Merry Christmas Doctor Who - 4/10?

it feels a bit silly writing a review for 1 minute of footage that isn't really relevant at all.

Overall Merry Christmas Doctor Who gets a 4/10? I put the question mark there because I don't even know how to rate something like this but there's my best attempt. if you haven't watched this, I would because it is only a minute and it might even make you smile.

A Fix with Sontarans - 1/10

The fact this has Jimmy Savile in it just makes it so uncomfortable to watch.

The actual little story that happens here is nothing special and it's just a nice thing for Gareth Jenkins but the ending to it - it's just simply disturbing. The fact Savile has been on a TARDIS set angers me so much and this minisode will always be remembered for the fact.

I will say the Season 22 boxset re edit with the demon removed is nice but me personally, I can't shake the feeling that surrounds this little adventure.

Overall A Fix with Sontarans gets a 1/10 not because of the story itself really, it is just the aptly described 'monster' that appears at the end that makes it so intolerable. Maybe one day the connection to that awful man will be fully separated but as of right now I just can't do it.

Rot in the Deepest Darkest Corner of Hell Jimmy Savile.

The Bellova Devil - 4.5/10

The second instalment of the Jago & Litefoot series is an improvement but not by leaps and bounds.

There was definitely enjoyment to be found within this story, its plot is murder mystery and the premise of the suspected murderer being dead already is a new one for me. That plot line progresses healthily throughout the story and for my money comes to a satisfying conclusion overall.

Jago & Litefoot themselves have another decent outing with Jago definitely being my preferred character at this point, I do enjoy Litefoot but I can find him a little drab at times. One of the final scenes with Jago in this story is very amusing to listen to.

The other characters In this story mostly serve their purpose but none of them particular stick in the mind, there is a mention of Tulp again which definitely seems to be the series arc.

My main problem here is that it just didn't interest me all that much as a story, like I said all the elements are there they just didn't work well together for me which led to a very lacklustre story once again for Jago & Litefoot.

Overall The Bellova Devil gets a 4.5/10 because its not a story I can ever see myself going back to, furthermore for me it simply didn't work all that well when put together.

The Bloodless Solider - 3/10

As the first story of the 'proper' Jago & Litefoot series this was a disappointment in all honesty.

My main and biggest problem of this story is the fact that sometimes its just downright difficult to follow, I found during some of the scenes it just felt like a kerfuffle of noise instead of a story - but in fairness that probably due to the snarling from this story's monster.

With that said it certainly wasn't all bad. The actual plot itself was alright, but a criticism I will bring is that without any other knowledge of this series (which I didn't have at the time) it didn't grip me as well as it could of. But now in retrospect after listening to the entirety of series 1 this story feels a lot more full I think, with that fact in mind I would say the rating would probably increase a number or two (retrospectively).

The setting is brought to life very well here though with this idea of Victorian London feeling very alive and real. I enjoyed a lot of the atmosphere of this story but yet again this story does benefit with looking at it after listening to the whole series which I really can decide if that's a positive or negative thing (in all honesty it s probably a bit of both).

Overall The Bloodless Solider gets a 3/10 because as an opener its weak. However it does definitely benefit in retrospect after listening to the whole series - and in fairness it didn't put me off so it can't of done too much wrong can it. Jago & Litefoot were wonderful together as always.

Death and the Queen - 7/10

The final story of this boxset was certainly a pleasant end to this run of stories, while it's not the greatest it's definitely the funniest.

I had a lot of fun with this story, it is some of the best comedy i've experienced in a Big Finish so far - it is almost entirely Tennants performance that secures this for me. I love every scene with him in this story it's excellent.

The plot is good and provides an entertaining hour, there's a few twists and turns which are all done well too. I particularly enjoy the giant cloud talking - its an amusing image to say the least.

The entire cast of characters in this story are brilliant, I really like them all but in particular Hortense. Donna and the Tenth Doctor are characterised well here and bounce off each other wonderfully throughout the story I think - they have some great moments.

The setting is super fun too in the fictional empire of Goritania, without giving anything away its an unusual place that even the Doctor himself has never ever heard of.

Overall Death and the Queen gets a 7/10 and is a very solid final story for this boxset, I do have to say its inspired me to want to listen to more of this range.

The Crash of the Elysium - No Rating 

This live show experience is something that has Intrigued me for a good while so I decided to do as much research into it as I could. As I didn't experience this back in 2011 or 2012 I felt it would be nice to give it a five star rating as it hasn't even had enough ratings to give it an average. (Also as I will talk about it seemed pretty damn good).

As far as I can find there is little to nothing of any showing of this experience on the internet - which is a shame but I suppose it made it even more unique for the people who did experience it. What I did find was some behind the scenes footage of the cast talking about the experience and a lot of interviews with the people who took part, and there was also a small 13 second clip of the Eleventh Doctor that was used as a sort of teaser for the experience in which he exclaims

"Hello? Hello, if you can hear this please listen to me it's about time and how very little of it I've got left. Everything that happens next depends on you."

its a nice little teaser for the show in all fairness even with its short duration.

The thing about this experience that made it so unique was the claim that 'no two show would be the same' , which as far as I can tell was correct - how drastically the shows differed is hard to know but I don't imagine it was massively. The experience on its original in 2011 was marketed as just for 6 - 12 year olds but due to popular demand there were session for 13 and overs to attend while the show was on. That being said a majority of the interviews were with children after they experienced it and they all seemed to have absolutely loved it and even said it was quite scary at time, which is wonderful to hear as they were the target audience. If any of the children became scared at any point a cast member would let them get outside as an 'evacuation' while still in character.

