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Earl Green is the creator, curator, and head writer of theLogBook.com.
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7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Love And War

Doctor Who: Love And WarThe Doctor, having taken Ace to a funeral for one of her Perivale friends, takes her to the planet Heaven to recuperate as he goes on an abrupt quest to retrieve the Papers of Felsecar. Ace encounters a band of gypsy-like Travelers, some of whom hide extremely dark secrets; she begins to fall in love with Jan, their ringleader. During a group linkup to a virtual reality mechanism, Christopher, the most mysterious of the Travelers, is apparently killed as his comrades see their first glimpse of an enemy who is closer than they think. The Doctor, growing increasingly aware of a grave threat to Heaven and everyone on it, meets archaeologist Bernice Summerfield, who currently holds the Papers of Felsecar. At the center of the growing danger is Ace, confused by her love for Jan and her intense loyalty to the Doctor, and determined to bring the two together. But by the time the Hoothi – an enormous, self-contained necrosphere consciousness who reanimate and absorb the dead – are finished with Heaven, Ace will have lost both.

Order this CDadapted by Jacqueline Rayner
from the novel by Paul Cornell
directed by Gary Russell
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield), James Redmond (Jan Rydd), Riona O Connor (Máire Mab Finn), Aysha Kala (Roisa McIlnery), Ela Gaworzewska (Christopher), Bernard Holley (Brother Phaedrus), Maggie Ollerenshaw (Audrey McShane), Christopher Allen (Clive Aubrey), James Unsworth (Julian Milton), Scott Handcock (Piers Gavenal), Charlie Hayes (Death), Peter Sheward (Eros)

Timeline: placement among other Big Finish audio stories uncertain; after the New Adventures novel “Nightshade” and before “Transit”

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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Red Dwarf Season 10

Entangled

Red DwarfRed Dwarf encounters its first life forms in about a decade, only to discover that they’re genetically-engineered humanoid garbage disposals. Lister engages them in the only kind of diplomacy he knows: a game of poker, in which he loses Starbug. Attempting to get Red Dwarf’s shuttlecraft back, he then proceeds to put Rimmer up as collateral, and loses again. Rimmer is less than pleased (but also less than surprised) at this development, but Lister is determined to reverse his losses at the poker table – and fast, because to ensure his cooperation, the life forms have fitted him with a security device that will explode (starting with his crotch) if he upsets them. Kryten and the Cat discover that they’ve become intermittently entangled on the quantum level, leading to a number of favorable coincidences in their presence. Lister and Rimmer are now counting on these coincidences to set them free.

Order the DVDswritten by Doug Naylor
directed by Doug Naylor
music by Howard Goodall

Red DwarfCast: Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), Steven Wickham (Begg Chief), Peter Elliott (Chimp), Sydney Stevenson (Professor Edgington), Emma Campbell-Jones (TV Character 1), Nick Barber (TV Character 2), Nik Williams (Chimp Puppeteer), Jun Matsuura (Chimp Puppeteer)

Notes: Kochanski gets another mention; interestingly, so too is the incident from the very first episode, The End, in which Rimmer’s negligence wipes out Red Dwarf’s original crew, and Lister talks as though that crew was lost forever, which would seem to cast the rediscovery of that crew in Red Dwarf VIII in a very vague new light – was that season a bad dream, a parallel timeline that never happened to the “real” Lister, et al., or some other kind of marginalized reality?

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Acheron Pulse

Doctor WhoThirty years after the tragic betrayal of Prince Kylo by Princess Aliona, the Doctor returns – one regeneration later – to the Drashani Empire, intending to return the crown jewels that survived that horrific event. Since he was the only surviving witness, and has never bothered to tell the true story of Kylo’s betrayal, the Doctor finds that their story has now become a legend of a doomed romance without a hint of the true treachery between them. The late Ambassador Tuvold’s daughter, Cheni, is now the Empress of an empire fending off constant attacks from a masked warlord named Tenebris, leading a horde of faceless warriors called the Wrath. Only by unmasking Tenebris can the Doctor learn where the Wrath come from and how to stop them, but doing so will also reveal that the Doctor himself may bear some blame for how history has unfolded.

