The Big Finish Catch-Up May 2019

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;

First up this month is The Prisoner of Peladon a Companion Chronicle starring David Troughton as King Peladon. This is a very good story with good levels of atmosphere, David is outstanding and carries the story well. Its what you would expect from a Peladon story in terms of characters and alien races. What raises the story is that when The Doctor turns up it goes in a direction that is mostly associated with later Doctors. Its rather unnerving to see this kind of thing done with Jon Pertwees more fluffy Doctor however its effective. It gets a 8/10 from me.

Next up is Nevermore with the 8th Doctor and Tamsin in the Eight Doctor range. Its a weak start to Tamsins start as a companion as the story is dull and lacking the distinctive flair of the range. The crows and the cat are memorable but a week after hearing this story I'm struggling to remember anything about it 4/10.

The final story this month is The Whispering Forest from the main range featuring the team of the 5th Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough. This is a proper good done in one nailed to the plot thriller - although the start and end to lead in and from the surrounding stories. I love stories like this that have a good solid plot, start at break neck pace and keep the listener glued for the duration. I must commend the decision to pair up Nyssa and Turlough who are two characters who couldn't be further different from each other. This release is story telling 101, any aspiring writer looking to write for Big Finish should be listening to stories like this. This is a 7/10 story for me and this is the second time I've heard it (its one of the stories I heard in the anniversary year) and it still stands up to that first listen.