February 7

DW: Dreamtime

Hey Guys,
welcome to the 67 adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – Dreamtime. This story we follow the seventh Doctor, Ace and the new companion Hex (The Harvest) to a mysterious place. The Uluru that is flying in space. Placing the story seems again a little difficult. It diffintly play in the far future of the earth. My source is placing it around 9.000 and the other time line the Doctor encounters around 5950, which means it is around the Solar Flares and the Evacuation of Earth – or better of the many evacuations.

Throw him in the cold water

Hex is new on the team and new in the whole time travel thing. What makes the story for me very amusing. Ace is traveling for years with the Doctor and this version of Ace is older and wiser in away. But she has seeing anything. So Hex brings the wonder and excitement in to the adventures. Back to the story. Hex has to deal with the whole program. Like I said before they land on the Uluru flying through space without a notable protective shield and people who turned to stone… hold breath that is not all. There are also another spaceship landing.
In all that mass the Doctor got turned to stone and Ace hurt, which means Hex is for a short time at least on his own.

That whole mass

It is a lot that happens in this story. There are a lot of different perspectives. We not just have the Doctor, Ace and Hex we also have the other aliens. Of course everything is contacted and it makes sense in the end. Until then you have a lot going on. It has a little bit action and shooting in it but it is mostly about believes and the roots of the culture. It is about change and growth. But that you still should honor the roots and don’t forget them. The atmosphere of the whole is not dark but also not light cost. It is something in between.

Listing or not

Yes, go and listen to it. It is not a special, grandiose story but it is solid and it kinda works. I like Hex and his story and I like the way he changes the interaction of the group. He never looks out for what says. He is afraid and has no problem to tell that but he function anyway. He still throw his sarcasm around. It is fun to listen to the three of them.

December 26

DW: The Harvest

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 58th adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – The Harvest. It featured the seventh Doctor and Ace. We also met for the first time Hex Scofield the new companion of the Doctor. This story takes place in London 2021 October the 12th, which also Hex birthday. What is also kind of important is that this story is the last part of a trilogy. The other parts are The Reaping with the sixth Doctor and Peri and The Gathering with the fifths Doctor and Tegan.

The triology

I really loved the other two stories. They were about cybermen and what life means. They were great and now we have the last part of the story. This story can definitely stand alone. You just see it as the final part when you really listen to the other two. It has nothing directly to do with Cathy – or not with the Cathy from the other two parts. When you haven’t listen to the stories this story is even more surprising because you didn’t know from the start that this about cybermen. But it also doesn’t disturb the story.

Never have seen through real eyes

Like I said in the beginning we met Thomas Hector Scofield in this story. It is his birthday and it is a real bad day for him. He works in the hospital as a nurse. When a good friend of him get wheeled in the A&E and dies. On his birthday party on this evening he meets Ace – who is undercover working in the hospital – and got attacked by a really fast man.
From that point Hex is lost. He is involved and he just can’t walk away. So I think he is perfect for these two.
The other part of the story is a man waking up from surgery. This man is feeling and seeing for the first time and he seem really happy about it.

Listen to it or not

Yes, listen to it. It is an amazing trilogy. I love Hex from the first moment. He is fun and totally over his head. After he met the Doctor is like ‘Oh my god’ all the time. But he never backs out. He is with the Doctor and Ace from the start till the end. He is panicking but also he is getting things done. What I really love about is that the Doctor and Ace accept him from the start. It is not like C’rizz where neither the Doctor nor Charley are really letting him become part of the group.

September 26

DW: Project: Lazarus

Hey Guys,

welcome the second part of the Project-Trilogy(Project: Twilight, Project: Destiny). In the 45th adventure of Big Finish Main Range Project: Lazarus Evelyn and the sixth Doctor are going to save Cassi. The first to episode are about this three and the second two episodes are with the sixth Doctor and the seventh Doctor.

