serton's referring to the Committee - the treatment and mix used on the voice is very hard to understand. The sing-song Cybermen are fine.

Indeed I had no problem with the cybermen voices in the tenth planet clips or on here, just that metallic committee was the issue... In fact I loved that they used the 10th planet cyber voices, it made me excited regarding the continuity...

If you like Charley, maybe try Minuet in Hell - it's Eight and Charley and the Brigadier in crazy deep south America with a sort of Hellfire Club, Charley held hostage as an exotic dancer, the Doctor forgetting he's the Doctor, and the Brig being awesome. I listened to it on a long train journey recently and really enjoyed it.

I looked at Minuet in Hell and considered it and then went and considered it some more as it was 7.99. Have gone with 'Time of the Daleks' and 'Sword of Orion' Only because I'm curious to hear the 8th Doctor's first Cybermen encounter. Even though it will make me all cybermen'd out.

I've noticed that Big Finish seem to love Dalek stories as well... Not sure what Sword will be like since no one mentioned it in their recommendations so am approaching it with a little trepidation

Personally, I preferred "Sword of Orion" when it was an Audio Visual (basically, BF's first incarnation) - it was the first one I heard - but I don't really like Nicholas Briggs' scripts. I just find them very pedestrian and cliched. "Minuet in Hell" was an AV, as well, and, despite some good bits, I think it's silly and OTT with some terrible acting and accents.

Well I've been listening to The Time Of The Daleks. It seems like a lot of Sound and Fury signifying a Doctor Who adventure... (giggles)

IT was plugging along quite nicely until the end of episode 2. They switched between the rebels and the Doctor and people were talking and not being heard by others in the room. There was very little distinction between the two locations and it got a little confusing at that climax. I would say that is one of the disadvantages of the audio. Sometimes they do large action style scenes and often they do not come across. I've noticed it more in this Dalek story. Episode 4 beginning was also a little confusing but I managed to cope. Or at least I thought I had. I read up on a site detailing the plot and realised while most of it had been exactly what I thought, I had managed to miss several big moments, which is never good.

Episode 3 introduces us to the Emperor Dalek and to be honest all I could see was the Emperor from the episode Parting of the ways, made 3 years later.

Overall it's been an interesting story. A good human villain who's principles seemed all right to begin with and was revealed to be more later. I liked the reveal of the Dalek's plan and the mystery that surrounded it. I guessed why the mirrors were working a full 2 episodes before the Doctor. Not sure thought it was the best of the stories I've listened to, and certainly not sure it was the best Dalek story I've seen (on TV), I do feel the Shakespeare quotes were a 'little' overdone.


So, now that story has finished I'm going to listen to the Sword of Orion, I had not realised that was an AV production as well. I'd heard that Minuet was one.

Not sure if I'll be able to listen to many more this month. 6 in one month has made me take a small hit on my bank account...

On a side note, I've noticed that the 8th Doctor's further adventures with Lucie Miller are only an hour long but not that much cheaper than the month adventures which are almost double the length. This seems a little disappointing.

For me, that's a common problem with Big Finish. They try to produce an action movie soundtrack rather than a piece of satisfying drama. I hate lazy dialogue along the lines of "Oh, look, Doctor - that giant, six-legged purple lizard is coming towards us at great speed!" The Doctor replies, "Yes, Brenda, I see it - stay away from its poisonous yellow breath! However, I'm more concerned about the Dalek army to our left!" They're producing their stories for a captive audience so can do what they want. I'd rather they were more innovative but I assume they don't want to alienate the majority of their customers. I just think their mediocre stories hugely outweigh their "classics". Also, their desire to re-use every single monster who's ever appeared (eg. Wirrn, Adric, etc.) is boring and reduces the size of the Doctor's universe, though I understand why it's done.


They have tried to address that by making the extras slightly more substantial but I rarely listen to them these days. I find it hard enough mustering enough interest to listen to the actual stories.

BF freely state stories with an "of the Daleks" title sell better than other ones, hence there are lots of them.

On the subject of BF Dalek stories, "Jubilee" is an excellent story and was an obvious fore-runner to the TV episode "Dalek".

Have to agree that Minuet In Hell was a cracker but for a great audio that is not strictly Who try Dalek Empire which is fantastic if you can stick through it all (over 20 hours IIRC).

Sword Of Orion.

I liked this story. It was quite simple, there was a lot of back and forth and they really made the scene changes quite clear. There was a good atmosphere on the Vanguard ship, but the main battleship, I somehow could not picture.

The mystery of the captain was well handled and it added a nice extra to it. For me it could have been a brother to Earthshock, for some reason it just felt like that.

What I didn't like about it, but it was not a hinderance to me, was the fact that the 8th Doctor could have been ANY doctor. I could see the 6th Doctor playing him once again. I presume this is the change from AV across to the Big Finish productions.

Well, although it was technically a simple story with a lot of "running about" the tension was good, the cybermen were good and it was just an easy going enjoyable story. Yes, it was probably a bit pedestrian, but it didn't have any pretentions, the action was well done , and while it's not the best story I've heard it gets a thumbs up from me!

Going to listen to Night Thoughts now... need a 7th Doctor story now!

Night Thoughts, I think, could only ever be a seventh Doctor story...

I see what you mean about that.

Well my thoughts on Night Thoughts...

A fantastic story only spoiled a little by Hex. His accent is one of those accents I would rather not have to listen to. I also wish Ace had been given a little more to do.

There were a few hints at the start, like Hex's dream that was not really followed up on as such and the epilogue with Happy was very odd that Ruth called her bunny the same name as Happy...

I thought that this story sat, atmosphere and thematically with most of Sylvesters final season, Curse of Fenric and Ghost light spring to mind. The way the Doctor acts and the type of story makes you realise, as Ting said, "[it] could only ever be a seventh Doctor story"

The characters were mysterious and creepy, and although the house seemed to grow larger and smaller as needed, it was quite a good setting. The cliffhangers were very well done and in general I found this a good story. Not overly action packed but filled with great drama. At no time did I feel it was padded for padding sake, e.g. time to run up and down a corridor for half an hour...

If the last one got a thumbs up with reservations, this story would get both thumbs up, no reservations and a CD shoved in your direction!

Spectre of Lanyon Moor now..

Oddly enough I calculated that if I listened to two a month, I think it would take me 5 years to catch up on the monthly series alone just to the current point! let alone the new releases within that timescale! Add in the 60 releases that would be done over those 5 years and that's an extra 2.5 years... then add in the 30 releases and that's another 15 more releases by the time I've got to them...

So basically, to catch up at 2 releases a month will take me nearly 10 years!

Bit of a bugger as I'm a little bit of a completist! Oh and if you think the calculating was a bit sad... I'm a maths teacher, that should explain it all...