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6th Doctor

Slipback

Doctor Who: SlipbackFollowing a trail of time spillage, indicating carelessly-conducted time experiments, the TARDIS brings the Doctor to the starship Vipod Mor, whose dysfunctional crew includes an undercover cop, a schizophrenic ship’s computer, and a captain intent on creating and unleashing the most virulent disease in the universe. But the Time Lord isn’t in any shape to take on these potential dangers – he’s nearly incapacitated, trying to decipher a cryptic message deliver to him by a disembodied female voice. Soon, he and Peri are caught in the middle of numerous deadly plots, but the Doctor discovers that he can’t interfere with any of them…without derailing the entire history of the universe.

Order this CDwritten by Eric Saward
directed by Paul Spencer
music by Jonathan Gibbs

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Jane Carr (Computer), John Glover (Shellingborne Grant), Nick Revell (Bates / Snatch), Alan Thompson (Mutant / Steward), Valentine Dyall (Captain Slarn), Ron Pember (Seedle)

Timeline: after Revelation Of The Daleks and before Trial Of A Time Lord

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor 6th Doctor 7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Sirens Of Time

Doctor Who: The Sirens Of TimeThe seventh Doctor is drawn to a jungle world, where he rescues a hapless bystander and discovers an elderly couple nearby. The couple have a unique relationship based on a mutual loathing that seems like it could become murderous at any moment – and they both have very dark secrets to hide. The fifth Doctor, meanwhile, finds himself locked out of the TARDIS, which has materialized aboard a doomed British ship in the North Atlantic. The ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat, and the TARDIS is lost at sea. The Doctor, along with an Irish woman from the British vessel, drifts along with the debris until taken aboard the German sub as a spy. Elsewhere, on the starliner Edifice, the sixth Doctor’s TARDIS arrives, coinciding with an experiment being performed on a time-sensitive creature known as the Temperon. But shortly after the experiment fails, the entire crew – with the exception of its android helmsman and a waitress who appears to have survived through pure luck – is killed, and the Doctor must find out why. Each incarnation of the Doctor is unaware that he is facing the same threat, but in different places and times. And each Doctor has a piece of the puzzle that could save their besieged home planet of Gallifrey.

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Colin Baker (The Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Andrew Fettes (Commander Raldeth / Schmidt), Anthony Keetch (Coordinator Vansell), Michael Wade (The President), Sarah Mowat (Elenya / Helen / Ellie / Knight Commander Lyena), Maggie Stables (Ruthley), Colin McIntyre (Sancroff), John Wadmore (Commandant / Lt. Zentner / Pilot Azimendah / Subcommander Solanec), Mark Gatiss (Captain Schwieger / Edifice Captain / Knight 2), Nicholas Briggs (The Temperon), Nicholas Pegg (Delegate)

Timeline: part one takes place in an unspecified time frame while the seventh Doctor is traveling alone; part two takes place while Tegan and Turlough are traveling with the Doctor, but since he makes no reference to being Lord President of Gallifrey, this may place it between Terminus and The Five Doctors. Part three takes place between Trial Of A Time Lord and Time And The Rani, since the sixth Doctor is traveling alone.

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Whispers Of Terror

Doctor Who: Whispers Of TerrorIn the Museum of Aural Antiquities, preparations are underway for a broadcast in tribute to the late actor Visteen Krane, who died mysteriously on the eve of announcing his candidacy for the Presidency. But things begin to go wrong almost immediately. A man is found murdered in the Museum, and the only suspects without an alibi are two intruders who identify themselves as The Doctor and Peri. The Doctor is immediately suspicious of Beth Pernell, Krane’s theatrical agent and potential running mate, who is planning to supplant her late boss as a presidential candidate and use the tribute in his honor for her own publicity. But when another death occurs, the Doctor suspects an even greater danger – a bloodthirsty life form composed of sound waves, which can replicate and transmit itself through any sound-conducting channel…such as, for example, a tribute broadcast which will be heard by millions.