According to Professor Harket’s journal the story takes places on the 18th July 2004. It is a little different to say. Because it plays a few years after Project: Twilight which is set 2001. Later Nimrod says it would be five years… what would make 2006.
The second part of the story takes place three years later this would mean 2007.

The Forge is back

The Doctor and Evelyn are going back to heal Cassi from her vampire existence. So she can go back to see her son. Her son is actually Thomas Hector Scofield. The seventh Doctor meets him and travels with him and Ace under the name Hex.
Of course it is not so easy. The Forge already had their claws in Cassi. Also the Forge wants to experiment with the Doctor and his regeneration.

The Doctor working for the Forge

In the second part of Project: Lazarus the seventh Doctor arrives at the Forge and meets the sixth Doctor. Apparently he works for the Forge. You don’t know why or what happened to Evelyn. Even the seventh Doctor doesn’t know what is going on. So he tries to find out and save everyone.

Underlining sadness

This story has again this underlining sadness in it. It is no wonder that Evelyn is so tired. She goes through a lot in this last adventure with the Doctor. Like the last adventures there is a certain darkness to their stories. It breaks my heart.
The second part is harder to describe. The Doctor is on is own and the sadness is not from the beginning in it. But it starts crawling back and in the end the Doctor seems tired like Evelyn was.

Listing or not

Project: Lazarus is not what I excepted. I hoped for a different story for Cassi. So I am a little disappointed in the story. It is not a bad story but I don’t get warm with it. Cassi is such a great character and it is sad that her story only goes over the first two episode and the last are just about the Doctor. So I don’t know. Listen to it or not… it is part of the trilogy and so I need to her it.

April 19

DW: 1963: The Assassination Games

Hey Guys,

welcome to the third part ‘The Assassination Games’ of the 1963 adventure that are celebration of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who in the main range. The story is playing in 1963 in London. The seventh Doctor and Ace are going undercover. Also ‘The Assassination Games’ features the group Counter-Measures. The first appearance of the group was in the episode ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ from the 25th season of the Doctor Who TV Series.

Not much Doctor

The first two episodes have not much of the Doctor and Ace in it. We mostly hear the story from the sight of Captain Gilmore the chef of Counter-Measures, which still trying to find founders for the group. The Doctor is undercover as an independent MP on a platform of nuclear disarmament and Ace as a maid in a wealthy family. Where she met Rachel the other part of the Counter-Measures or better an Ex-Counter-Measures Member.

Conspiracy

Ace and Rachel sadly doesn’t have such a big part. The most story we follow Gilmore and the Doctor, which try to find out what is behind the assassination. There are a lot of things that don’t at up, this why the good into it. There is a little time circle in it but itisn’t mentioned any further. I always like to think about how this circles start or end. The Doctor and Ace find a book writen by Captain Gilmore about the events in 1963.
I doesn’t want to tell more about it. The group the Doctor encounters here as an enemy is featured in others stories. So we will see more about them.

Listen or not

Like I said at the start ‘The Assassination Game’ is third part of the ‘1963 audio serie’. It can be that the other two stories (Fanfare for the Common man with the fifth Doctor and Nyssa; The Space Race with the sixth Doctor and Peri) are in some way connected to this story. I questioned all my source but it seems that they are only connected by the year they play in. So it should okay to just listen to this story.

But back the question. It is a story where Ace is traveling alone with the Doctor and she is a character I never got a real grip on. When she starts traveling with the Doctor and Hex I got a better access to her character.
I also wasn’t a fan the group Counter-Measures in ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’. The character I start liking is Rachel.

So yeah the story is good. But it is not mine. This isn’t a story I can get lost in. So I really didn’t need it but if you like Counter-Measures or Ace than this is good story for you.

April 5

DW: Forever Fallen

Hey Guys,

welcome to the Short Trip Forever Fallen. It is a story in the 6th season of the Short Trips that Big Finish produced as special free release. The 7th Doctor and Ace are visiting Elysium 7 to help a man through his life. It seems that Elysium 7 is mentioned in this story for the first time. It is impossible to say in which year the events take place. I really like the Short Trips. Rise and Fall is one of my favorite story.

