Literally just finished listening to it and there is merely some flim flam about the TARDIS being clever and having detected the psionic forces in play, it puts itself on a different ‘plain of existence’ which doesn’t sound anything like HADS which always seems to put it in a new physical location.
5 Likes
Really enjoyed this and all the twists and turns. The Sixth Doctor, Evelyn and the Brigadier are a great team and it’s a real shame we never got any more stories with the three of them.
8 Likes
I was trying to remember who wrote this and checked to see it was Nicholas Pegg. I don’t think he wrote any more audios, which is a shame as he did a good job on this one, but acted in a lot of them and of course went on to become a Dalek operator alongside his partner (and voice of Philip in Spectre) Barnaby Edwards.
4 Likes
Pegg is also a huge Bowie fan, he wrote the excellent book The Complete David Bowie.
5 Likes
This one is hard to review properly. While I like the cast/performances, and the plot is interesting, ultimately it just feels a bit bloated and long. It definitely feels like the 2+ hours that it is. If it was 20-30 minutes shorter, it would be a lot better. That being said, it very much is a comfort listen, even if it is a little forgettable. It gets a sold 3.5/5 from me.
Here is my spoiler free review.
5 Likes
Sad to say I didn’t vibe with this one. Found the villains painfully generic and annoying, with the main one’s voice grating on me. The folklore aspect was cool, but not enough to hook me. That being said, really loved 6 and the Brig’s interactions, and 6 and Evelyn are a delight as always. Seeing Sixie get told to apologise for his arrogance was a delight.
Wish I enjoyed this the way a lot of folks seem to, but alas.
9 Likes
Well this was the best one yet for me! It just felt like classic Hinchcliffe-era Doctor Who, and had the Brigadier in it as well for a bonus. I loved the way he interacted so naturally with 6 even though it was the first time he’d met this incarnation.
Evelyn was great in this story too - though clearly she & 6 had now been together for some time & had had other adventures since the end of the Marian Conspiracy, which I really wasn’t expecting at all - I had just assumed that it would be a direct continuation. As well as enjoying her relish and sense of fun and adventure, I particularly appreciated her very human reactions to the atrocities she witnessed here. Rather than just brushing them under the carpet, unusually the story took pains to explain how Unit would step in to inform the family & treat the dead with all due respect.
Great to see Susan Jameson (Mrs Wibbsey) here too as a very different housekeeper!
11 Likes
This one sadly disappointed me and is one of the few Big Finish stories I feel would’ve benefited from being a TV story, usually I like the abstractness that audios allow for, but this just disappointed me. 6 and the Brig is really fun to hear, but besides that I don’t have much to say about it.
8 Likes
Really good story.
Six and Evylen are a great duo.
always great to hear the brigader.
4/5 for me.
9 Likes
Seconding what other people have said, this really is peak comfort who. Colin is in his element, Evelyn continues to be utterly delightful, and Nicholas Courtney steps so effortlessly back into the role it’s like he’d never left, once the brig, always the brig.
The actual plot of this is pretty enjoyable too, but mostly it’s those characters that bring this up for me, and I do love how much this setting gives everyone a chance to shine. Evelyn doing her research and talking to contacts in oxford, the Brig still kicking even in retirement, and the semi-globe-spanning nature of the story giving him a chance to call in those UNIT connections, and of course, the alien itself giving the doctor a lot to do, both with explaining the myths of the area and with the psychic abilities which gives him a chance to use his. That final scene too, character driven and oh so sweet, the sort of ending I love for these sorts of stories.
Overall a very solid 8/10 from me, and a main range story I could definitely see myself coming back to.
10 Likes
Evelyn really is the perfect companion for the sixth doctor. She, the doctor and the brig are all amazing in this story. I like the general atmosphere of the story very much. The plot isn’t super exciting, but I think this is a very nice story to unwind to.
9 Likes
You said it perfectly. It is not exceptional, but it was an extremely cozy listen. Evelyn is a gift.
7 Likes
This story made me a believer… in old Sixie. Confession time, here. I hated the Colin Baker era on television. Nothing against the man himself, splendid fellow, I thought he was great as the baddie in The Brothers (ye olde BBC soap), but I really didn’t get on with his Doctor. Which came as a bit of a shock at the time - that there could be an incarnation of my hero that I didn’t like. Even ‘The Two Doctors,’ which brought back my Doctor, Pat Troughton, failed to win me over.
Then, some years later when Big Finish came along, I just couldn’t resist picking up a new story featuring the Brigadier. Somewhat reluctantly I started listening to The Spectre of Lanyon Moor and, oh my goodness, it was wonderful. I was completely won over by Colin’s Doctor on audio. Sadly, I still can’t bear to watch any of his televised stories, but Big Finish have helped me to fall in love with a regeneration of the Doctor I had completely written off. I’m doubly pleased about that, because, having met him a few times, I think Colin Baker himself is wonderful.
13 Likes
Colin’s the best, isn’t he? He’s such a sweetheart to meet
10 Likes
It’s been a while since I listen to that Audio.
This one in many ways could feel from the first glance as a checkbox story (having 6 and the Brigadier properly meet) but I have to say while it’s quite standard, it’s a solid standard who Story.
Colin and Maggie as Evelyn and 6 are a blast dream team as always, with Courtney, they are such a lovely trio.
The Setting is lovely and used well throughout here!
While if I were to give it a rating, which would be a high 7/10, it’s a good sign how many of the interactions I still remember it quite well. Always a good sign for the very early BF MR Stories, easily one of the best I heard as yet.
8 Likes