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Guardax has submitted 283 reviews and received 316 likes

Showing 1 - 25 of 283 member's reviews

Review of The Satanic Mill by Guardax

3 July 2025

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This story felt like something we've all seen before, just as recently as Master of the Daleks in Dark Eyes 4. An evil renegade Time Lord has a planet of human slaves and they also plan on blowing up the Earth to get revenge on the Doctor. Although the Eleven claims at the end that this is actually not about the Doctor, it all feels like a scheme the Master has cooked up time and time again. A pretty unmemorable to end to this boxset, I think these boxsets are suffering from New Series-itis where every set feels like it needs to have a big finale. It doesn't! Hopefully things start to improve from here.


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Review of The Galileo Trap by Guardax

1 July 2025

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This one didn’t do it for me as much as the other stories. I know when designing these box sets the feeling probably is need to have a historical in there. Meeting old gruff Galileo is interesting but can’t help but think him in the prime of his life would’ve been more fun. The villains are these shape shifting vampires who were apparently hired as a trap for the Doctor by the Eleven? It seems like the showdown is next, and Liv and Helen agreeing to see it through with the Doctor was a good way to end.


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Review of The Red Lady by Guardax

30 June 2025

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Doom Coalition rolls on with The Red Lady, which is an introduction for me at last to Helen Sinclair. I will never get tired of returning to the well of 1963, and a genius female academic constrained by a sexist culture is a perfect fit for traveling with the Doctor. Despite tracking the Eleven, there is seemingly little movement there although we have uncovered a message from Galileo (although I thought the tablet was much older). The idea of a monster trapped inside paintings and stories reaching out and murdering people is a good one, although I got slightly ahead of the characters in their deductions again. There were some great sound design moments too, such as when the characters cover their eyes and everything goes quiet. It's impressive work to do visual horror on audio, but this story pulls it off. It's a confident debut for Helen, and I'm excited to continue on from here.


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Review of The Eleven by Guardax

29 June 2025

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A very strong and confident start to Doom Coalition that is promising a more expansive story than Dark Eyes. The Eleven is the most ingenious character created in the history of Big Finish, a Time Lord with all his past selves stuck in his head? An incredible idea brought to life by Mark Bonnar. The actual plot is pretty straightforward: the Eleven is imprisoned on Gallifrey, and manages to escape. Wherever Narvin is I'm sure he fired everyone when he got back because it's far too easy for the Eleven, even making it into the Presidential office and absconding. It's a fun hour of audio, and McGann and Walker are in top form as the Doctor and Liv. I'm excited to see the story unfold from here.


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Review of Shatterpoint by Guardax

29 June 2025

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I think I can say it: this is the most underrated Big Finish series at the moment. Every episode is quality action and fun with a great central cast of characters. This story is heavy on the action as we get a full universe vs universe showdown with the principal villain being the evil Bambera and the disgruntled mercenary Savarin. Of course, their plot to take over the universe gets foiled, but Angela Bruce particularly has a bunch of fun chomping down the scenery as the evil Brigadier. I wonder if there will be more to come from that universe, all we know is the 'Presidium' was in charge led by someone called 'Excellency'. If there's nothing else, perhaps we know all we need to know. The high-action Big Finish stories always inevitably lose me a bit as there's so much going on, but this was a good story even with that. The ending with Bambera rushing off to re-unite with her husband? Can't wait.


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Review of Debrief by Guardax

27 June 2025

What a fantastic story this was! Putting a couple characters in a room and having them argue and debate with each other is a surefire way to success in the audio medium. We get a reunion from Battlefield with Robert Jezek's Zbrigniev back along with a rookie field officer (Rowe) who are the only survivors of a massacre after a first contact gone wrong. I know this is not a series that gets a lot of love, so I am going to leave it here and just say: listen to Brave New World! It's great! For the full review...

The main conceit is: one of Zbrigniev and Rowe have to be an alien shapeshifter. Early on I clocked that we were going to have a twist that Bambera was actually going to be the shapeshifter. I was feeling good as the story seemed to be going this way until Bambera returned, and...she wasn't one the shapeshifters. You never knew who you could trust in this story, and the reveal that Rowe was the alien but then Bambera was evil Mirror Universe Bambera who murders of all of UNIT HQ...that's how you multi-layer a twist. Can't wait to see what's in store next story!


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Review of The Big Bang by Guardax

27 June 2025

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Happy 15th wedding anniversary to Amy and Rory! I thought about giving it a 4.5 but said screw it let's give it full marks. The Big Bang an incredibly impressive episode because it takes the massive problem of the universe is ending and turns it into secretly a rather small scale personal story. There is no real villain, it's just the four characters we've been following all seasons reaching new points in their evolution. Not only that, this is insanely clever, and actually so unlike later stories where Moffat would try a little too hard. The reveal of the Doctor from Flesh and Stone being a future Doctor from this story? Killer. We don't know why the TARDIS blew up, or who the Silence is, but we feel like Amy and Rory have satisfactorily evolved to reach their wedding day. River all but confirms she's the Doctor's wife, and the Doctor even seems to grow a bit too. Temptation was resisted to go overboard, instead we get a neat little finale with a tiny bit of universe rebooting. A great capper to a great season.


