Glen here…
This weekend brings us the transmit of the seventh episode of DOCTOR WHO Season/Series 8, Kill the Moon.
[via]
This story finds the Doctor (Peter Capaldi), Clara (Jenna Coleman), guest star Hermione Norris, and (new companion?) Courtney (Ellis George) - aka “Annoying School Girl” if gauged by a few Docback responses from last week - facing down MOON. SPIDERS. An encounter leading to a substantive, and dark, moral dilemma for CapaldiDoc.
But will the badassity of these Moon Spiders…
…match the overall horribleness of these plus-sized battle scorpions or mega roaches from DAMNATION ALLEY?
Or the grim, arthropodal magnificence of, say, BIG ASS SPIDER?
We’ll find out soon enough…
A FRESHLY CAPALDIIZED DOCTOR WHO EXPERIENCE IS REOPENING ON OCTOBER 24 IN CARDIFF...
…and here’s a teaser heralding its return.
I DON’T PIMP FANMADE DOCTOR WHO STUFF VERY MUCH HERE ON THE SITE…
But I rather like this Halloween-flavored shirt.
It’s available HERE in multiple color variations.
VINTAGE DOCTOR WHO RE-EDITED AND RE-SCORED TO MODERN WHO SENSIBILITIES
[via Reddit user watchtower82]
BBC ISSUES AN OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS FOR FLATLINE…
…the ninth episode of this Season/Series.
Separated from the Doctor, Clara discovers a new menace from another dimension.
But how do you hide when even the walls are no protection? With people to save and the Doctor trapped, Clara comes up against an enemy that exists beyond human perception.
HORNORSILK REVIEWS THE WORLDS OF DOCTOR WHO BOX SET FROM BIG FINISH
===================
Worlds of Doctor Who
Written By: Justin Richards, Jonathan Morris, Nick Wallace
Directed By: Ken Bentley and Lisa Bowerman
Cast
Colin Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela), Lalla Ward (Romana), Daphne Ashbrook (Ruth Matheson), Trevor Baxter (Professor George Litefoot), Christopher Benjamin (Henry Gordon Jago), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Karen Gledhill (Allison Williams), Hugh Ross (Sir Toby Kinsella), Pamela Salem (Rachel Jenson), Yee Jee Tso (Charlie Sato), Simon Williams (Group Captain Gilmore), Jamie Glover (Mr Rees), Sinead Keenan (Stephanie Wilton), Rory Keenan (James Wilton)
Producer David Richardson
Script Editor Matt Fitton
Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
This set serves as Big Finish’s anniversary special, not for Doctor Who (which they did last fall), but for their own range of Doctor Who and Doctor Who spinoff audios. It’s their “fifteenth anniversary” special, celebrating fifteen years of Doctor Who starting with The Sirens of Time. They have had a far greater success than anyone could have imagined. They have been able to get actors no one expected to return, such as Paul McGann, Tom Baker, Janet Fielding, and even Matthew Waterhouse. And, for the Sixth Doctor, and some extent Mel, they have been able to show what the characters could have been and should have been with better scripts, helping many see how great a Doctor Colin Baker really was and is for the series. And so Big Finish, to celebrate their achievement, decided to do four inter-linking stories which take place in the Doctor Who universe, allowing the universe, and not just the Doctor shine.
While this is a great achievement, my review comes in the wake of the death of Maggie Stables. She played Ruthley in The Sirens of Time, but soon was cast as Evelyn Smythe, the first new companion for the Sixth Doctor created by Big Finish. She was everything the Sixth Doctor needed: mature, strong willed, intelligent (a professor of history) and had a big heart. Evelyn was the kind of companion many of us would like to see on screen (but fear never will happen), one showing the strength and integrity of old age, showing that the Doctor’s way of life could still be improved by an elderly companion and not just some new youth who comes for the ride. She is, in many ways, at the heart of the Big Finish universe, not only for the way she affected the Sixth Doctor, but even the Seventh, and the consequences of her adventures with the Sixth Doctor have had their effects on the Seventh Doctor, through the companionship of Hex. I have decided to dedicate this review is in honor of Maggie Stables and how she is at the center of the Big Finish worlds of Doctor Who. Even if she does not show up here, I would suggest the Sixth Doctor here is the Doctor after his adventures with her.
