A near-impossible task to try and get right is handed to Guy Adams. The entire Torchwood cast is brought together for one recording session and a script needs to be fashioned that satisfies the hordes of fans that want more of the series one/two era of the show. To Adams' credit, he does a stunning job of writing a Children of Earth-style epic that involves everybody, has something to say, feels like a properly modern piece of storytelling and feels every bit as edgy and dark as Torchwood ever did.

No part of this feels like a stunt but rather precisely the sort of measured storytelling that should have been told when Chris Chibnall was spearheading the show. Instead of giving us everybody all at once, Believe is split very smartly into three segments as the Torchwood team split up and investigate the Church of the Outsiders. Tosh and Owen own the first disc and take the espionage route by getting close to one of the Church leaders, Gwen and Ianto take the reins in disc two and try and infiltrate the Church and get close to one of its disgraced ex-members and Jack is saved for the last disc after a brilliant cliff-hanger that I'm sure John Barrowman adored bringing to life.

Jack is used brilliantly in the last segment when it appears that he has gone rogue and is ready to expose his true nature in order to stage a coup in the Church. The only scenes that I really object to (and it is VERY Torchwood) are Owen and Tosh and their disturbing power games during a sex scene with Layton. Everything else is pretty much gold and it leans into that brilliant Children of Earth cloak-and-dagger atmosphere of everybody pulling in the same direction to defeat a genuine threat to the planet. The Greys are a chilling (and slightly comical) idea and the scenes where they invade the Hub are genuinely unsettling.

What surprised me was where all the best scenes landed. After the plot had finished and the Church had been foiled. You get fifteen minutes of character scenes that deal with the fallout of a three-hour treatise on faith and organised religion. Jack condemns Val in an angry scene that speaks for the family of every person who has been sacrificed to a cult, there is an unforgettable scene between Ianto and Erin that shows the hopelessness of somebody who has given themselves to an exposed cause and Gwen gets the best moment of all where she makes scathing remarks about the despondence of the human race that would rather focus on the mundanities of their own lives than the glorious of outer space.

It's downbeat and reprehending in the best Torchwood fashion but brought to life with dialogue this sharp and by actors this good it doesn't feel like it is just shitting on the human race for the sake but that it genuinely has something to say. Of the cast, I thought that Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd acquitted themselves the best, and I will certainly be seeking out more of their individual stories in the future. This is a huge undertaking; slick, thoughtful and dramatic. Colour me impressed.

As someone who isn't a huge fan of the original serial, it's way too slow for its own good. This new colourisation had me intrigued, but if you ever wanted to see the best version of the Daleks and in glorious colour… just watch the Peter Cushing movie. I'm always up for seeing Old Who with a new coat of paint, some have just worked better than others and this one left me with very mixed feelings, granted the colourisation is fabulous and I enjoyed the new shots to link together the material but there's a lot here that doesn't work as well as intended.

Of all things to keep in, why the cave jumping sequence? There are plenty of other moments from this serial to edit out as it really drags its feet across the entire runtime, but at a brisk 75 minutes, I can't complain too much. I ultimately feel editing a 7-part story down would have worked better had the runtime clocked in at 90 minutes instead. Unless you're a die-hard purist than you wouldn't really notice anything missing as it conveys the same story just in a new way.

The sound design is a weird mix of old and new, with Mark Ayres adding some very out-of-place and out-of-era music, feeling like a mix of every single decade of Who. I do like some of the tracks individually but they don't feel at home in this edit. Thankfully, they brought back David Graham to add some additional Dalek dialogue to add to the authenticity; at the same time, you can hear Nicholas Briggs' newer interpretations, which helps bridge the gap between the old and the new.

Overall, they could have done a lot worse; there are worse ways to kill an hour, and I'm always up for seeing more of 60s Who in colour. If they try this sort of edit again… I really hope they can improve The Dalek Invasion of Earth from the bore that it is.

The Empire Man is a very intimate story, with Queen Victoria, the Prime Minister and Castringham huddled within the library sharing stories and spirits. It shows the individual thought processes as the Prime Minister desperately tries to understand why he has been asked here and how the stories he is being told can be assumed to be factual when so much contained within could be chalked up to coincidence and heightened emotions.

This style would not be out of place within The Companion Chronicles with three characters discussing the stories' events and the emotions evoked at the time as well as the reactions provoked in the present are interspersed with narrated recountings accentuated by Patience Tomlinson who plays a vital role as a distinct character in each. While this format does lend itself well to the inevitable intermingling of the three disparate tales, it does also mean that each of the stories is by necessity extremely short with little time to fully develop as much as Queen Victoria might hope in order to deliver the maximum impact. Unfortunately, given the brevity of the accounts rather than this being one cohesive tale being broken up by the Christmas Eve discussions, it is quite easy to understand why the Prime Minister is so reluctant to accept at face value what is being told no matter how engaging the Queen and Castringham may be. Regardless of his own related tale, he has not yet revealed. Inevitably, all three stories do not achieve the same level of engagement as the links to the same mysterious wooded region become known.

Despite no relevance to Torchwood as an organization, going as far as to have Queen Victoria explicitly tell Castringham not to mention anything to its members about these affairs, The Empire Man at times is evocative and atmospheric, but far too often it is rushed and imbalanced with even suitably strong performances and direction failing to elevate it into becoming the far more profound package it tries to be.