Order this CDwritten by Rick Briggs
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Toby Hrycek-Robinson

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), James Wilby (Tenebris), Joseph Kloska (Dukhin), Jane Slavin (Teesha), Chris Porter (Vincol), John Banks (Boritz), Chook Sibtain (Athrid), Carol Noakes (Olerik)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Voyage To Venus

Doctor WhoReunited with his old friends, theatre impresario Henry Gordon Jago and Professor George Litefoot, the sixth Doctor whisks them away in the TARDIS for a brief adventure, landing on the planet Venus in that world’s terraformed future. The Venusians – mostly women – who inhabit the second planet of the solar system are distant descendants of humanity, having fled ecological disaster on Earth. The Venusians are in turmoil, their chief scientist having died under mysterious circumstances. When her replacement continues her work, she too finds herself in the crosshairs of the Venusian Empress, Vulpina. The Doctor discovers that the future of the Venusian transplants from Earth is in peril, and offers his help, only to find that anyone who has discovered this secret is marked for death.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Morris
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Fool Circle Productions

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Christopher Benjamin (Henry Gordon Jago), Trevor Baxter (Professor George Litefoot), Juliet Aubrey (Vulpina), Catherine Harvey (Felina), Charlie Norfolk (Ursina), Hugh Ross (Vepaja)

Notes: “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” is revealed to be the musical inspiration for a Venusian lullabye (sung by the third Doctor to Aggedor in The Curse Of Peladon). The Doctor says that he learned Venusiain Aikido – a martial art that was a trademark of his third incarnation – toward the end of his second incarnation. A Venusian crystal pocketed by Jago becomes instrumental in the fifth Jago & Litefoot box set.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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Metal Hurlant Chronicles Season 1

King’s Crown

Metal Hurlant ChroniclesThe aging, bloated ruler of a kingdom floating in the clouds nears death, and contenders for the throne line up to do battle. In the time-honored tradition, they state their qualifications to rule, and fight to the death until only one man is left standing. One man, Guillam, promises reform: he will put technology to work for the people instead of making the people slaves to technology. But to put his agenda into play, he must still kill. Does he have what it takes to avoid becoming just a cog in a very literal political machine?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Guillaume Lubrano & Justine Veillot
based on a story written by Jim Alexander and illustrated by Richard Corben
directed by Guillaume Lubrano
music by Jesper Kyd

<Metal Hurlant ChroniclesemCast: Scott Adkins (Guillam), Michael Jai White (Teague), Matt Mullins (Julian), Darren Shahlavi (Adam), Marinela Botis (Spectator), Puiu Mitea (Spectator), Ion Bechet (Spectator), Tatar Anca (Spectator), Gabriel Velicu (Spectator), Idan Roxin (Spectator), Stan Niculae (Spectator)

Notes: The comic story of the same title as the episode appeared in Metal Hurlant #142, published in December 2003.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Metal Hurlant Chronicles Season 1

Shelter Me

Metal Hurlant ChroniclesA young woman wakes up in a bomb shelter, with only her older next door neighbor – a man her father has repeatedly described as “creepy” – for company. He tells her that the world outside has been laid to waste. So far as he knows, they’re the last two human beings left alive; a lead door protects them from what’s outside. Or so he tells her. She discovers that he’s been “admiring” her from afar for some time. Now she doesn’t know if anything he’s told her about the world beyond that door is true…or if she’s any safer if she stays where she is.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Guillaume Lubrano, Justine Veillot & Dan Wickline
based on a story written by Dan Wickline and illustrated by Mark Vigoroux
directed by Guillaume Lubrano
Metal Hurlant Chroniclesmusic by Jesper Kyd

Cast: Michelle Ryan (Jennifer), James Marsters (Brad Davis)

Notes: As with the previous episode, the comic story of the same title as this episode appeared in Metal Hurlant #142, published in December 2003.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Metal Hurlant Chronicles Season 1

Red Light + Cold Hard Facts

Metal Hurlant ChroniclesThe crew of the starship Atlanta goes about business as usual until a blue comet slams into the ship. Already suited up for routine maintenance work, Stanley Summers escapes the carnage by climbing into an escape shuttle, which his discovers is manned by two other crew members. Their only problem? Something, possibly debris from the destruction of the Atlanta, has pierced the hull, resulting in an air leak that will leave the shuttle capable of barely sustaining two men long enough for rescue. The two men who were already there decide Stanley must go. But will sacrificing only one man ensure their survival?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Guillaume Lubrano & Justine Veillot
based on a story written by R.A. Jones and illustrated by Ryan Sook
directed by Guillaume Lubrano
music by Jesper Kyd

