Written By David Llewellyn, Una McCormack, Lisa McMullin, Matt Fitton

Directed By Scott Handcock

Executive Producer Jason Haigh-Ellery Nicholas Briggs

 

Released by Big Finish - March 2019

The second volume of Gallifrey: Time War picks up not long after the previous set left off, with Romana grasping to keep some control of the Celestial Intervention Agency as the newly resurrected Rassilon consolidates his control of Gallifrey and the Time Lords as President Eternal, and with a war as an excuse, it is increasingly easy for him to take that control.

The opening episode (Havoc) is something of a slow start for the set. Not that it is bad, but it is all about set up rather than building up to a big climax.  It is mostly just setting the stage for this new era of Gallifrey, with a resurrected power hungry and angry Rassilon at the top of the pack.  Romana is acquitted for treason at the beginning of the story, but her troubles in this new environment are just beginning.  And really, if you go back years in the Big Finish canon, she only has herself to blame.  Back when the Eighth Doctor adventures with Charley were the closest thing the franchise had to new performed stories, Romana was involved with a plot by Rassilon attempting to resurrect himself and perform some evil deeds, and she tried to keep that under wraps.  Now she is stuck having to bow to this bitter old nut as he seizes control of the society he helped found.

In the second episode, Partisans, Romana discovers that there is a planet that will one day be of strategic importance to the war against the Daleks, but they need to go back centuries during that planet's own war, in order to make sure the outcome is one that benefits Gallifrey.  There are two possible outcomes, total destruction of all life if one faction wins, or let the other faction win with survivors.  But the War Council also gets involved, and their tact doesn't gel with Romana's plan...and is closer in style to a genocide.  Ultimately, Narvin finds another way, but even his way feels dire.  He freezes the planet, sealing them indefinitely before their own destruction.  The consequences of the Time War are already taking hold, and it is still early days.

Collateral, the third episode, picks up this thread with the time seal being broken, and someone calling through.  With the seal broken, their war rages on, and an alien race called the Sythes are feeding on the planet's resources, and that could potentially help the Daleks out.  A woman named Nyla contacts Gallifrey, but she also sends out a message warning the Universe to stop the Time Lords.  Rassilon decides to obliterate the planet from Time itself and keep the Daleks from gaining any benefit...but Romana is determined to keep that from happening. Rassillon achieves his end goal, but not before their warning about the Time Lords gets out there, and the Sicari are on their way.

The boxset wraps up with Assassins, which has this race called the Sicari attempting to infiltrate Gallifrey and take out Rassilon.  The Sicari seem to be a race created by the Time War itself, with weaponry that is Time Lord in origin, though quite modified.  The story culminates with Romana attempting to assist them in taking out Rassilon, as she can see he is on the road to totalitarianism and very likely the ruin of Gallifrey.  Ultimately, her attempt fails, and Rassilon not only survives the attack, but is then able to use this as the perfect way to get Romana out of his hair. She is set for execution, but is given the chance to escape from a Rassilon sycophant who doesn't want her becoming a martyr.  She and Narvin are put into an old TARDIS with it's course headed into the heart of the Time War...they may seem doomed, but Romana is determined to get out of this scrape and find Leela, who has been lost since the first boxset. 

Overall, I really liked this set.  Not really a bad episode in the bunch. The first Gallifrey: Time War set was more scattershot in focus really.  Now I liked that set, but it was all about the various things that lead to the war truly beginning and, ultimately, the resurrection of Rassilon. This set feels more focused, and instead of four distinct stories leading to the same end goal, this time it feels like one long story built episode by episode.  Both are quite good, but I think I give an edge to the second set in terms of overall quality.  If you, like me, have enjoyed Big Finish's foray into the Time War, then this set is another winner. 

The conspirators sit in Antwerp, plotting to kill King Charles the Second. Aphra Behn's mission is simple: get former lover William Scot to turn against his treasonous comrades. But her money is running out and the complications don’t stop there. A strange Scottish man arrives at her inn with troubling news.

William Scot is out and the Doctor is in.

Rather excitingly, The Astrea Conspiracy marks the twelfth Doctor's first entry into the Big Finish range.....or at least that is what I thought.