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Review of Kaiju by Guardax

26 June 2025

This review contains spoilers!

Bambera and turn of the millennium UNIT is back! I enjoyed the first two box sets back in 2022 (although vol 2 deserves a relisten as I was going through it at the time) and am glad this lost UNIT era is back, especially agent Savarin.

Kaiju doesn’t exactly hide what threat the team is facing as the team deals with a big ass monster emerging from some weird dimension. That stuff is fairly generic, but we have a good set up on the dynamics which seem to be centering around Dr. Rix in this set. Bambera is hard on her workplace relationship, still stinging from losing Ancelyn. More portentously is the initial disaster seems to have been caused by an alternate UNIT. Hoping this is a good set-up for the next two stories.

(also the monster getting inadvertently named Winifred by Savarin was great)


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Review of Missy Part 3 by Guardax

26 June 2025

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A strong ending to what turned out to be a good Dark Gallifrey trilogy. I've only listened to Morbius and this one so far, and they certainly seem to be taking the approach of the overarching storyline is barely relevant to the more character-focused storytelling. I can only assume the mysterious powerful portal will be linked to Dark Gallifrey. Enough of that though, let's get into it:

Michelle Gomez is the best Master for my money, her performance is so layered and multi-dimensional that it's always a treat even when she's been served with mediocrity like her recent solo series. This story attempts to be another point in the line of how Missy goes from psychotic Master to choosing to stand with the Doctor by the end of her life. The Missy from the previous two parts is now a husk, barely alive, and filled with horrible regret for murdering the Doctor. She becomes the Queen, while our Missy once again appears in this universe right where she did in part one. The interplay between both Missys is by far the highlight. It's fantastic stuff centered around an actor playing the role she was born to play. Our Missy isn't quite as reformed as the Queen, but it does start to bridge the gap between Series 9 and 10. (Even just having Heaven Sent directly referenced was fun, I'm so used to Big Finish referencing every minor detail from the classic series so any new series references are a fun change).

Everything doesn't quite hit however, going back to the unremarkable Part 1...I just never found myself caring much about this world. The original queen wasn't that interesting, and Scratch never grabbed me (a big emotional beat is him getting to escape back to his family and I didn't really care). Slyboots does more for me but the whole setting always seemed like window dressing for Missy's interactions with the Seventh Doctor and then herself. The threat of the Malevolence is dealt with extremely quickly. The 'audience' being revealed to be the trapped psychic forces of the dead was interesting, though not as mysterious as it could have. The audience turning malevolent is a good idea (look at any fandom, especially this one in 2025)...but not much happens there. The setting just never grabbed me.

Overall, this is was a trilogy examining Missy's morality, which is excels at in shining colors. As a trilogy examining this weird planet/universe...that fell flat. Thankfully though, Michelle Gomez is here to dazzle and make us remember how great she is.


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Review of The Doctor’s Gambit by Guardax

25 June 2025

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This story has some good character work for Steven and Dodo (the opening minutes all being about Dodo seemed a bit out of place for what was ostensibly a Steven story), but the ultimate storyline of a colony ship computer gone haywire is something we've seen before. I was teased by the possible return of Steven's love interest Hala, and wish the story had gone in that direction more. A good character piece for our leads, but not as good as the previous story.


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Review of A Forest of All Seasons by Guardax

24 June 2025

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In which Steven has his Donna in the Library moment. Steven might be the all-time underrated companion, and we are lucky Peter Purves is still with us 60 years later giving new dimensions to him. The Doctor, Steven, and Vicki land in a forest and encounter a village where they distressingly find a child Vicki, her death father, and a woman that Steven feels like he should be in love with. Of course there's sci-fi chicanery going on, but the love was real, and that's what matters. A short and sweet story about love, and for free!


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Review of The Viyran Solution by Guardax

22 June 2025

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This was a strong conclusion to the boxset and managed to being a lot of the themes of it together in satisfying fashion. Things start dark with Charley apparently contemplating suicide, but luckily it doesn't reach that point. Robert is back along with his awful father and horrible fiancé Millicent who would rather be marrying his father too. At the same time, the Viyran obsession has reached the logical conclusion that all life is a virus to be expunged. What really makes this story sing is India Fisher's performance: Charley is at once still a little girlish (with the water bottle mascot), and also very confident in herself when she's flirting with Robert. This whole story felt like Charley was maturing to where she can be the star and not the companion anymore, and it was well-managed character growth. Interested to see what happens in set two, I assume the Viyrans aren't finished because I am eager to know just who their creator is...


