Doctor Who - Signs and Wonders

The Hex story arc is probably the longest story arc that has ever been attempted at since Doctor Who began. We met his mother in the first release of the Project Trilogy, and then we met him in The Harvest. Since he joined The Doctor he has been a fan favourite within the Big Finish listener community, played always superbly. However his time has come to end now culminating in this final Hector trilogy where in Signs and Wonders we wave bye to him and a whole era of Doctor Who. Big Finish will never be the same again...

I love the premise of Signs of Wonders. This end of the world/alien invasion set up is done very well here. It feels epic. Which it should as this is the end of an era. We return to Liverpool one last time where Ace tries for the final time to help Hector rediscover his true identity as Hex. Despite even his dead grandparents’ house and all of his childhood memories, Ace is unable to rediscover Hex (this is confusing I realise, Big Finish have set up a massive arc and really you do need to listen to a lot of it in order to discover what is truly going on - 'Gods and Monsters' and 'Afterlife' are essential listens (or at least an understanding of) before you can understand what is really going on in concern with Hector/Hex). Even if you do not get the arc, as I said the whole premise and the first three parts are sensational.

It is the return of another great character in my opinion - Sally Morgan - which helps to save Hex. It is brilliant to see this character return again, she has been a brilliant addition to Doctor Who, but it is a shame that this is probably her last story (as I said an end of an era).

Another point I have to say the cover on the front of the CD case is probably my all-time favourite one that Big Finish have ever done, well done to whoever designed and produced the art for this story.

My only problem with this story is that I think when we get to Part Four the story (which has been brilliant up till this point) gets a little confusing, which is a shame. However that is likely me not paying enough attention and maybe on a relisten I may understand exactly what is going on and love this story even more.

Personally the Big Finish main range this year has been very lackluster, a couple of good stories, many lackluster, a couple (Brood of Erys, Masquerade) which I have thought to be awful. I always look forward to the Seventh Doctor trilogies in the main range as they are personally always the best, I just prefer this style of the show over the other two versions seen in the main range. This story is the best release of the year so far and I hope the forthcoming sixth doctor trilogy will continue in this stories footsteps.

This is the end but the moment has been prepared for. I am looking forward to seeing where Big Finish go now following the end of Hex. Personally I believe Love and War probably happens next, I feel like Ace from here feels ready to go into Love and War now. But only time will tell...

9/10

Doctor Who - Listen

This new series of Doctor Who has taken some very brave steps, taking the show in a very new direction. The casting of an older Doctor could have failed but fortunately has been perceived by the general public and Doctor Who fans alike as a complete success due to the electric performances of Peter Capaldi. Another riskier move was the fact that this was the first story not to feature any physical monsters or villains. Instead of the physical demons, The Doctor comes into conflict with his own psychological demons.

This series has been very character driven but instead of retreading the character driven routes taken by RTD throughout his tenure, Moffat is exploring the lives of our major characters. Clara has been given a boyfriend and now a life outside the TARDIS but more importantly The Doctor is getting more character development than ever before. The Twelfth Doctor presently is trying to discover his identity and as I have said before those 800 (ish) years of Trenzalore have changed The Doctor, he has had time to reminisce  over the previous 1200 years of his life and has began to question who he really is (a good man, a hero). We have explored all this so far and now he is beginning to confront his fears - the fears of him as a child. The parallels between The Doctor and the story continue. 

There are some properly scary scenes in this story. The scene where The Doctor, Clara and Rupert are trying not to look around to see the thing under the blanket as it walks up behind them and then takes the sheet off to reveal a glimpse of an out of focus face is one of the only times I have actually been scared since Moffat took over from RTD (the other time was The Rebel Flesh). I hope we have some more of these scenes in the future.

Danny and Clara's relationship is further explored in this story with her confronting his past, his present and discovering more about his future. The lines in their date are very awkward but that is what they are intended to be. I am looking forward to see more of Danny later on in the season, possibly we saw too much of them in this story, moving away from the real plot but it did not detract from my viewing experience. I would prefer however we saw their relationship develop more like we saw it in Into the Dalek, a bit at the beginning before the story and a bit at the end.

I cannot discuss this story without commenting on one of the most important scenes in the last fifty years of Doctor Who - the scene on Gallifrey. I have said that we are exploring The Doctor more than ever in the last couple of years. Now we have gone further back than ever before and we have discovered The Doctor as a child for the first time. Some people complain about the fact that we are exploring too much but I love the fact that this scene teased us with very little information but just gave us an insight into The Doctor's fears whilst showing us where he grew up. I love the fact that the barn in The Day of the Doctor is the same barn where he grew up in, The War Doctor though he would end his life and the time war, where his life began. One final point is that in Sound of the Drums when it is referenced that The Master went mad when he faced the untendered schism and The Doctor just ran from it, was the barn in this story where he ran to and the fears we saw in this story, caused by such an experience. It is nice to see more of these references to The Doctor's childhood making us wonder what he was up to for two hundred years on Gallifrey that would force him to run away.

There was a lot of variety in this story as well as we went from barren futuristic planets at the end of the universe to haunted children homes. The design of this story is very good as usually, the sets look amazing and the CGI is brilliant as we have become accustomed to in this modern age. Furthermore the performances in this were very strong throughout.

In summary this story showed us that The Doctor is truly afraid of some things (the hand coming under the bed etc) and is able to turn the normal (children under sheets, atmospheric pressure) into monsters. There seems to be a lot of foreshadowing in the series which I can only speculate what it is for. In Listen we have another reference to Clara's life span ('from the moment you were born to the moment you die') like what happened in Deep Breath. I can only speculate but we know that characters after death get to the Promised Land (Missy was absent this week but that one line made me believe that the story arc is still here), so what if Clara dies later in the season and is sent to the Promised Land, (this is only speculation at the moment).

8/10

Doctor Who - Mask of Tragedy

Essentially this story explores the consequences of space time tourism. The Doctor arrives in a temporal tourist hot spot (Ancient Athens) at a time of unrest. This is a pseudo-historical. No alien megalomaniacs planning to conquer the Earth with a gigantic bomb or devious under Gods from the dawn of time planning to crack the planet open like an egg. No just The Doctor, Ace and Hector landing in Ancient Athens and experiencing the problems at hand.

The story kicks off when they discover another alien tourist who has this mysterious alien mask. This alien mask however soon is lost and as a result Athens is brought into further chaos. As a result of not so complicated plot, the characters are given a bit more time, which is necessary for the major character development and revelations that occur at the end of the story, leading it directly into Signs and Wonders.

