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4th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Doctor Who And The Pescatons

Doctor Who and the Pescatons (Silva)The Doctor and Sarah arrive in modern-day England, where they are almost immediately stalked by a shark-like creature that can take to land for limited times. The Doctor recognizes it as a Pescaton – a being from a world whose ecosystem is doomed, probably searching for a new world rich in salt water for the rest of its kind to colonize. The fact that Earth is already quite inhabited doesn’t seem to faze the Pescaton invader at all. The Doctor patiently waits for the creature to exhaust itself after a few rampages through London, and it quickly dies – but not before summoning the rest of its kind. The entire Pescaton race is coming to Earth, including their sinister leader Zor, who the Doctor has met before – and to whose psychic powers even the Time Lord is not immune.

Order this CDwritten by Victor Pemberton
directed by Harvey Usill
music by Brian Hodgson

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Bill Mitchell (Zor)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
4th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Exploration Earth: The Time Machine

Doctor Who: Exploration Earth / Genesis of the DaleksThe TARDIS tumbles backward billions of years, alarming the Doctor and Sarah. But the Doctor is able to show Sarah the origins of her planet, from the formation of the solar system to the beginnings of life itself. But they’re not the only visitors from another time there – an alien named Megron has arrived to bring chaos to the young planet Earth, possibly even to disrupt the history of human evolution.

Order this CDwritten by Bernard Venables
music by Dick Mills

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), John Westbrook (Megron)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor

Slipback

Doctor Who: SlipbackFollowing a trail of time spillage, indicating carelessly-conducted time experiments, the TARDIS brings the Doctor to the starship Vipod Mor, whose dysfunctional crew includes an undercover cop, a schizophrenic ship’s computer, and a captain intent on creating and unleashing the most virulent disease in the universe. But the Time Lord isn’t in any shape to take on these potential dangers – he’s nearly incapacitated, trying to decipher a cryptic message deliver to him by a disembodied female voice. Soon, he and Peri are caught in the middle of numerous deadly plots, but the Doctor discovers that he can’t interfere with any of them…without derailing the entire history of the universe.

Order this CDwritten by Eric Saward
directed by Paul Spencer
music by Jonathan Gibbs

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Jane Carr (Computer), John Glover (Shellingborne Grant), Nick Revell (Bates / Snatch), Alan Thompson (Mutant / Steward), Valentine Dyall (Captain Slarn), Ron Pember (Seedle)

Timeline: after Revelation Of The Daleks and before Trial Of A Time Lord

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
3rd Doctor

The Paradise Of Death

Doctor Who: The Paradise Of DeathThe Brigadier invites the Doctor to the grand opening of the Parakon Corporation’s space-themed amusement park, Space World. The Doctor, expecting to see fabricated exhibits and faked “creatures” on display, is astonished to see what seem to be actual alien life forms from other worlds – clearly, the Parakon Corporation’s reach extends far beyond the Earth. But Lethbridge-Stewart’s interest is fixed upon an unsolved murder on Space World’s grounds. Chairman Freeth and Vice Chairman Tragan, the operators of Space World, are doing their best to cover up the death, even if it means eliminating an employee who knows what really happened. When Sarah Jane Smith – always in search of a story – stows away aboard Tragan’s spacecraft, the Doctor, the Brigadier, and Sarah’s rookie photographer Jeremy embark on a quest to save her – a quest that will lead to a world whose fate hangs in the balance…and whose fortune is steeped in the blood of innocent bystanders.

Order this CDwritten by Barry Letts
directed by Phil Clarke
music by Peter Howell

Cast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Harold Innocent (Freeth), Peter Miles (Tragan), Maurice Denham (President), Richard Pearce (Jeremy Fitzoliver), Jane Slavin (Onya), Brian Hall (Grebber/Reporter), Jillie Meers (Clorinda/Secretary General of the U.N.), John Harwood (General Commanding UNIT/Professor Mortimer Willow), John Fleming (Odun/Patrol leader), Jonathan Tafler (Captain Waldo Rudley), Emma Myant (Greckle), Michael Onslow (Rasco Heldal), David Holt (Medan/Hunter), Philip Anthony (Yallett/Officer of the Day), Andrew Wincott (Radio voice/Crestin/Bill/Ambulance man), Dominic Letts (Nobby/Kitson/Wilkins/Soldier), Julian Rhind Tutt (Guard/Rance/Board member/Echolocation operator/Lexan), Trevor Martin (Kaido/Guard 2/Custodian of data store/Jenhegger)

