Until the return of the TV series in 2005, fans of the DOCTOR WHO world were able to enjoy new adventures in both novel and audio formats. There had been a healthy fandom for many years, creating their own audio adventures and releasing them on audio cassette, but in 1999 Big Finish Productions received the official licence to create new stories. The company was led by Gary Russell as the producer, with Nicholas Briggs as director and writer of many of the audio adventures. Both had for a long time been active in the fan world, and now enjoy the honour of working on the new BBC TV series.
The audio series still continues and now has over 100 titles in its range. This CD, THE SIRENS OF TIME, was the first in the series. It is available from Big Finish for £13.99 at their website, www.bigfinish.com
One
of the joys of the Big Finish series is that they have managed to entice all of the surviving Doctors from the original version of the TV show to record for the series, all except for Tom Baker. This first story, which is in four episodes of 25-30 minutes each, features the final 3 Doctors from the original series, played by Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, and Colin Baker. McCoy appears in the first episode, Davison in the second, Baker in the third, and then all three appear together in the final episode. Mark Gatiss, from THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN and who has long been a DOCTOR WHO fan, also appears, playing three different roles.
THE PLOT: The Doctor's home planet, Gallifrey, is in turmoil and is facing certain destruction from a fleet of warships in possession of technology greater than that of the Time Lords (The Doctor's race). Each of the 3 Doctors involved in the story are involved in their own deadly adventure, but have to join together to set time onto the right course. Unfortunately someone wants The Doctor dead.
CONTINUITY: Each of the Big Finish stories take place in a very definite time within The Doctor's history. With 3 Doctors involved it is quite convoluted placing the episodes in their correct places in the canon. However the Davison portion of the story takes place between "The Five Doctors" and "Warriors of the Deep", the Baker portions between "The Trial of a Time Lord" and "Time and the Rani", and the McCoy portions post-original series and prior to the partly-American funded TV movie in 1996.
DID IT HOLD MY INTEREST? The 2nd and 3rd episodes are quite exciting, but sadly the 1st episode is dull dull dull. It is fun to hear the 3 Doctors together in the 4th and final episode, although the ending feels quite rushed, as though the writer suddenly realised that he had to tie up the loose ends with only a few minutes to go. The sound effects are excellent and very much add to the reality of the experience. Multi-Doctor stories are always fun, hence the Children In Need special this year where the current Doctor, David Tennant, met Doctor No. 5, played by Peter Davison. It is quite a novel idea to have the 3 Doctors have their own adventures before teaming up in the final episode - the multi-Doctor stories from the TV show never dealt with the issue like this, instead the storyline was always simply a plot to get the Doctors together on the screen. In the final episode the 3 Doctors bounce their lines off each other nicely and gave this fan a warm fuzzy feeling in the tummy. Rather than having the 'same' Doctor in each episode Big Finish chose instead to feature a guest character to appear in each episode (Elenya/Helen/Ellie/Lyena), and this decision anchors the story and helped to keep my interest.
The production values are excellent. The sounds are breathtaking and when I closed my eyes I was able to imagine that a TV episode was taking place. The four-part structure feels authentic, as this was the most common structure in place in the original DOCTOR WHO series.
My main problem with the story is that none of the Doctor's have a companion. Whilst this fits continuity-wise it is a shame, as the 7th Doctor in particular seems lost without Ace. However I am glad that Big Finish avoided the trap of overloading the 5th Doctor with too many companions, which was a problem for much of his time in the TV show.
To conclude, THE SIRENS OF TIME is well worth a listen if you are a fan of the old series. It has certainly piqued my interest and I have already ordered the second story, PHANTASMAGORIA, starring Peter Davison. I hope that I enjoy it as much.
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Advantages: Almost all that you used to love Disadvantages: Can be confussing if you don’t pay attention
seagulls-lost-horizon 04.07.2001 (12.08.2001)
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Review of Doctor Who-The Sirens Of Time
Advantages: Almost all that you used to love Disadvantages: Can be confussing if you don’t pay attention
seagulls-lost-horizon 04.07.2001 (12.08.2001)
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Review of Doctor Who-The Sirens Of Time
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Dec 31st, 2007
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