TARDIS. A question is to be asked by a very mysterious and powerful force. Can the Doctor stop the Phantom Piper before it's too late?

Verdict

The Phantom Piper continued in excellent fashion with this terrific third part of the story. I am quite surprised that this one has lasted at least four parts now but it does seem that the Twelfth Doctor will be bowing out of the comic strip stories with a bang. This was my first story featuring Peter Capaldi's incarnation since the regeneration in Twice Upon a Time and I am looking very forward to reading all of the features on that episode in this month's magazine. Jodie Whittaker gets her customary 'is the Doctor!' front cover and it really does look magnificent. I can't wait for her series to air and the magazine really does have a sense of changing times. We have the first full interview with her as the Doctor which I can't wait to read and I am also looking very forward to reading Chris Chibnall's first column as showrunner. His thoughts on the series ahead should be most intriguing and I'm looking forward to any hints we might get about Series 11. I am a little surprised that there is no Galaxy Forum this month, in the issue immediately after such a monumental episode, but I do hope to be able to read the thoughts of others on the Christmas Special in next month's magazine. After collecting for a few years, I have finally subscribed to DWM and I'm really not sure why it's taken me such a long time to do so. Rachel Talalay's discussion on the regeneration scene should be excellent as her interviews in the past have been great and I am also looking forward to the Coming Soon feature this month as it previews the seventh series of the Fourth Doctor Adventures as well as the third series of the Diary of River Song. I can't wait for that latter one. The Melody Maker and Maestro features also look to be a good read and even though I had to do some searching and pick this issue up back in my home nation, this looks set to be a stellar issue! Now, to the comic strip and I was glad that we actually got to meet both Alan Turing and the Phantom Piper, both of whom had played big parts in the adventure thus far without showing up. The relationship between the Doctor and Bill continued to be brilliant and I also loved Chiyoko. Her reply to Bill about being an android shaped as a 9-year old was hilarious. The expected revelation that Turing was a Galatean was good and I liked how he was able to decipher the message engraved into the TARDIS. It was revealed to be a question asking 'what gives you the right?' and before an answer could be given the Phantom Piper emerged. Just what she is and can do is yet to be seen but I'm really looking forward to seeing her in action in the fourth part. I would have thought it to be the final part of the story but I seem to notice that the page count for the comic strip has decreased slightly since the change in editor so who knows. Overall though, a great continuation of the story and I look forward to the next issue.

Waves of Destruction

"You think we're being invaded by pirate DJs?"

Writer: Justin Richards
Format: Audio
Released: January 2016
Series: FDA 5.01

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9

Synopsis

A modulated frequency wave cancellation signal isn't something that the Doctor and Romana expect to detect in 1960s London. But then they don't expect to find Professor Lanchester, the man who invented it, lying unconscious. Or MI5 investigating.

With the help of MI5 Agent Miller, Lanchester's daughter Jill, and his nephew a pirate radio DJ called Mark, the Doctor, Romana and K9 investigate. They soon discover that there is more at risk than they imagined, and an alien invasion is about to begin.

Can the Doctor identify and defeat the aliens in time? Will Romana manage to find a recombinant transducer before it's too late? And how will K9 cope with his new job?