Originally broadcast from August 27 to September 24, 1993

Timeline: between The Time Warrior and Invasion Of The Dinosaurs

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green

Categories
3rd Doctor

The Ghosts Of N-Space

Doctor Who: The Ghosts of N-SpaceThe Doctor is summoned to Italy by the Brigadier, whose Uncle Mario has requested help in the face of increasing threats from a New York land baron with mob ties. Apparently, the intimidation tactics are growing in their scope, including what seem to be apparitions of the dead and visions of horrible, unearthly creatures. The Doctor is very worried to discover that something supernatural is gaining a foothold at Uncle Mario’s castle – something which could, if it breaks through, overrun and destroy life as 20th century humanity knows it. With Sarah Jane Smith tagging along, the Doctor finds away to travel back through the time rift from which these visions are occurring, and finds that the apparitions are the result of one insane alchemist’s attempt to touch “the other side.” The Doctor must put these experiments to a halt, even though his presence merely confirms his adversary’s belief that he is succeeding.

Order this CDwritten by Barry Letts
directed by Phil Clarke
music by Peter Howell

Cast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Richard Pearce (Jeremy Fitzoliver), Jonathan Tafler (Clemenza), Don McCorkindale (Don Fabrizzio), Stephen Thorne (Max), David Holt (Nico), Sandra Dickinson (Maggie), Harry Towb (Mario), Deborah Berlin (Louisa), Peter Yapp (Umberto), Joanna Sergeant (Maid), Paul Brooke (Paolo), Gavin Muir (Barone), Jillie Meers (Baronessa / Marcella), Jonathan Keeble (Roberto), Jim Sweeney (Guido)

Originally broadcast from January 20 to 24, 1996

Timeline: between The Time Warrior and Invasion Of The Dinosaurs, and after The Paradise Of Death

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor 6th Doctor 7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Sirens Of Time

Doctor Who: The Sirens Of TimeThe seventh Doctor is drawn to a jungle world, where he rescues a hapless bystander and discovers an elderly couple nearby. The couple have a unique relationship based on a mutual loathing that seems like it could become murderous at any moment – and they both have very dark secrets to hide. The fifth Doctor, meanwhile, finds himself locked out of the TARDIS, which has materialized aboard a doomed British ship in the North Atlantic. The ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat, and the TARDIS is lost at sea. The Doctor, along with an Irish woman from the British vessel, drifts along with the debris until taken aboard the German sub as a spy. Elsewhere, on the starliner Edifice, the sixth Doctor’s TARDIS arrives, coinciding with an experiment being performed on a time-sensitive creature known as the Temperon. But shortly after the experiment fails, the entire crew – with the exception of its android helmsman and a waitress who appears to have survived through pure luck – is killed, and the Doctor must find out why. Each incarnation of the Doctor is unaware that he is facing the same threat, but in different places and times. And each Doctor has a piece of the puzzle that could save their besieged home planet of Gallifrey.

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Colin Baker (The Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Andrew Fettes (Commander Raldeth / Schmidt), Anthony Keetch (Coordinator Vansell), Michael Wade (The President), Sarah Mowat (Elenya / Helen / Ellie / Knight Commander Lyena), Maggie Stables (Ruthley), Colin McIntyre (Sancroff), John Wadmore (Commandant / Lt. Zentner / Pilot Azimendah / Subcommander Solanec), Mark Gatiss (Captain Schwieger / Edifice Captain / Knight 2), Nicholas Briggs (The Temperon), Nicholas Pegg (Delegate)

Timeline: part one takes place in an unspecified time frame while the seventh Doctor is traveling alone; part two takes place while Tegan and Turlough are traveling with the Doctor, but since he makes no reference to being Lord President of Gallifrey, this may place it between Terminus and The Five Doctors. Part three takes place between Trial Of A Time Lord and Time And The Rani, since the sixth Doctor is traveling alone.

