The Bomb

"When we're together, we can do anything."

Writer: Simon Guerrier

Format: Audio

Released: January 2017

Series: Graceless 4.01

Featuring: Amy, Joy

Synopsis

There's a legend told in a town by the sea, about two wicked sisters who died to save the world. Now the world faces another catastrophe and there's no one to turn to for help. Which is bad news for Joy and Amy, and their grandchildren...

Verdict

The Bomb was a very good start to the fourth, and currently final, series of Graceless! I can't quite believe I am already on the final season, but it started well with this very unique adventure. I thought the decision to start with an elderly Joy and Amy 316 years after the events at the end of Series 3 was certainly brave and it was most definitely a unique listen. Things starting with Pool asking of Abby and Zara after reading of what they did during The Flood saving the town and planet. For the locals, they were resigned as creatures of the sun which I thought was brilliant. Of course, Joy and Amy here were in fact the famed sisters and the latter was on her last legs, quite literally. Hearing Amy being on life support was a big shock and saddened me a little to hear the pair as elderly women now. The change of cast was also a big adjustment and again a brave move for the start of a series. The threat of something going down in Lida was good and I liked how that was contributing to delays with transmat transport. The similarities to modern day train delays with the announcements was startling and something I am more than used to, even if Covid has prevented me hearing that for a long time now. Joy had learned that the bomb ticking over in Lida was deadly and had the force of a trapped star. A mass exodus of the planet was prepared and whilst there were still between 7-10 days until detonation, the capacity of only 26% of the population surviving as a best case scenario following an orderly evacuation was telling. Joy being prepared to use the knowledge she had learned from the books all those centuries ago was nice continuity and she was fully expecting to go to the fission reactor and fix things. The need to remove the core was a good problem to present the story with and I liked how it was too big to be done. Pool knowing who Joy was all along seemed a sudden shift but the story that came with of how Amy was hospitalised because she saved a cat in a tree was terrific. Things advanced rapidly though as initially we were led to believe that Amy had died. We had some emotion from Joy after getting the call and then a poignant funeral reading. It was quickly revealed that she wasn't actually dead and they were merely testing their persuasive abilities that they so often utilised in their younger days. They were heading for the reactor through the streets of chaos to get to the bomb and their appeal to the robot standing in their way and how they were going to save the planet again was tremendous. I really enjoyed that. The General wanting the pair's credentials of how they could stop the bomb was good and I also thought it was a nice surprise that he didn't fall to their persuasion attempt and even expected it! He changed his mind quickly from wanting to send them back to driving them to the bloody reactor! Joy's deliberation on how she would convince the reactor to shut down was interesting and the moment they had to leave the General behind was very powerful. The struggle throughout the audio for the sisters not having their powers was excellent and I liked how they attempted to harness the past. They wanted to make stopping the bomb their choice and were going to reach inside with their minds to stop it. They were elderly and powerless, but when they were together... well, you know the rest. The shift to post-detonation was very good, if not initially confusing, with everything in working order and the sisters having survived when they ought not to have. There were melted tiles and the sisters had become ghostly, but the reason for that was unexpected as they had absorbed the energy of the blast! I didn't expect that and it worked nicely to lead into the return of their younger selves and the cast members we are so familiar with. The togetherness of the sisters in the story was wonderful and it was nice that they also harkened back to The Fog and recalling Daniel. The way things ended with the General and Pool with the latter disappearing was intriguing and he seems to know more than he's letting on. I expect him to feature again in the series for sure. Overall though, a great audio adventure!

Rating: 8/10

Tooth and Claw

"The fiend would live again."

Writer: Alan Barnes
Format: Comic Strip
Released: September-December 1997
Printed in: DWM 258-261

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Izzy, Fey

Synopsis

Fey Truscott-Sades has summoned the TARDIS and with it the Doctor and Izzy to an unnamed location in the Indian Ocean. Things are afoot as monkeys roam searching for blood. The consequences for the Doctor will be dire as Varney's plan unravels...

Verdict

Tooth and Claw was a very good comic strip to continue along the Endgame graphic novel! I was fascinated by the name of the story given that it would also be the title of a Tenth Doctor episode during Series 2, but there weren't really any similarities! The televised one had a giant werewolf, but this comic strip had monkeys! That was quite a contrast and it was fun to have them in the story at all. I really enjoyed the setting of a remote island in the Indian Ocean and it was intriguing that it wasn't even mapped. I liked that concept a lot and having that coupled with the 1939 setting was fantastic. The atmosphere throughout was marvellous and I really liked how this was similar to an Agatha Christie type whodunnit. It didn't become the whole focus of the story as I expected from the way part two began, but I still liked what we got. It was almost like a comic strip version of The Haunting of Villa Dioti! Everything about it just worked well and evoked an eery feeling which worked terrifically well. I thought Varney was a very good villain and I thought it was brilliant to have him even pictured with Hitler towards the end! That was good and showed the depths he was willing to go. I had no idea that this would be the first appearance of Fey Truscott-Sade and I was intrigued that even though this is her first appearance in the DWM comic strips, she obviously has a big history with the Doctor. She even knows about Gallifrey and has a whistle that can call the TARDIS at will. The Doctor's reaction after opening the door after being called was very good. I thought his characterisation was very good throughout. Izzy had something of a weak story as she was overshadowed a little by Fey and didn't get to do a great deal which was a slight shame. The use of blood in the adventure was decent and whilst it might have been overused a little, the idea of ancient spaceships being powered by it and then taking over their pilots was quite spectacular! I was surprised that revelation came so late, but the way it tied everything up with the volcanic eruption and the monkeys and how Varney came to be utilising them was marvellous. I was a big fan and I only wish it came sooner to allow for more of an impact. The cliffhanger at the end of part three was really good with the Doctor having been taken over, but then the way part four started with him still having his senses and the taking over being purely physical seemed a bit misleading. The ending was a full of excitement and action, but it seemed a little repetitive with how the rest of the graphic novel's stories have finished. The explosion and everything reverting back to the normal as the Doctor quite literally fed Varney a bit of his own medicine was decent and certainly looked impressive. Speaking of the way things looked, I did think the black and white nature of the artwork made some characters slightly difficult to differentiate which was a shame, but of course that didn't really impact the quality of the story. There were some misses, but definitely more hits and I loved the way this ended with Fey ushering the Doctor into the TARDIS and planning on attempting to get them to Gallifrey! I look forward to seeing the Eighth Doctor on his home world and what kind of predicament that will have him in. I do hope Izzy will get a chance to shine as well. Overall though, a great comic strip story!

Rating: 8/10

Empathy Games

"There is no violence here."

Writer: Nigel Fairs

Format: Audio

Released: October 2008

Series: Companion Chronicles 3.04

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

The present: Leela is doomed, trapped inside a prison cell of a dead race.

The past: After a disaster aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor and Leela arrive at the capital city of Synchronis, a world renowned for peace and civility. But an attack by a vicious creature leaves the Doctor in a coma, and Leela is persuaded to fight in the forthcoming Empathy Games, where she discovers that nothing on this world is as it seems.

