Onto the final episode of the Tom Baker era. It’s been a long old road, with its highs and it’s lows but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it overall and there are many classics I’m excited to watch in the future, but first we have to go through what must be the biggest finale of the Classic Era.

It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for. This episode is the most doctory the Doctor has been - the Watcher told him from part 2 that he's going to die, but he doesn't give up, is relentlessly thwarting the Master at every turn, but he keeps coming back with more. He's rather short with Adric in this story, but there's still a few hints at comedy, but the Doctor that we once knew is gone, because he has to prepare for the worst. That final confrontation with the Master always has me on the edge of my seat every time I watch it, but this time even more so as all his past friends and foes show up, and now that I've watched every single one, makes me tear up a little as we remember the past 7 years. I also love the way he interacts with Tegan - part of me wishes she was introduced earlier in the season so we could've seen more of them spending time together. Speaking of Tegan, she's been in one episode and I already love her - I think she's my favourite companion since Sarah Jane. She's strong, independent, hilarious, and not afraid to speak her mind - the way she takes on the Master having barely known him, and the heartbreak she experiences when she realises her aunt is dead is so brilliantly performed, she just runs off into the corner and bursts into tears - and she's Australian. I'm not from Australia, but Australian companions are always good. I love how she just runs around the TARDIS for a few hours, then yells at the Doctor, and he and Adric are just left speechless. One of my favourite lines of the story come from her - “Adric and Nyssa went to look for the Master!“ she says whilst grinning like an idiot. She's so out of place and I love it. Nyssa just shows up and I don't know why, but Adric clearly has a massive crush on her. She goes through a lot in this story - first, she loses her father, then her entire planet. She must hate the Master. Adric gets the spotlight as companions for episodes 1 and 2, but then is sidelined with Nyssa to allow for Tegan to become the main companion. However, all three make for an interesting dynamic, but it's a shame that intimate teacher-student relationship is gone and he ended up being like their space dad. But all of them are still fantastic - especially Tom Baker, who was a fantastic Doctor right to the very end!

It's fantastic how this feels like a New Who series finale, drawing on so many elements over the previous stories. Remember Romana? The Doctor gets some closure from her leaving and moves on, jettisoning her room as she'll never use it again! The Master returns? That story thread is followed up upon in the very next story! Remember Traken? Entropy has destroyed it - that particularly highlighting the epic scale of this adventure; nowhere is safe! Remember the E-Space trilogy? The CVE is the key to it all! I found it very funny that they were able to find CVEs so easily in N-Space, which is infinitely bigger than E-Space, where the Doctor, Romana, K-9 and Adric spent months looking for one. I liked the Ainley Master, but he felt a bit cheesy, considering he didn't show up until like halfway through part 3 and only was around in the first half via laughter. However that's not a fault of the performance. I liked the way the Doctor couldn't trust the Master once they teamed up in the final act, but there was still an underlying level of brotherly respect between the two - it's good that they maintained that. His TARDIS was very bizarre though - it seemed that his chameleon circuit wasn't fully functioning either! It seemed to only change shape when it was about to take off!

I'm a little disappointed I don't have the Season 18 Collection Boxset, because I would've loved to have seen the special effects for this story, cos I think they add so much more to the story. Despite this, it still looks fantastic - we see more of the TARDIS, and the Cloister Bell rings for the first time, and here it's a lot more ominous and scary than it is in the future; Logopolis is beautiful, the set design is just amazing and I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Season 18 has done marvellously in showing off these purely alien worlds. The direction and visuals of the final confrontation on Jodrell Bank is brilliant - it just looks excellent, but it looks so much better on the Collection Boxset.

Auntie Vanessa's choice of weapon is: a flat tire. Gotta love her. It's a shame she was killed off so early - her and Tegan had some really strong dialogue, and I would've loved to see more of her in future stories. Is it me, or does the Monitor look a lot like Noel Edmonds? The themes of worker exploitation amongst the Logopolitans is very interesting, and only Tegan would pick up it, being a feminist, everyday woman. It's a shame it's being overshadowed by all of the other stuff though.

The music is so beautiful, there's a sense of doom and grimminess that accompanies this story, but at the same time suggesting a drastic change to the show, which there will be of course.

What a marvellous end to the Fourth Doctor. There's a reason he's the most iconic Doctor of the show - he's not my favourite, but god does he have good stories! The Hinchcliffe Era is peak Doctor Who, with The Talons of Weng-Chiang being an amazing finale to the end of the golden era. Then we've got an SJA-esque show - again, it's not the best but there are some whoppers of ideas - two Time Lords as leads, the first series arc, a robot dog, even the great Douglas Adams gets involved! Then a return to form with the gothic/science based season 18 to kick off the massive JNT era. This time on the show is so influential. And it's amazing, I love it so much. While I'm excited to see what the Fifth Doctor has in store, I'll never forget the fun I had with this Doctor. And what a story to end on, eh?

Do you remember watching Day of the Doctor? Imagine that, but listening to an audio.

It's a lot of fun to hear Tom Baker interact with the other Doctors, as well as have one more romp with two iconic companions - He's so full of life and Guy Adams manages to recreate the different ways that the Fourth Doctor would act when with different people - with Leela, he's often brash and aggressive, but with Romana, he's whimsical and serious at the same time - but when he's on his own, he's deadpan and ready for a massive encounter with his future selves. It's a joy to hear Tim Treloar return as the Third Doctor, because his impression is amazing. The Fifth Doctor is characterised pretty well, a lot of fun and has a lot of strong chemistry with the other Doctors, often arguing with them. However, he felt a bit sidelined in comparison to the other incarnations, not even getting a proper introduction, which is disappointing. Like he says himself - too many cooks!  Whilst the First and Second Doctors do feature, they're only cameos - fun and enjoyable ones at that (That moment where they showed up made me squee and dance about my room), and so the Third Doctor is the youngest Doctor to have a main role, but it's great that he is ultimately the one to save the day, with help from the others. The Second Doctor uses the Tenth Doctor's hammer to hit the TARDIS, and the First Doctor is criticising everyone - like usual then. Those small moments are purely fan service and I love that they added that in, even if it does nothing to further the plot, which is quintessentially Big Finish! The interactions between Leela and Romana were so interesting - it's great to know that the two become very close friends once Romana returned to Gallifrey (although it felt a little bizarre at first considering we'd just left Romana in E-Space.) Both of the companions were characterised amazingly and as the leads of the story for half of it, they did a fantastic job in terms of performance! It's great to see how the two eras contrast by the ways the companions led the story - this really is a love letter to the Fourth Doctor's era, which is especially lovely considering that it's the penultimate Fourth Doctor story.

The Sirens of Time return! Of course they do - what an ingenious move to have the very first monsters way back in 1999 be the featured villains. Their sound design is phenomenal, and it's amazing to hear how the production has progressed over the past 20 years. However, I struggled to understand what it was they were doing, cos it's been an awful long time since I've heard The Sirens of Time, so it took me a while to understand, and I think that's a massive problem with this story; it expects you to remember the Sirens when they've only been in one story previously - their earliest story, and it's very unlikely that the listener has heard it recently unless they knew that the Sirens were in it. Their plan was a bit confusing too, I don't really get what changing time does to them, I'm assuming they're like the Weeping Angels in which they feed off temporal distortions - and I'm not entirely sure on how they were defeated - Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they saved the day by all the Doctors piloting the first TARDIS? They were average villains, they served the purpose well, but your enjoyment of them entirely depends on how well you know the Sirens.

It's great that we explore some more of Gallifreyan mythos without some massive game changer. Henlen is a stereotypical jungle planet, and nothing too interesting audibly, but the Gallifrey stuff is good. That's all I really have to say.

It's good that there's no side characters cos it means we can focus on the core cast which is the Doctors and the companions.

This is a great story in terms of fan service - I adore it so much, the characterisation is phenomenal, but the plot itself is a little confusing at times, but it builds on the lore of Big Finish so well. Enjoyable and epic!