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Phantasmagoria

Doctor Who: PhantasmagoriaThe Doctor and Turlough arrive in London, 1702, amidst a rash of disappearances, murders, and robberies. Well-to-do men have been vanishing without a trace, and the only connection anyone can draw between the victims is that they were last seen playing cards with the sinister and enigmatic Sir Nicholas Valentine at the Diabola Club. Turlough himself witnesses one of the horrifying disappearances and finds himself separated from the Doctor, and joins the intrepid Jasper Jeake as he tries to uncover the whereabouts of his friends. The Doctor befriends self-proclaimed occultist Dr. Samuel Holywell, who claims to have made contact with the dead – but the Doctor believes the explanation is simultaneously simpler and more complex than that. And largely unnoticed by the time travelers is the sudden transformation of a well-known robber into a murderer. At least two of these players are not from Earth – and even if the Doctor can discover who they are, the game is almost up.

Order this CDwritten by Mark Gatiss
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Mark Strickson (Turlough), David Walliams (Quincy Flowers), Jonathan Rigby (Edmund Carteret), Mark Gatiss (Jasper Jeake), Jez Fielder (Poltrot/Major Billy Lovemore), David Ryall (Sir Nicholas Valentine), Steven Wickham (Dr. Samuel Holywell), Julia Dalkin (Hannah Fry)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Whispers Of Terror

Doctor Who: Whispers Of TerrorIn the Museum of Aural Antiquities, preparations are underway for a broadcast in tribute to the late actor Visteen Krane, who died mysteriously on the eve of announcing his candidacy for the Presidency. But things begin to go wrong almost immediately. A man is found murdered in the Museum, and the only suspects without an alibi are two intruders who identify themselves as The Doctor and Peri. The Doctor is immediately suspicious of Beth Pernell, Krane’s theatrical agent and potential running mate, who is planning to supplant her late boss as a presidential candidate and use the tribute in his honor for her own publicity. But when another death occurs, the Doctor suspects an even greater danger – a bloodthirsty life form composed of sound waves, which can replicate and transmit itself through any sound-conducting channel…such as, for example, a tribute broadcast which will be heard by millions.

Order this CDwritten by Justin Richards
directed by Gary Russell
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Rebecca Jenkins (Amber Dent/Car Computer), Hylton Collins (Goff Fotherill/Computer Voice), Matthew Brehner (Visteen Krane), Peter Miles (Curator Gantman), Mark Trotman (Miles Napton), Nick Scovell (Detective Berkeley), Lisa Bowerman (Beth Pernell), Steffan Boje (Hans Stengard)

Timeline: after Revelation Of The Daleks and before …ish

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Land Of The Dead

Doctor Who: The Land Of The DeadThe TARDIS materializes in mid-air over Alaska, 1964, and then vanishes again when a small airplane nearly collides with it. The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Nyssa to the same location in 1994, where British millionaire Shaun Brett oversees the construction of an enormous house. Brett’s employees include the half-Inuit, half-American Tulung, who acts as a mediator between Brett and the local Inuits who have labored on the huge project, and Monica Lewis, an interior designer who hopes that this house’s unique and sometimes macabre designs will enhance her resume. The Doctor and Nyssa encounter savage creatures roaming the frozen wasteland outside the isolated house, and it soon becomes evident that the same beings are in the house as well. Tulung and the elderly Gaborik believe that the creatures are manifestations of angry spirits of the land, which has been defiled to create Brett’s house. The Doctor quickly discovers that the creatures have properties unlike any other creature on Earth, and yet they are native to the planet. It’s only a matter of time before something kills everyone at the house – the only question is whether it will be the increasing hoarde of ancient monsters, or the mad blood feud for vengeance that has tied Brett and Tulung together since childhood.

Order this CDwritten by Stephen Cole
directed by Gary Russell
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Lucy Campbell (Monica Lewis), Neil Roberts (Tulung), Christopher Scott (Brett), Andrew Fettes (Gaborik), Alistair Lock (Supplier)