Order this CDwritten by Justin Richards
directed by Gary Russell
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Rebecca Jenkins (Amber Dent/Car Computer), Hylton Collins (Goff Fotherill/Computer Voice), Matthew Brehner (Visteen Krane), Peter Miles (Curator Gantman), Mark Trotman (Miles Napton), Nick Scovell (Detective Berkeley), Lisa Bowerman (Beth Pernell), Steffan Boje (Hans Stengard)

Timeline: after Revelation Of The Daleks and before …ish

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Marian Conspiracy

Doctor Who: The Marian ConspiracyTracking a disturbance in the fabric of time, the Doctor interrupts a college class being conducted by history professor Dr. Evelyn Smythe – only to discover that she is the disturbance he has been seeking. Evelyn initially wants nothing to do with the garishly dressed stranger until physical evidence of her family history begins to vanish from her home. The Doctor deduces that something in the past is unraveling, erased Evelyn’s ancestors from the timeline – and taking her along with it. He rigs up a stasis device to prevent Evelyn from disappearing altogether, but rather than staying put, the intrepid teacher decides to visit Earth’s history along with the Doctor. The TARDIS tracks the disturbance to a point roughly three years before the end of Queen Mary’s reign, where events – including a conspiracy to remove Mary from the throne by any means necessary – are converging with one inevitable effect unless the Doctor can stop them: Evelyn Smythe’s family will be wiped out in the process.

Order this CDwritten by Jacqueline Rayner
directed by Gary Russell
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Dr. Evelyn Smythe), Anah Ruddin (The Queen), Jo Castleton (Lady Sarah), Sean Jackson (George Crow), Gary Russell (John Wilson), Jez Fielder (William Leaf), Nicholas Pegg (Reverend Thomas), Barnaby Edwards (Francois de Noailles), Alistair Lock (Royal guard)

Timeline: after The Trial Of A Time Lord and before The Spectre Of Lanyon Moor

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Spectre Of Lanyon Moor

Doctor Who: The Spectre Of Lanyon MoorThe Doctor and Evelyn arrive at a Cornish moor where an archaeological dig seems to be stirring up more trouble than it’s worth. Professor Morgan’s attempts to unearth an ancient landmark have begun to awaken an equally ancient evil which has been trapped on Earth for thousands of years. Nearby, the wealthy eccentric Sir Archibald Flint has barely guessed at the nature of this hidden power, hoping to tap into it for his own ends. To the Doctor’s delight, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is at the dig site, quietly monitoring the proceedings at UNIT’s behest – but even UNIT’s firepower and the Time Lord’s cunning may not be enough to save Earth from a creature hell-bent on revenge.

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Pegg
directed by Nicholas Pegg
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Dr. Evelyn Smythe), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Toby Longworth (Professor Morgan), Barnaby Edwards (Philip Ludgate), James Bolam (Sir Archibald Flint), Susan Jameson (Mrs. Moynihan), Helen Goldwyn (Nikki Hunter), Nicholas Pegg (Captain Ashforde), Helen Goldwyn (Pelagia Stamatis), Helen Goldwyn (Corporal Croft)

Timeline: after The Marian Conspiracy and before The Apocalypse Element

Logbook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Apocalypse Element

Doctor Who: The Apocalypse ElementThe Doctor and Evelyn arrive on the planet Archetryx, which is playing host to an unprecedented summit meeting of major powers in the universe with time travel capability…including the Time Lords, represented by the Lord President and CIA operative Vansell, whom the Doctor is less than pleased to see. But despite elaborate security measures taken for the summit, odd things are happening – the gravity wells on Archetryx are acting up, and one of the delegates is practicing mind control on the local security forces. The Doctor is immediately suspicious of the entire situation, especially when the phantom planet of Etra Prime suddenly appears, headed straight for Archetryx. The Daleks are behind this incident, attempting to harness the knowledge of the time-travel-capable species to perfect their new doomsday weapon. But the Daleks don’t count on one thing: a Time Lord named Romanadvortrelundar, who has spent 20 years of her life in the Daleks’ clutches, escapes with knowledge of the Daleks’ plans…as well as the transference crystal they need to focus their new weapon. Romana’s reunion with the Doctor is rushed as they evacuate Archetryx and retreat to Gallifrey, only to find that Vansell’s lust for inside knowledge of the other powers’ time travel vessels has given the Daleks a foothold on the planet of the Time Lords. Even without the focusing device, the Daleks settle for an uncontrolled demonstration of their new weapon – and the resulting massive reaction, if left unchecked, will consume all matter in the entire universe in a matter of hours.