Verdict

Empathy Games was a great Companion Chronicles audio! This was a very solid story from start to finish and Louise Jameson did a tremendous job in telling it. I thought it was intriguing to have her telling the story from being locked up and referring to the Z'nai and the links that had with The Catalyst and it was telling that the machines that were torturing her, now much older than when the Doctor left her behind on Gallifrey in The Invasion of Time, were also keeping her alive. It wasn't what she wanted though as she ached for death. Leela revealing a moment she saw fear in the Doctor's eyes was when the TARDIS burned up was excellent and a really interesting thing to think about a man who doesn't often show his emotions. The Doctor removing the oxygen from the room to prevent the TARDIS being obliterated was good and his description of being so scared when he saw a planet die and not being able to prevent was perfect for the character that is the Doctor across any and all of his iterations. The main setting taking us to Synchronis was very good and I loved the concept behind the Waters of Empathy! Leela thought the sky was just that, but soon realised that it was water. It was perfect for her character to be unimpressed with finding that it was gravity machines performing such a feat and for her that meant it didn't warrant a place as one of the 700 Wonders of the Universe. Leela had a lot of time to show her true nature as a character and hark back to her hunter and tribal instincts which were very good. She had no issue in striking at the creature that attacked. Coordinator Angell was a decent character and I was surprised his introduction came as late into part one as it did. The Palace of Tranquility was a good extension of the setting and I absolutely adored the comedy that came with Leela being referred to as Miss Sevateem. The threat of the Doctor being dead didn't quite seem believable, but I really enjoyed how Leela was more than prepared to exert her revenge. The death of her friend didn't last long though as we learned he was just in a self induced coma. Pakora was a fun character to have alongside Leela and her shock at Leela's declining the offer of representing Angell in the Empathy Games was fantastic. The training we heard was good and after watching the third instalment of The Hunger Games soon after listening to this audio, the similarities were clear! That was fun on a personal level. The cathartics element was another good thing too. The cliffhanger was pretty good with Leela being overwhelmed by the water, but not a great deal was made of it and that was fine. The use of a telepathic link for Leela with her prey was brilliant and her thinking she was in fact a rodent was unexpected and a good surprise. Leela being the Coordinator's champion was a very good element of the Games, which themselves were very entertaining. Having Leela combatting with a rodent that had her own face was quite extraordinary and I loved her reaction to that. Her illegal move resulting in the end of the Games seemed a tad premature, but the threat of the authorised disintegration was terrific. Leela telling how she didn't kill for sport was magnificent and just a nice addition to her character. The idea of the rodents that could talk as being even further freaks was quite something and I liked that Leela did not want to hurt them. Pakora's death was very sudden as she was taken by the water flow and her neck snapped as the Games were literally being wiped out. The reemergence of the Doctor into the story was good and whilst Jameson's take on Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor was pretty nonexistent, he still carried a presence. He had disabled the observations and disable the Games' central nervous system with the sonic screwdriver was a large act of interference! The Doctor seeing the rodents as just acting in self defence was lovely too. His revelation that the fear of fire Leela referred to at the start of the story had been removed from his brain was excellent and definitely a superb addition to the plot of the story. I was a big fan of that and this was exactly what the purpose of the Palace of Tranquility was all along. If that wasn't enough, the concept of the fears being put into the rodents added a great deal and was the secret of Synchronis. Angell seeing his own face as a rodent was a good way to end as it toyed with him on his fears of the truth and lacking power and the end of his world. It was now a new dawn for the planet as the Doctor had reversed the process of the machines and there were new races now. It tied things up well and I also liked how things came to a conclusion with Leela recalling her mother. That was a nice touch. Overall, a very good listen!

Rating: 8/10

Prisoners of the Lake

"

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Audio

Released: September 2015

Series: Third Doctor Adventures 1.01

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo

Synopsis

Captain Mike Yates is investigating the disappearance of artefacts from an archaeological site deep below Dunstanton Lake. It's hardly a job for UNIT. But when the team discover a mysterious ancient structure buried deep underwater, all that changes.

When chief archaeologist Freda Mattingly ventures inside, she soon realises that her skills do not begin to equip her to deal with what she finds. As an ancient menace begins to stir, the Doctor, Jo Grant and Mike Yates must dive down to the lake bed and discover the secrets hidden there. Secrets that could mean the end of all life on Earth...

Verdict

Prisoners of the Lake was a decent start to the Third Doctor Adventures! I am delighted to have finally started this range and can't quite believe it has been five years since its release. Time really is flying by! I have been intrigued to hear what Tim Treloar would be like in taking on the role of the Third Doctor and have refrained from listening to a few Short Trips he narrates as I wanted this to be my first experience of his take on an iconic incarnation of the Doctor. After a shaky start, I think it was a solid impression and with the rest of the story and cast, this definitely did invoke the feeling of the Third Doctor era which was very positive. I thought the format was intriguing with the semi-narration making it feel like an Early Adventure, but with the cast I didn't really think that was necessary and it always seemed to come quite suddenly. The setting of the story focusing on Dunstanton Lake was good and the grounded feeling again felt right for the Third Doctor. The idea of a building being found below the water was very good and I liked how it was air and water tight, resulting in the interior being intact. Freda was a decent character as lead archaeologist at the site and I enjoyed her reaction to UNIT arriving on the scene and what she thought of the organisation. Her going below the water and entering the building was good and what she found was unexpected in the form of an enlarged man as a statue. Sadly, this wasn't a Weeping Angel but a Defence Advocate that had very depleted systems. The arrival of the Doctor into the story was good and it worked well to have him interact with Jo very early on. Katy Manning was as delightful as ever! The Brigadier featuring in a minor way was nice to get him in, even if it could only be in the form of narration and being referred to. The Excav suit was an interesting element in the story and I liked the potential that its abilities brought to the adventure with the strength amplification. Jo's comment about it being snugmarine once the occupant wore it was tremendous. The Doctor having a hunch that he knew the building was actually a spaceship was good and the continued increase of stone robots added to the interest in the story. The pace in this one was definitely a slow burner type. Repford was a good character for the story and I liked how he was involved with the Excav suit going wrong. That presented a decent dynamic. The revelation of an inside job and artefacts going missing was intriguing and definitely something good to introduce in the story when it was. That turned out to be Pennard who I was quite surprised died when he did. The moment that Jo and Freda saw the coffins was excellent and I liked that we were introduced to the true enemies of the story in the shape of the huge wolf-like Dastrons. They turned out to be the prisoners being transported for trial and these in particular were the military leaders of a race the Doctor described as one of the most vicious and murderous in the universe. Their method of expansionist imperialism interested me a lot, but I wasn't much of a fan of the way they were voiced. It sounded too silly for my liking which was a shame. Jo and Freda learning of their ways from the video evidence abroad the transport was good. I liked how Yates was used in this one and even the Doctor was present and fully performed, the lack of Jon Pertwee was somewhat compensated with another familiar voice. His working out of Pennard being the man on the inside was great and from there Repford being taken over by the possessed Excav suit was tremendous. The revival key was a good element, if not a tad late, and it led to a very predictable cliffhanger at the end of part three with the Dastrons revived. Yates going it alone to rescue the Doctor from within the building was terrific and I liked the threat Freda's suggestion of blowing up the ship with both of them on it. Jo wasn't having that, but the Dastrons were intent on repairing their ship despite the hyperdrive threat of killing millions. However, the Doctor had other ideas and after appealing to the Dastrons who didn't believe the water threat, the hyperdrive ignition was put in on itself and exploded. It was a decent end to what was a pretty good story to kick off the new range. 

Rating: 7/10

Tales from the Vault

"People aren't ready for the truth."

Writer: Jonathan Morris
Format: Audio
Released: July 2011
Series: Companion Chronicles 6.01

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana I, Third Doctor, Jo, Second Doctor, Jamie, Zoe, First Doctor, Steven, Dodo

Synopsis

Welcome to The Vault – jokingly known as 'The Museum of Terrors' – a high security establishment where UNIT keeps all of its alien artefacts.

New recruit Warrant Officer Charlie Sato is given a guided tour by Captain Ruth Matheson, and the archive reveals some dark secrets. An army jacket, a painting, crystal and a wax cylinder all hold a grave significance, and their stories are told by the Doctor's companions: Steven Taylor, Zoe Heriot, Jo Grant and Romana...

