The Monthly Adventures #001 - "The Sirens of Time" by Nicholas Briggs

Recently, I got a very stupid idea. What if I were to listen and review every single audio in the Monthly Range? All 275, over £2000 needed to get them all, what if I just sat down and started slowly working my way through them. It was a dumb idea and for some reason I’m still doing it. So, as I go from some of the greatest works in Doctor Who to stories dreaded by the entire fandom, join me for a titanic amount of reviews that will take years to complete because ADHD and my bank won’t let me do it in one go. What is possibly the greatest run of stories in Doctor Who had to begin somewhere, and that somewhere was The Sirens of Time, a multi-doctor story that is renowned for falling short of being a good opener.

Gallifrey is under attack, and the cause of this destruction? The Doctor, three of him, actually. But as an omnipotent being follows the traveller throughout the vortex, a trio of threats promise to end his lives.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Starting such a massive, influential series was always going to be a tall task, and I really can’t say that The Sirens of Time manages it. It’s pretty harmless fun, the final part is easily the best with Davison, Baker and McCoy all playing off each other quite well but it’s undeniable that the story is a mess of different plots unable to settle on a core concept. As a pilot, it’s pretty good; it sets up some later stories, introduces the three main Doctors that we will be following throughout the range and shows off its mission statement nicely, even if the story fumbles the ball. However, the reveal of Elenya/Helen/Ellie/Lyena being the same person was a twist that genuinely got me the first time I listened to the story years back, so I will give it props for that.

However, everybody is painfully aware of the story's shortcomings. Composed of four small stories that are each relegated to one part, none of the settings or characters are well explored and most of the plot threads fall flat, all lacking actual content with nothing to do in them but wait for the next part so we can eventually reach the ending. Big Finish would do more well defined anthology releases later on down the line but here, they really didn’t organise it well. A glaring issue that damages the whole audio is the performances. Davison and Baker are both pretty good, they’d have more impressive performances later on but there’s nothing wrong with their material here. However, somebody put sleeping pills in McCoy’s coffee the day he recorded his lines and subsequently, he was falling asleep throughout the entire script, giving a decidedly sleepy performance that fails to impress. And whilst I have levelled praise at the final part for having the movement the glacial first three parts lacked, it doesn’t exactly dazzle you either. The Sirens are pretty lacklustre villains that have a great concept behind them but are ultimately unexplored, beaten by the pushing of a button - really, their greatest strength was Mowat’s performance.

The Sirens of Time is a hot but slightly loveable mess that does well introducing us to the Monthly Range and all its ups and downs but literally nothing else past that. A couple poor performances and a really vacuous plot that trudges around empty areas for ages puts a massive damper on my first of 275 stories (why do I do these things to myself?). Honestly, the best bit is a pre-Evelyn Maggie Stables doing an old hag voice, which is incredibly funny with context.

5/10

Pros:

+ Typical fun multi-doctor shenanigans

+ Harmless opener that does well setting up the Monthly Range and what it’s about

+ The reveal that Elana/Helen/Ellie/Lyena were all the same person is genuinely quite good

Cons:

- None of the stories last long enough for you to get invested in them and a mostly aimless wandering around a plot-shaped absence

- The vocal performances of our main cast isn’t as good as it will be, especially with McCoy

- The Sirens are a somewhat underdeveloped antagonist

The Sirens of Time is a very interesting audio, that might be a bit hard to understand at times but is pretty enjoyable anyways.

The story is split into four parts. First one story for each of the three Doctors that share this story, and then one that is shared by all three of them.

The Seventh Doctor

The first Doctor that is shown during this adventure is the Seventh Doctor which at first seems confusing, because he is the oldest of the latest of the three incarnations shown in this audio. Later in the story this question luckily gets resolved. 

In this part of the audio, the Doctor ends up on a planet on which he saves a girl with the name Elenya. On this planet he also meets an old hag, and an old man that is a prisoner there. With this begins his adventure to find out what is going on on that planet, while an assassination attempt is made on the prisoner. This story seems to end in the middle of the story as the assassin opens fire on the Doctor, the prisoner and Elenya. This story was pretty interesting, although I think the ending was a bit abrupt and it takes one out of the story a bit, but that is kind of what is wanted so that is okay anyways.

