Tag Archives: Doctor Who

Doctor Who, The Rings Of Akhaten. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Michael Dixon, Nicola Sian, Emilia Jones, Chris Anderson, Aiden Cook, Karl Greenwood.

As the Doctor’s obsession grows over the mystery of Clara Oswald, the audience is taken through relevant moments in the latest companion and her parents’ lives and it all boils down to chance. As with most things in life it is the everyday random happenings that can lead a person one way or another in time, with the Doctor around though those things are really never that simple and after all he sees, the Doctor states that she is impossible.

Doctor Who, The Rings Of Akhaten. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(513 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Seeds Of War. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish, 171.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford, Ray Fearon, Ony Uhiara, Stuart Organ, Lucy Russell, John Banks, Beth Chalmers, Barnaby Edwards, David Sibley.

In the best traditions of Doctor Who there is a new terrifying enemy for the fans to get to grips with but as with timey-wimey approach to the Doctor’s life, this isn’t the first time he has met The Eminence or his Infinite Warriors as he battles against them in The Seeds of War.

Doctor Who, The Seeds Of War. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish, 171. full post

(531 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Justice of Jalxar. Big Finish Audio Drama, 2.04, Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Trevor Baxter, Christopher Benjamin, Mark Goldthorp, Rosanna Miles, Ben Bishop, Adrian Lukis.

Two of the best loved characters from the classic period of Doctor Who make a stunning return in the canon and manage to lighten the mood in their own superb interminable style in one of the stand out highs so far of Tom Baker’s return to the role he relished in for many years. Jago and Litefoot appeared nearly 40 years ago in the episodes surrounding the mystery of Weng-Chiang and now they return in The Justice of Jalxar.

Doctor Who, The Justice of Jalxar. Big Finish Audio Drama, 2.04, Review. full post

(570 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, War Against The Laan. Big Finish Audio Play, 2.03. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, David Warner, Hayley Atwell, Jane Slavin, Toby Hadoke, Hugh Fraser, Nicholas Biggs, John Dorney, Beth Chalmers.

With The Lann about to destroy Earth as billions of the species mistake the planet as their own personal birthing pool, the second part of the two part story by Nicholas Briggs takes on one of those great sidesteps and gives fans something else to chew over and digest. Rather than the thought of interplanetary war between two species, the subtext offers something different, something not implemented in the Doctor Who world for a long while.

Doctor Who, War Against The Laan. Big Finish Audio Play, 2.03. Review. full post

(655 words, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

Broadchurch, Episode Two, Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: David Tennant, Olivia Coleman, Andrew Buchan, Jodie Whittaker, Tracy Childs, Will Mellor, Arthur Darvill, David Bradley, Jonathon Bailey, Vicky McClure, Charlotte Beaumont, Joe Simms, Carolyn Pickles, Pauline Quirke.

With the premise having been set in episode one, the attention of the police and in particular D.I. Hardy, start to focus their attentions on the people of Broadchurch, especially those it seems with secrets, many long held, secrets that may fragment the community they live in.

Broadchurch, Episode Two, Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(512 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, Spaceport Fear. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 170.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford, Ronald Pickup, Isabel Fay, Gwilym Lee, Beth Chalmers, Adrian MacKinder, John Banks, Barnaby Edwards.

The close confinement and stark corridors are the magical ingredients that gleam through some of the best Doctor Who stories in its 50 years thrilling and scaring viewers and listeners alike. Add in a monster that’s unseen for the best part of the tale, mix in the unfamiliar sound of the alien chasing down the human population and a charismatic leader hell bent on trying to keep two sets people apart with him controlling them and you have the makings of a tantalising story by William Gallager called Spaceport Fear.

Doctor Who, Spaceport Fear. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 170. full post

(522 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Sands Of Life. Big Finish Audio Play 2.02.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, John Leeson, Hayley Atwell, David Warner, Toby Hadoke, Jane Slavin, Duncan Wisbey, Nicholas Briggs, Beth Chalmers, John Dorney.

The Earth is in peril once more and The Doctor and Romana are again caught up between aliens and humanity in what could be the end of all sentient life on the planet. However, the aliens are doing what they need to do to survive, there is a bigger villain at large and it seems they control everything, except for time.

Doctor Who, The Sands Of Life. Big Finish Audio Play 2.02. full post

(531 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, Dark Eyes. Big Finish Audio. Audio Release Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul McGann, Ruth Bradley, Peter Egan, Toby Jones, Tim Treloar, Laura Molyneaux, Natalie Burt, Ian Cullen, Jonathan Forbes, Alex Mallinson, Beth Chalmers, John Banks, Nicholas Briggs.

The eighth incarnation of the Doctor is grieving, perhaps hurting more than he has ever done, or depending on what the makers of the television programme do over the next few months to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary, perhaps ever will. Paul McGann’s Doctor has stepped out the canon once more as the makers of the Doctor Who audios, Big Finish, give him another stand-alone series of four one hour productions entitled Dark Eyes.

Doctor Who, Dark Eyes. Big Finish Audio. Audio Release Review. full post

(612 words, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Wrong Doctors. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 169

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford, Tony Gardner, James Joyce, Patricia Leventon, Beth Chalmers, John Banks.

Although The Trail of a Timelord, shown on the B.B.C. in 1986 introduced the future companion Melanie Bush, portrayed by Bonnie Langford, to Colin Baker’s incarnation of the Doctor, there really has never been any reconciliation to answer how they first met. For viewers of the new series, which now strides confidently towards its 50th anniversary, it would be like trying to explain how Rose ended up travelling on the Tardis without ever showing the moment she stepped on board. It is a tricky and puzzling conundrum that has never been revealed…until now and the long sighted people at Big Finish and the new audiobook release of The Wrong Doctors.

Doctor Who, The Wrong Doctors. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 169 full post

(521 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Auntie Matter. Big Finish Audio Play. 2.01.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Julia McKenzie, Robert Portal, Lucy Griffiths, Alan Cox, Jane Slavin.

 

Even if it just for a collection of stories, the fact that the listeners of the Big Finish Doctor Who range get to hear the one of the most celebrated companions reprise her role again, a role that she played with a sense of elegance that really has never been matched in all the years following her departure, then the second series of Tom Baker’s tales and the appearance of Mary Tamm as Romana is something to be celebrated and enjoyed. However it is an enjoyment that is tempered by the knowledge that Mart Tamm sadly passed on in the last year.

Doctor Who, The Auntie Matter. Big Finish Audio Play. 2.01. full post

(524 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)