Verdict

Waves of Destruction was an absolutely superb audio adventure and it really is ranked right up there with the very best audio adventures that I have listened to. From start to finish, this story was funny, brilliant and just sublime. The pacing was fantastic and with the pairing of the Fourth Doctor and Romana II reunited, it really was the perfect start to the fifth series of the Fourth Doctor Adventures. K9 managed to add so much to the story as well which is testament to just how good this script was from Justin Richards. It started off excellently and I loved the Doctor and Romana doing a crossword and having the next day's newspaper on hand to find the answer. Their deduction that they were simply too smart for the publication was wonderful. The mention of the Black Guardian was intriguing but one thing I really did enjoy was the setting of the 1960s. Romana provided quite a considerable amount of humour when it came to her shopping for plastic bags. The pun of Ray Dio as a DJ was painful but good and I really did enjoy the whole basis of the story being on radio. Professor Lanchester being found unconscious was not what I expected once the TARDIS arrived but it actually worked out splendidly. Mark was put in an interesting predicament then and I really loved the moment where he revealed that his uncle had no daughter. Jill being able to read minds was good and I liked her admiration of Romana's being a struggle to decipher. The way she killed Cooper was quite a shock but one character who I thought was magnificent was Agent Miller. His relationship with the Doctor was outstanding and I loved how he was just aimlessly providing all the information he needed. The cliffhanger was very good and I must admit I should have worked out that the Vardans were returning. I was very happy to hear that they were coming back and that just made the Christmas offer price of £2.99 even more of a bargain from Big Finish. The reference to The Invasion of Time was good and I just adored the concept of the aliens. They recognised the Doctor which was good and I just loved how they managed to escape via a broadcast. It's a genius idea, it really is. K9 having copied the cancellation wave that initially put him out of action was good and it seemed obvious that it would result in the resolution but it didn't hurt the story one bit. I enjoyed the reference to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the concept of the Vardans needing the right bandwidth to invade Earth in numbers was terrific. Miss Logan's doubt that the planet could be invaded via radio was great and I loved how the jingle of Radio Frantic was being used for the Vardans' flight path. The Doctor's defence of the human race was rather epic following the merciless death of Logan and that just made the ending all the sweeter for him. K9 emitted the wave and just before they arrived in numbers, the broadcast was cut short and the Vardans were no more. Overall, a spectacularly good audio!

Rating: 10/10

The Veiled Leapord

"Follow the Leopard through time..."

Writers: Ian McLaughlin & Claire Bartlett
Format: Audio
Released: March 2006
Series: Special Release 05

Featuring: Peri, Erimem, Ace, Hex

Synopsis

Monte Carlo, 1966:

Four time travellers. Two missions. One costumed ball. The Doctor has sent Peri and Erimem to prevent the fabulous Veiled Leopard diamond from being stolen. Which is odd, seeing as the Doctor has sent Ace and Hex to steal the diamond. How will the two teams cope with this contradictory task? Will Peri's asp slip? Why does Ace have to pretend to be a French maid? How will Erimem cope with Pharaoh Rammalamadingdong? And can Hex really "do posh"?

Verdict

The Veiled Leopard was a great little audio adventure and an excellent bonus to the mass of Big Finish stories that I have already blogged on here. It actually scares me how much more I have of the Main Range alone but I knew of (and have actually listened to) this story and it seemed like a rough placement of where it might fit in with the rest of the stories so after a day of travel and dissertation research trawling through archives, this was a lovely audio to be doing. I really like the mix and how the first and second parts, whilst completely separate, take place at the same time. Peri and Erimem worked wonderfully together again and I was actually quite glad to hear them in a story without the Doctor present. The way they talked about him was good and I loved the description of the Fifth and Seventh Doctors meeting. I really would love for there to be more multi-Doctor stories like The Two Doctors where it is just two different Doctors such as the fifth and seventh incarnations meeting. This is about as close as we get for now. I liked the humour in this adventure and the Monte Carlo setting of 1966 was terrific. The dinner party presentation of the famed Veiled Leopard was a nice backdrop and when Ace arrived on the scene with Hex for the cliffhanger, the change in direction was a pleasant surprise. We didn't actually get to hear the companions all meeting which was perhaps a bit of a shame as I'd have loved to hear their comments about their respective Doctors but sadly the story cut short before that could happen. I was quite surprised with how much reference there was to sex and I was a little taken aback by Peri and Erimem being referred to as 'stock' in the second half of the audio. Hex was good in this story and I liked how he mentioned the 1966 World Cup. Even if he is English, I'm happy the Doctor has a companion that's a fan of football. His, along with Ace's, impression of the Seventh Doctor was pretty awful though. I really liked that the two sets of companions had no idea that fellow time travellers, sent by the same person with the same mission, were attending the same event as them. There was some beautiful irony about that. The reference to The Harvest was good and I also like how this story had contradictory elements in that the Doctor seemed to give each pairing of companions a different backstory to what the diamond actually was. Erimem though knew a lot about it and I liked how Peri left her to make the decision regarding what was to be done. The conclusion was quite funny with the kerfuffle of swapping the actual diamond with a counterfeit and Lilian, Peter and Gavin all getting muddled up in the melee. Overall, a terrific little story!

Rating: 8/10

The Reaping

"They won't stop until every single living creature is like them."

Writer: Joseph Lidster
Format: Audio
Released: September 2006
Series: Main Range 86

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

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, Kathy Chambers, mourns her father and Peri finds herself meeting some other familiar faces.