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Review of The Fall of the House of Pollard by Guardax

21 June 2025

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For hearing so much about Charley's family, we so rarely get to actually meet them. In this story we find that her supposed death has completely crippled the family, driven her father to lose almost all their money in vain hopes of finding her again. Even being 1930s aristocrats, it turns out her parents are truly lovely under the trappings of their society: her mother gave her strength, and her father is now as captivated by the adventures Charley used to be captivated by. Her older sister has married some American, and well, her younger sister is a Nazi. Charley pops back into their lives, and it gets a tad slow at points, but it's a reunion well worth having. The end where the Pollard's lives are so much better because they never even remember their middle daughter? One last gut punch for the road.


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Review of The Shadow at the Edge of the World by Guardax

21 June 2025

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This series continues to be very well made, and I had a fine time listening. My big issue was the twist of the Slaverings being the missing men was so incredibly obvious that it was a little painful waiting around for everyone else to get with the program. As well, the main antagonist, Mrs. Turneman was just getting on my nerves a lot of the story. (Jacqueline King is a fantastic voice actor though, I would've never guessed). Still, the overall mystery is keeping me interesting and India Fisher is as good a narrator as Charley is a character.


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Review of The Lamentation Cipher by Guardax

20 June 2025

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Charley's first season is off to an interesting start. I've heard India Fisher do so many narrations in the past, that this felt not quite like a full-cast audio at points because it relied heavily on her narration. I did enjoy the vibes of the story, it starts with Charlie saving a finance bro, Robert, from a fun virus called the Obscurantist that has him saying weird words. After meeting what's apparently a rogue Viyran, Charlie escapes and goes into a crazy ass space thing called the Prolixity. The Viyrans aren't the most exciting thing in the world, but Charley is a good hang and the questing into the unknown was interesting. We'll see how the story develops.


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Review of The Parting of the Ways by Guardax

19 June 2025

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This is absolutely one of the best episodes of Doctor Who ever made, and at its core, it is very simple. It is the triumph of love and compassion over hate and evil, and told in such a beautiful way. The Doctor is on Satellite Five with Jack mounting a suicidal defense against the Daleks. The Daleks are somehow worse than ever, they are self-hating religious zealots who kill for no reason other than sadism. When you look at the world today, how many people wish they could exterminate anyone unlike them? Then Rose is back home in London, completely failing to live an ordinary life. The Doctor taught her a different way to live, to be brave and confront evil. The choice is given to the Doctor again: all of humanity as collateral damage with the destruction of the Daleks. He chooses "coward every time", but his effect and kindness on others is rewarded by Rose arriving and cleansing the Daleks. Everyone is great, from Lynda with a y's horrific silent extermination death, Jack's glee in the defense knowing he dies, Jackie's reaction to Rose saying she was there when Pete died. This is a marvelous episode, and I think only The Doctor Falls has it beat in terms of finales. What both episodes have in common is that it isn't about winning a victory at any costs: it's about fighting for what's right even if the universe is against you. Bravo Doctor.


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Review of Eye of Darkness by Guardax

18 June 2025

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Dark Eyes ends as it largely began, being perfectly fine. A lot of the Dark Eyes arc has just had a lot of moving parts with usually not truly feeling dangerous. How many times has the Doctor been hanging out with the Daleks and not really been in any danger? We get some characters from previous volumes back and the reveal that the Eminence is the future of the Time Controller’s consciousness. The Heart of Orion has been taken over by Daleks, and we have a stand off between the Time Controller and Supreme that felt unearned.

There are great performances throughout and it’s a brilliant exit for Molly who happily gives her life to send the Eminence to the end of the universe. Hopefully, somewhere, she got a normal life. Sorcha Cusak was so good as old Molly it’s amazing it was a different actress. For that alone, it raises the bar here.

Hopefully Doom Coalition is better structured and more dangerous.


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Review of Master of the Daleks by Guardax

18 June 2025

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The main character in this story is the Macqueen Master, and boy is he fun. I think he is the smarmiest of all the masters, he speaks in a formal way but you can tell he is just sneering underneath the surface. His presence along makes this fun. The first half he's facing off against Liv (who continues to be great this boxset), then he's against the Time Controller, and finally the Doctor who had some classic amnesia for some reason. Liv also meets an older Molly, and it is good to see her again. Liv is starting to feel more like a traditional companion while Molly was a temporary one, I'm warming to her a lot. Dark Eyes 4 has definitely stepped it up from 2 and 3.


