Big Finish Main Range
The first adventure with Charley has a little bit of everything that makes for a good Dr. who audio drama! Excitement, danger, crazy people, aliens, vortasaurs, good guys, bad guys, and the Doctor losing the TARDIS. What more could you ask for? It has atmosphere and loads of the Doctor talking to himself, which is understandable but kind of annoying. This seems to be a convention to get us into the Doctor’s head, as this is Paul McGann’s first appearance as the Doctor in an audio drama.
What keeps this from being a 5 out of 5 isn’t anything specific. The lack of a specific bad guy doesn’t hurt or help it. It’s something more indefinable… I just don’t think “I like Storm Warning” and seek it out to listen to. I would listen to something just more fun and silly like Invaders from Mars over this one. Perhaps it’s just my own inclination to prefer stories with more inherent humor. A very good story this is and an excellent introduction to Paul McGann and India Fisher working together. Great performances, too, though Rathbone was a bit of a weak link, as far as characters go. Was that a German accent or French? I couldn’t tell…
The story ends up with an interesting, though well worn theme, too. The bad guys aren’t all bad and human nature is ultimately what wins the day. Which is a major theme in the Doctor’s stories throughout all of his incarnations. Perhaps it’s just not unique enough to rate as a top audio for me. And the bad guys really don’t feel like a threat, ray gun or no. They’re just two sides of a species and you can just intimidate them with a few roars to get them to back down—fear of the unknown being what it is. J But overall, it’s very good! I’d recommend this as an introduction to the audios or to McGann and Big Finish certainly did, as it was the first McGann audio on the market.
Paul McGann, India Fisher, and Gareth Thomas
Writer: Alan Barnes
Director: G-Russell
Release: January 2001