Alright well I've been putting it off for 8 months now, I suppose it's finally time to get cracking on Big Finish. And since I have the bad brain worms that means I have to commit to doing all of the Main Range in order. Yay me! So this is the first story they did, Sirens of Time and for what it is I think this is a rather good start for Big Finish. What I enjoy most about this audio, which I imagine is what was the biggest draw for people listening as it came out, was once again hearing the same actors reprise their roles later on in life. It's really fantastic that Big Finish exists, if only for the fact that we have so many more performances from these actors as the doctor. They're all doing a marvellous job here as well. McCoy is basically doing the same stuff he did on TV, Colin's voice has aged a little bit but he is still giving it the same energy, and I would say the same about Davison as well. His performance here is actually the one I appreciate the most because his voice is by far the most aged of the 3 and even though he no longer sounds like a young man, he still brings across the youthful energy even more so than he often did on TV which I think is really impressive.

The story itself is fine. It takes on what I assume will be a different structure to future BF stories in that each part is separate and tells it's own story. Of these I enjoyed Parts 2 and 3 the most. Part 1 I did not find all too interesting, but Part 2 was a much stronger on characters (especially Helen) and setting, and Part 3 had the most interesting story of the lot. Part 4 was a bit messy. It was really enjoyable hearing the main 3 bounce off each other, they're all fantastic and the dialogue between them is quite sharp, but I did find the actual story a bit muddled and very exposition heavy. I don't know if this will just be a thing for early BF stories but it feels like they don't have a perfect handle on how to tell stories and convey information through the audio drama format. The Sirens of Time are rather trite villains and the way they are ultimately defeated is a bit easy and convenient but I do like how it relies on the point of the difference in moral code and outlook between the different incarnations of the doctor. I like how the decision Six makes at the end creates a bit of tension between him and Five. They're too very different incarnations with a lot of Five's character arc being about trying to be optimistic and peaceful but continually getting beaten down by the world which eventually leads into him becoming a slightly gruffer and more pragmatic character as Six. Hopefully this is something they continue to expand on with the two characters going foward. Overall this story is fine, it's nothing particularly special or amazing but it gets the ball rolling just fine. Next up is Phantasmagoria, a full Fivey story yay!! 7/10 / 3½ stars.