Big Finish - 8th Doctor Special Release
I shall just start with I love the Twelve! They are all still there inside of her but man, she knows how to bring them to heel yet isn’t quite a monster herself. Amazingly done! So fun to listen to.
The Lords of Terror
Wow. So the Time Lords, specifically Lendek, have taken over a planet and made it into a war planet. And feel free to destroy it to prevent the Daleks from getting control of it. This story really shows the depths of what war can do to the psyche of those who survive. It’s just an amazing story, showing off the moral ambiguity of both sides in the war. Though we know the Daleks are absolute monsters, how do you go to battle with them and not become a monster yourself to destroy them? Is the cost worth it?
Planet of the Ogrons
The Doctor – Ogron is a great character. The Daleks have a new hybrid, the Overseer, who is doing experiments on Ogrons and they are being inserted, historically and in the present, into Dalek battles. The Overseer is an even more disgusting character, itself a hybrid of many species and even more insane than a regular Dalek. Its experiments create the Doctor – Ogron hybrid, which turns out to be a good thing. But they all get captured anyway, which leads to the next story…
In the Garden of Death
This story continues with the Daleks trying a new tactic, wiping everyone’s memories between torture sessions. And it’s really played out in a natural progression, with the Twelve being the one who circumvents circumstances. Tau Delta sounds like a half-converted cyberman and helps the Twelve to escape, strangely. Twelve just follows the path of the characters within her and wow, the Doctor as the most dangerous man in the universe! The Daleks definitely respect his capabilities but they shouldn’t have dismissed the Twelve quite so easily.
Jonah
This story begins with a classic submarine chase, in the vein of old Hollywood movies, with Daleks hunting the Doctor’s ship underwater. It’s tense and I’m very surprised how long Jonah’s (the Doctor’s nickname among the crew – he’s even the captain of the vessel!) sub lasts, despite the bombardment. Perhaps it’s the properties of the water that keep it intact.
Properties imbued by the presence of the YYY, a creature at the hearth of the oceans on <planet name>. While it can see the future, past, and know everything, it doesn’t/can’t prevent its own death at the hands of the Daleks. Sad but the final conversation it has with the Doctor is worth the wait. Though Olestra once again is withholding the TARDIS from the Doctor in order to force him to do what she wants, he isn’t in a cooperative mood. Ever. I don’t think the 8th Doctor quite fits the mood as well as John Hurt’s grumpy Doctor, who really blasted Olestra, but he does a different but good job of it.
Overall an excellent box set! I avoided listening to it for a long time but I found it to be less disturbing and far more interesting than the first box set.
Paul McGann (The Doctor), Rakhee Thakrar (Bliss), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks), Jacqueline Pearce (Cardinal Ollistra), Julia McKenzie (The Twelve), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Tamasan), Amanda Root (Lendek), Rakie Ayola (Pollia / Lambda Epsilon), Guy Adams (Rendo), Simon Slater (Carvil / Shaler), Jon Culshaw (Doctor Ogron), Victor McGuire (Borton), Anya Chalotra (Ensign Murti), Tania Rodrigues (Chief Panath), Surinder Duhra (Executive Officer Omor). Other parts played by members of the cast.
Written By: Jonathan Morris, Guy Adams, Timothy X Atack
Directed By: Ken Bentley
Release: July 2018