Is that it?

Tobe Hooper would be proud. Wild Blue Yonder was the one we knew the least about going in and holy hell did that pay off for Russell because this got very screwed up very fast. Next to no guest cast other than the core TARDIS team? Check. Isolated location? Check. Going into full-on horror mode? Absolutely yes!

Wild Blue Yonder takes a multitude of inspiration from many classic films, be it The Thing, The Exorcist and even Event Horizon, combining them into a metric mindf**k of a story that really highlights why this is Doctor Who at its best. Tom Kingsley's direction is masterful, Murray Gold's score is phenomenally atmospheric and genuinely unnerving, and the acting with Tennant and Tate is top-notch. I really can’t sing its praises enough; the less you know, the better.

Wild Blue Yonder is just phenomenal, guaranteed to be talked about for years to come, although I could have done without the pre-credits sequence. Also WILF!

Your arms are too long.

I'm bored. I love to play games, but there's no one to play against.

The Celestial Toymaker is Doctor Who's first stab at abject surrealism, one that turned out to be an unqualified successful prototype for later years in the program's life, taking the symbols of childhood and turning them into a nightmarish prototype of The Crystal Maze. It's also the one where they casually drop the N-word.

The travellers arrive in a strange domain presided over by the Celestial Toymaker — an enigmatic, immortal entity who forces them to play a series of games, failure at which will render them his playthings for all eternity.

Trying to experience this story today will yield disappointing results for newcomers unaware of its archival status, all but the final episode of this serial is lost to time. Very little remains of the other 3 as no tele-snaps were taken of its broadcast and the audio recordings of the missing episodes are of poor quality, however, we do have some stunning behind-the-scenes photos, often in glorious colour, that offer us a tantalising glimpse into what once was.

Regardless, of the little we have of The Celestial Toymaker, I would still recommend checking out this rather fantastical and divisive affair from Who's past, even if it is exceptionally reliant on non-existent visuals. Much of Doctor Who could arguably be more appropriately classified as science fantasy than as science fiction, but every so often there would come along a story that ventured an unusually long way in that direction, The Celestial Toymaker marks the first of these forays into the realms of pure fantasy.

The highlight of this story is undoubtedly Michael Gough as the titular villain, despite his limited screentime he exudes a level of menace and dread throughout even when he's not onscreen, helped tremendously by his powerful voice. William Hartnell is barely in the thing, he was on holiday for half of it, but the little time he does have he shines as always. Peter Purves' Steven and Jackie Lane's Dodo get way more to do here than the average adventure, really spearheading the story but it's clear Lane has been given so little to work with that it rather spoils this dynamic, Purves' Steven however still rocks cementing him as the best companion of the Hartnell run.

Despite The Celestial Toymaker's prominent reliance on action, it often comes as a double-edged sword, as the games in question are horrifically boring. The story manages to balance out this weaker shortcoming with an underlying concept that is ripe for exploration in all forms of media - that of a deceptively welcoming domain presided over by a god-like being who engages visitors in a series of potentially lethal games to relieve the boredom of his immortal existence.

The Toymaker himself has been revisited many times since. He's a fascinating villain, no matter the quality of his stories and his battles with the Doctor often being the result of fabulous writing in a battle of wits, but his onscreen return would take another 57 years to come to fruition...

If you can get past the limitations imposed on this story by the fact it's almost non-existent, The Celestial Toymaker makes for a relatively fun stab at taking a break from the norm of Who in favour of a whimsical fantasy full of fantastical design.

Make your last move, Doctor. Make your last move.

As someone who thought The Ultimate Evil was the lowest point of the Lost Stories range, I'm glad to see that something else has finally dethroned it. Daleks! Genesis of Terror is without question the most pointless release Big Finish has ever crafted, this isn't even worth a listen for curiosity's sake when we already have a perfected version in the form of the final televised story. A story which had essentially been rewritten from the ground up by the production team due to Terry Nation's inability to expand on 5 basic story ideas.

Genesis of Terror reeks of a rush job, the first episode is near enough identical to that of Genesis of the Daleks just without the polish afforded by the additions of Robert Holmes and David Maloney. It's a release you'd be stupid to spend full price on, hell it should have just been a downloadable extra on The Ark's release for, at most a couple of pounds. This isn't the same full-cast treatment that was given to Lucarotti's The Ark or the stupendous adaptation of Gerry Davis' Return of the Cybermen, it's by and large mainly just a summary of events that would have happened in a proper adaptation of this story. The cast of the story is otherwise completely wasted, seriously you tease me with Terry Molloy's Davros only for him to show up at the very end and just recite Michael Whisher's dialogue? Poor showing.

Granted, I'm sure there are people out there who loved the experimental return of Big Finish but when there are so many other options for unmade serials that could have been given the spotlight e.g. The Sea of Fear, The Eyes of Nemesis or Fires of the Starmind you'd be hard pressed to understand why Genesis of the Daleks, of all stories, was in need of a Lost Story adaptation. At most, I'd say the interview with Hinchcliffe on the second disc would warrant a listen but even then it doesn't cover any new ground or enlighten us on anything we didn't already know. Daleks! Genesis of Terror is a huge missed opportunity that only really exists to showcase the gulf between a writer's vision and a final production which you could get the same experience with by reading the PDFs on The Collection Season 12. Despite what many reviewers may try and debunk, this feels nothing more than a cash-in and one you should desperately avoid at all costs.