Lizbeth Myles has written a historic story with a twist (there always is, isn't there?) Neve McIntosh narrates, and she does very well - until she tries to voice the twelfth Doctor, which just isn't convincing and doesn't hit home. This is the story's main problem, as it quickly becomes very distracting. I would rather McIntosh just read the story, something that I am sure must have been evident to the director, Nicholas Briggs.

The other problem with the story is that it just didn't appeal to me. There was no 'grab'. I found myself losing interest and then concentration, having to go skip back and re-listen to segments, which eventually made this Short Trip a Not Quite-So-Short Trip. It's a shame as I was quite enjoying a long run, but that is the nature of the Short Trips series, they can be quite divisive.

The Astrea Conspiracy is avail from Big Finish HERE.

Written By: James Goss, Guy Adams, 17011, Tim Foley
Directed By: Scott Handcock

Featuring: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Tracy-Ann Oberman (Yvonne Hartman), Paul Clayton (Mr Colchester), Alexandra Riley (Ng), Samantha Béart (Orr), Jonny Green (Tyler Steele), Tom Price (Sergeant Andy Davidson), Rachel Atkins (Ro-Jedda)

Released by Big Finish Productions - October 2018
Order from Amazon UK​

When Big Finish chose “Changes Everything” as the title for the first instalment of Torchwood: Aliens Among Us, that might as well have served as the mission statement for their entire range’s future; after all, the three boxsets comprising the show’s audio-bound fifth season threw an all-manner of game-changing plot curveballs in fans’ directions, from the resurrections of Torchwood Cardiff and one Yvonne Hartman to the ill-timed departure of Gwen Cooper just as hell descended upon her city.

Yet what with full-team release Believe, various boxsets chronicling Torchwood One’s pre-Battle of Canary Wharf endeavours and numerous one-hour solo outings, the studio gleefully delivered so much content in the interim between Aliens and Season Six that the latter’s work seemed cut out for it in terms of recapping past events while pushing the franchise forward. Does this considerable workload prove a cumbersome burden for the ominously-dubbed God Among Us, then, or can its opening salvo overcome such trials to deliver dramatic excellence worthy of Zeus himself?

“Future Pain”

Alien mayors imprisoned beneath Cardiff Bay, makeshift deities interrupting local funerals and explosive shoot-outs set to the unlikely backdrop of a car park – so far, so Torchwood. As with many US TV season premieres, James Goss finds himself tasked with recapping and developing a host of ongoing plot elements from Season Five in God’s freshman instalment, between Mr. Colchester’s seemingly fatal wounds, Gwen impostor Ng sticking around after her source material’s departure and – lest we forget – the hardly trivial matter of God him- or herself running rampant across the city.

By now, though, we should already know better than to doubt the range producer’s remarkable ability to balance such plot/character arcs with satisfying standalone storylines; indeed, “Future Pain” delivers quite the emotional gut-punch at times for spoilerific reasons, delving into the fallout of “Herald of the Dawn” for certain characters whose losses extend far beyond the physical damage wrought on Cardiff by Orr’s destructive transformation. Seeing the human impact that the terrors faced by Earth’s least covert secret agents have always formed much of the core of Torchwood’s appeal compared to oft-soulless big-budget sci-fi blockbusters, an admirable trait which continues here thanks to Goss’ writing and the understated, grief-ridden performances from John Barrowman, Ramon Tikram as Colin Colchester-Price and particularly Paul Clayton throughout.

Oh, and in case you’d expected Goss to largely maintain the status quo of Aliens Among Us given its myriad hanging plot threads this time around, rest assured that nothing could be further from the truth…

“The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood”:

Another noteworthy aspect of Torchwood’s infrastructure (both on TV and now in audio form) which often sets it apart from the genre crowd lies in its willingness to investigate heavy socio-political topics such as humanity’s increasingly disturbing instincts for self-preservation, Government accountability (or lack thereof) and, in the case of the Main Range’s recent Toshiko-led outing Instant Karma, even the rise of far-right activism. That Guy Adams similarly refuses to pull its punches on its chosen topical subject matter should thus come as no surprise, although the extent to which “The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood” interrogates the dangers of social media conspiracy theories might well split audiences more than they’d usually expect from a Big Finish production.