Verdict

Tales from the Vault was an excellent Companion Chronicles audio! I really enjoyed this one and the concept right from the start was just tremendous. The introduction of Ruth and Charlie was fantastic and it was very intriguing to have Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso return to Doctor Who, but playing different roles from those of The Movie. They were both great and I liked how Ruth was a UNIT Captain and Charlie was being offered a job. The nature of the Vault, or the Museum of Terrors as it was also referred, was wonderful and hearing of Charlie's decontamination and precautionary checks just to get in the premises were very good. There were references in abundance for this one which I always enjoy with Terror of the Zygons in particularly getting a funny mention. Ruth explaining the nature of the Vault and how her division of UNIT was responsible for putting out disinformation to the public once an alien event occurs on Earth, something that has occurred en mass through Doctor Who's history. It was an important element of explaining a constant lack of knowledge of humanity towards extraterrestrials. It ties things up nicely that they were the ones tidying up the truth and removing evidence where necessary. Charlie being offered a job and the chance of the memory-taking antidote was terrific and he would soon become Ruth's assistant curator. Quite the role! The humour that came with the comments of the night watch and keeping things in as well as people out was wonderful. The sighting of a Krynoid pod along with parts of a Sontaran scout ship in the Vault was brilliant and I liked how there were recordings of some items that were part of the Museum. That was a neat way of telling an adventure of this nature which I thought was very clever. Charlie knowing of Jo Grant was lovely and her report being on a cassette was a nice touch. She was told by the Brigadier to put her reports in recorded format instead of paper which was good and the legend of the haunted uniform being told was excellent. Katy Manning was just wonderful in telling us about Roddy and the man from a different time. I thought it was hilarious that her impression for this story was incorporated into her doing the voice for her report! From there we went to a small interview recording by Ruth with the first incarnation of Romana as she recalled the events with the Fourth Doctor and encountering a great lost treasure of the universe in the form of a painting that held the eye of the beholder's moment of death. That was a scary concept and I liked how Romana didn't seem too thrilled with having to document events to UNIT, nor of the Doctor's desire to visit an art gallery instead of their mission to locate the segments of the Key to Time. It was a nice added touch that anyone who did look and witnessed their death went mad, and who could blame them? The next item was an intriguing one as we saw a crystal that contained the memories and voice of Zoe! I wasn't expecting that but it was a good way of keeping the way items were documented fresh. The mention of this crystal being captured early on in UNIT's reign was marvellous and I liked how it was used to wipe memories amidst a planned bank robbery. The references from Charlie regarding The Invasion and The Web of Fear were fantastic and I liked how this crystal had fallen from the stars. The Doctor tricking Dalglish into a plan to rob the Bank of England and revealing the true intentions of the orchestrator to also wipe the memories of those in on the robbery with him so they wouldn't get a share of the loot was brilliant! I can just imagine the Second Doctor being right at home with that. The final item was one Ruth hadn't planned on being a part of Charlie's tour with the wax cylinder, the earliest form of audio recording, opening from its case after a pre-set timer from the Doctor himself. It was fun for Ruth to not know which incarnation had set it and we were soon hearing the voice of Steven Taylor giving a warning from South Africa in 1900. The Doctor, Steven and Dodo had answered a distress call from the stars with a creature having a systems failure and an escaped prisoner who they found at the source. It sounded very much like an Ice Warrior which would have been interesting for the First Doctor to encounter prior to The Ice Warriors! The concept of the prisoner occupying different forms was good and it wanted the means the Doctor had to leave the planet. I really liked that Charlie wanted to react to the Doctor's warning and put on the uniform against orders and he was soon taken over by Tommy Watkins who was confused to find a lady as Captain. The way everything concluded by linking all of the items we had learned about during the story was magnificent and our Watkins turned out to be Kali Carash all along! That was somewhat expected, but it still worked well with him taking advantage of someone's curiosity and hoping to escape and guide the human race in way that would lead him to conquer and be immortal. The combination of the crystal and artwork was superb and we had the Zoe crystal absorb the consciousness of Carash before Ruth smashed it into smithereens. Overall, a terrific audio adventure!

Rating: 9/10

Mel-evolent

"There was a snake in her smile."

Writer: Simon A. Forward

Format: Audio

Released: February 2018

Series: Short Trips 8.02

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Mel

Synopsis

Mirror mirror on the wall, something stalks the TARDIS halls...

A glimpsed reflection in a dark and dusty corner leads Mel on a journey Through The Looking Glass.

Witchcraft and shadows reign. 

Mel must face the evil at the heart of it all, while the Doctor battles to save a TARDIS determined to prove it's not only bigger on the inside, but darker. Much darker.

Verdict

Mel-evolent was a really good little Short Trips audio! I have been intrigued by this story for quite a while based on the title alone and after reading the synopsis, I was sure that this would be a fun and entertaining story – and I was not wrong! I am always happy to get more stories featuring the Sixth Doctor and Mel as their run together for the second half of The Trial of a Time Lord was definitely far too short. Any chance to develop their relationship is certainly welcomed and I liked how that was established early on with the mentioning of the famed carrot juice. I thought that was quite nice. I found it interesting that there was very little narration in this story and even though Bonnie Langford was the sole actor performing the story, for large parts it had the feeling of a Companion Chronicle which is definitely a positive! I thought she told the story really well and brought Mel back to life in a great way. The idea of a TARDIS theatre was excellent and something that just seems so perfectly suited to the Sixth Doctor. He was clearly having a lot of fun which was wonderful to hear. The image of him performing in front of a collection of mannequins really was tremendous! Mel catching a glimpse of herself in a corner of the TARDIS was intriguing and I really liked how it was her, but not quite her. She was a darker version with black and poison seeping in her eyes. It was quite the description, and she saw it within the time-space visualiser! Having that return after being seen in The Space Museum was magnificent and the twist that it had been on standby all of this time was wonderful. The Witch Queen from beyond having stolen bits of Mel's face was quite something and the threat posed by the deconstructive goblins who were taking bits of the TARDIS corridor was great! There was a lot of fun going on. The time-space visualiser having been hacked was brilliant and it worked well to have it repurposed as a portal. Mel was to be sent through in a disguise as the Witch Queen which was interesting and from there, she arrived in a place that was far from Wonderland. She was surrounded by gloom, ruin and decay and the music that accompanied that moment was very good.  The imagery that was formed in my head of the goblins fusing the TARDIS roundels with medieval design was excellent and something I would like to see. Mel impersonating the Witch Queen was decent, if not quite unoriginal. The description of Lady Tamira, as we would learn, as being beauty morphing into beast and back again in flux as a portrait of 1,000 subjects was quite something and I was stunned to find that she was in suspended regeneration! I thought more of the story should have hinted towards that, but the emergence of an Ancient Gallifreyan and Type-2 TARDIS was pretty great. The Doctor's TARDIS was being cannibalised for repairs which was good and I also found it very humorous to have him using the exercise bike to provide the power required to enable communications with Mel. The reveal of the Thrusk was good, if not a little late, and I enjoyed the concept behind them being a race that once mined the Time Vortex. The Doctor's telepathic link with Tamira worked well and the Thrusk had planned to collide the two time ships with them becoming the substance of the universe. That never came into fruition as the goblins realised they would be destroyed and ensured that the plans never came into fruition with some fierce flocking. Overall, a really good story with some fun concepts! 

Rating: 8/10

By Hook or By Crook

"Why bother reading about something when you can experience it?"

Writer: Scott Gray
Format: Comic Strip
Released: August 1997
Printed in: DWM 256

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Izzy

Synopsis

The Eighth Doctor and Izzy arrive at Tor-Ka-Nom in the 28th century, and the companion knows all the best things to see and the major events in its history. The Doctor wants to experience rather than read, but he soon gets caught up in murder and Izzy is victorious in her bet. What will the consequences be?

