Tag: Science fiction

What’s not to like right? It is my favourite genre of fiction by a long way indeed.

Doctor Who: Demon Quest

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

So I’ve moved on to the next set of 4th Doctor stories from the Hornet’s Nest, the Demon Quest story. Again it’s a five part story, each part being around an hour long and it has the same core characters as hornet’s nest as it is in effect a continuation from the end of the hornet’s nest.

But five hours is a good long time to develop a whole story. Of course each episode is a self contained story in its own right, but the whole thing hangs together very nicely too. It’s a nice arc and that’s what I really like about these three stories or arcs from Paul Magrs. It’s a shame in a way that there won’t be any more of these, or at least it’s my expectation that there won’t be more of them as Tom Baker has moved on to working with Big Finish now. Not that that isn’t a great thing in itself as the work he’s done there is excellent. But like any fan I always want more!

What else would you expect?

Making my way through Babylon 5

Posted by on in TV

A number of people recommended Babylon 5 to me and it was always one of those very long series that I never got into when it was originally on air. Either I missed it or was doing something else and by the time I was ready to get into it the first series was over. So, many years later I’ve finally started watching it. So far I’m only onto series two. It isn’t bad so far. I’m not really into the wider story arc or at least it hasn’t taken a real hold so far, but I can see that it has promise.

I can’t say that it’s on the same scale as something like Battlestar Galactica, but that’s probably not a fair comparison really as BSG is much newer and had the benefit of a complete re-imagining.

So I’m going to stick with it and watch the whole arc, and as I do I’ll post a few more thoughts on it as I go through.

The Day of the Doctor

Posted by on in TV

Well I watched it, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be. In fact there were bits I actually quite liked about it. However, my one question overall is about why there’s a new doctor inserted into the chronology, and what does that mean for the overall chronology of doctor who. I suppose it means that overall every doctor after Paul McGann moves up a number, making the new doctor (who I very much approve of) number 13. Isn’t that a problem?

If I remember correctly, in the Keeper of Traken the Master was on his 13th regeneration and couldn’t regenerate after that, although of course he did regenerate but it was at someone else’s expense, Tremas’ expense actually (and of course Tremas is an anagram of Master).

So will the latest doctor be the 13th regeneration? If so, what happens after him? Obviously I’m guessing that the writers will just find a mechanism to get around it. Hopefully not like the master though, I don’t think it’d be very popular for the doctor to subsume another person.

Of course the best thing about it was the return of Gallifrey, or at least its restoration. I always thought that the whole thing with the time lords at the end of Tennant’s doctor was awful and massive mistake not in keeping with how the time lords had been described before. At least now all of that nonsense has been undone.

Anyway, so a not bad effort overall. With a 50th celebration it’s always going to be hard to pull off and this one wasn’t bad at all.

And back to the Hornet’s Nest

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks, Listening

I’ve had this audiobook for about 4 or even 5 years now and I still love it. I can remember the first time I listened to it and just how much I enjoyed it. The thing is, I still do. It’s a great Doctor Who story, part of a nice arc too. The whole story arc runs to about five hours, which is just right as far as I’m concerned.

It’s such a good vehicle for Tom Baker’s doctor. It allows him just the right amount of space to be himself and move the story along too.

I decided to listen to all three story arcs from the pen of Paul Magrs. This is the first, the Hornet’s nest, then there’s Demon Quest, then Serpent Crest. I wish that there were more of these, but now that Tom Baker has started to do stories for Big Finish I’m not sure that there will be space for any more of these. Still, never mind. Whenever I listen to them I enjoy them and find something new in the story.

Doctor Who: The Light at the End

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks, Listening

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So it arrived. The Big Finish 50th anniversary adventure, and I’ve been listening to it today. In fact I’ve listened to about half of it so far. Often I don’t enjoy multi-doctor stories. I find that they can be a little confused. However, so far, this story is quite good. I’m enjoying it and the interactions between the doctors, especially the 4th and 8th especially.

So I’m looking forward to part two and also the ample CD extras.

Doctor Who: The Dalek Contract

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks, Listening

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Great to have David Warner back in this story. It’s a 2 part story so the next part won’t arrive until next month, but in some ways I don’t want it to as it’s going to mean the end of this season and therefore the last Mary Tamm story. It’s such a shame.

Anyway, this is a great story on it’s own, a real classic Doctor Who style story. I love them and Tom Baker and Mary Tamm are amazing as always.