New adventures for Doctors Five, Six, Eight and Ten
AUDIO CDS
DEATH IN BLACKPOOL
Big Finish 80 mins (one disc) £8.99 (download)/£10.99 (CD) OUT NOW!
THE LOST STORIES: MISSION TO MAGNUS
Big Finish 95 mins (one disc) £12.99 (download)/£14.99 (CD) OUT NOW! ★★★
PLAGUE OF THE DALEKS
Big Finish 110 mins (two discs) £12.99 (download)/£14.99 (CD) OUT NOW!
THE LAST VOYAGE
BBC Audio 135 mins (two discs) £9.99 OUT NOW! ★★★★
It's bizarre now to think there was a time when a Doctor Who Christmas special wasn't a seasonal staple, and even Big Finish have jumped on the bandwagon with a Christmas-themed episode to launch Paul McGann's latest batch of Eighth Doctor audio adventures.
However, anyone expecting a new Who-style romp should consider themselves warned - Death In Blackpool is actually closer to the emotional drama of an EastEnders Christmas special than RTD's traditional action-packed bunfights. There's shedloads of bleakness and a surprisingly melancholy tone, as the Doctor's decision to take Lucie (Sheridan Smith) home for a Christmas in Blackpool means that a secret he's been keeping from her is in danger of being revealed. It's an adventurous turn for the recent Eighth Doctor stories, and while there are a few overwritten moments. the story is beautifully played and packs a genuine emotional punch.
Elsewhere from Big Finish, there's more "Lost Stories" as the recreations of the aborted version of season 23 continue with Phillip Martin's Mission To Magnus. Here, the Sixth Doctor and Peri run into trouble on a planet ruled by women, and cross paths again with slug-like alien Sil (Nabil Shaban). Classic Who villains the Ice Warriors also turn up, and there's plenty of runaround '80s Who-style fun - but while Shaban is great and Martin's script is often witty, some of the support performances are weak and the "planet of the women" plotline is exactly as toe-curlingly sexist as you'd expect.
This month also sees the conclusion of the Stockbridge trilogy in Plague Of The Daleks, as the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa find themselves in a far future where Stockbridge has become an oddball tourist attraction, and a long-planned attack by the Daleks finally comes to fruition. The weakest outing of the three, it's a sometimes awkward mix of gritty SF and typical zombie action that doesn't always hang together, but it still pulls off some enjoyable moments, and both Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton are once again on top form.
Finally, there's the latest of BBC Audio's exclusive Who audiobooks. The Last Voyage pitches a solo Tenth Doctor into a well-constructed SF mystery, as he investigates a malfunction on an experimental passenger spacecraft. With only a flight attendant to help him, the Doctor comes up against sinister creatures from beyond the walls of reality, and soon there's plenty of inventive concepts and eerie chills. Previous BBC Audio readings have sometimes been a little generic, but Dan Abnett serves up a tightly structured and thoroughly entertaining sci-fi thriller, and it's all backed up by a typically energetic reading from David Tennant proving right to the end that whatever lies in Doctor Who's future, he's going to be a very tough act to follow...
AI Also available now is a CD of the Target novelisation of Second Doctor story Doctor Who And The Ice Warriors, read by Frazer Hines.
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- APA 6th ed.: Bullock, Saxon (Mar. 2010). New adventures for Doctors Five, Six, Eight and Ten. SFX p. 131.
- MLA 7th ed.: Bullock, Saxon. "New adventures for Doctors Five, Six, Eight and Ten." SFX [add city] Mar. 2010, 131. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Bullock, Saxon. "New adventures for Doctors Five, Six, Eight and Ten." SFX, edition, sec., Mar. 2010
- Turabian: Bullock, Saxon. "New adventures for Doctors Five, Six, Eight and Ten." SFX, Mar. 2010, section, 131 edition.
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