Verdict

The Reaping was an outstanding audio adventure! It really was absolutely brilliant from start to finish which was a real treat. I was quite excited prior to listening as the CD cover tells us that the Cybermen were back and even though I watched Earthshock yesterday, there's nothing quite like a new adventure with the metal men. I did not expect them to provide so much emotion to the story though and that was some really beautiful irony. The Doctor and Peri arriving on the Gogglebox was good and I liked how of all the things from Earth's history she could witness, Peri wanted to see the news from back home. This audio was fantastic in revealing to us some backstory on Peri's character and with the inclusion of her mother, it was a sort of loose sequel to Planet of Fire. I really loved how the era of the Sixth Doctor and Peri was captured and the use of the story being just two parts only added to that. Peri trying to explain to her mother where she had been for the last four months (actually years for Peri) was interesting and I also liked how she was reunited with her friends in Kathy and Nate. The fate of the latter was quite horrific and the whole story centring on the murder of Anthony ended up being incredible. The Cyber Leader, who was badly damaged, had looked through the Cybermen's history on the Doctor and as he came from the future, he knew all about the Doctor and Peri, presumably from the events of Attack of the Cybermen, so he conducted a plan to draw the Doctor in. It worked. But the damage of the Cyber Leader was too great and after being stranded on Earth for over 600 days already, he wanted to go back to Earth's pre-history and convert the first humans into Cybermen. I'm not sure how the Cybermen would be able to reproduce from there on but it would certainly have a devastating effect on humanity's future. The way the Doctor tricked the Leader into thinking he had gone back, changed things, and then returned to a new 1984 was brilliant and the fact that he actually took him to Mondas was just somehow poetic. The cameo appearance of the Mondasian Cybermen that we would first see in The Tenth Planet was magnificent and their reaction to this futuristic Cyberman was spectacular. The Cyber Leader recognised their inferiority but he was too damaged to do anything. He went for reprocessing and that was the end of him. I thought Kathy Chambers was a brilliant character and I also enjoyed Daniel Woods prior to his demise. I thought the Cybermen, whilst desperate, were at their very best here as they were quite monstrous. The story had such an effect on Peri that at its conclusion she decided to leave the Doctor. Now, with this audio being set prior to The Trial of a Time Lord we know this was not her final goodbye but it was still a pivotal occurrence. However, the legacy of the Cybermen lived on with their technology and van Gysegham and that would see Peri's mother murdered. I was quite stunned by that but it just showed that the Cybermen were not to be messed with. She rejoined the Doctor after he returned from witnessing the events on the Gogglebox and where things for this pairing go from here I'm not quite sure. But I am very interested to see! Overall, a simply stunning audio adventure.

Rating: 10/10

Earthshock

"Now I'll never know if I was right."

Writer: Eric Saward
Format: TV
Broadcast: 8th-16th March 1982
Season: 19.06

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Adric

Synopsis

The mysterious disappearance of an archaeological team is merely the prelude to a deadlier threat for the Doctor and his companions - the Cybermen want to destroy Earth, and will use any means at their disposal. The Doctor's ingenuity is stretched to its very limits as he battles to defeat the Cyber army at any cost. But even he does not realise just how high that cost will be...