The company who put the show on 'Punchdrunk' are a theatrical company formed in 2000 who specialise in 'Immersive Theatre' (the idea that no two audiences have the same experience). They've ran a multitude of shows with this Doctor Who one being no different to their usual formula of immersive theatre in which there isn't really a stage and its just an environment for the audience to get involved in and to decide what happens in the show. I can't say I've ever heard of shows like that but it does sound quite interesting to say the least (especially if its Doctor Who).

The Crash of the Elysium show itself consisted of a plot line in which the group advance through the Elysium spaceship which had crashed and come face to face with a Weeping Angel inside (again i'm very unsure on how much this changed between audiences in the grand scheme of things). The Weeping Angel section is the bit the interviewees described to be the 'scary part', the scene entailed an Angel being discovered and advancing on the group in flickering lights (which if I was 6 - 12 would probably scare me too). After being taken by the Angel and thrown back in time they'd attempt to get into the TARDIS with the Doctors permission but fail, which then would prompt the Doctor via radio to tell them there's a Vortex Manipulator and a fez waiting for them to get home. The Angels advance again but the group escape back to the future, there they defeat the Angels once and for all - saving the day. Overall though the plot seemed like a good mix of Doctor Who themes and a fun run around for the kids. As a side note the kids who went to one of the performances in the afternoon of July 15th were lucky enough to meet Matt Smith in person.

This is undoubtedly the weirdest "Review" I've ever written if you could even call it that but if you have read all that I do hope its proved interesting, this show is quite forgotten at least to me as id never even heard of it until I saw it on here but either way I thought id write this for anyone interested as the what the hell this was. (if you want more detail the best place to look is the TARDIS fandom wiki page for the show).

Time Reaver - 7.5/10

the second instalment of The Tenth Doctor Adventures delivers such an interesting run around on a superbly realised alien planet

I really loved this story, there was quite a lot of moving parts and they all worked wonderfully together. My particular highlight was the villain, he was easily detestable. He provided quite a sense of menace and terror throughout the story. (I've seen a few people complain about the voice changing effects on him but personally I had no trouble with them).

The plot itself suffices for the run time with some great stand out moments littered throughout. The actual titular item itself has a vital role to the story and is well built up to be a huge deal by the Doctor which makes the ending all the more satisfying.

The setting is wonderful and the idea of a whole planet space port isn't new but its done masterfully here I think, the Doctors enthusiasm for the place is also a lot of fun to listen to.

Overall Time Reaver gets a 7.5/10 because I genuinely really enjoyed this story start to finish because of how good the world building is I think. Also the continuity at the end pleased me even if it is just a few lines of dialogue.

Technophobia - 5/10

I won't have a lot to say about this one I feel, I did enjoy it - I just didn't get into it as much as I thought I would I suppose

A friend suggested this story to me when I asked about good places to start big finish and so I listened. I was still very very new to big finish and really didn't know what to expect from a modern Doctors adventure.

Both Donna and the 10th Doctor do work in audio form but it took me a little while to get used to it I have to admit.

The plot was a super interesting concept and I think it worked well on audio, but my problem with this story is while the concept is good not enough was done with it - maybe its just the run time felt short and I expected more but either way the story did not grip me at all.

The setting was good with Donna experiencing it as a near future story works well with the whole evil technology themes throughout.

Overall Technophobia gets a 5/10 because to me it's just middle of the road not bad but not great - it was okay.

The Land of the Dead - 5.5/10

This story gives an adventure that for me was my first experience of big finish being that little bit more brutal that Doctor Who would ever be.

I enjoyed this stories concepts a lot more than the actual story I think, and the main concept that intrigued me was definitely the Permians. The idea of these creatures being around before the dinosaurs is a very fun thought - and then on top of that the fact that they are bone creatures is fascinating to me, the audio does a great job of giving these creatures presence.

As much as its a tiny part of this story I always adore when these stories fit nicely into the continuity.

The actual plot itself works for the run time but is ultimately quite forgettable overall, i'm also not the biggest fan of the dynamic that happens between the natives and the 'White man'.

The characters were all fine but Monica is a character I genuinely really enjoyed, I think she was probably the fill in for Tegan but  she carved her own personality out by the end of the story.

Overall The Land of the Dead gets a 5.5/10 because like I say I do enjoy some of the concepts here but the story falls a bit flat by the end of it in my opinion.

Wink - 8/10

The final instalment of this set is definitely the strongest of the lot and I have to say I really dint expect to enjoy this duo as much as I did!

The biggest take away from this story for me is just how comedic 6 and 10 are together, genuinely some laugh out loud moments from their back and fourth. The Weeping Angels as monsters have always been one of my favourites because I find them quite fascinating to be perfectly honest.

The plot here is masterfully crafted by the writer (Lisa McMullin) and the way it ties itself up is really cool in my opinion. McMullin writes a very atmospheric story here mainly because of how claustrophobic it can feel at times, this is because our side characters don't have the sense of sight and the planet we're on blinds the Doctors throughout the story which is fun. The city of mirrors as an idea is really interesting to me because id never really thought of trapping Angels by making them look at their reflection although this is where one of the very few downsides to this story appear - the Angels being stopped by their own reflection feels too easy part way through the story but I understand why it is written that way.

The two side characters worked really well in this story and enjoyed the rapport they created with the Doctors, their species not having the sense of sight and having elevated senses in general provided them with some extra personality and made for a more interesting listen - especially the scene in the 'art' gallery.

Overall Wink gets an 8/10 because I really did have a blast with this story, its definitely one of the more atmospheric stories I've ever listened too. But once again its the same story throughout this set the biggest enjoyment came from the two Doctors chemistry together.