Acting wise this is a very strong story, all the cast are on top form and some great guest performances. Unfortunately I find this story to not have much to it. There is a plot, but it feels very much like some of the early Doctor Who historical stories, lackluster. It seems a bit strange to be saying this as at the same time there is an alien beetle in the sky, plague zombies and a God descending to Earth. The way these are connected is good but unfortunately means that the story does feel somewhat empty after that. The story does not drag like The Brood of Erys earlier in the year which I really did not like but it did not have enough there, leaving me somewhat disappointed.

I am looking forward however to seeing where this final Hex arc ends up with in Signs and Wonders as having listened to the trailer, seen the cover and read the synopsis, it looks to be an absolute cracker. This is what we have needed from the Doctor Who Main Range this year. There have been a few good stories (Moonflesh, Tomb Ship, Revenge of the Storm - but none of these were particularly special) and some very poor ones (Brood of Erys, Masquerade) then there are stories like this which I have just found totally lackluster. I do not believe it is Big Finish as the stories in the other ranges like the Fourth Doctor Range, The Early Adventures and Dark Eyes Two have been amazing but it seems like we are now in desperate need of a great story (like the Assassination Games last year). I do hope that the following release lives up to my expectations.

6/10

Doctor Who - Robot of Sherwood

Returning to write for televised Doctor Who on his seventh occasion is fan favourite writer Mark Gatiss and this time he is bringing Robin Hood to life. Robin Hood was always going to be a tough character to bring to Doctor Who. I know that many were unconvinced about his inclusion when it was revealed. There have been some classic outings for the character and some very poor ones. We know that Robin Hood was in the pitch that Moffat gave to Gatiss and it is a good idea for The Doctor to encounter this impossible hero, aiding The Twelfth Doctor in his search for identity and as a result Moffat gave the job to one of his main writers.

Robin Hood is described on several occasions as an 'impossible hero' by The Doctor; this is also a reference to him. The Doctor has been wondering a week ago in Into the Dalek whether he was a good man (the answer a good dalek), now this week brings him a stage further in his search for identity. Robin Hood is a very good character to play of The Doctor as both characters are very similar. Robin Hood is played very well.

Many Robin Hoodisms are included in this so it can feel like a proper Robin Hood story. This is the only time The Doctor is probably ever going to meet Robin Hood, so it is right that the production team included everything from Robin's mythos. This includes the Sheriff of Nottingham who is played very very well and is a proper Doctor Who villain. There was a scene deleted due to political reasons but I am glad they did that. On the one hand there is the current situation but on the other I find the fact that the Sheriff being human much better than him being a robot.

The Doctor is very strong and Capaldi is very confident in his performance. He is very much The Doctor but a very different one to that we have seen before. There are some very clear homage to the Third Doctor in this story and the Sixth Doctor in his personality. 

Clara however steals the story; Coleman's performances are as incredible as ever, the character now seems to have been given a lot of space to evolve over the series making her much more rounded as a character. The confrontation between Clara and the Sheriff is one of the best Doctor Who scenes I have seen since the show came back. She totally outwits the sheriff using only her intelligence, body and wit.

This story is what one could refer to as this series more comedic story (as episode three usually is) with some good jokes throughout but there are some darker scenes such as the death of the villager early on in the story.

The robot knights are never going to be a legendary monster that will return for the next fifty years but they serve the job in what is truly a character piece, this is a story about the doctors search for identity. He was on Trenzalore for so long that he had a lot of time to think about his time and obviously he is beginning to question who he is. The pinnacle of the story is this and the way Gatiss parallels the heroes The Doctor and Robin Hood.

This story does have some floors however. Some of the exchanges between The Doctor and Robin went a little too far into the silly. A gold arrow a) would not fly and b) would not help the ship fly. If they could delete the final arrow scene at the end like the beheading scene, we would have a very good story.

Robot of Sherwood was fun basically. It is nice to have a fun story every so often. This story is the light relief of the series before we venture into Listen next week which is looking to be Moffat returning to the terrifying which was what made his name in Doctor Who in the first place.

7/10

Doctor Who - Domain of the Voord

The latest range from Big Finish Productions is The Early Adventures. This range is based on the old lost stories format but instead of using lost stories scripts they are making new original adventures for the first and second doctors.

The first release is Domain of the Voord. The Voord were only the second monster to ever be seen on Doctor Who (after the Daleks) but in the Keys of Marinus they are quite one dimensional. Over time there have been a number of stories which explored the Voord further but now Big Finish have taken up the gauntlet and have released Domain of the Voord.

Andrew Smith has written this one. To me Andrew Smith is a risk as he can write some absolute classics such as The First Sontarans but has written a couple of weaker scripts such as The Brood of Erys. I am pleased to say that this is another strong script from him. The story feels like it has just come out of Season One stylistically, despite the fact the horror elements and budgetary constraints would have probably meant that this script would never have been produced if it had been submitted in 1964.

Smith has got the characters just write, especially people such as Ian and The Doctor. Susan is given a lot more to do in this one and is frankly a much more interesting character than she was back in the 1960s. The performances from the entire cast are very very good.

One of the main features of this story is that it explores the concept of what it is to be Voord. The idea of the mask fusing to your head and then accepting you to become a Voord is brilliant enough, but the horror elements that you can be rejected and then the fused mask will pull itself off your head is just amazing. The Voord are much more interesting three dimensional monsters here than they were in The Keys of Marinus. The story also has a lot more pace than most of the stories at its time had; probably due to the fact it is much more interesting than a lot of the very early First Doctor stories.

I have to say that this is one of my favourite First Doctor stories I have ever experienced. Well done Big Finish for another cracking release and I hope more like this are set to continue!

9/10

Doctor Who - Into the Dalek

Back in 2010 Steven Moffat stated that he believed the Doctor must fight the Daleks very early on in his run (which is why Victory of the Daleks was the third episode in Series Five). This idea has clearly not changed as now the new Twelfth Doctor is meeting his ancient foes in his second story.

One of the many things I love about this story is the way that it is not a Dalek story where the entire universe is at stake due to a reality bomb or whatever. This Dalek story is smaller and thus allowing us to focus more on the characters and the Daleks themselves. The story has been told a number of times in the past (The Invisible Enemy, Let's Kill Hitler) where the main characters are miniaturized and go inside something, but there is more to this story than retreading the same ground. By going inside a Dalek we get probably one of the greatest insights into the Daleks since the show came back. The idea of a good Dalek is interesting but I think the show could have explored that further. In the award winning Big Finish Productions Box Set Dark Eyes, the idea of Daleks becoming good is examined in much more depth than it is here.

