This review is based on the MP3 download from Big Finish, and contains spoilers.

Penned by 4 different authors, this years Big Finish Christmas offering is a wonderful adaptation of the ancient tale 1001 Nights, maybe better know on these shores as the Arabian Nights.

The classic version of the tale is a collection of short stories from far and wide, hence the multiple contributors – though these are actually estimated as being somewhere in the region of 260 and the phrase 1001 nights considered just an exaggerated term for many. Legend says that any person who reads the whole collection would go insane and the theme of insanity is one that is touched on throughout this intriguing reimagining.

Though there are countless versions of the tale, all share a common theme, that of a Persian King and his new bride. Having had his wife executed for her infidelity, he becomes bitter and marries a succession of virgins who he executes the next morning, until he meets the daughter of Vizier – the man charged with identifying them on his behalf. In order to ensure her survival, the daughter tells the King a story, but she purposefully does not finish by nightfall. A curious King orders her to proceed with her tale the following evening - and so she continues for 1001 nights.

Here, the storyteller is Nyssa, who is forced to recount tales of her adventures with her time travelling companion, so as to keep the imprisoned Doctor alive. But who is the mysterious Sultan and the captive who resides in the dungeon with our timelord hero?

The Plot:

With the Doctor locked away in a prison cell awaiting execution, Nyssa plots to delay his demise by telling stories of their travels to the Sultan. Speaking of their adventures and how they moved between worlds, she explains that they came to the planet to deactivate a beacon that was hidden in the Palace, belonging to the Gantha - the Sultan’s interest is peaked.

Her next tale sees the travellers aiming for the Celestial Basilica, but in true Tardis style, they arrive instead in prison grounds, to find a man tortured in an electric chair surrounded by a fixed atom force field. Here we are introduced to the Myaxa and a truth that binds prisoner and executioner together throughout eternity.

Next we meet Elizabeth Spinker, resident of a large house with a single aid –her other servants having long since fled. Screams are heard loudly in the distance as she awaits the arrival of the specialist, a man her father knew long ago. A ring at the doorbell indicates his arrival and reveals the identity of a man who left the patient there long, long ago – so as not to infect his Tardis. Here he tackles a mysterious virus and tries to release the friend within whom it resides.

As Nyssa moves on to her next tale, deep in the dungeons, the Doctor finally uncovers the true identity of the man aiding his escape and they make their way towards the Tardis – but they are not alone in their quest. As Nyssa feeds her captor more and more information, so the Doctor begins to weaken and his memories begin to fade. Will they arrive before his mind is lost forever?

What Works:

Well firstly, he’s my Doctor… we’ve all got one and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Peter Davison is on top form in this offering and Sarah Sutton delivers an equally accomplished performance.

The individual stories are of differing strength, but the tale that underpins them is very strong indeed and a great way to bring the curtain down on an exceptional year for big Finish.

I do love an affectionate nod to the past and this time it is delivered by Elizabeth Spiniker. Those who recall Sharaz Jek’s verbal jousting in The Caves of Androzani will remember that, whatever people make of the Doctors appearance, the eyes tell a different story.

What Doesn't:

Well not an awful lot in fact – my only gripe is the 'story of stories', where tales and jokes are currency. The concept here is very weak in comparison to the rest of the tale and brought my final rating down to reflect my disappointment.

Summary:

A really strong offering with a clever and intricate plot. As for the ‘story of stories’ section, it’s what the fast forward button was made for!

Rating 7.5/10

This review is based on the MP3 download from Big Finish, and contains minor spoilers.

Featuring the blustering, bombastic Sixth Doctor, as portrayed by Colin Baker, The Acheron Pulse is the second in a trilogy of recently released Big Finish audio adventures set in the Drashani Empire – a galaxy-spanning civilisation akin to a futuristic Rome, and like the Roman Empire, beset both by internal turmoil and external invaders.

In the first part of the trilogy, The Burning Prince, the Fifth Doctor found himself caught up in an interplanetary rescue mission to the swampy planetoid Sharnax, populated by marauding alien beasts known as the Igris – later revealed to be a rebellious, genetically engineered slave race.

Despite the Doctor’s involvement, the mission – intended to unite the Empire by ensuring a wedding between two warring noble houses – was not a success.