Verdict

By Hook or By Crook was another excellent comic strip to continue my way through the Endgame graphic novel! I thoroughly enjoyed this one from start to finish and I really wasn't expecting so much from a single parter. It really can be difficult to tell a good Doctor Who story with such a short amount of time, but in just seven pages Scott Gray delivered big time with this adventure! I thought the atmosphere was fun and I just loved the relationship between the Doctor and Izzy from the off. They have definitely settled by now in the comic strip run and I think that readers of a contemporary nature would have had that feeling even more by this point given that each part would only come on a monthly basis. Now, I have to mention it again as it just so confusing but why this story is placed at the backend of the graphic novel collection is just baffling to me! I really don't understand the logic of having it printed after A Life of Matter and Death when it follows on quite nicely from the epic Fire and Brimstone. That Dalek battle was even referenced with Izzy questioning the Doctor getting 'exterminated' and him retorting about her getting caught by the Threshold. The banter was strong and that was wonderful to see. The Doctor's struggle when it came to understanding his companion's to read about Tor-Ka-Nom instead of experiencing it as that was where they had just arrived was really a lot of fun. He just could not comprehend the thinking behind that and so wanted Izzy to experience the place she was clearly enjoying reading about. That was terrific. I also loved the idea of the pair having a bet on how long it would take the Doctor to get caught up into trouble. Of course, that didn't take long at all as he got caught up in some really jammy business that was sending true murder culprits a bit loopy. The reaction of Izzy when she caught sight of the Doctor in a police car was outstanding! Imagine cheering that the Doctor was arrested! It was all lighthearted, except the legal system in this place was pretty darn rigid and the Doctor had already been sentenced to the murders of seven individuals in the last six months and was due for execution! I thought it was interesting that he genuinely seemed to be accepting of the fact that this might be the end for him. His humorous acknowledgement of 'usually' reincarnating, of course meaning regeneration, was great but he didn't expect that this would be an option on this occasion. One of his regrets being not getting to show Izzy more of the universe was a really nice touch though. I thought it was really good comedy once Izzy ended up getting herself arrested after trying to sneak in a cake that was presumably more than a cake to the Doctor in jail. The way Izzy ended up saving the day and preventing the Doctor's execution was marvellous as she used her foreknowledge from her reading earlier in the story to call in the real murderers using her solitary phone call from prison! It tied everything up really nicely and it was fun to have Izzy utilising a bit of time travel to save the Doctor. I mean, the Doctor really ought to start using his ability to go into the past and future for his own advantage once in a while, right? I thought it was a lot of fun and quite telling that when his life was on the line, the Doctor didn't seem to mind a great deal! Overall, a really enjoyable little comic strip adventure.

Rating: 9/10

Fire and Brimstone

"The mighty Dalek Empire – afraid of its own murderous cousins!"

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Comic Strip

Released: May-August 1997

Printed in: DWM 251-255

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Izzy

Synopsis

The Doctor and Izzy materialise on Icarus Falling, a small satellite orbiting Crivello's sun, and witness an attack by the Daleks. While attempting to stop his deadliest foes' plans, the Doctor soon learns of the Threshold's involvement, with their plan in full motion...

Verdict

Fire and Brimstone was a brilliant continuation of the Endgame graphic novel! This was quite the epic comic story and it really did have the feeling of being a finale, but from where things ended I get the sense that things are only temporarily halted. It followed on nicely from where The Keep left off and it worked well to have it set 200 years in the future of those events. I enjoyed the reference to A Matter of Life and Death with the trouble the TARDIS was having since the parasite in the Vortex, and that makes me even more dumbfounded by the positioning of stories printed within the pages of the graphic novel I am reading. It's just utter madness! I thought things carried on well from the Doctor's previous encounter with Crivello's Cauldron and it was great to see how it was all just a set up the entire time. That set up was orchestrated by the Daleks which I really wasn't expecting! I bet this must have been quite a big deal at the time of release as it would be the first visual adventure depicting the Eighth Doctor doing battle with his greatest enemies. The bravado shown by the Doctor when he just saunters into the Daleks' presence was magnificent and I thoroughly enjoyed the characterisation of the eighth incarnation here. Izzy, too, was excellent and she's definitely settling in as a companion now which is terrific to see. I am very familiar with her following my reading of the Oblivion graphic novel some years back, but it's terrific to see her settling in now in her early days with the Doctor. This adventure was full of action and the Daleks arrived in force and in abundance. They weren't messing around which I liked a lot and playing with the idea of the Daleks being fearful was excellent. Of course, the only thing they were fearful was an alternate version of themselves which was just brilliant! The brief image we got of the amalgamated and mutated version of the Daleks from a parallel dimension was great and I just thought the whole idea worked really well. It wasn't too dissimilar to the Dalek War series of Dalek Empire. I thought the designs of the Daleks here were very good and I loved how domineering the Dalek Supreme was! That was very impressive and it was also fun to see a number of Special Weapons Daleks once the assault of the vileness of other realities came through to our universe. The Daleks needing the Doctor to guide the Cauldron after exploding through the gateway of the black hole was good and connected things with The Keep very well. I was a big fan of that. The Daleks not realising that there would be horrors unknown from beyond the gateway was good and it definitely appeared that they underestimated things. One element of the story that didn't sit right with me was the wording at the start of part four where it was described that the Daleks would rape each and every universe. That just didn't seem the right kind of description and was very much out of place! I can't see that being acceptable in 1997! Anyway, the idea behind the Daleks' plan was still very good and the brashness with their desire to conquer all of possible face was magnificent. This was definitely a good example of the Daleks being at their best. I thought the cliffhanger at the end of part two was superb with the Doctor exterminated, but the resolution that it was just a transmit was a little disappointing. The connections this story had with Ground Zero were interesting with the Threshold and the Time Lords being employers, something I am sure more of will come into meaning as I continue through the graphic novel. I am very intrigued by that adventure though with the news that Ace died being news to me! The end sequences for this one was epic and the artwork was sublime with all of creation being saved in just 47 rels. Overall, a fantastic comic strip story!

Rating: 9/10

A Life of Matter and Death

"I died. You died. The TARDIS died."

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Comic Strip

Released: March 1997

Printed in: DWM 250

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Izzy

Synopsis

After an explosion in the TARDIS, the Eighth Doctor and Izzy wake to find themselves on trial by Jurors of the Limbo Inbetween to determine whether they will reside up above or burn in torment down below... 

Verdict

A Life of Matter and Death was a very good comic strip story to celebrate the 250th edition of Doctor Who Magazine! I am very confused as to why in my continued reading of the Endgame graphic novel that this didn't come after The Keep in terms of the way the pages fell, but nonetheless I try to read things in the order that they were printed by date and that means skipping ahead quite a few pages in the graphic novel collection to read here! I think it's very strange, especially considering the story literally features the Eighth Doctor and Izzy, to not have the stories in print order, but regardless that has nothing to do with the adventure itself! It started off rather uniquely with the Doctor and Izzy ascending a quarter of a million steps and the calmness with which the latter just simply stated how they were dead and that the TARDIS was gone with it. Well, for a one part story and knowing that going in I thought there was a lot to make up from there! It did so really well in a very entertaining and pacy comic story. I liked the idea of the Doctor being on trial and whilst it is hardly a new one, the differences here were clear as we had some terrific temporary returns to celebrate the comic strip stories printed within the pages of DWM. We had General Ironicus returning from The Iron Legion which was great, alongside Josiah W. Dogbolter and Beep the Meep! The little cameos they got of playing with the stock markets and getting angry respectively were delightful and just tremendous throwbacks to the comic strips of the Fourth Doctor and the beginnings of the beloved DWM. I thought that was very fitting for the 250th issue. The Doctor's attempts to put in a good representation of himself and his meddling was laughable and even Izzy retorted her displeasure and admitted how lacking in credibility the Doctor's defence was. That was a particularly funny moment. Finding out that the entire adventure was taking place in interstitial space was intriguing, but hardly surprising given everything that was unfolding! It worked well and was very fun to play with the idea of the parasite that had infiltrated the TARDIS recreating the memories of the Doctor's from the TARDIS memory banks to against the Doctor's back up of the memories of all of his friends. Sharon getting to stand out there was another nice moment and throwback to the beginnings of the magazine's comic strip adventures. Some of the art work in this one was tremendous with the battle scenes particularly standing out in detail. I really admired the little nuances there and some of the familiar foes and friends from comic strips gone by was just delightful. The TARDIS actually creating a version of the Doctor and Izzy to be rid of the parasite was very good and I was fascinated that they got to see their real selves unconscious and between life and death on the floor of the console room. That was all the Doctor needed really to work out how to defeat the parasite in reality which I thought was good, though I would have liked an answer as to who the Lady Grey was. The Doctor seemed to think it was obvious, but I didn't get that impression. Was it the TARDIS? I would assume so but it was unclear for me. The ending regarding the TARDIS was wonderful though and the idea of the TARDIS sharing adventures with the Doctor rather than the usual occurrence of being the other way around was fantastic and a really joyous thought. Overall, a very solid story for just one part and a lovely celebration of the comic strips for DWM's 250th issue!

