January 18

DW: The Company of Friends

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 123rd Big Finish Main Range Adventure ‘The Company of friends’. Here we have four stories with the eighth Doctor and four different companions. The first story is with Benny which takes place around 2609 (Ahistory) and fifty million years before. Ahistory puts the story in the 10th season of Benny. The second story is with Fitz and the third with Izzy. Izzy’s story takes place on 8th April 1988. The fourth story is with Mary Shelley and takes place in June 1816.

Benny’s Story

I think most people know who Bernice Summerfield is. She is an archaeologist and a companion of the seventh Doctor in the books. Later Big Finish made audio dramas around her. Here we get a short summary of her life. Even if you never heart of her you got a good grip of her. I like her. She is fun. In this story she is working for a woman who is searching for something. It turns out it is TARDIS key of the Doctors TARDIS.
The atmosphere is light and fun with a little action in it.

Fitz’s Story

Fitz is also a companion out of the books. He has a complicated story. I myself don’t fully understand because I just read the summary of his story. Ahistory hadn’t placed the story in time and there is no time given just the planet Entusso. This story is about the private Alien Device Incorporated that used the Doctor in their commercial. So the Doctor starts investigating. Like the story before it is a really light and fun atmosphere.

Izzy’s Story

Izzy is a companion from the comics. I never of her before. In this story she seems young, loud and having always something to say. She is kinda a geek. This story is about Izzy wanting to know what happened in the last volume of one of her comics, that just seem to have vanished from every place. The atmosphere is crazy? I think it is actually crazy. It has a lot of aliens in it and really special comic ‘heroes’. This is the story I like the less of all of them.
Also I really dislike the ending and I am totally the Doctor in this one… I really don’t understand her.

Mary’s Story

Mary Shelley is a companion that appears in a book and a few audio dramas. Here in this story we have her and a few of her friends to kill time. It is the first meeting of her and the Doctor. It is also a story about how Mary finds her idea to her book Frankenstein. What I like about the story and why I really want to listen to more stories with her is that she is a companion that really existed. This is the only story that is really dark. Mary is like the only light in this story.

Listing or not

The most stories of the eighth Doctor are dark and sad. This Doctor has so many scars on him…he has always that shadow over him. But in this stories we see a lighter, funnier Doctor. He is with people who are so fully of life and hope and optimism that makes him look not so troubled. So yeah differently go and listen to this.

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Science Fiction, Serie | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 9

DW: The Girl who never was

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 103rd Big Finish Main Range Adventure ‘The Girl who never was’ with the 8th Doctor and Charley. I know I was really quiet for a long time. Life never goes like you wanted. But let’s talk about the more important things Doctor Who. This adventure is the last adventure of Charley and 8th Doctor. The last time we lost C’rizz (Absolution). Charley can’t deal with who the Doctor deals with the death of C’rizz and wants to separate.

They are at their best

This adventure as it all. It has a great friendship at their end. Charley and the Doctor had so many adventures together. They were so close than C’rizz came and everything changed and when he died everything again. The way Charley is grieving and the way the Doctor is grieving or trying to avoid grieving doesn’t work together. So we have these both character that cares deeply about each other and still need to say farewell. The last adventure and it doesn’t work out like they thought. The story with each other are always the best when they are on their own. Charley is landing in 1942 on the Batavia – Batavia was a the last ship out of the harbour at the japanese siege of Singapore. The Doctor lands on the same ship in the year 2008.

I am Charlotte Pollard

The Doctor meets an old woman who tells him that she is Charlotte Pollard. She doesn’t remember what happened in 1942 and doesn’t remember the Doctor. Is she our Charley and the Doctor fails to save her and she just stays there and live her life. If she is not Charley than who is she really. The Doctor is trying to solve this mystery and find his Charley.

Charley on the other hand find herself in 1942 on the ship with the crew of the smuggler Byron. She also met a girl disguise as a boy on the ship. It is like throwback to her past when she run away and smuggled herself as boy on board. Isn’t it a great circle?

