The Big Finish Catch Up: January 2015

Hello ladies and gentle readers, excuse the lateness of this months addition to this section of the blog. For those of you new to this section I started buying the Big Finish Doctor Who releases when they originally started although over the years I've fallen behind by about ten years. In order to catch up I listen to two releases a month, however I have no knowledge of whats coming (most of the time), I don't see the cover, don't know who wrote it or which characters are in it. Without further ado here's this months first listen:

It was a nice surprise to hear Mark Strickson as Turlough, it has been ages since I last heard him along with Peter Davisons Fifth Doctor. He appears so infrequently its still a novelty when he does and he's in a wonderfully sour mood for this story The Russian setting is also rather a novelty and rather fun. As a story due to the nature of the villains (borrowed by the TV series) its quite a bit viscous with a bite Big Finish releases don't often have. The Fifth Doctors innocent charm is a good counter point to the rest of the story and is quite fun. All in all an enjoyable story perhaps raised by the darker tone, the writer isn't someone I'm familiar with and will look forward to hearing another story penned by him. 

I bought this in a recent sale and decided to insert it into my listening pile at random and it came up early! Having heard The Destiny of the Doctor range I wanted to hear more of Frazer Hines impersonation of Troughton. This is a story pitched for the TV series by Brian Hayles which never got made. Its more of an audio book format than the usual play and it stars Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury who played the Second Doctor companions Jamie and Zoe with Caroline Faber as the titular character. Its essentially a rehash of The Celestial Toymaker with a time theme instead of toys. We have a good villain, perhaps a better villain than the Toymaker himself. Frazer is fantastic as Troughton and Jamie while Wendy is also worth the price of admission. As a story its easy to see why it wasn't taken up by the production team but its fun if your looking for an audio that recreates the Troughton era. Although if you have no interest in the era its not one I'd go out of my way to recommend, decent if not great.

Who will be the next QPR manager?

While watching the transfer deadline day coverage on Sky Sports News earlier in the week a reporter informed the viewers that Harry Redknapp would not be doing his traditional car window interview. At that moment I turned to the person next to me and said "he'll be gone within the week." However there was nobody else there so in order for this to become an anecdote worthy of starting a blog I rang a number at random then blurted "HARRY REDKNAPP WILL BE GONE WITHIN THE WEEK" and hung up.

Lo and behold Ladies and Gentle readers two days later Harry announces he's leaving due to knee surgery and I've got QPR owner Tony Fernandes on the phone begging me to put together a shortlist of candidates before the next match. Well Tony can rest at ease as I've sent him the following shortlist;

Harry Redknapps Dog

Just think of the advantages, he's learnt the trade from the master of wheeling and dealing in the football world as well as how to sit and play dead. As well as that he is knowledgeable in football finance as according to Harry he has set up a number of offshore accounts. The added bonus is from the above picture he can continue the tradition of car window interviews on transfer deadline day.

Del Trotter

Who else could take over from footballs wheeler dealer than the much loved wheeler dealer of TV. Remember Tony this time next year you could be a millionaire owner of a team playing Champions League Football he who dares - wins!

Ahhgee Productions

After taking the world of pod casting by storm in 2014 surely the next step is football management. Whip it in the box Andy, Goalkeeper Coach Grax and Michael Bell off of the Internet have what it takes to become the next management team of QPR. Think about it, Andy can review the toilets of all twenty premiership grounds, Michael can inspire the team with poetry or get angry and shout at them while Grax can refer any troubled players to the new QPR club councillor Texas the Psychic Horse (he knows what your Premiership Footballer is thinking).

Judge Rinder

Judge Robert Rinder, the no nonsense Criminal Barrister who has taken daytime TV by story. His no nonsense approach is just what QPR needs and he surely wont take any crap from the likes of Joey Barton.

Tim Sherwood

Yes Tims a bit of an idiot, yes he's had high profile falling outs with Harry Redknapp, Glenn Hoddle, Kenny Dalglish and the invisible duck that lives in his attic. Yes his Spurs side was boring, yes he only has six months first team management experience. However I've put a fiver on him and I honestly believe this negates all of the negative aspects of this potential appointment.

