4th Doctor: The Hornet’s Nest

On the long drive to Wales for Beyond the Border I listened to the whole of the Hornet’s Nest again. I’d forgotten just how good the writing was in this story in five one hour parts. It was not only a great story, but also so well written and amusing. It was a joy to listen to it again, and it’s prompted me to listen to the next two stories as well.

In fact, I’m hoping that there might even be another Hornet’s nest story too. Although now that Tom Baker has signed up with Big Finish that might not be on the cards.

Even so, the existing stories are still great.

Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest 1 - the Stuff of Nightmares (Unabridged) - Paul Magrs

 

I missed one out!

Having got to the end of “The Silver Turk” I’ve found out that I’ve missed out an 8th Doctor story, or rather, 4 stories, in which Mary Shelley is introduced! So I need to do a little bit of catching up soon otherwise I’ll get completely out of step with the 8th Doctor.

Doctor Who: The Silver Turk

I just started listening to this 8th Doctor adventure this morning. The first thing that startled me a little was that the theme tune has changed. I’m not quite sure what I think of it so far. My guess is that they wanted to draw a line between this and the Charley Pollard stories. That’s fine. Perhaps I’ll get used to it. It’s obviously the original actual theme but a bit different, an unusual take on the classic theme.

The next thing is the choice of new companion. That was a shock. I knew they’d plug in a new companion but I didn’t expect it to be a real person from history! Mary Shelley is an odd choice I think, but part way through the first CD I think it’s working out ok. I’ll have to see what my view is when I’ve listened to the whole thing.

Doctor Who: The Girl Who Never Was

Charlotte Pollard’s last story with the 8th Doctor. I just finished listening to it. I guess it was alright, but I think it was a good time to drop Charley as a character. I think she’d had a good run at it and the series needs to move on.

So I’m looking forward to whatever Big Finish come up with next for the 8th Doctor.

Doctor Who: Absolution

So, this was the last story with Conrad Westmaas. It wasn’t bad, but I have to be honest in that I didn’t really think that the C’Rizz character was adding anything any more. So I’m intrigued to hear how the next stories work out.

Doctor Who: The Trail of the White Worm

I finally got to listen to the rest of this story, which is really good. Great to have the Master back again in a 4th Doctor story, and Unit and the Brigadier mentioned as well. It doesn’t get much better than that, and it’s great to hear Geoffrey Beevers as the Master, especially as he played the Master in the Keeper of Traken (one of my favourite stories).

Also, it’s a 2 part story! Excellent. Except that I have to wait for the second part to be delivered.