The first ever Missing Adventure, Goth Opera, hits the ground running in a way that Timewyrm: Genesys never did. In a bit of a marketing gimmick, it was written to tie into that month’s New Adventure, Blood Harvest, although I actually haven't read that entry at the time of writing. Goth Opera serves as a sequel to the aforementioned tale of gangsters and Gothicism. Well, I say sequel, but it could also be seen as a prequel from the Doctor’s point of view, occurring as it does in one of his earlier incarnations, the Virgin Adventures did this a lot, creating simultaneous sequels and prequels to classic tales of old and even ones of their own making.

As one would expect with Paul Cornell, the characterisation is on point for all three regulars, and that’s probably the biggest point in its favour. Within a matter of pages, I was sold on these characters being those we last saw in 1983, quite an impressive feat to accomplish 11 years after the fact. That skill for characterisation is the book's greatest asset, especially the regulars. His fifth Doctor is quite remarkable. It's all there: the mannerisms, speech, vulnerability and tetchiness. The cricketing holiday in Tasmania, a sort of extended version of Black Orchid, has some charming moments. Nyssa's quiet, gentle nature is emphasised, as is her strength of character that ensures her true self, conscience and all, can resist her vampiric conditioning for so long. While Tegan's social abrasiveness and concern for her companions juxtapose each other well.

This is not a novel for the squeamish or haemophobic. Some of the gory happenings and their descriptions can make even the most seasoned horror fans wince a little. The imagination is such a powerful tool and Cornell uses this to great effect. Despite a few minor complaints, Goth Opera is nonetheless an entertainingly gory little tale with fantastic characterisation, some intriguing thematic work, and the level of high-quality prose that we’ve come to expect from Cornell, even if it isn’t quite as evocative or romantic as his previous works.

We'll take my old banger, always going to be more reliable than British Rail any day.

I can't deny how much I love Frontios, it remains my second favourite Fifth Doctor story with its extremely nihilistic portrayal of humanity in the future and fantastic performances and musical score. So, imagine my disappointment when people told me the second appearance of the Tractators was terrible. The Hollows of Time was a story I had heard horror stories about and never anything positive, but at the same time, never anything concrete about the quality of the story itself. So this will probably be my most controversial opinion in recent years that The Hollows of Time really isn't all that bad and is actually a great reminder of what could have been for Doctor Who had Christopher Bidmead continued as the script editor with his more naturalistic and scientific style of presentation as opposed to Eric Saward's flair for the dramatic soaps.

The Doctor and Peri have been on holiday, visiting old friend Reverend Foxwell in the sleepy English village of Hollowdean. But why are their memories so hazy? Piecing together events, they recall a mysterious chauffeur, who is not what he seems, and Foxwell's experiments that could alter the nature of reality. Huge sand creatures have been sighted on the dunes, and many of the locals are devoted to a leader known as "Professor Stream". But who is Stream? And what lies within the Hollows of Time? The Doctor will discover that not every question has a definitive answer...

The Hollows of Time sadly went the way of the rest of the originally planned Season 23, the victim of Michael Grade and his cancellation. Christopher H Bidmead completed his scripts in 1984 shortly after Frontios had been broadcast but the serial ended up postponed for nearly 25 years, sat in a loft gathering dust until David Richardson contacted him about possibly adapting them for audio. Considered to be the most visual of the Lost Stories, Chris was given the gargantuan task of essentially taking a finished TV story script with all the trimmings and translating it into an audio story, you can tell what sort of story he was aiming for in trying to push the boundaries of what was possible on TV at the time in 1985. From what I gather, this one was almost a complete rewrite from top to bottom, removing elements that Big Finish didn't quite have the license to at the time and the addition of the framing device throughout to help translate between the two mediums. The most notable aspect that was removed was that of The Master, although from how the story is adapted, he still technically does appear, just not directed named in the form of Professor Stream, an anagram of Master with all the bells and whistles of Anthony Ainley's incarnation and even has the patented laugh. I like this approach to using the character, keeping him mostly in the shadows and never actually revealing his identity to the Doctor; it leaves the overhanging question of whether it really was him or just the Doctor's fuzzy memory playing tricks on him.

This audio is far from perfect, however, Susan Sheridan as the little boy Simon is ear-grating at points despite his well-meaning demeanour, he does come across as a rather spoilt yet over-enthusiastic child who gets thrust into the adventure without a choice, yet seems to relish the danger and death. Trevor Littledale is fabulous as Reverend Foxwell, a vicar who had once worked to decode the Nazi cyphers now working as a humble inventor in his spare time and an old friend of the Doctor having met him previously at Bletchley Park. David Garfield as the mysterious Professor Stream, despite his minimal time within the story, makes for a compelling villain, but sadly the Tractators are far from their previous appearance and are mainly regressed to that of squeaking aliens who don't do much which contrasts heavily with their previously ruthlessly intelligent and terrifying figures from Frontios. A shame since I feel they could be done so much more justice in the audio format, as their major drawback onscreen was their costumes, which didn't seem all that imposing at times and often came across as far too plastic. Colin Baker apparently didn't understand a word of the script due to it being way too convoluted for his liking; however, unlike his performance in The Ultimate Evil, he delivers a rather splendid performance alongside Nicola Bryant as their feisty TARDIS team. Nigel Fairs delivers a fantastic musical score with a great use of woodwind instruments to give this story an unusual score very reminiscent of Frontios' rousing score from Paddy Kingsland, combining this with his sound design, and it works quite remarkably.