Who better to head up Adams’ politically turbulent script, then, than perhaps Aliens’ most controversial character, Torchwood candidate turned journalist turned alien conspirator Tyler Steele? Practically any actor would salivate at the prospect of deconstructing the YouTube v-log phenomenon, so it’s little wonder that Jonny Green completely embraces Tyler’s ruthless quest to investigate Brett Hayden’s video-streamed anti-Torchwood campaign, not to mention the disconcerting worldviews which he spouts to huge audiences every day. The search for answers predictably yields disturbing results at times which force listeners on all sides to consider how their seemingly trivial actions online can send unintentional ripples across society. Indeed, Green cunningly highlights this through Steele’s disgust at Hayden’s activities and also his paradoxical fervour at manipulating Hayden in much the same way as the blogger guides his audiences, with

Despite delving so far into the limitless rabbit hole of moral ambiguity that we commonly know as the World Wide Web, Adams inevitably has to draw the line somewhere – few Torchwood fans would likely share this reviewer’s rabid enthusiasm to see an entire season dedicated to Jack, Tyler et al finding their places in a digital age where covert military missions or terrorist attacks are regularly “leaked” for the sake of Likes and Follows. It’s for that reason “The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood” understandably stops short of truly contemplating Tyler’s culpability in the harrowing events that unfold or whether simply defaming ‘alternative’ political activists solves the problem, and for this reason that the play struggles to attain masterpiece status. Nevertheless, whereas certain thematically-shallow Torchwood romps can come and go with minimal impact, this one – along with another unsettling Tyler outing which we’ll discuss in our Part 2 review soon – will undoubtedly stay with listeners long after its final track wraps up.

“See No Evil” and “Night Watch”

In a break from our usual story-by-story review format for these Torchwood boxsets, God Among Us Part 1’s third and fourth episodes actually warrant a joint critique – namely since the two instalments bear such an uncanny resemblance to one another in terms of concepts, themes and character beats. In the case of “See No Evil”, John Dorney enshrouds Cardiff’s citizens in a chaos-inducing state of near-universal blindness, prompting the only (broadly) unaffected members of the team to hunt down the source of and cure for this rather inconvenient affliction. Meanwhile in the case of “Night Watch”, Tim Foley enshrouds almost all of Cardiff’s citizens in a state of near-universal slumber, prompting the only unaffected members of the team to hunt down…wait a minute. Was it just us or did that last sentence evoke some serious déjà vu?

Doctor Who fans who’ve followed the modern revival’s production may recall that Steven Moffat once juggled the ordering of Series Six (2011) to avoid its Spring-aired first half featuring too many horror-esque chamber pieces, hence Mark Gatiss’ “Night Terrors” airing as Episode 9 rather than in its original intended Episode 6 slot. Well, as much as Torchwood has barely put a foot wrong since coming under Big Finish’s confident stewardship, a similar level of structural consideration might’ve benefitted God Among Us’ opening boxset. Upon reaching the halfway point of “Night Watch” with its semi-philosophical exploration of humanity’s physical limits and how crises can lay our brutal nature bare for all to see, you’d be forgiven for wondering whether Foley was aware that his predecessor’s script covered much the same territory, or alternatively why the pair didn’t devise a more direct two-parter where either the citywide black-out or slumber party remained the solitary threat.

At least the boxset’s second half does its job of raising substantial intrigue for future instalments: both “Evil” and “Watch” continually subvert our expectations of twists delivered in the Aliens Among Us saga, call Jack in particular to task for some questionable – if spontaneous – romantic decisions made in recent weeks with hilarious reactions from Barrowman, and most importantly offer a fascinating insight into the warped benevolence of Season Six’s titular God ready for her schemes to play out in Part 2 and beyond. Sure, their uncanny tonal resemblance tragically robs much of the set’s momentum, but combine their potent revelations with the brilliant “Future Pain” and provocative “Man Who Destroyed Torchwood” and you’ve got a promising start to God Among Us which will certainly entice fans back for more.

Next Time on Torchwood – Familiar faces predict (or perhaps engineer) the end of the world, Tyler takes to the streets with heart-wrenching consequences and we see Yvonne Hartman like never before in God Among Us Part 2. What’s more, the Main Range kicks off its bombastic run of Doctor Who villain crossovers in style, namely by transporting aspiring thespian Gwen Cooper to a now-decrepit scientific institution called Fetch Priory – what could possibly go wrong…?