Metal Hurlant ChroniclesCast: Craig Fairbrass (Timarek), Dominique Pinon (Stanley Summers), Eriq Esquaney (Kaskoff), Andy Chase (Guard 1), Nathan Rippy (Guard 2), Yasmine Lafitte (Atlanta Captain), Franck DeLay (Officer)

Notes: The comic story of the same title as the episode appeared in Metal Hurlant #139, published in June 2003. This is the first occasion on which the Metal Hurlant has a direct impact on the story (quite literally, in this case). Andy Chase is also the show’s casting director for ADR and dubbing.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Wizards vs. Aliens

Dawn Of The Nekross – Part 1

Wizards vs. AliensA pair of wizards cast an incantation in a stone circle, apparently drawing the attention of an alien spacecraft. The Nekross have arrived on Earth to begin harvesting the power of magic, upon which their king and their entire species feeds. Since practitioners of magic on Earth tend to live in seclusion, keeping their powers secret, they’ll make easy prey.

When his class gets a welcome break from school to take a field trip to the stone circle, young wizard Tom Clarke – the latest in a long line of wizards, whose dad cautions him against misusing his powers – finds a magical artifact. His science geek classmate Benny is quick to dismiss the possibility that the item has magical properties, until he sees it glowing in Tom’s hand. The Nekross, aboard a spaceship hidden behind the far side of the moon, detect the surge of energy from the item (dropped by their last victims) and begin a search for Tom so they can drain him of his magic. Tom’s grandmother, Ursula, arrives to protect her grandson by using her own powers, but the two of them make an even more tempting treat for the aliens.

Order the serieswritten by Phil Ford
directed by Daniel O’Hara
music by Sam Watts

Wizards vs. AliensCast: Scott Haran (Tom Clarke), Percelle Ascott (Benny Sherwood), Gwendoline Christie (Lexi), Jefferson Hall (Varg), Brian Blessed (voice of the Nekross King), Annette Badland (Ursula Crowe), Michael Higgs (Michael Clarke), Tim Rose (Nekross King puppeteer), Manpreet Bambra (Katie Lord), Connor Scarlett (Quinn Christopher), Paul Hunter (Robert France), Harry Lawtey (young Mark), Brian Miller (old Mark), Sara Stewart (Miss Webster)

Notes: Created by Russell T. Davies to fill the time slot and resources previously allocated to The Sarah Jane Adventures (whose run ended abruptly upon the death of its star, Elisabeth Sladen, in 2011), Wizards vs. Aliens is not a Doctor Who spinoff. Most of the behind-the-scenes personnel from SJA continue to work on this show, and a few familiar faces can be found in front of the camera as well. Annette Badland portrayed Blon Slitheen in the first season of Davies’ Doctor Who revival, while actor Brian Miller is the widower of Elisabeth Sladen and appeared in Doctor Who and SJA numerous times. Brian Blessed also appeared in Doctor Who (in one of the series’ most controversial segments, parts 5-8 of The Trial Of A Time Lord), but is thankfully better known for appearances in Blackadder, Flash Gordon, and as the voice of Boss Nass, the Gungan leader in Star Wars Episode I.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Wizards vs. Aliens

Dawn Of The Nekross – Part 2

Wizards vs. AliensWith their three spells for the day exhausted, Tom and his grandmother are powerless to stop the magic-harvesting Nekross. Tom manages to teleport himself back to Earth, whereupon he has to rock Benny’s entire belief in the way things work to the core and explain that both magic and evil aliens from space are real. Benny offers to help, but Tom realizes that the only real help for him lies in his grandmother’s hidden crawlspace, where all of her magic books and artifacts are kept. This space also contains the imp Randal Moon, who immediately offers his help in retrieving Tom’s grandmother from the Nekross; Tom’s dad, who isn’t a magic user, finds himself swept into space along with Moon. Magic is useless against the Nekross – they’re immune to it, and thrive off of the energy created by its use – but the non-magic-users help to prove that Nekross technology is susceptible to old-fashioned brute force and escape with all of the wizards that the Nekross have captured. With the knowledge that his friend is in danger, Benny offers to help Tom with scientific know-how the next time the Nekross appear.