Overall, The Hollows of Time seems to be a vastly overhated story that is full of ambition and bright ideas unique to Bidmead's great storytelling mind, with some very abstract ideas and concepts that may take a few minutes to wrap your head around and delivers an overall solid, if flawed, successor to Frontios.

Could I rely on a superior intelligence like his to appreciate the value of an abstract word like survival?

Better the devil you know, Wilton. Better the devil you know.

Renaissance of the Daleks is the last story I have to experience from Christopher H Bidmead. Frankly, I didn't know what I was in for, but I'm glad I've finally had the opportunity to listen to this one. Because by god was this great, probably another hot take I know, but Bidmead's writing is just so suited for Doctor Who that it's a shame he wasn't given more opportunities to write for the franchise… if he even did write this one altogether, for that is one of the mysteries of this audio.

A random landing in London and a trip to the Savoy Hotel yield unexpected results for the Fifth Doctor. Tea, scones, an American general who knows far too much, and the threat of a Dalek invasion of Earth. Meanwhile, the Doctor's companion Nyssa is in Rhodes during the time of the Crusades, where her position proves to be distinctly precarious. It seems the Doctor's deadliest foes have woven a tangled web indeed. And in order to defeat them, he must cross the forbidden barriers of time and walk into the very centre of their latest, most outlandish scheme of conquest.

From what I gather, Bidmead's original scripts were about half-an-hour too long, had twice as many characters and didn't make a lick of sense to director John Ainsworth and Nicholas Briggs. Nick then cut down the script and eliminated or combine many of the characters to cut costs and enable the two of them to make sense of what Bidmead had written. Aside from some minor touch ups to the script, Briggs rewrote the entire climax of the story due to the apparent destruction of the TARDIS not making much sense, which even after listening to the finalised story it still doesn't quite work and I highly doubt Bidmead would have made it work. It essentially boils down to what the Chase wanted to be combined with a dose of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, saying that I highly prefer this story to both of those former ones.

Vietnam, Crusades, alternative realities, PTSD, deadly toy Daleks, the Omniverse junction, wormholes to different times, a City made of Daleks, conditioned human Daleks – you certainly cannot accuse Renaissance of the Daleks of not being ambitious! I honestly don't see what is so confusing about this story since everything (the time tracks, the toy Daleks, the whispering voices) is explained and tied up in the last episode and with some swagger I might say! Like the Hollows of Time, this is a massively overhated story that threatens to do something vastly different with the Daleks for once. The cast are great, with Peter Davison being on top form as always, even if the side characters are a little undeveloped at points, with one of the major highlights being the Greylish and the very reserved performance by Briggs. Andy Hardwick's score is much darker than his usual foray into the world of audio, there's some really poignant use of drums as the story goes on, there's some definite stirrings of what the TV Movie's music is here and it's easily one of the more interesting scores I've heard in a while.

Overall, a very overhated story that cements to me that Bidmead was a squandered gift when it came to Doctor Who. Renaissance of the Daleks is great and one I would gladly re-listen to soon.

What am I thinking? Well, I've got a TARDIS full of strangers and… yes, the TARDIS has been locked on course to an undisclosed destination by a couple of toy Daleks!

Possibly the most infamous Doctor Who oddity ever conceived, my viewing of Zygon: When Being You Just Isn't Enough has been a long time coming... even as a BBV enjoyer, nothing prepares you for the 58-gloriously loopy, sometimes even infuriating minutes I found myself watching.

In many ways, it acts as a swansong to the Wilderness Era of Doctor Who, despite being shot in 2003 and not being released until 2008, nearly 3 years into its parent programme's successful revival; you've got a classic monster, a fairly interesting sub-Cronenbergian concept about the fluidity of identity and yet the film seems a lot more interested on selling itself on the characters' pink bits. What possessed Bill Baggs to create this sci-fi, horror, psycho-sexual thriller is well documented, but it's an entirely different sensation to experience this in its own right.

It acts as a semi-sequel to BBV's earlier production, Cyberon. I say semi-sequel, but Jo Castleton is the only returning actor and nothing about her previous outing is mentioned. It has the occasional good idea, but never quite manages to find the divide between what's in the writer's head and what ends up onscreen; it's all a bit handwavy. Half the scenes are just telling us the central theme with no nuance, and the other half don't have anything to do with it.

The technical aspects are about on par with previous BBV productions directed by Baggs, although you can really tell when they've shot additional footage, as it barely blends with the rest of the film around it. The acting all around is genuinely solid and Alistair Lock's music works pretty well, it just lacks a lot of the self-serious and completely earnest camp factor that made the pre-2000 BBV adventures so appealing to me and yet, despite all my comments and even with its seemingly mystifying reputation, Zygon is far from the worst thing Doctor Who has ever produced...

Oh boy, I knew The War Games in Colour was going to be rough from the moment they announced the runtime, but I didn't know it could go this wrong so fast... with every. passing. minute. Benjamin Cook, I hope you never get to edit one of these ever again. Stay away—far away.