The Plot:

Following the deaths of Princess Aliona of House Gadarel and her fiancée Prince Kylo of House Sorsha, in the skies over Sharnax, Aliona's infant cousin, Cheni Gadarel (Kirsty Besterman) was crowned Empress of the Drashani. Thirty years later, the Doctor – once again travelling alone – returns to the Empire, though a little later than he’d intended, in order to visit Empress Cheni and fulfil a promise made to a dying man. Landing on the relatively primitive planet of Cawdor, he is quickly caught up in a drama involving bloodthirsty native tribesmen, arrogant aliens who think themselves better than the local populace, and a monomaniacal, vengeance-obsessed foe.

For many years, under Cheni's rule, peace reigned. Now that peace is threatened by the Wrath – a mysterious race led by the sepulchral Lord Deliverer, Tenebris (James Wilby).

Wielding a dreadful weapon capable of laying waste to worlds – the Acheron Pulse – the Wrath seem intent on destroying the Empire completely, and only the Doctor stands in their way – as long as he can get away from the barbarian warriors who have taken him prisoner on Cawdor…

Observations:

Compared to its predecessor, a tightly scripted and fast-paced adventure, The Acheron Pulse feels cumbersome and clumsy. Plot strands feel forced and predictable, and despite a technically proficient production overseen by director Ken Bentley, the story fails to generate tension and drama.

The script, by Rick Briggs, features characters so two dimensional that they’re virtually cartoonish, the most exaggerated of which is the barbarian warlord Athrid (Chook Sibtain), into whose hands the Doctor first falls when he lands on Cawdor. Reminiscent of King Yrcanos from The Trial of a Time Lord parts Five to Eight (aka Mindwarp) Athrid is quickly established as a violent buffoon; bloodthirsty and stupid but essentially decent, and certainly a potential ally for the Doctor – an impression which is jarringly contradicted by his sexual assault upon an incognito Empress Cheni in episode one.

Additional characters, including a minor Drashani envoy, Duhkin Stubbs (Joseph Kloska) and Cawdorian technician Teesha (Jane Slavin), as well as Tenebris himself, also lack definition and detail, though Jane Slavin does an excellent and engaging job as Teesha, Athrid’s strong-willed wife and battle-partner.

Uncomfortable sexual politics and thinly-written characters aside, the unlikely idea that an Empress would travel incognito to witness diplomatic negotiations between Cawdor and her Empire, when her Empire is under attack from a mysterious warlord, makes suspension of belief difficult, while at least one of the major plot threads – the defence of Cawdor by Teesha and Athrid’s barbarian horde – feels like filler. Even the main plot, involving the Doctor, Cheni and Tenebris (whose identity, when it is revealed, fails to surprise) elicits little in the way of suspense or narrative tension, while the lack of a regular companion means the listener needs to become emotionally invested in the lives and actions of the supporting cast – a challenge when the characters they play are so thinly drawn.

An additional subplot involving an alternate dimension, the Undervoid, and further revelations concerning the origins of the Wrath and the Igris, also fails to sustain interest, although it does provide Colin Baker with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the Sixth Doctor’s intelligence and arrogance, via a decision that will no doubt have devastating results come the final part of the trilogy.

Conclusion:

While The Burning Prince was a well-written story marred by a key performer’s overacting (that same actor performs well here, suggesting the fault was primarily a directorial one) The Acheron Pulse is a disappointing story featuring strong performances. Its laboured and predictable plot, two dimensional characters, and an anti-climactic ending fail to sustain interest or narrative tension over its four episodes, resulting in a disappointing middle third to Big Finish's latest trilogy. Thankfully, the epilogue, though again featuring extremely clichéd characters, promises better things to come in the final part of the series, Jonathan Morris’s The Shadow Heart.

This review is based on the MP3 download from Big Finish, and contains spoilers.

Since its 2005 television reboot, Doctor Who has become an integral part of the Christmas schedule and is now widely recognized by broadcasters and critics alike, as the perfect vehicle to convey the magic, mystery and excitement of the festive period.

This years Big Finish Christmas offering is similarly laced with that magical feel; a gentle tale written in the style of a childs fairytale. Penned by regular Big Finish contributor Nigel Friars, The Child is a story of creation and of hope. Fittingly it is also the launch pad for a new era for companion Leela in the Companion Chronicles series, who appears this time as a projection in the mind of Emily – a young girl with old eyes.

