Doctor Who: Dalek Universe 1

 Doctor Who: Dalek Universe 1

Dalek Universe 1 is unconditionally brilliant, and by leaps and miles the best Tennant set so far, it isn't even close. Ten in Big Finish often felt like they were only attempting to emulate the television series and not actually do something interesting, whereas Dalek Universe takes the best aspects of this Doctor, a particular Doctor that's used to bombast and large scale stories, and utilizes that aspect best by pairing Ten with new companions, new enemies on an incredibly large scale. And FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET AWAY, NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS because it is very difficult to talk about these stories (especially Wrong Woman) without them. These sets are often the most difficult for me to review, the ones I enjoy a lot, because if a set is plain good, I find it difficult to critique, and I am a person who gets very gushy. It's a downside to my reviewing- I already sound insufferable! So I'll try to limit that on the whole, although, For context, The Fourth Doctor Adventures Season Eight is possibly my favorite Big Finish series next to Torchwood Alien/God Among Us, so I was already incredibly invested in Anya, and this set just...oh dear god this set was great okay

Buying Time by John Dorney 

Buying Time is a unique case. It's definitely the part one and two of a classic four-parter. It is set up. Bleeding good set up, but it's set up nonetheless. It very quickly and nicely establishes the whole series, the return of Anya, (and Mark Seven, who is actually quite oddly introduced, I really should have done the Dalek Protocol, jeez this set is locked behind twelve years of continuity) and the Terry Nation inspired universe in which it takes place. It almost serves as its own adventure (almost) mostly being set on Myra and fighting the Visians, yet another Dalek Master Plan reference, I think? Or something? Nonetheless, it does then spend its last twenty minutes doing a completely different thing in Setting up The Wrong Woman - very much similar to how Castrovalva spent its time getting to, well, you know, Castrovalva. I think it works better here than there. The reason that the Doctor is deposited on Myra (as later established in the next story) is timey-wimey and fun, and that lets it have its cake and eat it too for a while. I had said during my review for Ravenous Four that if Dorney had been saddled with writing Whisper he would have come out with a masterpiece, and the first half of Buying Time is quite similar to Whisper, and even more effective in half the time. There are some inspired chills with Tennant giving a tense performance - that while aren't really necessary for much in the long run gives this episode its own identity. Buying Time all in all is a fun starting half of a piece, where it does its own thing and then does some solid set up for the next episode. Most people only think of this episode in relation to that cliffhanger (I called it) but it's a great ride even without it, and the set only gets better. 9/10

The Wrong Woman by John Dorney

The most spoilerific Big Finish tale since the Lumiat, the Wrong Woman is so unbelievably stellar because it surprises its audience so well.  The sets definitive best piece, The Wrong Woman is just hecking brilliant, simply because of the factor of Tennant's best tales' best element...fun. I've always loved the two-parters of the RTD era much more than the standalone episodes and this saddles itself comfortably among them. The fun aspect of the story is what matters. It's just incredibly fun. The most fun fun that has ever fun-ned.  But it's not to say that it doesn't have the emotional beats that matter. And it's definitely not to say that the performances (especially Gemma Whelan, who somehow makes Tennant and Slavin look bad by comparison, how?!?) are bad, because as I just said, holy fricking crap, Gemma Whelan. Anya continues to have amazing material, especially for those WHO ACTUALLY DID 4DA S8 (huff, puff) and the emotional beats are as said, stellar. Mark gets some okay content too, he's played excellently by Joe Sims, but I think sometimes he forgets to play up the Android aspect and is a bit too human before remembering himself and Androiding again. It's a minor quibble, but I think it stands. All the same, it's a really good episode, Tennant, Slavin and especially Whelan are on top form, and it's beautifully bonkers. In a few moments, it does Wedding of River Song better than Wedding Of River Song did. Even the "mah Rose" bits from Tennant don't get too grating. This level of quality from a series like the 10DAs is astonishing - 10/10

The House of Kingdom by Andrew Smith

The House of Kingdom was, I was promised, a downgrade from the opening two-parter in the set. Hot take: it’s not. A very different tale, but still upholding that level of quality, and one of the strongest 10DAs yet again. The House of Kingdom has a basic, if still impactful plot, involving Anya’s encounter with her Grandfather, who she has a strained relationship with, and a nice thread to the Daleks Master Plan continues, as there seems to be some kind of conspiracy connecting this whole thing to the destruction of a space station and Varga Plants. A slow but solid script, it gives us a better opportunity to see this really damn good TARDIS team in a different environment. The story has nice strong emotional beats - it won’t knock you over, but it’s connection to Daleks Master Plan seems both important and yet a soft bit of character, Bret and Sara getting a powerful name drop. This isn’t even mentioning the Mechanoids, utilized to perfection - they were never really enormously important anyway, and having them present in a limited capacity such as this does evoke some of the better NuWho monster cameos, like the Macra in Gridlock for example. A threat, but not the point of the story, and the point of it, well, it’s quite well performed. I love Anya to death, and I can’t wait to see where this series goes from here. God, I definitely failed on the whole not gushy thing, huh? 9/10