So there you go Tony Fernandes, theres your shortlist I truly hope you appointment the right man (or dog) and QPR go from strength to strength.

That Was Liverpools Month What Was: January 2015

01/01/15

The traditional New Years Day fixture would kick things off for us and 2015's fixture saw the visit of bottom side Leicester City. Two converted penalties (dubious) from Steven Gerrard saw us take a flattering 2-0 half time lead. The second half got off to an awful start which Leicester built on and got a a goal back in the 58th minute through a classy volley from David Nugent. Sadly while we were all catching our breaths from that shot Schlupp got another goal for Leicester and equalised. Second half substitutes Borini and Lambert were unable to get us another goal although 3rd substitute Markovic would miss a free header. All things considered the draw flattered us and we were missing firepower up front.

02/01/15

Sadly on the second day of the year news broke that Steven Gerrard would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.

Ladies and gentle readers, what I will say about this is there are three certainties in life - death, taxes and footballers growing old and losing their legs. This is not the time to remember Gerrard as he has been in the last few seasons but to remember him in his pomp, dragging us up when we were floored, those fantastic goals and performances that got us challenging for and winning trophies. The midfield partnerships he had with Didi Hamann and Xabi Alonso, the second one ranking amongst the greats IMO. Personally the memory that always comes top for me is the second half performance against Olympiacos in the 2005 Champions League. All the best Stevie and may you enjoy your retirement.


05/01/15

Monday evening saw us taking on Wimbledon AFC in the 3rd round of the FA Cup a replay of the 1988 final. It was a hard fought match with Wimbledon channelling the thugness of the crazy gang and managing to bully us off the ball. After taking the lead thanks to Steven Gerrard Wimbledon went on to equalise giving us a draw at half time. It was chances ahoy in the second half as Liverpool asserted their dominance with the solitary goal coming from a fantastic Steven Gerrard free kick. The captain gets the man of the match for me but the main benefit of the game was the newcomers such as Markovic, Can and Manquillo getting a lower league kicking away at Wimbledon which will do them wonders in the long term.

Adam Lallana was ruled out for a few weeks due to a calf injury.


06/01/15

It was reported today that Suso had agreed a 4 year deal with AC Milan, his contract expires in the summer. It is this bloggers belief that letting Suso get away is something that could come back to haunt us in the future.


10/01/15

A Saturday lunchtime kick off saw us take on Sunderland in a hard thought away match. Markovic would score an early goal and put on a man of the match display - this kid will go far.

Sadly the match itself was frustrating, Sunderland would go a man down early in the second half yet poor creativity blighted our chances of scoring a second as only 4 of 21 chances were on target. A tough (very hard thought) win and Sunderland were still in with a chance of getting something out of it when we should have been out of sight.


13/01/15

Oussama Assaidi who had spent most of his time with us on loan to Stoke left for UAE Arabian Gulf League side Al-Ahli Dubai. Speaking as someone who saw quite a few of his games for Heereveen I'm rather sad this move didn't work out and wish him well for the rest of his career.

Also today on the advice of his PR team Dejan Lovren after an inauspicious start to his Anfield career decided to let people into his off field life and displayed his hobby of collecting kinder egg figurines:

 I think you'll agree readers its a lot more interesting than golf...


17/01/15

A rare 3PM Saturday kick off saw us away at Aston Villa, I say Aston Villa but when they play us they usually turn into Aston Madrid. A dominating away performance saw both Borini and Lambert score giving us a 0-2 result. Man of the match for me was Jordan Henderson with a captains performance and setting up a goal. Of note this was the first league game two of our strikers had scored in for a dogs age.