I re-watched The War Games only the other day just to remind myself how good the original serial is; The War Games in Colour just amplifies everything wrong with The Daleks in Colour and becomes a truly sour viewing experience. Granted, I can't fault the guys who did the colourisation, some of the choices are utterly tremendous (minus that one moment where the picture inexplicably becomes black and white for a second) but the moment-to-moment editing is completely borked beyond belief utterly destroying any sense of tension, atmosphere or thematic relevance the original serial had in spades.

I will say that Mark Ayres' music this time around was a little better, but still very ill-fitting. The original cues from Dudley Simpson are thankfully still here but they get drowned out by a metric cacophony overlaying noises. The kicker for me however, was the use of The Master’s theme for The War Chief, that’s completely unacceptable. The new effects are a huge mixed bag, the new establishing shots of the locations are nice but the big CG “Earth” opening is rough and, of course, the "new" regeneration being the big one is the most egregious, it’s not terribly done but feels so out of place due to the use of the NuWho orange fire effects. The cast is extremely ill-served by Ben Cook's hacksaw approach to editing, Philip Modac's War Lord is basically a passing cameo which annoyed me so much, also wtf did they do to his eyes?!

Like I've said a few times in the past, I'm all for seeing Old Who with a new coat of paint, but The War Games in Colour is the wrong way to go about it, it’s utterly barbaric and a total misrepresentation of the original serials' greatness, it’s only saving grace is the colourisation. It started relatively alright but fell to pieces very quickly, Ben Cook should never cook again.

You were born on a planet called Earth? Is there also a planet called Soil?

Metafiction is the belated final entry in the Kaldor City range, first performed at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival in March 2011, then subsequently recorded and released in July 2012 it finally gives the listener an answer as to who on earth Kaston Iago really is...

Company Chairholder Uvanov has tasked his personal assistant Justina with finding out everything she can about the mysterious assassin Kaston Iago. But is his tale of criminality, revolutions, galactic war, and mindless violence, the truth... or some kind of strange space-operatic fantasy?

I'll give credit to writers Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore for crafting another fine little addition like their work on The Prisoner, for essentially giving us two people talking in a room for 15 minutes and yet it being one of the most engaging listens you could ask for. In addition to some excellent character work, the audio helps to reconcile the continuity of the Kaldor City series with the Big Finish plays Robophobia, Escape from Kaldor and subsequent spin-off, The Robots. But the most interesting thing is that the title of the story, meaning a fiction in which the author self-consciously alludes to the story's artificially, refers to the idea that Kaston Iago might in fact be Kerr Avon from Blake's 7, and as such the story plays with the listener's expectation of this. It's never confirmed nor denied if it ever really was him, and in all honesty, I feel it's a mystery best left unsolved.

Overall, Metafiction is a damn fine last hurrah for Kaldor City despite the notably aged Paul Darrow, it's still a series firing on all cylinders.

A reputation? What as? A bunch of crooks, killers and mindlessly destructive psychopaths.

You've killed more people in the past ten months than I have in a lifetime...

Storm Mine marks the last in the main Kaldor City story in the range and marks a long return to the series after a nearly 15-month hiatus due to the tragic death of Kiy Uvanov's actor, Russell Hunter. Storm Mine centres on the character of Blayes, who finds herself awaking on a storm mine going round in circles in the desert for no apparent reason for nearly 18 months.

Eighteen months after her final confrontation with Iago, Blayes awakens to find Kaldor City in quarantine and herself on a Storm Mine in the Blind Heart Desert. Her companions are three strangely familiar figures, a vengeful spirit -- and a robot with a dangerous secret. Trapped in a claustrophobic, dreamlike environment, the former terrorist must now undertake a journey that may end in the destruction of her world... or it's beginning.

Storm Mine takes the form of a first-person narrative told entirely, except for a single scene at the climax, from the point of view of Blayes, a character who we have met before but never in this great a detail. The story at first glance seems to bear no real connection to the Kaldor City series as a whole. We can postulate that the events seen in this play are taking place within the Fendahl gestalt as experienced from Blayes' perspective. This also speculates that Iago is attempting to subvert the gestalt from within. The refrain that "We're all in this together" would seem to support this theory. Another interpretation is that it's all a metaphor, part of the political and sexual power plays that permeate the themes of the series. Storm Mine takes a whole new realisation as to what can be done with the Robots and uses Buddhism in conjunction with discovery and transformation to make you re-evaluate the entire series that just came before it.

Overall, Storm Mine is a fantastic final outing for Kaldor City and really makes me want to rewatch The Robots of Death with all the new information learnt and gained from this experience.

Evolution. No one said it was going to be easy.

I think I should tell you now that paranoia is not a personality trait.

Although the main plot has been left dangling on a Razor's edge, The Prisoner takes a quick deviation in order to wrap up a loose end yet still takes place 3 days after the events of Checkmate. Here is a simple two-pronged affair between its dual writers, Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore; and a fantastic little 20-minute piece of metafiction brought to life by the excellent performances of Paul Darrow and Peter Miles as Iago and Landerchild.

When Kaston Iago is discovered wandering around the grounds of Landerchild's family estate, it looks like a simple case of political espionage. But is everything quite what it seems — and who is really in control of the situation?