Order the serieswritten by Phil Ford
directed by Daniel O’Hara
music by Sam Watts

Wizards vs. AliensCast: Scott Haran (Tom Clarke), Percelle Ascott (Benny Sherwood), Annette Badland (Ursula Crowe), Michael Higgs (Michael Clarke), Jefferson Hall (Varg), Gwendoline Christie (Lexi), Brian Blessed (voice of the Nekross King), Tim Rose (Nekross King puppeteer), Dan Starkey (Randal Moon), Paul Hunter (Robert France), Brian Miller (old Mark)

Notes: Dan Starkey has played numerous Sontaran characters on Doctor Who, most notably the moon-hating Strax; he was also the leader of the enslaved aliens in the Sarah Jane Adventures story that became that series’ finale.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Red Dwarf Season 10

Dear Dave

Red DwarfLister finds himself missing the human race, despite Kryten’s attempts to remind him that the human race never did anything for him. Lister’s rampant depression soon affects even Rimmer, who faces a crisis of his own: having not reported to a single day of work in over three millennia (by virtue of being dead), Rimmer is in danger of having his rank reduced automatically per Jupiter Mining Corporation policy. Lister seeks solace wherever he can, even to the point of striking up a relationship with one of the ship’s vending machines, which leads to a bit of a misunderstanding with a piece of machinery whose job it is to dispense snacks…

Order the DVDswritten by Doug Naylor
directed by Doug Naylor
music by Howard Goodall

Red DwarfCast: Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), Isla Ure (Dispenser 23 / Dispenser 34)

Notes: Once again, Lister’s pining for the human race seems to completely discount Red Dwarf VIII and its nanobot-replicated crew.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Wizards vs. Aliens

Grazlax Attacks – Part 1

Wizards vs. AliensStill hiding on the far side of the moon in their massive warship, the Zarantulus, the Nekross have a problem: their king demands a fresh infusion of the magical energy from wizards, but at least a few of Earth’s wizards are now aware of the Nekross’ existence and are fighting back. Tom, Ursula and Randal Moon cast a shrouding spell to conceal Earth’s magic from the Nekross. Tom breathes a sigh of relief: he can go back to being a normal teenager, starting with teaming up with Benny on schoolwork (a bit less stressful than teaming up to fight an alien invasion). The response from the aliens is to send another alien species to do their dirty work. The vicious, seemingly unstoppable Grazlax homes in on Tom, and follows him straight to Benny’s house.

Order the serieswritten by Phil Ford
directed by Daniel O’Hara
music by Sam Watts

Wizards vs. AliensCast: Scott Haran (Tom Clarke), Percelle Ascott (Benny Sherwood), Annette Badland (Ursula Crowe), Jefferson Hall (Varg), Gwendoline Christie (Lexi), Brian Blessed (voice of the Nekross King), Tim Rose (Nekross King puppeteer), Dan Starkey (Randal Moon), Manpreet Bambra (Katie Lord), Connor Scarlett (Quinn Christopher), Don Gilet (Richard Sherwood), Nina Sosanya (Tricia Sherwood), Dave Chapman (Grazlax), Robert Tygner (Grazlax)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Wizards vs. Aliens

Grazlax Attacks – Part 2

Wizards vs. AliensTrapped in Benny’s house with the Grazlax, Tom discovers only too late that trying to ward the alien creature off with a hair dryer simply allows it to reproduce. Once the creature finds the ecologically friendly boiler Benny’s dad has built in the basement, it starts to reproduce almost at will, each “generation” creating three new Grazlax from the remains of a single Grazlax. The boy discover that high-pitched sound has an effect on their pursuers, and in space, the Nekross discovers that the Grazlax may be too powerful for even their technology to control.

Order the serieswritten by Phil Ford
directed by Daniel O’Hara
music by Sam Watts

Wizards vs. AliensCast: Scott Haran (Tom Clarke), Percelle Ascott (Benny Sherwood), Annette Badland (Ursula Crowe), Jefferson Hall (Varg), Gwendoline Christie (Lexi), Brian Blessed (voice of the Nekross King), Tim Rose (Nekross King puppeteer), Dan Starkey (Randal Moon), Manpreet Bambra (Katie Lord), Dave Chapman (Grazlax), Robert Tygner (Grazlax)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Great War

Doctor WhoStricken with grief and rage from the losses suffered in the fight to free future Earth from the Daleks, the Doctor sets the TARDIS on a course for the end of everything, so he can “see how it all turned out.” The sudden appearance of Time Lord agent Straxus in the Doctor’s TARDIS does little to alleviate his rage. Straxus has a job for the Doctor, to investigate a massive shakeup in Earth’s timeline, an assignment the Doctor almost refuses to take until it becomes apparent that the Time Lords will allow the TARDIS to go nowhere else.