20/01/15

Liverpool took on Chelsea in the first leg of the Capital One Cup semi final at Anfield. Going into the match I was expecting a war, what we got was Liverpool at their attacking best, a Chelsea team as their most boring, a referee at his most inept and one hell of a cup tie. On one of their few forays into the box Chelsea would get a goal but mostly it was Liverpool attack after attack with 11 men in red against a goal keeper having the match of his life and a blatantly crooked ref. Sterling would score a cracker, Lallana would have a brilliant shot saved, Countinho would rule Chelseas midfield and Costa would handle the ball while laying over it and not give away a penalty. One of the most free flowing attack against defence teams I've seen and a game where Liverpools false striker tactics and three attacking midfielders technique was at its best.


24/01/15

A tea time kick off saw us taking on Bolton at home in the FA Cup. It was a tail of a goal keeper on form, we had nine on target shots, 68% possession but the man of the match was to be Bolton keeper Bogdan. Of note was Emile Heskey returning to Anfield up front for Bolton at the ripe old age of 37, his battle with Sakho was a fun side show to a frustrating match.

27/01/15

Liverpool paid a visit to Plastic Bridge for the second leg of the Capital One Cup, pilgrims in an unholy land we have been but one thing this match showed is it takes an away stand of Liverpool fans to bring atmosphere to the bridge. It was another war and one for the ages, Skrtel Vs Costa Gerrard Vs Terry and Henderson Vs Fabregas were some of the highlights. There were nine yellow cards in this heated game, nine shots on target and end to end stuff. Sadly on entering extra time Ivanovic (one of the few players for Chelsea this blogger has any time for) slotted in from a corner. We tried our best and if not for a Jordan Henderson  header that want wide would have taken it to penalties. One of the adages of football was born out at the end of this two legged classic, sometimes the bad guys win...


31/01/15

The final day of the month saw us welcome Big Fat Sams West Ham to Anfield but in reality this game was about the return of one person:

Um... no not him...

No not Anfield Cat either, try again...

Are you trying to be funny?

That's right ladies and gentle reader it was the return of Daniel Sturridge

A hard fought rear end battle saw West Ham hold us to 0-0 at half time. The front threes dinky little passing paid off as Sterling scored on 51 minutes. Then a few minutes later Brendan did what we were all waiting for and brought on Daniel Sturridge who only went and scored in the 80th minute! Yes sometimes the script is written and we get that x-factor moment we all anticipated. Good performances all around saw Mignolet get a clean sheet, our defence give Carroll and Downing a right good thrashing and a good little cameo from Jordan Ibe for the final 10 minutes.

That was Liverpools Month What Was: January 2015!

The Top Ten Royal Rumbles

Ladies and Gentle readers its January and after new years theres not a lot to look forward to unless your a snow or rain enthusiast. However going back to yesteryear and indeed my youth January used to signal one thing: The Road to Wrestlemania! And where does the road to Wrestlemania start? The Royal Rumble!

Having drifted away from wrestling and the WWE (it used to be WWF until the Pandas took the F) I often drift back in around this time of year in time for the Rumble. However I'm in the mood for Nostalgia and what better way to build up to the Royal Rumble than a count down of my favourite Royal Rumbles;

No 10

1990

A rather decent undercard sees Ronnie Garvin beat Greg Valentine and Jim Duggan get a DQ win over the heel Big Bossman. The Bushwhackers get a win over The Fabulous Rougeaus and Brutus Beefcake has a rather fun match with The Genius. All fun and wets the appetite for the main event.

Ted DiBiase enters first and does the first memorably long stint of anyone in a rumble lasting forty four minutes and he's the MVP of this match. He keeps everything together, has tremendous psychology and at one point saves Dusty Rhodes from falling out of the ring at the wrong point. Some Wrestlemania angles are built up such as Demolition taking on the Colossal Connection, Roddy Piper eliminating Bad News Brown but this Rumble is remembered for one thing. Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior tangling in the ring for the first time building up to that years Wrestlemania.

No 9

1991

The opening match is one of my favourite matches of all time as The Rockers take on The Orient Express. But the big thing about the undercard is Ultimate Warrior turning down a title challenge from Macho King Randy Savage, which results in Savage costing Warrior the title and Sgt Slaughter becoming Champ. This would lead to a classic Wrestlemania match and in keeping with the story Warrior would run Savage out of the building leaving a vacant spot in the Rumble which wasn't filled.