The beginning of the end for the Fourth Doctor! I believe that this was the only full story of Season 18 I had already seen from the Twitch marathon, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - it seems that this time around, it held up to its high standards.

It's hard to see how Tom Baker wasn't having fun in Season 18, because even in his penultimate story, he's giving the role his all. He clearly adores the show so much and that makes the episode a lot more enjoyable for the audience. The Doctor's relationship with Adric is strengthening now Romana has left, almost like a teacher-student relationship. Adric didn't side with the villains for once! Hooray! He's actually the most bearable he's been in his entire run and for once I didn't want to punish him. The way he interacts with Nyssa is great, he's clearly made a close friend who he gets along with, both being fairly young and relate to each other.

Isn't it strange that the Master only is on screen for like 10 minutes? Like you can hear his voice and see his TARDIS throughout, but he only actually shows up for a confrontation with the Doctor. There's a lot of setup and hints towards the Master returning, such as the energy generator being on a similar wavelength to a TARDIS. After quite a lot of duds featuring Geoffrey Beevers as the Master in the Fourth Doctor Adventures, I'm glad that there's finally a story which does this incarnation justice - it's just a shame he doesn't show up until Part 4, but at least he's got a new body... at last.

The sets look fantastic - the grove is beautifully realised, the Traken buildings match the gothic tone as well as creating an alien atmosphere to explore, and it all looks very realistic for 80s who - they even went as far as to add a bit of the alien sky in the background rather than just black! The set designers went all out for this episode, and it really pays off - and Melkur looks awesome too!

Poor Tremas - Anthony Ainley gets a chance at playing a nice, warm scientist and father - helps to ground new companion Nyssa - and then he gets killed off and replaced by the Master. It was very interesting that, in Nyssa's introductory story, they focus more on her father than her. That's why I'm not really going to be talking about Nyssa as a companion until Castrovalva. Kassia is hilarious, because the actress is trying way too hard and it's hilarious - she keeps pulling this one face which is just ridiculous and passing out for no reason, it's the stupidest thing ever but I lowkey love it.

I adore the score for this episode, it's so calm and relaxed, but at the same time has an undertone of evil surrounding it at certain points - it's so quintessentially Classic Who, and I think it's the definite article of music from this era.

This is a really strong story, as has been most of Season 18. This story gets better with each watch and every time you notice something new that you didn't before - this is a cleverly written script with amazing visuals, from a relatively unknown writer - I'd love to see more from Johnny Byrne!

Probably the weakest of the season so far - not to say that it wasn't enjoyable. It was experimental, interesting and clever. But the ending was a bit off and the slavery angle was massively flawed.

It's interesting how the TARDIS team don't really take the lead role in this story, and really just follow along with the side characters and their main goal is to make it out of E-Space, which they eventually do. Tom Baker's really vicious in this story. The killer glare he gives the Tharril when he smacks the servant is intense, and he's often getting into fisticuffs or wielding weapons - I got a lot of Third Doctor vibes from him. He seems really short with Romana in this episode and I'm not sure why. "Get into the TARDIS, that's an order!" and he doesn't seem to care much for her departure. Romana herself is very odd. She gets captured by the cargo crew multiple times, even though we've seen her fend for herself throughout and she's just a bit weak here, and then she suddenly decides to leave the Doctor? I mean, it makes sense because she knows that when she returns to N-Space, she'll be stuck on Gallifrey, but it seems like the choice was sudden, easy and the two didn't actually care about each other. Adric flips a coin and K-9 runs about. Those two are really unimportant to the story, and the Doctor and Romana once again become the power couple that they were for most of Williams' Era. It's such a shame that Romana didn't get a proper sendoff - the idea of being able to explore a whole new universe is so good, but it's so rushed and I was left disappointed.

I'm not sure who the enemy is supposed to be. I'm assuming it's the cargo crew, who were enslaving the Tharils, and the Tharils are meant to be the good guys, but they were enslaving other humans and the Doctor was like "yeah that's bad" but it's never brought up again? It's a really bad message, especially considering Romana joins the Tharils at the end and it's like they condone it. Also, the Gundans were just there attacking the Tharils and it's never explained what they are, but they were built by humans for an unexplained purpose? It makes no sense, and the cargo crew themselves are just a bit bland and generic, and by the end, the captain ends up being very pantomime. However, I liked the line "'You pull and I'll push!' 'No, I don't like that.' 'Alright, I'll push and you pull.' 'Alright, then.'"

The direction for this story is phenomenal - the opening scene just setting the tone with the camera passing through the ship, makes it feel really atmospheric, and the coin tossing throughout was really clever, the slowmotion parts and the greyscale moments were really cool! This story is visually unique and fascinating to break down and analyse! The green screen parts are a million times better than Underworld, the only reason I knew it was green screen is because of the green light on the actors' faces at times. Aside from that, it's really strong. I love the sets, they look fantastic, like the gateway and the castle. If there's any reason to watch this story, it's for the amazing vision that Graeme Harper and Paul Joyce had (also, speaking of Graeme Harper, welcome to the show! Can't wait to see your work again in the revived era!)

There's no side characters in this story aside from the Tharils, and I already mentioned why I don't like them. Their design and the idea behind them is good though. But it's just badly executed.

The music when Romana leaves is so sweet and it's one of my favourite tracks of the Classic Series. It fits the scene and the characters so well. It's a hopeful track but at the same time so sad and lonely.

Both Lalla Ward and Mary Tamm did a fantastic job as Romana, and they were definitely noble. It was such a bold move to introduce a Time Lord companion, and have two completely alien leads take over the show, rather than have the standard trope of the alien lead and the relatable human to watch the show through, but the bond between the Doctor and Romana developed so strongly over the years, and they had so much fun as they considered themselves above everything - they truly loved spending time together and it's sad to see it end in such a strange way. But at least Romana gets to be the lead Time Lord in E-Space without being overshadowed by the Doctor at long last. Farewell, Romanadvoratrelundar. Farewell, K-9. Farewell, E-Space. The end of an era.

The Fourth Doctor Adventures are over. Thank god.

The role of the Doctor really goes to Romana in this episode, doesn't it? Whilst the Doctor spends his time making sure the side characters survive the ordeal and rescues them, Romana is off confronting the Engineer, and I have no idea what Adric is doing. I think he was helping the Engineer - once again! After his spectacular role in Planet of Witches, it's a shame he's relegated to brute force again. This is standard territory for the Season 18 TARDIS team - unfortunately, standard territory isn't particularly interesting. It's a shame these guys didn't get to spend much time together. On TV, they only got three stories, but this season I was hoping they'd explore more of their relationship, but they spend most of the episodes split up, and there's so many fakeout deaths, especially of Adric and K-9. However, Lalla Ward did splendidly here and her final outing in the role makes me yearn for more. Even though I'm sad to see her go, I'm excited for what's coming next. But more on that in the next episode.

The idea of a planet-sized warship is fairly unoriginal (it reminded me of Starkiller base from Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and it heading towards another planet to kidnap the population gave off The Tenth Planet vibes. Despite this, the Engineer is a rather compelling villain. His calm and collected manner conflicts with his maniacal personality so well and it's rather uncomfortable to hear how Nicholas Woodeson plays him, which is perfect. His backstory was a little confusing at times, but his performance more than makes up for it. The part is really sold and he's just brilliant at the role. The horror of the dead being converted into robots is unique and the part of Jonas really helps to sell the illusion, especially with the reaction that his mother has - but more on her later.

The opening scenes on... I wanna say it's called Landis? Whatever planet Regis Tel is from, the soundscape of this rather primitive world helps sell the story immediately. It creates such a vivid picture and it's such a shame that it wasn't primarily set on this world, because the world-building could've been so excellent. The planet warship, however, is alright. I like the strange dynamics and the science of this world, following different physics and laws - once again, I love alien worlds being ALIEN. I thought it'd be very interesting if they went to the CVE the Engineer found (It's so clever that they found it by a comet disappearing, by the way, I really love that idea), leading into Warrior's Gate, but unfortunately they didn't happen and that whole adventure was rendered pointless.

