The Big Finnish Catch-Up: October 2016

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;

Well I am absolutely kicking myself for thinking Charley was gone for good and not noticing the 'Trial' theme at the end of her last story. Very interesting things happen in this story but I found it hard to follow for the first half as I was in shock that Charley was back and had been saved by the Sixth Doctor. Its very intriguing stuff asking long term and short term questions, however like the new status quo with this TARDIS crew it feels uncomfortably distant 7/10.

Up next we venture into a more recent boxset - I should say I'm aware of the concept of this set however I don't know what villains/monsters are in it. So here we find Sylvestors Seventh Doctor taking on the villains from the first Christmas special the Sycorax. Decent little story which actually makes a good attempt to add some depth to this one off race villains however the acting is bloody awful and drags the production down 5/10.

We're now onto season 2 of the Eighth Doctor adventures and we're in new territory for me. The 8th Doctor and Lucie are in London but when exactly? This is jolly, fun fresh and light just what I needed after the previous story further up. Some interesting characters and perhaps one who may crop up again, snappy dialogue - fully recommended 8/10.

Its back to main range with the 7th Doctor, Ace and Hex - a team who haven't been around in some time and a firm favourite of mine. Its a comedy that is fairly amusing (and gets its best laugh in the first five minutes) but unlike some previous comedy stories in the range it doesn't embrace humour as much as other stories have and as a result feels more amusing than hysterical. Sylvester McCoy and Philip Olivier have the most success with the comedy on offer and genuinely feel like they're having fun. I found the story intriging and the choice reguarding the guest cast was very interesting. Its a 6/10 for me although if it had embraced the comedy a bit more it could easily have been more. 

I hope there isn't another gap until we see this team again as they are one of my favourite teams and my other favourites have recently been pulled apart. I'm aware that within the last ten or so stories Gary Russell has past the baton over to Nicholas Briggs and Nick is probably making the changes that he wants now he's a few stories in. I'm still in shock from the changes to range over the last few months; C'rizz has died, Erimem has left and Charley looked like she was leaving and has somehow ended up with a previous incarnation of the Doctor. Without doubt I've reached a time of great change in Big Finish, I think this section of the blog is at its best when changes I don't know about are happening and I hope you are enjoying this catch-up journey with me.

The Big Finish Catch-Up September 2016

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 is the 8th Doctor and Charlie in the main range, what can I say? This story is so emotional, Charley has been an ever present part of the 8th Doctor stories since Paul McGann started with Big Finish. Despite the end of the previous story I didn't expect her to leave. At the start it genuinely feels like The Doctor has lost her and throughout the story it feels like he wins her back but events in the final act take an unexpected twist she's gone. I'd seen a poster advertising a spin-off range for her but this was only a few years back and I assumed she was safe for a number of years to come. The end looks to set up her up for a solo series and its such an unexpected set up and given a fondness for Charley I will seek it out at some point. 10/10 I haven't spoken about the story but its brilliant.

As you can see from the picture next up this month was the 5th Doctor, Peri and Erimem. Talk about an emotional breakdown two companions gone in two releases! Given this teams previous release Erimems exit was heavily hinted at but I thought it was going to be padded out - possibly with a story or two that looked like she was going to die only to survive at the last minute. Her exit does make sense, is on character and despite events in "Son of the Dragon" having a slight similar flavour I didn't see it coming. There's a lot going on in this story - a kind of sequel to the two televised stories featuring Peladon and as is fitting for the majority of the story the listener isn't sure who the good guys and bad guys are. There are lots of nods to the two TV stories and as a fan I think I enjoyed this more than a casual listener would - a lot of fan buttons were pressed! Easily this is 9/10 for me but for a casual listener I'd say give a few stories with this TARDIS crew a listen to first. It genuinely feels like Erimems story line has come to a natural conclusion and as a character looking back it feels like she's someone Big Finish have tried to do something different with 'The Council of Nicaea' and 'Son of the Dragon' being a case in point. 

With a heavy heart I say goodbye to these characters but equally I look forward to what and who comes next.

Hi, I've noticed you around...