The Rumble itself is rather fun with Greg Valentine and Rick Martel putting in memorable performances, Martel in particular is in wonderful heel mode as he gets a heel push which would end later that year - his elimination of Jake Roberts is heel brilliance. Undertaker makes a memorable first appearance eliminating Bret Hart within seconds and he's rocking this early incarnation of his dead man gimmick. The British Bulldog gets a good showing as he lasts a while and finally eliminates Martel. Things turn a bit obvious when Hogan turns up and beats the heels to win but its a firm favourite.

No 8

   

2005

At this point WWE had split in two with half the roster on Raw and half on Smackdown, usually going into a Rumble its pretty obvious who the winner will be but here we have two potential winners. Raw had been building up Batista for a title shot and Smackdown John Cena. The undercard is fun with JBL surviving a triple thread match, Edge and Shaun Michaels opening the show, Undertaker in a casket match and HHH against Randy Orton.

Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit start things off, the crowd is hot for Eddie and go nuts when he's eliminated, we have the infamous Puder incident at the start and we have a good Royal Rumble which perhaps makes the best use of the brand split. Shaun Michaels and Kurt Angle have a brilliant cameo setting up a Wrestlemania match. When things get down to Cena and Batista its a coin toss who will win and theres a fantastic swerve of them both falling out together and a restart of the final two with Batista winning. Lots of good stuff to be had here.

No 7

1998

A cracking undercard sees Shaun Michaels retain the title against The Undertaker who ended the show being burnt in a casket by Kane setting up a Wrestlemania match. The New Age Outlaws take on LOD, Rock retaining the Intercontinental title over Ken Shamrock and Vader against Goldust make up the rest of the matches.

What a Rumble, Mick Foley gets three entries as Cactus Jack, Mankind and Dude Love - a brilliant swerve I was gutted when Cactus Jack went out so early. The Rock enters early and gets the lengthy heel position push and a good start after getting put in a trash can and thrown through the ropes by Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie - plus we start things off with a chainsaw in the ring! Its all about Steve Austin as he starts his epic push that would net him the title at Wrestlemania, entering through the crowd after attacking his opponents for the previous few weeks he's a man on a mission and his win sends the crowd wild stunning The Rock over the top rope.

No 6

2001

This was a Royal Rumble that was marketed as "The Most Star Studded" of all time, debatable but it was a good one. You can tell WWE had a good roster at this as no one pulled double duty and it was still a good undercard. The Dudleys beat Bono and Christian in a good match, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit tear the house down in a great ladder match. A woman's championship match is used to build up a feud for Wrestlemania and the title match is a fantastic storyline match between Kurt Angle and HHH with Steve Austin interfering to cost HHH.

The Rumble though is all about Kane who enters early, is the runner up, eliminates eleven people and when it got down to him and the all conquering Steve Austin there was a feeling for a few seconds that he could win. The Rock puts in a brilliant performance, theres a cameo from the Big Show returning from injury, Rikishi is at the height of his heel push, Steve Austin has a brilliant out of ring fight with HHH and Undertaker makes up the list of headliners. But despite the big names this Rumble is up high because of Kane and that brief "he might actually win" moment.

No 5

2003

We're back in the brand split era, the PPV starts off with Brock Lesnar and Big Show in a quick match for the final spot in the Rumble. The rest of the undercard is forgettable except for Kurt Angle Vs Chris Benoit which is a Wrestlemania level match.

The Rumble is brilliant, so many wrestlers I could watch for hours here and plenty of names, it reads like a whose who of wrestling. What raises this Rumble is the continuation of the Chris Jericho and Shaun Michaels angle building up for Wrestlemania, Shaun Michaels is made number 1 entrant so Jericho wants the second slot and to outlast him, he then proceeds to enter from behind and take Michaels out with a chair. From that point Jericho rules this Rumble like a panto villain and is brilliant. Rob Van Dam gets half an hour which gets a thumbs up from me, the Hardy brothers clash, Undertaker makes a return from injury and Brock Lesnar succeeds despite having the world against him.

