Plum Pudding Reviews

"Now boys, does anyone want to shiver me timbers?"  The Tenth Doctor and River Song The Tenth Doctor and River Song is such a common sense boxset, and Alex Kingston is essentially trapped in Big Finish's basement for all eternity, that I'm surprised it didn't happen in the second or third David Tennant boxset and was instead the fourth. It's the sort of thing that opens up a lot of fun opportunities, and also allows to give the Tenth Doctor, a Doctor who sometimes has the problem of talking down to, say, Rose or Martha, a more equal and powerful companion to work with. Donna was the Doctor's best friend, but River is his equal, and I think this allows for a very interesting dynamic that we have only previously ever gotten with, well, Romana or maybe Bernice Summerfield. So it makes common sense that when Lockdown happened, they fricking SCRAMBLED. Unlike the Dalek Universe sets, I feel this set has a bit of 9/10DA syndrome, the fact that they really had to...

  Empire of Shadows by James Goss I started Empire of Shadows sort of indifferent and mildly excited for the return of an obscure David Tennant Doctor character getting their own Torchwood release. Hell, the last time this happened was Yvonne Hartman, and that was a success so monumental it shaped the entirety of the range. I ended Empire of Shadows as an angry social justice warrior or something, which I largely assume is the story's point, but they really did go all out in making me not really like Zachary Cross Flane at all at the rollicking pace of one fricking episode. Big Finish should be looking towards Torchwood's future. God knows we could do with stories starring the survivors of The Satan Pit, the fact we haven't gotten any Ida Scott episodes in the range is a crime, especially considering I know they've done six sets with Clare Rushbrook as a regular. On paper, Empire of Shadows is an excellent idea for a story. Setting up the future of the Torchwood univers...

  The Diary of River Song Series Seven In many ways, this feels like a set made for me - I really don't care too much for overblown continuity, and I love a good sci-fi detective story. River Song is a brilliant character that I really enjoy. On paper, this is probably one of my favorite pitches for a set, River out here doing random detective work. More sets should have abstract pitches like this. The following set attempted doing the same thing with robots, but I'm afraid that's not the same thing. Big abstract genres are really good ideas for Big Finish to play with in sets, theming them around something. I'd totally take a comedy or a horror River set. This being said, Diary of River Song series 7 is almost the odd one out in the series, and that puts it into a very very interesting position... Colony of Strangers by James Goss Colony of Strangers is interesting in how much of a non-event it is. Most other River sets draw you in with a sharp and quality opening sign...

  The First Doctor Adventures: The Outlaws I sometimes feel that as a reviewer, constantly grading stories can grow one to feel increasingly cynical. It’s the nature of the job - not that I see this as a job, heaven offend - that constantly looking at stories from a critical lens rather than letting yourself be swept up in them can be, well, sorta not great. That being said, The Outlaws is a beautiful, beautiful set. It’s not perfect, there are little things in it that can irk you, but it’s also a labor of love that is new, fresh, and indelible. Sets like this are why I am a reviewer. The Outlaws by Lizbeth Myles The titular story of the set, The Outlaws is a very good, if incredibly long four-parter that makes up the majority of the set. If I were to produce this one, I’d probably add another cliffhanger and classify it as a five-parter. The length of course, is besides the point. This is a classical First Doctor historical. It’s a special sort of genre, one that is very easily le...

 The Black Hole by Simon Guerrier I rather enjoyed The Black Hole. It's interesting plot's conceit is molded around a bit of fanwank that's shaped into something legitimate by the quality characterization, atmosphere and drama. In doing so it manages to have it's lovely little season 6b explanation Monk-madness possible Master origin story nonsense in a way that feels ultimately authentic to the era that it's existing in, and a story in it's own right. I think that's rather fun - that's the way to do fanwank, if you must have it at all. It's a rather strange beast, I can't think of too many audios like it, but it's propelled greatly by Frazier Hines and Deborah Watling, who, well, neither of whom sound very much like they did in the 60s, but still deliver excellent performances. The entire cast, actually, deliver rather delightful performances, Rufus Hound in his first round as The Monk, who while he can play off any Doctor well, from Stephen...

  Infidel Places by Una McCormack Infidel Places may not be the worst Torchwood Main Range, an honor that in my opinion is unambiguously that of The Dollhouse, but it certainly qualifies in my view as the most annoying. Also perhaps the most boring. But also the annoying part. The most comparable story in Big Finish’s catalog would be, I feel, the Lovecraft Invasion, another story that is similarly aggressive. Infidel Places is slightly better off though in that it doesn’t actually target a bad historical figure with bile, but instead targets a bad historical institution with bile. Hold your horses, Infidel Places is alllllllllllll about sexism. The majority of Infidel Places is Queen Victoria making sly remarks at one of the most obnoxious fictional characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with, Sir James, a man who possesses no character traits but hatred for women in his innermost heart. I hate Sir James. None of his dialogue is anything but saying HAHA WOMAN BAD and it ...

  Sonny by Lizzie Hopley I should begin by saying that Sonny is miles better, miles, than the first Rhys and Brenda Monthly Range episode, which almost made me hope the duo would never return. Sonny on the other hand, is very very very good. It begins with one inexorable notion, and leads you slowly to another. Discussion of Sonny however, is one of those rare few audios which I believe actually does befit a spoiler warning, so I'll leave a paragraph break here before I get to the juicy stuff. It's hard to explain why it does, it just simply does, because it's central concept takes so many turns that even describing the plot will sort of spoil it quite a bit. I will say before you stop, that Sonny has heart to it, a real sincerity. It's worth experiencing. It just fumbles the ending a bit. Anyway, here we go.  Spoilers, sweetie. Sonny is a story about well, the unlikely world where good artificial intelligence awakes. What happens then, and how does humanity treat it? I...

  "Listen - Mari Lwyd. Rattle Bagged and Broken Backed. White as moonlight. Steed of winter who the pale men carry." The Grey Mare by Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle The Grey Mare very nearly nails it. It's a gothic christmas horror, and by being pretty damn unnerving near the beginning, it's already got a leg up on the Crown as a Torchwood Christmas episode by being, well, actually good. That's the word I'd describe the Grey Mare with, probably, good. It's definitely not great, nowhere near spectacular or superlative, but I'd be lying if I said there were more flaws than good things about this episode. It stars Ianto who has decided that, in character, he would like to spend a quiet Christmas in a random town all alone, pining after Jack the entire time but also doing nothing about it. For any other character this would feel over the top - I mean, alone, on Christmas, haven't you seen a Holiday Special?? But for Ianto it does indeed work as a va...

  Cadoc Point by David Llewellyn Cadoc Point is really, really good, the kind of story any other range but Torchwood would be dying to have, and I really hope I don't in any way damn it by faint praise, because in earnest, it is exceptional. Definitely a "jumping on point" audio, Cadoc Point is certainly a potent script that works well for those well acquainted with Torchwood, as well as those who don't know a thing about it. One of the best things about Cadoc Point is how it keeps trying to trip you up - making you wonder exactly what it's really going for throughout.  The plot revolves around Andy and his old art teacher Merl, who could be responsible for several murders, but also might not be. The audio is very careful not to take you too much into one direction of whether he has or not, so I will be careful not to discuss it as well. I can say though, that most of Cadoc Point is atmosphere, description and discussion of the nature of art. There are very few au...