The End of the story

I like the story but it is war from the best we had from them. It feels most of the time like a farewell. It is time for both to move on and that is how the story feels for me. It is good but the best times are over and it is time for something new. Even both are not ready to really let go. Something it could go on and then next second you think no it can’t and that it is. It is an end of an era. It is a good goodbye to them. They were a great team but they never really got them totally right and that they kinda misunderstood what is going on is so them. It feels right as an end for them.

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Science Fiction, Serie | 1 Comment on DW: The Girl who never was
March 14

DW: Absolution

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 101st adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – Absolution. It takes place on the planet Utebbadon-Tarria with the eighth Doctor, C’rizz and Charley. This story brings the storyline around C’rizz to an end. It is not my favorite story but it focus on C’rizz and his developement. Which is a good thing.

The Hell breaks loose

Charley opens the Medallion of C’rizz and hell breaks loose. The TARDIS has problems and the Doctor doesn’t seems to get it back under control. It happens what had to happen. C’rizz get seperate from the other two.
Charley and the Doctor lands inside a barrier and C’rizz on the outside. So we have two sides. The one inside the barrier that have the barrier to protect themself from the outsider. Than we have the outsider who wants to get inside the barrier.

Dark

The atmosphere of the whole story is dark and cold. There is nothing fun or light in this story. It is just really dark. It is about death, religion, believes, fears… and of course manipulation. The story shows us that there is not always a happy end. That there is not always something you can do to make it better. The story ends and left you to deal with all that grief on your own. There is no light offered at the end of the tunnel.

With all that grief

It is great story. There are no excuses, no step backs, no rewriting history offered. We get just the dark reality of life.  I felt at the end like Charley. I get the Doctor. We all know how he deals grief. He just doesn’t. But after this I still felt like her. All that makes it a great story. I also love C’rizz developement in this story. I love him so much. The story itself is not mine but everything around and atmosphere is just great.

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Serie | 1 Comment on DW: Absolution
March 7

DW: Scaredy Cat

Hey Guys,
welcome to the 75th adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – Scaredy Cat. The story puts the eighth Doctor, Charley and C’rizz on Endarra around the year 4.000.000. I am not sure were I got this information from – I believe recall that it was on the extras of Absolution. But this is one of the adventures that should have taken place in the Divergent Universe but got changed and now play in our universe.

SCaredy Cat, Scaredy Cat

What is going on here? That is the big question. The Doctor and C’rizz see a young girl and follow her to kind of shrine. This shrine as the girl they saw lying on dead and the app like natives are not happy that they are close to her. So the two of them traveling back in time to find out what happened there.
Charley is on the other hand on the facility that is making experiments on the natives to find the part of the brain that is responsible for being evil.

interesting set up

I like the setting. It has a lot of potential. I like themes like are people born evil or not and it would be a great story about this. But it is kinda gets more in the background the longer the story goes. Then we another interesting theme. The problem with getting involved with the events, with changing time. The interesting part is that C’rizz don’t really understand time and this means he doesn’t understand what the Doctor wants to protect. Which has a lot of potential but it also just got shortly addressed.

Great Team

There is lot I like about the adventure. I like Charley on her own. She is always the most sympathetic on her own. Also to see C’rizz and the Doctor team up is great. C’rizz who tries to understand the Doctor and this believe he has in the Doctor. You could do so much with this. But the story just kinda stays light-minded.

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Serie | LEAVE A COMMENT
February 28

DW: Terror Firma

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 72nd adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – Terror Firma. This is the first adventure of the eighth Doctor, Charley and C’rizz back in our universe. So that the Doctor really believe he is back he runs into the arms of his biggest enemies the Daleks, which has conquered the earth around 4703. It is a sequel to ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’.

It seems that there is another story ‘War of the Daleks’ that seems to be get ignored by this story. ‘War of the Daleks’ reckons the destruction of Skaro. Since Davros in this story wants revenge for the destruction of Skaro it seems to ignore the book. My source how ever things it is possible since Davros is like losing his mind, the Daleks may control him to believe Skaro is destroyed.

Home sweet Home

Who could welcome the Doctor back in his universe than the Daleks. I actually like this one. The three of them get captured by the Daleks, who has conquered the earth to take everything from the Doctor. What we got is the Doctor talking to Davros about change, about what defines who you are, Davros trying to use the Doctor to die. We got a Davros that doesn’t want to become a Dalek. This is quiet ironic and I love it.

