Ah, but it would be boring if we liked ALL the same things!
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Listening to The Destination Wars on the Into the TARDIS podcast. I was quite wary of this story going in, but I’ve now finished part 3 and I’m really enjoying it. The setting and retro-futuristic atmosphere is great. Shame about the actor who plays the Master, but I’m also thoroughly enjoying the recasted TARDUS team. Even if they’re distinctly different to the original cast, they’re very listenable.
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DEATHWORLD
Episode 3
If episode 2 was a take on “The War Games” (albeit with a mishmash of soldiers from different eras under the command of War itself) then episode 3 went decidedly “Mind Robber” with monsters and creatures from myth come to life. Still great fun yet tonally completely different from the creeping unease of episode 2. Significant plot revelations that reveal Death is NOT Death at all but an emissary of the so called Lords of Reality. Very in keeping with Doctor Who and a rather good idea.
It has to be said, Bob Baker and Dave Martin always did have inventive minds and plenty of big ideas. With Dorney’s deft touch as scriptwriter, this is all coming together rather nicely. Oh, and one more thing…
…after the Brigadier being made a bumbling figure of ridicule in “The Three Doctors”, how lovely it is that he gets to be intelligent and deductive here. Figuring out that the headaches preventing them from entering “Death’s” castle are concentrated around the entrance by simply pacing back and forth… it’s a lovely bit of writing and far more in keeping with the smarter Brig we saw more of in Pertwee’s earlier seasons.
This is the stuff. More please!
Episode 4 will bring it to a close tomorrow. I feel like a kid again, desperate for next week’s instalment!
Yes, I’m smiling right now! 
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Happy to see that you’re still enjoying Deathworld!
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The Destination Wars was enjoyable enough but I think I preferred The Great White Hurricane which is the second story in that box set.
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A modest request: Stop discussing stories that have come out recently enough that there’s no chance I’ve heard them, unless you hated them and though they were terrible. All this positive talk about stories I don’t know is putting my FOMO into overdrive. That goes for all mention of Valerie too, for that matter.
Ah, who am I kidding…have at it! But man, some of these releases sound pretty cool.
For my own trip through my shelves, just finished Empathy Games. I liked it a lot less than the previous Leela Companion Chronicle, but at least it clarifies for me what happened after The Catalyst. A pretty good story with a fine premise, just, I dunno, just didn’t love it.
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Having just finished Revenge of the Cybermen, I’ve started listening to Return of the Cybermen. Just finished Part 1.
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I’m about halfway through Excelis Dawns for Audio Club Extra, but I’ll reserve my thoughts on that one for the thread.
It’s actually pleasant to take a break from the 1st Doctor binge - it’s a lot of Simon Guerrier Companion Chronicles stories that aren’t necessarily bad, just laboring under a lot of weight. Again, the research on display is clearly impressive, but that’s welded to stories that are often quite meandering. The Anachronauts is a tremendous example of this. On paper, the premise of the TARDIS team colliding with some of the first successful human time travel experiments is great! Except it isn’t really explored at all - episodes 1 and 2 are just meandering back and forth with multiple traumatic fakeouts! SPOILERS INCOMING - Stephen is shot dead! Except he isn’t! Sara breaks her arm! Except she doesn’t. The whole thing is in service of a reveal that just doesn’t cut the mustard, and THEN on top of that because it’s a TWO DISC SPECIAL we get an entirely superfluous Cold War spy drama tacked on that really only seems to skewer the characters of both Steven and Sara. It’s clear Simon Guerrier has a pretty free hand with this portion of the canon - he’s basically inserting a whole season’s worth of stories into Dalek’s Master Plan, but his eyes are bigger than his stomach. It took me three days to finish The Anachronauts because it kept totally losing my interest about two thirds into a part and I’d have to relisten to an episode. These relistens only forced me to acknowledge how tedious the whole thing is, especially when half the episode is literally capped with a “but it was all a dream reveal.”
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I’ve enjoyed a lot of Guerrier’s stuff, but I remember enjoying Anachronauts more than first time I heard it then I did on a recent listen.
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Any thoughts? I’ve kind of stayed away from this release, thinking it sounded like a cheap cash in on a less than overwhelming story. I’m interested to know if you feel it has merit?
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DEATHWORLD
Episode 4
Another episode that seemed to zip by (which is always a good sign). This followed on from the “Mind Robber” vibe of episode 2 before returning to the showdown with “Death”. The disparate elements cane together really nicely and I genuinely felt chills as the Second Doctor sacrificed himself. The hellscape scene where the Third Doctor finally learns the lesson about facing death really benefits from audio and I can’t see how it could have been satisfactorily realised on a 1973 budget. Here, however, it worked very well indeed.
Finally, with all our heroes restored to the Third Doctor’s UNIT lab, we are treated to a lovely and familiar scene thst made me feel all warm and fuzzy for the era. Just love the sounds on the Doctor’s lab, flasks bubbling away, as the story is resolved.
Overall
So glad this is on audio! It’s every bit as bonkers as “The Three Doctors” but also totally different. I loved the way it was all brought together and dovetailed with “The Three Doctors”. A really nice touch!
The way each of the three Doctors was scripted, the generous way each was able to “have their moment” throughout the story and the depth of characterisation provided for First and Second (lacking in “The Three Doctors”) made this story a real winner for me. “Operation Werewolf” may have been a more streamlined and conceptually tidy affair but, my goodness, this was a fine fun and ambitious slice of storytelling. For my money, every bit as good (just in a very different way).
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It’s actually rather good. The Cybermen appear earlier, Voga is replaced by a golden asteroid, and it feels a lot more like The Moonbase. I’m actually enjoying it more than Revenge. That said, I also find Revenge the weakest story of Season 12.
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Thank you! Might well give this a go!
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Also, for being Sadie Miller and Christopher Naylor’s first outing as Sarah and Harry, they amazingly well.
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Definitely selling this release! Yes, I’m intrigued.
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I listened to Once and Future: Past Lives today. I quite enjoyed it.
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Relistened to Master for the first time in like a decade and it’s still amazing! I’ll be honest, I do think a few of the major reveals in part 4 are done a bit too expositiony instead of naturally for my liking, but otherwise just an incredible piece of character drama with both Beevers and McCoy putting in incredible performances.
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Jac Rayner has actually stepped down as producer for 6DAs. Jonathan S Powell has taken over the range as of Trials of a Time Lord
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Episode 3 of Return of the Cybermen.
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Having finished the Gallifrey Time War seasons, I am back to Jago and Litefoot with Voyage to Venus.
The Sixth Doctor is the perfect incarnation to take the Infernal Investigators gallivanting outside their temporal confines of Victorian London.
Halfway through the story and enjoying it greatly 
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