The Doctor finds himself on the battlefield in the first World War, and almost succumbs to a gas attack. He awakens in a triage tent, tended to by an overworked Irish VAD named Molly O’Sullivan. But soon the combat hospital has to be evacuated when the sound of bombing nears – but the Doctor recognizes that it isn’t the sound of any kind of earthly ordnance. The Daleks have returned again, but this time, his old enemies don’t seem to be after him – and it would appear that they have allies among the human race in this time period.

Order this CD written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Ruth Bradley (Molly O’Sullivan), Peter Egan (Straxus), Toby Jones (Kotris), Laura Molyneaux (Isabel Stanford), Jonathan Forbes (Dr. Sturgiss), Alex Mallinson (Tucker), Beth Chalmers (Matron / Kitty Donaldson / Nurse Harriet), Tim Treloar (Lord President), John Banks (Hodgeson), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks)

Notes: Though he is pictured on the cover of the individual CD for The Great War in his new costume, the Doctor is said to still have long hair and “fancy dress” for this story, and his sonic screwdriver is still said to resemble a pennywhistle. Straxus has regenerated since last seen in The Vengeance Of Morbius (though between that story and the Dark Eyes box set, yet another incarnation of Straxus appeared in the audio spinoff Bernice Summerfield and the Diogenes Damsel).

Timeline: after To The Death and before Fugitives and Night Of The Doctor

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Fugitives

Doctor WhoWith the Daleks closing in on his heels on a World War I battlefield, the Doctor leads Molly back to the TARDIS, but rather than gaping at the console room and stating the obvious, Molly surprises the Doctor by simply saying that she’s been here before. Through various eras of Earth history, the Doctor tries to evade the Daleks, and yet every time they lie in wait for him. Even when the Doctor decides to open Molly’s eyes to the universe by taking her to the planet Halalka, they are not safe – the Daleks are never more than a few steps behind them. And then Molly further surprises the Doctor by flying the TARDIS out of harm’s way…

Order this CD written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Ruth Bradley (Molly O’Sullivan), Peter Egan (Straxus), Toby Jones (Kotris), Natalie Burt (Dr. Sally Armstrong), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks / VSAI 001), John Banks (Dunkirk Sergeant / Halalkan Policeman / Srangor Herder / Window Cleaner), Alex Mallinson (Cab Driver / Baker Street Security Guard)

Notes: The Doctor’s house on Baker Street was previously occupied by his fifth incarnation during the 1850s in the audio story The Haunting Of Thomas Brewster; he later bequeathed it to Brewster in the 21st century. (The Doctor has also owned two other homes: Nest Cottage, the setting of much of the Hornets’ Nest pentalogy starring Tom Baker, and a house on Allen Road, visited semi-frequently in the 1990s comics and novels.) Actor Toby Jones, playing Dalek ally Kotris, has also appeared in TV Doctor Who as the Dream Lord in Amy’s Choice (2010); the two characters don’t appear to be related.

Timeline: after The Great War and before Tangled Web and Night Of The Doctor

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Tangled Web

Doctor WhoFleeing from a Dalek strike force on Halalka, the TARDIS is piloted to momentary safety, but not by the Doctor. He checks and discovers that Molly seems to have more than a passing acquaintance with the operation of a TARDIS, which seems highly unlikely for a girl plucked from a World War I battlefield. The Doctor probes Molly’s memories and discovers that she first found herself in a Gallifreyan time machine on her second birthday, when she went missing from home for a time and was found by a man named Kotris. Still pursued by the Daleks, the Doctor and Molly take refuge on another planet, but the Daleks are only a step behind them… and claim they want to help the Doctor, just as they have helped themselves to overcome their warlike tendencies.

Order this CD written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Ruth Bradley (Molly O’Sullivan), Peter Egan (Straxus), Toby Jones (Kotris), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks), John Banks (Thelus / Mezcoranis 2 / Srangor Herder), Alex Mallinson (Mezcoranis 1), Tim Treolar (Lord President / Sandum), Beth Chalmers (Catherine O’Sullivan), Jonathan Forbes (Patrick O’Sullivan)

Notes: The “future Daleks” claim to be descended from the few survivors of a “great war” that wiped out most of the Daleks and all of the Time Lords.

Timeline: after Fugitives and before “X” And The Daleks and Night Of The Doctor

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green