Charlotte or Charley

What I love about the story is that even when Charley and C’rizz don’t have much scenes with each other. The relationship develops. They finally start to becoming friends, to getting closer. C’rizz gets separate from Charley and is more or less alone in a totally different universe. He always gets himself in the darkest situations. Also there is always something about him, what you can’t grasp. He has this dark side in him and sometimes we can see it.

Charley is also on is own but she as always more luck than C’rizz. She finds herself on a party and what a party this is.

Missed it

This story was fun. It has Daleks, the Doctor and his great companions. We got a dark side to C’rizz and so much more. It is fun and dark, it is also deep and sometimes you could just shake your head, but ultimately it is just great fun to listen to this story.

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Serie | 1 Comment on DW: Terror Firma
January 31

DW: The Next Life

Hey Guys,

welcome the 64th adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – The Next Life. It is last story that takes place in the Divergent Universe and is obviously with the eighth Doctor, Charley and C’rizz. Since this is the final of the story it has not just four episode but six. Still the story is filled with stuff and totally could have filled another two episodes.

What we’ve got

We finally find out more about C’rizz and his church and we also find out who is behind all this stuff that happens. So yeah it is the big conclusion story. I think must of the question are actually answered. Maybe I just forget them because I tried so much to make sense out of it.

You all know that I am not a big fan of the stories in the Divergent Universe and this one is diffidently one of the worse. The story before Caerdroia was actually good. Sadly this story can not live to it in any way. I am really disappointed in this story.

Splitting up

The Doctor finds himself alone on a beach and of course just stumbles into the danger. He got accused to have murdered a girl and now is involved in a race against the accuser. Charley and C’rizz are in the hands of Kro’ka. He shows them things to manipulated them. The first is not that bad actually. I like for example that we see that Charley is still not over the R101 events (Storm Warning). That she still get haunted by the face of the person, which wanted to kill her, before he fell to his death.

What I don’t like is that in the end it is just again about the jealousy of Charley. I really like her but this part is so annoying.

Mysterious C’rizz

I still try to make sense of all the C’rizz scenes. They are so contradictory. One moment he decides to stay with his friends and the other one he is betraying them. There is no really reason behind. Sometimes it seems like they can control him a little bit but then it looks like C’rizz is doing everything on his own. It is really hard for me to make any sense of his story. What is really sad because I really love him.

Listen or not

This is a hard. I would say no. Don’t listen to it, it is not worth the time but on the hand it concludes the story. It picks up all the clues in the story started from Zagerus. So it is an important part of the whole story and you totally need it make at least a little sense of everything. So yeah you kinda have to listen to it. But I am really excited to listen to Terror Firma.

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Serie | LEAVE A COMMENT
January 24

DW: Caerdroia

It Hey Guys,
welcome to the 63rd adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – Caerdroia. It is the story with the eighth Doctor, Charley and C’rizz that leads to the final adventure of the Divergent Universe. It is one of the better stories.

Like twins

In this adventure the three of them finally start to put a few things together and are trying to trick Kroka to give them information. They not just land in a maze but also the Doctor is ‘split’ in three versions of himself. All three are kinda annoying. The go in groups. One Doctor on his own, one with Charley and the other with C’rizz. It is kinda fun. How the Doctors are discussing with themself. The way Charley and C’rizz try to deal with them.

The Maze

The maze is kinda crazy – with big talking rabbits. There are clocks when nobody knows time there. It remembered me of the Alice in Wonderland. I actually don’t know if this was ment that way but it certainly did. It is so much fun listing to the Doctor and his friends finally fighting back. This story is full of great ideas and potential sadly I think many of it goes unattached.

Listing or not

It is one of the best stories of the Divergent Universe. It has a good story with a lot of hints for what his actually behind everything that happens around them. The Doctor fighting back, figuring stuff out. It is great to listen to it. The other adventure was more like going through it without really figuring out what Kroka may want. They go on and on and on. This story changes the pace and lifts the power play to another side.
The characters are great and the story is good. So yes go and listen to one of the three stories I like in this Divergent Universe.