The Twelfth Doctor is incredible in this story with some classic one liners ("She cares so I don't have to"). Capaldi is one of the greatest actors to take on the role and his very confident performance in this, highlights this fact. Clara too is very good in this. I have always been a fan of Clara but I know many fans were saying that she is completely uninteresting - however since the Twelfth Doctor has taken over from the Eleventh Doctor, fan opinion is changing. Danny Pink also is introduced in this story. The Danny scenes are not necessary for the plot of this story but they are probably important for later on. In five minutes Moffat and Ford have created an interesting mysterious character that has already left all fans intrigued. Samuel Anderson gives a strong performance - I am looking forward to seeing him get on later on.

The writing is very strong in  this story. I really hope Phil Ford returns for Series Nine. He has already written two very strong stories (The Waters of Mars and this). The guest performances are strong in this also. Furthermore the story is visually incredible. The CGI in the last couple of years is beginning to rival everything else available even the CGI in $200 million Marvel films.

It is interesting to see the theme of parallels in this series with the references to the broom with the half-face man in Deep Breath and now the line "You are a good Dalek" being said by the Dalek in this. I wonder if this is set to continue.

In summary a very strong story. Not an all-time classic but one of the best ones I have seen in a while.

9/10

Deep Breath

Doctor Who has returned! Following the break between The Time of the Doctor and now, we can celebrate the return of Doctor Who onto our screens with the latest story Deep Breath!

The newly regenerated Doctor crashes into London from the mouth of a T-Rex and while he recovers from his regenerative trauma he fights of some cannibalistic clock work robots lead by a half-face man who are from the sister ship to the one he went on in The Girl in the Fireplace.

The show has totally regenerated itself in this story, a lot of things have changed and its fortunate for the viewers that familiar faces are around to help us through some very radical changes in the tone and direction of the show. Lets begin with the biggest change - The Doctor. Peter Capaldi is brilliant from the beginning of the story. On the one hand you can see similarities with his incarnation with the first, second, third, fourth and seventh doctors but on the other hand he is a very distinctive doctor in his own right. An older doctor would always be seen as a risk following the huge popularity for the younger doctors 10 and 11, but I think due to both a great writer and a great actor, I think they may just about get away with such a radical change.

Despite the fact this story is meant to be all about The Doctor, Clara plays a major part in this with Jenna Coleman giving some of her best performances. Clara does have to drive the action in some parts of the story when The Doctor is not there, which is good as many Doctor Who fans have complained that she has not done much and has not been very special.

The Paternoster Gang are back and I am really happy for that. All three of them are superbly played and gel together really well. They are a very popular group of characters, especially with the younger fans - which means we are likely to see more of them in the future I hope. The only real criticisms towards these characters are made by a few very hardcore classic doctor who fans who believe that Strax is discrediting the threat of the Sontaran race. In all honestly I would not say they have had any real menace since 1975 and on the other hand in DWM 475 the readers were polled over who was the greatest sontaran of all time and Strax was the clear reader with over 40% of the votes. Dan Starkey adds so much character to him that he works so well as a result. Strax may work better with Eleven than Twelve but still is a very enjoyable asset to the story. The throwing of the Times and the less than graceful fall into the spaceship were clear laugh out loud moments. Vastra and Jenny were both very good in this, especially Jenny.

The whole tone and feel to the story was brilliant and I like this darker direction the show seems to be going in. Visually the story was very strong with some great special effects like the dinosaur. The Half-Face Man was very very creepy in this story, the whole clockwork droid idea was brought to a new even more exciting level in this story (a nice surprise to see them back). It is the simplest things which are so scary in Doctor Who like the idea of trying not to blink, so the idea of how long can you hold your breath is very good, very creepy.

My main issue with the story is the pacing. I think the story is probably five to ten minutes too long and as a result I think it was just a little bit too slow. The production team have realised that the show was too quick since 2005 but now have slowed it down too much in the other direction. I think more could have been done in the dark streets of Victorian London, I think they could have done more with that.

The story itself is very interesting, effectively this is a sequel to The Girl in the Fireplace. Moffat does like to redo ideas. Additionally in true Moffat style he sets up a number of mysteries from the beginning. Who was Missy? (Apart from Gatekeeper to the Netherspehere as confirmed by the BBC - this is all heading towards an interesting finale).

In summary a strong opener for the new Doctor but just a little bit too long (I rarely say this about any new series story), however the show is going in the right direction and I hope all the characters in this story are set to continue.

7/10

Next week we have what looks to be a very exciting Dalek story co-written by Moffat and Phil Ford and knowing the writing credits for both of them, this is going to be a very very good story (I think).

The Hunt is on for Greyhound One - Doctor Who Legacy

The Hunt for Greyhound One has begun! Continuing our continuing reviews of Doctor Who Legacy we turn to the latest story update.

Compared to previous levels The Hunt for Greyhound One epilogue is much faster paced, concentrating on a longer new story than revisting old favourites. The story itself is interesting (spoilers ahead!) as we play with the doctors as they fight through time to collect the specific parts needed to build a device which will enable them to find the Brigadier who cannot be reached normally since his and the doctors timelines are heavily intertwined. The story makes a lot of sense and the script is good. The Doctors are written well enough that you can hear the actual actors speaking the lines of the screen in your head.

As they are not visiting any specific stories, the creative team could choose any characters they liked and had the rights to use, to drop in the game. This means that classic favourites such as Ace, The Brigadier and Bessie are now drops along side new series favourites like Wilf and Rose. It is nice to see these characters here and their abilities are great. I love the ability given to The Brigadier as he now can convert yellow and pink to green which means he works well with The Second Doctor in turning the board green for powerful attacks. Ace being a bomb character seems the logical choice. The only character missing from the story personally is the Brigadier's daughter herself, Kate Stewart - to me she would have fitted perfectly in these levels but I suspect they are holding her back for either a Series Eight release or part of The Day of the Doctor (whenever that turns up).

I do hope though now with The Brigadier joining the game that he does a Captain Jack style thing and brings all his UNIT team into the action to fight The Master (Yates, Benton, Jo Grant).

The art is very good, I especially love the art in Bubble Universe Delta which is some of my favourite background art to date (along with the forest of death art). The characters too are very well drawn.

The Hunt for Greyhound One is thoroughly enjoyable and I do hope more of these more frequent smaller updates are set to continue. With series eight on the horizon I look forward to the weekly levels which will come out simultaneously with the show and I do hope that following that and the Titan Comic levels, we will begin to see more of these sorts of updates!

The Power of Kroll

I was never a fan of season sixteen. I enjoyed The Ribos Operation and The Pirate Planet but I felt the others were a bit to slow and dull for me. I rewatched The Power of Kroll recently and my opinion of this story changed dramatically. I think the pacing is slightly off, it is fine but it could be a little bit more pacey.