The Fifth Doctor

In this there is the setup of what seems to be another story, this time with the Fifth Doctor in the lead. This story is set on a submarine. The Doctor meets another girl (Helen) and they get picked up by a German submarine and taken as prisoners. Here the Doctor gets in trouble multiple times because a crewmate got possessed by the Timelords and tried to kill him for a reason unknown to the Doctor. The story ends with the Doctor finding his TARDIS again, which he had lost when the submarine sank the ship he had landed on. This story thread was interesting but in my opinion not as good and enjoyable as the first one. The mystery of the first part is still kind of lingering in mind while it sets up and the new struggle is a bit boring at points, especially as the Doctor gets attacked for a reason that I think isn’t too logical, especially since this behaviour didn’t continue on the later storylines.

The Sixth Doctor

The last of the one Doctor stories is set on a cruiser on which a group of ambassadors look at an unexplained phenomenon. There the Doctor meets a waitress that he thinks looks very familiar to him, that he still can’t place. Due to a case of time distortion everyone on the ship besides the waitress (Elly), and an android pilot everyone is aged to death rapidly. Once again the timelords try to make contact with the Doctor, this time through the android, but Elly shoots it under the guise of protecting the Doctor and herself. During this whole situation the Doctor frees the Temperon, a being that was trapped in the moment of his death. This is the point at which this story ends. This one was enjoyable. In my opinion it was not quite as good as the first one, but it was a lot better than the second one. The overarching plot seems to thicken, while at the same time not really giving a solution to the mystery of what is going on yet.

All Three Doctors and the Overarching Story

At the very beginning of the whole audio there is a small prelude for the overarching storyline, we hear about a situation on Gallifrey that is explained as Gallifrey being invaded. The only hint to the source of the situation is a residue of artron energy that is hinting at the Doctor. 

Later during the second storyline, the Timelords we heard in the prelude (Vansell and the Lord President of Gallifrey) appear once again, this time they are trying to stop the Doctor, Vansell doing it by making a crewmember attack the Doctor. 

Then Vansell is acting one last time in the third story as he finds one last nexus point to stop this situation, but even this time he isn’t successful. 

This is the last we see of Vansell until the end sequence after everything gets resolved when they show that now time was rewritten and the start sequence has never happened after all.

These little story beads that are shown throughout the story that set the mystery of the situation up some more are pretty interesting. While listening to it the first time one is pretty in the dark about what is going on and how it relates to what is going on and this makes the beads even more interesting, especially since they are pretty short and vague. One problem I have with this part of the thread is that I think it is kind of weird of Vansell to attack the Doctor in one situation, and just try to warn him in another when the situation on his site has actually even worsened.

Now to the plot of the last part. Now the Doctors arrive at Gallifrey and set out to figure out what is going on. They once again meet the girl they had met earlier and figure out how all three, Elenya, Helen and Elly are the same person. The Timelords were used as an healing/energy force and Lyenna (the last name she used) asked the Doctors to end it all by stopping the situation from happening at all. This is just a ploy to get the Doctor under her control though. In the end the three Doctors stop the whole situation by going back to the beginning of the whole issue, the seventh Doctor helping Elenya and let the situation play out without the influence of the Sirens of Time. This part solves the whole situation in an interesting way. I really like the solution of the mystery of what exactly is going on, I still think that out of the four parts of the story it is definitely the weakest.

General Thoughts

I really enjoyed this one. The different storylines that seemed to not be related but actually were, are a great type of storytelling. That might get a bit confusing at times, but in the end solve the whole situation in a way that feels a bit boring for the situation that they were in close to the end. But in this case this didn’t take too much away from the story, the way to the end is great and that is enough, for this to be enjoyable. The last part of the story when the Doctors meet might be a bit confusing at times and the plot at that part is a bit convoluted but the whole thing is still very much interesting. While I do have some problems that I mentioned a bit earlier in this, it was still very much enjoyable and didn’t take away too much of the story.