Although I haven't really touched on subjects like this before, the title points the audience to the writers' love of the ATV series The Prisoner, and whilst it also suggests (like that TV series) the main theme of the Kaldor City series may be the nature of reality and fiction, it also suggests (again, like the TV series) definite answers may not be forthcoming. Notably, Kaston Iago occupies a similar narrative space as Number 6 from The Prisoner as both characters are thought to have originated from another fictional world. Number 6 in The Prisoner is commonly thought to be John Drake from Danger Man, a character also played by Patrick McGoohan, just as Kaston Iago in Kaldor City is intended to be Kerr Avon from Blake's 7, a character also played by Paul Darrow.

Overall, The Prisoner explores the themes and ideas set forth in earlier stories to explore the true relationship of Iago to his fellow citizens, once again being one of the most consistently excellent Doctor Who stories ever told.

I see your problem. It's a matter of faith.

There's that prick Landerchild cashing in again, the bastard.

Checkmate, a tale of subterfuge and revelation.

Taren Capel's legacy is unleashed, and death stalks the streets. As Uvanov, fights for his career and life, Paullus contacts a force that could be the salvation of the people of Kaldor -- or their destruction. With Carnell gone, Iago is the only one who can save the city from its fate — but to do that, he must sacrifice everything...

Checkmate picks up shortly after the events of Taren Capel. The Voc Robots have begun killing again in the name of Taren Capel, but there's something much more sinister on the way. Somehow, the voice of Taren Capel is emanating from his skull, contact has been made... Writer Alan Stevens brings back, and in great force, writer Chris Boucher's other major contribution to the Doctor Who universe, the Fendahl. What follows is an all-out action fest that the range had been slowly building towards as the citizens of Kaldor start fighting back against the rogue Robots but the Fendahl has seemingly planned for this the entire time with a contingency for every occasion. It's another fabulous piece of writing from this range, I'm seriously amazed it's managed to maintain such a high consistency throughout, and yet there's still the finale left to go. It even manages to sneak in a full Doctor Who twist by the end. Roll on the finale, please.

Cause and effect. It applies to everything.

You don't need faith when you have knowledge.

Taren Capel as a story sets itself up with a chess game that goes on to form the backbone of this story's structure, showcasing the clues as to where this story is going to be going with all the moves that Carnell and V31 engage over the course of their game. The series continues to provide a fantastic ongoing narrative, this time with an awakening evil, lurking in the shadows...

Strange times have come to Kaldor City. A long-vanished prophet speaks again; a plot is uncovered hinting at corruption among the Founding Families. Even the robots on which the city depends might hold secrets that no one dares imagine. Carnell must pit himself against an unseen adversary in a game that may bring him face to face with the dead...

Focusing on Iago's attempt to get to the bottom of a scheme apparently instigated by Taren Capel before his death, with an attack on one of the capital buildings, by ever-increasing support for Capel Cultists. It's worth noting that this audio features the return of, albeit not as the main star, David Bailie as Taren Capel himself in the form of audio logs recorded during the murders of Storm Mine 4. The lines between friends and foe increasingly blur, with Iago and Carnell's mutual distrust for one another drawing on parallels between each other and Capel's behaviour in The Robots of Death further fleshing out their own twisted morality.

With the usually incredible performances and minimalist soundscape, Taren Capel is yet another brilliant entry in the finest Doctor Who spin-off, with some consequences that are still to come...

The man was a maniac. Now he's a dead maniac. How can a corpse be a threat?

What he called progressive always struck me as having absolutely no refinement.

So... whoever told me that I needed to read Corpse Marker beforehand, just to let you know I hate you for that. Considering the fact that the characters Padil, Diss Pitter, and Cailio Techlan are promptly killed off in the opening minutes. But yeah, it was no wonder I was told to read that novel anyway, as it provided a little bit more context to the more expansive world of Kaldor.

Terrorism is on the increase and — amidst a media frenzy — hostages are being taken. The Church of Taren Capel are fighting back, and nobody in Kaldor City is safe. Who is behind the cult's remarkable success, and what is their next target? Most importantly, when it comes to politics, who really has the most to gain?

Hidden Persuaders further ramps up the ongoing thriller with a fantastic tale of corruption and media manipulation featuring some absolutely amazing writing from Jim Smith and Fiona Moore. It annoys me that they haven't written anything more outside of this range. The cast is, as always, superb, with a couple of great cameos from voices of old, including the late great Nicholas Courtney. This is a series that just keeps on giving and shows no sign of letting up anytime soon.

Overall, despite the slower pace than the previous two stories, Hidden Persuaders is just a story that keeps on giving and ramps up both the tension and stakes of the series with no sign of slowing down in the slightest.

You'd shoot an orphan in the face to win a game of musical chairs at a children's tea party.

Corpse Marker appears to suffer from the old case of unnecessary sequel to a beloved classic. However, I can't be too hard on it in some regards due to what eventually became of this intermittent story between The Robots of Death and spawning the truly excellent Occam's Razor of the Kaldor City range, I only really decided to read this due to the fact some of the characters of the book appear in the third story of the range, Hidden Persuaders.