Verdict

Earthshock was an excellent story and served as a wonderful and emotional sendoff for Adric as companion. He was a controversial character and was not the most liked person to ever appear in the show but this adventure made you feel quite guilty about that with his impromptu death. This was probably the fourth time that I have watched this story now and the impact of Adric's demise at the conclusion of the story still hit me. The silence that accompanied the end credits just added to the shock factor of what was a brilliant moment. It's emotional and shocking and that's just fantastic. As if that wasn't enough, this serial also saw the long-awaited return of the Cybermen. Surprise returns like that are very rare now so I can't imagine how good of a cliffhanger the one to part one must have been at the time. The only thing I can compare it to is the reveal that Missy was the Master in Dark Water. I had no idea about that revelation so it really stunned me on broadcast which was magnificent. Anyway, the Cybermen themselves were terrific and whilst I absolutely adored the helmet design, watching now in 2018 made me realise that the whole costume actually wasn't that great. It was quite flimsy and they even seemed quite skinny which didn't do so much for the image of them being powerful. Their plan to destroy Earth in the midst of an intergalactic conflict was terrific and I liked how they feared the combined forces of a planetary alliance. I'd quite like this space conflict of the 26th century to be explored further (Big Finish, perhaps?) and I do hope it happens at some point. The Cybermen discovering that the Doctor was present and working out who he was made me rather happy. That's because it provided marvellous flashbacks to The Tenth Planet, The Tomb of the Cybermen and Revenge of the Cybermen. I'm a sucker for things like that being the continuity fan that I am. The references to Full Circle, Warriors' Gate, Logopolis and Black Orchid were also good moments. The revelation that Ringway was a traitor was good and I liked how quickly the Cybermen just disposed of him when they weren't happy with his work. The Cyber Leader was fantastic and I liked how he enjoyed having power and control over the Doctor. His explanation of why emotional attachment was a weakness was outstanding and other than the ending, it was probably the highlight of the serial for me. But the story has to be about Adric. The death of a companion is such a big moment and the way that the adventure teased the extinction of the dinosaurs and then linked it to Adric's demise with the freighter was incredible. I loved it. Overall, this story was excellent and improved as it went on and if it wasn't for a little bit of a slow start, this would have had an even higher mark.

Rating: 9/10

Old Soldiers

"The ghosts of warrior's past were invading."

Writer: James Swallow
Format: Audio
Released: December 2007
Series: Companion Chronicles 2.03

Featuring: Third Doctor, Brigadier

Synopsis

Kriegeskind has been the site of a military fortress since the days of the Roman Empire, but now it is a secret facility in service to UNIT, the world's first line of defence against paranormal threats to humankind.

Summoned by a cryptic message from an old comrade-in-arms, Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart arrives at the gothic castle to discover a base under siege, a conspiracy of silence and an invasion from the past.

For the Brigadier and the Doctor, honour and duty collide with a deadly phantom enemy that can only be stopped by making the ultimate sacrifice...

Verdict

Old Soldiers was a great little audio adventure and it was brilliant to be doing my first Companion Chronicle in quite some time! This is a range I have blogged quite a lot of since 2013 and whilst some may think that 39 entries from the range isn't that impressive, I am quite proud of it considering how much I jump around ranges and formats. I purchased this story for a little over £2 on eBay and I think it's safe to say that it was a steal of a price. I'd have happily payed £2.99 for the download which is often a deal by Big Finish but you really cannot beat having the physical copy of an audio. Having the late Nicholas Courtney tell this story was a real treat and placing the Brigadier as the sole companion of the Doctor for an adventure is simply magnificent. I really enjoyed that this story took place in the aftermath of Doctor Who and the Silurians and I don't think the relationship between the pair would have been closer to bitterness than during this adventure. It took a little while for the Doctor to actually appear in the audio and the Brigadier was a little skeptical about asking him for help but once he arrived he was surprisingly okay. He was interested in what was going on at Kriegeskind and wanted to help. The story was actually very decent and I loved the whole psychic theme and element in the audio. The Brigadier had seen a phantom of a Roman and with the history that was behind Kriegeskind, which had been taken over by UNIT, it appeared that remnants of time were emerging. The phantoms being referred to as manifestations of the pain's past was actually quite powerful and that concept actually really got me thinking. It's an idea that could definitely be expanded upon in a bigger and longer story and it's one that I would certainly be interested in. The relationship between the Third Doctor and the Brigadier was good here and I liked how even in the early days of this incarnation, the relationship was still considered a strong one. The mentions of Liz were nice and I also enjoyed the references to The Web of Fear, The Invasion and Spearhead from Space. The cliffhanger in the middle of the story was very good and the prospect of the UNIT of the 1970s coming up against the Nazis was really exciting. I thought Konrad and Schrader were good characters and the latter's illness was an interesting part of the audio. Konrad having survived the alien plant illness all but mentally was good and it did help explain some of his actions and comments that took place in the story prior to that revelation. The resolution of the adventure came a little early in my opinion but there still was the threat of imminent destruction. Things didn't end as the Doctor hoped with Konrad actually calling on the complete obliteration of Kriegeskind, with him remaining inside. It was a rather emotional conclusion to what was a neat and actually quite powerful adventure. The relationship of the Brigadier and the Doctor was explored further and I really liked that we got an insight to it. Overall, a very good story!