Order this CDwritten by Stephen Cole
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Dr. Evelyn Smythe), Lalla Ward (Romana), Karen Henson (Monitor Trinkett), James Campbell (Assistant Monitor Ensac), Andrea Newland (Commander Vorna), Anthony Keech (Coordinator Vansell), Toby Longworth (Monan Host), Michael Wade (The President), Alistair Lock (Dalek voices), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voices), Andrew Fettes (Vrint / Commander Reldath)

Timeline: after The Spectre Of Lanyon Moor and before Bloodtide

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Holy Terror

Doctor Who: The Holy TerrorThe Doctor and Frobisher are in deep trouble. The TARDIS has “gone on strike,” and the Doctor is forced to surrender control to the ship itself. It brings them to a castle whose occupants live by a bizarre set of rituals: their king isn’t just a monarch, but a living god to be worshipped by his subjects. However, whenever the king dies, the religion built around him is declared false, a select number of subjects are executed for heresy, the rest of the heretics much formally change their religion to follow the new god (the incoming king), and the bible must be rewritten from scratch. But by sheer bad luck, the arrival of the TARDIS is hailed as a miracle, as it occurs on the coronation/ ascension day of the new god-king – a timid man who doesn’t want the position at all. To avoid his fate, the new ruler abdicates and declares Frobisher to be the new god – and since Frobisher is a talking penguin who emerged from a “blue temple” which appeared out of thin air, most of the people have no qualms about worshipping him. To his credit, the well-meaning whifferdill tries to instill a sense of free choice upon his subjects, introducing them to concepts such as democracy and mercy. But deep within the castle, something else is brewing – a devastating evil which some think will be the new messiah. But its true destiny is to murder every last person in the kingdom until it finds one man – and there is nothing the Doctor or Frobisher can do to stop it.

Order this CDwritten by Robert Shearman
directed by Nicholas Pegg
music by Russell Stone

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Robert Jezek (Frobisher), Dan Hogarth (Sejanus), Sam Kelly (Tacitus), Roberta Taylor (Berengaria), Helen Punt (Livilla), Peter Guiness (Childeric), Stefan Atkinson (Pepin), Peter Sowerbutts (Clovis), Bruce Mann (Arnulf)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor

Bloodtide

Doctor Who: BloodtideThe Doctor and Evelyn arrive at the Galapagos Islands, finding a young naturalist named Charles Darwin conducting research and observations there. The Doctor is a bit worried about Evelyn interfering with the development of Darwin’s theories, but he soon has more to worry about – prisoners at the local jailhouse disappear without a trace, and a woman is upset that her brother, whose mind has snapped after what he says was an encounter with “devils,” is scheduled for execution. Though the Doctor is less than impressed with the local governor’s demeanor, he soon realizes that something far more sinister is at work here – a small enclave of hibernating Silurians has awoken in their chambers deep below the islands, and one of them is plotting the destruction of homo sapiens… which may only be fair, since he created homo sapiens.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Morris
directed by Gary Russell
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Evelyn), Miles Richardson (Charles Darwin), George Telfer (Captain Fitzroy), Julian Harries (Governor Lawson), Daniel Hogarth (S’Rel Tulock), Helen Goldwyn (Scientist Shvak), Jane Goddard (Greta Rodriguez), Jez Fielder (Lokan)

Timeline: after The Apocalypse Element and before Project: Twilight

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor

Project: Twilight

Doctor Who: Project: TwilightThe Doctor and Evelyn pay a visit to the banks of the Thames in southeast London, but what was originally meant to be a quiet stop becomes a deadly ordeal as they happen upon an assault in progress behind a casino called the Dusk. The proprietors of the Dusk, Reggie Mead and his evasive associate Amelia, take the victim to a surprisingly well-stocked operating room in the Dusk’s basement, and the Doctor forces his way in as well, demanding to know what’s going on. He finds himself embroiled in the plight of a group of people who were subjected to ghastly secret experiments during World War I, but he soon discovers that they’re not powerless – nor are they impervious. Amelia has designs on the future of humanity, intending to make the rest of the human race just like herself and Reggie. But someone named Nimrod is stalking Amelia, intending to end her experiment and bring the top-secret Project Twilight to a close at long last. But can the Doctor trust either Nimrod or Amelia, and will Evelyn survive Amelia’s next experiment?

