Written by Justin Richards
Read By Peter Purves

Released by BBC Worldwide - May 2018
Available from Amazon UK

In this new original audiobook featuring the First Doctor, we have a short adventure built into the middle of the classic First Doctor epic serial The Dalek's Master Plan with the Doctor, Steven, and Sara Kingdom ending up in the middle of World War I, and finding that the timeline has been delayed, and it is causing havoc on the Web of Time. 

As a simple short story, Men of War is solid on atmosphere but feels incomplete. It has a good premise, a major battle of the war has not yet begun, and now the timeline is trying to fix itself by swallowing up all the lives that would've been lost if the battle had taken place.  The problems of this audio are in the ending, which feels like a lazy quick wrap up, leaving dangling threads for another story to solve. 

The big cliffhanging reveal is that Archduke Franz Ferdinand survived his assassination that launched the world into war, meaning the Timeline is even more screwed up than initially thought.  But the Doctor just sort of says that it will have to wait because they must avoid the Daleks, and the story is over. It is unsatisfying to the story being told.  It feels like this story has all this promise and then it just ends with a tease that basically tells the listener to buy another audio if it wants to get closure. 

This might not be a huge problem if the story felt like it had a more satisfying conclusion to it's contained story.  I've enjoyed many a Doctor Who adventure in a variety of formats that ends with a tease of tales to come...but if you have a self contained story that teases more to the story, the ending for the self contained bit ought to be a bit more interesting. 

As I already have the next story (Horrors of War), it takes the annoyance out of that ending.  And I've already seen that the title of BBC Audio's third release, also written by Justin Richards, is Fortunes of War, which has me more prepared for the story to end later.  But if I were a listener who purchased an audiobook and didn't know it was part of some bigger plot-line, I'd be a bit more irritated. 

But let me dial back the criticism a bit.  I actually liked the bulk of this story.  I thought Peter Purves did a lovely job reading it, and it has some brilliant ideas floating around. I am quite interested to hear this little series of audiobooks out. It doesn't have a great ending, and while the cliffhanger feels like a cheap way to not actually end this specific story...it is a good cliffhanger that left my interest peaked. 

Writer: John Dorney, Andrew Smith
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Featuring: David Bradley, Claudia Grant, 
Jemma Powell, Jamie Glover

Big Finish Release (United Kingdom):
First Released: July 2018
Running Time: 5 hours

David Bradley, Claudia Grant, Jemma Powell, and Jamie Glover return to Big Finish for the second round of adventures in the iconic roles of the First Doctor and his original TARDIS team. Once again the cast proves to be quite fun in the roles, not mimicking but having their own takes on the characters. While I don't particularly care for Claudia Grant's Susan, I admittedly never really cared for the character of Susan in its original incarnation...so That could just be that the character will never work for me.

The set features two stories, the first The Invention of Death has the TARDIS land on a planet full of immortal beings, who somehow become infected by the mortal crew of the TARDIS and begin to die.  I like that it has some deeper themes about mortality and what drives people to create and invent and grow, it isn't just weird aliens and a bit of a mystery.  

The set continues with The Barbarians and the Samurai, which is a classic First Doctor styled Pure Historical, taking place in feudal Japan and has the Doctor and crew try to foil the plans of a Japanese leader who is plotting a coup against the current Shogun.  I liked this story, and though I was never a huge fan of the Pure Historical stories of yesteryear, I find it a bit refreshing to have a story that isn't about some alien hanging around a famous historical figure.  It is a good change of pace.  

I enjoy these boxsets, the recasting seems like it could be a huge mistake, but I think it manages to bring a new energy to these early Doctor Who-style adventures that having the older, and sadly more depleted, casts could currently have. Bradley is lovely as the Doctor, and his supporting cast does a fine job as well. 

Written by Dan Abnett, Gareth Roberts, Nick Briggs, Kate Orman, Scott Gray
Artwork by Colin Andrew, Enid Orc, Martin Geraghty, Barrie Mitchell, Lee Sullivan
Paperback: 132 pages
Publisher: Panini UK LTD

Available from Amazon UK

In the mid-90s, with Doctor Who off the air for a few years and showing no signs of returning, Doctor Who Magazine Editor Gary Russell tired of the comic strip playing second fiddle to the Seventh Doctor novel series, and decided it was time to change it up. Instead of continuing to have confusing continuities with a book series that possibly not all readers were reading, he decided that the Comic Strip should forge it's own path.  The first step to that was to stop the Seventh Doctor adventures in the strip. This was a bold move, because up to that point the Doctor Who Magazine strip had been pretty much running continuously in a variety of publications, but had always featured the most recent Doctor. Instead, the long running strip would now focus on different Doctor adventures.  Land of the Blind is a collection of the first batch of these comics, and features a story each for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Doctors.