The slavery angle was a bit boring, unfortunately. However, the performances of the side actors were so fantastic, and Anla Jessick is one of the best characters in the episode - at last, a character who isn't so stupid as to believe that her son is still in there, and spends the entire episode trying to appeal to him. It takes her two minutes to get over it and gets on with the job.

This is a stellar finale to the Fourth Doctor Adventures. There could've been more to keep the story engaging and epic, but it does the job. The actors are fantastic, the writing and dialogue is good, on the whole, enjoyable but not outstanding. This range is a mixed bag - when they try, they hit big, but a lot of the time it's subpar or even pure trash. It's a shame that Tom gets material like this, when his voice is just so perfect for audio. This season has been, mostly, phenomenal, and the range ends on a high. However, I wouldn't try and binge it all - firstly, it has taken me MONTHS, and secondly, there are only a select audios I'd strongly recommend. But it's quintessentially Fourth Doctor, and that's what Big Finish is all about.

Witches, legends and swamps!

It's a funny gag for the Doctor to have a D-Class brain, but it actually makes no sense. The Doctor is far cleverer than Adric, and it's just a pointless plot device. Romana is just off on her own adventure and doesn't care about what the others are doing, and Adric is hanging out with the enemy... AGAIN. K-9's unfortunately the most compelling of this TARDIS team, because he's involved with the action the most but at the same time he's the one struggling the most with him getting stuck in the swamp and has to overcome the most. John Leeson's role is integral, and the entire hopes of the story are pinned on a tiny metal dog - he's killed, given the location of the CVE, and even becomes a familiar! What an interesting role they give him! But the dialogue between the other three is bland and annoying, and I don't care for them. At least Lalla Ward seems to be having a bit more fun.

The witches were cheesy and their plan was confusing as hell. What I got is that someone came from N-Space and turned people into witches? And then they were on one planet but at the same time captured by witchfinders in space? It made no sense and I struggled so hard to follow it that by part 4 I had just lost interest. I liked the idea of someone escaping to E-Space though, but the execution, once again, fails poorly.

I got Full Circle vibes from running about a swamp. It made it easier to picture, and the atmosphere is built up well, but nothing really happens. That's not the fault of the environment, more of the story itself. However, the gothic horror tone matches really well with the planet surface, and it can be super creepy and freaky at times.

Witchfinders are mathematicians or something? I don't know, it makes no sense! The ideas for these side characters are all there, but it just doesn't use them properly and I'm left so confused.

I'm not sure what to think about this one. On one hand, it's a complicated and boring mess, but at the same time it utilises some fascinating ideas to keep the listener engaged. The story seems like it should have some significance but at the end it wipes the slate clean and makes the 2 hours I just spent completely pointless. I learned nothing about the characters or their motivations, I don't understand the plot and the dialogue is so unbelievably unimaginative. At least the main cast are trying their best, and K-9 gets some interesting work.

Imagine The Daleks Masterplan, The Robots of Death and White Ghosts mixed into one story. The result is Chase The Night. A dark and scary story fitting right into Season 18, with a hopeless tone all throughout. The pacing was a little off at first, but the action really kicks off in Episode 3 and it's such an exciting adventure!

Our main cast just shines in this story. The Doctor and Romana are against all odds, constantly fighting danger throughout, and the stakes are high. Sometimes, it feels more like that Tom Baker is playing himself rather than the Fourth Doctor, but not in this story, he's authentic and gets a mixture of his darker, angrier Season 18 self, with a mixture of the humour from the past, and it's a decent balance. Romana's will to maintain the peace between the Tantalus crew and the TARDIS team becomes more and more strained as the story continues and it gives her character a lot to do - there's a lot of passion Lalla Ward gives to the role in this episode, and her slightly snarky tone works a lot better in this story. Has there been an episode of Adric so far where he hasn't sided with the villains? Thankfully he wasn't too involved with this story, and so he's a lot more bearable - but I still want to punch him in the face. K-9 has insufficient data. That's all I got from him in this story. Anything he does is ineffective, and that makes a nice change of pace rather than him always just shooting up the villain and saving the day, but it makes his inclusion rather unnecessary. However, this is the strongest this TARDIS team has been, and the bond between them is so fantastically good. The moral debate that the Doctor, Romana and Adric have showcases the dynamic of the team, with three intellectuals structuring their points clearly, and discussing the ethics of saving people, and Jonathan Morris made a big risk in portraying our main cast as incredibly problematic and flawed, wanting to save their friends above all else, and letting the others die, but the risk paid off and makes these characters feel more real and the tension higher.

Unfortunately, the threat doesn't really take centre stage until Part 3, like I mentioned earlier. The buildup to the fungus is slow but effective as it becomes more obvious as the sun gets closer. The atmosphere surrounding the creature is tense and scary, but as the situation gets more desperate, the twist feels earned, but at the same time, like something bad is going to go down - but for once, it doesn't, and you're left with the message that it's not a bad thing to accept help from others.

The alien worlds are so vividly explored - the constant danger of the daytime, and the oncoming threat is just such an inspired idea. I love the contrast with the night being the safe time, when it's usually when the audience feels most vulnerable. I like it when writers indulge in the different societies and cultures of alien worlds and make them feel as different and unique as possible, completely different to our own world and that's just replicated masterfully here.

A problem I do have with this is the crew. You know how in most first episodes, the crew capture the Doctor and interrogate him and accuse him of being a spy and all that? Imagine that, but for all four episodes. The actors are doing a great job, especially Jane Asher, but they're incredibly predictable and annoying. However, there are some great moments with them all, such as when they're climbing on the ship and when they reveal that they're letting people burn to death.

This is a fantastic story - there's a few flaws, but overall it's a strong outing for our TARDIS team with cleverly written messages, high stakes and massive threats for them to face, both internally and externally. This really feels like a different universe with different physics in terms of the way light is dangerous.

The opener to the final series of the Fourth Doctor Adventures audio range! There's a bit of a formatting change, we've switched to four-parters at last, which made it a little jarring as I didn't realise that, so I wasn't expected for such a complicated story! However, this story fits into Season 18 so well, with it matching the gloomier, more science-oriented tone of the series.

Marc Platt manages to capture the serious, aggressive voice of the Fourth Doctor, but sometimes Tom Baker's performance is a little too much, as he snaps almost every single line. I'm not sure whether that's a fault of his, Marc Platt's or director Nicholas Briggs or a mix of both, but he ends up just being really unlikeable. Unfortunately, the rest of the TARDIS team doesn't fare so well either. Lalla Ward's incredibly unenthusiastic about it, Romana claims that she likes having Adric on board, but the way she says it suggests otherwise. Speaking of Adric, so far he's just been a very boring, undeveloped character, but in this story, I just want to punch him in the face. I really hope this isn't how he's portrayed in Season 19, because I couldn't bear him in this one story. I don't know why, but it sounds like Matthew Waterhouse is playing a very different character, he sounds nothing like Adric. I think the main flaw I have with Adric is just the performance itself, because Adric grieving over Varsh and letting them get a bit of development at last is good, but he sounds so obnoxious and stuckup throughout that I don't care. Platt doesn't manage to characterise K-9 very well, I can't really imagine a robot dog doing some of the stuff in this story, and his death scene is a bit pointless cos we know he's not dead. Overall, the characterisation of the TARDIS team is very poor, both in performance and writing.