Writer: Eddie Robson, Jamie Anderson

 

 Director: Ken Bentley

Featuring: Peter Davison, Janet Fielding,

Mark Strickson, Jon Culshaw

Big Finish Release (United Kingdom)

 

First Released February 2019

Running Time: 2 hours

The fifth doctor’s Khameleon trilogy continues with the now almost traditional set of two-parters, Black Thursday and Power Game. Like the previous story, both of these are centred either on or around Khamelion, using him both as a plot point whilst fleshing his character out.

Black Thursday opens the set and is easily the crowning jewel of the two. Taking place in a small Welsh mining village on the brink of disaster, the story is a hard-hitting one that is incredibly layered and nuanced for something that runs half the time of a standard release. Jamie Anderson manages to explore Khamelion’s character within this context in a way that gives the android a whole other level of depth and character, giving him some wonderful emotional moments, which John Culshaw perfectly captures.

Indeed Culshaw’s performance is something that I feel cannot be given enough praise. Kamelion is a character cursed with a fairly unemotive voice and also a lack of any real character (at least until this trilogy). The challenge must of seemed immense, trying to bring a level of depth and emotion to a character whose persona is established and lacking in many opportunities to do that. Culshaw uses the iteration of every word to his advantage and he’s helped by a stellar sound design that uses garbled computer sounds in a way that can be interpreted as cries of anguish from the metal man.

The second story; Power Game does suffer from following such a strong opener but it’s also somewhat unfair to compare them as they are VERY different beasts. Whereas Black Thursday took a real historical tragedy, set it in a fictional setting and treat it with heart and emotion- Power Game is more of a traditional romp. Perhaps that at first seems like a negative but honestly, after the previous adventure, a romp was an exactly what I needed! This is a fun story that is attempting to do just that. Sprinkle in a little bit of satire and you have an incredibly enjoyable ride. Eddie Robson has once again managed to create a wonderful adventure and has proven himself a writer with an immense amount of talent.

The Tardis crew respond well to this situation, perhaps enjoying a lighter break after the aforementioned darkness of Black Thursday. Janet Fielding, in particular, seems to be having a whale of a time and it’s nice to see the funnier side of her character. Fielding has incredible comic timing and I always appreciate when Big Finish takes advantage of this, utilising the more humorous elements of her character. I feel sometimes Tegan is used just to moan and complain and it always seems unfortunate when there’s a multitude of character traits to be mined and utilised. It’s wonderful that Big Finish is continuing to give this character the recognition she deserves.

Davison and Strictson both give admirable performances, though the latter seems to be given deridingly less to do compared to the previous release. Culshaw is in this story deridingly little but the manner in which Kamelion is used despite him not being there is inventive and further shows Robson’s imagination.

All in all, this is a wonderful collection of stories in what is proving to be a stellar year for the main range.

Writer: John Dorney

Jonathan Barnes

Guy Adams
 

Director: Nicholas Briggs

 

Featuring: Tom Baker, Jane Slavin, John Leeson

Big Finish Release (United Kingdom):

First Released: February 2019

Running Time: 4 hours

Time's Assassin – GUY  ADAMS

"Please! Don't explain you're nefarious plot - I don't think I can bear it!"

The true identity of the Director has been revealed and he wants vengeance upon the Doctor for past crimes….

But the Director is not the only danger to the crew of the TARDIS. Deadly experiments are coming to a head, and everyone’s life is at risk.

However, the greatest threat is yet to come. The Syndicate’s plans are in motion….and no one is safe from them.

When we left the Doctor and Ann at the end of the last episode (and volume) they were still stranded and in peril. Jon Culshaw was chewing scenery, and monsters were about to be unleashed. Part two is much the same, and provides some major hints and themes of the coming episodes, further developing this series story arc as all really is not what it seems.

Writer Guy Adams ensures that events in this second part of the story proceed at breakneck speed. He has a real feel for the characters.

The story is a lot of fun, with major call-backs to this classic era of the show. There are lots of growling monsters, moustache twirling villainy. There is also a rather dashing rescue from a very special ‘Old Girl’ that made this listener grin like a ten-year-old.

Fever Island  – BY JONATHAN BARNES

"Not at all, Mr Vain....what I expect of both of you, is to die....horribly!"

