Fourth Doctor Adventures

Destination Nerva: I was shocked at what a non event this was. After a decade of bringing us top-notch audio adventures I was appalled that Big Finish could introduce their supposedly greatest coup (stroking Tom Baker’s ego enough to get him to agree to make a trip to the studios) in such a slapdash story. Destination Nerva fails on practically every count as far as I can see – it’s a confused narrative that is spliced together from other, better stories, the guest characters are one dimensional and vacant, the dialogue lacks sparkle and the jeopardy angle lacks any excitement. Even worse the one reason people will pick this story up so eagerly is the reason it bombs so spectacularly – Tom Baker gives the least convincing performance I have ever heard from him. People might bemoan that the Hornet’s Nest Doctor is a far cry from what we saw on the television but at least that was Baker giving a hearty, menacing performance. The way that Tom Baker inflects some of his dialogue you would think that he was the one that was possessed at the end of part one – some lines fast, some lines slow, some injected with madness, some deep and menacing. It is literally all over the place and needs a much stricter director to whip him into shape. I don’t think even McCoy who was until now the most inconsistent performer has ever been this incoherently schizophrenic in a story. When your main man can’t even say ‘Run!’ convincingly at the cliffhanger you are in trouble. He does settle down a bit in the second episode  and at the conclusion seems a lot calmer so lets hope this is first story jitters. Louise Jameson tries gamely to salvage something and she is the one person who escapes this madness with her dignity intact. I think the advent of fourth Doctor’s return will be enough for everybody to give this a pass but if anybody can objectively say this is to the usual standards of Big Finish…well I would say they were wrong: 3/10


Full Review Here: http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/destination-nerva-written-and-directed.html
Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/101-Doctor-Who-Destination-Nerva

The Renaissance Man: A funny, colourful adventure with delightful characters and dialogue, The Renaissance Man would have made a far superior opening adventure for the Fourth Doctor Range. There is such a gulf between my reaction to Tom Baker in this and Nerva because here he made me laugh my head from his first scene to his last and rather than stumbling through an awkward plot he seems to be having the time of his life and its infectious! Coupled with the fabulous Louise Jameson who shows a real flair for comedy and you have a marvelously humorous double act fronting this story. The setting allows for a very domestic audio landscape that was very easy on the ear and Jamie Robertson’s Simpsonesque music continues to shine. Justin Richards is a fine writer who so rarely lets me down, after all these years of telling Doctor Who stories he also seems to come up with something fresh and exciting. Some of the ideas are plundered from his other stories (I detected some concepts from his novels Option Lock and The Clockwise Men) but the tone of the piece is vastly different. Energetic and enjoyable, this isn’t Big Finish at its absolute best but its still a hell of a ride: 8/10


Full Review Here: http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/renaissance-man-written-by-justin.html
Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/102-Doctor-Who-The-Renaissance-Man


The Wrath of the Iceni:  A dramatic tale that deserves applause for giving the fourth Doctor and Leela the sort of material they were denied on television but loses impact by covering some familiar ground. Louise Jameson gives a Doctor Who career best in The Wrath of Iceni and whilst Tom Baker is very good in some scenes he once again seems a little discordant and out of tune with the material as he was in Destination: Nerva, although nowhere near to the same extent. What really works is how the period of history chosen is so pleasingly tailored to Leela and generating tension between her and the Doctor and yet I found myself distanced from the tale because it wasn’t a period of history I was familiar with and nothing presented here made me want to learn more. Direction and dialogue are both top notch and you certainly couldn’t argue with how the material is presented, some scenes are so viciously presented you will be left reeling from the impact. It’s a tale that managed to thrill and frustrate but its definitively pushing the Doctor and Leela into new territory, if not the series and that can only be for the good of this range. A mixed bag then but erring on the side of excellent for the most part and fans of Jameson and those who want to see some riveting development of Leela have to seek this out: 8/10


Full Review Here: http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/wrath-of-iceni-written-by-john-dorney.html
Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/103-Doctor-Who-The-Wrath-of-the-Iceni

Energy of the Daleks: Personally I found this far superior to Destination Nerva on just about every count. The simpler, more dramatic story is a blessing, the characters whilst not Robert Holmes memorable were serviceable to the plot and there is a very real threat in the shape of the Daleks. Had Nicholas Briggs failed to impress me with a Dalek tale after his superlative four season Dalek Empire series I would have been gobsmacked but he understand the creatures too well to disappoint on that score. I’ve already heard people suggest that this should have been a longer story and I cannot help but agree with that assessment because the first episodes flies by in a hurry and only leaves a scant 25 minutes for the Daleks to impress. I’m not sure if the reason is financial of creative but two of the four released so far have suffered greatly from their reduced running time (and I don’t buy that Nick Briggs cannot work to a 50 minute schedule because he provided some belters in the 8DA range) and could have done with some fleshing out of the situation and the cast. Its all about as deep as a puddle but its very exciting and quite funny (I loved the character who kept pointing out how mad the Doctor was) for that and its good to follow up the high drama of Iceni with something this unpretentious and fun. There’s been nothing in this first fourth Doctor season that I would call and out and out classic but they are certainly bubbling along quite nicely. I just wonder what the first knockout of the range is going to be (looks up Jonny Morris’ next contribution in the Mary Tamm season…). Energy of the Daleks isn’t going to be anybody’s favourite audio adventure (at least I don’t think so) but it’s a harmless Dalek diversion with plenty of bang for your buck and I can certainly think of far less fun ways to spend 50 minutes of your life (I’ve just reviewed seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager). Enjoyable: 7/10


Full Review Here: http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/energy-of-daleks-written-and-directed.html
Buy it from Big Finish here: http://www.bigfinish.com/104-Doctor-Who-Energy-of-the-Daleks

The Trail of the White Worm: I take real issue with the first episode of The Trail of the White Worm that consists of the audience being dropped into what appears to a chase sequence and then spends 20 minutes jogging on the spot only to lead to a cliffhanger that is spoiled on the cover. Its 25 minutes of the Doctor and Leela dashing about and all they manage to achieve is reaching the manor house where the actual story is going to take place – even the Doctor and Peri in season 22 got involved in the story with more speed than this! Its nicely performed but there is so little substance to it that a good sigh could blow it away. I don’t mean to be ingenuous to a range that is bringing together the Doctor, Leela and the Master but there seems to be little more to this adventure than that very purpose. The story that surrounds these three characters is just an excuse to have them all in the same vicinity rather than this being a narrative that had to be told. The Trail of the White Worm has all the elements of a traditional adventure; a country manor setting, Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, the Master, a grotesque but misunderstood monster, an eccentric nutcase…but it brings nothing new to the mix that would have bound all these elements together and made it more than an exercise in nostalgia. It’s a brainless energetic run-around with a fantastic turn by Tom Baker (probably his best since The Renaissance Man) but ultimately there is no innovation or imagination to any of it. Its odd that seasoned Big Finish writers that have written amazing stories in the past (Alan Barnes was good enough to whip up Neverland, The Girl Who Never Was and Death in Blackpool which are three of my absolute favourites) are really faltering in this first fourth Doctor season. I was expecting something far more dramatic and considerable than this: 4/10


Full Review Here: http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/trail-of-white-worm-written-by-alan.html
Buy it from Big Finish here: http://bigfinish.com/releases/v/trail-of-the-white-worm-658