The Doctor and Leela arrive on the planet Kaldor, where they find a society dependent on benign and obedient robots. But they have faced these robots before, on a huge Sandminer in the Kaldor desert, and know they are not always harmless servants. The only other people who know the truth are the three survivors from that Sandminer — and now they are being picked off one by one. The twisted genius behind that massacre is dead, but someone is developing a new, deadlier breed of robots. This time, unless the Doctor and Leela can stop them, they really will destroy the world.

Once again, Chris Boucher establishes that Blake's 7 is indeed part of the Doctor Who universe with a prominent appearance from Psychostrategist Carnell, see Season 2 Episode 3 - Weapon, and while not a fan of Blake's 7 myself due to being spoilt by the Gerry Anderson productions of Space: 1999 and UFO respectfully doing the concepts better and far more interestingly, I can appreciate the attempt at continuity here. The plot is pretty decent but I think what holds it back is how Chris handles a lot of his side characters and genuinely just writes them as cannon fodder rather than three dimensional people, although I can appreciate him trying to up the antie of The Robots of Death, however in the process he lost what made The Robots of Death so loved, the tight and claustrophobic atmosphere is gone in favour of a city wide threat. The Doctor and Leela are great, but I don't remember much about the others; they were very disposable in all honesty.

Overall, not the worst story I've read, but it doesn't do a whole lot that warrants a revisit, however, it did give us the magnificence that is the Kaldor City range, so I can cut it some slack there…

I don't give refunds. Mostly, I don't even give explanations. But since it's you and we have a particular relationship, I'll make an exception... Now, where to begin?

Death's Head continues the brilliant start to the Kaldor City series with another knock out release and firmly establishes the brilliant storytelling prowess of Magic Bullet Productions. Death's Head also marks the return of writer Chris Boucher and boy is it a return that was well worth the wait in the second chapter of what's shaping up to be the best Doctor Who spin-off around.

Someone is spinning a web. Links are forming between one man's need for violence and another's desire for power; a desert ore processing station and a long-dead enemy of the state. Someone, maybe everyone, is being manipulated. Carnell is the obvious culprit, but who is the psychostrategist working for, and what could their motive possibly be?

The key strength of Death's Head lies in the absolutely stellar dialogue. It keeps you engaged from beginning to end with some very snappy, witty, clever and downright sinister writing, offering many new mysteries in this ongoing political thriller with some brilliant characters who aren't even the most likeable people around, they are just fantastical arseholes who are fascinating to listen to and engage with. The sound design and music (or lack thereof) are top-notch and the performances are truly spectacular, Scott Fredericks, Paul Darrow and Peter Miles are all amazing and the standouts amongst an already amazing cast. It's funny, smart and a mature Doctor Who series done right without any of the hiccups of Class or Torchwood.

Overall, I cannot recommend Death's Head enough and this entire range for that matter. It's probably going to be the single most consistent series of audios I'll ever listen to...

Taren Capel? The mad god of the robots. He was famous, briefly, but then, weren't we all?

You are dealing with a professional. Probably a hired killer. Resourceful, highly intelligent. A computer specialist.

Kaldor City is perhaps the lesser-known series from the relatively small Magic Bullet Productions, emerging from the shadow of its bigger brother, Big Finish, with its groundbreaking series The True History of Faction Paradox. But by god, do they have me by the balls, and it's only the first story! I've never heard such a fantastic start to a series in all my life, and if anything, if they keep up this level of quality, this might end up as my favourite Doctor Who spin-off ever... and that's saying a lot.

Kaldor: A city of robots on a world of robots. The Board runs the Company, and the Company runs the planet. Nothing happens in Kaldor City without the Board's approval. So, how come its members are dying? Company Chairholder Uvanov is faced with an escalating problem: political allies and enemies are being killed, and nobody knows who will be next or why. Even Carnell, the ex-Federation psycho-strategist, is at a loss to provide an explanation. One man may hold the answers-- a man who crossed the border into Kaldor City six hours ago: Kaston Iago, a man with a past and maybe an agenda. A man with the skills to set everything right.

Magic Bullet Productions came into existence when Alan Stevens had the idea for an audio series loosely based on the film Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa. The film is about a Samurai who plays two powerful families off against one another in order to benefit himself. The film very loosely inspires Kaldor City, but the ties to the more real-world influences in its writing help to dissociate it from Kurosawa's original work.

Like its origins, Occam's Razor is very much a murder mystery but unlike The Robots of Death, Occam's Razor's roots are very much steeped in real-world history, with the patented Doctor Who twists, however, unlike its parent show, Kaldor City hardly skimps on its mature storytelling. The events of the story are based on the Night of the Long Knives, where the SS, under the authority of Adolf Hitler, purged the Nazi paramilitary organisation called the Sturmabteilung (SA), hundreds were killed. A clue to the source material appears in the name of the hotel Iago stays in called Kolibri, which is German for "Hummingbird", the codeword used to send the execution squads into action on the day of the purge. The fact that Kaldor society is very clearly inspired by Nazi Germany only heightens the rather horrific reality of our character's situations.

Brilliantly acted, fantastically written and highly recommended, Occam's Razor is a near-perfect start to what might end up being Doctor Who's best spin-off. Although I would have probably gotten even more out of this story if I had read Corpse Maker or seen the finale of Blake 7, even without those, Occam's Razor is utterly fantastic and well worth your time.