Rating: 8/10

Old Girl: War of Gods

"Sutekh is an enemy of all life/"

Writer: Nick Abadzis
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 23rd November 2017
Printed in: DWC: Tales from the TARDIS 20

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Gabby, Cindy

Synopsis

The grand finale of Year Two! The impossible has occurred, and an ancient foe, long since defeated, has returned again to plague the Doctor, the universe, and to threaten all of reality! Has Anubis fallen to the ways of his father, Sutekh... or has Sutekh found a way to transcend death? Whoever survives will head into Year Three forever changed!

Verdict

Old Girl concluded in great style with War of Gods and I really am glad to have finished it! Now, that's not at all because it was a bad story and as my rating reflects I very much enjoyed it. The only issue I have is with the publisher's behind Doctor Who Comic because with it only now being released tri-monthly, it really has taken me an age to complete the story. I started it way back in April so this really has been a long time coming. Thankfully though I was happy to find that Year Two finished very strongly and Sutekh was defeated once again. I thought the characterisation of the Tenth Doctor was superb with David Tennant's characterisation being captured wonderfully well. The relationship between Gabby and Cindy was terrific in this story and the moment that Cindy poured out her emotion and love for Gabby really was a touching moment. She wasn't proclaiming that she was in love with her but I liked, and was quite surprised, that Cindy's true intentions in travelling with the Doctor was so that she wouldn't be away from Gabby for an extended period of time. It wasn't about travelling the universe for her which I found quite extraordinary. Dorothy Bell got to steal the show in this finale which was great as I have really enjoyed her character in these Tenth Doctor comic stories. Her admittance that she was just wearing the face of youth was good and I loved how she used her position as the Hand of Sutekh to destroy him once and for all. The reveal that the Doctor was actually going to sacrifice both himself and the TARDIS showed you just how powerful Sutekh was and the threat he posed but given the option of Dorothy taking his place, something she would not be persuaded out of by Gabby, he managed to save the day without regenerating or perishing. Sutekh went on a bit of a rampage before his demise and the way he just obliterated the Dragon was quite horrifying. That was what he did to somebody who brought him the gift of the Doctor's companions so it showed that he was not one for compassion. The way the Doctor addressed Sutekh was brilliant and I loved how the latter addressed the Time Lord's regeneration. Even in voice and tone, the Doctor was still recognisable despite being in a different body. The epilogue, if you like, was most interesting and with the damage caused by Sutekh's destruction, the Doctor had been out cold for a few days. Dororthy had worked wonders for Anubis before her sacrifice and she had basically reset him. He was an Osiran but he barely remembered a thing and was dubbed Newbis. I quite liked that. As much as I have liked this story and the whole arc with Anubis and Dorothy, I do hope that Year Three takes us in a new direction. Overall though, a brilliant finale!

Rating: 9/10

One Life

"I can't leave him behind if I can save him."

Writer: John Dorney
Format: Audio
Released: October 2017
Series: The Eighth Doctor: The Time War 1.04

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Bliss

Synopsis

As the full force of the Time War crashes down around the Doctor and his friends, a desperate battle for survival ensues.

But not everyone is playing the same game. Ollistra is after a weapon that could end the war in a stroke and she'll sacrifice anyone or anything to take it back to Gallifrey. Even the Doctor.

Surrounded by Daleks, and on a tortured planet, only one man can save the day. But he doesn't want to fight.