There are four stories, with four different casts of characters. They link together due to the villain and his precious music box. I will give a brief examination of each of the stories, and then reflection upon the box set as a whole, because it is one complete story which the set is attempting to tell.
Mind Games by Justin Richards
The first story, and the one which sets up the villain for the rest of the set, stars Jago and Litefoot. Their first Big Finish appearance was in a Companion Chronicle, but they soon had their own series, ome which is going on strongly, and has even led to a couple of adventures with the Sixth Doctor. I have not listened to most of their stories, but I hear good things about them, and I would dip into their side of the Doctor Who universe over many of the other Big Finish spinoffs. Now, I’ve seen it said, that for those who have listened to their ordinary adventures, this story is quite average for a Jago and Litefoot tale, that is, it follows a format many of them have, so that it seems more ordinary to their listeners than to someone who has not had this chance. As it stands, I highly enjoyed this one; it felt a bit more like Big Finish trying to do a Holmes story, though with a sci-fi twist, than I expected: even the opening music reminded me of Holmes.
Jago has a new star at his theatre: the hypnotist Mr. Rees. Nearby, there is a lot of murders and suicides going on, with people mysteriously acting against their own desires, capable of speaking their own wishes as their body acts against their will. It should not be any surprise who is behind it, but it is surprising is how strong Mr. Rees’ mental powers are. They are what allow him to control many people at once, to enter their mind, to know what they know, and this is what makes him a rather dangerous criminal indeed.
Why is Mr. Rees playing mind games with people, and how will Jago and Litefoot, and their friends, defeat someone who is so strong? And what value is there in Mr. Rees music box? Is there some meaning associated with its tune?
This is a rather enjoyable start to the box set. Jago and Litefoot have proven themselves to be competent heroes in their own right. They work together well, with a sense of humor but also with a strong sense of friendship. Jago, more than Litefoot, has become a better person because of his contact with the Doctor (Litefoot did not need such a push), though Jago still has some of his earthly cares which is why he continues to run his business with a pursuit for money. It’s hard to believe they have only appeared once on screen together, but yet, they feel like old friends when listening to them here.
I gave this a strong 8/10. I was hooked from the get go, and found myself mesmerized throughout the story, which is quite fitting for a story such as this.
The Reesinger Process by Justin Richards
The second story involves “Counter Measures,” the group first seen in Remembrance of the Daleks, a pre-UNIT task force to deal with strange and mysterious things in 60s England, with Group Captain Gilmore in leadership position and the agency run by Sir Toby Kinsella. Allison and Rachel also have a part of the Counter Measures stories.
The consequences which emerge from Mind Games is felt here. The Reesinger Institute provides specialized military training for the government, but what is the process they used, and what is their real objective and goal? When several prominent military and government officials are committing murder-suicides, Counter Measures are sent in to investigate. But how are they to deal with a powerful, mind-controlling entity which cannot even be stopped by death? What exactly is the objective of the Reesinger Institute?
Counter-Measures has had a few seasons of adventures, but, like Jago and Litefoot, I’ve not really had a chance to listen to them. From what I gather, this pre-UNIT team does not have a strong “family” bond: there is a bond, but there is a lot more trial and tribulation as the team has to struggle to find its identity while trying to get proper leadership and funding from the government. There is also more of a spy-series like element with their work. Some of their conflicts can be seen to be played out here, and, without having listened to their other stories, I think those conflicts mean less to a listener such as myself than to those who have been following this team.
The plot itself continues quite well after Jago and Litefoot, and really is a good sequel, though not as good as the original tale. It’s enjoyable, but slightly less so, probably because I do not think this “UNIT” like group works as well as Jago and Litefoot without the Doctor. I give this one 7/10
The Screaming Skull by Jonathan Morris
The third, and in my estimation, the weakest of the stories, has a team I’ve not listened to before, played by Daphne Ashbrooke (Ruth) and Yee Jee Tso (Charlie), as UNIT members who have been deemed damaged goods by UNIT by the way their mind had once been invaded. UNIT is unsure of them and whether or not they have become entirely free from alien influence. They are treated well, but locked up, until Mike Yates comes and gives them a chance to prove themselves and help him and UNIT deal with a danger in their former workplace, UNIT’s Vault where dangerous alien artifacts and other secrets a kept from the public. In the Vault, the people who have been in there, and others who have been sent in, have become “lost” to UNIT. Ruth and Charlie are asked to go in, because it is where they used to work and more likely know what is in the Vault than others.