A pentagram... and it's red. Red attracts psychopaths.

Originally posted on 22/09/2021

Howdy there, pardners.

Dreamland is possibly the single worst Doctor Who animation around, and this is from someone who thinks the new Web of Fear animation isn't that bad. This is downright unfinished and completely squanders its opportunity as a fully 3D animated Doctor Who story, coming across more like a Big Finish audio given an extremely cheap makeover.

America, 1958. The Doctor makes a new friend, Cassie, who reveals that anyone approaching the Top Secret Dreamland Army base goes missing. The Doctor discovers an alien army hatching beneath the New Mexico desert while inside Dreamland, survivors of an extraterrestrial war possess a weapon powerful enough to destroy Earth...

The visuals are horrific and sometimes bordering on unintentionally hilarious, it looks completely unfinished, and the editing is non-existent. The voice actors are given little to no direction whatsoever and somehow they made David Warner of all people sound like complete arse with some terrible modulation. The music is just recycled from better episodes, and certain subplots go nowhere. The Alliance of Shades are completely wasted but does make at least one returning appearance in the fourth series of the Sarah Jane Adventures, so hope was not entirely lost. I just expect far better from Phil Ford…

Overall, if you want a good animated original Doctor Who story, either watch Scream of the Shalka or The Infinite Quest. Don't bother wasting your time with this one.

Of course, there's a way out. There always is. Apart from in Star Wars, of course.

Presenting a far more traditional tale than the previous webcast, Real Time instead goes for the more fan-pleasing route, bringing back a familiar big bad, in this case the Cybermen, and treading on familiar storytelling ground for Big Finish, who have now taken over production. It's a grisly, splatterpunk look at the horrors of conversion. Hot off the success of Spare Parts. It's made all the more terrifying by Lee Sullivan's fabulous illustrations and slightly more glossy animation. Unfortunately, Gary Russell writes and directs a convoluted tale that includes ancient temples, time-travelling Cybermen, a mysterious expert and even a time paradox. He also uses the conceit that most of the action happens in real time, hence the title. The story is far too complicated, and too much time is spent with the Doctor or various other characters standing around explaining the plot to each other instead of doing anything. Russell doesn't appear to have rumbled that a real-time story doesn't have to be restricted to a handful of adjacent locations. It feels far too much like Colin Baker's TV era, a thing Big Finish had successfully distanced his Doctor from in the audios up to this point. Colin has always been my least favourite of the Classic Doctors, but performance-wise, he is great here, demonstrating both the pragmatism and passion of the Sixth incarnation of the Doctor. Similarly, Maggie Stables is also excellent, although Evelyn herself gets very little to do bar stand around and talk to the supporting players, the only standout being Yee Jee Tso as Goddard. Backed by a decent score by Alistair Lock, Real Time is a somewhat traditional, if flawed, Doctor Who tale. There's a lot of shouting and running about, but not much is achieved, and, instead of being an advantage, the real-time aspect makes it very slow. It works more as an action piece than anything else, far from Colin's finest outing, but solid nonetheless.

Even Time Lords die.

Reinterpreting the Doctor Who universe as an epic fable, a glorious mix of space opera and Hammer Horror, a myth that seems far older and wiser than our twentieth-century pop culture series should be, Death Comes to Time might just be one of the best-kept secrets this long-running franchise has ever produced. Glorious, melancholy, and deeply beautiful, it uses poetry dripping with irony and parables to tell its story, which is an astonishingly effective touch. It shakes up the show's dynamic just enough to be different but not too much to alienate its audience. Canon or not, there can be no doubt that there is something truly special here, even the severely limited animation doesn't detract from the outstanding performances of its incredible cast. It's incredibly classy stuff.

This is easily one of Sylvester McCoy's best performances as the Seventh Doctor, and that's saying a lot given the many powerhouse performances he's given over the years. The Doctor of this story is a tragic figure: a tired, universe-weary old man who is watching everything he has spent his life fighting for being brought to the edge of destruction. It's stuff McCoy handles brilliantly, but there are also moments where his comical side shines brightly without it being forced or intrusive, a real testament to his character and the exceptional writing. John Sessions brings a malicious relish to General Tannis; he's utterly chilling, in a way that Doctor Who villains so rarely are, manifesting in all kinds of understated butchery and free of the overacting mega campery that plagues so many one-off villains of old. However, the real show stealer is Stephen Fry as the Minister of Chance. Very poignantly, he's essentially the Doctor in all but name. Not the old and tired Doctor but the exuberant, romantic young adventurer, brimming with optimism, who wants to see everything. Yet he brings a subtle, abiding sadness and loneliness to the role that Fry just excels at.

Backed by a truly stunning musical score by Nik Romero, Death Comes to Time would have been Doctor Who's natural conclusion in a perfect world. It's everything the show should be and more, devoting everything to telling a terrific story and providing an utterly gratifying yet equally heart-wrenching conclusion to the majesty that is the Seventh Doctor. Whether you define it as a homage, a blasphemy or a post modernistic revalidation, you cannot argue with the passion that everyone has put in here; this was Dan Freedman's baby in every sense of the word and it's rather sad this is currently his only contribution to the wider universe of Doctor Who. I cannot rave about this story enough. I think I've just found a new favourite.

I think... I'm tired. I'm tired, Ace.