The book opens with the Fourth Doctor story "Victims," which has the Doctor and Romana thwart a plot to take down the Human Empire via beauty products on a Fashionista Planet.  The story here is okay, and the art is pretty bad, but there is a bit of charm to the premise...it is just rushed.  We then move forward the Fifth Doctor who has an adventure on the Moon with some evil Space Cows.  That is just the kind of bonkers premise I like in Doctor Who, particularly in comic form.  Following from there we venture back to the First Doctor with Ben and Polly, in which they battle a giant slug that is eating cryogenically frozen people or something.  It is fast paced and hollow, with little substance. It also doesn't really capture the tone of those early 60s stories.

The next stop is the Third Doctor, who is reunited with his first companion Liz Shaw as they stop a Professor who is using psychokinetic powers to kill his perceived adversaries. This story captures the tone of the Third Doctor era pretty well, and tries to give more detail to the offscreen exit of Liz Shaw from the TV series, which is nice.  The final two stories both feature the Second Doctor.  First up is the titular Land of the Blind and has the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe save a spaceport from some alien overlords who have trapped them there for decades. This is a pretty good story, with a good script and good art.  The last story in the volume is a one-off from a a Doctor Who Magazine special, called "Bringer of Darkness" which is told from the perspective of Second Doctor companion Victoria Waterfield, as she explains of an adventure with the Daleks that made her realize that her time with the Doctor was going to need to end soon.  It is a short but solid piece, with some good character development, including some stuff about the Doctor that surprisingly has paid off in the years to come.

While not the most cohesive period, for the strip, it is an interesting one.  There may not be a uniting factor behind all of the stories, whether that be a single Writer or Artist, or even a continuing plot thread.  But it does have some fun random adventures for these past Doctors. They are all pretty short and light, but that isn't always a bad thing.  Only a few feel like they rush to the finish line. I think this was sort of a lost period for the strip.  The Seventh Doctor had run his course, especially with all the Novel Continuity clogging up the works, and they didn't really find their voice again until the Eighth Doctor would finally launch as the star of the strip. So here is this weird little period, where they are trying to figure out their voice again, and they didn't even really have a regular Doctor starring.  As a bit of a novelty, this volume collects together some interesting stuff.  It may not be the best collection they have put together, but I still enjoy reading these old black and white strips.  

BBC Audio 2017

Read By: Peter Purves (Steven), Anneke Wills (Polly), Geoffrey Beevers (The Master), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) and Nicola Bryant (Peri).

Wow. Now, this is an odd one. Released by BBC audio in time for December 2017, The Doctor Who Audio Annual is a collection of narrated stories from the World Distributors Annuals. Now I think it’s worth stating up front that I have very little nostalgia for these annuals, born in the mid 90’s, I missed them upon their original release. However, I did pick one or two up from charity shops at a young age and fell in love with the garish artwork and gaudy designs, though even then the stories didn’t seem…quite right. As I got older I discovered the reputation these books had, essentially as the nadir of classic who merchandise (a particular article from Eccleston’s era in DWM springs to mind). Of course, I have to agree. Bar a few exceptions the majority of the Annual stories are… dire and badly misrepresent both the Doctor and his companions. Now it’s been a few years since I’ve had one of the original copies in my hands and so this new release seemed like a chance to give some of these stories a second chance.

Read by original cast members there are six stories in total, along with two vintage essays. The first story The Sons of Grekk, whilst hardly a classic in any sense, isn’t exactly a bad listen. Simple like all of the annual stories, it does manage a vaguely atmospheric opening, helped massively by Peter Purvis narration and an eerie sound design. Unfortunately, things quickly go downhill with The King of Golden Death. The second Doctor continuously refers to his companions as ‘my children’ is woefully patronising and the story incredibly dull, simply being an exercise in basic Egyptology. Things pick up massively with Dark Intruders, read wonderfully by Geoffrey Beevers…giving you a rough idea of who the villain in this particular tale. Featuring the Brigadier and Joe, this tale perfectly captures the UNIT era.