The acting in this story is top notch. Mary Tamm is phenomenal as Romana, Tom Baker's performance has clearly been toned down and therefore this story is not another Tom Baker comedy half hour which some of this season could be accused of. The other performances are strong including Phillip Madoc's latest classic performance. The Kroll effects are brilliant in this story. To me this rivals some of the effects they were doing in Season Twenty Six with The Destroyer.

The rest of the production is brilliant. The location shots add another dimension to the show. The sets seems of a much higher standard than what they were the season before. I do not normally comment on this but I found the costumes in this very good. Mary Tamm's costume is very good and I am impressed by the outfits worn by the Swampies.

Robert Holmes produces another strong story, enhanced by very strong production values, just a little more pace would have made this a great story.

8/10

The Girl Who Waited

A powerful moving story at the heart of series six part two - The Girl Who Waited. Series Six Part Two is probably my least favourite part of the Matt Smith era but there are a few really good stories in this era, this one being one of them.

The Girl Who Waited begins with an ingenious idea and uses it to create a compelling story. The writing is very strong in this story, which is key to the stories success. The writing is then brought to life by some great performances. This story is about Amy and Rory, so much so that there is practically no guest cast and The Doctor is sidelined for much of the story. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill both give the performances of their lives making the final few scenes very emotional. On top of this you get the debate on which Amy would you choose. We know that the young Amy will be saved but it is interesting to watch the characters debate this.

The Handbots were an interesting creation for this story. It is very unlikely that we will see the return of the handbots but they were a good enough creation to add menace to this story and were beautifully designed. Finally this story looks visually amazing, some of the visual effects used in this story are some of the best ones scene in series six.

In summary a compelling moving piece, beautifully made, beautifully performed.

9/10

The Macra Terror

Last year Doctor Who fans were blessed by the return of nine completely missing stories from The Second Doctor era back to the BBC. The lesser known of the two was The Enemy of the World. The Enemy of the World had never received much appreciation from fandom due to the fact it is overshadowed by everything else in that season and that five parts were missing. In the recent DWM poll it was the most improved Doctor Who Story which is such a testament to how under appreciated the lost stories of this era are. I had always loved The Enemy of the World, even before it had been discovered and I was only really able to listen to the soundtrack; The Macra Terror comes into a similar category as The Enemy of the World.

The Macra Terror feels forgotten by Doctor Who fans. The only thing people really remember from it are The Macra, namely due to their surprise (and welcomed) return in Gridlock. These were the third monster (following the Daleks and the Cybermen) to feature in the series and then come back. They are interesting monster and it is a shame we cannot see the original story as despite the fact they probably may have looked quite clunky they are actually a very good monster.

The story sees the TARDIS land on an Earth colony (like The Power of the Daleks three stories before this). The first episode portrays this happy jolly perfect place where the companions are very willing to stay at. However as we delve deeper into the story we realise that the place is too perfect and that there is something deadly going on. By episode three we learn how The Macra had infiltrated the workings on the colony and now are controlling the entire thing. There is a funny scene in Episode Four were the narration between segments of the soundtrack states that the Macra control buttons and controls with grace - I suspect it would not look like that but I leave that up to my imagination.

This is probably the best story for the Polly, Ben and Jamie trio as Jamie feels forced on in all the stories prior to this (as he was) and in the following story Polly and Ben are hardly in it. It is this story however we begin to see the transition from the nervous Scot to the Jamie which we know of from seasons five and six. Ben is very good in this, despite being controlled for a couple of episodes. All three serve a purpose and work well here. Patrick Troughton is now firmly comfortable in the roll now and it seems like The Moonbase has calmed this Doctor down into the typical Second Doctor.

Unfortunately I cannot add much more since we do not have the complete visuals to be able to analyse production and direction but this is a thoroughly enjoyable story bringing about an interesting monster and giving the companions very good treatment. It is so good to listen to them having so much fun in episode one whilst The Doctor investigates. It is this and Fury from the Deep I want back next. Both these stories I suspect will jump up greatly in fandom and will receive the respect they deserve.

9/10

State of Decay

About a month ago I ran a poll on the blog where I listed the last few stories which I am yet to see and I promised that the winner will be reviewed and the winner was State of Decay. I have to say Season Eighteen is a weakness of mine, I have seen a couple of stories but not all. I have however seen Logopolis and this story firstly highlights how little the production team probably knew about the show. Logopolis is unlike any other Doctor Who story from the Tom Baker era. It is not celebration but a funeral. State of Decay on the other hand would have been the best choice to end the Fourth Doctor's tenure. It combines all the main elements of the three producers eras from gothic horror to cold hard science. What a shame!

One of the strongest features of this story is the script. Terrance Dicks knows how to write a good solid Doctor Who script and this is what the eighties seemed to lack.  The script feels like a very traditional Doctor Who story, especially that first episode. This story could have very easily slotted in during season thirteen or fourteen. The first episode is excellent, I cannot fault the script there at all. Various interesting threads are set up whilst evoking a compelling atmosphere and tone. I am glad that the director got rid of Christopher H Bidmead's rewrite of State of Decay and kept Terrance Dick's original since I do not want to know what this story would have been like if Bidmead had given it an unnecessary scientific and mechanical edge to it.

The problems to me with the story are not from the script point of view but the way State of Decay has been brought from script to screen. Some of the performances are not great. The rebels are a bit dull, totally pathetic. The vampires become totally melodramatic by part three. Some of the effects are not well realised such as The Great Vampire and personally the direction is not great. If this had been produced in 1976 with Robert Holmes script editing the script, working with Dicks, alongside the direction of Douglas Camfield or David Maloney, I suspect we would have had a great story but unfortunately the production does seem to let it down here.

The primary cast are very good in this. The scenes and exchanges between The Fourth Doctor and Romana are particularly compelling in this story. K9 is sensational in every scene - as usual. Adric is not really given a chance, almost like the script had been written without him and he had to be added in later. This is a shame as having watched Logopolis I realise the potential that there was between The Fourth Doctor and Adric but this was not the case in State of Decay.

In summary, this is a story with bags of potential! It is such a shame that this script was produced for season eighteen not season thirteen as I suspect we would have had a much greater story back then. The production and direction do let this story down but it is such a relief to have such a traditional script after Season Seventeen and the seasons to come. This should have been Tom Bakers send off but alas not.

7/10 (Some very good bits but let down)

The Mutant Phase

I was planning to review Eye of the Scorpion which I am currently listening to but I am only halfway through it at the moment so I am going to review The Mutant Phase which is another older Big Finish story which I have listened to recently.

