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.

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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.

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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.

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February 21

DW: Live 34

Hey Guys,
welcome to the 74th adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – Live 34. My sources put the story around 2400 since they say that earth was abaondend centuries ago. From the setting it fits with the setting of ‘The happiness Patrol‘. The seventh Doctor, Hex and Ace are on the colony 34.

Live on 34

The story is easy. On colony 34 the situation is restless. The premier wants to stay in power. But a group of people think that it is time to finally have the election they wait for 4 years. People are unsatisfied. There are a lot of problems when you listen to them and none problem at all when you believe the premier. It is not easy to see the truth or is it.

Something different

What Big Finish does here is one reason I love them so much. It is a good story. But this time it doesn’t get presented the way we used to. The whole story is told in news and media broadcast. Which means we don’t see what the Doctor and his friends are doing. Don’t know what they know and what they want. We only get what the normal population knows, statements and reports. Maybe we gets part of the truth or maybe it is just manipulated?

How free is the media really and who much can you depend on the information. It is so easy to put a situation in different light. When you know what Ace know, you maybe would say that she is right. But when you just here about bombs exploding it just pains another picture.

Totally in love

I really love the story. The Doctor appears in all four episodes but is role is not so big. Ace appears in the second episode and Hex in the third. I like the way they tell the story and the story itself. Thematic is great and it is the perfect way to show this thematic. They show us how easy it is to change the situation without changing the facts.

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February 14

DW: Thicker than Water

Hey Guys,
welcome to the 73rd adventure of the Big Finish Main Range – Thicker than Water. This adventure is with the 6th Doctor and Mel, which visited Evelyn Smythe. This story is a very interesting one. There are two different times the story takes place. The first one is around 2583 were Mel and the Doctor visit Evelyn. Than we Flashbacks of Evelyn’s departure which happens around 2581. It is a sequel to the story ‘Arrangement of Wars‘.

Evelyn’s new life

Evelyn left the Tardis and the Doctor to marry Rossiter. We met him in ‘Arrangement of Wars‘. At that point Evelyn choose to go with the Doctor and staying with Rossiter. When the Doctor and Mel visited her. She has a new life with a loving husband and step daughter, who hates her. The both stand on opposite sites on the matter who to handle the research of the technology the Killorans left behind. Also we remember that Evelyn had a heart condition that seems to get healed. Than the Doctor appears Evelyn and Mel kidnapped.

Never boring

There is a lot of going on. Mel and Evelyn make a great team. They are both people that do stuff themself. They don’t wait to get saved. But also we have these deep talks between them to understand who Evelyn feels about the Doctor and his way of dealing with things.
Than we have her step daughter who is searching for them. They actual paint a real sympathetic picture of her. I loved Evelyn form the first moment. But you understand her. It is not so much about Evelyn more what it means for her relationship between her and her father.
Than we have Rossiter and the Doctor trying to find who is behind everything and obviously there is a lot more going and nothing is a coincidence.

Always fun

This story is great. I love it to peace. It has Evelyn in it and got story with sympathetic characters. It is fun, it has action, it has background story. But it also is really sad. The Doctor stand so often in his way. This story has everything I need for a great story.
In the end the 7th Doctor as a cameo for this trip he sets Ace and Hex up to steal the Veiled Leopard which the fifth Doctor set Peri and Erimem up save it (The Veiled Leopard – the story is a special release for readers of Doctor Who Monthly).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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…

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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.

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