Order this CDwritten by Cavan Scott & Mark Wright
directed by Gary Russell
music by Jim Mortimore

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Evelyn), Holly De Jong (Amelia), Rob Dixon (Reggie Mead), Rosie Cavaliero (Cassie), Stephen Chance (Nimrod), Rupert Booth (Doctor Abberton)

Timeline: after Bloodtide and before The Sandman

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor

The One Doctor

Doctor Who: The One DoctorThe Doctor reluctantly answers a distress call from the planet Generios (in the Generios system, which is nestled away quietly in the constellation of Generios). When he arrives, though, he finds he’s surplus to requirements – the people of Generios are celebrating their victory over the evil Skelloids, a victory they say was engineered by that legendary time traveler known as the Doctor! Mel chalks it up to one of the Doctor’s other incarnations, but the Doctor isn’t so sure. When he runs into the man the people of Generios have hailed as a hero, the Doctor is even more certain that this man isn’t one of his future selves – this “Doctor” travels around the universe in what is essentially a transmat disguised as a Porta-Loo, and generally being far too chummy with his buxom sidekick Sally Anne. But when a new alien menace threatens to destroy Generios – this time decidedly more real than the fake Doctor’s equally fake holographically-projected Skelloid invasion – the planet must look to the Doctor (the real Doctor) for help.

Order this CDwritten by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman
directed by Gary Russell
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Melanie), Christopher Biggins (Banto Zame), Claire Buckfield (Sally-Ann Stubbins), Stephen Fewell (Councillor Potikol / Assembler 2), Nicholas Pegg (Citizen Sokkery / Mentos), Jane Goddard (The Questioner), Adam Buxton (Assembler 1), Matt Lucas (Jelloid), Mark Wright (Guard)

Timeline: after The Trial Of A Time Lord and before The Juggernauts

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor

The Ratings War

The Ratings WarAs the climactic episode of a reality TV show makes its live debut, the Doctor storms into the office of the network’s president to lodge a series of complaints about programming. But the Doctor soon discovers that the network is in the hands of the vicious Beep the Meep, a cute but bloodthirsty creature who plans to bring the people of Earth under his mind control by embedding subliminal instructions into his new children’s program. Even though the Doctor has already taken steps to prevent the domination of the viewing audience, he has failed to destroy the control mechanism that will allow Beep to take control…

written by Steve Lyons
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Toby Longworth (Beep The Meep), Robert Jezek (Roger Lowell), Alistair Lock (Robbie McHale), Jane Goddard (Lucy)

Notes: The traditional Doctor Who opening theme is not heard at the beginning of the episode, and the story closes – rather unusually with the “Delaware Version” of the theme that the BBC Radiophonic Workshop prepared for the TV show’s 1972 season, even though it was ultimately not used. Beep the Meep originally faced off against the fourth Doctor in the 1980 Doctor Who Weekly comic strip “Doctor Who and the Star Beast”, written by Pat Mills and John Wagner, with art by Dave Gibbons; that strip is included in the graphic novel reprint “Doctor Who: The Iron Legion”. Another CD included free with Doctor Who Magazine, The Ratings War was later released as a free podcast in 2011.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Excelis Rising

Doctor Who:The TARDIS materializes on Artaris, exactly one millennium after the Doctor’s previous visit. But it has landed in the wrong place at the wrong time: a robbery is underway in the prestigious museum in the city of Excelis, and the sudden appearance of a blue police box and its colorfully-dressed occupant is just one more mystery for the investigators to solve. The Doctor learns that the Relic itself – which, in his fifth incarnation, he had helped to find – was the target of the robbery, and is astonished to see a familiar face arrive to take charge of the investigation. The man the Doctor knew as Lord Grayvorn is known to the citizens of Excelis as Reeve Maupassant, but he’s definitely the same man – he recognizes the TARDIS, and somehow even recognizes the Doctor, and he is apparently still suffering side-effects of coming into direct contact with the Relic. When the museum curator and one of the break-in suspects are killed in a grisly manner, Maupassant eagerly declares the Doctor to be the culprit. But can the Doctor prove his innocence, much less prove that a thousand-year-old warlord is trying to steal the Relic for himself?