While Ruth and Charlie were created so as to give those who played Paul McGann’s former tv companions more acting opportunities in Big Finish (the rights to their characters being beyond Big Finish’ license), I do not feel these two characters are that engaging, making it hard for me to engage this story as a whole. While it is nice to hear Mike Yates and to see how he been rehabilitated by UNIT, sadly, the Vault was not the best place for him to be. I can only give this one a 6/10. There are some nice things in it, especially the ending when Mike figures out UNIT needs the help of the Doctor, but I think it would have been better if other characters had been involved (Benton, for example). I get why Ruth and Charlie are here: their characters were created by Big Finish, and so they represent one of the many “worlds” of Doctor Who, but again, just not too engaging a “world” to me. It’s doubly strange to me that Mike Yates, who has had a past, is the one UNIT trusts with this mission, even as it is strange to see UNIT now doesn’t trust people who had their mind controlled, when mind control was quite common in their early days (and no one was locked up for it).
Second Sight by Nick Wallace and Justin Richards
In the fourth and final adventure, the Doctor, Leela, Romana and Mike Yates have to deal with the increasingly dangerous threat of Mr. Rees. Mike Yates summoned the Doctor, even as the Time Lords of Gallifrey noticed a problem on Earth. The Time Lords sent Leela to investigate, only to lose contact with her, so Romana decided she had to investigate and find out what happened to Leela and how to deal with the threat all by herself. She did not know that the Doctor would show up. There is also a sense that Romana, while appreciating the Doctor, has ways which differentiate herself from the Doctor, giving her more of a “legal” Time Lord approach than the Doctor.
While the threat is dangerous, and there is darkness in this adventure, there is also a good sense of humor contained in it as well. I really liked Yates reaction when he discovers it is the Sixth Doctor who came to help, “Oh, it’s you.” “Who did you expect?” Clearly, Yates was hoping for a different iteration of the Doctor, but he also knew, when you ask for the Doctor’s help, you are never sure which incarnation they will get. Despite that, Yates and the Doctor work well together. Yates knows a little of the problem, because he has dealt with Rees, yet he does not know the full extent of Rees’ objectives. Along the way, the Doctor finds out about Gallifrey’s failed attempt to stop Rees, and has to work with Romana to find Leela and save the day from a threat whose mental powers proves to be as great as many beings from the Dark Times of Gallifrey’s past.
This was a nice, fit conclusion, bringing not only the Gallifrey range into the sequence of stories, but finally getting the Doctor involved; it’s fitting that it is the Sixth Doctor, if for no other reason, he is very much the Doctor whose reputation was most improved because of Big Finish. While not perfect, and I have some questions and reservations about the ending, I think we have another strong adventure and I rate it 8/10.
The Box Set as a Whole
In reality, this is one story, taking place in multiple times, with one villain finding a way to extend his life and powers, one villain who loves playing “mind games” with others, controlling them, making them do his will for the sake of his pleasure. He is amoral more than he is purposefully evil, but many great villains are. Like so many without a conscience, we eventually find what turned him towards his path of villainy by the end of the story. It is, truth be told, a bit cliché, but the reason why things become cliché is because they work when done well. The Doctor is able to use this cliché by the end, and use it to his advantage so he can find a way to defeat a foe who might otherwise be too powerful for the Doctor to overcome. It is a solution which Star Trek has used before, for a villain who was also too difficult for the crew of the Enterprise to defeat, so for some, this might seem like a good nod to a popular Star Trek story, or it might feel a bit too much of a copy for a story of this length. Nonetheless, the ending is appropriate for Doctor Who, because it has the benefit of the Doctor acting as he would, showing compassion to a villain whose nurturing was at the root of his crimes. While some might think such mercy lacks justice and it quickly ignores all the harm he has done through the years, in this case, there might have been no other way. It seems odd that he could become so powerful that even the Time Lords would not be able to handle him. But this is Doctor Who, and the Doctor always looks for a non-violent solution, so even if the Time Lords could have done something, it probably would have been more drastic and against the Doctor’s wishes. Yet, when we come to the resolution of the crisis, while it might have been the right thing to do, it still feels anti-climatic, and I think that is because we have had such a long build up to it that we expect something grand by the end. It’s not a bad ending, but it feels as something which would suit a shorter story than here. This might also be a thing of preference and what I consider to be a “grand ending” might differ from what others come to expect.