Good afternoon ladies and gentle readers, after a read of Katy Reds recent blog (All Sweetness and Life - all the cool kids are reading it!) it prompted me to make a comment on twitter which lead to me deciding to do a blog about my dating life. You have been warned - you read on at your own risk...

Like most people I have dating profiles on line and this is how I meet most of the people I go out with. Being trans, most people who seem interested in me are men, who I'm not attracted to. Nothing personal to the men's I'm just not into you - although saying this doesn't appear to stop them offering to be the one who can 'convert me' or 'change my mind.' I have a nice little ' No Men' sticker on my profiles which is right at the top where they can see it. So in short anyone who might be interested in my pic and clicks on my profile knows who I'm into and not into.

Two years ago I got a message from someone called 'Julie' who after a few days worth of messages we decided to go out for a date. We'd meet in Cardiff on a Friday evening for a drink to see if we clicked and take things from there. Friday arrived and I caught the train to Cardiff, adding a few last minute touches along the way (note for future reference do not do your eye liner on public transport again). We were meant to meet outside of the entrance facing Margaret Street, after a five minute wait I gave her a ring to see if she was running late. She replied saying she was in the car park and could I make my way over to her, my alarm bells should have been ringing at this point but I gave her the benefit of the doubt - she may have wanted to try a bar on the bay and the car park was in that direction. I eventually found her car and got inside, on seeing her she was distinctly more mature than her picture suggested - I later found out the picture was from 1994, the first of many lies...

We drove off and after a few minutes of heading in an unfamiliar direction I asked where we were going. 'Home' she replied, OK - not what I expected but a few drinks and what not. During the car trip home she didn't speak much bar asking questions about me and answering little about herself. We pulled into her drive, on entering her house I noticed the front room light was on and asked who it was 'my husband Gordon was the reply.'

This was not what I'd signed up for...

She then asked if I wouldn't mind going upstairs as 'my makeup needed touching up' and that Gordon 'doesn't like it when the illusion is spoiled.' I headed to bathroom because understandably 'I needed to go.' After steadying myself, I decided I was in no harm and if worst came to the worst I'd leg it out of the door. I went down to the living room and was greeted by Julie who I now noticed in the light was wearing a leather dress and Gordon who not only was a good 20/25 years older than Julie but was wearing nothing but leather shorts. To sum up my date was a honey trap set up by some geriatric kinksters. It turned out that my conversations on line with Julie had really been with Gordon who was a trans admirer, Julie apparently wasn't really into me and spent the conversation glaring at me - this apparently was something she put up with for the sake of her marriage.

I politely asked for them to call me a taxi and was out of there ten minutes later I was out of there and have never looked back. I think you'll agree readers that this is one from the nightmare files.

Why I hate Sam Allardyce

Because the man and his football are boring beyond belief.

The DVD Archives: Star Trek Voyager Season 1

Good afternoon ladies and gentle readers, in my random DVD viewings I ventured onto season 1 of the Star Trek spin off Voyager season 1. So without further ado here's my opinion of the individual episodes:

Caretaker: A good start with a story which introduces the characters, the ship and the situation with ships in a certain section of space being randomly pulled across to the other side of the universe against their will. A really good point is that this actual event is dangerous and a good few members of the crew who loom like they are being set up and introduced as regulars are killed twenty minutes into the first episode. The main characters introduction is staggered throughout the two episodes with a few swerves thrown in. The end situation with two crews thrown together to pilot an undermanned star ship is possibly the most intriguing of any Star Trek pilot. 6/10.

Paralax: A very good episode showing the two crews aren't quite getting along and choosing Torres to get the first character centric episode is a good way to bring in the supporting cast and give a good share of the action to Chakotay and Janeway. Also a very good situation for the episode. 8/10.

Time and Again: Tepid timey wimey rubbish. 0/10

Phage: A brilliant alien race, a fantastic plot and an absorbing episode. 10/10.

The Cloud: A proper good one off nail the story to the plot episode. 8/10.

Eye of the Needle: A good little character episode with a few intriguing twists. 7/10.

Ex Post Facto: A good little whodunit and an interesting take on first contact with a new species. 6/10.