Order this CDwritten by David A. McIntee
directed by Edward Salt
music by David Darlington

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Anthony Stewart Head (Reeve Maupassant), Charles Kay (The Curator), Rupert Laight (Solomon), Toby Walton (Thief), Nicky Goldie (Inquisitor Danby), James Lailey (Minister Pryce), Patricia Leventon (The Mother Superior)

Timeline: between The Trial Of A Time Lord and Time And The Rani

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who

…ish

Doctor Who: ...ishThe Doctor and Peri pay a visit to a linguistic symposium in the future, to which the Doctor, legendary for his own viurtuoso verbosity, has a personal invitation. But things begin going horribly wrong soon after the TARDIS lands. Professor Osefer, an old friend of the Doctor who is due to deliver a keynote speech, turns up dead – apparently by her own hand – though the Doctor is mystified by her unusually misspelled suicide note. The campus artificial intelligence, designed to offer its adaptable, ever-growing database to students and experts alike, begins exhibiting murderous tendencies. The Doctor learns that a young man who has caught Peri’s eye may be the most diabolically dangerous man on the planet. And then all of the attendees begin repeating one thing, a suffix without a prefix, a syllable with barely any meaning of its own, the calling card of a malevolent intelligence bent on universal domination: ish.

Order this CDwritten by Philip Pascoe
directed by Gary Russell
music by Neil Clappison

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Moray Treadwell (Book), Marie Collett (Professor Osefa da Palabra Hftzbrn), Oliver Hume (Symposiarch Cawdrey), Chris Eley (Warren)

Timeline: between Whispers Of Terror and The Gathering

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who

The Sandman

Doctor Who: The SandmanThe TARDIS brings the Doctor and Evelyn to the Clutch, a ragtag fleet of ships flying in a constant close formation for mutual protection. The chief inhabitants of this interstellar gypsy caravan are a repitilian race known as the Galyari, who – according to their legends – are forbidden from ever settling a world of their own. They’re not safe on the Clutch either, as a number of them, both young and old, have turned up dead recently. The Galyari believe that the Sandman, the being who banished them from their planet, is also responsible for the murders. But they also believe he wears a coat of blindingly bright colors, travels in a blue box, and calls himself the Doctor. To Evelyn’s shock and horror, the Galyari are right about all but one of those things.

Order this CDwritten by Simon Forward
directed by Gary Ryssell
music by Russell Stone

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Evelyn), Anneke Wills (Director Nrosha), Mark Donovan (Orchestrator Shol), Mark Wharton (Commander Brel), Robin Bowerman (Mordecan), Stephanie Colburn (Nintaru), Ian Hogg (General Voshkar)

Timeline: between Project Twilight and Jubilee

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who

The Maltese Penguin

Doctor Who: The Maltese PenguinNot long after parting ways with the Doctor, Frobisher is just slipping back into his private eye routine when the TARDIS materializes in his office – the Doctor has come to ask the shape-shifting penguin to reconsider his departure. Frobisher brusquely asks the Doctor to kindly butt out of his life so he can get on with his detective work – and just in time, too, as a sultry female client walks into his office with a new case. But once he starts investigating on what few leads his new customer will give him, Frobisher realizes he’s in over his head – and as a result, that head could soon be on a platter being delivered to tyrannical business magnate Josiah W. Dogbolter. Ditching his penguin disguise, Frobisher shapeshifts into a familiar humanoid form – a tall man with curly blond hair and an appallingly colorful coat, and quite possibly the one man who can help him now.

Order this CDwritten by Robert Shearman
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Robert Jezek (Frobisher), Toby Longworth (Josiah W. Dogbolter), Jane Goddard (Alicia Mulholland), Alistair Lock (Chandler)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green