Leela’s frequent challenging of Emily’s acceptance of a life in servitude – in the manner her mother supports her father – is perhaps just encouragement to aspire to more; but why old eyes? Call me suspicious, but the smell of a future story arc is as strong as the smell of mulled wine on Christmas Eve.

The plot:

As we meet Emily, she sits alone in her room penning a story for her mother accompanied by her imaginary friend, who uses her as a channel to convey stories of the Wizard and the Warrior girl and their travels in the magical blue box.

It isn’t long before the pair arrive on a snow covered planet, the first snow Leela has ever seen. Placing a snowdrop in the palm of her hand, the wizard tells his sceptical companion that in it she holds the answer to all creation and he promises to show her the map of life – which holds all the answers.

The map, a creation by Richard Stempuss – a dying man with grand ideas when the Doctor last met him - is the largest work of art in the universe. In fact it is so big that it covers an entire continent. But when they reach the map of life, it bares little resemblance to the image in the Doctors crumpled photo – instead they enter via a Golden gate now blackened and decaying with age.

As they explore their new surroundings, the Doctor is captured by a mysterious woman, fixated by a desperate need to understand the meaning of existence and to destroy those without purpose.

But who is the mysterious figure? Can Leela find her time travelling companion? Why would I want nuts in the bottom of my Christmas stocking (I don’t even have a nut cracker!)? The answers to all these questions – well almost – are neatly packaged within The Child.

What works:

Firstly I think the soundtrack is a really good accompaniment to the production and helps the story to seamlessly flow.

There is a nice interplay in the early exchanges between Emily and Leela, where they discuss story structure and its level of detail as Emily tries to perfect the tale for her mother. It rather reminds me of sitting with my parents doing my homework.

Constant reminders of the charming relationship between the Doctor and his companion, as he continues to challenge and educate her, are a nice throw back to Saturday tea times gone by – and the jelly babies make a welcome cameo appearance.

What doesn’t:

Sorry - but for me, it’s the story itself. Christmas TV Who episodes are often a little lightweight in comparison to the regular show and this is very much in the same mould. The problem here is that, while TV uses it to attract a wider audience, the Companion Chronicles are for the Doctor Who hardcore, who I doubt are looking for easy listening.

The Fourth Doctor is back – and when you’ve had a taste of the real thing, its difficult to accept anything less.

The minor characters that the Doctor projects to help Leela – if you didn’t like Frobisher, its time to cover your ears!

Summary:

A pleasant tale for a winters evening by the fireside with your children and a good way to introduce them to the franchise. However, if you’re looking for something more challenging, this is maybe one to avoid.

6/10

This review is based on the MP3 download from Big Finish, and contains minor spoilers.

Two planets, both alike in dignity,
In fair Drashani, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

John Dorney’s latest Big Finish adventure – the first of a trilogy featuring the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors – is, at least initially, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet.

Travelling alone, having temporarily left his companions Tegan and Nyssa behind in Amsterdam after the events of Arc of Infinity, the Doctor finds himself on a spaceship in the midst of the Drashani Empire; a galaxy-spanning civilisation caught up in a long and bloody civil war. Two noble houses, Gadarel and Sorsha, are fighting for the imperial throne, vacant for decades since the death of the mad Emperor. The wedding of star-crossed lovers Prince Kylo of Sorsha and the Gadarel Princess Aliona is intended to finally bring peace to the Empire, but behind the scenes, fanatics are plotting a very different outcome.

The Doctor’s arrival coincides with a sudden escalation of hostilities. Aliona’s wedding-barge has crashed on Sharnax, a remote and swampy planetoid and a rescue mission is underway. Unfortunately events aboard the rescue ship, where the TARDIS has landed, quickly degenerate, and the story becomes less Shakespeare, more Drashigs on a Plane – and that’s just the first episode!

Observations:

Despite its simple premise, The Burning Prince is a rich and engaging story, featuring a judicious balance of political intrigue, personal drama and thrilling action sequences. A genetically engineered slave race running amok and the wayward use of psychic powers by a key character further enliven the narrative.