Rating: 8/10

Auld Mortality

"I have no interest in changing the course of history."

Writer: Marc Platt

Format: Audio

Released: May 2003

Series: Doctor Who Unbound 1.01

Featuring: The Doctor, Susan

Synopsis

What if...

the Doctor and Susan had never left Gallifrey?

In a marble mausoleum, deep in the cisterns beneath the Capitol, Gallifrey's favourite author faces his ultimate destiny. 

Who is the woman who claims to be his granddaughter?

Who is the sepulchral figure in robes of night?

Which path should Hannibal's army take to Rome?

And on a snowy mountain high in the Alps, the Doctor remembers the ultimate question: What if he and Susan had never left Gallifrey?

Verdict

Auld Mortality was an intriguing listen to say the least! I have always been fascinated by the idea of the Doctor Who Unbound range and I'm glad to have finally started here. I thought the funky new take on the intro theme was terrific and really set the tone for a unique audio story. I liked the idea of the Doctor being on Gallifrey as an author a lot as if he wasn't travelling the universe through space and time, then at least he was writing about it! The mention of a Thalek army was very intriguing and I'd love for that to get its own story at some point. I wasn't expecting the appearance of a Roman army, never mind a talking elephant! There were lot of different elements thrown together and it is far from what I would expect of a premise with the Doctor and Susan not leaving Gallifrey as we would eventually see in The Name of the Doctor. Geoffrey Bayldon's take on this alternate version of the First Doctor was pretty decent and I liked how the Doctor here was one of history. He was using the possibility generator as his own way of travel to acquaint himself with the past of other worlds. Badger was an interesting character and the idea of the Doctor being controlled on Gallifrey worked well. The echoes of Susan calling for her grandfather were brilliant and I thought it was good to have her arrive as a grown up character and quite different from the version we saw with the First Doctor on screen. That was quite refreshing. Susan's entry into the possibility generator after her grandfather was great and I was surprised that Badger so desperately wanted to delete her. There was clearly something fishy going on! The Doctor not knowing who Susan was and thinking that she was mistaken in being called grandfather was a powerful moment. Of course, with the alternate representation of the Doctor here it's difficult to take things at face value, but learning of the Doctor having a family that seemed to mutually disown each other was quite sad. That familial recollection allowed him to remember Susan and how she was the only one who saw things the same way the Doctor did. He was euphoric when he realised he was reunited with his grandchild all grown up and that was a marvellous moment. I thought it was also a nice detail to learn that Susan was the daughter of the Doctor's daughter as we never really get to learn of anything of that generation between the pair. The Doctor getting to vent about the Time Lords and how they only catalogued the universe is always fun and Bayldon pulled it off pretty well here. Susan revealing that she had her own grandchildren was a nice moment and the Doctor was absolutely delighted to learn of this fact. It's so rare for the Doctor, in any depiction, to show emotion like he did here so that was really nice. The talk of the moment where the Doctor did have an eye on a TARDIS crate ship was fun and I liked how he reminisced on how he was going to take Susan to travel the universe. When Susan tried to leave, things turned quite dark as the Doctor was controlled but she soon understood why. Quences was the great grand-uncle of the Doctor's family, but Susan knew that he was supposed to have been dead for hundreds of years. His consciousness had been linked to Badger after death instead of deposited into the Matrix which was an interesting development, but perhaps not as surprising as finding that Susan was on the verge of becoming President! It was she that had sent the presidential invitation that never got to the Doctor and I thought that was another sad development for this version of the Doctor as he had missed out. The Roman links in the story were not my favourites, but Quences having interfered with Hanibal's route was good. The Doctor's planned escape out of the possibility generator being the TARDIS, only to find that it was just a conceit, was great and they seemed to be stuck. Except, the Doctor questioned what if he had taken a different path in life with a line almost foreshadowing the plot of Turn Left! That provided escape as this was the Doctor's world and from there we were able to encounter flowers with the smell of time and possibility trees with memories which were fantastic. The Doctor questioning if Susan was real seemed a little odd, but his description of seeing alternate versions of Gallifrey and how they always did nothing was again quite powerful and you could hear the frustration. I loved how he had seen the mirroring of the Doctor we know spiralling across the universe. That was lovely and it was fun to play with the idea of so many paths to be chosen for him. Things weren't finished there though as Quences was always linked to Susan and we discovered that he was there for all previous Presidents of the Supreme Council, in the background in dark robes whispering in their ears. It was revealed that he was Auld Mortality, and after so long there was finally a President in the family. More could have been made of that in my opinion, as it didn't really take long for Susan to banish him with some help from the elephant tusk! The Doctor being helped by Susan to see that the TARDIS console was there all along under his endless paperwork was nice and she was pushing him to now escape and see the universe, and his retaliation of wanting her to come with him and be wonderers in the fourth dimension was a lovely way to end things. Overall, a fascinating and unique listen that probably should have been more focused on Gallifrey's ongoings. 

Rating: 7/10

The Day of the Daleks

"The function of the human is to obey!"

Writer: Terrance Dicks
Format: Novel
Released: March 1974
Series: Target 18

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo

Synopsis

"We usually think of ghosts as coming from the past. But what about ghosts from the future?"

Earth in the twenty-second century: a place controlled by the Daleks and their mindless, ape-like slaves, the Ogrons. Only small pockets of human resistance remain...

The Doctor and UNIT are caught up in the desperate attempt of a small group of rebels to return to the twentieth century and assassinate the one man on whom the outbreak of the Third World War depends...

Verdict

The Day of the Daleks was an outstanding novelisation! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this from start to finish and I think it was even better than I hoped and expected it to be. It really was excellent and whilst I am very much a fan of the televised version, the quality was just enhanced with prose. I can't put my figure on exactly why, but a combination of expanding on what occurred on screen and the writing style of Terrance Dicks are my best guesses. I'm a huge fan of his Target structure and it just worked to a treat here. It's intriguing to actually see just how little the Daleks actually fear and their role is almost already sorted with them once again ruling Earth. The 22nd century setting is very interesting given the ramifications that has with The Dalek Invasion of Earth and I just love how they simply state that they invaded back in time to make sure that they were still the planet's rulers. The links that had with Austerly House and the events with Sir Reginald were terrific and it's great how that all came together. I liked the idea of UNIT providing the security for a world peace conference and throwing in the broker of those talks sighting ghosts and then denying the fact was excellent. I just loved everything about the plot to be honest! The emergence of the Ogrons as a sort of precursor to the Daleks was fantastic and I think this was a good debut for the Dalek slaves. They were loyal, stupid but brutes and that was quite the combination for Dalek servants. One thing that did surprise me was that the Black Dalek featured heavily at the start in place of the Gold Dalek we saw predominantly on screen. It was interesting to further develop Dalek hierarchy as that always fascinates me. I thought Jo had a brilliant novel as the companion and her relationship with the Doctor throughout was magnificent. It worked ever so well to have her end up flung forward in time and having that take place pretty much bang on halfway through proceedings was perfect. The Doctor's reaction to that was good and he was desperate to get forward and save her. The guerrilla fighters from the future that were intent on killing Sir Reginald to prevent the catastrophe that led to the Daleks taking over the planet were superb! I liked them a lot and the description of their future along with their reactions to 20th century Earth showed just how devastating things had become under Dalek rule. That was really powerful and impressive. The Doctor's reaction to seeing the Daleks is interesting as he does later recall the events of The Evil of the Daleks when he thought he'd put an end to them for good. Of course, the Daleks never leave him. The Controller was a sneaky character in wanting to gain knowledge from Jo to get in the Daleks' good books, but once he meets the Doctor and learns of the threat he provided the Daleks, he realised just what a dire situation the planet and humanity were in. I thought Benton was great in this story as he got in a lot of typically humorous moments and I felt really sorry for him when Yates came and stole his wine and cheese! The characterisation of the Third Doctor was sublime as well and I enjoyed his liking of wine. The moment in the future where the Doctor learns of the alternate history and the significance of the meeting organised by Reginald and how he supposedly was after power for himself was outstanding. The Eureka moment for the Doctor after he refuses to accept the story of Reginald was just wonderful as we learned that it was all a paradox that resulted in Shura, and the guerrillas themselves, creating the history they were trying to prevent. I loved that. The reactions were priceless and the rush back to the twentieth century and warning UNIT and evacuating the meeting was just brilliant. It was fast paced and exciting with genuine tension against the clock. Shura using the Dalekanium bomb to actually wipe out the Daleks and the Ogrons in Austerly House worked wonderfully and tied everything up very nicely. I was a big fan of how things ended to what was as a whole, a quite brilliant novel!