Conundrum follows next and being a tale of warped physics within the Tardis, feels like the writers were at least trying to emulate the feel of season 18, with its themes of high science and mathematics. Unfortunately, it’s also the tale that suffers the most due to the lack of artwork and doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, it’s fun but that’s all. The Penalty is a pretty standard ‘Doctors nightmare’ story, where he’s haunted by old friends and adversaries whilst The Real Hereward is a fun historical. Ultimately though, neither are essential listens.

For those wanting a nostalgia trip, then there may be something here for you to enjoy. Ultimately, however, the audio annual, whilst an admirable attempt to bring new life to the world distributors annuals, the stories were never really that good to begin with. All of the actors do a fine job and the sound design as always is superb, but their building on less than solid foundations. It feels perhaps that the joy of those particular items relies mostly on the aspect that there wasn’t really much merchandise available at the time, along with the zany and trippy artwork. Stripped of their illustrations and placed in a world where we’re over-saturated with high-quality Doctor Who Merchandise (most of all audio adventures) these stories are exposed as being…well…a little naff. However, they do remind us that, as who-fans in a world where we have access to a constant stream of top quality merchandise, we’ve never had it so good.

Producer David Richardson
Script Editor John Dorney
Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

Written By: Matt Fitton, Guy Adams
Directed By: Nicholas Briggs

Cast

David Bradley (The Doctor), Claudia Grant (Susan), Jemma Powell (Barbara Wright), Jamie Glover (Ian Chesterton), James Dreyfus (The Master), Raymond Coulthard (Robac / Servers / Dalmari), Sian Reeves (Tanna), Deli Segal (Reena), Jackson Milner (Patrick), Cory English (Daniel), Carolina Valdes (Rosalita), Ronan Summers (O'Connell), Christopher Naylor (Policeman / Man with Ladder / Gang Member / Henry). Other parts played by members of the cast.

David Bradley won over many a Who fan's heart with his performance as William Hartnell in the 2013 docu-drama An Adventure in Space and Time, released as part of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations.  He may not be the spitting image of Hartnell, or even really sound anything like him...but he managed to capture that spirit and essence of the actor, to the point where you believed he was Hartnell, or even the Doctor.  Bradley got a crack at being the legitimate Doctor this Christmas in Twice Upon a Time, and he has also recorded this box set for Big Finish (the first of at least two Volumes), featuring two stories covering a total of eight episodes. 

This boxset not only brings Bradley back as the Doctor, but also three of his co-stars from the TV movie are reunited to play his original companions.  It's sort of an odd concept when you think about it, they've completely recast the original cast of the show, with people who previously didn't play these roles, but the actors behind those roles.  But yet...this set really works well.  I mentioned in my review of Big Finish's The Morton Legacy, that I personally felt the mixing the audiobook format with the full-cast format didn't really work, and I suggested that while it might not be everyone's favorite idea, recasting with a good soundalike, might be a better option for recreating the feel of tht era. This set does a full recast of everyone, even the actors that are still with us...and the results are actually great. This boxset did a fantastic job of recapturing the tone and feel of that first season of the series. Even down to each episode in both serials in the set having their own individual titles!

The first story in the set is The Destination Wars is great science fiction story featuring a previously unknown early version of the Master.  The Master wasn't originally introduced until the Third Doctor's time on screen, so The First Doctor never face him on screen, yet this story feels like it could've been a 60s tale, and the story is written as if this is the first time the Doctor has met the Master away from Gallifrey, their first run in as hero and enemy, and it sort of sets up the kind of relationship they would have in the 70s and and 80s.  James Dreyfus is also, it should be noted, a pretty fantastic Master.  Very much like a proto-Delgado...just sinister and methodical.  It was made clear in some of the behind the scenes stuff in this set that he has recorded more stories as this incarnation of the Master.  I'd love to hear those!

That story ends with it's final episode leading right into the events of opening episode of the the second story...and this time it is a pure historical story!  Just as the early days of the show almost always would have a sci-fi story followed by a pure historical, and almost always lead directly into each other, this set follows suit.  This second story, The Great White Hurricane, has our heroes get embroiled with gangs and a woman trying to escape her abusive spouse in 1888 New York City, during the Great Blizzard that occured that year.  Much like my view of those early seasons, I personally prefer the sci-fi over the historcial.  But like quite a few historicals, there is some good stuff in here, and a part of me wishes the show could do a pure historical from time to time. 

Bottom line, this set is great for anyone who loved the First Doctor's era. Everything from the kinds of stories, to the more subdued sound effects and slower pace, it just feels like it has been plucked from 1963.  Bradley and co. do a great job, and I particularly liked the addition of James Dreyfus as the Master.  This is top notch stuff, highly recommended!