Big Finish - Paper Cuts

I've got a lot of past Big Finish releases to catch up on. Here is Paper Cuts, written by Marc Platt and directed by Nicholas Briggs, all the way back from September 2009.

The Doctor and Charley answer a summons from his old friend the Draconian Emperor, but their timing may be a bit off as the Emperor is dead and the battle for succession is taking place on board a floating space tomb. The Sixth Doctor has to put aside the mystery of Charley's identity because an army of Origami paper warriors are hacking their way in.

I like the Draconians, a race of reptilian space warriors whose culture is based on Japanese samurai, and the idea of a folded paper army was quite fun. It works well as an audio drama but might be a bit hard to pull off on television. After the disappointment of the first instalment of the Key 2 Time series I was hoping for a more straight forward romp and this was not too bad. It mixed a political intrigue with a classic base in peril scenario to good effect, although the rapid jumps from one aspect of the story to the other was a little jarring at times.

The other thing that jarred a bit was Colin Baker's performance. This story asks a lot of his Doctor and some of his outbursts and exclamations seemed unusually forced. Normally he is very good indeed, maybe he was having an off day. Or maybe it is that the other actors are all a little flat as well. There was nothing terrible but it just didn't stand out for me.

A solid middle of the road 3 out of 5 Origami warriors for Paper Cuts.

Big Finish - The Judgement of Isskar

Back catalogue time again as I start on the Key 2 Time series from Big Finish. First up from January 2009 is The Judgement of Isskar by Simon Guerrier, directed by Jason Haigh-Ellery.

Some background information for me as much as anything. The original Key to Time was a story arc that linked six serials featuring the Fourth Doctor on television in the late 1970s. The Key itself is an artefact that stabilises the Universe but can also destroy it. The hunt for the pieces of this powerful cube involved the Doctor going up against representatives of order and chaos known, respectively, as the White and Black Guardians.

Big Finish returns to that story in this Key 2 Time series, and that numeral 2 is deliberate. The Fifth Doctor is on Mars with a new companion, a young woman called Amy who also seems to be a form of tracking device for pieces of the Key. Their hunt across time and space brings them into contact, and conflict, with the creatures who will go on to become the Ice Warriors of Mars.

Now I love the Ice Warriors and their creepy, whispering voices. This was the first Big Finish story I have listened to that features them so I was quite excited by the prospect. And that's the problem, I should stop getting my hopes up too high for some of these adventures because this just seemed like a confused mess to me. I couldn't understand why the Doctor was so quick to abandon looking for Peri at the start of the story and happily head off with Amy on the hunt for the missing pieces which his earlier self had deliberately scattered across time and space. On top of this the goodies and baddies kept changing, I didn't warm to the character of Amy at all, and all the female actors sounded the same to me. The only plus points were Nicholas Briggs' marvellous Ice Warrior voices, and the cheerful enthusiasm of Peter Davison during the CD extras interviews.

There has been a lot of discussion recently about jumping on points for Big Finish, well this is not one of them. Hopefully the rest of the series will get me back on track and explain what is going on, but at the moment the Key 2 time leaves me puzzled and as cold as an Ice Warrior's breath.
2 out of 5 Cosmic cubes I'm afraid.

Bond Under Covers

A quick word about the cover images I am using to illustrate my posts about the Bond novels. I've chosen my favourite paperback editions, the iconic Pan covers which were designed by Raymond Hawkey, who also did the famous covers for the Harry Palmer novels by Len Deighton.

There are a host of sites devoted to the various editions of Fleming's novels. For me it is these colourful but understated covers for the Pan editions that stand out. They were the face of the Bond books at the peak of his popularity in the 60s. At the moment I have collected seven of the fifteen and continue to scour second hand book stalls for the rest. Beautiful things.

James Bond - Goldfinger

Back to the complete Bond-thru with the seventh book, Goldfinger from 1959.

M assigns 007 to investigate the gold smuggling activities of one of Fleming's best villains, Auric Goldfinger. Before long Bond is catching him cheating at cards, beating him in a memorable golf match, and coming up against the definitive henchman, Oddjob.

This is Fleming at the height of his powers and of the Bond novel's popularity. The format is well established: we get not one but two sporting encounters, some racy Bond girls including Pussy Galore, and Bond is strapped to the table to be tortured with a circular saw (it was changed to the Laser for the movie version). There is quit a lot of dialogue to wad through with lengthy exchanges between Bond and Goldfinger, but these do include my favourite lines from any of the novels when Goldfinger declares: "Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

Having acquired his signature weapon in the last book Bond changes his Bentley for the famous Aston Martin in this one. Not that he gets to use either the gun or the car very much as once again he has to rely on his wits and his physical resilience to get him out of trouble. It's another cracking example of the 007 books, perhaps the best section is the golf match with Fleming demonstrating his knowledge of the intricacies, and the dirty tricks, of the game.

