Jago and Litefoot Series Nine
After the turbulent Series Eight held both the series' highest highs and lowest lows, I was expecting a more carefully considered affair for Series Nine. And I can safely say that, well, it is indeed a Jago and Litefoot boxset and contains all the assured quality that you can usually expect from the series. Certainly a more unique volume, with it's Cruise Gimmick, (awfully tagged onto the previous set, this set's supposed tie in to the following one is a bit rubbish too, and honestly I don't see much of a point of keeping these cliffhangers up bar tradition. Early Series had excellent cliffhangers that made you want the next set - who could forget Leela appearing in the cliffhanger for series two? But alas, I am rambling) The series still ends up doing the same things it tends to usually do, but in very colorful environments that are far from the series' norm. Jago and Litefoot is a series that likes to push itself - it would be nowhere near as good a series if it didn't. And this set does push itself in a new direction, disposing of Ellie and Quick (for the most part) for Aubrey and Lady Danvers. They're...fine. Aubrey certainly makes about the same level of impression as Quick (they're both super bland, and you're never telling me otherwise) but Ellie's departure is sorely felt, as Lady Danvers never felt remotely appealing to me - you'd think it would be fun watching Jago and Litefoot squirm at her fascination, but in all honesty, I sympathize a bit too much and really don't want Lady Danvers to be a thing. She never really adds much other than the occasional repetition of "ooh, romantic tension," to which the one of our leads she is talking to promptly says "lol, no." For pretty much the only character besides Aubrey to properly appear with focus in more than one episode (3/4, half the other guests are forgotten as of part one) She's just not enjoyable enough a character to get this level of focus. But I'll talk individual stories now - I'm running out of things to say about them as a whole.
The Devil's Dicemen by Justin Richards
Jago and Litefoot go to Monte Carlo, but the dice tables are run by Demons! Hell, it practically writes itself. In terms of pitches, this is a remarkably strong one, and the story in itself isn't bad either. It does lose a good bit of the atmosphere I enjoyed from the Flying Frenchmen, and despite all of the "demons" and whatever, there's very little you could find in this episode to be eerie or spooky, which does make it a bit of a left turn. It's a bit of a generic Jago and Litefoot story, a little too much so - it reminds me a lot of The Spirit Trap, or Jago, Litefoot and Strax. It recovers from this by actually having good side characters - Constance's voice actor yet again does another weird accent but it's a different character, she's Madame Diabolique, and she's great. She's camp as hell, she owns it. Secondly, there's David bloody Warner (always a highlight) as Dr. Luke Betterman, a character that's so good, I had no doubt that they made him recurring in following sets just because of how fun he is here. He's a great contrast to Litefoot, by being almost exactly like Litefoot. It's hard to describe, but their interactions are bubbly and joyful and great. I loved him. Jago going a bit stir-crazy at the Casino is a delight, everything in the story is a delight. It's just very Jago and Litefoot standard fare, and when you listen to a lot of these back to back, those can really stand out. 8/10
Island of Death by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris
Island of Death (forgive the cliche title) is a great script that at the same time irks me on many points. It's the Lady Danvers episode for a while (it soon moves on to better things) but the beginning focus on her gave me a lot of pain. I do not know what it is about the character - she's not abhorrent, but she's not enjoyable either. She does however, very quickly become irrelevant as the episode goes on, so she doesn't factor into the score. Really, it's a very good concept piece, almost bordering on Phillip Hinchcliffe's classic Fourth Doctor serials - always a good sign - about an island where the inhabitants slowly begin to go insane in the night, and attempt to awaken an ancient monstrocity (which we never really get an amazing explanation of, it's a fucking lovecraftian horror, moving on, love that) and I mean, it's really good. Like, blisteringly good. Even the usual problem of the "Dan Starkey character," (you know! the character played by Dan Starkey! That usually has very similar characterization to other character's played by Dan Starkey! that shows up all the time in various stories! It's not strax but once you notice it's him, he's very easy to spot and kind of takes you out of it a bit? That "dan starkey character?" Do You get what I am saying) Even he is not a problem because the story smartly uses our low expectations of this archetype to deliver some fun surprises. So this is all great! It's an excellent episode, top tier! But I do have a criticism that has docked it two full points. My real criticism! It is petty. But it is a criticism that I do have to make: There is a gratuitous amount of French in this episode. Like, you'd think I'd be joking, but one of the side-characters speaks about every other phrase in French, and look, I know a few of them, but there are so many basic French phrases, and there are a lot, and I don't like it! You recognize a lot of the "mon amis," and basic phrases, but then a character will pull a completely unidentifiable one out of their butt. It's kind of annoying? Of course, if you speak French Fluently, well, you're gonna have like zero problems with this already pretty good episode, so that will be very nice for you, but I am not you, and I still struggle to recover from my French Class PTSD, okay? 8/10
Return of the Nightmare by Justin Richards
Forget Island of Death, Return of The Nightmare is just such a Doctor Who title that I will NEVER be able to remember it. I am usually good at remembering Doctor Who titles, but this one will be gone from my head in five seconds. Which reminds me of the episode, which also will be gone from my head in five seconds. Oh, there's nothing strictly bad about it, but it is the "ooh, we have to finish the set's arc, ooh hoo, yee haw, gee wiz," episode. There are plenty of them in Big Finish sets. It is the "explanation" episode. It explains the bonkers shit that happened elsewhere in the set, like, the magic teleportation fog. And to be honest, I care about that a remarkably microscopic amount. Not only that, rather than create it's own setting, or do a murder mystery among the already established cast of the ship as I initially thought it would, (which would actually have been cool, and I would have really liked that and ranked it quite high) it sort of buggers off back to London to do absolutely nothing new and interesting? It's so strange, the series in the middle of the climax of one of it's most daring adventures suddenly leaps back into it's comfort zone and then doesn't really do much with it. It's not bad, it's just? Disappointing. But it's really, really, not bad. I mean it. I've gone through a lot of bad stories, and this one was at least entertaining and fun. I just wish It was to the standards of the rest of the set. Justin Richards had to sub in for another author and ended up writing two episodes this set, and, well, it shows. It's a bit sad - I know he can do better. But as it is, it's Jago and Litefoot, and you really would have to piss me off to make me upset about that. 7/10
Jago and Litefoot Series Nine is at both times an experiment and one of the more predictable sets of Jago and Litefoot, never quite reaching anything like the brilliance of what it initially promises. But as it is, it's still an excellent set, far above the usual Big Finish average. I would even put it above Series Eight most of the time, because that set went up and down like a maniac. And sure, I'd definitely take Encore over any of these episodes, but I would take all of these episodes over Higson and Quick (which actually made me an emotional wreck for an evening and not because the story did things correctly), I like that this series is consistent in quality (bar The Flying Frenchmen being a step above) and really, it's an excellent set. I'm unsure what to think of whatever the following set is supposed to be about - the tease of a Biographer character not sparking my interest at first sight. All the same, I'm excited to see where the series goes.
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