The Ghost Monument: A Rambling Review

I do remember liking this one when I first watched it on broadcast. Watching it now, It's interesting seeing that Ryan feels like the focus character for the season. Both in this episode where he's our focus when we first wake up and he's the opening and closing focus (via Youtube) in the previous episode. All the companions feel like they're developed by their relationship to Ryan (Graham is his granddad, Yaz is a friend from school, etc). I love the ships and the scenes therein. It makes the universe feel lived in. I love the ideae of the race, I'm a little surprised it's never been used in the series before. (Yes, I know that Enlightenment exists. But that's a yacht race through space, this is space Dakar. There is a difference.) I like the ruins with the sniperbots, it feels very Halo. The reveal that the Stenza are behind Desolation is really cool. It really is a shame that apart from a return of Tim Shaw in the season finale, we never hear anything of the Stenza again. I really feel that they're ripe for a return. I liked how the race ended, and those mountain vistas when the TARDIS appears are gorgeous. I do like Thirteen's TARDIS interior with the contrasting blues and orange/golds, I just wish that those gold finger things didn't block camera angles so much.

The Woman Who Fell to Earth: A Rambling Review

So, I do like that they're giving the new companions a backstory and traits. It just seems in my memory, that those never really went anywhere and were often forgotten. If I encountered a glowy thing in midair in the woods, I'm not sure what I would do. Logically, I wouldn't touch it. Though I suspect that curiosity might get the better of me. Does anyone else think that the pod looks like a giant blue Hershey's kiss? Almost ten minutes into the episode before the Doctor makes an appearance, but that does give us a bit of time to get to know our new companions a bit. I'm not sure what I think about the companions knowing each other before hand, I sort of like it but also sort of don't. I find that I would've preferred if Grace had joined the TARDIS crew, I liked her a lot more than Ryan or Yaz. In my inital viewing when these aired, I never really warmed to Ryan. I found he was just kinda there. I liked Graham, and found him the most enjoyable of the three with a personality and a nice balance between seriousness and comedy. Yaz has potential, but I never felt it materialized enough for me to like her.

While Jodie's Doctor does evolve her own personality somewhat in my memory, I do understand the comparisons to Tennant/Smith. This Doctor is very manic, talking a mile a minute, her brain moving too fast, and that's not something that goes away after her regeneration stabilizes. It does feel somewhat like the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, especially Eleven. Though I think it's almost in overdrive here. That said, I do love the design of the new sonic, and the scenes of her making it are great. And she does get a decent "I'm the Doctor" moment in the climax.

I will admit that the Stenza is good design, and an intersting idea. I'd love to see them expanded upon since that's something the TV show never really did. Apart from only meeting one member of their species in two episodes and then getting a little info in another, they haven't been touched. Maybe we'll get something in the upcoming Jodie run from Big Finish (as they were sort of set up as a nemesis for her) or in a future Classic Doctors, New Monsters.

So this episode does work for me. It's not the best episode, for me The Eleventh Hour is the pinnicle of Doctor introductory episodes, especially in the Modern Series. I like the more low-key threat, the more personal stakes. Tsim-sha won't ever be among the greatest monsters/villains the show has ever produced, but he's not among the worst. What this sets up works for me, it's the payoffs and what I remember to lack of building upon this that don't. It's a fine episode of Doctor Who, not terrible, not outstanding, just fine. I will say though, that the cliffhanger was rather nice. Anyway, I think that's everything. Final score: 7.5/10.

Before Genesis of the Daleks, there was Genesis of Evil. Instead of the Nazi-esque human-looking Kaleds, there were the blue-skinned alien humanoid Daleks. Instead of Davros, there was Yarvelling. It's actually not bad, it's simple and straightforward, and it's very short. For a simple kids comic, this was an enjoyable origin for the Daleks. I still think I like Genesis better as a whole, and Davros is the better creator, but Yarvelling isn't bad and I did enoy this story.

An enjoyable way to kill 40 minutes. While the Fringe festival very much is not my thing, this was an enjoyable story. We need more Twelve and Bill stories. I loved all the little blink-and-you-miss-it references. The play in the story is essentially just a stage production of Day of the Doctor. The ending is a bit quick, but it was set up early on and for a short story, it works well enough. I liked this and while not a favorite, it is a decent story from a new writer. I'd definitely be interested in seeing what they could do with a longer story.

