It's an exciting time to be a Five fan. I tend not to listen to new Big Finish releases but this one peaked my interest. I love the Cybermen, they're easily my favourite of the big three, specifically the Mondasian design. There's something so eerie about it and the stories they're in tend to take advantage well. I also tend to think of Five as the 'Cyberman Doctor', he's consistently had great stories with them and his more grounded and naturalistic character plays very well off the cold, hard and emotionless beings that the Cybermen embody. This story also features something of a rarity for Big Finish, the whole of the Season 19 TARDIS team in all it's gay and dysfunctional glory. Needless to say before I going in I think this story has the odds stacked in it's favour.

And well, pretty much it meets all expectations. This story f**ks hard. It really manages to do it all, it always feels like the plot is moving forward, the pacing is great there's never a dull moment and yet there's still enough time to define the world and the characters really well. I'll start with the worldbuilding and atmosphere because it's possibly the strongest thing here. The medieval setting immediately oozes atmosphere. The music is key, it's incredible and really works to set the scene. Once The Doctor and gang time hop to the future and Dega takes over as a despot the feel of everything is very different. There's just such a grim and oppressive vibe (again, aided by the music) and I love it. It's these parts of the story where they really make use of the body horror. The effect they put on the voice of the patient, despite being roboticized you can still feel the pain, like the last vestiges of humanity fighting through; it's genuinely chilling. And of course I can't forget the emotional gut punch that is the scene with Raith's mother. This story fundamentally understands what makes the Cybermen such a chilling concept and takes full of advantage of it, this is genuinely on the level of (and sometimes even surpasses) World Enough and Time when it comes to showing what makes the Cybermen so terrifying.

This is also a very strong story for the characters. The side characters are excellent. Sylvan, Dega and Meta might not be the most original characters of all time but they serve their purpose wonderfully; very well performed and very well defined. Speaking of well defined, this has to be one of the best uses of the Season 19 TARDIS team I've seen yet. I love this team but on TV there was definitely the problem of one or more characters getting shafted every story. Not a problem here, Five, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan all get great character moments and get to move the plot along in their own way. Five perhaps may be a little uncharacteristically snarky and brazen for this stage (character traits I see more in line with the S21 version of Five rather than the S19 version) but still, I love this version of the character and he gets fantastic moments showing off his bravery, faith and empathy which I all view as fundamental to doing the character right. Nyssa of course has much stronger characterisation than she did on TV as is par for the course with Big Finish. She has some emotional moments in this story and Sarah Sutton delivers on it very well. But really I want to give a shoutout to the surprising MVP of this audio, Adric. This has to be one of his best outings. He's a devious little s**t as always but when it counts he's very brave. He's the prime factor in the team's success. Alone he rouses a revolution and then saves the day at the end by solving the equations. In this sense the story is an excellent companion piece to Earthshock. In both he similarly finds the courage to put others before himself and the ending scenarios are almost identical but the outcomes are drastically different. I have no clue if this was intentional or not but it just makes Earthshock all the more tragic. This overall might be the best characterisation I've seen for the S19 team and all the cast are on their A-game. Especially Sutton and Waterhouse.

I love this story a lot. It's not perfect, I find the last part devolves into a bit of a basic punch up and I think the resolution is a bit convenient but that's minor. This is my ideal story, it's dark, atmospheric, makes excellent use of the characters and settings and really gets the Mondasian Cybermen. I'll give it a 9/10 / 4½ stars but honestly, it's teetering it's way to a 10/10.

Well this was a lot of fun. I don't have a lot to say about it truth be told as it's a pretty faithful adaptation of the book and I already said my thoughts in my review for that, but this is just a really enjoyable listen. It's cut down a little from the book, leading to some scenes feeling a bit too fast but it also means the story keeps up a brisk and enjoyable pace and never gets boring. All the cast do a phenomenal job, especially Davison and Sarah Sutton. I have one problem which is for some reason they changed the way Nyssa gets bitten and therefore cured in this adaptation and the resolution here is so much more convenient and less satisfying than in the original novel. That's pretty much it though, this is basically a perfect adaptation and just a great time. 9/10 / 4½ stars.

Before I begin this review I would like to say I typically read Doctor Who books digitally but this time around I had the pleasure of reading from a wonderful paperback, courtesy of Who One and my friend Dylan who bought me the book as a gift. Thank you again. Now, this is a story I was quite interested in checking out as Paul Cornell is one of my favourite Who writers. Later on he would write my current favourite Doctor Who book, Human Nature (the only VNA I've read to date) so needless to say the prospect of one of my favourite writers writing for my favourite Doctor. And, well pretty much the story lives up to expectations.