I did not know what to think of this story during the first two episodes. It seemed to me a story that I could take or leave. It set up a lot of mysteries and threads, so many I believed that the story would fail to answer them. Episode Three was a massive change to me however. The story began as this pretty small scaled story featuring a base full of humans fighting for survival due to some mysterious events which had happened on Earth but when the story began to tie things together and moved onto Skaro I was really impressed. The scenes of Skaro, especially those featuring The Emperor Dalek totally gripped me and I was so desperate to hear what happened next.

The actual super mutant Dalek idea I found was quite interesting. The idea that the Daleks are evolving into something new and they do not like the new form foreshadows Robert Shearman's Dalek which was to come. The story also moves into morality territory which I really liked. It felt so reminiscent (but I do not think that is the word) of the current Eight Doctor Adventures. The Eight Doctor probably has the greatest morals of all The Doctors, he will not throw away the life of another to stop something, to him it is not a 'numbers game' which many other Doctors were more like (The Seventh Doctor, The War Doctor). The Fifth Doctor is very similar in this. He works with the Daleks reluctantly to stop a greater force. Having listened to both this and Dark Eyes Two: The Traitor one may think that Big Finish are running out of ideas but this does not bother me.

The performances overall are very good; the characters are quite bog standard, nothing special or particularly memorable about them, they are just there. The Daleks are good in this.

In summary slow start which sets up so many threads which tie together beautifully in a timey wimey morality story featuring some cracking scenes and ideas which come into being in the second half.

7/10

(PS. 7/10 means to me a pretty standard Doctor Who Story, this is why so many of my reviews have resulted in the stories resulting in seven. In future use this as a guide, anything above seven is great in my opinion but anything below seven is not so great in my opinion)

The Dalek Invasion of Earth

Personally this story is revolutionary. Firstly Terry Nation secured the future of the Daleks - up till this point the Daleks had been seen as these racist entities living in their city but now they are an all conquering galactic superpower, the Daleks here are the template for all Daleks afterwards. Secondly this story saw the first ever companion departure which I will comment upon later. Thirdly I think this story marked a massive change in tone for the series. For the first season and Planet of the Giants it felt like the Sydney Newman Master Plan but this story was the first story personally where the Doctor Who which we know and love came into being. Season Two was the transition between the original intentions of the show in Season One to good old Doctor Who of Season Three.

Now onto the story. There is something about this story as there are constant references to it (Remembrance of the Daleks, The Stolen Earth...). Furthermore Big Finish have gone to this period on several occasions and it seems that they are going to return once again to the 22nd century occupation in Masters of Earth.

This was the second time I have ever watched it and the first time I watched it I hated it. I thought that there was so much potential but it was wasted by poor performances and an overlong boring script but I am pleased to say that on this occasion my opinion has changed...

There is a lot of scope to this story. There is a constant change of location as the characters (like a normal First Doctor Dalek Story) are chased out of the original location into another (this time without a TARDIS). I have a lot of respect for the set designers who had so little money and produced this!

Overall there are a lot of good characters, the performances are not quite there but are fine for the most part. The Robomen are an interesting creation and I like how they have in recent years returned firstly during Dark Eyes Two and Lucie Miller/To The Death along with the Dalek puppets in Asylum of the Daleks and Time of the Doctor (these are essentially the re-imagining of the robomen). William Hartnell is spot on as usual but I am not totally convinced by his companions but in all honesty I think they all give some of their best performances. The story is possibly one episode too many but unlike the original Dalek story, I am not bored. 

7/10

Silver Nemesis

After being really impressed by The Curse of Fenric yesterday, I decided to delve deeper into the Seventh Doctor's era, this time to another story to feature The Seventh Doctor and Ace. Silver Nemesis is the Twenty Fifth Anniversary Special and unfortunately that is its problem. It does not feel like a special. There are Cybermen, they needed to be there for the Silver anniversary, but apart from that there is little tribute to the shows history. This is a real shame as JNT put so much effort into The Five Doctors and possibly something similar would have given the show the publicity it needed to support the show during its darkest hours.

The other thing is that the story is not that original. It is the exact same story as in Remembrance of the Daleks but with Cybermen not Daleks (some ancient Timelord object being hidden by The Doctor that lots of people are chasing after The Hand of Omega and Nemesis). Other problems include the American tourist, the social worker hating people and the Cybermen's allergy to gold.

Now that was all that was bad about Silver Nemesis now the good. It is action packed from the beginning and the action scenes are very gripping. The Cybermen look brilliant, the best looking version of them in colour. Lady Peinforte is a very intriguing character and The Doctor and Ace are electric together. It is a very fun story and thus enjoyable. The Doctor is so mysterious in this story and I love the time travel element.

This is a fun enjoyable story with a couple of flaws in the writing but the main problem is that it is such a missed opportunity and it is clear that it is a missed opportunity by the constant subtle references to the past but nothing there to really celebrate (but The Doctor and the Cybermen).

7/10

The Curse of Fenric

Alongside Remembrance of the Daleks, this story marks the peak of the renaissance Doctor Who experienced in the late 1980s with the Andrew Cartmel Masterplan coming to fruition. It also serves as probably the darkest Doctor Who story of all time. Additionally it is a major story as all of The Seventh Doctor adventures which would follow on in the Virgin New Adventures and Big Finish Doctor Who Monthly Range which featured The Seventh Doctor used this story as the foundations of the new direction they would later on take the show.

This is a great story but also a clever story. Having seen this a few times now I can really appreciate the amount of work that was put into the writing of the story. It is not you bog standard good solid Doctor Who of the sixties and seventies. A lot of work has gone into this script by the writer. The story is rife with symbolism (baptism, undercurrents, chess...) all adding to the effect the writer is trying to have.

I must turn to Ace, the most important character of the whole story. Sophie Aldred gives the performance of a lifetime. The production team have created this revolutionary character, someone all the companions of the modern era would later follow. This is the story where the character grows up. She is no longer the pyromaniac teenage mess ('social misfit' one might say) but now an adult who has gone through significant change when she is forced to face up to her past in a more subtle and effective way than they had tried to achieve in Ghostlight. This change is symbolised by her baptism at the end. Initially this story was to come first in the season but I am glad that they changed the order as season twenty six works brilliantly in this way. Battlefield and Ghostlight foreshadow the great changes to come for the lives of the main characters, Curse of Fenric is the big change and Survival is when The Doctor puts Ace back in her home setting to emphasise how far she as a character has come. If the original order had been the way it was released, I do not believe the effectiveness of either this or Survival would have been as present as they are like this.

Speaking of The Doctor, this is one of Sylvester McCoy's finest outings. He is dark, Machiavellian and manipulative. He is playing the game of chess against Fenric from the beginning, moving characters into place at the right time. This is the darkest we have ever seen The Doctor, when he emotionally cripples his companion just to defeat Fenric. The Seventh Doctor is so different from his successor whose morals would prevent him from doing anything (Dark Eyes Two - The Traitor) but The Seventh Doctor is ready to do anything to get the job done.