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Review of The Monster of Montmartre by Guardax

16 June 2025

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I was vibing with this story. I think I am just a sucker for settings developed like the Moulin Rouge getting crossed over with Daleks. The atmosphere was very well done and I agree with another review that it feels like we're getting back to more of the distinctive Eighth Doctor we know that was a bit missing last two sets. Liv also continues to getting more character development and be more fun than she was the previous two stories. I had a good time, even as it turned out the Dalek Time Controller was behind everything. The return of the Master does feel a little old hat at this point though.


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Review of A Life in the Day by Guardax

15 June 2025

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Finally, the first classic so far of the Eighth Doctor boxset era. The Doctor and Liv are looking for Molly, but that doesn't really matter. This story is about a man named Martin stuck in some sort of time anomaly, and the Doctor is trying to figure out why. He has set-up Martin and Liv essentially on a date with each other, and it is genuinely heartwarming to see things going so well with them. Liv spent most of the previous two boxsets pretty down on herself and sullen, but Martin gets her to laugh and she genuinely likes him. The twist is Martin is stuck in a time loop, and the bigger twist is he doesn't mind because it's the only day he'll get with the woman he's fallen in love with. It's not creepy, it's genuinely moving, and it's clear by Liv's heartbroken reaction to his death there was something real going on between them. For Martin, he keeps getting to live that one perfect day. Beautiful story.


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Review of Allegiance by Guardax

14 June 2025

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In some way or another all of these SSS stories have been dancing around the Daleks which considering Mark Seven and everything else makes perfect sense. In this one we get a story about the legacy of Daleks and people worshipping them along with a culture who worships the machines who created their colony in the first place. Add in some political intrigue and this was another good installment though it did take me a second to get on board. I wish there was slightly more of an overarching arc mystery we were dealing with though. All said, an enjoyable listen and the spy craft and plot twists are something not common in Doctor Who adjacent stories.


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Review of The Thal from G.R.A.C.E. by Guardax

13 June 2025

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This is a lengthy, meaty story with a lot of double plotting and intrigue just like the classic television spy shows it's meant to be emulating. Anya and Mark go to a Thal planet (didn't know those existed), and there's a lot of good, clever discussion of just how far the Thals' pacifism can be pushed. We know what will become of Mark Seven, but to hear him discussed as the 'anti-Dalek' adds another layer to the fight. It's not quite as well-paced as the first story and has a few too many shifts, but I'm enjoying it. The retro music helps!


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Review of The Voord in London by Guardax

13 June 2025

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A confident debut introducing is to this new spin-off which takes place after Anya's time with the Fourth Doctor and before her time with the Tenth. I liked the 1980s retros vibes even though this is starring agents from the year 4000, I think it could plausibly be a pulpy sci-fi show from that era. The Voord don't really do much for being the title characters, and neither do the Thals but there's promise of more to come. Akinyemi is a great character and provides a very different perspective, but I am torn on her interrogating Anya: it was well-written, but it was also just annoying to us listeners as it was to Anya. Excited to see this series continue to develop. Mark Seven rules by the way. Perfect 'man in the chair'.


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Review of Bad Wolf by Guardax

12 June 2025

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"You're evicted...from life"

Happy twenty year anniversary to just a banger of an episode. Honestly, this is a 4 or 4.5 but I give it a 5 just because of that epic cliffhanger. The parody of reality tv shows hasn't aged a day, and the hilarity of the Ninth Doctor in the Big Brother house is great. Eccelston is fantastic, his complete horror when he learns that he is responsible for the rise of the Game Station and his quiet fury at Rose's death. Billie Piper does great work as well with her initial laughter at the ridiculous set-up turning into horror, but the real breakout star is Lynda with a y who is instantly a likable potential companion. Even the two technicians running the station have their moments. Really, it all builds toward that crescendo where the Doctor tells the Daleks he's coming for them. "No weapons, no defenses, no plan!" It's the perfect cliffhanger.

 


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Review of Rule of the Eminence by Guardax

12 June 2025

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Another entry in the 'Dark Eyes is fine to good but not great' category. Everything careens toward a big 'ol finale, which feels a bit underdeveloped. If everyone on Earth gets possessed by the Eminence and all starts worshipping the Master, let's dig into that a little longer. Liv is still a bit too sullen in this story, though maybe now that she knows she's not actually dying she'll get a bit more interesting. The strongest stuff, as usual, was the Doctor and the Master which are good fun and of course our favorite CIA co-ordinator Narvin. Molly is also not in it as much as I'd like, and her farewell to the Doctor feels like it could've happened last boxset. This story is still plenty listenable, I've complained a lot but it's a good classic Doctor Who big villain showdown. Though seriously Eminence, did you really believe the Master? The remaining thread clearly is: if the Eminence is defeated the Daleks are back to the biggest threat, and then where did the Eminence spring from anyway?

Finally, I did enjoy the silly newscaster. "Earth is open for business, and the business is death. All hail the Master." Love that.


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