Jason Vane is England’s suavest secret agent, and today he is on his deadliest mission yet. Tracking down the evil Okulov….before he destroys the world.

The Doctor, Ann and K9 are, in contrast finding their own mission a little hard to complete. A strange storm in the vortex has swept them back in time, back to Earth in 1978, and to a strange place called ‘Fever Island’.

A place where their worst nightmares are about to come true….

From the above, you can deduce that Fever Island is a James Bond spoof….of sorts anyway. But it is actually quite a bit more than that, and a great deal of fun. The story twists reality in such a way that Tom Baker and John Leeson get to play an evil megalomaniac and his fierce sidekick, Severous. I thought the writing by Jonathan Barnes was excellent, a great balance pastiche, tension and humour.

The cast is perfect – with the stand out being Gethin Anthony as Jason Vane, who plays the role with oodles of very ironic smarm.

 I wasn’t really looking forward to Fever Island from its story summary, but it turned out to be a real gem.

The Perfect Prisoners Part 1  – JOHN DORNEY

“You know what they say K9? If it aint broke, don’t adjust the polarity.”

The Doctor, Ann and K9 are hot on the trail of The Syndicate, and straight into trouble.

After contending with killer robots and dangerous aliens, the clues lead straight to a machine that can literally make you dreams come true. A device that in the wrong hands could lead to misery for millions.

But who’s the real villain here? And what exactly is their masterplan?

The Perfect Prisoners stats at a breakneck pace, with the Doctor and Ann already well into an adventure, in fact we catch up with them as danger draws in and hope seems lost. The Perfect Prisoner could almost be a direct sequel to The Daleks' Master Plan. If you thought that The Syndicate Masterplan was cannon heavy, wait a while.

I’m probably going to disappoint you now Reader, I was never a plan of The Daleks' Masterplan. To me, it felt that the Daleks had already been heavily overused, and I found the plot just….dull. So it was with some trepidation that I started listening to this story, especially when I realised it was four episodes. I couldn’t have been more wrong.  All four parts positively romp along. The characters are all integrated perfectly, and there isn’t a lot of presumption that you know The Daleks Masterplan inside out. The twists come thick and fast, as do the clever sleight of hand that seems around every corner.

The Perfect Prisoners Part 2 – JOHN DORNEY

“Geronimoooooooo!!!”

Secrets have been revealed, and the Doctor and his friends at least know who they’re fighting.

An epic journey across space leads them to the true mastermind of The Syndicate conspiracy.

Alliances will shift. Friends will die. Can even the Doctor come out of this alive?

As we emerge surprisingly quickly from the last cliff-hanger and catch our breath from a very dramatic rescue, courtesy of K9, we barely get time to take stock of events before we are being whisked off to a climax that looks hopeless for the Doctor.

Throughout these two volumes, there have been double-crosses and twists galore, and this final episode delivers even more, alongside a rather splendid dose of sleight of hand, which I do not want to spoil.

17011 ties these volumes up perfectly, picking up all the loose threads, and tying them neatly together. I’ve really enjoyed the character of Ann, and I love the way that Big Finish, Jane Slavin, and the writers involved have treated her, and let the character evolve over these two volumes, all coming pretty much full circle here, and leaving the Doctor (literally) a very different character than when she joined him. Well done Big Finish.

Written By: Roy Gill, John Dorney, Nev Fountain, Jonathan Morris

Directed By: Ken Bentley

Cast

Michelle Gomez (Missy), Rufus Hound (The Monk), Oliver Clement (Oliver Davis), Bonnie Kingston (Lucy Davis), Simon Slater (Montague Davis / Moses Walker / Coachman), Dan Starkey (Mr Cosmo / Park Keeper / Old Man / Sphinx), Beth Chalmers (Djinn / Housemaid), Maggie Service (Catherine Parr), Leighton Pugh (Sir Foxcroft / Gramoryan 1 / Priest), Graham Seed (Gramoryan 2 / Taverner / Squire), Kenneth Jay (Dick Zodiac), Guy Paul (Joe Lynwood), Ryan Forde Iosco (The Actor Playing Joe Lynwood), Daniel Goode (Mark / Roy), Rachel Verkuil (Frankie / The Actress Playing Missy), Abbie Andrews (Aleyna), John Scougall (Cort / Guards), Lucy Goldie (Sath / Mother), Jason Nwoga (Doctor Goodnight), Jamie Laird (Mr Bryce / Father). Other parts played by members of the cast.