Timeline: after Time-Flight and before Arc Of Infinity

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Fearmonger

Doctor Who: The FearmongerIn the present day, the Doctor and Ace arrive in a London gripped by fear. Terrorists seem to be going to extreme lengths to rid Britain of the ultra-right-wing New Britannia party and its Parliamentary candidate, Sherilyn Harper. The Doctor unceremoniously bursts in on Mick Thompson’s political talk radio show to make contact with a man named Walter who, with an accomplice who is now institutionalized, attempted to assassinate Harper and barely escaped with their lives after being attacked by…something. The Doctor postulates that the deadly entity is a non-corporeal creature which incites fear among its victims – and then feeds off that fear, often leaving the victims traumatized for life. Walter says that he can hear this creature in the voice of Sherilyn Harper, but as the crisis worsens and the streets become even more infested with terrorists – some of whom are not political agitators, but hired guns – it becomes apparent that the Fearmonger could be using anyone as its host… even, as Ace comes to believe, the Doctor himself.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Blum
directed by Gary Russell
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Jacqueline Pearce (Sherilyn Harper), Mark McDonnell (Walter Jacobs), Vince Henderson (Mick Thompson), Hugh Walters (Roderick Allingham), Jonathan Clarkson (Paul Tanner), Jack Gallagher (Alexsandr Karadjic), Mark Wright (Stephen Keyser), John Ainsworth (Tannoy voice)

Timeline: between Survival and The Genocide Machine

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Marian Conspiracy

Doctor Who: The Marian ConspiracyTracking a disturbance in the fabric of time, the Doctor interrupts a college class being conducted by history professor Dr. Evelyn Smythe – only to discover that she is the disturbance he has been seeking. Evelyn initially wants nothing to do with the garishly dressed stranger until physical evidence of her family history begins to vanish from her home. The Doctor deduces that something in the past is unraveling, erased Evelyn’s ancestors from the timeline – and taking her along with it. He rigs up a stasis device to prevent Evelyn from disappearing altogether, but rather than staying put, the intrepid teacher decides to visit Earth’s history along with the Doctor. The TARDIS tracks the disturbance to a point roughly three years before the end of Queen Mary’s reign, where events – including a conspiracy to remove Mary from the throne by any means necessary – are converging with one inevitable effect unless the Doctor can stop them: Evelyn Smythe’s family will be wiped out in the process.

Order this CDwritten by Jacqueline Rayner
directed by Gary Russell
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Dr. Evelyn Smythe), Anah Ruddin (The Queen), Jo Castleton (Lady Sarah), Sean Jackson (George Crow), Gary Russell (John Wilson), Jez Fielder (William Leaf), Nicholas Pegg (Reverend Thomas), Barnaby Edwards (Francois de Noailles), Alistair Lock (Royal guard)

Timeline: after The Trial Of A Time Lord and before The Spectre Of Lanyon Moor

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Genocide Machine

Doctor Who: The Genocide MachineThe Doctor and Ace arrive on the rainforest world of Kar-Charrat, where expatriate Time Lord Elgin has become the librarian of the largest storehouse of knowledge in the universe. Elgin eagerly shows the Doctor his latest innovation: a wetworks facility which has assimilated all of this knowledge into a single consciousness. The Doctor is alarmed by this development, as it means that any invading force could take over the facility – and with it, all of the knowledge of the universe. Elgin admits that some races have tried to do exactly that, including the Daleks, but none have been successful. But the Doctor and Ace quickly learn on a first-hand basis that the Daleks haven’t given up – they intend to take over the library of Kar-Charrat and use the wetworks facility to create a new, all-knowing, all-powerful breed of Daleks. But the Daleks don’t achieve the desired results, even when the Doctor is forced to help – and everyone soon discovers that an even greater power than the Daleks exists on Kar-Charrat…a power which, if unleashed to rid the world of the mechanical invaders, could also exact revenge on a Time Lord guilty of enslaving Kar-Charrat’s indigenous creatures.

Order this CDwritten by Mike Tucker
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Bruce Montague (Chief Librarian Elgin), Louise Falkner (Bev Tarrant), Alistair Lock (Dalek voice), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voice), Daniel Gabriele (Rappell), Nicholas Briggs (Cataloguer Prink)

Timeline: between The Fearmonger and Dust Breeding

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Red Dawn

Doctor Who: Red DawnThe TARDIS takes the Doctor and Peri to a cathedralesque structure on the surface of Mars early in the 21st century at a particularly historic moment – the day of the first American manned landing on the red planet. But NASA’s crew is a motley assortment. Two American astronauts are accompanied by a pair of British civilians, Tanya and Paul Webster, whose only claim to their seats on the mission is their relation to a rich uncle whose financial backing kept the Mars shot from being scrapped. But the Websters’ presence is more than just a favor to the mission’s benefactor. The Doctor, Peri, and the astronauts discover that the elaborate building is an Ice Warrior tomb, guarded by a contingent of Warriors in suspended animation. Paul Webster suddenly shows his true colors: as an ambitious and unscrupulous agent for his equally corrupt uncle, he is on the Mars mission to bring back as much alien technology as he can find. The honor-bound Ice Warriors have a hard time coming to any conclusion other than vengeance – which could kill both the innocent members of the expedition and the time travelers as well. The Doctor feels personally responsible for the entire incident, which might not have happened if not for his presence on Mars.

