Time to write up the two October releases from Big Finish - a Companion Chronicle with Lalla Ward reprising Romana II, and a new Five/Nyssa story set in the village of Stockbridge and partly in the twelfth century. I had read reviews of both of these over at Unreality SF (here and here) so this slightly coloured my expectations. I have to say that in both cases I enjoyed them slightly more than the Unreality SF reviewers did.

The Pyralis Effect is a standard Doctor and aliens runabout. My expectations for this were pretty low, based partly on steve_mollmann's review but largely on the fact that it is by George Mann, whose fiction and non-fiction has failed to impress me. The fact that it more or less held my attention to the end has to be considered a major triumph, and (given the discussion in the extra tracks of the number of rewrites extracted from Mann by Big Finish) a triumph shared by many. Let us consider it equivalent in quality to the average Season 17 story, and leave it there.

On the other hand, I quite liked The Castle of Fear. Partly, it made me nostalgic for The Kingmaker, which is one of my favourite Big Finish audios; it's not as good, but then few Who stories are. I hate John Sessions, and luckily all the bits I thought weren't funny enough were the bits with him in, so I was happy enough to enjoy the rest. A clever plot, just about as funny as it could bear (Sessions apart), and good stuff from Davison and Sutton. John Sessions fans (the mad, deluded fools) will like this one.

( October Books 12) King of Terror, by Keith Topping: Five, Tegan, Turlough and the Brigadier fight aliens in Los Angeles )
( October Books 13) Imperial Moon, by Christopher Bulis: Five, Turlough and Kamelion in steampunk lunar explorations )
( October Books 14) Superior Beings, by Nick Walters: Five, Peri and anthropophagous aliens )

I wouldn't really recommend any of these three to someone other than a Doctor Who completist, and would not really recommend King of Terror to anyone at all.

The Fifth Doctor novels have rather a good strike rate for me (the audios even more so). This confirmed the trend: a sequel to the Fourth Doctor's TV story Planet of Evil, with the Morestran empire, centuries later, destroying itself by experimenting both with anti-matter and harnessing the kinetic energy of the planets, at the same time riven by internal conflict between church and state. Messingham's concepts of anti-matter and planetary kinetics are pretty disconnected from actual science, but faithful enough to the spirit of the story which he is sequelling (and improving on). We have, as so often in Fifth Doctor novels, a rather good Nyssa storyline as she goes off investigating with dire consequences; Tegan is less well served. The Doctor here is somewhat damaged from his previous encounters with anti-matter (including Omega) which also takes the story in interesting directions. The Morestran politics are somewhat improbable but well told. I recommend this one.

All Doctor Who books should be like this. This is pretty much the perfect Fifth Doctor novel. Two of my favourite Big Finish audios are The Reaping, bringing Peter Davison and Janet Fielding together again, and The Bride of Peladon, where the Doctor ends up dealing with the Osirans from Pyramids of Mars. Sands of Time has Five and Tegan battling against the servants of the Osirans, helped mainly by Atkins the butler who comes along in place of Nyssa, who is abducted at an early stage of the book. Many glorious references to PoM, of course, including one squeetastic moment at the end, but also mentions of Black Orchid and City of Death. (And Arc of Infinity, but nobody's perfect.) There's also a certain amount of sober reflection on the Doctor's ability to stay both inside and outside the flow of Time, with his final victory coming as the result of a very neat bit of sideways thinking. (Several times over, which is a bit surprising.)

You don't even have to pay for the delightful experience of reading this book, cos you can download it for free entirely legally from the BBC website, plus illustrations which weren't in the original publication. Any Who fan who doesn't actively hate the Fifth Doctor era will love this. (Not so sure how accessible it would be to the non-fan, but would be interested to hear from anyone who dares try the experiment.)

Driving up and down the peninsula yesterday I had the chance to enjoy a couple of the recent Companion Chronicles which I had somehow missed.

( The Darkening Eye: the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and ensemble with a dimensional anomaly )

( Transit of Venus: the First Doctor and Ian with Cook and Banks on the Endeavour )

So, two plays with somewhat imperfect scripts which are both very much lifted by the guest star.

Big Finish have returned to an old theme in Who: the search for the Key to Time, as originally carried out by the Fourth Doctor and his Time Lady companion Romana in 1978.

( The Prisoner's Dilemma - the real dilemma being, why bother? )

( The Judgement of Isskar )

( The Destroyer of Delights )

This also marks the moment when I have actually listened to every single one of the 118 Big Finish regular releases to date. I'm not going to do a big assessment post now - that can wait until the tenth anniversary of The Sirens of Time in a few months, and in the meantime I can catch up with the other BFs I haven't otherwise got to. I'll just say, listen to The Kingmaker and also Spare Parts (both starring Davison's Doctor, but at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum) and that will probably decide whether Big Finish is for you.