The darkness of The Doctor is reflected in the darkness of the story. The production team could have just set this in Nazi occupied Europe or Nazi Germany itself but by having it set in Britain. Having the secondary villains of the story to be the British adds a whole new dimension to the story. They emphasise how powerful and evil Fenric is, as if Millington who would drop disastrous chemical bombs to incinerate Dresden or Moscow is just the secondary villain, how evil must the main villain (Fenric) possibly be?

Thinking about this story in context also adds another dimension to it as the story may be set in The Second World War but is more about The Cold War. The beginning and the end of the war are both shown in this story. It is important to remember that this came out in late 1989 - the end of The Cold War. Most of the people watching this story would not know why there had been so much international tension between the USA and USSR. The Curse of Fenric is an allegory for all wars but especially The Cold War. The soldiers are the pawns who fight for their political leaders. It is only when the pawns work together can such a conflict end. Gorbachev came from a rural background, he at the beginning was no longer a pawn in Stalin or Khrushchev's chess matches against Kennedy, Johnson or Nixon, but by people working together conflict can end. This happens here when Bates and Sorin stop fighting and work together.

Fenric himself is a strong villain and the haemovores were the last great monster of the classic series. The Eighties were so over reliant on returning monsters that there were very few great new monsters coming about - the haemovores sadly would not make a televised return but were absolutely great monsters.

The Curse of Fenric is an allegorical, character driven, great story. The care and attention that went into both script and production is monumental and as a result produced one of the finest stories of the 1980s rivaling The Caves of Androzani and Remembrance of the Daleks. It is a shame that the show did not continue on television into the 1990s as this dark approach worked brilliantly here. The problem with the whole story though is that it does take a couple of watches to understand as it is very complex and needs some thinking. The fuel for the end of the original run of Doctor Who had been laid ages ago but stories such as this and Ghostlight are so complex that the casual viewer just did not know what was going and thus turned off. If the show had never come back in 2005 my opinion of this story may have been tainted by that fact; but it did come back. The Curse of Fenric burned away the old order and set up the new so we can have a new series. The show at this point had to go away but this is definitely the right way to let it go...

10/10

Destroy the Infinite

The Eminence has been introduced to us in The Seeds of War, Dark Eyes Two and will return in Dark Eyes Three but Destroy the Infinite brings about the long awaited story where The Doctor first encounters The Eminence. The Fourth Doctor Adventures (as mentioned in the previous review of Last of the Colophon) are meant to be nostalgic but this one breaks this idea completely. This does not feel like it came from 1977 at all. The space opera genre is a terribly underused genre in Doctor Who; I would not say there was a single space opera in the entire of the Tom Baker era (the only stories I can personally say are space operas to any extent are The Dalek's Master Plan, The Space Pirates, Frontier in Space, A Good Man Goes to War). This is why it is so strange, BUT that is no problem here as the story is excellent.

This story is really a story of two halves. The first half is the desperate struggle for survival, the resistance movements, the reign of the Eminence. The second half is a war story. In the extra features Nick Briggs (writer) talks about a series of war films which inspired the plot but he did not mention Star Wars at all - surely people could see the similarities between the small fighter ships attacking The Infinite here and the small fighter ships attacking The Death Star. The various references to war stories in here add a new layer of scope to the entire story.

This story feels epic, the scale of the adventure is huge - surprising for such a small cast. The writing, direction, performances and soundscape are responsible for this. The performances are strong all round and like what I am becoming accustomed to with these recent Fourth Doctor Adventures it ends with The Doctor giving a moral speech about victory and celebrations in a war. In the words of Captain America (Avengers Assemble) "When I woke up they told me that we won, they never said what we lost", such ideas are prominent in this memorable closing speech.

Overall a brilliant story. Big Finish have been excellent at developing brilliant new characters (Charley, Lucie, Klein...) but until very recently never developed a successful recurring villain - The Eminence is the great Big Finish alien that we have been waiting for!

9/10

Last of the Colophon

One of my biggest problems with the third season of Tom Baker audios is that, unlike the first season with Leela, it did not feel that authentic to the time. It felt too modern. The Seventh Doctor is for dark, complicated stories about The Doctor taking on Gods and Monsters, The Eight Doctor's era is about the chaos which makes a good man go to war but I want the Fourth Doctor Adventures to be authentic. Last of the Colophon does not disappoint.

I guess the brief to the writer must have been 'think of a classic science fiction or horror film that Doctor Who did not cover in the 1970s (an idea eluded to in the behind the scene features) - The Invisible Man. This story is so authentic, using different themes and ideas from the mid 1970s, I spent most of the release wondering which story this part reflected (Hand of Fear, Planet of Evil...) as well as enjoying this release.

The main problem with the story is that a few elements are quite predictable. From the beginning we can infer that Morax has something to do with the end of his species and that he is not entirely good, just from his relationship with the sadistic nurse.

The characters are good in this, nothing special, nothing memorable but good enough to keep the story flowing. Overall I really enjoyed this release, mainly due to how authentic it is. I may not have been able to have watched Doctor Who in 1977 but it brought my mind back to that era, hopefully there are more stories like this to come.

8/10

The Power of Three

This is Matt Smith's final happy adventure with Amy and Rory before the end and it is filled with great characters, a lot of fun and the return of one of Doctor Who's biggest allies - UNIT.

Amy and Rory are very strong in this story, we learn a lot about them as characters - fitting since it is the penultimate episode for the companion who has featured in the most episodes. The story highlights how alien The Doctor is and Matt Smith is totally faultless (as usual) here. We have two new characters who have only just been introduced recently and they are amazing. Firstly we have Brian, returning from Dinosaurs on a Space Ship. He is brilliant in this story, who has some very emotional scenes with The Doctor, when he is concerned with the safety of his son and daughter in law. They are so sad when you have the hindsight of the following weeks story. I wish we had more adventures with Brian, Mark Williams is extraordinary in this.

The other new character is Kate Stewart, who I hope will become a recurring character in The Twelfth Doctor's era. She just steals every scene from Matt Smith, which is a huge achievement knowing how great Matt Smith is in this story.

UNIT return in this story under Kate Stewart and I do hope we see a modern day UNIT family develop under Steven Moffat. My main complaint of RTD era UNIT was that there was never a consistent UNIT leadership. UNIT Captains changed every week. I hope when UNIT does return again, this does not happen.