One memorable villain, no medical conditions (other than his lust for gold), one nasty henchman, several Bond girls, two sporting encounters and one torture scene. All this plus death by gold paint!

James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only.

Big Finish - Wanted: Dredd or Alive

From all the way back in March 2002 comes the first of Big Finish's 2000AD audio dramas. Wanted: Dredd or Alive by David Bishop, directed by Nicholas Briggs.

The Judges of Mega-City One are trying to deal with a deadly crime syndicate but Judge Dredd seems to be suffering the effects of something called Sleep Machine Psychosis and is going off the rails in a big way. Meanwhile a new batch of cadets are coming out of the Academy of Law and must face their final assessment on those mean streets as they try to earn their full Eagle badge.

As Big Finish brought 2000AD into their range of licensed audio dramas they needed a story that could introduce listeners to the world of Dredd. David Bishop uses the reasonably familiar device of a new character, British rookie Judge Amy Steel, who can guide us through the bizarre world of Mega-City One. She doesn't appear in the comics so she follows in the Big Finish tradition of introducing new companions and supporting characters for their Doctor Who adventures. Claire Buckfield plays her with gusto and a nice rebellious streak.

Meanwhile Toby Longworth gives us his first performance as Dredd and straight away he just fills the green boots as if he had been playing the part for many years already. If you are a 2000AD reader and listen to the Everything Comes Back to 2000AD podcast then you will recognise their opening clip of Dredd's voice which is taken from this audio adventure.

It's not a perfect story possibly because it has so much back story to get over. If you are familiar with the comic then you may find some of this boring, and it is pretty obvious what Dredd is up to as he appears to go rogue. But it's not a bad introductory piece, and it does feature brief appearances from Chief Judge Hershey and Max Normal. All this and it is available for free on the BBC site. 3 out of 5 Lawgivers.

Big Finish - The Shadow Heart

The latest main range monthly release is The Shadow Heart, written by Jonathan Morris, directed by Ken Bentley.

The conclusion to the Drashani trilogy arrives and it is time for the Seventh Doctor to return and face the consequences of the actions of his earlier selves. In the last episode the monsters from The Burning Prince, the Wrath, were transformed into an intergalactic police force, but their programming seems to have gone wrong and now they are at war with the Earth empire. Meanwhile there is a price on the Doctor's head and he has to face the music for what he has wrought.

This is a big story that leaps from one world to another. Along the way it involves some roguish scrap traders, a heroic starship crew and a giant space snail! And on top of this it introduces the impossibly glamorous mercenary Vienna Salvatori, played by Chase Masterston, who is set to get her own spin off story. Several of the actors return from the previous episodes and there isn't a dud performance to worry about. It does sound like they all had a lot of fun recording this story. The production hits the usual high standards of Big Finish  I think I preferred the music in The Acheron Pulse but otherwise this story has the slight edge. It never quite hits the frenetic heights of The Burning Prince but not many stories do.

4 out of 5 astronomical ammonites for The Shadow Heart.

Big Finish - Patient Zero

Digging through the Big Finish back catalogue brings me to Patient Zero from August 2009. Written and directed by Nicholas Briggs with yet more Daleks!

The Sixth Doctor and Charley Pollard arrive in the mysterious Amethyst Viral Containment station, and their timing is not great because the Daleks are on their way. On top of that the Tardis seems to have picked up a stowaway, and then there are the enigmatic Viyrans. It's quite a heady mix for the Doctor who is also trying to solve the riddle of Charley's true identity.

Listening to two Dalek stories in a row was tempting fate for a disappointment but this was actually very good. Trying to figure out what is going on with Charley suits the Sixth Doctor's somewhat abrasive demeanour. And while he is kept busy by the Daleks and Viyrans, and has to ensure that a host of deadly viruses are not released on an unsuspecting universe, his enquiring mind means that things are set up quite nicely by the end of this story. The mystery continues and I look forward to the next instalment.

I have temporarily run out of superlatives for Nick Briggs' performances as the Daleks. I presume he does the Viyran voices as well, and they are equally impressive. Colin Baker and India Fisher spark off each other nicely, and the cast is rounded out with enjoyable turns by Michael Maloney and Jess Robinson.

It seemed like a short story after the sprawling epics of Love and War and Dark Eyes but I enjoyed it. A shorter review and a score of 3.5 out of 5 viral nasties.