Verdict

One Life was an excellent story and a terrific audio to finish the first boxset depicting the Eighth Doctor's experience of the Time War. It brought things to a good conclusion and served as a fitting finale to what has been a great collection of stories. Following on from the incredible cliffhanger of The Conscript, this started in surprising fashion as we heard Quarren and Rupa meeting for the very first time. These little instances would continue throughout the audio as we got to hear snippets from their first date and then their wedding night. There was some humorous innuendo there which I enjoyed and I also really liked how important this pair became after being somewhat minor characters for most of the boxset thus far. The Daleks invading the Time Lord base on Tenacity was good and I loved how it was them that saved the Doctor from being shot at and regenerating. Ollistra was so confident that his next incarnation would change his mind about leaving without his friends. If only she knew which Doctor was next. I thought her description of the Eighth Doctor's personality was wonderful and I thought this was Paul McGann's best performance of the boxset. The concept of the reversal wave hitting the entire solar system was quite mind-blowing and the effect it was having on the TARDIS was really intriguing. It was still bigger on the inside, just not that much bigger. I loved how Ollistra utilised the infamous emergency cube first seen in The War Games and the use of familiar Time Lord technology did not stop there as we had quite a revelation. Ollistra and the Daleks had both been searching for a weapon so powerful that it could end the Time War. That weapon turned out to be Quarren! I did not see that coming and the inclusion of the chameleon arch was fantastic. I adored that and the idea of him actually being a Time Lord with the ability to end the conflict with just his mind was quite frightening. When Ollistra left the Doctor behind, Quarren's realisation that he couldn't leave him behind after his earlier epic speech was heartfelt. He would lose Rupa to save the Doctor. He became his Time Lord self once again and put an end to this area of the conflict. He saved the Doctor and returned Rupa to safety but because he didn't want any part of the Time War, he erased himself from history. He left Bliss with the Doctor for her to get what I consider the official nod as companion and it was quite emotional that the Doctor and co had been saved but they had no idea how or who by. That was quite poignant. Overall, an excellent story and a brilliant conclusion to what has been a terrific boxset! The Eighth Doctor's experiences of the Time War are something I look very forward to exploring further.

Rating: 9/10

The Conscript

"Your staser is your best friend."

Writer: Matt Fitton
Format: Audio
Released: October 2017
Series: The Eighth Doctor: The Time War 1.03

Featuring: Eighth Doctor

Synopsis

Cardinal Ollistra has a new tactic to persuade the Doctor to join his people's fight. With his friends locked away, he has been conscripted alongside fellow Gallifreyans to train for the front lines of battle.

Commandant Harlan has a reputation - his camp's regime is harsh. He believes the Time Lords must adapt to win this war, but the Doctor is not easily intimidated.

Can there be any place for dissent when the Time War looms so close?

Verdict

The Conscript was a great audio adventure and a very good continuation of the Eighth Doctor's first Time War boxset. I look forward to these stories continuing in the coming years and this one really did move the collection in a different direction. Instead of seeing events that the Time War had a direct effect on, the Doctor had now been captured by Ollistra and with her desperate for him to join the fight against the Daleks, she wanted him to undertaker training. He had effectively been conscripted and was at the mercy of Commandant Harlan. He immediately though made a mockery of the whole facade and was not afraid to stand up and joke and question what he was instructed to do. Even if it meant receiving some physical abuse from Tamasan. Ollistra was a bit more ruthless in this story than we're used to from hearing her alongside the War Doctor but that was brilliant. The Doctor had riled her up and we got to see that the Time War was getting to her. She was letting things get a bit too personal with the Doctor and that can only work to his advantage in the concluding story. I was quite surprised that Bliss barely appeared in this story and considering she's being dubbed the new companion, I would actually argue against her being one at this point. She barely featured in The Starship of Theseus and was only in the last five minutes or so of this one. I still very much like her though so I do hope we hear more of her in the boxset finale. I thought the references to The Five Doctors and Echoes of War were wonderful and I also really liked the characters of Veeda and Norvid. They both had quite contrasting views of the Doctor and I was quite taken aback that Norvid died in following the Doctor. It was quite a lesson to teach and it made you realise just how special the Doctor really is as nobody can quite be like him. His causing of minor rebellions amongst the Time Lord ranks was brilliant and exactly what I would have expected from the Doctor in this situation. His thoughts on the Time War were quite interesting and I loved his explanation for why he doesn't get involved. Despite all the murderous barbarity that is going on and all the lives being lost by the Doctor's inaction, he doesn't get involved because he simply doesn't know how to solve a Time War. That really did put the Time War into some kind of scale and it made the Doctor's stance all the more intriguing to me. Would he want to join the Time Lords and defeat the Daleks if he knew how? I'm really not sure. He's still horrified by the new attitude of the Time Lords and his disgust at the War Council staying safe was terrific. I thought the story itself was good and showed us a good insight into the training Time Lords received for the Time War and how Gallifrey prepared but my only criticism was that there didn't seem to be much of a direction, only that the Doctor would cause trouble and influenced Harlan into not being so ruthless. The cliffhanger though was outstanding and has set up the next adventure very well. The Doctor was free to leave, but his friends were not. He would obviously not agree to those terms so Ollistra stood firm and she'd had enough of this incarnation. She was going to shoot him just enough to regenerate in the hope she could reason with a new personality. Oh, the irony there is quite poignant. Overall, a great story!