No 4

1994

Another Rumble which is affected by the undercard, Bret and Owen Hard go for the tag titles with Owen turning on Bret completes a heel turn and potentially eliminates Bret from the Rumble. Yokozuna against Undertaker in a casket match turns into Undertaker Vs an army of heels and is rather fun.

This Rumble however is remembered for Diesel, who enters the ring eliminates those in the ring then proceeds to win the crowd over by eliminating the next few entrants within seconds until Randy Savage enters and puts a stop to it. The rest of the Rumble is fun as the later half of entrants fill the ring and a bit of trivia it has my favourite wrestling mistake. Greg Valentine falls off the apron leaving Rick Martel with nobody to eliminate him, he then picks Tatanka out and random runs at him and jumps over the ropes with Tatanka visually confused about what is happening. The final four is brilliant with Shaun Michaels & Fatus double elimination being brilliant. Someone doesn't come out making the viewer think Bret Hart isn't going to make it and then he limps out two numbers later. Good ending as the top two faces at the time are made co-winners building up nicely to the following Wrestlemania.

No 3

2007

A rather fun undercard whose highlights include The Hardys Vs MnM, Batista Vs Mr Kennedy and a bonkers Last Man Standing Match between Umaga and John Cena but this one is all about the Rumble Match.

Possibly this is the best end to a Rumble match ever, 10 or so people in the ring and out comes The Great Khali (when he's still being booked as a monster) who eliminated almost everyone in the ring until he's stood there dominant (brilliant moment when he's facing the wrong way and Shaun Michaels shouts "look at the camera dummy") with the survivors laying comatose when who comes out at number 30 but Undertaker. After a brief confrontation Undertaker eliminates him then MVP leaving Undertaker, Shaun Michaels, Edge and Randy Orton. After RKO are gone (after giving Undertaker some chair shots) its a shoot out between Undertaker and Michaels, either of them could have justifiably won a fantastic Rumble.

No 2

2004

Its very hard to talk about this Rumble because of whats happened outside of the ring since then. However at the time I was a big mark for the winner having watched him since 1997 in his WCW days. With Eddie winning earlier in the night there was a feeling a new era was dawning in WWE and at the time the Rumble felt like it was the moment it happened.

No 1

1992

Yes ladies and gentle readers this is my favourite Royal Rumble, due to Ric Flair interfering in title defences between Hulk Hogan and Undertaker the title was declared vacant and the new champion would be the winner of the Royal Rumble. The undercard gives the tag wrestlers something to do and actually tells one tale of the Rumble as Roddy Piper has two matches, he's in the Rumble and beats The Mountie for the Intercontinental belt giving him two title matches in the same night.

The Rumble starts out with the British Bulldog and Ted Dibiase, Bulldog getting a face push which would see him headline Summerslam later that year and he eliminates Dibiase before the third entrant gets to the ring! This is amazing never happened before stuff and sends the crowd wild, Ric Flair comes in next which sends Bobby Heenan insane - his commentary for this event is legendary. Theres so many big names here in what I think is the most star studded Rumble; Bulldog, Dibiase, Shaun Michaels fresh off splitting up The Rockers and turning heel, Rick Martel, Kerry Von Erich, Barry Darsow as Repo Man, Big Boss Man, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, Undertaker, Randy Savage, Sgt Slaughter, Sid Justice and Hulk Hogan. The ending is brilliant, at the time you still think Hogans going to win but the ultimate heel performance of Ric Flair endures and he has his first WWF title and gives one of his best promos to end the show.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The Pub Landord Vs Nigel Farage

For those of you not into politics yesterday this happened:

No ladies and gentle readers your eyes and ears are not deceiving you Al Murray is standing as his character "The Pub Landlord" in the upcoming election as an MP in South Thanet against UKIP's Nigel Farage. After seeing the party political broadcast for the Free United Kingdom Party the 2015 General Election now has a bit of colour to it. How the one note politically inept comedy character will do against The Pub Landlord is anyones guess but after seeing the above video this blogger is dreaming of a British moon on a British stick.