Good intentations

This short Trip is a slow story. It is about a man who wanted to remove free will on Elysium 7. The Doctor is convincing him to don’t do it. After the first encounter the Doctor and the man are meeting one time every year. It are just a few minutes we get every year. Just short glimpses of his life. This glimpses are painting a clear picture of what his life is in the moment.
It is really good. I don’t want to say too much.

Just go and download this great story on Big Finish (here) and listen to it, it just takes you a half hour.

March 8

DW: Flip-Flop

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 46th adventure Flip-Flop from the Big Finish Main Range. It is a story about the seventh Doctor and his companion Mel. It takes place on christmas in the year 3060 and 3090 at the planet Puxatornee. The Adventure has two parts. The first is the Black one and than we have the White one.

Peace at all cost?

The story is about a planet and his two groups of population of Puxatornee. There are the Humans that where there before and the Slithergees that needed a new home. The president of Puxatornee is making a deal with them, which changed the life on this planet.
Some people thing that this was a mistake. That a war with this species would have been better and what to use the TARDIS to change the past.

Change the past

This story is like already said about changing the past. Can you change the past and what happend when you do. What are the consequneces of this? The Doctor and Mel find themself of course in that trouble. They found themself in a circle that is changing again and again. Can this circle end and how does it end. Does the changes really changes anything?

Changes

The stories are really simular to each other because it only changes small things about the Doctor and Mel. But it is really interessting that the circle is never ending. There are two person that fight against the Slithergees and want to kill the president to make sure that they go to war in the first place. But when they get what they want they find the world way worse than what they had. These two in the time were the president died. They work for the new president and what to go back in time to stop the murder of the president. When they get the new world they thing it is even worse than it was what they had.

Listing or not

Flip-Flop is an interessting story that doesn’t offer us any solution and no answer what the real reality is. So I really like it. It don’t know how it is on DVD because I just has the story as a Download. In the Black version are 4 episodes and in the White version are the same four episodes but the last two are the first ones. It functions perfectly well.

January 15

DW: Return of the Daleks

Hey guys,

welcome to the bonus release of big finish – Return of the Daleks. This release was given away with the adventure ‘Year of the pig‘ as a gift to the subscriber. It is the 5th bonus release and can be bought alone now too. It is adventure with the seventh Doctor and place in the 42th century on Zeleria (which is hinting at the story ‘Planet of the Daleks’. The Doctor is traveling alone but he is referring to Ace, Hex and Mel at the start of the story.

Doctor the side character

This story is a little different than all the others. It is not just playing over a time span of severly years without time traveling it is also a story were we follow not the Doctor around. The story is about Kalendorf and Susan Mendes. This are characters that are take place in other stories of Doctor Who – like the Dalek Empire.
They are the people that should orginaze the rebelion against the Daleks. But the Daleks made a pact with them and vanished for a long time before they returned.
The Doctor is there to warn them and later he will take place in a few actions. The sixth Doctor is a Doctor that sit few things out.

Listen or not

The story is good. I like it and it is nice to listen to it. I think when you hear the other stories – at one point i hopefully will listen too – it will be even better and would be give us a better inside in the characters. But truth be told. I would buy it. I got at a gift for the subscribetion and than it is amazing. But otherwise i would not listen to it.

December 11

DW: Sirens of Time

Hey Guys,

welcome to the very first adventure of big finish – Sirens of time. It is not just the first adventure of the main range, it is the first episode they produced. This is the start of amazing stories. They start with three Doctors in one adventure. We have the fifth, sixth and seventh Doctor.

Always the time lords

They time lord see themself facing a enemy that is uncredible strong. It seems like they are totally powerless against this enemy. But they find out that the Doctor is involved and send warnings to him or are they are trying to kill him? Both is possible and believeble. The three Doctors faces all their own adventures.