Fifth Doctor v Black Guardian
Stephen Daker v Bob Buzzard

Just waiting for the High Priest Soldeed to appear...

(NB Ciara Janson was born between the two series of A Very Peculiar Practice.)

( The Haunting of Thomas Brewster: Five, Nyssa and their new Victorian companion )
( The Death Collectors: Seven on his own; yawn )
( Spider's Shadow: Seven on his own again, with a paradox )
( The Boy That Time Forgot: Five and Nyssa, and who is in charge of the intelligent scorpions??? )
( The Doomwood Curse: Six, Charley and Dick Turpin )
( Kingdom of Silver & Keepsake: Seven and Cybermen: yawn )

In summary: The Doomwood Curse and The Boy That Time Forgot are good, the others not so much.

Abraham Lincoln's first appearance in Doctor Who is a brief extract from the Gettysburg Address in a First Doctor story, The Chase, in which the Doctor and friends are trying out the Space-Time Visualiser which they liberated from the Space Museum in the story of the same title. (They also use the machine to watch the Beatles performing live, and William Shakespeare in a conversation with Elizabeth I.)

My dabbling in spinoff Who fiction has brought me to two other encounters between the Doctor and Lincoln, and I don't know of any others (though am ready to be enlightened).

( February Books 12) Blood and Hope: Telos novella with the Fifth Doctor in early 1865 )

If you ever go to Washington DC, I strongly recommend the small museum in the former Ford's Theatre building where John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln on 14 April 1865. (The museum ticket also includes the house across the road where he died early the following morning.) The building itself has been reconstructed (after Ford's Theatre went bust, it became a government office which collapsed catastrophicallly, killing many budding bureaucrats), but both on my first visit as a seven-year-old and on my most recent visit at the age of 39 I found it a strangely compelling place.

( Assassin in the Limelight: BF audio with the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn in Ford's Theatre on 14 April 1865 )

So, those of you who are interested in both Who and the US Civil War will find Blood and Hope entertaining and Assassin in the Limelight deeply annoying.

More BF plays, fairly heavy on the Fifth Doctor this time. Most of them pretty good, actually.

( The Mind's Eye: Five, Peri and Erimem: mind-altering plants )
( Mission of the Viyrans: Peri gets edited )
( The Girl Who Never Was: Bye bye Charley, as far as Eight is concerned )
( The Bride of Peladon: bye bye Erimem )
( The Condemned: hello again, Charley, but don't tell Six )
( Cuddlesome: Five on his own )
( The Dark Husband: Seven, Ace and Hex wrestle with alien marriage rituals )

So, all the Fifth Doctor stories in the above list are good (with the exception of Mission of the Viyrans - another single episode one with Five and Peri which is let down by the ending). The rest are OK but not as good as they could have been.

My obsessive scheduling of Who books and audios sometimes throws up interesting moments of convergence. ( If you are feeling generous, this could be one of them. )

( Twilight of the Gods, by Christopher Bulis: Two, Jamie and Victoria, and a clash of ideologies )

( Return to the Web Planet, from a story by Daniel O'Mahony: Five and Nyssa, and improbable human plots )

Three more of the standard Big Finish releases, two of which are in the 3:1 format, and the latest Companion Chronicle

( Exotron: Five and Peri find marital discord, aliens and robots )
( Urban Myths: Five and Peri sort it out over dinner )
( Valhalla: Seven on Callisto, with termites )
( The Wishing Beast: Six and Mel meet weird old ladies and ghosts )
( The Vanity Box: Six and Mel in Salford )
( Home Truths: Sarah Kingdom reminisces )

So, I liked the two three-parters, Exotron and The Wishing Beast, much more than their accompanying single-episode stories; and Home Truths is a worthy addition to the Daleks' Master Plan narrative.

I'm working up a small project on William Shakespeare's appearances in the Doctor Who universe. I think I now have a comprehensive list of them, which I will list below the cut, listed in three different orders. Still thinking about how I might put this together more creatively.

( Shakespeare and Who )

My renewed enthusiasm for exercising in the mornings (plus my hatred of the jaunty Wii Fit music), combined with the awful commuting experiences due to the cold weather, helped me get through a fair few Big finish audios in the course of the week.

( Grand Theft Cosmos: Eight, Lucie, stealing Swedish jewels and a pocket universe )
( Circular Time: Four short stories with Five and Nyssa )
( Nocturne: Seven, Ace and Hex encounter music and authoritarianism )
( Renaissance of the Daleks: Five, Nyssa and a motley crew of time-snatched soldiers confront the malignant pepperpots, in a reappaearance by Christopher H. Bidmead )
( I.D.: Six and busted computers, with a cast of stars )
( Urgent Calls: phone the Sixth Doctor and save your life )

Of all of these, Circular Time is most strongly recommended, especially the third segment.

