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5th Doctor

Eye Of The Scorpion

Doctor Who: Eye Of The ScorpionAs the Doctor is trying to show Peri how to find her way around the TARDIS, something yanks the timeship violently off-course. By the time they reach the console room, however, the TARDIS has landed, depositing them in the sands of Egypt around 1400 B.C. Worse yet, as soon as they step outside the doors, they spot a young woman in a chariot being chased by the driver of another chariot. At Peri’s urging, the Doctor lends his assistance, saving the girl’s life – and earning both of the time travelers the favor of Erimem, the Pharaoh-in-waiting. But the Doctor is concerned – he can’t remember a female Pharaoh from this time period, and the other chariot’s driver was trying to kill her. Erimem asks the Doctor and Peri to accompany her to Thebes, where she plans to honor their heroics with a banquet, but only more court intrigue awaits them, including an assassination attempt thwarted by the Doctor, and the presence of an alien mind who can take humans – willing or unwilling – as hosts.

Order this CDwritten by Iain McLaughlin
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Jonathan Owen (Antranak), Stephen Perring (Horemshep), Harry Myers (Yanis), Jack Galagher (Fayum), Daniel Brennan (Kishik), Mark Wright (Slave)

Timeline: after Red Dawn and before No Place Like Home

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
5th Doctor Doctor Who

The Church And The Crown

Doctor Who: The Church And The CrownThe TARDIS brings the Doctor, Peri and Erimem to the eve of the French Revolution, though they aren’t aware of this at first. As soon as the Doctor realizes what period of history he’s brought his friends to, he tries to round them up to make a quick exit, but it’s too late. Peri has attracted some unwelcome attention due to her striking resemblance to Queen Anne, and Erimem’s usual curiosity has led her to some of the more colorful locals. Peri has become a target of kidnappers plotting against the Queen, and in trying to defend her, the Doctor has made a target of himself as well.

Order this CDwritten by Mark Wright and Cavan Scott
directed by Gary Russell
music by Russell Stone

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Andrew Mackay (King Louis), Michael Shallard (Cardinal Richelieu), Marcus Hutton (The Duke of Buckingham), Peter John (Delmarre), Andy Coleman (Rouffet), Robert Curbishley (Captain Morand), Wendy Albiston (Madame De Chevreuse)

Timeline: between No Place Like Home and Nekromanteia

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who

Nekromanteia

NekromanteiaThe Doctor, Peri and Erimem visit an alien market square – Erimem’s first adventure on a world other than Earth – where Erimem stumbles across information that leads her to suggest a visit to the Nekromanteia system. The Doctor goes along with the idea, unaware that he’s landing himself and his companions in the midst of a grim war – between a well-armed corporate entity and a coven of powerful witches – which has been plotted out from the beginning by an unscrupulous businessman seeking immortality for himself.

Order this CDwritten by Austen Atkinson
directed by John Ainsworth
music by David Darlington

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Gilly Cohen (Jal Dor Kal), Glyn Owen (Commander Harlon), Kerry Skinner (Cochrane), Ivor Danvers (Wendle Marr), Kate Brown (Tallis), Nigel Fairs (Yal Rom / Guard), Andrew Fettes (Salaysia), Simon Williams (Paul Addison), Gary Russell (Thesanius), Jack Galagher (Comms Officer), John Ainsworth (Soldier)

Timeline: between The Church And The Crown and The Caves Of Androzani

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who

The Axis Of Insanity

Doctor Who: Axis Of InsanityFor every Time Lord who has ever meddled in history, a divergent timeline has been created, for every divergent timeline is then tied off and anchored to the Axis, a transdimensional dumping ground for the timelines (and their occupants) that have been “corrected” out of existence. But if the Axis breaks down, all hell will break loose in time and space. The Axis and its Overseer have a special, if not necessarily cozy, relationship with the Time Lords in general, and with that race’s most prolific meddler in particular. But when the TARDIS brings the Doctor, Peri and Erimem to the Axis in response to a distress call, they find the Overseer on the brink of death…and a sinister Jester is now in charge, trying to break down the barriers between the isolated timelines, and then trying to unleash them into the primary timeline of the universe. The Doctor tries to reason with the Jester, but discovers that the being that now holds the fate of multiple universes in his hands is quite mad.