Now, another thing which stuck in my mind while listening to this story is how reminiscent it was of the Excelis series. There is a lot which connects the two together. While the villain here was not originally a Warlord looking for “the artifact,” we still have a villain who has a special object (a music box) which he uses to help keep him alive (though how it is used here differs from the way Iris’ handbag worked in Excelis). We have a man, who, as he ages and grows more powerful, begins to find a way to even use the dead and control them as well – though again, it differs here because we do not have the “meat puppet” theme of Excelis. I am not sure if the intention was to mirror Excelis, but the story does, and as a fan of Excelis, I think this gives The Worlds of Doctor Who another nod to the Big Finish range and of a sequence of stories I think which has been under-rated. But the major difference is in tone. Excelis was, at times, undermined by being ultra-“silly” (handbag indeed). While there is humor in this Big Finish anniversary story, the sequence is far more serious and mature. Despite such silliness in Excelis being over the top, it also gave Excelis some of its charm and a charm which, at times, was lacking here.
I do like the way this series tries to work with more characters than the Doctor, and show how the Doctor and his adventures influence others so they can do work on their own without him there. I also like seeing how things inter-connect. Yet, I think there is a little too little of the Doctor here. I think he should have been involved, albeit briefly, throughout all stories (or most of them); thus, it could be that he would not be involved with the first, with Jago and Litefoot, because I felt it was effective without him. The second and third parts are hampered by the lack of the Doctor’s presence. The characters are good, but they feel like they would be better interacting with the Doctor than they are without him. It would have been nice to hear Sylvester McCoy once again interact with Gillmore, and maybe have McGann’s Doctor talk with Yates before he heads to the Vault and lets the “prisoners” free.
Is this box set worth getting? It depends. If you are looking for something more to listen to, it is good, but I think the lack of the Doctor might cause some listeners to lose interest before he shows up. The Vault sequence is of characters specifically created by Big Finish, and, being mostly unfamiliar with them (having never listened to their origin story), I felt the least bit of caring for their characters than the rest. While I understand why they were chosen for the story, I think it will affect others as it did me with their sequence. Yet, even there, there is something worthwhile, especially with the ending, because it demonstrates more of the way UNIT engages the Doctor than we see on screen, and that is something I think most fans will like. All in all, I say get this set if you are a fan of Big Finish’s output beyond its main Doctor Who ranges, that is, if you already like and enjoy the non-Doctor ranges in the Big Finish universe. Or, if you want an introduction to those ranges, I think this also does a fair, though not great, job, with the best being given to Jago and Litefoot, who perhaps really need the least bit of introduction of all of them. But don’t go in expecting an epic Doctor Who story: it’s Doctor lite along the lines of Love and Monsters (without the cheese of the story) more than Blink.
The Worlds of Doctor Who Boxed Set is now available HERE.
— HornOrSilk
===================
————
Glen Oliver
“Merrick”
DOCBACK CODE OF CONDUCT
1) a Docback should be about completely open and free discourse regarding all things WHO with, obviously, some variation on subject matter from time to time - the real world intervenes, discussions of other shows are inevitable, etc....
2) converse, agree, disagree, and question as much as you want - but the freedom to do so is NOT a license to be rude, crass, disrespectful, or uncivilized in any way. Not remaining courteous and civil, as well as TROLLING or undertaking sensational efforts to ignite controversy, will result in banning. Lack of courtesy may receive one (1) warning before a ban is instigated. Obvious Trolling or Spamming will result in summary banning with no warning.
