nyssas been having bad dreams of traken, which is understandable given the circumstances, however when she finds a jewel in a box she starts having someone elses dreams. its trippy and weird but its nice to see some familiar old faces and establishes a cute little bit of lore.

this is great at creating very abstract concepts and communicating them in a way thats somewhat understandable. its freaky science fiction with multiple layers. the dialogue between the main characters is witty, the side characters are great and the enemy is bewilderingly complicated in a way that only benefits the story.

the story is told from nyssas perspective presumably a while after shes left the tardis in the future, and its got a very depressing vibe. theres some really cool moments like her literal death but i feel like the dar traders are undeveloped and its not really overly explained what their exact purpose is. the story takes a weird turn in the last 15 minutes as well and none of it really meshes well with other elements of the story. not the best companion chronicle.

promising to be an epic 6 part adventure, it just turns out to be a long and unexciting plod. its one of the most disappointing releases from the fifth doctor range in recent years. its overly confusing and doesnt do a great job explaining itself, the concept sounds way better than the way it was actually executed. its 6 parts and yet ive got barely anything to say about it other than the cast do a relatively good job.

a purely engaging and thrilling story from the fifth doctor adventures. its another murder mystery and if we're going by the timeline of serpent in the silver mask -> black orchid -> the merfolk murders then its 3 murder mysteries in a row. but tim foleys writing here makes me deeply care about the entire cast of characters. adric gets a lovely little romance with a guy called henry, nyssa bonds with a soldier over losing their families, the doctor gets to revel in playing detective after some comedic teasing by tegan being very enthusiastic to solve the mystery. its all really well crafted

Have always loved black orchid from the first time i watched it. only 2 parts but very entertaining. part 1 doesn't really do anything to build up the plot. it just sets the scene and its really cosy to watch the doctor playing cricket, meeting ann talbot and the cranleighs, learning about what happened to george cranleigh and having a fancy dress party. a lovely little 2 parter

not much to say about this one other than its a standard murder mystery, but that doesnt mean its not good. all a murder mystery really needs is engaging side characters and this has them in spades. its also not really predictable and does a unique twist involving time travel in the reveal of the murderer.

one of the most intriguing bits of this audio is a potential romance between tegan and one of the side characters. its a real softer side to tegan that i enjoy

This story is straight up horror. It's hopeless, it's bleak, it's atmospheric, it's scary. It might be the bleakest story yet. There's a specific moment in part one, where nyssa is held by the, as yet unknown, entity. its a truly spine chilling moment and sarah sutton really sells the moment.

one quote in particular from a later part stands out. nyssa develops a close relationship with matthew, the village reverend who falls in love with her. she rejects him and he later accuses of her being a witch. nyssa is betrayed and hurt but the specific line "matthew, is this all because i said no?" hits HARD, especially with her delivery.

the ending is delivered perfectly as well. everything gets tied up and explained.

It's honestly hilarious. There's not many stories where I can say I'm laughing throughout but this one manages to just be funny, constantly. nyssa shines here as she settles, almost disconcertingly well into her role as nyssa the destroyer, even the doctor is put off by her over enthusiastic performance. the world building itself is done exceedingly well and the main royal couple manage to be fantastic, layered side characters in their own rights. the story almost gives the illusion of being a very cliched- which it kinda is but it also does it in such an entertaining way you dont care.

on my initial listening to this story i was put off my something i couldnt quite put my finger on, but that was almost 3 years ago and upon my relisten it was almost perfect. theres a very clear sense of dread as you put the pieces in place as the story moves along. the side character of sable is a great mix with the more subdued characters of nyssa and the fifth doctor and i dread to think what wouldve happened if she spent most of the story with tegan lmao

tegans plot here is almost thriller-esque, and janet (as usual) gives a stellar performance as she teeters on the edge of being caught by vampires. the plot twists are well executed too