I'm so confused about the plot. There's so many themes and ideas going on that it becomes a convoluted mess - There's a prison asteroid, and there's a guy called Darklish, and I think he's meant to be the main villain, and he's manipulating Adric for some reason, but I don't know, and then he has giant chess pieces and plays a game of chess with Adric and then loses? The problem with doing something like that is that something grand and visually impressive like giant chess can only work with visuals, but Doctor Who doesn't have the budget to achieve something like that. Also, Scratchman already did that way better. There's also like a rust whale thing, and I've got no idea how the hell that's related to the plot, and then it can suddenly talk, unless that's the chess piece thing cos those two completely different storylines are running parallel to each other, and it makes things so complicated.

The setting does fit the tone and experimental works of Season 18 - it's atmospheric and dark, but again, it doesn't work with the plot of the story, and unfortunately, Big Finish still don't get the unpredictability and strange nature of other universes - there's no reason why this story couldn't have worked in any other season - Most of the time, they didn't try it with the Divergent Universe, and they didn't try it here - let's hope for some new stories relating to a new universe, not just a new planet.

The only side character who stood out to me was Crimsson, who spent a lot of time infatuated with Romana and practically worshipped her - this character got a lot of depth and development, and was clearly the standout of the lot. Unfortunately, the rest didn't impact me at all.

Despite the poor characterisation, unfortunate use of setting and E-Space arc, and just a mess of plot, it's an enjoyable story. The dialogue's fun, but it's just so complicated that I lose track of what's going on.

The Doctor meets the infamous villains of the Time Lords - Vampires!

I find it so unbelievably bizarre that the Doctor and Romana don't realise that there's a new companion until like halfway through the story. Unfortunately, I can see that Tom is really not enjoying his time on the show anymore - he's aggressive and brash, and he's really taking a distaste to saying his lines, there's one moment where he just says "ADRIC." really violently for no reason, it's such a shame. However, I like the Doctor's disgust when K-9 mentions Dracula, because he and Romana met Dracula in the audio "The Labyrinth of Buda Castle." The dialogue is sparkling and witty, with just little moments providing a lot of humour and charm to these characters, like the way the Doctor takes a moment to just look at Romana and call her wonderful, and just little exchanges like that which make our core cast feel a lot more realistic - he's taken a real liking to Romana, and it's going to be a difficult goodbye. The Doctor and Romana are having a lot of fun together, like one last hurrah, but when she's on her own, she doesn't get too much to do, which is rather disappointing. Adric is still kinda boring and he's nowhere near companion material - he even sides with the vampires!

The vampire lore is built up slowly and interestingly, and the performances of the three characters are really well played. I love the idea with them being the truth behind the myth, which exists on every planet, giving them a little weight and making them an iconic villain - and their war with the Time Lords is really fascinating, and it's great that we see more of it in expanded media. However, I'm a little confused as to what the Great One actually is, and why they serve it, and how it got defeated - the rocket just suddenly turned around? Also, it's a little disappointing that the Vampires travelling and landing on a planet with the Hydrax is very similar to the previous episode. Despite this, their unrelenting evil, censorship and tyranny over the planets is a great contrast to the unstoppable force of good that the Doctor, and as the Time Lords claimed to be, are - and both come from N-Space! Overall, they're threatening, they're creepy, and really strong villains.

I love the gothic horror feel of this episode! The sets and on-location shoots look superb, the world-building is excellent and the tone of the story is dark and creepy, especially when the Doctor and Romana are attacked by the bats. This is such a visually interesting episode, so many things to remark upon, with the common vampire tropes taking on their own Doctor Who flair to them.

The culture of the peasants was a great one to explore - I love to see how different species work in different universes and planets, however this time it didn't engage my interest for long enough. However, their oppression from the Vampires and the way they dealt with it was really exciting to watch, with a decent conclusion.

This is another strong outing for the E-Space Trilogy - I didn't enjoy it as much as Full Circle, but it's still one I'll definitely come back to. This vampire-centric episode mixes the genre in such an excellent way with the Doctor Who formula - another home run for Uncle Terry!

Written by one of the few who's written for both Tom's onscreen run and his audio range, this is a rather dark and scary tale with some amazing moments, and the first of the E-Space Trilogy. Let's hope that the other two stories are as awesome as this!

You can tell that Tom Baker isn't having a lot of fun here, unfortunately. He comes off as a lot more aggressive and nasty, even if the line isn't intended like that. However, this darker side of the Fourth Doctor helps to create a scarier atmosphere within the story, especially as the emotional ties of the Marshmen hit the Doctor close to home, and he's a lot more vulnerable. The opening scene where the Doctor and Romana discuss the power of the Time Lords is a really important one, and shows you how the pair have grown and developed over the course of two and a half seasons, with the Doctor starting off brash and rude and quite spiteful towards the Time Lords for dumping Romana on him, whilst Romana was faithful to the Time Lords - where now the roles have reversed. Romana's character gets some real development from this story, which can't be said for many of the companions of the Classic Series, and it's one of her finest performances. It's really unnerving when she's attacked and infected by the spiders, it's like she's playing an entirely different character, but it's so heartwarming when she's cured, and that grin returns to her face. K-9 gets a bit to do here, but not much - I find it hilarious when he's pursuing the Marshmen, and then comes to a stream and just thinks "Ah, my deadliest enemy - water!" and just turns around and runs off. Nearly forgot about Adric - and so did the writers at the end, it seems. He's a rather boring companion at the moment, and I'm not sure who he's meant to be. He considers himself a rebel, yet stays true to the word of the Deciders. His personality is all over the place, and I struggled to connect with him at all - Most people consider Adric to be just plain annoying and insufferable - me, I'm annoyed by him because I don't understand his character, and he has little reaction to his brother's death - but at least he got that belt! The ending cliffhanger was excellent, when the starliner launches, but then it dawns on the Doctor and Romana that they're stuck in E-Space, setting up the next two stories - but seriously, what happened to Adric?

The Marshmen looked excellent - really creepy monsters for sure. The twist at the end is distinctive and genius, with the Marshmen attacking their own people, who look different due to evolution - the racial themes behind it are so progressive and interesting, and fits into the story perfectly, with a great final message to cap the story off with the aggressive analogy for slave owners being defeated and forced out of the territory they're invading. Aside from the message that accompanies them, they're really intimidating, especially when they're breaking into the cruiseliner, and their defeat felt like it was earned, and still hlped to push forward the message that, even in our society now, one measly fight didn't defeat them, and racism, or the Marshmen in this case, exists outside of their spaceship and in the mistfall. The spiders were really horrifying, especially since I have arachnophobia, but that moment when Romana picks up a fruit to throw it at them, and one jumps out of the fruit to bite her really takes the cake for me. Scariest. Cliffhanger. Ever.

The location footage is excellent, the swamps are really atmospheric, especially when the Marshmen climb out of the water and attack the Terradonians. The culture was built up really well, and although the spaceship looks a little cheaper, the whole episode has an air of creepiness about it, and the visuals do help to boost that creepiness and it looks fantastic.

The subplot of the Terradonians' spacecruiser is really interesting and built up to match the main plot of the Marshmen invasion that the two interlink together quite effectively, and the world-building used for the Terradonians' society is fascinating, and you can tell that Andrew Smith worked hard to keep the story engaging throughout.

The music does not fit the tone of this story at all - Apart from a few subtler moments, the story feels really lighthearted and weird with the score - When K-9 is stalking the Marshmen, the song "K-9 on a Mission" plays - it's an epic track, but seriously does not fit the scene at all.

This is a really strong story, incredibly progressive and full of stellar dialogue! Lalla Ward's excellent acting is really setting us up for a big punch at Warrior's Gate. I'm not ready for her to leave. But this is an amazing outing for this series, and redefined the show's themes in a way that's never been done before - I wouldn't be surprised if this was a New Series story. But it's a brilliant start to the E-Space trilogy, and the tone and atmosphere of the story is so dynamically different from N-Space, which is what I really like to see with parallel universe stories, and something that disappointed me a little with stories from Big Finish's Divergent Universe arc. But here it's excellent.

Cacti, space pirates and Barbara - It's a bit of a mixed story, but on the whole underrated.