Rating: 8/10

Echoes of War

"It's like the trees have aged a thousand years in two minutes."

Writer: Matt Fitton
Format: Audio
Released: October 2017
Series: The Eighth Doctor: The Time War 1.02

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Bliss

Synopsis

Colliding with the full force of the Time War, the Doctor crash-lands on a jungle world with a ragtag band of refugees.

To stay alive, they must cross a landscape where time itself is corrupted. A forest which cycles through growth and decay, where sounds of battle are never far away, and where strange creatures lurk all around.

Luckily, the Doctor has friends: not only plucky scientist Bliss, but another, much more unlikely ally. Its name is 'Dal'...

Verdict

Echoes of War was an excellent story and a brilliant continuation of the Eighth Doctor's Time War boxset. After a solid start, I was glad to see the Time War take full effect on a story here and the Doctor was involved in all of it. It was clear that he was taking no part in the battle between the Time Lords and the Daleks but the conflict had clearly been raging for some time by this point. The planet was in chronic flux and that brought with vast opportunities and I really loved how they were explored. Paul McGann was terrific as the Eighth Doctor and what appears to be the new companion in Bliss was subtly wonderful. I love the fact that she is a scientist and I do hope that she accompanies the Doctor during the Time War for more than just this boxset. But if that's all we get of her then I will cherish her whilst she's here. The little group of renegades that accompanied the Doctor was very good and I thought Rupa and Quarren were fantastic characters. Their relationship was a great addition to the story and the fact that they were loved ones really did bring an added element of emotion to the audio. Jefferson was good whilst he lasted but his death really was quite horrific. However, that just sold how dangerous this story could be and showed the full effects of the Time War. It had absolutely ravaged this planet with the forest alternating from growing to decaying. It really was quite complex to comprehend. Dal was magnificent and the idea of a Dalek forgetting its identity and purpose is just marvellous and it was explored in sublime detail during this adventure. The remnants of its true self were there and when comments of the Doctor and a blue box were made, Dal recognised them as familiar. Even when it saw other Daleks, it recognised the familiarity but still wanted to help its newfound friends to reach the planet's safe zone. The Doctor trying to conceal his identity to prevent Dal from remembering who and what it really was put a smile on my face because he knew immediately that he could use this Dalek to the group's advantage. The technology was all still there and the Doctor utilised it fully. The comments from Quarren about wanting to get away from the Time War, he was a refugee after all, but being in close proximity of a Dalek and a Time Lord was excellent and I really did feel that the Time War, at these earlier stages than we have experienced in previously released audios, was rampaging and causing havoc across the universe. The ending was quite sudden and rather shocking, especially when Tamasan just killed Dal with no compassion whatsoever. Despite the Doctor's plea and reasoning, the fact that a Time Lady did that, with the approval of Cardinal Ollistra, showed just how evil the Time Lords had become because of the Time War. Just what Ollistra has planned for the Doctor and his group will be made clear in the next story, but I like how this audio set that up by showing us the ruthlessness of the Time Lords. Overall, a fantastic story!

Rating: 9/10

The Starship of Theseus

"That's just a gun, I've got a screwdriver."

Writer: John Dorney
Format: Audio
Released: October 2017
Series: The Eighth Doctor: The Time War 1.01

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Sheena

Synopsis

The Doctor and his companion, Sheena, land the TARDIS on the glamorous luxury space-liner Theseus just as it's about to leave the Jupiter space-port. An opportunity for a holiday presents itself - and it's one they're very glad to take.

But when a disturbance catches their attention, they realise sinister events are taking place on board. Passengers are vanishing on every trip. And unless they're careful, they may be next.

Can the Doctor and Emma solve the mystery? Or is there something else they should be worrying about?