Rating: 10/10

Consequences

"Is Marek worth dying for?"

Writer: Simon Guerrier
Format: Audio
Released: June 2013
Series: Graceless 3.03

Featuring: Abby, Zara

Synopsis

Once upon a time there were two sisters.

They were created by beings called the Grace. Both sisters had magic powers. When they were together, they could do anything. Go anywhere and when. Reach into people's minds, even influence their thoughts.

They tried to be good. They tried to do what was right. But even when they tried their hardest to help people there were unintended consequences.

They still did terrible things. So many people still died. The sisters lost people they loved. There was a man... They thought they'd lost him forever.

There are lots of stories about the two sisters. But that story – their last story, about the day they chose to die... Those who knew what really happened are all dead.

Except for one. A man... Living by the sea. And he promised never to tell...

Verdict

Consequences was an excellent conclusion to the third series of Graceless! This finishes things up, for now, very nicely and with a four year gap to the fourth series of the spinoff, this definitely tied things up in a very neat way for the Tracer sisters. I thought the narration at the beginning detailing a short history of Abby and Zara was great and now here they were on the day they chose to die. I thought it was a nice bit of continuity to visit the aftermath of The Flood and have Abby and Zara reunited with Brondle some five years since their last meeting. They wanted his advice on what was essentially a contest between love and death which was fantastic. The pre-credits scene ending with Marek showing up was terrific and this version was definitely a more likeable character. He had no memory of his life with Zara and Abby and was just there to propose an insurance settlement. This was his profession now. Abby and Zara hoping to outrun events they knew must happen was fun to play with and I liked the suggestion that Marek's presence was engineered by somebody out to get them. That didn't really come into play, but now they knew that this was the day they died. That's quite the predicament! The moment with Wing and how the snow triggered her mental regression into childhood was very powerful and it was clear that she had an implicit memory. The sisters going into her head and seeing her past in the war was brilliant and it was intriguing to find that her first memory of meeting Brondle was deleted. From there, they wanted to help her and returned to the Archive and Chi. However, there was no cure and the only way to save her would be to prevent her accident and the encounter with the radiation in the first place. For that to happen, Brondle would lose her anyway which was devastating as history would be altered. What was worse was that the sisters had given him hope of saving Wing and they were dealing with happenstance beforehand, but now it felt like losing her all over again. That was a lot to take in and a powerful listen. Zara still trying to deal with the events of The Prisoner's Dilemma where she broke the sky was very good and I liked how neither sister actively wanted to die. Marek's dad telling him of Abby and Zara and how they saved the planet was something I didn't expect but thoroughly enjoyed! I liked the dynamic of Marek knowing that he meant something to the sisters and it was also nice to acknowledge that the people of his home world owed them their lives. His knowledge of Joy was also interesting and it was nice that he understood their difficulty in him not being the Marek they knew. The locality still having trouble with the sun was intriguing and the sisters seemed set on putting things right by teleporting into the sun, knowing that it would mean death. Instead, Marek had a better idea and used their powers to teleport into the computer at the sun observatory to get an understanding of what was wrong. They found that they had an hour until the sun folded in on itself which was obviously a deadly predicament! I loved that Abby and Zara went to the Vortex to observe the potential impact, but this time they weren't being drawn to it. The whirl pools were an intriguing element and I liked how they were realising that the Vortex was resisting the changes the sisters had made throughout time and history. In order to facilitate a return to normality, Abby and Zara needed to take themselves out of time. There would be nothing blocking the flow with them dead. There was another way though and it involved taking Wing to the sun and making her part of it. Brondle could join her when he was ready, but that meant he could literally decide how long he had to live which must be a daunting thing to have looming over your head! He wouldn't wait and the pair went in place. But things were still bad and the sisters chose to die which was fantastic! I expected them to end that way, but then the disturbances only grew! I liked that a lot because they weren't there to put things right now. The return of the Grace, in the form of Kurt this time, was brilliant and I liked how they reacted to their creations being prepared to die. The Grace had pretty much set them up and were interested by the imbalances created. The Grace saved the sun, but told the sisters that they could not continue their existence because of the powers. The idea of a coded message in the sun's data was good, but the return of Abby and Zara at the end as powerless mortals was excellent! I liked how this brought things full circle and they would stay with Marek in the house they'd always wanted to call home. It was a fitting end to a great audio!

Rating: 9/10

The Battle

"All able men must fight."

Writer: Simon Guerrier

Format: Audio

Released: June 2013

Series: Graceless 3.02

Featuring: Abby, Zara

Synopsis

"What is it – history? What are you looking at when you study it?"

Ninth of August 991 AD. Abby and Zara are on the Essex coast in the rain, searching for a man they loved and lost.

The local people are terrified of the savage pirates waiting across the water. The bold and brave local earl is ready to wage battle to free his people from such fear.

After all they've been through, Abby and Zara only want to help. But future history has already been written. They're about to find out how much more they can still lose...

Verdict

The Battle was a very good continuation of the second series of Graceless! I thought this was a great follow up to The Edge and leads us into the finale in a very nice way. I liked the shift between settings of the Archive and the Battle of Maldon and it almost had a partial feeling of being like a Companion Chronicle with the narration and the nature of the way the story was told. I liked how Zara was conversing with Chi and their talk of choice and history was intriguing, especially once the books started to be erased from the collection! The predominant focus was of course on the Battle of Maldon and I liked how the sisters arrived a day before battle. The use of the 991 AD setting was very good and from the off they were focused on looking for Marek despite it being the eve of a Viking brawl. Burtnoth was a very good character and I liked how despite his Earl status he appreciated the boldness with which Abby and Zara approached and were talking to him. The shift between settings worked well and for Zara, the events we were listening to in 991 had already happened. History was being eaten up and I found it interesting that Abby alone was holding Chi together with her powers. The description of history being like a tide and how one person alone couldn't swim against it was excellent, especially with the addition of how things were caught up in the flow. I liked that a lot. The sisters being seen as valkyries was magnificent and it was a nice moment where Olaf was shown that conquest was unnecessary and wrong and Abby actually ended up stopping the battle. The consequences that stemmed from that were pretty compelling and damning. Things needed fixing, so they had come to Chi as she was a historical expert on the Battle of Maldon. I thought that was a nice touch as they needed helping putting history back together. The sisters trying to broker a peace between the Burtnoth and the Vikings was fun, especially with the reaction to the idea that the Vikings would be paid not to attack. There were efforts to build the relationship, but they weren't ever going to be come into fruition.  I loved the links the events of the story and battle had with the historic poem that depicted what happened at Maldon and the messenger becoming the sisters and replacing the 'he' in that originally was very good. They had changed history there, but not to a great extent. The battle scenes were decent, but I would have preferred more action and less blocks of narration as that would have enhanced the excitement considerably. Abby appealing to the honour of Burtnoth in stopping the battle was excellent and I liked how there was the dilemma of not slaughtering the Vikings, but also not being allowed to let them retreat and regroup. The idea of Abby and Zara being drawn to the thrill of the battle was terrific and fun to play with. Zara misunderstanding the concept of falling with one's superior once Burtnoth was in fact killed was excellent and reminded you that these characters are far from normal. The sisters going back in time to before the start of the battle was good and initially they'd made it longer to ensure that Olaf suffered more loss, but this changed history considerably to the extent that he was never made King of Norway and subsequently, the Battle of Hastings didn't even occur! I wonder what impact that would have on the history of the British monarchy! The pair had obviously gone too far with changing history, but they tried and tried again to put things right but they kept making it worse. The hole they were creating in history was getting bigger and bigger with history being pulled apart at the seam. Chi knew the battle though, and she was brought to the battleground. The sisters didn't want to send anyone to their deaths despite history already being written, they needed to know that deaths were important to ensuring it flowed correctly. I thought it was brilliant to have Chi seeing the difference of history unfolding literally before her eyes and after all she had studied and devoted in her life, it was just a bloody battle at the end of the day and she stood back and allowed things to happen as written. The arrival of the time ship that would be Persephone as we knew from The Dark and all along Marek was not at the battle which seemed a slight let down. Zara at least saving something and that being the town was good. The ending with the Archive locating Marek after all was intriguing, but even more so once it turned out that when they first meet Marek, it was when Abby and Zara died. That sets things up very nicely. Overall, a great audio!