It's a very odd choice to have the Doctor, Romana and K-9 not even get involved in the action until halfway through Part 2. I suppose the time loop (not a historic diaresis or whatever it's called, it's just a time loop) was just used as a way to drag the story out as it could've been dealt with in two parts, and got extremely dragged out. Tom's still doing a magnificent performance, giving the role his all, even if he couldn't play the character how he wanted. Romana gets a mix of that independent, strong female lead as well as the stereotypical damsel in distress, and in general it's a fairly good balance, especially considering she's able to work her way out of most situations by herself. I'm surprised K-9 was able to traverse the terrain of Zolfa-Thura, that's got to be a first. Shame he runs out of batteries every five minutes.

Tom Baker does a marvellous job at distinguishing Meglos from the Doctor - from the way he delivers dialogue to his facial expressions and body language, you can tell that he's trying his best to make sure that the audience are able to know who's who, and it absolutely pays off. Meglos is mostly menacing, and the makeup is excellent, but unfortunately we don't get to know enough of him - Who is Meglos, who is the person he kidnapped and what exactly does he want aside from power, and how is he indestructible? The performance is superb, but the writing is a little lacklustre on his part. I'm sure expanded media develops his character further, but for this episode, it's not really enough. The mercenaries are alright, basic low-life scum, nothing more to their characters, but I like the running gag of Brotadac trying to get the Doctor's coat - it's the most pointless thing ever, which makes it so hilarious.

The green screen effects are a little annoying on Zolfa-Thura, but the planet itself looks great - the desolation and emptiness of the environment around it, aside from those huge pentagon buildings, creates a creepy and ominous atmosphere - and the Tigellan society is developed well, with quite a bit of world-building to showcase their culture, and even if the jungle looks a bit cheap, the fauna and wildlife attacking the inhabitants helps to suggest the hostile atmosphere in which the Tigellans surround themselves in.

Jacqueline Hill's back - God, it's been an awful long time since Barbara and Ian were in the TARDIS, wasn't it? It was a nice sight to see her thriving in this very different iteration of the show, but I kept forgetting that it was Jackie, because her performance is so stellar as Lexa that you buy into her current performance and don't care about what else she's done - Thanks be to Ti! The society is weaved into the story well, with the clash between the scientists and religious believers mixing together to create an interesting dynamic. But I still don't get who that guy was that got turned into Meglos. He was just some random guy and didn't really need to be there.

All I could think about when it comes to the music of this story is how a lot of it was reused in Curse of Fatal Death. Is that naughty of me? No, just kidding - I really enjoyed the score. Like the Leisure Hive, it created an atmosphere, one of tension, sometimes mystery and sometimes action - there are some superb moments throughout musically, and I'm impressed by the step-up, it's almost like a transition from Classic Who's standard plodding of keys to the orchestra of New Who. But something that I found rather odd was that the end credits for Part 4 was back to the key of E Minor, which has been the case for all of the titles except Howell's, which was in F# Minor and McCulloch's, which was in A minor. I found that very odd that they switched back to that and I wonder why.

The writing isn't always the best in this story, but it's definitely boosted by the superb performances from everyone, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Oh, and I liked the setup with Gallifrey calling the Doctor and Romana back, leading into Full Circle. For the audience at the time, that definitely would've created some intrigue on the playground.

REVIEW ALSO POSTED IN THE SKIN OF THE SLEEK

I appreciate what this story tried to do, even if it didn't do it too interestingly. I lost my interest halfway through Episode 1 which made it difficult to engage my interest for the other three episodes.

Marc Platt manages to capture the essence of the Fourth Doctor perfectly - striking a balance between his straight-faced, serious persona within Season 18, but also harkening back to elements of his more whimsical side from Season 17. For once however, this isn't the Time Lord we're focusing on. This is clearly more of a Romana-centric story, and Lalla Ward does a reasonably good job. If she comes across as brash or rude at times, it fits in with the narrative of the story as she is put through a lot and is clearly stressed out. I'm a little disappointed that K-9 wasn't in the finale, but that's just a minor nitpick I have.

Sartia feels like a knockoff Master here - a renegade Time Lord, who's old friends with Romana and butting heads with her. She feels incredibly pantomimey and over the top for a villain, and I'm really not impressed. I don't care much for who she is, but that's not at a discredit to Joannah Tincey's performance. She tries her hardest to bring out the best of this character, but I just was left bored.

I'm really fascinated by the idea of alien planets. Like, proper alien, something completely unique, with completely different weather patterns to Earth, their own cultures, everything. Season 18 definitely tries that, and it's clear in this episode too - a planet with a surface similar to a newtonian fluid. The setting is established so well and it's interesting to see what Marc Platt does with Funderell - it lives up to its name, the concept definitely is fun (if the setting itself is a little dark and ominous...)

I don't know who's involved here. No-one really made that much of an impression on me. There was a camera crew, but I don't know what they were doing, it's never properly explained, and if it was, it wasn't explained well. Also, they just felt a bit shoehorned in and didn't fit into the story properly.

Standard score, nothing interesting - still loving the synths.

This is an average adventure - the only thing worth of note is the worldbuilding aspect, as well as the brilliant performances from Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, of course!

REVIEW ALSO POSTED IN THE THIEF WHO STOLE TIME

I appreciate what this story tried to do, even if it didn't do it too interestingly. I lost my interest halfway through Episode 1 which made it difficult to engage my interest for the other three episodes.

Marc Platt manages to capture the essence of the Fourth Doctor perfectly - striking a balance between his straight-faced, serious persona within Season 18, but also harkening back to elements of his more whimsical side from Season 17. For once however, this isn't the Time Lord we're focusing on. This is clearly more of a Romana-centric story, and Lalla Ward does a reasonably good job. If she comes across as brash or rude at times, it fits in with the narrative of the story as she is put through a lot and is clearly stressed out. I'm a little disappointed that K-9 wasn't in the finale, but that's just a minor nitpick I have.

Sartia feels like a knockoff Master here - a renegade Time Lord, who's old friends with Romana and butting heads with her. She feels incredibly pantomimey and over the top for a villain, and I'm really not impressed. I don't care much for who she is, but that's not at a discredit to Joannah Tincey's performance. She tries her hardest to bring out the best of this character, but I just was left bored.

I'm really fascinated by the idea of alien planets. Like, proper alien, something completely unique, with completely different weather patterns to Earth, their own cultures, everything. Season 18 definitely tries that, and it's clear in this episode too - a planet with a surface similar to a newtonian fluid. The setting is established so well and it's interesting to see what Marc Platt does with Funderell - it lives up to its name, the concept definitely is fun (if the setting itself is a little dark and ominous...)

I don't know who's involved here. No-one really made that much of an impression on me. There was a camera crew, but I don't know what they were doing, it's never properly explained, and if it was, it wasn't explained well. Also, they just felt a bit shoehorned in and didn't fit into the story properly.

Standard score, nothing interesting - still loving the synths.

This is an average adventure - the only thing worth of note is the worldbuilding aspect, as well as the brilliant performances from Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, of course!

I find it hilarious that when Doctor Who comes to the 80s, it goes totally 80s. The score, the visuals, everything about it screams 80s. Also, those opening moments are ridiculously bad - a minute of panning along a beach. And I'm not joking; it's a full minute.