For one the characterisation here is really strong. I am very impressed with how well Cornell has captured the main cast in this book. I would not have assumed Cornell to be a Fifth Doctor fan but with how well he writes the energy and dynamics between characters I now take him for one. The buoyant and youthful energy that Davison brought to the role is translated perfectly; his sharp wit and often sarcastic humour is written with the correct level of levity which avoids the mean spirited tone it could take on in the hands of a less precise writer. His scientific and intelligent side is also portrayed well. I've always thought of Five as being one of the most curious and autodidactic Doctors, it's a side often underrepresented but it's very present here. He's always dashing about, slipping on his brainy specs and conducting experiments. I also appreciate how Five's darker side is shown as the story goes on and the stakes rise. Five is, in my opinion one of the Doctor's with the strongest sense of justice and I love stories that push his character and test how far this sense of justice will take him. While this story doesn't quite push Five as hard as say Caves of Androzani of Fear of the Dark, this does become a more prevalent theme as the story goes on, he even has a moment of Seven-esque manipulation in the last few chapters. Nyssa and Tegan are good here as well. Nyssa is put through the ringer in this story but never once does it break down her optimistic and compassionate side, and while Tegan does get the least to do of the main three, she is still important to the plot and her dynamic is written very well. It can't be said that any of the main cast is wasted.

Now the story itself is really quite fun, if a tad by the numbers. The Vampires in Goth Opera are, well their Vampires. They're just like any other Vampires you've seen in media. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though. Cornell is a very vivid writer and he does a good job of bringing the horror to life. Some scenes at the end of the book are described in particularly gruesome detail. Yarven, the main of villain of the story is a tad bland, a very typical "I will rule the world" type without particularly well defined motivations. Instead all the intrigue comes from his other half, the Time Lord Ruath. Ruath in comparison is very well defined, particularly in her relation to the Doctor. In fact it's her (and therefore Gallifreys) involvement with the Vampires which makes them more interesting threats. I really like how Gallifreyan lore and technology plays a large part in the villains plans. This book has a lot of references and callbacks to previous lore which devoted classic who fans will appreciate. Hell, there's even a whole chapter which is basically it's own short story disconnected from the rest of the plot primarily serving to set up the background of the story and providing fan service, and it's legitimately great. This could get overbearing if harped on too much but I think Cornell finds a good balance.

This book is a really fun read overall. I am very impressed with how well Cornell understands and replicates the dynamics of this TARDIS team as well as how detailed his writing is. This story isn't going to change your life or anything but it is a fun romp with well defined characters and concepts that serves as a great start to the Missing Adventures line. 8.5/10 / 4½ stars.

Well Neverrats, here's your long awaited. The Marian Conspiracy is a story I've had my eye on for awhile now as I've heard quite a bit about it. This is the first Big Finish story to feature their own original companion: Evelyn Smythe; a history professor. Now this run of stories between Six and Evelyn is really hyped up by a lot of fans. It's often talked about how well the two work together, how Six's characterisation gets improved, how good their stories are etc etc. And The Marian Conspiracy is generally considered to be an example of this; kicking off the run really well and being the first properly great story in the Main Range. But does this live up to the hype? I would say, maybe? Just about? This story is rather good. Evelyn is good, she plays off Six well and has some great moments of dialogue, she is a tad stuck up though; works well in a dynamic with Six specifically but is a little tricky on general likability. Speaking of, lets talk about Mr. Stuck Up himself, Six. They have reworked his character here and my god it is so much better. Long gone is the screaming ego maniac, here we get a character actually resembling Doctor Who. They still keep the traces of theatrics and egotism while injecting the character with the compassion, wisdom and kind nature that should always be forefront. Really happy about this and Colin of course plays it brilliantly as he always does. This story is very strong on dialogue, there's some absolutley amazing interactions here, particularly with The Doctor and on the theme of morality; I like how intention vs consequence is explored as a sort of mini theme. Outside of that though, this is story is just alright. It's a fine 60s-esque historical, has a pretty basic plot and makes ok use of the setting. I can see how this could be a springboard for a really good era and dynamic, just going foward I'm hoping for slightly more warmth between The Doctor and Evelyn, however given that this is there first story so I wouldn't expect that off the bat. Overall I would definitely say this story is kind of overhyped but it's still pretty good and it's fantastic dialogue brings it up to an 8/10 / 4 stars.

Huh, well this was certainly an interesting listen. The Fearmonger has a lot going on; demagogues, assassinations, backstabbing's, terrorist groups, a supernatural entity which prays off people's fear and prejudices. There's some great concepts here and it seems right up my alley so going into this one I was rather excited. I did end up enjoying it a fair amount but not without reservation. To begin with it's worth mentioning that this is the first full Seventh Doctor audio and of course the return of his definitive companion, Ace. And of course they are both phenomenal here. With some of the other returning actors it's felt like it's taken them a little bit to get back into the role again, however with McCoy and Aldred they are just straight back into it like no time has passed at all. They feel exactly the same as they did on TV, which is to say utterly perfect.

