REVIEW: 4th Doctor Adventures 1.02: The Renaissance Man

Taken from my Doctor Who Mini Review Site - Wandering In The Fourth Dimension

Fourth Doctor & Leela



Cast:

* Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker
* Leela - Louise Jameson
* Reginald Harcourt - Ian McNeice
* Jephson - Gareth Armstrong
* Christopher Manners - Anthony Howell
* Lizzie Harcourt - Daisy Ashford
* Beryl / Professor Hilda Lutterthwaite - Laura Molyneux
* Dr. Henry Carnforth - John Dorney




Synopsis:


"To continue Leela's education, the Doctor promises to take her to the famous Morovanian Museum. But the TARDIS lands instead in a quiet English village, where they meet the enigmatic collector Harcourt and his family.


When people start to die, reality doesn't appear quite what it was. There's something sinister going on within the walls of Harcourt's manor, and the stakes are higher than they can imagine.


The Doctor is about to discover that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing."

Review:

Leela was always one of my favourite companions and she really excells in this one for me. Tom Baker also does a fantastic job, he seems more settled than he did in the first one - though I've no idea in what order they were recorded. He has plenty of good lines and it's a complete pleasure listening to them both work together throughout this story. The other cast of characters also do good job and it's a shame that Scruffy didn't make it into the credits. The story is also quite interesting even though the ending was telegraphed right at the start and there wasn't much to it. The gradual reveals to The Doctor, and the audience, were told at a good pace that never slowed or got boring. It was just never epically climatic or tense or thought provoking. Really enjoyed this one.


Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection

Writer: Justin Richards
Director: Ken Bentley
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: February 2012

YouTube Trailer
Website Link

REVIEW: Doctor Who 157: The Fourth Wall

Taken from my Doctor Who only review site Wandering In The Forth Dimension

Sixth Doctor & Flip Jackson
Cast:

The Doctor - Colin Baker
Flip Jackson - Lisa Greenwood
Augustus Scullop - Julian Wadham
Dr Helen Shepherd - Yasmin Bannerman
Nick Kenton/Jack Laser - Hywel Morgan
Matthew Howland/Lord Krarn - Martin Hutson
Olivia Sayle/Jancey - Tilly Gaunt
Chimbly/Head Warmonger - Kim Wall
Junior/Warmonger - Henry Devas



Synopsis:

"Business is bad for intergalactic media mogul Augustus Scullop, whose Trans-Gal empire is on the rocks. But, having retreated to his own private planet, Transmission, Scullop is about to gamble his fortune on a new show, made with an entirely new technology. And the name of that show… is Laser.

Back in the real world, far from the realms of small screen sci-fi fantasies about monsters and aliens, the Doctor is interested only in watching Test Match cricket… but finds himself drawn into Scullop’s world when his new travelling companion, Flip, is snatched from inside the TARDIS.

So, while the Doctor uncovers the terrible secret of Trans-Gal’s new tech, Flip battles to survive in a barren wilderness ruled over by the indestructible Lord Krarn and his pig-like servants, the Warmongers. And the name of that wilderness… is ‘Stevenage’. "


Review:

When this started, I thought it was going to be another one of those stories that I hate where the main characters are put in a fictional world and they don't know who they were. As it progressed I quickly realised this wasn't exactly the case and the heroes find themselves in a fictional world but fully aware. That relief out of the way, I could start to enjoy it. Essentially, The Doctor and Flip are dumped in the middle of an ITV Drama brought to life, except this seems like one that might be worth watching. The story and characters they find themselves interracting with are pretty amusing in an over the top parody kind of way which makes for a very enjoyable listen.

Unfortuntely, Flip doesn't seem to have much to do in this one but she does seem to have settled down to life with The Doctor. She reminds me a lot of Lucie Miller in this, with a different accent. An accent I don't like mind you, but otherwise, I think she's proving to be a good addition to the series. The cliffhangers in this story are also pretty good. It's not quite good enough to get the magic 6, but a good solid entertaining story.
Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection

Writer: John Dorney
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: February 2012

REVIEW: Doctor Who 156: The Curse Of Davros

Also posted over at my Doctor Who only review page - Wandering In The Fourth Dimension

Sixth Doctor & Flip Jackson

Cast:

The Doctor / Davros - Colin Baker
Flip Jackson - Lisa Greenwood
Davros / The Doctor - Terry Molloy
Jared - Ashley Kumar
Napoléon Bonaparte - Jonathan Owen
Captain Pascal - Rhys Jennings
The Duke of Wellington - Granville Saxton
Marshal Ney - Robert Portal
Captain Dickson - Christian Patterson
The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs


Synopsis:

"It's been a year since Philippa 'Flip' Jackson found herself transported by Tube train to battle robot mosquitoes on a bizarre alien planet in the company of a Time Lord known only as 'the Doctor'.

Lightning never strikes twice, they say. Only now there's a flying saucer whooshing over the top of the night bus taking her home. Inside: the Doctor, with another extraterrestrial menace on his tail – the Daleks, and their twisted creator Davros!

But while Flip and the fugitive Doctor struggle to beat back the Daleks' incursion into 21st century London, Davros's real plan is taking shape nearly 200 years in the past, on the other side of the English Channel. At the battle of Waterloo..."


Review:

Flip gets a promotion to fully-fledged companion in the first of the Sixth Doctor's latest trilogy. I think she makes a pleasant enough impression here but has a bit too much of being new to the time travel game to settle. There's a couple of moments where I can't make out whether it's the acting or the scripting that's at fault but I can't quite make out what she was actually doing in that scene. The delivery sounded like intentional whining to get her own way but wasn't made clear enough. Story wise though, is where this one shines. Flip and her boyfriend, discover The Doctor in a crashed escape pod fleeing from the Daleks, who under the leadership of Davros are looking to capture him for a re-union. There's plenty of story and action here with The Daleks taking them back to the Battle Of Waterloo. There's some good scenes with Napoleon and The Duke though I'd have liked to have heard more from them. There's also some good scenes with The Doctor and Davros and the cliffhanger to part 2 is fantastic. Overall, not only do we have a good storyline, but it's also a fast paced, exciting one with plenty happening. I want to give this a six but it just didn't quite reach the standard for that magical score.

Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection

Writer: Johnathan Morris
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: January 2012