It's obvious that there's a clear difference in performance in Tom Baker from Part 1 to Part 4. He's still a bit joyous as he encounters Mena and the Argolins for the first time, but as he continually spouts technobabble that is rather hard to understand throughout, we can tell that he's starting to get bored. I'm not sure what to think on his outfit, I do like it but it feels a bit too big and baggy and we can barely see Tom in it, and it's more of a costume than just random clothes that you could wear on the street - which is probably JNT's intention, looking at the other Doctors in his run and what they wear. The cliffhangers surrounding the Doctor shocked me - Part 1's with it zooming in on his scream is terrifying, and then when he comes out of the Generator in the cliffhanger to Part 2 shocked me - I audibly screamed. Part 3's cliffhanger was really weird, but that wasn't to do with the Doctor and I'll talk about that later. I'm loving that they're adding weight to cliffhangers rather than just adding them for the sake of adding them. It's good to see Romana back on form, the chemistry between the two is excellent, especially considering they were going to be married a few months after this was broadcast - I love them bouncing ideas off each other and challenging the other's intellect. Also Romana is far stronger and more independent than she was in the previous series, yelling at the Argolins rather than being a screamy Dr Who girl. This is what I was expecting off her. Thank god John Leeson is back for this season as K-9- Oh, no wait, he got damaged chasing a ball in the sea. Oh, well. Nice to see him make an appearance.

The ending to the story was superb - it was so fast-paced and thrilling, with all of the Pangols coming out of the Generator, listening to what he says, like his own private army, and Romana's reaction to it just sold us on how bad the situation was. Pangol was a fairly interesting villain, rather stereotypical and it was obvious that he was the big bad of the story. However, the twists and turns surrounding him with the subplot of the Foamasi and the secret agent helped to keep it mysterious and develop Pangol's motivations as a villain. However, what were they thinking for the cliffhanger to Part 3? How on Earth did that Foamasi fit inside a human mask? Was it like a compression suit? Sure, it was shocking, but it looked really silly and I couldn't help but laugh. But the different villains contributed to one big story and kept it interesting throughout, which is good because a lot of stories do have trouble with pacing - this isn't one.

The visuals are SO MUCH BETTER! They just looked so awful in the Williams Era, but they've improved so much here - the first look we get of these updated graphics is the opening titles. It must have been a shock after six years of the same, iconic title sequence that we get something brand new, upbeat, full of flashing lights and zooming through space. Then the Doctor gets to Brighton at last - it's a bit grey and boring, so they decide to go to the Leisure Hive, with a really odd transition. I've never seen anything like it done on the show before - it's a testament to the unique direction of this episode. Then we see the exterior model shots of the Leisure Hive for the first time and it looks fantastic - the set itself isn't as good, but there's still a lot to take in - so many different places throughout, the generator, the boardroom, the bedrooms - it's really beautifully crafted. However, something I struggled with is working out what the Leisure Hive actually is - it's a holiday resort controlled by a Government who's politics primarily involve the Hive?

The Argolin culture is explored in great detail - the worldbuilding is established and set up efficiently, and Mena's death is incredibly impactful, and they all look really cool. The Foamasi, however, don't. Let's just leave it at that. I've already mentioned how their subplot of their investigation was interesting, and I do feel like it was a bit of a shame that they didn't just kill off the ambassadors, making it that much more exciting, but went with a copout at the end. Slightly disappointing - but all of the side characters were great.

So many synths! This soundtrack felt to different to what had come before, taking on an entirely different approach - I love Howell's take on the rather creepy theme, giving it a wildly contrasting feel and the score helps to build the atmosphere and tension - the beauty when the Leisure Hive is unveiled for the first time, and the action, exciting, dangerous feel when the New Argolins come out of the Generator.

This is an underrated story. Often surrounded in technobabble, but interesting and exciting. I'm really excited to see what's next for Season 18. David Fisher does it again!

Disco is back in a... uh, a mediocre way.

This feels like a story that could fit into the first season of the Fourth Doctor Adventures. The Doctor cracking jokes around robots from an archaeological site - after some really strong material for this version of the Doctor, it feels like we're back in the Hinchcliffe era again, and really neither the Doctor or Romana feel like they had any development from this story, and did the Doctor just let the Movellans blow up and not care at all?

I don't get what was going through their heads when they came up with this idea. "Hey, do you remember the retro robots from that rubbish Dalek story? Yeah, let's write a story all about them!" Actually, retro robots from a rubbish Dalek story also describes The Chase... Despite this, if any monster from the Williams era could fit into an 80s aesthetic, it's these ones. They're real funky and match the visuals of that era quite well. But they're just generic robots, and they're so uninteresting and bland - and Polly Walker is so monotonous. I get that it's because they're robots, but if you're going to have robot monsters, do something interesting with them. They try to, with the experimentation cyborg-y thing, but it doesn't engage me. And how do they stop depending on their power packs? That's like a remote control working without batteries.

Again, Hinchcliffe vibes from the setting. Archaeological excavation and quiet little English town. It devolves into a pointless runaround the village and I don't really care for what's going on with it. It's not used effectively at all.

Do they have like only two actors? Why do they keep recasting Jane Slavin in every other Fourth Doctor story? Aside from her run as a, frankly, boring companion, she's in 18 stories with Tom Baker. And she can't even act, and it gets on my nerves. I don't really care about the archaeologists.

Bland. That's all I can say here. They didn't have enough of a story to go off, and you'd think it means they'd put more focus on the characters themselves, but they don't.

When I first saw this range, Subterranea was the first story that stuck out to me, and the one I've been waiting for ages to listen to - the cover art looks phenomenal, the description is intriguing and the reviews hyped this story up to be a classic - now I've finally listened to it, it's not what I was expecting - is this good or bad?

There's not too much to say about the Doctor in this story - with quite a lot going on, he's rather pushed to the side and feels a lot more like he's just witnessing what's going on rather than taking charge and being the Doctor. He's barely involved and a lot quieter than usual, which feels fairly odd. Same can be said for Romana, although she's still a little rude - but it's better than her being the damsel in distress every week.

The Silex definitely bear similarities to the Cybermen - infiltrating society, converting the population, using scraps and spare parts to rebuild themselves... At points it's hard to understand them, and I couldn't always follow what's going on - and they were defeated far, far too easily; the "pretend to be their commander" trope is played out and old, and it meant that this story didn't get the satisfying conclusion it deserved.

The underground world is a great setting - the dark and stereotypical caves of Doctor Who with a twist, with the inhabitants forced to take residence to shelter from the poisoned surface. We explore this world really well, and this worldbuilding is so fascinating and vividly described that it's my favourite part of the story, and I really enjoyed and invested in what was going on. This story has a dank and dark atmosphere that would look really awesome on TV, but at the same time, has features that bode excellently on audio at the same time.

Mole people! Need I say more? Yes, the Doctor and Romana get captured by mole people and then become friends with them. Like I mentioned previously, the worldbuilding for this species and the tension between them and the Silex is built up really well, with the cliffhanger of them being betrayed by one of their own people as the Silex come to attack them. They're a really fun and unique species, but thrown into a serious episode like this, and their colours really shine as they try to brighten this story up but the threat of the Silex is overpowering for them and they lose all of their love and warmth.

Loving the 80s synths already - Hopefully I won't get bored of them by the time I get to Survival. But yeah, a stellar score for this episode - this series has really excelled at that!

This story is a mixture of good things and bad things - it's got a lot of unique concepts, being referred to as a "dickensian story"... but in space. The species and planet is introduced really well, and the threat is established excellently, but really is just a Cyberman knockoff, and the focus on the species means that we don't get much of our main cast. To be honest, though, that's not too much of a problem, because we see the Doctor and Romana every episode, so it's nice to see a different kind of core cast for once. Because they're not as involved, one might suggest that it could fit with any other Doctor, but in my opinion, I don't think this would work as well with other Doctors, as the ideas really match his doctor - a bubbly and excitable species thrown into a dark and depressing situation - sounds a lot like Season 18 to me. Did I enjoy this? Yes. Did I enjoy it as much as I thought I would? Not really. But I'd still give it a go if you haven't already.

A horror story that matches the gothic horror of Hinchcliffe's era as well as redefining it to fit the mould of the JNT years. Creepy, timey-wimey - if at times, a little cliche.