Producer David Richardson Script Editor Matt Fitton Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

Confession: I am not a fan of Missy.  It's nothing against Michelle Gomez...she played the role with enthusiasm.  I just didn't like the way she was written. She was more Anthony Ainley camp than the darker side of the character I prefer.  John Simm could play the Master as goofy and over the top but look at any scene that was just between him and Tennant.  Suddenly he strips away most of the antics and becomes a very sinister guy.  I never felt Gomez was given that chance.  She was always a campy character making snide remarks and ever so witty. I know a ton of people loves that, but I tire of it.  She always felt one note to me. So a whole boxset of Missy seems overwhelming to me, do I really want to spend four hours with this character?

Maybe they can change my mind on the character, maybe they can showcase another side of her.  Hell, they did a tremendous job with the War Master, somehow making stories that can revolve around the Master but not turning him into some anti-hero...he is still clearly an evil guy.  Could they strike a balance with Missy as well? Apparently, they cannot. The character is just as one-note as she had always been.  Always ready with a quip and a silly voice, always having more delight in the idea of being sinister than actually being sinister. I found myself increasingly irritated with the stories in this set, and the character left me colder than ever.  I said I wasn't a fan, but I didn't hate her. This set made me kind of hate her.

The opening story has her posing as a Victorian Governess.  I didn't really buy the premise, and I found the two kids she was taking care of to be boring and poorly acted.  Usually, Big Finish has good performances from all involved, people who really get the Audio format.  I don't know what was with these two, but I found them frustrating, and the goofy heists they are doing with Missy also left me cold. The music kept telling me I should be having fun. I was not having fun.

But maybe it was a fluke, there are three more stories, they can't all be bad.  The second story involved the spin-off media go-to Time Lord, the Meddling Monk.  A character with no real character that can be moulded into anything you need him to be for a story.  This time he is a bumbling idiot, posing as Henry VIII, marrying the wrong women hoping the Time Lords will rescue him?  But also Missy is here to steal a part from his TARDIS. And they nearly get married and they nearly get killed...and it was so campy I lost interest halfway through.  It is never good when I'm alone in my car and begin to yell "Get on with it!" at some point during the listen.

So we come to the third story, which is sort of a parody of America's Most Wanted, or shows like it, but gets more complex than that.  To be honest I didn't really click with it.  I think it had an interesting premise but even though I just listened to it I've already forgotten why everyone thought they were in a TV show. The episode is essentially a murder mystery, with the murderer turning out to be the Master's old TARDIS attempting to find a more sane pilot than the Master, the results often ending in accidental deaths. 

The set closes out with what is, luckily, the best story of the set.  Missy is an evil overlord using slave labour to mine for something mysterious.  It turns out that the caves they are mining in is some kind of giant creature, and the slaves are all clones.  I liked the Missy was just a clear villain in the story, though the bits with Missy also being the leader of the rebellion with a comedy accent left me cold.  They just did the comedy accent in the previous story, so I don't know if they ever intended me to believe that it wasn't Missy the whole time or not, but it was painfully obvious, and didn't really have any meaning, as the whole rebellion plot is just Missy having some fun and killing time until she finds what she is after.

Ultimately, what she was after was "The Master TARDIS," some advanced TARDIS that can control other TARDISes.  This is the clear set up for some future story, either for the next volume of Missy, or maybe some run-in with the Doctor in another boxset.  The Master TARDIS thing isn't even brought up until the closing moments, so the weight of the development is minimal.  They should have made this object a clear goal from the beginning of the set, so the success of her evil plans could have more of an impact. 

If it hasn't been clear, this set did not thrill me. Obviously, I started from a place where I'm not a huge fan of the character to begin with.  And without having Capaldi to spar with, I think Missy is an even emptier character than she was on TV.  It's all goofy voices and quips and there is rarely a moment where I take her seriously as a genuine threat. Big Finish has only amplified the things I found so uninteresting about the character.  Give me another War Master, at least those are filled with the Master being a genuinely evil jerk.