The Big Finish Catch-Up August 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 Relative Dimensions in the 8th Doctor range featuring the 8th Doctor, Susan, Lucie and Alex. For those familiar with this story I'm listening to it at the wrong time of year and its a rather lovely low key Christmas special 8/10. Its a rather intimate little story with a Doctor Who twist thrown in for good measure and this season is rivalling the first in terms of quality.

Second up The Similarity Engine featuring Jago & Litefoot with the final story of the season 1 box set. I had little idea what was going on but had a fun time none the less 9/10. As for the box set as a whole, I'll certainly be coming back for more. As a box set the first story had to do a lot of set up which I can understand, the final story had to close things up which it mostly did well and it gave us two bonkers stories in the middle, so as a whole 9/10. 

Finally this month The Foe From the Future featuring the 4th Doctor and Leela. Loads of fun and its rare that a story can make me cheer out loud like a situation with Leela late in the story does. The best compliment that I can pay a "Lost Story" is that during the story I felt like I was transported back to the era its set and could easily be watching a DVD. Highly recommended and not the story featuring cats on Gallifrey that I was expected 8/10.

Ninja Leaves Twitch

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, one of the biggest name in Fortnite and one of Twitch’s most popular streamers, is leaving the platform to stream exclusively on Mixer. The news comes via a tweet from the streaming star, with him dubbing the move “the next chapter.” Mixer is a fledgling streaming service owned by Microsoft that launched as Beam back in 2016. The Ninja exclusivity marks a major get for the platform, which has struggled to catch up to competitors like Twitch and YouTube.

“I have been holding on to this for quite some time,” Ninja said, “and I’m just super excited to let everyone know. I’ll be streaming on Mixer full-time now and I’m honestly at a loss for words. I’m freaking out in the best ways. I feel like I’m going to get back to the streaming roots.” He goes on to say that his streams will be “the exact same,” so don’t expect Ninja to get away from Fortnite any time soon.

The Big Finish Catch-Up July 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 "All Consuming Fire" from the novelisation range featuring the 7th Doctor, Ace and Bernice. A very notable story as it features a guest appearance from Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Its a fun little story of a book I never got around to reading, if I'd known this story was coming I may have been disappointed but as with the format of this blog its a fun throwaway story 6/10.

Next up is "The Isos Network" my second trip to the Early Years range featuring the 2nd Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. Its a really good atmospheric, well written and acted story. Frazer Hines does a very good Patrick Troughton impersonation and hearing this Doctor face the Cybermen brought back waves of nostalgia. 8/10 and it would have been higher if the story didn't grind to a halt for the middle two episodes.

Finally "The Seeds of War" a rare recent trip into the monthly range featuring the 6th Doctor and Mel. A very good moody small scale story set against the backdrop of a large scale space war. Also a very good way of introducing a new regular villain that I look forward to hearing again 8/10.

The Big Finish Catch-Up June 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 its "The Masters of Luxor" in the Lost Story range, not just any Lost Story but the original lost story featuring the original TARDIS crew in what was intended to be the shows second story. Written by Anthony Coburn and adapted by Nigel Robinson this is the most unique story I've listened to from Big Finish. I have no intention of reviewing this story or marking it out of ten I just want to bask in it and feel emotional that I've experienced it. It does feel very old fashioned and very "Metopolis" while also having that feel of the first three stories of Who. Carole Ann Ford and William Russell give a cracking performance - this is a very well realised story. Interesting is a few similarities to "The Daleks" namely the city and there is a bit of lift action that makes me wonder if this was in Verity Lamberts notes. I highly recommend this purchase as I've rarely felt so emotional listening to a story.


Next up its the 8th Doctor range as the 8th Doctor and Tamsin in"Deimos" and "The Resurrection of Mars." This is without doubt a 10/10 release, possibly my favourite script by Jonathan Morris and in my opinion one of the best stories Big Finish has released. From the start it feels like a fun romp that The Doctor is going to wrap up in one episode and then we get a cliffhanger that signifies the moment where everything changes and the story goes in another direction. This is a story of manipulation, fracturing relationships and just how dangerous travelling with The Doctor can be. As usual people die, there are twists but due to the nature of the story the victories feel like something of a relief rather than a reason to party. The Doctor and the antagonist are left in very interesting situations at the end of this story and I look forward to finding out what happens next. At the moment I would say we are in this ranges best season since the first.

Liverpool FC End of Season Review 2018/19

Be warned ladies and gentle readers the following is my player by player and manager review of the season. I am a notoriously hard marker so expect some scathing conclusions;

Jurgen Klopp: Perfectly blended our squad into a team to fit his vision and very nearly had the perfect season if you ignore the bits that weren't perfect 10/10.

Roger Fabinho: Decent first season, took time to get used to the league and scored a goal 10/10.

Virgil van Dijk: The boss of our defence, his pass interception has become an iconic part of our play 10/10.

George Windjammer: Had a more impact full year than the previous season 10/10.

James Milner: Best Twitter game on the league 10/10.

Naby Keita: Very good box to box player, good penetration in the box, good defence in our box. Potentially useful in a post match boxing match 10/10.

Roberto Firmino: Very firm and changed his style of play this year, could do with losing a 'O' from his name 10/10.

Sadio Mane: Very good and scored lots of goals 10/10.

Mohamed Salah: Very good follow up to a season defining season which could only be improved by being a bit more like he was last season 10/10.

Joe Gomez: Always good to have a player with a 'Z' in his name for OCD reasons 10/10.

Alisson: A beast between the sticks - our best keeper since Ray Clemence 10/10.

Jordan Henderson: Part of a much improved middle three 10/10.

Daniel Sturridge: Sorry to see him go and he leaves us in a better position than where he found us 10/10.

Alberto Moreno: Rarely played and is now leaving 11/10.

Adam Lallana: An injury ravaged season but had a good advert game 10/10.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: Very good season, kept the club doctor and physio team in good humour with good stand up material 10/10.

Simon Mingolet Have 10/10 and lets quietly pass this player by.


Xherdan Shaqiri: A good impact sub 10/10.

Rhian Brewster: One for the future but have a word with the parents as that isn't how you spell Ryan 10/10.

Andrew Robertson: Best fullback in the league 10/10

Divock Origi: Plays football and sounds like a Doctor Who monster from the Tom Baker years 10/10.

Joel Matip: Underrated 10/10.

Nathan Phillips: Gets on the list instead of Dejan Lovren due to an admin error 10/10.

Curtis Jones: Didn't he sing for Motown 10/10.

Ben Woodburn: The future of Wales 20/10.

Caoimhi Kelleher: Buy a cons tenant 10/10.

Rafael Comacho: Keep up the good work 10/10.

Trent Alexander Arnold Reginald Smyth III: Made the position his own and first name on the team sheet due to it having to be written 48 hours before the match due to his long name 10/10.

National Biscuit Day - The Jaffa Cake Debate

Good afternoon ladies and gentle readers, as you may be aware today is national biscuit day. A day I'm for as it gives me an excuse to drink more tea and dunk more biscuits. Although every year there is some debate on weather certain items are biscuits or not, mostly jaffa cakes.

Imagine there is a picture of a jaffa cake right here please.

People I beseech you, lets not bicker about labels and a jaffa cake is or isn't. Lets just be grateful that we live in a world where jaffa cakes exist. 

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.