Rating: 8/10

The Edge

"Remember who you are."

Writer: Simon Guerrier
Format: Audio
Released: June 2013
Series: Graceless 3.01

Featuring: Abby, Zara

Synopsis

"It tore you up, everything you were..."

There's a hotel on a cliff overlooking the sea. All sorts of people wash up there. The retired policeman, the faded star of the music hall and a girl who doesn't know who she is...

Abby arrives at the hotel searching for her sister Zara – but after all they've been through and fought over, will she want to be found?

But they're not the only ones with secrets, running away from their pasts. And someone else in the hotel wants to see them all dead...

Verdict

The Edge was an excellent start to the third series of Graceless! This was definitely my favourite audio from the spinoff series yet and if it is just going to get better, then I am very excited for what's in store following the adventures of Abby and Zara. With the way The Dark left things at the end of series two, I was quite surprised by how quickly Abby found Zara at the hotel. She was just enjoying the sea which I thought was nice, although Dennis was indicated that she may be jumping in. What that foreshadowed I was only able to realise as the story went on which was fantastic. Zara having lost her memory was a good development and I was very intrigued when Abby looked into her sister's head and found that there was nothing there. She had been taken apart and reformed after going into the Vortex, but why would Abby have retained her memories after going through the same experience? The moment where Abby was able to help Zara retrieve her memories was fantastic with Joy heard and also the mention of the triceratops atop a tricycle. I liked the continuity there. Abby seeing that Zara wanted to forget her memories was also a very powerful moment. The moment where Abby and Zara stalled on how they were going to pay for the hotel was fun, especially when the former pushed Dennis when he thought he might get a bit lucky when it came to a service in place of monetary payment. Them discovering that Zara had signed into the hotel with her name was good as that meant her memory loss was unrelated to the Vortex and occurred at the hotel. The introductions of Miss Simone and Albert were handled very well and I thought Abby setting Zara and Kurt on a sort of date was wonderful. Her showing the obviously nervous waiter the truth about space and her memories travelling was terrific. I thought the post-war setting of the story, at least the portrayal of that, was good and I expected more to be made of that. Of course, it ended up actually just relating to Simone and Albert. Simone prying on the sisters was very good and she was a stereotypical nasty and nosy elderly woman. She pushed Abby into feeling envious of her sister and clearly knew more than she was letting on. Abby then losing her memories was an excellent development and it was clear that the sisters were trying to be broken apart. The accusation that Simone and Albert were feasting on memories was great, but things didn't go where I expected them to which was good. The relationship between Albert and Simone getting explored a little was fun, especially with the former pretending to be gay to avoid the latter's advances. The murder of Kurt was sudden but presented a brilliant threat and something that needed answering with the sisters on the verge of being set up. The fire then breaking out in the hotel was superb and the tension that went along with the action-packed scenes here was outstanding. Zara going back for Albert was desperate and the wind helping the fire spread was superb. Abby then going in for Zara, only for her to come out, was fantastic and I liked them playing on the fact that they couldn't die together. The emergence of the killer inside was good and he was quite enigmatic and energetic which worked well. He had a twisted mind and was hiding in the shadows. The description of him being as light as smoke and intangible was really good. I really wasn't expecting the moment where Simone stood up and scared the killer off! It was sublime. Albert not making it out alive was a shame, and I do think Simone should have been sadder. The confrontation between her and Dennis and how they threw insults about being a coward or leaving the real world behind was great stuff. The idea of the sea actually being what had the sisters under control was intriguing and I loved that they were being almost drawn in. Everyone else getting taken away by the sea was quick with the girls frozen also being a good threat. Simone giving her life for the sisters was excellent, and from there I liked how there was almost a reset at the hotel. Zara knew things were still wrong, and wanted to put them right as she felt she owed Simone that. I admired that. Kurt returning from the dead as the essence of the hotel and explaining that this place was essentially the waiting room at the end of time and space for those already dead was terrific. I thought that concept worked really well and I liked it a lot. They were on the cliff overlooking oblivion, and Kurt basically gave them the reason to complete the job of killing themselves. The description of the sisters washing up from the other side and being the first to do so was really good and after seeing into Zara's head, Kurt saw where the sisters were vulnerable. He'd learned of the deal with the Grace and that they would choose when they died. Zara fought back wondering why anyone needed to be pushed off the edge. Did they need to die? Abby and Zara joining together to put things right and bring back Simone and Albert was great and I liked how the returning pair got into Kurt's head and sent him on his way. They would run the hotel now and wouldn't be pushing anyone off the edge into confirmed death. I thought that was nice. The ending was also good leading into the next story, I presume, as they recalled the memory of Marek recorded in the tapestry and they realised that it might have been something that hadn't happened yet. Might they be reunited? Overall, a brilliant audio!

Rating: 9/10

The Keep

"These are the dying days."

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Comic Strip

Released: January-February 1997

Printed in: DWM 248-49

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Izzy

Synopsis

Shortly after arriving on Earth in the 51st century, the Doctor and Izzy are greeted by Marquez, the android servant of Crivello, an aged scientist only kept alive by his complete immersion in a nutrient tank. His quest is to build an artificial sun to give humanity a new home, and a time traveller is required to make it happen...

Verdict

The Keep was a terrific combination of the Endgame graphic novel! I thought this was brilliant from start to finish and serves as a great little first outing in the TARDIS for Izzy as the new companion of the Eighth Doctor. It's a little easy to forget that this is so early on in the run for the Eighth Doctor in any format, but the writing of his incarnation really is very good here. I was reading a lot of the lines in the voice and personality of Paul McGann which is certainly a positive. I liked how his incarnation was portrayed as heading for the action and quite energetic as we saw a lot of that during The Movie, so continuing that here was very good indeed. At two parts, this was quite a short little adventure but it did a wonderful job in telling a fast-paced and just fantastic story! Judging by how the epilogue ended and Crivello's untimely death once his goals were achieved, I get the feeling that there might be more to come from this particular adventure as I make my way through the graphic novel. Izzy's reaction to being in the 51st century was a very fun one because it wasn't exactly how she imagined the far future would be! She was expecting cities made of gold and silver but what she got was far from it. She seemed to react pretty well to being trapped after the lights went off and her wanting to wake the Doctor up during their tangle was terrific. Uber-Marshall Leng made for a decent villain whilst he was threatening the Doctor and Izzy and I found his connections to Magnus Greel very interesting! I thought that was a really nice addition to the story and something so simple adds a lot to a monster, especially in such a short comic strip. Marquez saving the Doctor and Izzy with a scoop was good and I thought Izzy's reaction to experiencing that was excellent as it was steeped in realism which I think is very important. The cliffhanger was superb and something that came out of nowhere! The Doctor was inundated with praise for what he was looking at as the nucleus of an artificial sun, but I wasn't expecting him to be sacrificed and thrown in by Marquez! The imagery there, along with the first page of part two, was brilliant. Izzy's thoughts of being stranded three thousand years from home were great and I loved how understandably joyous she was when the Doctor emerged from the artificial sun. It was in fact alive and as Crivello anticipated, the Doctor being a time traveller allowed him to control it. The sun emerging and standing up seemed to resemble a large Groot from the Marvel universe which was good on a personal note. The Doctor and Crivello's brief synaptic encounter was fantastic and although it wasn't much, there seemed to be so much coming from it. The Doctor was enthralled with the pure knowledge installed within the scientist. His desire to form a home world for humanity whilst Earth was ravaged by its sun was admirable and he was only trying to help. So to find him brutally killed at the end was a big surprise and something I am sure we will come back to in a future adventure. Things ending up well with the artificial sun going off to the Crab Nebula on the Doctor's instruction to pave way for a temporary home whilst Earth was busy being destroyed was fantastic and I liked how quickly the group of brutes turned into being positive now that they had somewhere they could live. Overall, a fantastic comic strip story!