Order this CDwritten by Simon Furman
directed by Gary Russell
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Roy North (The Overseer), Garrick Hagon (The Jester), Liza Ross (Jarra To), Marc Danbury (Tog), Stephen Mansfield (Bird Trader), Daniel Hogarth (Carnival Barker)

Timeline: after Nekromanteia and before The Roof Of The World

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who

The Roof Of The World

Doctor Who: The Roof Of The WorldThe Doctor, Peri and Erimem arrive in Tibet in 1917, just in time for a cricket match the Doctor intends to take part in. But he’s soon bowled over by evidence of a great evil at work – a man from a lost expedition appears and kisses Erimem’s hand, and later she is engulfed by a black storm cloud that seems to be able to think for itself. Before the Doctor can reach her, Erimem is snatched away by the cloud, which then vanishes. The same cloud had been spotted earlier on photos of the Himalayans, and had been dismissed, but now the Doctor is racing against time to find out what kind of menace is being dealt with. It may threaten all of Earth, and the Doctor may have to choose between saving humanity or saving his friend.

Order this CDwritten by Adrian Rigelsford
directed by Gary Russell
music by Russell Stone

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Edward de Souza (Lord Mortimer Davey), William Franklyn (Pharaoh Amenhotep II), Sylvester Morand (General Alexander Bruce), Alan Cox (John Matthews)

Notes: William Franklyn took over the role of the voice of the Guide from the late Peter Jones in the new 2004 radio series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Writer Adrian Rigelsford also penned In The Dark Dimension, a planned multi-Doctor direct-to-video adventure intended to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series which ultimately died in the pre-production stage; he has also written nonfiction books about the series.

Timeline: after The Axis Of Insanity and before Three’s A Crowd

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who

Her Final Flight

Doctor Who: Her Final FlightA diversion in the time vortex throws the TARDIS off course, toward a rough landing on a distant backwater world. The Doctor steps out of the doors and almost immediately blacks out. When he comes to, he is stunned to find that he is being tended to by Peri, who he hasn’t seen since the ill-timed intervention of the Time Lords whisked him away for his trial and left her helpless – 19 years ago in her personal history. She escaped her situation and obtained a spacecraft, but it crash-landed here months ago. She also claims that the Doctor was found unconscious after falling off of a mountain ledge. To make matters worse, the TARDIS has been confiscated by the local religious leader, who has placed it in the village temple and claims it is the vessel of the villagers’ goddess. When the Doctor finally gains access to that temple – normally denied to those not instructed in the local faith – he’s horrified to see that the TARDIS’ outer shell has been critically damaged, leaking chronon radiation and causing deadly time distortions. The only way the Doctor may be able to save this society – and Peri – is to give up his travels and set the TARDIS to self-destruct…assuming the villagers will let him.

written by Julian Shortman
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington
chants composed by Julian Shortman

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Steven Bugdale (The Agent), Jonathan Owen (Hamiyun), Heather Tracy (Rashaa), Conrad Westmaas (Damus)

Choir: St. James’s Singers

Timeline: after Mindwarp and before Time and the Rani

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Three’s A Crowd

Doctor WhoAfter her ordeal in Tibet, Erimem is uncertain of whether she wishes to continue traveling with the Doctor and Peri. The TARDIS arrives on Space Station Medusa, orbiting over a distant world that is the home to Earth Colony Phoenix. Protected from the inhospitable surface of the planet by their artificial habitats, the colonists live and work in isolated quarters, travel only by transmat, and virtually never share space with each other. After she and Peri find what appears to be a nest of enormous eggs, Erimem accidentally activates a transmat port and finds herself beamed to Earth Colony Phoenix, into the quarters of a man who has never met another human being in his adult life. The Doctor and Peri are taken by an android to meet the leader of the Phoenix colony, who insists that nothing is wrong – even though Peri later learns that the colony, capable of supporting thousands, is down to only 16 people. Soon, the Doctor learns the grisly truth: a species of aliens known as the Khellians is also lurking on both the colony and the station, and has slowly harvested the human population for food until the colonists are nearly extinct.

Order this CDwritten by Colin Brake
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Deborah Watling (Auntie), Richard Gauntlett (General Makra’Thon), Charles Pemberton (Butler), Lucy Beresford (Bellip), Richard Unwin (Vidler), Daniel Hogarth (Laroq), Sara Carver (Khellian Queen)

Notes: Deborah Watling played Victoria Waterfield, who traveled with the second Doctor and Jamie, in from 1967 to 1968. The transmat sounds, if they’re not the actual original effects, seem to be an homage to the teleport sound effects from Blake’s 7.

Timeline: after The Roof Of The World and before The Council Of Nicaea

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Council Of Nicaea

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Peri and Erimem arrive to witness the Roman Empire’s first attempt to determine the people’s choice of an official religious belief. But Erimem is deeply offended when she sees that persecution and tyranny are interfering in the process – the will of the people may, in fact, never see the light of day. She vouches her support for Arius in an open session of the council, enraging the Emperor Constantine and putting Peri and the Doctor’s lives in danger. The Doctor warns Erimem against trying to reshape history to suit her beliefs and her sense of justice, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. After all, to Erimem, the 4th century A.D. is in her distant future, and she doesn’t have to live with its past.

