Tag Archives: Nicholas Briggs

Doctor Who, Energy Of The Daleks. Big Finish Audio Play 1.04. Audio Drama Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. April 22nd 2012

L.S. Media Rating * * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Alex Lowe, Mark Benton, Caroline Keiff, Dan Starkey, John Dorney, Nicholas Briggs.

Tom Baker’s incarnation and time as the fourth Doctor was never better than when he faced off against the scourge of Skaro, The Daleks. In Nicholas Briggs’ latest story for Big Finish, Energy Of The Daleks, Tom Baker is once more pitted against one of his greatest enemies and even though it was the first story that was recorded for the return of Tom Baker, there is much to admire in the delivery and the script.

Doctor Who, Energy Of The Daleks. Big Finish Audio Play 1.04. Audio Drama Review. full post

(448 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, Asylum Of The Daleks. B.B.C. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating *****

Cast: Matt Smith, Karen Gillian, Arthur Darvill, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Anamaria Marinca, David Gyasi, Naomi Ryan, Nicholas Briggs, Barnaby Edwards, Zac Fox.

It is the stuff that legends are made out of and then there is Doctor Who. The nights are beginning to draw in and what better way for the B.B.C. to showcase the autumn schedules than by the re-materialising of the blue box, two of the great companions of the modern and any era, the Doctor and an introduction to a new companion that might just be the best since Janet Fielding as the Australian flight attendant Tegan Jovanka.

Doctor Who, Asylum Of The Daleks. B.B.C. Television Review. full post

(632 words, estimated 2:32 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Lucky Day. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson, Varada Sethu, Jonah Hauer-King, Anita Dobson, Jemma Redgrave, Ruth Madeley, Benjamin Chivers, Kirsty Hoiles, Gethin Alderman, Kareem Alexander, Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Faye McKeever, Madison Stock, Paddy Stafford, Blake Anderson, Aiofe Gaston, Paul Jerricho, Michael Woodford, Alexander Devrient, Tina Gray, Trinity Wells, Reeta Chakrabarti, Alex Jones, Lachele Carl, Joel Dommett, Calypso Cragg, James Craven, Selorm Adonu, Aiden Cook, Nicholas Briggs.

Doctor Who: Lucky Day. Television Review. full post

(545 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: The Robot Revolution. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ncuti Gatwa, Varada Sethu, Anita Dobson, Jonny Green, Max Parker, Thalia Dudek, Stefan Haines, Belinda Owusu, Tom Storey, Stephen Love, Robert Strange, Nicholas Briggs, Evelyn Miller, Charles Sandford, Lucas Edwards, Caleb Hughes, Nadine Higgin, William Ellis.

In a timely reflection on the use of A.I. in the 21st Century, the ethics of appropriation of personal data and biometrics by governments, and the misuse, indeed theft of the individual artists work to train the aspects of artificial intelligence, years of authorship and writing stolen in what can be seen as a monumental reckless abandonment of ethics; so the opening episode of the new series of Doctor Who, The Robot Revolution casts its eye on an old favourite theme, the forgoing of the human existence and spirit in favour of the possibly oppressive, the creeping evil of binary A.I.

Doctor Who: The Robot Revolution. Television Review. full post

(449 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

V: Visitation. Big Finish. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Annabel Baldwin, Janie Dee, Jack Myers, Geoffrey Aymer, Nicholas Briggs, Hannah Brown, Jesse Dunbar, John H Elson, Louise Falkner, Raj Ghatak, Helen Goldwyn, Kate O’ Rourke, Gesella Ohaka, Logan Ritchie, Arabella Smith-James, Andrew James-Spooner, Holly Spooner, Sam Stafford.

The allegories and symbols that were explicitly portrayed on the hit American television series V were so plain to the naked eye that the viewer never once had to question that the sci-fi classic was truly about the representation of war, collusion, consent by power, and the requirement of all citizens to take a stand against the evils of fascism.

V: Visitation. Big Finish. Audio Drama Review. full post

(597 words, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Time War 5 – Cass. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Emma Campbell-Jones, Sonny McGann, Nadia Albina, Gareth Armstrong, Nicholas Boulton, Nicholas Briggs, Michael Chance, Ian Cunningham, Indigo Griffiths, Jaye Griffiths, Grieg Johnson, Simon Shepherd, Homer Todiwala.

In all of space and time in which the Great British public have been entertained and engaged by the mysterious and enigmatic being from Gallifrey, there are a number of shocks reveals that assure the series, whether on television or in audio format, retains its loyal fanbase that one moment we all wish for, the surprise that keeps the tale blowing us away and allows that little shriek of former childhood to be heard as we revel in the moment and just what it could mean.

Doctor Who: Time War 5 – Cass. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(574 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Time War- Volume Four. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Rakhee Thakrar, Terry Malloy, Adèle Anderson, Isla Blair, Ken Bones, Nicholas Briggs, Chris Jarman, Julia McKenzie, Suzanne Proctor, Jemima Rooper.

The Daleks may well be the ultimate embodiment of what it means to think of an enemy that is relentless, unfeeling, without emotion, and whilst you know that they will never understand compassion or empathy, they are but dust when the fan comes to think of their creator, when Davros enters the narrative, for in just one being you have a fictional character that can be seen in the most evil of men that have ever walked the Earth; that this creature who first locked intellect with the Doctor in Genesis of the Daleks, is in every way the master of genocide, of propaganda and lies, and to whom the viewer associates completely with the malevolent wickedness of Fascism.

Doctor Who: Time War- Volume Four. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(659 words, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Time War -Volume Three. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Rakhee Thakrar, Michael Jayston, Nicholas Briggs, Adèle Anderson, Wendy Craig, Andrew Fettes, Raj Ghatak, Natalie Gumede, Anjli Mohindra, Jamie Newall, Jude Owusu, John Scougall, Venice Van Someren, Nina Wadia, Tracey Wiles.

If ever there was an arc of stories that deserved to be told for television within the Doctor Who universe, then The Time War would surely be the set that the fandom would overwhelmingly clamour, would petition in their droves to have given precedence over all others.

Doctor Who: Time War -Volume Three. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(692 words, estimated 2:46 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Time War 2. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul McGann, Rakhee Thakrar, Jaqueline Pearce, Nicholas Briggs, Guy Adams, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Anya Ayola, Jon Culshaw, Victor McGuire, Julia McKenzie, Tania Rodrigues, Amanda Root, Simon Slater.

The Time War rages on, and The Doctor, free of being pressed into Galactic Service as a recruit, still finds his freedom to help where he can, the reluctant warrior in a senseless never-ending war, curtailed by the machinations of the evil on both sides; be it the Daleks or the Timelords, the war between them is bringing destruction to a wider scope of existence…and at the very basis of life they both show how little they care for the innocent casualty, for the races that scream in horror as they are erased or slaughtered in the name of victory.

Doctor Who: Time War 2. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(643 words, estimated 2:34 mins reading time)

The War Doctor Begins: Enemy Mine. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jonathan Carley, Ajjaz Awad, Paul McGann, Adèle Anderson, Nicholas Briggs, Tiegan Byrne, Beth Chamers, Louise Faulkner, Davi Monteith, Becky Wright.

Every beginning must lead to an end; a story after all, unlike a legend, must have the courage to understand that what lays ahead after the initial introductions must be resolute to revealing the finish, the culmination in what the hero or the villain has been leading to before they take the next step on in the universes’ great adventure.

The War Doctor Begins: Enemy Mine. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(660 words, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)