Dorney’s script is generally excellent; he quickly and efficiently establishes the tone and setting of the story with help from Martin Montague’s evocative sound design and Toby Hrycek-Robinson's dramatic score. The story’s numerous characters are also effectively introduced, including the non-nonsense Captain Shira (Caroline Langrishe); hot-tempered Prince Kylo (George Rainsford); elderly Tuvold (Clive Mantle), Aliona’s uncle and the Gadarel ambassador; conflicted Commander Corwyn (Dominic Rowan); the bigoted spaceship pilot Riga (Caroline Keiff); and solid, dependable trooper Tyron (Tim Treloar).

Not every character is written quite as effectively; Princess Aliona (Kirsty Besterman) comes across as somewhat two dimensional, an impression not helped by Besterman’s occasional overacting. Another minor script flaw is the introduction of a somewhat grating catchphrase, "Empire be praised!" uttered by most of the characters at one point or another during proceedings. It sounds extremely forced when first heard, though as events progress, the phrase takes on a more ominous, ironic tone.

Another flaw is the introduction of the adventure’s new monster. In episode one, a saboteur aboard the rescue ship releases a caged Igris, described somewhat floridly by Ambassador Tuvold as "an eight foot tall bipedal killing machine; a sabre-toothed emissary of death". The presence of such a beast aboard the rescue ship strains credibility, and even after an explanation for its presence is offered, it still seems a trifle unlikely.

The narrative itself is fast-paced and engaging; a judicious mix of action-adventure tropes, the occasional in-joke, and more than a hint of the pessimistic tone of such Fifth Doctor adventures as Warriors of the Deep and Resurrection of the Daleks. Director Ken Bentley keeps a tight lid on the story, and maintains the pace nicely. The action never flags across the four episodes; events swiftly propel the Doctor from one drama to another towards a particularly bleak climax.

Conclusion:

Fans of the Fifth Doctor will enjoy hearing Peter Davison on his own, unencumbered by companions (though a head cold the actor was suffering from is somewhat distracting in the early parts of the adventure) and the story’s set-up allows Dorney to explore both the Doctor’s intelligence and charisma, and his habit of walking straight into trouble as soon as he arrives somewhere new. Save for minor flaws as discussed above, The Burning Prince is a fine addition to the Big Finish range, and highly recommended.

This review is based on the MP3 download from Big Finish, and contains spoilers.

For me, a spin-off series for Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot was always going to be a winner, such is the strength of character from their first appearances in The Talons of Weng-Chiang. In many ways it is a shame that they didn't get their own television series back then, but this has been more than made up for with their continuing adventures from Big Finish. Now, after some seventeen adventures, it's finally time for the intrepid duo to have their first visit off-world, and here they are off to see the sights with the Sixth Doctor (encountered last season) in this special release, Voyage to Venus.

THE PLOT:

No prizes for guessing where the Victorian investigators end up, of course, though this is not the Venus that they or the Doctor expected to see. This is a planet some several hundred years earlier than a previous visit by Doctor with Jamie and Victoria (not that one, Jago!), and things are very different than he recalls as first they are captured by green-furred Venusians and then find themselves considered as animals and carted off to a menagerie!

In the early set-up we discover that these Venusians are a female-dominated society, they are ruled by Grand Empress Vulpina, and are served by the more primitive Thraskins. This is a Venus many years in the future, and though early on Jago thinks to claim the planet for the Empire it turns out the Earth they knew is a long-dead, barren place. As the story progresses, their society becomes more defined, living in large floating cities over a land that until recently was barren but had suddenly come to violent life with lush jungles and creatures such as thraskins and also herds of shanghorn - one of which apparently killed the chief scientist and was being hunted when the trio were encountered.

Intrigue ensues, as Litefoot and the Doctor uncover how the scientist was really killed, who is to blame, and how it all points to the "Forbidden Cave". Meanwhile, Jago becomes Vulpina's entertainer, learns more about the status of Venusian males than he really wants to know(!), but is also in the position to be able to warn the others of their impending capture once Vulpina decides they know too much - and there's no prize for guessing where we head to next!

