My blog: https://comparestorereviewsdw.wordpress.com/
Part 1: https://peakd.com/hive-166847/@reviewed/doctor-who-8th-doctor-adventures-series-4-part-1-reviewed
Listen to Big Finish: https://www.bigfinish.com/
Finishing up the 8DAs!
4.5 Deimos by Jonathan Morris
Starting off the first two-parter of series 4, we have Deimos. I'm not a fan of Ice Warriors at the best of times so this story really didn't do much for me. Deimos is a base under siege story with a bit of a twist which I thought was novel. Deimos is set on a sort of museum on the Mars moon Deimos with Ice Warrior exhibits and soon it is revealed that the Ice Warriors survived and want to take back their home (a bit like Tomb of the Cybermen). The side characters are good (Tracy Ann Oberman and David Warner!) but overall I wasn't huge on this story. I've mentioned it before, but I find it harder to be immersed in most of the 8DAs, and this one is no exception, it sort of just plods along and I'm listening but not fully experiencing.
6/10
4.6 The Resurrection of Mars by Jonathan Morris
The Resurrection of Mars is significantly better than Deimos, and a really great end to the story. It sees the return of The Monk and Lucie Bleedin' Miller (following on from that crazy reveal at the end of The Book of Kells). This episode sidelines the Ice Warriors a bit in favour of catching up with Lucie and the Monk as well as focusing much more on their interactions with the Doctor and Tamsin. I'm definitely fine with this since I don't really like the Ice Warriors. Lucie returns much too early (Tamsin only gets one story to herself before she makes a quick cameo reappearance!) but the episode is great nonetheless. It is revealed that Lucie has been travelling with the Monk ever since his ad from Situation Vacant, but she's become unimpressed with his morality, killing people 'for the greater good', so the Monk dumps her on Deimos, and she reunites with the Doctor! The Resurrection of Mars also focuses on this moral dilemma, which interestingly the Doctor has been on both sides of, that of 'the ends justify the means'. The Monk is in favour of this and The Doctor is very much not. I appreciate how instead of this being a black and white issue, the Doctor actually brings up how he used to believe in it too (in his 7th incarnation), but as he regenerated into his 8th he decided to stop weighing up numbers of lives. I do like how the story also highlights the virtues of the Monk's methods, especially with how Tamsin sides with him in the end and how he shows her the consequences of the Doctor's desired result, although it still favours the Doctor as the Monk seems pretty evil in his methods. There's also some sinister foreshadowing to what I assume is the Dalek finale of the series. All in all, a great conclusion to the story.
8/10
4.7 Relative Dimensions by Marc Platt
Relative Dimensions sees the second return of Susan, as the Doctor invites her and her son Alex for Christmas dinner! This is a much more upbeat Christmas special than Death in Blackpool and is very lovely. Others have said this, but I do think this could have worked better if it was more along the lines of a wholesome slice of life Christmas story, maybe a slightly shorter episode too, as the plot is very inconsequential and just a bit naff. I really loved the cute dinner and present scenes, it's so sweet. The music is lovely too and the vibes of most of this story are very wholesome. Jake McGann playing the Doctor's great grandson is a lovely idea but he's sadly not the greatest actor...Still, Relative Dimensions is a fun, sweet time with a sadly rather dull plot.
7/10
4.8 Prisoner of the Sun by Eddie Robson
I unexpectedly loved this one! In Prisoner of the Sun, the Doctor is trapped in a prison at the heart of a Star, where he is required to continuously protect billions of people from solar flares. It's high concept and really unique, quite pacy too at under 50 minutes. Sheridan Smith is utilised really well in this story, and I enjoyed the character she plays a lot. There's a lot of twists and turns in this one, and I really enjoyed the Doctor being alone for a story.
8/10
4.9 Lucie Miller by Nicholas Briggs
Well here we are, the two part finale to the 8th Doctor Adventures, and a story that I've heard tons of praise for (and a little bit of dislike). This is very reminiscent of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, except it's mostly told from the perspective of Lucie. I love this aspect, focusing in on this character that we've come to love throughout the series during literally the worst part of her life is a fantastic way of telling this story. All the actors are fantastic too, Sheridan Smith and Carole Ann Ford in particular give it their all and the Daleks are at their most terrifying here. However, I do have a big problem with Lucie Miller, and that is the fact that it's so depressing, relentlessly so. And that just doesn't fit with how Doctor Who feels to me. Sure, Doctor Who can be dark, and a lot of my favourite episodes and stories are dark, (and spinoffs like Torchwood being dark and depressing is fine) but there's an uncompromising sense of hopelessness in this story that's just depressing to listen to. The Monk is also characterised kind of weirdly here. I don't remember too much of The Time Meddler but he didn't seem evil in that, nor in his Rufus Hound incarnation, and working with the Daleks is very evil (also pretty stupid, but whatever). This is rather well written despite the depression, but I don't think it is actually all that amazing even if you discount disliking super depressing stuff in Doctor Who.
7/10
4.10 To the Death by Nicholas Briggs
And finally, To the Death. There's a lot of death in this one. The plotting in the previous part, Lucie Miller is quite good, but I find it to actually be quite weak here. Instead there are a lot of significant character beats and when they hit they hit, but the getting to them is waffly and boring. What we do have is emotional goodbyes and a disgusted and angry Doctor, it's a very emotional story. I'm still not on board with the Monk's characterisation here, although he does seem a bit more out of his depth, rather than evil, in this part which I think is better. Poor Tamsin, she only gets a couple episodes to herself, gets fooled by the Monk, and then gets killed off in the most nonchalant way...very tragic. Overall, I think To the Death is about on par with Lucie Miller, it has stronger, more emotional moments, but weaker plotting (and similar depression levels). A disappointing finale overall, but still good.
7/10
So with that the 8th Doctor Adventures are finished! I think I enjoyed them more than I was expecting, although they're weren't amazing overall. Human Resources and Death in Blackpool were the clear highlights and Skull of Sobek the clear lowlight. Series 4 was definitely the best. I'd maybe recommend them, but probably with the caveat that a lot is skippable (like pretty much all of series 3).
Just makes me want to listen to them all!
!PIZZA
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