I blame Paul Cornell for my late arrival at home this evening.

( weather )

BTW I think I have managed to fix this so that it only appears on Facebook as a Note on my Wall, but is a full status update on Twitter. Howver, I'm going to sleep now, and shall check in the morning.

Some Doctor Who plays that I listened to over the holidays:

( The Gathering: Five and Tegan reunited. With Cybermen. )
( Memory Lane: Eight, Charley and C'rizz in yet another prison that is not as it seems )
( No Man's Land: Seven, Ace and Hex in the first world war )
( The Raincloud Man: Six and Charley in Manchester at the casino )

In summary, The Gathering and The Raincloud Man are OK; less wowed by the other two.

On a rather tangentially related subject, most of the people I know who are from Manchester are also lesbians. Is there something in the water?

( It shouldn't happen to a vet )
Whoblogging index: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten

Three more as I work through the BF back catalogue, and also the latest of their offerings.

( Live 34: Seven, Ace and Hex leading a revolution via public radio )
( Scaredy Cat: Eight, Charley and C'rizz in a rather forgettable piece )
( Singularity: Five and Turlough in near-future Moscow and far-future humanity )
( Brotherhood of the Daleks: another hit from Alan Barnes, as Six and Charley wrestle with Daleks and the web of time )

In summary, Brotherhood of the Daleks is excellent, Live 34 pretty good, Singularity OK and Scaredy Cat meh.

I was very strongly recommended to watch Ian McKellen's Richard III after I had read the script and listened to the Arkangel version. Well, wwhyte, nmg and liberaliser, you were right. It is an extraordinary tour de force, set in a grazingly Fascist Britain of the 1930s (so echoed in more recent books by Christopher Priest and papersky). McKellen himself is superb; the other actors include Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Robert Downey Jr, Nigel Hawthorne, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Adrian Dunbar and Tim McInnerny, all excellent. McKellen explains on his own website how and why he judiciously pruned characters and plot to turn it into his own film version. Standout scenes include Richard's nightmares before the final battle; Nigel Hawthorne's melancholy reflections as the doomed Clarence; the exchange where Buckingham (Jim Broadbent) persuades the pseudo-reluctant Richard to take the crown. A really good film.

Oddly enough over the last few days I had also been listening to a completely different presentation of the story of Richard III, the Big Finish audio play The Kingmaker, written by Nev Fountain of the TV comedy show Dead Ringers. This brings the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison, back to the 1480s to find out what really happened to the Princes in the Tower, after a heated drunken argument with William Shakespeare. As you would expect from a production with that author and numerous comedians in the cast, it is utterly hilarious, totally subverting the expectations of the listener - are the Princes really robots? Who is the bearded time-traveller advising Richard of Gloucester? What of the true identity of the barmaids? Some might possibly think it just a bit silly, but I really enjoyed it.

OK, now that I have read all 161 Doctor Who novelisations, and since I am jetlagged and awake, I am going to favour you with my personal top picks (and then a rough ranking of the others). You will find my reviews of each of the novelisations (plus also other spinoff literature and audio plays) here.

( The Best: Doctor Who and the Daleks )
( Doctor Who and the Romans )
( Doctor Who - The Rescue )
( Doctor Who and the Dæmons )
( Doctor Who - The Curse of Fenric )
( Doctor Who and the Green Death )

( Honorable mentions )

( Good Efforts )

( Average stuff )

( Less good  )

( Poor efforts )

( Dire: Doctor Who - Time Flight )

( The Worst: Doctor Who - The Twin Dilemma )

I'm way out of date with my Big Finish updates. I had listened to a couple of dozen before the summer, but never got around to writing them up, and then they got displaced on my commute by the novelisations. So I've returned to them, pacing (for example) an act of a Shakespeare play against a Big Finish episode; also I've decided to work the most recent releases into my listening as well as catching up from the beginning.

( Unregenerate! - Seven and Mel, and illicit Gallifreyan research )

( The Council of Nicæa - already done )

( Terror Firma - Eight, Charley and C'rizz meet Davros )

( Thicker than Water - Six, Evelyn and Mel and the afterstory )

( Time Reef - Five, Nyssa and Brewster on a paradox )

( A Perfect World - goodbye Brewster )

In summary, Terror Firma is probably the best of these in fannish terms, Thicker Than Water probably the most approachable for the non-fan.

Brilliant.

Well, after posting and analysing the Best of Who and Worst of Who polls, the obvious next thing to do is combine them. So, a definitive final judgement by Livejournal: the best of the best, the worst of the worst, and deciding whether those stories that got two or more votes in each poll are Good or Bad.