Immediately, we're thrown into the confusing temporal shenanigans, as the Doctor tells himself from the future not to go into the attic of the townhouse (is it the same one from the Auntie Matter?) There's some nice setup for the end of the episode, then it plods along nicely, with both the Doctor and Romana being characterised splendidly. The cliffhanger is interesting, with the Doctor disappearing, and I was hoping that Romana would have to save the day and bring the Doctor back, but it's poorly resolved in the second part, with him just appearing in another part of the house. Ever so disappointing. The ending fits the Doctor's character, with his self-sacrifice, but the "living to the present" trope has been used so many times now, I'm getting sick of it. Their differing opinions on ghosts and the paranormal compliment this team and their dynamic fairly well, but at times, Romana seems a little rude and obnoxious - when it's meant to be the Doctor who's like that...

The main villain of the piece is time - a study gone wrong causing a rupture as Morris returns home when he was meant to die. It's a sad tale as Morris submits to his fate and allows the Doctor to return to the point where it all went wrong and condemn him - and I do think there could've been more to that then rather "we didn't know he was going to die so we're okay" and it would've been more interesting to see the dilemma before the Doctor knowing he has to kill Morris to save the day. Of course, there are real ghosts too, as with every ghost story - far too predictable.

The setting is standard ghost story - creepy mansion, surrounded in folk tales going back decades. I liked the tie-in with World War I, and helps to flesh out the characters with established stories and context showing off the impact, and creating a devastating image of the horrors they faced. Also, it's nice that it takes place in Rye, since I've been there multiple times on holiday - it's a beautiful place, if you have a chance to, go visit there, very picturesque. But I'm getting off topic.

Rather standard ghost story characters, but boosted by the world war, like I've mentioned above, creating compelling and exciting people for the Doctor to face. It's nice to see the Doctor and Romana making friends on the train, and on the whole, the acting was excellent and it made me enjoy their company. Also, it's a nice reference that the ghost didn't join in with the seance because she couldn't join hands.

It's a scary little tale, but can be bog-standard at times. But I'd give it a go just once - nothing too massive, but not too small-scale and boring. Average. But the soundtrack is magnificent.

Now THIS is what I was expecting this season to be! Sci-fi thrills, a more serious tone, a creepy base-under-siege vibe, and a really fascinating concept turning into a much bigger threat than first expected!

I would not want to mess with the Fourth Doctor in this story! Aggressive, dark and solemn - This is a version of the Doctor that doesn't come out often, and I'm expecting a bit more of this as we move further into the televised Season 18. There's elements of his more childish nature when he meets Dethras, but then once his dark truth comes out, he's back to his more serious self. Romana is thrown in at the deep end, when she's captured by the enemy - but unlike other companions, she's handled really well and can confront her opponent on her own! Also, was there a little rude joke between the two at the start, as the Doctor says he "likes it" when she disagrees with him? Hmmm...

The cliffhanger for this story has to be one of the weirdest in the entire show - and that's including the weird cliffhangers for Season 22. "My name... is Dethras." Wow! But who's Dethras? There's been no mention of Dethras in the entire first episode, but it warrants a cliffhanger. Bizarre. There's quite a few threats throughout the tory - the strange creatures besieging the submarine, the man who created them (Dethras) and the woman who wants to employ the creatures for a super army. It creates a lot of tension and incredibly threatening, as well as displaying themes of advanced evolution.

An abandoned submarine floating through space is a great location for a base-under-siege - It's tense and creepy, with a real JNT feel to it. It adds to the dark tone of the story, and sets up for a really interesting story - why has this submarine been extracted for its time zone, and what is it needed for? The answers to these questions do not disappoint, and it feels very grounded and real - For a WW2 submarine in space, anyway. The final scene where a great mystery in the universe has been revealed is a nice twist, too.

The most annoying thing about this story - and it's incredibly annoying - is the chimpanzee on the submarine. It's "Oo oo aa aa" every three seconds is unbearable, I hate it so much, and I was so tempted to just turn it off. The other navy soldiers are alright, nothing special - but I wasn't focusing on them because the chimpanzee was SO LOUD AND ANNOYING. I HATE IT. Helped to showcase the advanced evolution, but for the love of god, shut up!!!!

A really great tale, showcasing the best of the JNT years, and I can't wait to start his TV run if his stories match this kind of standard. I'm surprised that Adrian Poynton hasn't done more for Big Finish - this was absolutely fantastic. The only other story he's done is in the Jenny boxset, and I'm not exactly thrilled about that...
But seriously, shut up, Franklyn the Monkey.

A very bizarre story, with the audio format not fitting too well with a historical about silent cinema. It's a bit of fun, but not particularly good.

The Doctor goes on a fanboyish rampage, meeting the different stars of 20s cinema. Tom Baker does a good enough job, and is definitely the best actor in this story, but the way he's written feels a little off. It feels like the more toned-down, serious character in Season 18 doesn't match with his persona in this story. It's also a little disappointing that he gets about two scenes with his companion - they haven't had too many interactions in the season so far, and he even just gets someone else to talk to instead, which is really strange. I presume it's because it's rather difficult to record when Tom and Lalla aren't on good terms, so they have to be separate. Speaking of Lalla, Romana doesn't really get too much to do in this story, except for just tag along with the real companion of the story - Miss Waldorf. There's a nice little scene between her and K-9, where they discuss cinema, but it seems a little unnecessary. I really liked the idea that K-9 can't fight the monsters off via his conventional methods because the celluloids are attracted to light, which his laser gives off.

The villain is a decent concept, sort of poking fun at the fans who collect rare memorabilia, but, as I'm saying far too much with this range, the execution flops poorly, and he ends up being just a bit pantomime. Also, he was defeated in the stupidest way possible - "I used the sonic screwdriver to switch our voices around, so now you're in the radio!" What on earth? Sonic ex machina, and it doesn't even make sense. The Celluloids are obviously just Vashta Nerada knockoffs, but worse.

We get quite a bit of time to settle into this historical setting, which is good - You can tell Goss is a big fan of this period and the cinematic developments, as he shows a lot of aspects of Hollywood in the 20s, with the studios and the creepy clinics. They do spend a bit of time delving into it, but I think you can't really enjoy it properly without knowing the context of actors in the 20s, which they discuss a little in the interview.

What is it with Big Finish and American accents? Just hire American actors already - Jane Slavin, Pamela Salem - they all do terrible accents! It really gets on my nerves and makes the story a little bit annoying to listen to. Aside from that, Lulu and Miss Waldorf are likeable and fun, and we get to see more of the different sides of cinema with them.

It's nothing special - bit of cheesy fun, but not in a good way. If you like the 20s, you can listen to it if you want, but there's nothing else to add to it apart from that. Also just rips off a lot of other, better stories and doesn't fit too well into the timeline.

A grim and dark story featuring the Sontarans - utterly unique, full of atmosphere and tension, and some really interesting ideas surrounding these famous foes! But this serious tone fits perfectly with this TARDIS team, as they manage to add a bit of humour into their grisly surroundings.

This TARDIS team is usually in light-hearted romps, so it's great to hear these actors get their teeth around a stark contrast - a deadly, eternal war - and they handle the material fantastically! Rather than make the story feel jarring with a lot of witty dialogue, they keep these travellers in-character with smart-ass comments about the situation, which actually do portray Romana and the Doctor in a positive light, being able to demonstrate their mass intelligence. As well as this, K-9 would usually be getting right into the action, but they all know that he can't take on Sontarans, and this shows off what a threat they are in this story - For the first time in quite a while, they're a force to be reckoned with. It's also a nice touch that Romana is aware of the Sontarans from the Invasion of Time.

To be honest, I would've preferred if this story focused solely on the Sontarans - the idea of a Sontaran Civil War is awesome, and elements of this do bleed through, with mutinies and zombie Sontarans running amok. It's a struggle to write for returning monsters, and this story builds on their mythos and lore excellently without ruining their character - Sontarans scared of death? How come it's never been done before?! Genius! They're a proper threat, and it's great that we're seeing different sides to these monsters, with one of them even becoming a "companion" for the story. There's some really great moments that just make fun of these monsters, as they can be silly and childish sometimes - like the criticism of the probic vent, questioning why that's never been fixed to stop it being a weakness.