This is a fun story but unfortunately does not end as well as I had hoped. It is very rushed with lots of different ideas unexplored - who were those nurses and why were they taking people to their ship. The problem with the monster is despite the fact the Shakari is very intriguing, this story seems to be a missed opportunity for the return of the Kraals (a scientific experiment to investigate the best way to take over the Earth - the same as The Android Invasion). This story really could have done with being a bit longer, just to have more time to work on the ending.

Enough with complaints a very strong story with just a lackluster ending. It is a shame that Rory is gone as I suspect we will not be seeing anymore of Brian but I do hope that Kate Stewart does continue on through Doctor Who (she has appeared twice now, but I hope for more).

7.5/10

Doctor Who Legacy - Season Five

We did a review of the game in general but it is a topic too large to cover in a small review. Furthermore the Doctor Who Legacy content has been by far the most viewed content on the site, so I decided that it a review of Doctor Who Legacy Season Five would be the best thing to do. We are going to continue reviewing the game, as more additions take place.

The season begins very much where Season Six left off. We venture through a series of Christmas based levels which lead to The Time of the Doctor (which was included despite the fact that it is actually in season seven). There is some impressive artwork in these levels (The Forest of Death levels especially). The characters which drop in these levels had come from the advent calender series last December.

The story itself is very good and I am looking forward to see how it progresses in future levels. The designers recently stated that they 'look for the episodes which provide the best opportunities for varied gameplay (i.e. with lots of potential threats to deal with).'. It is a shame therefore that The Pandorica Opens was not included with this but they have chosen a good selection of levels: The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, Vincent and the Doctor. I really liked the Vincent and The Doctor level, this episode highlights the amount of effort the creators put into making this game (the gems have extra skins). 

As we progress further into the games we see the games true aims and ambitions come to fruition. Season Seven is effectively a line up three game, it is there to introduce you to the game. Season Six just powers up your characters ready for Season Five. Your characters do not level up any more (they will begin to level up in update 2.2 coming soon). This really is a strategy game. The gameplay has been made so complex that you can no longer pass levels through just lining anything up.You need to think, you need to choose characters with the correct abilities, you need to choose perks wisely. The perk system is the only thing that allows you to get through Season Five, since the enemies become increasingly powerful whereas you cannot level your characters up anymore.

There are also a few extra features in Season Five which are really nice touches. March of the Adipose just makes you smile; the Roger Delgado Master is met in Tarminster - setting of parts of Terror of the Autons, that is a really nice touch. I do wonder if the Autons themselves will be added to the game in the future. John Simm's Master has the Toclofane, what if the other Masters have allies of their own (I do not think The Master's Adipose army will probably cut it).

Speaking of Timelords, we have four new Doctors in Season Five. John Hurt's Doctor drops early and his abilities are very good, but the best one of all is my personal favourite - THE SECOND DOCTOR - his abilities make him a very powerful Doctor (a massive help when fighting the reapers in the final level Paradox of the Zygons).

In summary this is a very strong addition to the game, and I do hope that the future looks as bright as it seems here.

Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks

Another poorly regarded story that I have personal affection for (mainly as this was the story that turned me into a doctor who fan).

Trying to work out why this story is poorly regarded I must point the finger at the acting. Miranda Raison's attempt to do an American accent is not brilliant and unfortunately becomes a bit over the top. Personally I can stand it, thus the character is not much of a problem.

Despite her failed attempt at an accent, I do like the character of Tallulah. I think her acting is fine (it really is just the accent). All the other characters I really liked Solomon is very good as well as Frank (Andrew Garfield has done well since) is very good, Lazlo is also very enjoyable.

The production of this is very good and it felt more like a real representation of New York than Angel's Take Manhatten which was filmed there. It looks brilliant. The Tenth Doctor and Martha are both especially strong. Personally Martha beats Rose and Donna hands down. The main thing I did not like was the reference to Rose in part two. Having watched series three recently I have noted that with only two exceptions (42 and Blink [it is inferred in The Lazarus Experiment - she is very much referenced in the subtext]) Rose is referenced in every story.

Finally we move onto the Daleks themselves. Victory of the Daleks is Power of the Daleks and this is Evil of the Daleks, several key elements cross over from that story into this - humans being given The Dalek Factor, humans being given Dalek genes and ideas. This story does feature two of the all time three greatest Daleks. The best is The Special Weapons Dalek (Remembrance of the Daleks and Asylum of the Daleks) but coming runners up are Dalek Caan and Dalek Jast - two Daleks who have to swivel their eye stalks around in the sewers to check they are not being watched so they can have a conversation about Dalek Sec in Evolution of the Daleks. The attack of Hooverville is very good (I feel so sorry for the actors who had to stand in the cold and the rain to film this sequence). The murder of Solomon highlight how cold and emotionless the Daleks are, further emphasised by Dalek Sec Hybrid. Again I do not have much of a problem with Dalek Sec Hybrid. It did not go beyond the story and I liked the idea how there were experiments and the Daleks chose purity over survival - it emphasised the racial ideas of the Daleks, something which the new series has hardly touched upon: these things are allegories of Nazis after all. The Pig Slaves serve their purpose, they are not memorable but they seem to be like robomen but these Daleks do not have the technology to build an army of robomen. The only problem I have with the Daleks are that everytime we see them in the new series The Doctor says for one reason or another 'That makes them deadlier than ever'. If they are deadlier than ever why can't you just show it? The attack of Hovoerville did showcase this, but can Daleks stop just shouting EXTERMINATE on the spot and not firing.

In summary a good solid, heavily underrated story. Can Doctor Who Fans just overcome small problems in production such as accents (British people are never going to pull of the best American accents, they are credible enough to get away with it so accept it) or CSO in Underworld, and ignoring the story that they are in. This story is a fight for survival. The Daleks are more like Daleks in this story than any other story in the new series. They are remorseless, clever, manipulative, Nazis - like they were back in the 1960s. Ironic really when the main Dalek wanted to change all that. Overall a solid:

7.5/10

The Caves of Androzani

Robert Holmes rewrites a few of his old scripts, enhanced by Graeme Harper's revolutionary direction, creates something beautiful. Falling from first in the top 200 to fourth in The Fifty Years Poll, I decided that it was the right time to have another look at this classic story.

From the beginning the set up is great, an endless bitter war, a society that has been corrupted by greed so now (apart from The Doctor and Peri) there are no truly good characters. We have Sharaz Jek - a man who has been warped by the cruel treatment he received Morgus that he has been forced to isolate himself from beauty in the caves and carry the scars; we have Morgus - a greedy manipulative egocentric man who is prepared to kill in order to ensure his own prosperity; General Chellak - a man who will follow all orders, even if they go against his own opinions, and use that as an excuse for his actions (reflecting the Nazis at the Nuremburg Trials); Selateen - a man who may appear good but rejoices in Peri's misfortune as it ensures his own survival; and the gunrunners - who fire upon their own men and are just after the money. Even the secretary is evil, discrediting Morgus so she can take over the company and become more powerful. Holmes creates a hopeless world, populated by some of the most egocentric characters ever to be depicted in Doctor Who.