Now onto the story itself, in terms of the actual characters and plot I wouldn't exactly call it the most compelling thing in the world. Harper is sadly underdeveloped, it's fine for her to be one note as that's sort of her character but even still she doesn't get much to do and isn't particularly threatening or convincing as a charismatic leader. I find the rest of the cast similarly forgettable, I often had to refer to the wiki page to remind myself who was who, and in the middle few parts the plot does move along a little too slowly for my liking. However where I find this story really has a lot of merit is on it's political commentary. This story explores the themes of fear and prejudice, where they come from and how they affect people and in turn the political landscape. This is a very interesting theme to explore and The Fearmonger is a good way to establish fear as an actual material threat. However in the last part this story cooks up a bit of a curveball; it turns out that The Fearmonger was only inhabiting the mind of people who thought they could hear it in others. This is a very clever twist as if you're perceptive you may notice that only one person at a time "hears" The Fearmonger. First Walter, then Ace. The scene where the Doctor has to convince Ace of this is fantastic. It's very reminiscent of the "I knew" scene from Curse of Fenric, it really pushes their dynamic and trust in one another and both actors put in a wonderful performance. However, while I do like this twist, I'm less thrilled with how they tried to tie it in the theme. The Doctor makes an odd point which weirdly seems to abdicate Harper's side. "Who was doing more to scare others? The one's with the speeches of the one's with the guns?" It seems like the point being made here is that it was the violent reactions of people like Walter that was stoking fear, when in reality, Harper has just as much, if not more responsibility to bear. It was her divisive and xenophobic rhetoric that lead to people getting violent in the first place right? This seems like something the story understood very well. Both sides have responsibility for the worsening situation in this case, and to me it seemed like the story was exploring this well until this odd moment at the end. I still think this is a good story, I enjoy a lot about it, especially the themes and the commentary, it just ended up leaving me a bit confused and underwhelmed. 7/10 / 3½ stars.

Well this story was certainly interesting. I notice it's the lowest rated in the MR so far so forgive me for my contrarianism as I say I actually quite enjoyed it and certainly think it was a big improvement over the last two stories. To begin with I just want to say I absolutley love Five and Nyssa as a duo in this. In his TV run Five's TARDIS teams are always chaotic and based around some sort of form of squabbling or conflict, and while that works fantastically, particularly for how Davison plays the role on TV, his dynamic here with Nyssa is a wonderful change of pace. I think it works especially well because both Davison and Sutton's voices have aged quite a bit. Davison still brings the youthful energy but he's also got the manner of an aged professor and Sutton is perfectly playing the role of an inquisitive and intelligent student. It feels like they both appreciate each others knowledge and perspectives a lot and they work together in a functional way that would probably be totally derailed if you were to throw an Adric, Tegan or Turlough into the mix.

The story itself I reckon is fine. It's essentially a BUS, which is a format I love and I do really like the setting of an old house in Alaska. Unfortunately however this story did lose quite a but of steam for me as it went on. The concept of the Permians, skeletal dinosaur-like creatures is pretty cool and if this story had kept to being an atmosphere led BUS as it had been for the first half it would have been awesome. However as you enter the second half, things do get a bit muddled. Things just get needlessly complicated, especially when you start dealing bio-electronic fields and their associated techno babble. It's funny because one worry producers had about having very intelligent companions is that it would confuse viewers too much ass there was no reason to having things explained in basic terms. This is one of the reasons why they got rid of Liz Shaw at the end of S7. I don't happen to agree with this view, although it does come up as an issue here; I don't think this is a fundamental issue with having a very smart companion, I honestly think in this scenario it's just bad writing and poor communication. There's also some weird thing about spiritualism going on here. One of the characters believes this is happening because of some old supernatural superstition and I think the story is trying to execute some sort of theme about the spiritual vs the rational. Thing is though, this theme is so underdeveloped to the point where I don't even know what the story is trying to say. Is it trying to find a middle ground between the two, saying that a balance between them can exist, or is it coming down purely on the rational side? I don't know and this is one of the best examples of how the story here gets needlessly muddled. The side characters are also a bit ehh, none of them make much of an impression with the exception of Monica, who gets some great and lines and, in the absence of Tegan plays off and banters with the Doctor quite well. Overall this story has some elements I really enjoy but sadly a few things that let it down. I'm tempted to give it a 7/10 but I think that's just because of how much I enjoy this Doctor/Companion duo. So I'll give a 6.5/10 and in accordance round down to 3 stars.