Verdict

The Starship of Theseus was a very good audio and a great start to the Eighth Doctor's beginnings in the Time War. Now, this is not the first release to depict Paul McGann's eighth incarnation in the Time War as we had The Sontaran Ordeal as part of the Classic Doctors, New Monsters Volume 1 set last year but the fact that we get a brand new boxset, and it is just the first volume, excites me very much and I do hope that it can be as successful as the War Doctor's four boxsets. It's intriguing for me listening to the Eighth Doctor at this stage of his incarnation as I have skipped most of his tenure at Big Finish to get here. Now, I hope that decision won't come back to bite me as there is so much of his era that I have yet to listen to but I'm hoping that the fact he is now in the midst of the Time War will provide some form of separation from his normal adventures. I assume that these boxsets concerning the Time War will lead up to The Night of the Doctor in which we saw the Eighth Doctor regenerate which makes it all the more interesting as we listen to this incarnation nearing the end of his life. Anyway, the role of the Doctor's companion in this story was utterly confusing but I have to say that I rather enjoyed it. Sheena seemed good for what we heard of her but then her name suddenly became Emma and later she was Louise. Sheena had seemed like she'd been travelling with the Doctor for a while but as the audio went on, the Doctor couldn't even recall meeting her! I loved the confusion because it had me invested in the story and that's something I always look for. The temporal disturbances on board the Theseus were so great that the Doctor even forgot about the Time War. The arrival of the Daleks soon saw to those memories being restored though and I liked how he contacted them with absolute confidence. There was something very special about hearing the Eighth Doctor battle the Daleks during the Time War. I loved it because it's just something we have not seen before. The concept of the hyperspace jump requiring a sacrifice was horrifying but the cruise liner's history changing to become a Time War refugee transporter requiring volunteers was just as horrid. The arrival of Bliss was terrific and I think she'll settle into becoming a wonderful companion. The reference to The Faceless Ones was fantastic and I also really liked the inclusion of the psychic paper. This really did feel like a Classic Doctor in the modern era because I guess, essentially, that's exactly what this boxset is going to be. Koloth was a good character and I liked the continuation from the Time Lords in referring to the Doctor as the Renegade. He was the coward who would not fight for his people and that really did seem like a perfect fit. The cliffhanger finish was very good with the weakened Dalek threatening extermination and I look very forward to continuing this boxset in the coming days. Overall, a very good start!

Rating: 8/10

Hunger from the Ends of Time!

"The greatest library in the universe stores its archives across time rather than space..."

Writer: Dan Abnett
Format: Comic Strip
Released: 14th-21st October 1989
Printed in: The Incredible Hulk Presents 2-3

Featuring: Seventh Doctor

Synopsis

The Seventh Doctor arrives on the planet Catalog to discover that the greatest library in the universe has reorganised its collection. Now housing books throughout time, something sinister is eating its way through the catalogue and the Doctor is required to put a stop to it...

Verdict

Hunger from the Ends of Time! was a brilliant little comic strip to continue my reading of the Nemesis of the Daleks graphic novel. 2018 kicks off as 2017 ended with my reading of this collection and with an important year ahead, I get the feeling that stories of this length could be a common feature of my blog. I will (hopefully) be graduating this summer and finishing my undergraduate degree and what that will mean for my future in the second half of the year is still to be decided but I am very excited by the unknown at the moment. Maybe this blog will be the only constant in my life by then from my time before university! Who knows. Anyway, I was a little worried when purchasing this graphic novel about the content within due to the majority of the stories not actually coming from Doctor Who Magazine. Now I can't say I know anything about The Incredible Hulk Presents but thus far with Stairway to Heaven and Once in a Lifetime, I am pleasantly surprised by what I am reading. This was a two part story of ten pages and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the length worked really well but I do think that I benefited from not having to wait a week in between parts. I did actually think the cliffhanger was decent and there was even some resembling of the Zarbi in the mysterious Chaos Bugs. The concept behind them was very good and I liked how Lumsden and his crew were trying to flush out the bookworms that were eating through the library's collection. The return of the Fire Hazard Duty was an unexpected treat and whilst it has been over three years since I read Echoes of the Mogor, it was great to see some familiarity and continuity across the two different publications of comic strips featuring the Seventh Doctor. The characterisation of Sylvester McCoy's incarnation was good and I liked the opening panels of him losing control inside the TARDIS. The setting of Catalog was very good and it was just the perfect name for a planet containing a library as vast as the one they held. The idea of the collection being held through time, in all of the past, present and future was just wonderful and that really was what made the story for me. It was terrific and whilst the resolution was a little rushed and out of nowhere, it still made sense that the books all had to be returned to the present to ensure that the Chaos Bugs were eradicated. I did though find it rather humorous that the Doctor just left the library to its own devices in sorting and cataloguing the books that were retrieved from the past and future. Overall though, a great little comic strip adventure!

Rating: 8/10