Emanations: Dull but worthy, Kim is a decent supporting character but his first centric episode doesn't hold my interest. 5/10.

Prime Factors: Good stuff and interesting to see characters entering a situation with no right or wrong and wrestling with their consciouses. 6/10.

State of Flux: A very good episode making full use of a supporting character (up to this point) and placing the rest of the cast in a situation where not everyone can be trusted. 9/10.

Heroes and Villains: Interesting use of the holodeck and nice to see The Doctor get an episode to shine. 9/10.

Cathexis: Absolute fantastic plot with twists and turns, by far one of the best episodes. 10/10.

Faces: Good to see the Vidiians reappear, they are being turned into a big threat to the Voyager crew. Interesting chaarcter examination of Torres by splitting her in two. 8/10.

Jetrel: Possibly one of my favourite episodes of this show, Neelix is a more interesting character and nice to see shades of grey developing for what looked to be a black and white character. 10/10

Learning Curve: Nice to see that some of the crew are having trouble adapting to star fleet rules and a good way of fleshing out some background characters as Tuvok trains them. But it feels out of place, this should have been the 4th or 5th episode and as such it doesn't quite work. 6/10.


A very good first season with a lot of interesting characters and new aliens introduced, only niggle is I'd like to see more edge between the two crews.

Losing Your Mojo

Good afternoon ladies and gentle readers, have you ever lost your mojo?

Your swerve, your swagger, that little bit of x-factor in yourself.

I'm going to let you into a secret readers, you never lost it and its never gone. If you have something to do and find yourself unable to do it, steal yourself get yourself together, remember all the things that make you do those thing you do and go for it a second time.

Thats todays words of wisdom from this blogger and after a few days banging my head against the wall its back into the fight tomorrow.

The Big Finish Catch-up: January - August 2016

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;

Hello ladies and gentle readers, regular readers of this blog may have noticed that blog entries are becoming a tad infrequent. Sorry about that but life is getting in the way and in an effort to catch up all the stories I listened to in the first eight months of the year are getting a one sentence review, so here we go;

The Macros, Lost story featuring the 6th Doctor and Peri: nice tight story decent plot.

Circular Time, series of one episode stories featuring the 5th Doctor and Nyssa: punch the air level brilliant, again didn't know about the format and the most enjoyable release I've heard in ages.

Nocturne, featuring the 7th Doctor, Ace and Hex: a rather low key feel but very good and oddly emotional in a strange way.

Renaissance of the Daleks, featuring the 5th Doctor and Nyssa: very good plot but very uninvolving.

Year of the Pig, featuring the 6th Doctor and Peri: Very Wodehouse in a good way.

The Thousand Worlds featuring the War Doctor: good but very much the second act of a box set.

Exotron and Urban Myths featuring the 5th Doctor and Peri: Exotron was decent and Urban Myths was very enjoyable.

Valhalla featuring the 7th Doctor, very atmospheric with the first half being a lot better.

I.D. and Urgent Calls featuring the 6th Doctor: I have no memory what so ever of I.D. and Urgent Calls is utter gorgeousness personified.

Memory Lane featuring the 8th Doctor: Charley and C'rizz: good stuff in a rather good strange way.

Frozen Time featuring the 7th Doctor: run of the mill.

Son of the Dragon featuring the 5th Doctor, Peri and Erimem: good but felt like a retread of 'The Settling' without the bite.

Return of the Daleks featuring the 7th Doctor: very good and very dark.

Rulers of the Universe featuring River Song and the 8th Doctor: very good and cracking end to the box set.

The Circus of Doom featuring the 4th Doctor and Mike Yates: Tom is bloody brilliant and on cracking form.

The Heart of the Battle featuring the War Doctor: a powerful end to the series with John Hurt being more bombastic than I expected.

100 featuring the 6th Doctor and Evelyn: two wonderfully funny stories, a fantastic dark one and one I'd love to have been a full length story.

Absolution featuring the 8th Doctor, Charley and C'rizz: an absolute unexpected game changer.

Minds Eye and Mission of the Viyrans featuring the 5th Doctor, Peri and Erimem: two cracking and different stories leaving me rather anxious for this line up of characters.