Big Finish, of course, have achieved the coup of reuniting Tom Baker and Louise Jameson for their range of audio plays. The Fourth Doctor Box Set differs from the ongoing mini-series in that it comprises two stories that were originally commissioned for tv. The Foe from the Future was written by Robert Banks Stewart and was the seed for what eventually became The Talons of Weng Chiang. Foe is set in a Devon village where phantoms from the past have been materialising. It turns out to be a time travel experiment by a mad scientist who's become fused with a giant insect. An overlong blend of Quatermass and The Pit, Brave New World and The Fly, villains Jalnik and Butler the butler are quite sadistic and the giant space- insect-hybrid invasion is noisy and unpleasant. However, Leela made me laugh and Louise Brealey's Charlotte is a chirpy stand-in companion.
Philip Hinchcliffe's The Valley of Death is a weaker, more unfocused story. It begins as a dated, cheesy Lost World pastiche then abruptly turns into Invasion of the Body Snatchers, complete with kitschy, self-referential jokes about BBC1 on Saturday nights. Jane Slavin and Anthony Howell play stand-in companions who, while quite appealing, seem to have stepped straight out of a Forties movie serial
Budgetary restrictions aside, like the Colin Baker Lost Stories, there are more convincing reasons why these adventures were never televised: the plots are simply not very good. Also, contemporary expressions like "back in the day" means it actually doesn't sound like 1977 all over again. It's particularly frustrating to hear Tom's Doctor in the audio extra "Making Of..." features while the character in the plays is still the fruity self-parody of the Paul Magrs series.
Darkstar Academy, the latest Eleventh Doctor audio exclusive is a trad base under siege story set in an ersatz Fifties English public school. It's read in a posh but rather colourless way by Alexander Armstrong; so disappointing after vigorous Will Thorp or cool, intimate Raquel Cassidy. Yet again, I couldn't tell you how it's resolved; it was too dull.
I watched Planet of the Dead again at Easter and thoroughly enjoyed it, even sweaty Lee Evans! I wish there had been more adventures with slinky aristo Christina.I wondered why I had misgivings about the current direction of Who so I got around to re-watching Series Five and Six . I'll give the episodes a score out of five Pluvian Talmars.
The Eleventh Hour: Matt Smith nails the role from the start. After the sweet sequence with Amelia Pond, however, the episode became a bit too zany and not scary enough. 2 Talmars
The Beast Below: Over -ambitious world-building. Too diffuse, far too much going on. It should have centred on the vivacious Liz Ten: "I'm the bloody Queen, mate". 1 Talmar
Victory of the Daleks: I actually like the colourful new Daleks but this felt like a thin retread of The Empty Child. Really don't like the Bracewell bomb bit. 2 Talmars
The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone : A spooky thrill-ride,well-directed. River Song makes a spectacular return but Amy's seduction scene is inappropriate. Who wants a Companion who'd cheat on her fiancé on their wedding night? 4 Talmars
The Vampires of Venice: Gorgeous location work, weak ending. 2 Talmars
Amy's Choice: I now dislike Amy and this is boring whimsy, rescued by the malevolent Dream Lord. 1 Talmar
The Hungry Earth/ Cold Blood Despite reworking both The Silurians and The Sea Devils, this 2-parter is better than I remembered. Loved Meera Syal as Nasreen. 2 Talmars
Vincent and the Doctor: Tony Curran is superb.Very touching. 5 Talmars
The Lodger: An amusing sitcom for the Doctor. The spaceship subplot is a bit throwaway. 2 Talmars
The Pandorica Opens: Three exciting cliffhangers! 3 Talmars
The Big Bang: Happy endings all round. I just don't feel invested in the Ponds. 2 Talmars
(I skipped A Christmas Carol because it isn't Christmas and it felt wrong.)
The Impossible Astronaut/ Day of the Moon: Audacious and exciting although a bit muddled and confusing. But sweeping in scope.3 Talmars
Curse of the Black Spot: Stagey pirate romp that can't decide what it's about. 1 Talmar
The Doctor's Wife: Lovely, spooky and emotional. 5 Talmars
The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People: Old school Base Under Siege. Not bad. 2 Talmars
A Good Man Goes to War: Epic and exciting with some memorable new characters. 3 Talmars
Let's Kill Hitler: The Secret Origin of River. Funny and touching. Directed with flair. 3 Talmars
Night Terrors: Too slow and definitely not scary enough. Daniel Mays is the most convincing father figure in either series. 2 Talmars
The Girl Who Waited: A more cerebral script but the best dilemma in the series. 4 Talmars
The God Complex: Doctor Who and The Shining would have worked as well on audio. Well -directed but ends on the rather cliched note of a melancholy Doctor. 3 Talmars
Closing Time: Hilarious and quite moving. Despite myself, I wanted James Corden as the new companion! 4 Talmars
The Wedding of River Song: lots of spectacle but no emotional core. 2 Talmars
So, to sum up: Matt Smith is delightful. His Doctor can be very funny and then quite steely. Some of the dialogue is too arch and idiosyncratic, however. Karen Gillan's acting skills are developing but her diction is poor. She is very beautiful but plays an unsympathetic character. The fact that the Doctor let her down in the first place makes him less heroic. Arthur Darvill has found the perfect pitch for his archetypal post -Feminist Useless English Man and is the most versatile actor of the regulars. While she is very similar to the long-forgotten Jenny Rator Who, Alex Kingston's River-originally a tragic figure- has pitched into High Camp Vamp territory and needs to be rested.
The plot lines are quite dependent on "timey-wimey" tricks and the threats to the Universe and Everything seem much less immediate. Mark Gatiss is a great ideas man but should have a co-writer for his scripts- they're too thin.
The stories are also often marred by a cloying sentimentality. Parenthood is one of the great middle-class focuses for achievement; the biggest sin working class people can commit in our culture, apart from worklessness, is neglect and bad parenting. It seems possible that Moffat the Parent would be more fixated on childhood than RTD; by my count, there have been twelve episodes in two seasons that revolve around children or babies, compared to seven in the first four. Yet, I thought it was well-documented that children prefer stories about characters older than themselves? In any case, the lack of credible adult characters helps make the series feel less populist now.
I enjoyed both seasons better than I thought I would but ultimately I like it rather than love it.
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Interesting to note that in the James Corden episode, the Cybermen seem to be the 'originals' and not the 'Earth 2' variety.
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