Revelations continue during the latter half of the story as we discover that the dominant species from Venus and Earth have more in common than they realise, and that the original, unknown ancient race of Venusians (Sitherians) are not quite extinct after all ... and as Vulpina tries to erradicate all knowledge and witnesses to this, an all out war between the old and new inhabitants looms ...

OBSERVATIONS:

Venus hasn't featured directly in the television series (unless you count its status as a marker buoy in Enlightenment), but two of the third Doctor's traits hail from the planet, his penchant for their martial arts and lullabies. Unsurprisingly, both get name-checked in this adventure. The Doctor discusses learning martial arts during his previous visit early on, but the latter aspect of his third persona turns out to be a key factor in the resolution of the story, with the rampaging hordes of slanghorns brought to bear by a cheery rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Jago! As scientist-cum-musician Felina embraces the tune in their new appreciation of the art (Venusians had no concept of music before), you can quite quickly leap to where this is headed a few hundred years later!

Back in Jago and Litefoot's time of the 19th Century, it was still thought that Venus might have been a lush planet underneath those rolling clouds, so the duo would not have been surprised at the jungle they found outside the TARDIS on their journey ... though a little further afield than Borneo! I must admit I wasn't so enamoured of Venusians themselves in the story, however - this isn't so much a reflection on the actresses playing the Venusians (or the solitary male Sitherian), just that I think I wanted to hear more of the main three actors! One problem might have been how a 'race of women' is a quite familiar pulp-sci-fi concept (not to mention the attention to Galaxy 4 of late), and the ideas of an ancient race that put itself into suspension until a time it can return is also reminiscent of the "Earth Reptiles versus Man" theme that is another Pertweeism. So, with these 'same-o' ideas, ahem, 'floating' about I found my attention wandering a bit with those plot devices. Also, Vulpina's motivation is a little unclear, too - it seemed quite obvious that the ancient intelligence Vepaja was way too powerful to be stopped from continuing his reclaimation simply by making the cave 'forbidden', or later - in another action reminiscent of the Pertwee era - removing a problem by blowing it up!

On the other hand, Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter excel as always; maintaining a convincing contemporary world view can be tricky, and writer Jonathan Morris does a good job of engaging their Victorian counterparts with the usual vigour, practical thought and ethics! Litefoot gets to show off his forensic credentials (though why wouldn't Venusians have such skills?), but the alliterative Jago steals the show with the best lines - even to the point where Vulpina comments: "you have the most extraordinarily expansive speech patterns!"

Colin Baker continues to endow his Doctor with both a sense of force and fun, and the mellower, post-Season 22 depiction that he has portrayed in his Big Finish adventures still fares well. Though not exactly in the background, the Doctor is perhaps a little less prominent in this story, but then I feel it is a Jago and Litefoot tale with the Doctor rather than the other way around, so in that case this would be expected. Nevertheless he does play the important role of filling in the details of the past, present and future that the other characters would otherwise be ignorant of (like the slanghorns' vegetarian nature, or surprise at the Thraskins being "willing" servants at this stage of their history).

The emphasis in the plot of the lemur-like race meant that it wasn't such a surprise that they turned out to be the 'real' Venusians after all, long-since forgotten. The idea of a racial bank being reactivated to repopulate a planet is another old tried-and-trusted staple, though to rebuild the planet's ecosystem in six years does seem a tad quick! (that's three re-s in one sentence, makes me ...) I mentioned parallels with the 'Silurians' earlier, but there are other comparisons between Earth and Venus made during the story. Both they and the Sitherians had to 'abandon' their way of life due to a disaster, later to be re-awoken by the outside influence by the new planet 'owners'. Humans turned the Earth into a lifeless barren world after excessive exploitation, and Vepaja explains that Venus had suffered a similar fate in the distant past, which led them to build their repository. And at the end of the story the Doctor's observation the two Venusian claimants living together in harmony in the future is something that was a cautiously optimistic outcome in Cold Blood.

CONCLUSION:

All-in-all, the story has nothing too complex to tax the brain, and the familiarity of plot elements mean that there are no sudden revelations to blow the listener away. This isn't a bad thing, however - the adventure is a bit of light-hearted fun, with sparkling dialogue for the main characters - which was what I was listening for, anyway!

The story ends on a cliffhanger, which leads neatly into the next special to feature the three compatriots, next month's Voyage to the New World.