Alright, Whispers of Terror. This is both mine and Big Finish's first audio story with the Sixth Doctor. I've been looking forward to getting into Colin Baker's audio stories for a few reasons. One of them is that I've heard Six's stories are some of the best in the MR, but more importantly because I have some... well mixed feelings on the Sixth Doctor and how he was portrayed in his TV run. I really like the concept behind him; a loud and theatrical character who is confident about speaking truth to power. I think Six, in his TV run at least, is at his best when he gets to stand up to corruption and establishment (i.e his speech to the Time Lords in The Ultimate Foe). However I don't think this concept is often executed particularly well. Especially in season 22, it feels like in an effort to make the doctor more confrontational they end up making him feel more mean spirited and aggressive. He acts so arrogant to the point of lacking respect or even compassion for anyone other than himself. The way he treats Peri I find particularly uncomfortable as she is the victim of a lot of unrequited aggression from somebody who is supposed to be her friend. However I have heard from numerous people that these character issues are fixed and that his character got reworked for the audios, emphasising the Doctor’s more compassionate side while still maintaining his self confidence. So going into this audio the one thing I am expecting is more mellow characterisation of the Doctor and a more friendly dynamic between him and Peri.

Unfortunately, however, I don’t really feel like this was fulfilled. I didn’t end up liking the story all that much and this is one of the main reasons. Their dynamic is not as bad as in some S22 stories but it still rubs me the wrong way. Six starts off this story by yelling at her about how unnecessary yelling is. I don’t find this lack of self awareness funny, I find it arrogant and annoying. From what I gather though this seems to be pretty common consensus and the ‘reworking’ of Six’s character really starts with The Marian Conspiracy. A story which I’ve heard a lot of good things about so I will reserve judgement until then

Finally, on the story itself, it was… fine? I guess. Conceptually it’s amazing. The idea of having audio related villains for an audio format seems quite obvious but it’s still a very interesting concept. I do like some of the mystery elements in the story and the stuff where they play around with audio editing but overall this story just doesn’t come together as an enjoyable experience for me. This is because I just do not think the execution is there at all. The worldbuilding here is practically non existent. I know that Pernell wants to overthrow democracy but I have no idea as to why exactly or what democracy even looks like in this society. She’s just given the most typical wannabe dictator characterisation imaginable and we’ll call it there. The rest of the cast are just as one note which is impressive given that this entire story is set in one place and we only meet a few people. I’m ragging on this story quite a bit but it is a moderately more enjoyable experience than Phantasmagoria. I gave that a 5/10 but I don’t feel like this is deserving of a 6/10 so I’ll give it a 5.5/10 and since that has no equivalent on the star system I’ll just round it down to 2 1⁄2 stars.

Well, continuing on with the Main Range. Here we have Phantasmagoria, this is the first Big Finish story to focus around one doctor and the first to feature a companion. Given how much of an important story this is for Big Finish it's disappointing how much of a nothing burger it is. I don't even have an awful lot to say on it, it's not a bad story by any means, in fact there's a number of good elements, it just struggles to actually be entertaining of memorable in any way. I suppose starting with the things I do like about this story, I think the setting is very good for Five. He works well in this kind of environment, he particularly plays off characters like Holywell quite well; in fact this story has some good moments of humour from both Turlough and the doctor. Turlough is probably my favourite part of this story. He has the perfect level of snark and pessimism, yet still ultimate kindness that he should have by this point in his character arc. So the characterisation is good but the story is just... eh. Even now I'm struggling to remember what exactly happens, it doesn't help that the audio format makes it a bit harder to follow. The plot just moves along too slowly and even though I like the setting, it's not really used very well. Things do get a tad more interesting in the final part where the villain's plan comes together but it's just too little too late. Not a bad story, just sadly a bit forgettable. 5/10 / 2½ stars.

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.

From what I gather this is a story that tends to get ragged on a bit by the fandom and to be honest, I don't really see why. I believe this is the first Doctor Who story they ever shot out of sequence, meaning this is the first story they filmed with the new Doctor. Considering this I think Peter does an amazing job, he gets right into it, running about and giving the same energetic yet troubled performance you see in the rest of this season. I think this story works well because of where it's placed in the season. This is Five's first regular story and it's also placed in between Castrovalva and Kinda, two very unique stories that lean into more abstract concepts. In comparison this one feels like a very regular Doctor Who story, and it functions well as that.

For this era especially I think this story is very well made. The sets look great compared to other sets around this time; the costumes are great as well, particularly the urbankans who I think are underrated. The plot is fairly good, Monarch wanting to use earth's resources to fuel his own delusions of meeting himself at the beginning of time. While the side characters are not the most interesting the visual design and story carries it. There is however one element about this story that I am inclined to agree with the haters on, this is probably the poorest showing for Five's companions. Nyssa gets little to do, Tegan spends most of her time complaining and being unhelpful, and this story probably more than any other can be pointed to as causing the fandom's long standing hatred for Adric. Still I think this is a fun story and a good outing for Five, it was in fact his cricket ball moment in Part 4 that made him my favourite classic Doctor when I fist watched this story. 8/10 / 4 stars.