Guardians of the Galaxy Review

I liked it and think you might like it to, you should go and see it, although you may have left it to late and should get the DVD instead.

Don't feel obligated to see it though, I'm just saying I think you'll like it.

The Big Finish Catch Up: December 2014

In my ongoing mission to catch up with Big Finishes output I squeeze four releases into December.

Up first this month is "The Chaos Pool" featuring the 5th Doctor and Amy played by Peter Davidson and Ciara Janson. In case you can't remember I got the first part of this trilogy in a sale a few years back and when the rest of Key 2 Time came on offer I nabbed in and slotted it into my "listen to" pile. Well this story is rather run of the mill, we're wondering into big budget blockbuster territory that isn't to well suited to audio. Peter Anghelides usually pens a fun tale but we're in serious end of the universe territory here and theres very little of the fun in the previous two instalments here. Also theres a lot of filling time and "moving the the chess pieces" around the the board. Things get better as the story progresses, very much a tale of two half's and as things escalated on the second disc my attention was firmly grabbed. Familiar faces reappear (take a look at the cover - although its not what you think) and start influencing the story giving it a sense of urgency. I came away with a sense of enjoyment, I'm also rather tempted to investigate the "Tracers" spin off. The 5th Doctor and Amy were a rather fun TARDIS crew and I hope their paths cross in the future.

Second up this month is "Live 34" featuring the 7th Doctor, Ace and Hex. This is firmly a story I urge you to get, utterly brilliant and borderline perfect. In 2003 Big Finish released a number of experimental stories and this 2005 release could fit into those stories perfectly. Its all about the presentation for this story, its told in the format of a radio show reporting incidents The Doctor and company are involved with and hearing a Doctor Who story from the point of view of the population The Doctor is trying to save. We don't even get the theme music on this disc we get jingles and music from the titular Liver 34 radio station. If like we you enjoyed BF's 2003 experimental phase this is definitely a story for you, in all honestly the resolution leaves a little to be desired but up to that point the stories so good its only a little niggle. Of note is an appearance from 90's radio host and current TV and film reviewer Andrew Collins.

Next up is "Horror of Glam Rock" we're off into the 8th Doctor Adventures range featuring the 8th Doctor and Lucie. A rather amusing 45 minute story set in a motorway service station populated by 70's rockers on their way to gigs or Top of the Pops, Paul Magrs works his usual stuff and like the title theres a few 70's song lyrics hidden in the story. The cast is like a whose who, apart from Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith as the regulars we have BERNARD BLOODY CRIBBINS of virtually everything from the last 50 years, Una Stubbs best known from Sherlock, Stephen Gately from Boyzone and Clare Buckfield of Grange Hill and 2.4 Children. Lots of fun and a rather quick story that left me looking forward to the next episode, Lucie after experiencing an alien planet gets to experience time travel and meets and unexpected person. Keep your ears peeled for an element of the season long plot.

After hearing Demon Quest and Serpents Crest I decide to nip back to the start of the 4th Doctors audio adventures. Featuring the 4th Doctor, Mrs Wibbsey and Mike Yates its another Paul Magrs penned story this month. As opposed to the plays I've heard this month this is an audio book, its bloody good fun though. Tom Baker and Richard Franklin cover the narrating duties with Susan Jameson and Daniel Hill voicing their respective characters. This is pure traditional 70's cookies and milk Doctor Who and set in Nest Cottage with a wonderfully OTT Tom Baker this story is pure nostalgia and all the best for it. A jolly spiffing story that sees the 4th Doctor taking on the might of some stuffed animals - Magrs at his most bonkers. Having heard the future ranges from this team its fascinating to hear the start and it sounds like a have an origin for Mrs Wibbsey to look forward to.

I can recommend all the releases reviewed this month and look forward to continuing my journey through the Big Finish output in 2015.