Order this CDwritten by Justin Richards
directed by Gary Russell
music by Russell Stone

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Matthew Brenher (Lord Zzaal), Robert Jezek (Commander Lee Forbes), Maureen Oakley (Pilot Susan Roberts), Stephen Fewell (Paul Webster), Georgia Moffatt (Tanya Webster), Hylton Collins (Subcommander Sstast), Alistair Lock (Zizmar), Jason Haigh-Ellery (Sskann), Gary Russell (Razzburr)

Notes: Georgia Moffatt is Peter Davison’s daughter, but she’s not the first offspring of the leading actor to appear in the series. Sylvester McCoy’s two sons played Haemovores in 1989’s The Curse Of Fenric, and the late Patrick Troughton’s son David made three appearances, a bit part in 1969’s The War Games and much more prominent roles in 1972’s The Curse Of Peladon and 2008’s Midnight. Moffatt would later appear in a 2008 episode of the revived Doctor Who TV series, ironically titled The Doctor’s Daughter, and married the tenth Doctor, David Tennant, in 2011.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Spectre Of Lanyon Moor

Doctor Who: The Spectre Of Lanyon MoorThe Doctor and Evelyn arrive at a Cornish moor where an archaeological dig seems to be stirring up more trouble than it’s worth. Professor Morgan’s attempts to unearth an ancient landmark have begun to awaken an equally ancient evil which has been trapped on Earth for thousands of years. Nearby, the wealthy eccentric Sir Archibald Flint has barely guessed at the nature of this hidden power, hoping to tap into it for his own ends. To the Doctor’s delight, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is at the dig site, quietly monitoring the proceedings at UNIT’s behest – but even UNIT’s firepower and the Time Lord’s cunning may not be enough to save Earth from a creature hell-bent on revenge.

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Pegg
directed by Nicholas Pegg
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Dr. Evelyn Smythe), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Toby Longworth (Professor Morgan), Barnaby Edwards (Philip Ludgate), James Bolam (Sir Archibald Flint), Susan Jameson (Mrs. Moynihan), Helen Goldwyn (Nikki Hunter), Nicholas Pegg (Captain Ashforde), Helen Goldwyn (Pelagia Stamatis), Helen Goldwyn (Corporal Croft)

Timeline: after The Marian Conspiracy and before The Apocalypse Element

Logbook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Winter For The Adept

Doctor Who: Winter For The AdeptA girls’ school in the Swiss Alps in late 1963 is the site of some unusual incidents. Two of the students have escaped, but they’re wandering through the already bitterly cold snow with a major storm just hours away. The headmistress of the school is convinced that evil is lurking just around the corner. And a man sent to track down and rescue the two truants finds only one girl, who identifies herself as Nyssa, and claims that some kind of experiment gone awry has brought her to this place. Nyssa is taken back to the school to warm up, while Lt. Peter Sandoz, her rescuer, continues his struggle to find the other missing girls. When they are found and brought back, unexplainable – some might even say paranomal – happenings begin to take place, endangering them all. At the height of one of these “poltergeist” events, a Police Box materializes in the school’s attic. A man who calls himself the Doctor emerges, and is immediately drawn into the mystery. Is the school truly haunted? Or is a much more sinister – and more tangible – threat at work here?

Order this CDwritten by Andrew Cartmel
directed by Gary Russell
music by Russell Stone

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Sally Faulkner (Miss Tremayne), Liz Sutherland (Alison Speers), India Fisher (Peril Bellamy), Peter Jurasik (Lt. Peter Sandoz), Hannah Dickinson (Madamoiselle Maupassant), Christopher Webber (Harding Wellman), Andy Coleman (Commodore), Nicky Goldie (Empress)

Timeline: between Land Of The Dead and The Mutant Phase

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green