Order this CDwritten by Caroline Symcox
directed by Gary Russell
music by ERS

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), NIcola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), David Bamber (Emperor Constantine), Claire Carroll (Fausta), Steve Kynman (Arius), Martin Parsons (Athanasius), Michael Garland (Clement), Sean Carlsen (Centurion Caius), Stephan Bessant (Julius)

Timeline: after Three’s A Crowd and before The Kingmaker

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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

The Veiled Leopard

Doctor Who - The Veiled LeopardIt’s Monte Carlo, 1966, and Peri and Erimem are on an assignment: the Doctor has sent them to steal the Veiled Leopard, a spectacular diamond with unusual markings at its center. But this time, the TARDIS travelers are on their own, and the Doctor isn’t there to help them deal with someone else who’s there for the same reason, to say nothing of the other shady characters populating the casino. Two of the other guests in particular stick out like a sore thumb, which is an odd coincidence, because their names are Hex and Ace – and they’ve been sent by the Doctor to make sure that nobody steals the Veiled Leopard.

written by Iain McLaughlin & Claire Bartlett
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Lizzie Hopley (Lady Lillian Hawthorne), Alan Ruscoe (Peter Mathis), Steven Wickham (Gavin Walker), Stephen Mansfield (Jean, the Commisionaire)

Notes: Alan Ruscoe appeared in almost half of the episodes of the first season of the revived Doctor Who, playing heavily-costumed parts such as Autons, Slitheen and assorted androids; he also appeared in the first two movies of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Steven Wickham was Lister’s blushing GELF bride in the Red Dwarf episode Emohawk: Polymorph II. If you’re trying to fit written and audio Doctor Who into the same continuity, the fifth and seventh incarnations of the Doctor met up again both before and after this story; the Missing Adventures novel “Cold Fusion” takes place further back in the fifth Doctor’s life (when he’s traveling with Tegan, Nyssa and Adric), and much later in the seventh Doctor’s (when he’s no longer traveling with Ace or Hex, but instead shares the TARDIS with Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester).

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Kingmaker

Doctor Who: The KingmakerA Shakespeare premiere goes awry when Peri and Erimem wind up drawing too much attention to themselves, but that’s not as incongruous as the Doctor attempting to drink the Bard himself under the table during a heated argument over historical accuracy, specifically with regards to the fate of the two princes in the Tower of London. The Doctor, after clearing his head, decides to investigate the matter for himself, but the TARDIS is in the hands of an impaired driver – a temporal “hiccup” strands Erimem and Peri in the right place, but two years before the Doctor’s arrival. The Doctor is brought before Richard III, and is disturbed to find himself in the presence of a King who is not only aware of time travel, but of the Doctor himself. Peri and Erimem set out to solve the mystery for themselves in the Doctor’s absence, but they find no princes in the Tower – instead, they become the Tower’s two captives, changing history with nearly everything they say or do…no matter how hard they try not to.

Order this CDwritten by Nev Fountain
directed by Gary Russell
music by ERS

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Caroline Morris (Erimem), Arthur Smith (Clarrie), Michael Fenton-Stevens (Mr. Seyton), Stephen Beckett (Richard, Duke of Gloucester), Marcus Hutton (Henry, Duke of Buckingham), John Culshaw (Earl Rivers / voice of the Fourth Doctor), Chris Neill (Sir James Tyrell), Katie Wimpenny (Susan), Linzi Matthews (Judith)

Timeline: between The Council Of Nicaea and The Gathering

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Reaping

Doctor Who: The ReapingThe TARDIS brings the Doctor and Peri to Baltimore, 1984 – four months since, as far as her family and friends know, Peri disappeared without a trace at Lanzarote. Far from being a happy reunion, Peri’s arrival coincides with the apparent murder of Anthony Chambers, her best friend’s father. Peri discovers that her friends and her mother aren’t exactly overjoyed to see her. The Doctor becomes interested in Chambers’ death, and when he discovers the Cybermen are behind the incident, he wonders why they’ve targeted one man. Even when the Doctor thinks he’s close to solving the mystery, it’s putting Peri, her mother and her friends into mortal danger.

Order this CDwritten by Joseph Lidster
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Claudia Christian (Janine Foster), Stuart Milligan (Anthony Chambers), Jane Perry (Kathy Chambers), Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor (Nate Chambers), Vincent Pirillo (Daniel Woods), John Schwab (Lt. Doyle), Denise Bryer (Mrs. Van Gysegham), Allison Karaynes (Natalie Hamilton), Nicholas Briggs (Cyberman voice)

Notes: Claudia Christian is well known to SF fans on both sides of the Atlantic for her portrayal of Commander Susan Ivanova in the first four seasons of Babylon 5; unlike her B5 co-star Peter Jurasik, who guest starred in the earlier Big Finish audio play Winter For The Adept, she now lives and works full-time in the UK.