Rating: 9/10

The Blame Game

"How desperate could you get if stranded for the rest of your lives?"

Writer: Ian Atkins
Format: Audio
Released: July 2016
Series: Short Trips 6.07

Featuring: Third Doctor, Liz

Synopsis

To escape his Earth exile, the Doctor is prepared to make any bargain, come to any arrangement, or to do any deal with any devil – even if in this case the Devil wears a monk's robes. But when past misdeeds start catching up with both the Doctor and the Monk, who can Liz Shaw trust when time is running out and death is rapidly approaching?

Verdict

The Blame Game was a really good and enjoyable audio adventure! The Short Trips range throws up some quite unique stories and this one wonderfully saw the Third Doctor and the Monk in an adventure together for the first time which is just terrific. I think the nature and personality of the Third Doctor as a whole would be a great match for the Monk regardless, but having his old enemy come and gloat relatively early into his exile on Earth was tremendous. The Doctor was clearly not doing well with being stuck on Earth and his excitement when the familiar noise of a TARDIS materialising was heard was testament to that. I also thought it was really interesting how the Doctor knew of the imminent arrival prior to Liz with it likened to being like a dog whistle noise that was not able to be heard by humans. Liz getting to see a TARDIS in working order was really good and even though she wasn't around for very long as a companion, which in of itself is a damn shame, it's sometimes easy to forget that she didn't get a trip into time and space. She was interested that the Monk was a fellow Time Lord of the Doctor's and ended up sneaking into his TARDIS! The arrogance, pomposity and general smugness of the Monk when he was in conversation with the Doctor was outstanding and to be honest, I could have just had a whole 40 minutes of just that. I loved it. Rufus Hound makes a brilliant Monk and he also provided terrific narration here. The references to The War Games and how the Monk thought the Doctor had been done over, especially with the forced regeneration, was magnificent. The Doctor referencing The Daleks' Master Plan when it came to the intentions of the Monk in potentially helping the Doctor with his exile was good and I liked how sights were set for the 51st century with the Monk aiding the Doctor in his search for time travel. The use of time agencies and vortex manipulators as potential ways out for the Doctor was really good. The blockage in the Doctor's head regarding dematerialisation and access codes telepathically impacting the Monk's TARDIS was tremendous and something I didn't expect. It was even having an effect on the Monk's knowledge! I liked that a lot. There was a lot of continuity in this one which I'm a sucker for and I loved the reference to The Time Meddler along with the links and foreshadowing of Vengeance on Varos and Metebelis III. Liz getting to see an alien planet and travelling for the first time was wonderful and the least she deserved. The planet, as claimed, being Delphon was good with the Doctor having a past there and I liked its linkage with the TARDIS translation circuits. Liz wondering if it should ask permission to get in your head was unexpected as well! When the robot claiming piracy action on the planet emerged, the moment where the Monk also adhered to the Doctor's "stay behind me" line to Liz was pure magic. A real highlight. The Monk's scheme gradually getting unveiled was very good and I liked how he wanted to trap the Doctor somewhere else. Things turning out to be Earth seemed a little weird and more clarity was needed there, but I liked the premise a lot. I was surprised that the Monk took Liz back home and his comment about humanity being likened to cats and dogs as far as Time Lords were concerned was very powerful. But not as powerful as Liz's reply about the Doctor offering hope which resulted her in getting the Monk to bring him back. I was surprised by that development, but it was a feel good moment which was really nice. You could tell the Doctor was pleased to be back, but not too thrilled. Overall, a fine audio story.

Rating: 8/10

Shining Darkness

"Nothing made of circuits and cogs and metal could really feel, could it?"

Writer: Mark Michalowski
Format: Novel
Released: September 2008
Series: NSA 27

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Donna

Synopsis

For Donna Noble, the Andromeda galaxy is a long, long way from home. But even two and a half million light years from Earth, danger lurks around every corner...

A visit to an art gallery turns into a race across space to uncover the secret behind a shadowy organisation.

From the desert world of Karris to the interplanetary scrapyard of Junk, the Doctor and Donna discover that appearances can be deceptive, that enemies are lurking around every corner – and that the centuries-long peace between humans and machines may be about to come to an end.

Because waiting in the wings to bring chaos in the galaxy is The Cult of Shining Darkness.

Verdict

Shining Darkness was an excellent novel to continue my reading of the New Series Adventures! I thought this one started well and never really let the quality drop. The writing of both the Tenth Doctor and Donna was terrific, but they were separated pretty much from the start which allowed for very different situations throughout the book for our two lead characters. The humour that came with the difference between being two and a half million light years from Earth instead of billion was great and I loved the early feeling of this story being somewhat representative of The Chase. Donna being kidnapped along with the art piece was good and from there the Doctor was joined up with a team after the Cult of Shining Darkness to save her. I really liked the action and the pace was fantastic. There was always a lot going on and the jumping around from locations in the search of different segments of the black hole device was really good. It was in danger of being too resemblant to the Key to Time or The Keys of Marinus, but with the novel format there was more than enough time between the retrieval of each segment. The different species we met along the way with a number of the characters was brilliant and the standout for me were the Jaftee. The concept behind their entire being was just magnificent and so strange and unique that I adored it. The idea of them only believing in something if there was no proof of it because of the power that showed was just extraordinary. I have never considered that so I loved it. It was really fun and pretty humorous on a number of occasions. Mother made for a really great character and the whole battle between organics and machine was really intriguing. The idea of some machines being sentient was good and I liked Donna's reaction to her being accused of essentially being racists against robots because of how she was judging by appearance. Mother's moment where she also tapped her head and revealed how she knew as well that she was real was fantastic and very powerful. Garaman made for a good villain and I liked how the moment he was going to reveal the extent of the plan to the Doctor was constantly delayed. I also really liked the switch just over halfway into the book with Donna and the Doctor swapping ships and the crews they were with. That freshened things up really well. Mesanth was another very good character and his trepidation about killing organic life when it came to the activation was understandable. Garaman wanting to do more than just turn all of machine life off in the Andromeda galaxy was a terrific plan as he wanted to utilise the resource and control them. The Doctor's speech that was indirectly appealing to Mesanth about the galaxy ending up with just a species of Garamans was outstanding. The characterisation of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor was superb in this one. The moment where he was shot dead by Li'ian was extremely sudden and her turn was something I really didn't anticipate. The way things ended for the Cult of Shining Darkness and her was also sublime and something I never anticipated as it turned out that the bomb within Mother had actually been removed by the Doctor as the object that couldn't be got into quite some time earlier in the novel and obviously in the wrong hands as far as the Cult were concerned. I thought that was really clever. The moment where Donna and company had their ship struck and they headed for the TARDIS, only for it to have been at the point of impact and lost was fantastic as well. There was a lot of greatness in this one. Donna getting to reference The Runaway Bride and The Doctor Trap when it came to her robotic experiences was fantastic and I also loved the Doctor harkening back to Sick Building with Barbara the vending machine getting a mention. Despite all that had gone on, I liked how the story finished with something of a feel good factor. Overall, a tremendous read!

Rating: 9/10