At the height of COVID, Big Finish figured out how to continue to record original Doctor Who audios by recording remotely. One of their many exciting projects was Out of Time, the first of a series of adventures which paired Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant with the stars of the show from the classic era. First up was the legendary Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker.
Faith Stealer is the 61st entry in Big Finish’s monthly range of Doctor Who audios, released back in September 2004. It was written by Graham Duff, and began a new run of stories featuring the Eighth Doctor (played by Paul McGann) along with Charley and C’rizz, continuing to make their way through the mysterious multi-zoned world in the “Divergent Universe.”
Spoilers
Continue reading Doctor Who: Faith Stealer [Big Finish]As is well-known, Doctor Who started off with a desire to be at least somewhat educational–bringing up both scientific and historical concepts in a way that allowed children to learn about them. This was most obvious in the “pure historical” adventures of the 1960’s, where the Doctor and company would interact with the likes of Marco Polo and Richard the Lionhearted. Though this focus fell by the wayside in most of the show’s history, recently you can see Chris Chibnall doing his level best to teach his audience about less celebrated points in history. And every once in a while, a Big Finish audio comes along that has the side benefit of informing its listeners about real-world people and events. Medicinal Purposes is one such audio–at least it was for me.
Spoilers (for real)
Continue reading Doctor Who: Medicinal Purposes [Big Finish]With The Roof of the World the Big Finish Main Range of Doctor Who audios returns to the world of the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) along with companions Peri (Nicola Bryant) and Erimem (Caroline Morris). The story was written by Adrian Rigelsford, and was release number #59 in the Main Range, coming out in July 2004, less then a year before Doctor Who was revived on TV.
Spoilers (for real)
Continue reading Doctor Who: The Roof of the World [Big Finish]The Harvest is the first Big Finish Doctor Who featuring the Seventh Doctor that I’ve had for a while (it’s release #58 in the Monthly Range, and the last Seventh Doctor was #49). It’s written by Dan Abnett (also a comic writer I’m well familiar with for his work on the Legion of Super-Heroes), and was released in June 2004. In addition to Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace, it also introduced Philip Oliver as new companion “Hex” (aka Thomas Hector Schofield).
Spoilers (for real)
Continue reading Doctor Who: The Harvest [Big Finish]After a whole series of Big Finish stories about the Eighth Doctor, things get switched up at last and Doctor Who‘s main range of audios from 2004 brings us this story featuring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Nicola Bryant as Peri and Caroline Morris as audio-original companion Erimem.
Spoilers
Continue reading Doctor Who: The Axis of Insanity [Big Finish]The Twlight Kingdom continues the run of Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas from 2003 and 2004 (specifically March 2004) which chronicles the adventures of the Eighth Doctor and his companions in the divergent universe, with story having them journey through various zones of a mysterious planet, in search of the TARDIS. It is written by Will Shindler and stars Paul McGann as the Doctor, India Fisher as Charley and Conrad Westmass as C’Rizz.
The Natural History of Fear is by Jim Mortimore, and continues the adventures of the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) and Charley Pollard (India Fisher) along with their new friend C’rizz (Conrad Westmaas) as they make their way through the divergent universe. At least, it sort of does.
The “new” (actually, from 2004) series of Eighth Doctor audios following the status-quo shaking events of Zagreus continues here with The Creed of the Kromon. Charley Pollard is on-hand again, of course, but this time the pair is joined by a new companion named C’rizz. I’ve seen C’rizz’s name before but I’ve never heard it spoken (or so I thought–apparently, he’s mentioned in Night of the Doctor) so I always assumed it was pronounced just as “Kriz”, but apparently it’s better described as “Keh-riz”. Live and learn.
At the end of the big anniversary Doctor Who audio, Zagreus, the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) sacrificially allows himself to be exiled to a completely alien universe, doomed to die alone. At the last minute, his companion Charley (India Fisher) refuses to be left behind, going with the Doctor because of her love for him. Scherzo, by Robert Shearman (of Jubilee and Dalek fame), is the continuation of that story, and the beginning of a new “season” of Eighth Doctor audios.
Spoilers
Continue reading Doctor Who: Scherzo [Big Finish]
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