The battlefield is captured excellently by the sound designers, and the theme of "war always comes, no matter what" is a grim one, but rather apt when it comes to the Sontarans. The atmosphere is perfectly scary and this setting makes the story a lot more tense, reminding me of the Early Adventure story, "The Sontarans" (I might relisten to that tomorrow). But the horror element works so well and compliments these monsters in a unique and original way.

Back to the biggest flaw I had with this story - the inclusion of some random human army that the Sontarans are fighting. It sets up an interesting dilemma for the Sontarans with "What's the point in fighting", but these humans felt generic and only there to advance the plot rather than have any emotional contribution.

This is the kind of story I'm hoping for - a simple concept, but going the stretch with it and utilising it to its full potential! Sombre, bleak and full of novel ideas, with a fantastic cast at the helm!

Can't say this is the start I was hoping for... I have quite a few problems with this story, but the main one is that this range either does really over-complicated and difficult to understand stories, or the stories are so simplistic that they're boring. This falls into the latter column.

I really enjoyed the opening scene - The Doctor and Romana pleasantly enjoying their pet up on stage amusing the audience - it was rather heartwarming to hear things going well for them. However, not much else is very good beyond that - this feels much more like a Williams era Doctor, more jolly and less serious - This feels like this was written for Romana I, and then they were like "Let's just write a line so it makes sense that Jago and Litefoot acknowledge her change in appearance" - and at some points, I do forget it's not Mary Tamm, and to be honest, she doesn't seem too invested in what's going on and even sounds bored - I know I am. And a lot of the time, they're surrounded by convenience after convenience. The Doctor just knows who the Knave is because he's a super clever Time Lord, K-9 is able to locate the TARDIS just because the Doctor forgot to turn something off... I'm just not very impressed at all.

It's a decent idea - a Victorian gentleman trying to improve his status in society with alien technology, but transforming who he is in the process. However, the enemy isn't at all interesting and they could've showed off the message "have pride in who you are" in a much more fashionable way, as this story just plods along with them - also the "TARDIS is missing" cliffhanger isn't too original, is it?

The audio landscape for Victorian London is rather beautiful - authentic and throws you into the atmosphere of a new time excitingly!

For the start of a fresh new era, I'm very disappointed that immediately we're taking a trip through memory lane. The Fourth Doctor can have a Victorian historical without the inclusion of Jago and Litefoot. In fact, he has had multiple. It's nice to have them around, but these characters become rather stereotypical and predictable that it's just a run-of-the mill adventure.

It's an okay start, but it's not what I'm hoping for with this era of the show - fresh, new ground; darker and more serious stories; exciting visuals - not a nostalgia trip. The actors do a mostly decent job though so I'll give it credit for that.

REVIEW ALSO POSTED IN THE PURSUIT OF HISTORY

The proper finale to the Williams era - And boy, am I glad to be out of there! This is an interesting story - but it's far too complicated to be split up into two different episodes just to rack up the money, one of the main issues I have with this range - and the fact that this is taking place on audio, too. I'm honestly left so confused - There were some parts where I understood what was going on, but then they just introduce new plot threads and The Black Guardian shows up and changes the entire story - but he only appears in Part 4. You'd think a story about The Black Guardian finally catching up to the Doctor and Romana would be a story in itself, but instead we've got Cuthbert changing history with quantum gateways and making AIs of the Doctor and Romana, and Romana making friends with random aliens. It's a mess of ideas and I'm not a fan at all - This is the biggest failure of the Fourth Doctor Adventures range. When it's simpler and calmer, it's boring, and when they go all out, it's too complicated to keep a track of, and it's stories like this that just don't make me interested in reviewing properly. It's a good story, but buried under too much.

REVIEW ALSO POSTED IN CASUALTIES OF TIME

The proper finale to the Williams era - And boy, am I glad to be out of there! This is an interesting story - but it's far too complicated to be split up into two different episodes just to rack up the money, one of the main issues I have with this range - and the fact that this is taking place on audio, too. I'm honestly left so confused - There were some parts where I understood what was going on, but then they just introduce new plot threads and The Black Guardian shows up and changes the entire story - but he only appears in Part 4. You'd think a story about The Black Guardian finally catching up to the Doctor and Romana would be a story in itself, but instead we've got Cuthbert changing history with quantum gateways and making AIs of the Doctor and Romana, and Romana making friends with random aliens. It's a mess of ideas and I'm not a fan at all - This is the biggest failure of the Fourth Doctor Adventures range. When it's simpler and calmer, it's boring, and when they go all out, it's too complicated to keep a track of, and it's stories like this that just don't make me interested in reviewing properly. It's a good story, but buried under too much.

Part of me doesn't want to review this story because it'll reveal spoilers and ruin it for any potential listeners. So I really recommend you listen to this story without reading my review - I went into it knowing nothing and I was constantly surprised - Just go and listen! Not going to or already have? Then let's jump in.

The Doctor, Romana and K-9 are split up as they go on different styles of adventures in this Heist-like story. The Doctor's thrown into the action as he and Drax attempt to steal an enigmatic casket, whilst Romana and K-9 try to uncover what's going on behind the scenes of the deal with Drax and his buyers. Each plot sets up the main story in a convincing way - using the casket, the entire cast showing off their intellectual prowess as Time Lords, and more.

The relationship the Doctor has with Drax is a playful one. He doesn't bear a grudge when he gets scammed, it's just a bit of fun between two Gods (because the Time Lords are essentially gods). Each reveal that there's another Drax is so funny and clever as it's revealed, it always puts a grin on my face, and develops multi-Time Lord lore pretty well, with them being able to sense other Time Lords or previous incarnations not remembering their future.

Temporal Atlantis - an interesting and scary location, and the quest to retrieve it is almost like a pirate searching for treasure. There's quite a lot of Heist tropes used in terms of the setting, a most notable one is having a scum-filled bar that Drax hangs out at. It's all a lot of fun, and each new setting adds to that.

I liked the Heist-esque music in this story. There's never been anything like it for Big Finish, and it's always so bombastic and wacky.

I have no words about this story - Pure Graham Williams cheese. Witty dialogue, clever plot twists and fits so well into the Fourth Doctor era.

I was pleasantly surprised by this release - I wasn't too excited about it, but it turned out to be quite a fun filler adventure!

The main cast in this story are... fine. They do a good job, it's a lot of fun, but there's nothing... special about them. There's nothing that distinguishes this story as a Fourth Doctor story. There's nothing to suggest that the Doctor and Romana are close friends, and there's even a line that suggests that the Doctor's only keeping Romana around because she doesn't want to go home, rather than him actually enjoying her company. But it's fine. Also, just because the Doctor's criticising their work, doesn't mean that he's the thief. Bit weird.

The waxwork monster was a neat concept - sort of similar to the autons, but I'm sure it would've looked very creepy to see it reforming and turn to liquid. The buildup to the cliffhanger where it's revealed why they stole Marie Antoinette's sculpt is great, and left me excited for Part 2! However, it seemed like Alan Barnes used the same trope as he did for White Ghosts, where you think the episode's over, but there's a sudden twist where it's not the real companion, almost in the exact same way.

The musem setting reminded me of Spearhead from Space, where the waxwork figurines were being replicated. It's a bit unoriginal in retrospect, and I think they could've done a bit more.

We've got two returning cast members - Celia Imrie is probably the better known one, playing Miss Kizlet in the Bells of Saint John, whilst Nickolas Grace also features, playing Chevalier D'Eon in The Sword of the Chevalier. The dialogue between these people were a bit boring and annoying.

The score didn't leave too much of an impression on me for me to remark about.

This is a mixed story - it's a lot better than I was expecting after the atrocities of the previous story, but it's still enjoyable - but I probably won't remember it tomorrow.