Seventh Doctor

The seventh Doctor seems to be travling alone. The story of the Seventh Doctor is playing in the year 3562 on a not existing planet. The Doctor saves a girl – Elenya. Everything doesn’t seems quite logic at the beginning. On this planet is also living a man and woman. The woman needs to take care of the man. But she is not satisfied with this work and tries to make a deal. A deal were everyone will die.

Fifth Doctor

The fifth Doctor is traveling with Tegan and Turlough but they don’t have a big role. This adventure takes place in 1915 on a submarine. He gets closed of of his TARDIS and met a girl – Helen. The submarine got attackt and the a german submarine is saving them. It seems like someone is trying to take controll of the crew members and try to kill the Doctor who seems to thing the time lords are behind it.

Sixth Doctor

This story of the sixth Doctor is playing in the year 3562 on a spaceship. There is a conferance at that spaceship. His TARDIS get caught in an explosion and he strands on the spaceship. There he mets a girl which get him in the conferance room. A time distortion gets everyone in trouble.

Listen or not

The story is really not my thing. It all ends of course in a big story but the story are to short for my liking. But this is totally a listen to it story because the three Doctors are working together and that is the best. This three Doctors are not my favorites. I mean i love these three but my favorite Doctors are the tenth, first and second but these three together have just the best chemistry with each other. It is so much fun listen too them. This story also made very clear that the Doctor is the same in all incarnations but also shows us all the differents between them and they are very different. It is really lovely to listen to so well writen Doctors.

November 20

DW: Frozen Time

Hey Guys,

here we go with the 98th adventure of big finish main range – Frozen Time. It plays in 2012 in Antartica with the sixth Doctor again totally and uterlly alone. Something is frozen in ice and my first thought was Silurian. But the person frozen in ice is the Doctor, but maybe there is more in the ice than just him.

Whats going on

The Doctor seems to have lost his memories in his time frozen. He instinctly knows the names like Mel, Ace and Hex. People that are not longer with him. An Expitition is searching for a expition that got lost in 1929. But what they found was a blue box and a Doctor without his memories and something really bad.

Like always

I really like the crew that found the Doctor. The are many so different people. It is fun to listen to them interact with the Doctor. Sadly i am one of the few people that wished that this time it wouldn’t be the woman that run with Doctor in the show down but with some of the guys. It is always a girl or woman…

Listen or not

The story is really good and even when the Doctor don’t remember gets kinda old. The story function well and the characters are really interessting. So yes go and listen to this story.

August 13

DW: Nocturne

Hey Guys,

welcome to the 92 big finish main range adventure ‘Nocturne. It plays around 2800 (by AHistory – the TARDIS.wiki is saying 2797) on the planet Nocturne. The Seventh Doctor is visiting this periode of time alot and in different incarnations. This time he brings Hex and Ace.

Implications

In my head i think about which adventures Tegan or Mel had on that planet. With which others the Doctor visited his friends. Sadly i don’t know about big finish having other adventures their. I would love to have a few short stories about this meetings. It is like there are not always big problems, just the Doctor visiting his old friends and is quiet lovely to think about it. That he is no capiable of it. Not like the third Doctor.

Trip to Venice

I really want to know what the trips was like. Hex is telling a few time that it becomes more and more like his trip to Venice. This is actually one of the best thing of this adventure. The close way Hex, Ace and the Doctor act to each other. How they talk about their past and tease each other. Also this epsiode is giving Ace someone to bond with and i really beginn to love her. How easy she is opening her heart to this people and how vulnerable.
The adventure was just like a schooltrip to Venice.

Just what it is

The story feels warm and confortable. It is inviting us to a nice trip with friends and you can feel it. The danger don’t have many schockeffects or action. It is just happening. The atmosphere became darker and sadder the longer the story goes. But it never lost the familiar feeling. The Music that have a big role in the story is just underpin this story. The Music is beautiful and kinda sad. It remembers me why i love sometime classic music on the piano. They are caring so much feelings.
So the normal story about someone or something is killing people is becoming something special and make it to one of my favorite stories.