The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Adventures Series Two Part Two

  Note: I am one of the two people on the planet that doesn't really care for the Lucie Eighth Doctor Adventures. This does not mean that I'm being like. Mean for the sake of being mean. I really like and respect the people involved in these productions. These are just my opinions on the ultimate products.

The Skull of Sobek by Marc Platt

I was aware of this one's reputation before setting in, and I even liked a few scant things but I honestly can't say that this is worth your time in any way, it's rather shit, and I did not like it. It's hard to explain what makes it so undeniably shit, but it's just really genuinely grating in a way I hadn't felt this series had reached since series one's lowest points. Without a doubt the worst 8DA yet, and one of the very few Big Finish stories with the inestimable honor of me just deciding to straight up not finish it. I know I'm supposed to be a reviewer here, but I'm human too, damn it, and I just wasn't feeling masochistic enough to force myself through it, and I think I'm owed that. That being said, I can review the first Twenty Five minutes of Skull of Sobek, and while I wasn't able to do the last twenty, I will give my opinion on what works and doesn't in the first half. ...I mean, what more do you want from me? Honestly, I just wasn't in the mood for this fucking thing, but be damned if I'm not gonna review it the best I can. The good bits: Honestly, and this really surprised me, the characterization of Lucie -  It's really actually barebones and very much like things we've seen in other companions - hell, other companions have had this very conversation with the Doctor, but her "I don't want to get used to dead people" scene is at least functional, and that's not something I can say for most else in this dreadfully boring thing. Two - this weird copy and paste blue sand planet actually sounds somewhat interesting when it's initially introduced (it's not, but it does when it's introduced by the Doctor.) The rest of the script is dogshite. I wish I could be more kind to the thing, because I know that this will probably get chalked up to "Ooh, Plum hates the 8DAs again!! AAAHH!" But I'm really trying to give this one it's fair dues. And it's fair dues are 2/10. Sometimes you aren't in the mood for cliche technobabble crocodiles. I hope you all can respect that. But I actually can't give it that score. Because in all honesty, I have to be honest here. And the only thing I can give The Skull of Sobek is a simple Incomplete. 

The Zygon Who Fell To Earth By Paul Magrs

I love The Zygon Who Fell To Earth - yeah, I really do, which quite surprised me since I thought that Horror of Glam Rock was so unbelievably shit. But yeah, no, this one's quite good. It's an interesting and original usage of the Zygons, one that the television series slightly borrowed from in it's depiction of Zygons in series nine (if only slightly, because it's altogether quite the different beast.) I like the humanity present in it, the shocking twist that completely caught me off guard, the performances are top notch and the soundtrack is excellent. That's not to mention the fact that there's a song in it, and it uses 80s music for emotional affect. In that area, it's like UNIT Dating, except it's not gay so it's less good than UNIT Dating, I'm sorry, I am biased here. Anyway, The Zygon Who Fell To Earth caught me marvelously off guard - I really hated Auntie Pat in her last episode and this one is quite effective and emotionally got me a bit. Not that I'm amazingly attached to any of the characters in the script, but it's just so brilliantly tragic and works so well that you can't help but appreciate a story like this. The resolution is just perfect. All the aspects fit together, and while I don't really have any revolutionary commentary on it, the fact that this range is willing to do things that aren't typical in order to better service it's characters impresses me all the more. I'd probably give it a nine ordinarily, but I really appreciate what it stands for, in the direction of more emotionally interesting and dramatic Eighth Doctor Adventures to come, and I want to give it credit for almost salvaging Horror of Glam Rock, which I shouldn't think is possible actually so it's only an almost, but I'll give it a 10/10 for what it stands for more than anything. Once in a while a story just speaks to you.

Sisters of the Flame by Nicholas Briggs

This episode of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, features fuck all in terms of the amount of Eighth Doctor, mainly starring Lucie, which at once has her at her best, and at her very worst. I do understand the point of having her be a flawed character who has development over the course of the episode, but her scenes attacking Rosto with a load of racism did very little to endear me to her character. Because honestly, I think they went a bit too far with that bit, because it's a bit harder to sympathize with her from then on. She's quite screechy in this one, but as the story goes on does actually have quite a few finny lines, so I'll give her that, as well as the fact that when Sheridan Smith emotes rather than screeches, she's much more effective. Really, it's a Part One of Two, and a sequel to Brain of Morbius, but even though it's setup it tells a complete thing, mostly, and I think it will have the Moffat style of Part Two being quite different. Mainly it's an investigative story where Lucie and Rosto (all good Doctor Who fans stan Rosto) a talking insectoid alien investigate the disappearance of the Doctor. It's mostly good fun when it doesn't regress Lucie to her series one era of obnoxiousness, especially since I had learned to tolerate her for the majority of season two, and even quite liked her in stories like Brave New Town and Zygon Who Fell To Earth. When Lucie does recognize her mistakes as the story goes on, it's mostly well portrayed, and she's given some effective material. I think part of my problem though is it's a lot of weight on a companion's shoulders to carry an episode like this, and few companions really can do this sort of thing well. As it is, though, I'd happily take this over a misfire like Dead London, a story that stops working as it goes on like Max Warp, any of the first season 8DAs bar the last three or god forbid Skull of Sobek. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth: 7/10 

The Vengeance of Morbius by Nicholas Briggs

The Vengeance of Morbius is quite good, despite losing quite a bit of pace from the previous episode. It’s essentially a big dumb finale piece, think the 8DAs take on The Last of the Time Lords. Where The Last of the Time Lords struggled to show the time changing for an average length episode before turning it back, Vengeance takes it’s goddamn time to disrupt the timeline, so essentially it’s Last of the Time Lords except the Clifhanger in the Sound of Drums was Vivian Rook being killed by the Toclafane. It’s not into halfway into the Last of the Time Lords that Martha’s alternative walking the world timeline is introduced. So that’s the real problem with Vengeance. It doesn’t have time. At all.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t shit itself though, and the performances carry the dumb bullshit through, complete with a resolution that while it makes no logical sense has an excellent sense of emotional impact to it. I never felt myself getting bored with it, or even irritated even though the plot makes no sense on recollection, it feels organic and well written enough when you’re ultimately experiencing it and is just enjoyable enough to work. There’s also nowhere near enough Rosto in this one. It is not fun like that. There should be a lot more Rosto. But anyway, it at least has a fucking goal in mind and a scope to it that a lot of stories don’t have and the Reichenbach Falls-esque cliffhanger is impactful. Surprisingly, Sheridan Smith is the best performer in this one, really doing her damndest to sell this material, but it still doesn’t truly stick. It’s a fine enough conclusion to an inconsistent series, but you know what?? I’ll take inconsistent over goddamn Blood of the Daleks any day. 6/10