Plum Pudding Reviews

  The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Angels and Demons [Usual disclaimer: I am not an asshole. I am reviewing a product. I wish none involved in the making of this product harm in any way, nor should my opinion be taken as the entire fact and truth of the matter - I can only speak to the feelings of myself. I wish all who read this review a good day.] Angels and Demons is the second volume of the strangest series that I can really think Big Finish has made in quite some time, due to it's sheer disinterest in it's original material. For quite some time, the Fourth Doctor Adventures have been predicated on the logic of nostalgia - that they should be based around the idea of evoking 1970s material. This has been present since the genesis of the range with The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series One and The Fourth Doctor Lost Stories boxset, way back in 2012 - being promoted with these ads. Eleven years later, how much has really changed?? Fandom these days exists in a remarkably cynical f...

 The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series Three This is going to be an incredibly long post. It's been a very long time (since the infancy of this site, in reviews that are quite frankly, hardly accurate) that I covered a full eight part series from Big Finish in one post. If you don't care to read all of it, let me sum it up real quick - this is very similar to 4DAs series two, in that pretty much every story not written by Nicholas Briggs is excellent and worth your time. Every story that is - well, that's when it starts to vary. If any of these reviews come across as aggressive, please note that I bear no ill will towards any of the lovely people involved in the production of them. I shouldn't have to say that, but this is the internet, so, you know, a disclaimer can be helpful. Please enjoy the overlong rambles of a mad, mad, person, who lost their sanity long ago - "It's all about the moral compass..." The King of Sontar by John Dorney The King of Sontar i...

  The Planet of Witches by Alan Barnes "There's A World Without, and A World Within! Which World are We Living In?"  These melodramatic and ultimately completely irrelevant words open up The Planet of Witches, which I'm say is really a damp squib in an ultimately excellent range at the moment. The Planet of Witches has very few appealing elements - it is the third story in a row to have a death fake-out, and barely puts any effort into doing so, it wants desperately to tie up the whole E-Space thing and is incredibly annoyed with the fact that it can't because Warrior's Gate already did that, so it kind of sulks a bit, it's characters are stiffer than the literal wood some of them are made of, and it is ultimately disinterested in it's own central concept. The Planet of Witches should be a spooky tale - you assume so by the title, and that the Doctor will be going up against something rather mysterious and strange, and yet the Planet of Witches is exce...

  The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 9 Volume 1 I'm very quickly falling in love with these sets of two two hour long stories, and am all the sadder to see that Big Finish will soon be forgoing them in order to focus on three story boxsets, which I'm not quite sure is the right move. Especially when we have sets such as this as evidence that the classic who 4 part format is nigh perfection for the classic doctors. It would be difficult to serve a team like the Fourth Doctor, Romana, Adric and K9 in a one hour format, or even the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan for that matter. You can only see this all the more with how the modern day series struggles with large TARDIS teams. And while Stranded benefits from a large ensemble piece, half of set one didn't include Andy, and set two had a revolving door cast. Not only is the four part format made for Doctor Who, I tend to find the four disc format is made for Big Finish, and I'm disappointed about that. But that'...

Series Two The Auntie Matter By Jonathan Morris The Auntie Matter derails the idea of a complicated or serious plot for the ever so rare virtue of being one of the most fun audios you could dare to listen to. The entire point of the story is that it is enjoyable. That’s the goal of it, it gets there, it’s ridiculous, funny, and entertaining. A 1920s Aunt Eats Pretty People Alive, absorbing their prettiness. That’s the plot. Couldn’t be more basic. But the fun, the fun’s where all of the near misses between the Doctor and Romana are, the fun is with the silly stereotypes of characters, the fun is entirely that.  Do I Have The Right?: Tom Baker is as usual, entertaining. He’s the perfect Doctor for this story, his later era where he was most popular, had stories like City of Death, or The Pirate Planet, entirely witty and silly stories, and that is what this story tries to emulate, although Missing it’s high concepts, the story is very Douglas Adams.  Fred: Roma...

Fever Island By Jonathan Barnes Your love for this one depends entirely on your like for James Bond and other spy flicks. So, Tough Crap, I adore this one, and it’s my favorite 4DA. It’s amazing.  There’s so many brilliant things in the story such as Tom Baker’s Villain, K9 being K9, one of the best scores in all of Doctor Who, and that’s not only audio, as well as A beautiful guest cast, and fantastic concepts.  I Love Your Butler He’s So Violent: The Tom Baker performance of legends. He double teams playing Okulouv and The Doctor, and while The Doctor is the usual quality, Okulouv is so deep and powerful sounding that he’s almost James Earl Jones. Utter Perfection.  *That* has now Happened: It's a nice way to acknowledge Ann’s um, plot twist by having her unaffected by the mist. Still waiting on that character though.  Overall: Holy crap. 10/10 The Perfect Prisoners By John Dorney A fantastic fusion of Star Wars and James Bond. The Perfect Priso...

I am back. I am continuing to review. I was dead for a bit, but then the great almighty Necromancer summoned me back with all of the wrath of Cthulhu. Praise Satan. So, The 4DAS. Fourth Doctor Adventures Series Eight The Sinestran Kill by Andrew Smith The Sinestran Kill is one of the most baffling 4DAs yet, introducing a new companion for the Fourth Doctor, and doing absolutely nothing to make us care about her. Random Voice filter aliens number 5 trillion are here, evidently called the Sinestrans, and they’re impossibly dull, and are hunting down alien sleeper agents in a homage to spy movies. ...How can a writer make this bad? It staggers the brain.  I Love Your Butler, He’s So Violent: Tom Baker is sort of bored with the story, but his chemistry shines through whenever he’s with Ann. It’s clear that he and Jane Slavin are very good friends, and his tone is always warm and lovable.  Does More Police Work Than Yaz: The Oddest thing about the story is that the...