Original Title: Dead Men Walking

Timeline: After …ish and before The Year Of The Pig

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Year Of The Pig

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Peri arrive at a pleasant resort in 1913, meeting an assortment of fellow vacationers, few of whom are actually on vacation. Inspector Chardalot is pursuing a quarry he considers very dangerous, and Nurse Albertine is visiting in the company of a fellow vacationer who prefers not to show his face. That face is exactly what Miss Bultitude, a movie buff, would like to see. And the reason one of the vacationers isn’t showing his face? He’s Toby the Sapient Pig, a reclusive film star who is, in actuality, a sentient pig. But Toby’s not the only pig present, and his pursuers (whether adversaries or admirers) will stop at nothing to find him. Caught up in this collision of personalities and motives, the Doctor and Peri can do little but try to keep themselves, and anyone nearby, from coming to harm.

Order this CDwritten by Matthew Sweet
directed by Gary Russell
music by ERS

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Adjoa Andoh (Nurse Albertine), Paul Brooke (Toby the Sapient Pig), Michael Keating (Inspector Chardalot), Maureen O’Brien (Miss Alice Bultitude)

Timeline: after Timelash and before Revelation Of The Daleks

Notes: Actress Maureen O’Brien played TARDIS traveler Vicki, the first-ever “new companion” in the history of Doctor Who, during the William Hartnell years; she went on to star in Big Finish’s series Dalek Empire IV: The Fearless before returning to the role of Vicki in the Companion Chronicles. Michael Keating, who had already appeared in such Big Finish audios as The Twiligiht Kingdom, was the only original Blake’s 7 cast member to appear in all 52 episodes of that series; he later resumed the role of Vila when Big Finish picked up the license to produce classic Blake’s 7 audio dramas. Adjoa Andoh had made her first appearance in the newly revived TV series earlier in 2006 (as Nurse Jatt in New Earth), but would become a semi-regular for the 2007 and 2008 seasons as Martha Jones’ mother.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Cryptobiosis

Doctor Who: CryptobiosisAboard a cargo ship buffeted by the high seas during a storm, the Doctor and Peri go from being cautiously welcomed guests to murder suspects when a member of the crew is killed. The ship’s captain orders the Doctor locked up pending his court-martial…but when his own chief mate protests that the Doctor isn’t even a member of the ship’s company and crew, the captain drafts him into service to replace the ship’s missing doctor (reasoning that now the Doctor can undergo a court-martial and subsequent execution). Peri tends to a wheelchair-bound girl who receives periodic “treatments” from the chief mate, discovering that the girl is a captive specimen of a species thought to exist only in myths. Her people will be coming to rescue her soon…but will they make the distinction between the girl’s corrupt captor and everyone else on board the ship?

Order this CDwritten by Elliot Thorpe
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Tony Beck (Chief Mate De Requin), Michael Cuckson (Captain Callany), Billy Miller (Nereus), Naomi Paxton (Amy)

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

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Exotron / Urban Myths

Doctor Who: ExotronExotron: The TARDIS arrives at a distant human colony, and the Doctor is ready to be off again, but Peri is still sampling the local flora. When they meet their first exotron, however, both of the time travelers are ready to go. The enormous, remotely-operated mechanical men – or at least whoever is controlling them – takes a keen interest in the Doctor’s scientific knowledge. An exotron snatches up the Doctor and simply walks away with him in hand, while Peri encounters some human colonists and barely survives a meeting with the local fauna. The Doctor finds that the exotrons are powered by telepathy, or in this case, the machine-enhanced telepathy of a man who seems to have something to hide. The Doctor decides to use his own mental powers to level the playing field, but doing so may put his own survival, and Peri’s, at risk.

Urban Myths: The Doctor and Peri discover, at an opulent restaurant, that the Celestial Intervention Agency’s shady Time Lord operatives and the truth seldom dine at the same table.

Order this CDwritten by Paul Sutton
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by ERS

Exotron Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), John Duttine (Hector), Isla Blair (Paula), Nick Brimble (Shreeni), Richard Earl (Corporal Mozz), Claire Wyatt (Weiss)

Urban Myths Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Steven Wickham (Harom), Douglas Hodge (Edge), Nicola Lloyd (Kettoo), Barry McCarthy (Palgrave), Clare Calbraith (Trooper)

Timeline: between The Bride Of Peladon and The Caves Of Androzani

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green