Along with the cast we have the revolutionary direction used by Graeme Harper. The direction here, goes against all the camera work norms enabling the story to have a fast pace which revels Douglas Campfield himself. This revolutionary directing shows how the show is evolving and foreshadows what it will become.

The tension is brought to breaking point and the only thing which could have made the situation The Doctor faced worse would of been to have had the queen bat's chamber to have been filled with the gas which The Fifth Doctor is allergic to.

In a story where only Peri survives (not even The Doctor makes it out of this one), it becomes a disaster move from the outset - not just any action adventure serial. Holmes' rich script enabled Peter Davison to really showcase his acting at it is faultless in this story. I have many problems with parts of The Fifth Doctor era but this story is truly a classic. It further highlights the benefit of having a single companion with The Fifth Doctor, this is the only story in his era to do so - possibly this inspired Big Finish later. Not forgetting Peri here who goes beyond the atypical screaming companion with Nicola Bryant's exceptional performance in the scenes with Sharaz Jek.

This story is truly a classic. The greatest Doctor Who story of all time? No. There are others which have something else, this is just a faultless story but it is just missing something to elevate it to that position in my opinion. The best regeneration story of all time? Possibly. It will always be between The Caves of Androzani and The War Games. Personally it is The War Games but that is probably because I am a Second Doctor fan. Despite all this, it is a classic. A fitting end to The Fifth Doctor's era.

10/10

The First Fifty Years Poll

Recently Doctor Who Magazine has done it's First Fifty Years Poll and I personally like how this one went more than I did the Top 200 Poll. Now we are not going to publish a full list since you should all get the magazine and read it but we are going to compare the top fifteen of this poll and others.

First Fifty Years
1 The Day of the Doctor              
2 Blink                                    
3 Genesis of the Daleks     
4 The Caves of Androzani            
5 City of Death                    
6 The Talons of Weng Chiang  
7     The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances    
8 Pyramids of Mars
9 Human Nature/Family of Blood  
10 Remembrance of the Daleks 
11 The Robots of Death        
12 The War Games                      
13 Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways      
14 Terror of the Zygons                  
15 Dalek              

Top 200                                  
1 The Caves of Androzani            
2 Blink                                      
3 Genesis of the Daleks              
4 The Talons of Weng Chiang
5 The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
6 Human Nature/Family of Blood    
7      Pyramids of Mars  
8 City of Death                  
9 The Robots of Death          
10 Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways
11 The Girl in the Fireplace      
12 Turn Left                                    
13 The Stolen Earth/Journey's End  
14 Remembrance of the Daleks    
15 Dalek        

Personal
1 The Invasion
2 The Sea Devils
3 Remembrance of the Daleks
4 The Daemons
5 The Dalek Master Plan
6 Doctor Who and the Silurians
7      The Web of Fear
8 The Power of the Daleks
9 The Tomb of the Cybermen
10 Human Nature/Family of Blood
11 Genesis of the Daleks
12 Inferno
13 The Evil of the Daleks
14 The Ark in Space
15 The Girl in the Fireplace             

I apologise for the formatting it was a bit difficult to get it all on one page and Doctor Who and the Silurians had to be shortened. The Daleks did very well with one third of the top fifteen featuring Daleks and it is interesting to see where stories from the Tennant era have fallen in favour. The Day of the Doctor came top which I am personally pleased with as it is testament to how strong the story was but I suspect in the future it may struggle to hold onto that spot. 

Stories like Stolen Earth/Journey's End and Turn Left have both dropped by about twenty ranks but as you can see from my review the general hype of Rose's return and all the companions being present have now warn off in some cases and people are beginning to see the stories for what they really are.

My favourite - The Invasion did not come top in the new poll but it was one of the only two stories not to achieve a one (along with Terror of the Zygons) and it has done this twice now making it the Least Disliked Doctor Who Story of all time.

Still think The Dalek Master Plan is too low (how is it worse than The Daleks which is so overlong and dull) but most of all I am pleased with The Second Doctor Era Stories, they did very well. The Second Doctors Era had:

• All of the top six stories of the 1960s
• The two most improved stories
• The least disliked story

It is difficult to do a coherent review of the whole survey without spoiling it any more than I did but you can make your own decisions on what you thought any way. To finish off the main five stories I think were ranked too high and the main five I think were ranked too low:

TOO HIGH

1. Pyramids of Mars (I do not get this story, it is a classic in parts but slow in others IMO)
2. The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
3. The Mutants (AKA The Daleks)
4. An Unearthly Child (Part One is good but parts two - four are tragically bad - despite being the first)
5. Midnight (Cardboard characters, slow, very little happens)

(Sorry if one of these five is your all time favourites these are all my personal opinion and we are all entitled to our opinions)

TOO LOW

1. The Space Pirates (There is a very good story down there just it is all lost along with its reputation)
2. Nightmare in Silver (The Cybermen are now a threat for the first time since Earthshock)
3. Colony in Space (I love this story)
4. The Hungary Earth/Cold Blood (Why do people hate this?)
5. The Invasion (For personal reasons)

Voyage of the Damned

A disaster story that is another that is poorly regarded by Doctor Who fans, but another I believe people should have another look at. It dropped 44 places in the First 50 Years Poll but there is a good story hidden in there.

With a bunch of stereotypical, yet well played and enjoyable characters, The Doctor ventures through the realms of the Titanic (listening to interesting Earth 'trivia') as he attempts to rescue the ship and prevent it from crashing into Earth. Turn Left would later take away some of the threats from this story since it claimed that the crash would wipe out London whereas in here it is the whole planet (continuity disaster!). I really like the character of Astrid, Banakafalata (I think that is right - why does RTD need to have really long alien names [Raxocrociofallapatorius - or there about springs to mind]), Alonso Frame and Mr Copper. They are fun which is what this story is - fun. It is a Christmas special therefore it is not meant to be overly dark. On rewatch I wondered why they did not have Host D84 on board (or a more explicit reference to Robots of Death as practically the host plot was practically the same as the robot plot in The Robots of Death - they could have just been the same design with wings and sprayed gold). The score is very good here and it is just a fun romp. A couple of problems include the second kiss scene and The Doctor flying with the heavenly host.

In summary a fun story it. Now my scoring has not been very clear but this story is to receive a seven which puts in the category of a good solid story.

7/10