For those of you new to this section of the blog, I started listening to the Big Finish Doctor Who releases when they started back in 1999, getting them as they were released up to mid 2002 and release No 33 Neverland. At that time I left Uni and due to being a bit busy with life and what not I only heard one or two releases over the next few years. I started getting back into them around 2008 and was 6 years behind at that point. Due to wondering off into the Lost Doctor range and a relaxed listening pace I fell further behind. In order to catch up I'm listening to two releases a month (or more when its a 60 min single disc release, plus without seeing the cover or knowing anything about the story) and my mission to catch up continues;
Lords of the Red Planet, was the first story in October from the lost story range featuring the 2nd Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. I'm not going to focus on this one as its a rare story that I didn't like and struggled to get through to the extent I fell asleep twice and have no idea how it ended. I'm not going to rank it and make a point to come back at a later date and have another go with it.
Farewell Great Macedon, came next also from the lost story range and featured the original line up. Whenever I hear a lost story I want to feel like I'm listening to a TV story with missing visuals and that is what I got from this story. It feels like the production team thought "oh Marco Polo went down well lets do another one" and it would fit in somewhere before the Dalek invasion of Earth. I was just hooked and it truly felt like I was listening to something from fifty years ago. Not only is this my favourite story in some time, I think it ranks up there with my personal classics from Big Finish as I write this it just might be my favourite 10/10.
Nightshade, started off November - I realised it was Nightshade within the first few minutes and smiling my little head off. This book has hung over Mark Gatiss career and he's never eclipsed it imo. It was as good as I hoped it was going to be, I never came away thinking that it didn't work as an audio. On top of that its so strange listening to a pre Love and War story featuring Ace, these stories foreshadow her actions so well.
Next up was Lucie Miller / To the Death the finale to the fourth season of the 8th Doctor adventures. Blimey this feels like the end of an era, first things first this isn't a story for you if you're dipping in and out of the range I'd recommend listening to this season in order and preferably listening to the range up to this point in order. This story feels like an epic and strangely most of the characters are this seasons regulars. When bad things start to happen in this story it feels more emotional than it usually does. This is such an emotional story and its a testament to the range and this season how much I cared about what happened in this story. 10/10 and I can't wait to see what happens in this range next.
Iteration of I started off in December, the final story in the Fifth Doctor box set featuring his original line up of companions. A very very good if slightly too wordy horror story 9/10.
Blue Tooth a companion chronicle starring Caroline John as Liz was next. A dark story set in the UNIT era doing interesting things with the Cybermen 8/10.
Auntie Matter, a fun throwaway story featuring the Fourth Doctor and Mary Tamms Romana. Very much Doctor Who does Jeeves and Wooster, lots of fun 8/10.
Another companion chronicle Frostfire came next starring Maureen O'Brien featuring the First Doctor, Vicki and Steven. A very good moody story that does interesting things with the format 7/10.
The final story of this blog entry is The Veiled Tiger, a freebie released with Doctor Who Magazine that Big Finish released in their Christmas sale. A fun bit of fluff featuring two opposing teams of companions Peri and Erimem Vs Ace and Hex. Good crack and a few laughs, highly recommended if you can find it 8/10.
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