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Serie | 1 Comment on DW: Caerdroia
January 16

DW: The Last

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 62nd Adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – The Last with the eighth Doctor, Charley and C’rizz. Set again the Divergent Universe. This time they land in a dead world, in an eternal winter, the aftermath of a poisoned war. After this there are two stories left, which is way to little for the little information we get.

The only surviviors

The three arrive in this dead world. They search of shelter when the ceiling is coming down on them. Surprise, surprise! C’rizz is going to find help for Charley, who can’t move and the Doctor. When he comes back with a survivor they are gone. So he goes with the survivor and tries to find out what is going on.
The Doctor and Charley land in a bunker under the earth with the last survivors of this war – the politicians.

The war end all wars

Truth be told I like this scenario. I read a lot of this what happens after an atomic war books and this story is really similar from the setting. The world is dying because of the war. The one final war that ends all wars.They were right. All wars are over because no one survived.
The most different thing are characters. Like we know from Doctor Who there are crazy characters and this story doesn’t disappoint in that. For me she a little to crazy but it kinda works in the story.

Same old

Yeah, I tiered of C’rizz on his own. But I also love that he has an important role in this story. That he finds out what happened, he is brought to challenging situation and I love that one. But it is nothing new. It is a circle, a big red button. Something I always hated about Moffats Era. The no consequences. This story is not that bad. But I it still no that good…

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Serie | LEAVE A COMMENT
January 9

DW: Faith Stealer

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 61st adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – Faith Stealer with the eighth Doctor, Charley and C’rizz. The three are still in the Divergent Universe. This time they visited the Multihaven.

Multihaven

Multihaven is a place were different churches live together. You have a religion to work around in this town. The Doctor claims that they are Tourist and C’rizz is their god. After five seconds the people already talk about the religion was there forever. It remembered me a little of the movie ‘Franklin’. With the stupid religions.
But Multihaven should be a peaceful place were everyone is respected.

C’rizz pain

The reason they go to Multihaven is that C’rizz is still plagued by nightmares of the day he killed L’da. So the Doctor is trying to find a place where C’rizz can calm down and rest. But of course nothing is going to plan. C’rizz in his bad condition find himself victim to the new church that wants to overtake all relegions.nd
I love it to get to know more about C’rizz but we don’t find out very much about him. Sadly again we have Charley and the Doctor running around and C’rizz left behind and on his own. It seems like almost every episode is built up like this.

Listen or not

The story is not bad. It is an interesting setting. But like also almost all episode from the Divergent Universe there is more potential in it than they used. I am getting tired of Charley and the Doctor and C’rizz always on his own. Just mix them a bit. Also I wish that we would get more than hints about C’rizz and his past. But apart from that the story is good and you can listen to it. It is definitely one of the better one.

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Serie | LEAVE A COMMENT
December 19

DW: The Twilight Kingdom

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 55th adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – The Twilight Kingdom. It featured the eighth Doctor, Charley and C’rizz. Like the adventures before this is set in the Divergent Universe. It is one of the better stories of this storyline.

What is going on

Like in the stories before the Doctor and his companions stumble through this different zones searching for the TARDIS. It seems that this time they find each other in a kind of war. The soldiers that takes them in are waiting to go to the front line of this war. But the place is different. It changes people. Without a really struggle the people of this base make a soldier kill this officer.

Let’s stay here

Of course the others C’rizz and Charley are also effected. Charley even more than C’rizz – at least at the start. It is about control and Charleys hurt feelings. The story brings up again the pain in Charley. For me it is a little bit annoying. This constantly wishing to be back at the beginning before Zagerus. Before they told each other that they love each other before the Doctor rejected her later.
It also makes it hard for C’rizz to really find his place in this group. Our characters are all put in a situation were they have to accept change. But all three of them kinda fight against it.

Listing or not

For me this is one of the better stories of this storyline. It is emotional and has a good story. So yeah go and listen to it. I love C’rizz and his interaction with the others of the group. The way they all try to deal with the new situations. It kinda shows us more about the characters and their maybe hiding feelings.

Category: audio drama, doctor who, Serie | LEAVE A COMMENT