The first story of the third season of Bernice Summerfield audios from Big Finish, The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy, sees Benny go on archaeological dig to the gigamart. While her robots do the digging, Benny goes hunting shoes. This was just a fun story, totally bonkers, but a lot of light fun. Time loops, a ticking bomb, and so many shoes, this was a light-hearted fun story and a great palate-cleanser after the previous chronological story (the novel, Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Glass Prison).

(Taken from a review I submitted to the Traveling the Vortex podcast | Last Read: Spring 2019)

So, Minuet in Hell. I have a supreme dislike for this story. Really, it’s kinda hard to say why. As a concept, it’s not terrible and it has some good ideas. It’s necessary for completists, both from a collecting standpoint and an Eighth Doctor’s Big Finish run standpoint. I guess there’s just so much little stuff, that I really have a hard time overlooking and therefore enjoying this story. I guess the biggest complaint with this is the subject matter. I’m not a fan of supernatural stories. The Hellfire Club just rubs me the wrong way. Even though the “demons” turn out not to be “demons”, it’s getting there that I don’t like. There are the institute and brain experiments, I don’t mind that. If they’d focused solely on that, I might’ve found this more enjoyable.

The accents are questionable at best, downright offensive at worst. They sound like a cross between Deep South and Texas. The main villain, Brigham Elisha Dashwood III, is played by Robert Jezek (who is better known as the voice of Frobisher) and is a politician gunning for the governorship of the fifty-first state of the union and then hopefully President. While at the same time, feeling like an exaggerated caricature of a Televangelist who’s secretly a devil worshipper. Maybe that’s the most offensive.

The Eighth Doctor gets to meet the Brigadier. Yay! The Brig is really the only saving grace of this story. And it’s a shame that this is the only true meeting between the characters on audio. Yes, both actors will appear in Zagreus, but Nicholas Courtney isn’t really playing the Brig, and the Eighth Doctor is barely himself. Speaking of the Doctor. He spends most of his screentime whimpering with amnesia, a trope that had kinda been overdone with the Eighth Doctor by this point. Meanwhile, Nick Briggs plays Gideon Crane, an unfortunate man who happens to run afoul of the TARDIS and fall under Jackson Lake (see The Next Doctor) syndrome where he thinks he’s the Doctor.

I read the summary found in the Big Finish Companion Volume 1 for this story. It’s not that bad of an idea. The way the plot summary is written makes it sound like something interesting that I’d like to listen to. And yet, actually listening to it, I struggle to get into it. I think that the accents are the biggest offender here. They’re British people trying to be Texan, or southern, or something. The biggest offenders are Dashwood, Becky Lee and the worst being Senator Pickering/Marchosias.

I think this is a story that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. A political story, a supernatural story, a scientific experiment story, an Eight meets Brig story. It just kinda throws them all into the pot and stirs. It's an adaptation of an old Audio Visuals script as well but majorly shifted in it's time frame (the original was set in 1600s or 1700s England). Oh, and they close out the Ramsey the Vortisaur storyline that’s been hanging around in the background of these first four Eighth Doctor plays and there are a few lines about Charley being dead to further the Web of Time arc. I’ll admit, I didn’t even finish the story this time around. I just couldn’t get into it. It tries so hard and then fails in so many ways.

(Taken primarily from my Goodreads Review | Last Read: August/September 2022)

The Time Travelers by Simon Guerrier was one of the first Doctor Who novels I ever read (I've read a lot more since then) and I loved it. Re-reading it now, with a lot more Who under my belt, I find it still a really good novel that while somewhat lore-heavy and complexly timey-wimey, is still a really good book. And, it's a debut novel (though, as best I can tell, the author had written some Big Finish print short trips prior to this).

The plot revolves around the First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara arriving in a dystopian 2006 London where England is losing a war with South Africa and the scientific part of the army is working on a time machine. The novel is set between the TV Stories Planet of Giants and The Dalek Invasion of Earth for the TARDIS Crew, while the London they find themselves in is a direct result of what would have happened if the Doctor had not interferred in The War Machines in his personal future. There are also references to The Tenth Planet and Remembrance of the Daleks. But on the whole, it's very much a self-contained, character-driven story.

