Plum Pudding Reviews

The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Far From Home It's rare one can feel woefully underprepared for starting to listen to a Big Finish Production. They've put in such effort to be accessible of late, but equally some of their choices can be impenetrable. Not only have I not bothered to listen to UNIT: Nemesis due to my prior allergic reaction to the series, but I've not really listened to Sullivan And Cross AWOL either. And if that's not enough, nobody's really prepared, because Big Finish made the fascinating choice to release all of it in the wrong order, nobody's heard Harry and Naomi's upcoming first appearance with the Fourth Doctor. One could quibble with this for ages -- imagine how newcomers feel when even the diehards need a flowchart.  But I was in the mood for some classic McCoy three-parters, and so here I am: attempting to see if it's all as impenetrable as it first appears. Bravely charting new waters. One could note that if things don't mak...

  The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Geronimo! Yes, I've finally got off my ass and have done the goddamn Valarie audios. Yes they are entirely worth it and what everyone else has told you about them  I'll be here all day Before we begin please allow me to note that I will be using she/her pronouns for Valerie, but as Safiyya Ingar is non-binary, they will be referred to with they/them pronouns, which is different from Valerie's character but look this is probably the best way to do it I don't want to misgender either the fictional character or more importantly the actual living person anyway Geronimo! is the first time Big Finish has actually tried to make a series of NuWho, properly. Oh, you could argue that it could technically be The Ninth Doctor Adventures series one, or Dalek Universe, but you're kidding yourself if so. The Ninth Doctor Adventures is largely episodic, and Dalek Universe is exceedingly Big Finish-coded. For my money, Geronimo! and the Valarie arc ...

  The War Doctor: Infernal Devices Infernal Devices is the second set of War Doctor stories ever produced, one of the original four sets (or three of the twelve episodes) starring Sir John Hurt as The War Doctor and Jacqueline Pearce as Ollistra. In none of these reviews will you ever hear a bad word out of my mouth about either of them -- if you're going to have two actors to lead your series, you might as well have those two. They're fucking excellent. The only thing I'll be really discussing in these reviews are the writing and sound design itself because really when you hire someone like Sir John Hurt you might as well not bring up his performance in the review of the thing because it just automatically equates to a certain outcome. What a goddamn career. No, these sets always have fascinated me because of the character they star, and the environment they star in -- it's a very difficult thing to get working from a writer's standpoint at all. I wrote an essay a...

  The War Doctor: Only the Monstrous Hello. I'm back. It's been a while, and I've been doing a lot of writing. That's why you haven't seen me post on here, because when you write, your ability to critique other things is dwarfed by the ability to critique yourself. Every time you say a story is something, you wonder if you're guilty of the same problem. You wonder if you're being an asshole. So that's been the cycle for a while, and why I haven't put anything out. But I want to get better as a writer any way I can, and I think reviews are perhaps one of the best ways I can improve, especially with words. I strive to be honest, fair, kind, and also not lie, which can be tough, but I want to be able to do it. Hopefully it will help me with my own work. So I'm returning to reviewing with quite a bit of a challenge.  I've put off reviewing this bugger for years. It's become a bit too large and important to avoid, so I'll be taking a look ...

Classic Doctors New Monsters Volume One I feel I'm a bit of an idiot for never grabbing one of these volumes before now. After all, I think their mere existence is exceedingly wise. It's a set sort of specifically designed for NuWho fans who are just sticking their fingers into Classic Who and the EU, and exactly the sort of thing that you'd want to give them -- it lets you know what the Classic Doctors are like through a nice sample size. It's one of the things I always deeply respected the Diary of River Song range for doing -- or one of those fabulous short story collections BBC Books do every now and then -- introducing each of the Dr Who's to a modern audience by giving you a little taste of them. And for those fans who know them well, it's hard to complain when the stories are downright good to begin with. The novelty of having a variety of Doctors in a set in different self contained stories is always a very delightful thing. I love sets like Legacy of Ti...

  The Second Doctor Adventures: James Robert McCrimmon And the award for the “what were they thinking naming this boxset” goes to— I initially wondered why The Second Doctor Adventures even bothered with doing a continuation past War Games if they were going to jump back and immediately do more Jamie stories again. There are so few Second Doctor stories that even attempt to give him a life beyond Jamie, that one of the previous set’s redeeming features was that it was at the very least, new for the Second Doctor — a figure we had never seen before travel alone. Indeed, for that matter, Raven does the job as a new and unique companion in a way that we’ve never really had before. She’s Ollistra meets Catwoman, a strange and sensual villainess that the Doctor has to put up with. Why bother with anyone else?? At the very least, James Robert McCrimmon (what is WRONG with just saying volume 2 or Return of Jamie, this set does not deserve a subtitle, Jamie's name is not a theme) does seem...

  Torchwood: Among Us 3 Warning: Torchwood Among Us 3 is a very dark and political boxset, and the some of the things I will be discussing in the reviews below can be viewed as immensely distressing. And so, we reach an end. This may be the last Big Finish release I get in quite some time. There are plenty of stories that I'd like to re-evaluate, as well as a move to critical analysis of more than just strictly Big Finish Doctor Who - but we'll see where we go from here. Regardless, Among Sus was quite an eventful series, wasn't it - and it might just be something wondrous to bow out on.  Torchwood Among Us is something that perhaps I will write further about - it maybe - just maybe - deserves an essay about it as thorough as my Time War essay, as it's themes resonate much more closely to me personally than either Aliens or God Among Us - even if those series are both just as phenomenal.  Torchwood Among Us is more than anything, about the now. It has been since volume...

  Torchwood Among Us 2 Warning: Torchwood Among Us 2 is a fairly dark boxset, and the some of the things I will be discussing in the reviews below, while not as brutal as Among Us 1's topics, may be distressing. In this household, we revere the trinity of Foley, Handcock and Goss like thousands of religions revered their ancient gods. Those other gods are fallen - no more. They languish in comparison to those who have produced the only truly consistently fabulous Big Finish series, and we do not mourn those pitiful religions of the past.  Each time a new release of this goddamn series comes out, I prepare for the brainrot to set in, to seep into my goddamn skull. I can no longer really present writeups of this particular series as anything truly well considered, nor objective. I cannot lie. I pray at the altar.  Among Us 2 is even more episodic than Among Us 1, hitherto the most episodic Torchwood boxset produced thus far. The four stories within, minus all being fairly e...

  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: New Frontiers  [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.]  New Frontiers is a special case in terms of a Big Finish boxset. Words fail it. Usually Big Finish boxsets will fall under one of a few categories - entirely good and high quality drama, consistent yet forgettable stories, variable quality, or the rare total disappointment. New Frontiers as a boxset somehow manages to be, stunningly, none of these. Usually when a new companion is brought out to the forefront, there is a creative upheaval. A massive quality increase usually occurs as a new series begins, as the writers grow excited with the new toys they have in their box. It is rare a companion introduction is disappointing, and for...