Memory of my First Impression

Here I am going to put some thoughts I remember having when I listened for this the first time.

1. This story is quite confusing, and I didn’t really understand what was going on. (This actually didn’t change until this last time listening to it.)
2. Especially in the last part I was kind of confused on which Doctor was speaking when, but that was mainly because I hadn’t yet watched/listened to any content about any of the Doctors and so wasn’t really familiar to the different voices of the Doctors (I kind of just heard three generic male voices back them and had no idea who they were if I hadn’t heard them in a couple minutes)
3. Even though I had these problems I still very much enjoyed the story back then.

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! 

"The Sirens of Time: A Rough Start for Big Finish"

With the Redux version of The Sirens of Time now available, I decided to revisit the original release to compare how far Big Finish has come since its debut.

This inaugural audio adventure serves as a sampler of what Big Finish aimed to bring to Doctor Who: multi-Doctor stories, intriguing settings, and ambitious ideas. However, while it brims with energy and mostly solid performances, it’s undeniably rough around the edges in terms of writing and sound design.

The overarching story follows Gallifrey under siege from a mysterious, deadly force, compelling the Time Lords to pull three incarnations of the Doctor into a shared narrative. Anthony Keetch’s Coordinator Vansell makes his debut here, acting as a frantic agent of the Time Lords—a character who would reappear in future releases.

Part 1: The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) finds himself on an alien planet alongside a girl named Elenya. This section leans into the bizarre, with comical characters, rudimentary sound effects, and a plot that feels rather thin. While McCoy and Colin McIntyre deliver strong performances, Maggie Stables (making her Big Finish debut) feels out of place in her role, though she’d shine later as companion Evelyn Smythe. The cliffhanger, unfortunately, fails to deliver any real suspense.

Part 2: Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor takes centre stage aboard a German U-boat during WWI. This chapter flirts with historical drama but falters with unconvincing German accents, underwhelming performances, and a largely forgettable plot. The most notable aspect is Mark Gatiss as Captain Schwieger, but even his role doesn’t elevate the material. The second cliffhanger is even weaker than the first.

Part 3: The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) takes the reins in a sci-fi setting aboard a spaceship. This chapter begins tying the time disruption threads together, building towards the finale. Despite the messy execution, Baker delivers a stellar performance, injecting energy into an otherwise chaotic segment.

Sarah Mowat features prominently across all three parts as seemingly unrelated characters, later revealed to be the same individual. Unfortunately, this twist falls flat, especially for listeners already familiar with the story.

Part 4: The final chapter is where the action heats up. Set on Gallifrey, all three Doctors finally meet, leading to the expected bickering before uniting against the villainous Temperon. While this segment boasts some enjoyable banter and timey-wimey intrigue, it’s hampered by messy editing, an overly talkative script, and a runtime that overstays its welcome.

📝Verdict: 5/10

In the end, The Sirens of Time offers a glimpse of Big Finish’s potential but lacks the polish and focus of its later releases. While there’s fun to be had in the multi-Doctor interactions, the inconsistent quality and underwhelming plot make it clear this was a learning experience for the production team.

I’m torn between a 6 and a 7, the plot definitely feels a bit middled in places, splitting the adventure the way it does (one part with each doctor and then bringing them together for the end) is really nice in terms of bringing them all back, letting them all stand on their own before showing them together, but it doesn’t really give enough time to each of them for their individual plots to have too much depth.

Part one wasn’t as bad for it, but parts two and three did feel a little rushed.

That all said, part four bringing them all together is really fun, and I can’t imagine what it’d’ve been like listening to this when it dropped. I love their interactions, and they all do just shine.

My main takeaway is that it sounds like a professional production and Colin Baker's excellent performance instantly stands out in this format... other than that I haven't got that much positive to say. It is a tedious story limited by the fact that its been chopped into four pieces to give each Doctor his own episode, then a reunion at the end. It doesn't help that the villain has very little charisma.

It is totally understandable that Big Finish would want to start with a bang though and have all of their stars in one place. I'm sure it helped sell themselves as a legitimate source of Doctor Who back in 1999. I would be interested to hear what listeners at the time thought.