There are plenty of twists as it progresses, but it's never overly confusing and everything is worked out well. The regulars are all written superbly with each of them getting good moments and something to do. The way the novel deals with time, as well as the First Doctor/Susan and the vague threat of the Time Lords is done very well. With the benefit of hindsight, Guerrier is able work in the aftermath of the "You can't rewrite history" speech from The Aztecs, as well as foreshadow, and make a bit less abrupt, Susan's departure in the next chronological story The Dalek Invasion of Earth. So, this is an excellent novel for Who fans in general, but especially if you like the mechanics/philosophy of Time Travel, and/or the original Tardis Team or the First Doctor era.

Dalek is a triumphant return of the titular monster. Dalek takes a single Dalek and makes it scary. Is Jubilee, the Big Finish audio this shares its roots with the superior story? Yes... and no. While the two stories share the same author and do share a backbone, they're both telling very different stories. *Jubilee* is focused on the desensitization and celebration of evil and how that often leads to a worse evil. In the audio, the Dalek/Nazi correlation is especially highlighted.

Dalek has a much different purpose. Dalek's purpose is to introduce a new generation to the Daleks and make them a credible threat again. It's also the midpoint (-ish) of the season and thus has the job of revealing more about the Time War which has thus far been just barely floating around the perifery of the season. And, I think it succeeds. Robert Shearman is an excellent writer, but a lot of the success falls to both Eccleston who's excellent and in top form here, and to Nick Briggs who gives an excellent performance as the Dalek. The scene in the cage where the Doctor and the Dalek meet for the first time is rivetting and so well done. The stairs scene is brilliantly done, and the scene where the Dalek uses the sprinkler system to kill everyone is brilliant.

In the end, this is a great episode. It's fun, effective, a great Dalek story, a really effective powerhouse performance from Christopher Eccleston and just the boost the show needed to keep people watching. Is it over-hyped? Maybe. And maybe as fans, there're better Dalek episodes and stories out there. But this is a story that you could use to show new fans how good this show can be. And that's a good thing. Within the context of Series 1, it's nearly perfect and boosts the season immensely.

(Taken from my Goodreads Review | Last Read: January 2022)

Originally published in October 1981 and written by Terrance Dicks, this is the novelization for the first serial/first four episodes of Doctor Who. It’s good, not terribly meaty in greatly expanding the story, but it’s very readable. It follows the TV episodes quite faithfully (though there are slight variations when read along the televised first episode) and for a young reader (especially one who’s never seen the actual episodes) it paints a good picture of the landscapes and surroundings, expanding them past painted background and a few pieces of set dressing. As it stands, this was also my introduction to the Target novelizations the first time I read it (this review originally coming from the second time).

Something that really stood out to me in this was a couple of little historical clarifications for the readers of 1981 (and today) about Police Boxes (which were commonplace in 1963 but nearly extinct in 1981) and the UK adopting a decimal system for a currency which was a major point in making Susan seem alien. Dicks writes: “At this time, the early 1960s, Britain was still sticking to her uniquely complicated monetary system…” which he then breaks down briefly for the reader. (For the record, the UK adopted a decimal system for currency in February 1971.)

I can see why kids loved these. It moves along at a good pace, this story at least is a faithful recreation of the TV story. It’s an easy read that’s well written. You get into the heads of the characters a little and you don’t have to rely on low-budget BBC effects. In my mind, because I have seen the TV episodes, I still see at least some of the sets in my mind. The voices of the main cast are perfectly in line with the show, and I can somewhat hear the guest cast in my head as I read. In all, a worthy adaptation and a decent read. It made a serial that (apart from the stellar first episode) isn't one of my favorites, into the decent story that lies underneath.

(Taken from my Goodreads Review | Last Listened To: January 2022)

Slipback is an odd beast. Written by then-script editor Eric Saward, starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as the Sixth Doctor and Peri respectively, and released as part of a kids radio program during the 'hiatus' between Seasons 22 and 23, this isn't that good. Made up of six ten minute episodes, the story sees the Doctor and Peri arrive on a spaceship where someone is experimenting with time. Colin and Nicola are fine, however the story is just kinda boring with a captain who can create and release viruses when he's angry, a schitzophrenic ship's computer, an art thief and a revelation that the ship will cause the big bang. At the time, it was probably enjoyed as it was new Doctor Who when there wasn't any on TV. Now however, it just doesn't stand up to the superior story-telling that we get from Big Finish. It doesn't help that Saward isn't the best writer Who has ever had. It's not un-listenable, and as a historical curiousity it's interesting, but it's not worth re-listening to. Mercifully, it's short. So check it out for historical curiosity, but don't expect much out of it.