Now that I'm no longer travelling to and from the Central Belt from the North East, I'm finding my consumption rate of Big Finish discs has slowed considerably. The box sets of Avengers Comic Strips, Dan Dare and Diary of River Song are piling up on the shelf. Most of the DW discs below actually occupied me throughout December and early January
The Memory Bank 2/5: 2016's annual portmanteau collection of short stories features the Fifth Doctor and Turlough on a quartet of alien worlds. The eponymous tale is of a society where being forgotten actually ends your existence; the last concerns an alien on a quest to climb a mountain, as part of its reproductive drive. The middle episodes about folk tales and story telling by Paul Magrs and "Repeat Offender" in which the Doctor is the victim of a serial killer are the most engaging. However, the previous year's collection of Sylvester McCoy adventures were more enjoyable.
Order of the Daleks 1/5: Mike Tucker mashes up Name of the Rose and Daleks largely for the image of a stained glass Outer Space Robot Person we can't actually see on audio. I enjoy hearing the Sixth Doctor's clipped and plucky Wren, Constance Clarke, but this was a very ordinary story.
The Ravelli Conspiracy 3/5: A Celebrity Historical, as we say nowadays: the First Doctor meets Machiavelli in 16th century Florence, The performances of O'Brien and Purves as Vicki and Steven are vibrant and ageless. In the vein of cerebral mid-Sixties stories like The Massacre, this was entertaining to listen to but not very memorable, ultimately.
The Sontarans 3/5 The final Early Adventure of 2016 is an involving if rather slow war story, pitting the militaristic clone race against Terry Nation's Space Security Agents. With grim and unnervingly authentic scenes of torture, this is too nasty for 60s Kids Telly. Again, Peter Purves is an energetic and committed performer ( playing the First Doctor and Steven again). Jean Marsh's delivery as Sara Kingdom is very mannered and her voice reveals her true age; sadly, this takes me out of the story.
The Third Doctor Adventures 3/5 here too, Katy Manning does not quite convince playing her twenty-year-old self, although she is more believable than Jean Marsh. Tim Treloar's impersonation of Pertwee is quite effective although Welsh cadences do cut through. The narration device of the first set has been dropped, happily.
"The Transcendence of Ephros" is an initially plodding story about a doomsday cult on an alien world, redeemed midway through by a great villainess and a masterful twist.
The second story, "The Hidden Realm" is a thin, Invasion of the Body Snatchers tale set in a new town; it doesn't really have that Litter Defence Volunteer vibe and is a bit TV Comic. The first Afro-Caribbean voice in this series is a welcome one, however.
These discs do beg the question: why not record a couple of Ninth Doctor Adventures? I'm sure there are actors who could give us their Eccleston.
Original Sin 5/5: another adaptation of a 90s Virgin novel, this adventure takes place in a 2000 AD-inspired dystopian future. Much of the narrative is delivered by newscast, a very effective device here. Judge Dredd-style Adjudicator companions Chris and Roz are properly introduced and the dramatic Who theme used for 2015's Damaged Goods is revived. The mastermind behind this story of interplanetary atrocity is a Sixties supervillain from the Troughton Years. Nostalgia and fan service is delivered with style on these discs.
Cold Fusion 4/5: allegedly the last Virgin novel adaptation, this one is a multi-Doctor, multi-Companion sci-fi epic, set on a frozen planet under military/scientific occupation. However, it's really about Patience, a castaway Time Lady who may or may not be the grandmother of Susan Foreman and the Doctor's Wife. This fragmentary, indulgent and elusive backstory dominates the adventure but the interaction between Chris, Nyssa and Tegan is jolly. A melancholy shadow is cast over Adric, too.
I would be quite disappointed if there are no more entries to this range; despite knowing the original sources quite well, I've enjoyed listening to most of them.
Power of the Daleks 4/5: I had to watch this animated reconstruction of Patrick Troughton's first story twice in succession to get its full effect. It is, of course, an innovative coup, born of desperation, to which all the cds above owe their existence. Ben and Polly form one of my favourite Tardis crews too- the earliest one I encountered as a child in the 1967 DW annual.
The unsettling electronic sound design effectively links this first, jarring transition of Doctors directly to the first Dalek story of the 60s. While it is comic that the story is quite literally about electrical power, the inevitable massacre of the colonists is gritty and very dark for 1966. Lesterson's breakdown is signposted from the start but nonetheless brilliantly creepy.
Despite some of the quirks of Troughton's experimentation - his opacity and deductive powers- this is one of the most important stories in the history of Who.
Coming up: Steed and Mrs. Peel; River Song and the Sixth Doctor; Dan Dare and the Mekon.
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