( poll )

And yes, I will probably do one about the audios next.

There were some surprises here, most of all the surprise that more people voted than in the previous poll. Myself, I find it much easier to decide which story I like least than which I like most; perhaps I am unusual in that regard.

Anyway, as before, going in order of decreasing consensus by Doctor.

( Ninth Doctor: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances )
( Fifth Doctor: The Caves of Androzani )
( First Doctor: The Dalek Invasion of Earth )
( Sixth Doctor: Revelation of the Daleks )
( Seventh Doctor: Remembrance of the Daleks )
( Fourth Doctor: Genesis of the Daleks )
( Second Doctor: The Mind Robber )
( Third Doctor: Inferno )
( Tenth Doctor: Blink )
( Eighth Doctor: Err, yes. )

So that's it. Thanks for playing, and I shall probably do the same this time next year or thereabouts.

( 16) Doctor Who - Warriors of the Deep, by Terrance Dicks )
( 17) Doctor Who - The Awakening, by Eric Pringle )
( 18) Doctor Who - Frontios, by Christopher H. Bidmead )
( 19) Doctor Who - Resurrection of the Daleks, by Paul Scoones )
( 20) Doctor Who - Planet of Fire, by Peter Grimwade )

( Tegan )

( Turlough )

And, since I read Terrance Dicks' rather flat adaptation of The Caves of Androzani a year ago, that takes me to the end of the Fifth Doctor's run as well. My two polls on the best and worst stories of each Doctor's era (full analysis coming soon) were pretty emphatic in their choices here, and I agree with the conventional wisdom: The Caves of Androzani was the best, and Time Flight the worst. The others that I enjoyed were Castrovalva, The Visitation, Snakedance, Enlightenment and The Five Doctors (though the last much more for the nostalgia value than for any artistic merit). But the lows were much lower than for any previous Doctor. Time Flight has particularly poor production values and plotting, but it just happens to be the worst of a generally poor bunch. If I had to sum it up, I would say that this was when Doctor Who started to look cheap rather than magical.

( more on the Fifth Doctor )

Previous summary posts: the Fourth Doctor, Third Doctor novels, Second Doctor novels, First Doctor novels, the first three Doctors on screen.

For those who felt last week's poll was too negative:

( favourite Who stories )

Continuing my project, these are the novelisations of the Season 20 stories, plus one that got away from Season 19 and the anniversary special. A number of these confounded my expectations.

( 5) Doctor Who and the Visitation, by Eric Saward - better than expected )
( 6) Doctor Who - Arc of Infinity, by Terrance Dicks - standard stuff )
( 7) Doctor Who - Snakedance, by Terrance Dicks - standard stuff )
( 8) Doctor Who - Mawdryn Undead, by Peter Grimwade - better than I expected )
( 9) Doctor Who - Terminus, by John Lydecker - the best of this bunch )
( 10) Doctor Who - Enlightenment, by Barbara Clegg - starts well, ends with a whimper )
( 11) Doctor Who - The King's Demons, by Terence Dudley - the least impressive of this bunch )
( 12) Doctor Who - The Five Doctors, by Terrance Dicks - a guilty pleasure )

This brings me to the end of Nyssa's run on the show. As with a lot of the brainier companions, she doesn't transfer particularly memorably to the printed page. Although she does bring with her a tragic back-story, losing first her father and then her whole homeworld, this fades more and more into the background as time goes on. Having said that, there are a couple of stories - eg Black Orchid, Terminus - where she is pretty central to the action and this works well.

Nyssa of course continues to feature on Fifth Doctor audios from time to time, including on several of the best Big Finish stories - The Mutant Phase (with Daleks), Primeval (a sort of prequel to The Keeper of Traken), The Game (which brings back William Russell rather gloriously) and two particular favourites, Creatures of Beauty (which has a very unusual format but none the less works) and most of all Spare Parts (the origin of the Cybermen). Any or all of these would be a decent jumping off point to get into Big Finish, if you haven't already done so.

This is what the poll reveals as the Worst Who stories (listed in order of decreasing consensus by Doctor).

( Fifth Doctor: Time Flight )
( Second Doctor: The Underwater Menace )
( Ninth Doctor: The Long Game )
( Sixth Doctor: Timelash )
( Seventh Doctor: Time and the Rani )
( Third Doctor: The Mutants )
( Tenth Doctor: tie between Love & Monsters and Fear Her )
( Eighth Doctor: what do you think? )
( First Doctor: tie between The Chase and The Gunfighters )
( Fourth Doctor: The Horns of Nimon )

Thus is revealed the accumulated weight of Livejournal. I am in line with the majority on only three of the nine where there is a serious contest; blue_condition, whose debate with me sparked this, does rather better. So basically, Pete wins the argument.