Andrew Smith (2)

I’d intended to review each of the four stories in this boxed set separately, but they all work seamlessly as four parts of a whole story. It’s basically Spearhead from Space for the 21st century, minus the Doctor. This description makes it sound derivative, but it’s a good listen. The story moves at a breakneck pace and there’s lots of action. The dialogue is tense and terse but not as shouty as some of these high-octane Who stories can be. I cringed at the description of the plastification—lots of tiny little needles, ew—and cheered at Osgood’s various technological exploits. The ending of this story was quite interesting; it could make a neat sequel. I’d recommend this if you are looking to try out a UNIT story.… (mere)

A slight improvement over the first two stories ([b:Doctor Who: Hunters of Earth|17232297|Doctor Who Hunters of Earth (Destiny of the Doctor, #1)|Nigel Robinson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1357862742l/17232297._SX50_.jpg|23748634], [b:Doctor Who: Shadow of Death|17165650|Doctor Who Shadow of Death (Destiny of the Doctor, #2)|Simon Guerrier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358305758l/17165650._SX50_.jpg|23592422]) in this series, though I think the mystery, such as it is, is really thin at this point.

Recumbent Stone Circles are used to great effect in the story, though. They're only found in Scotland and are interesting all on their own.

… (mere)

As far as Doctor Who stories go, this ticks a fair number of boxes for me. It’s set in Scotland. It features fighter planes. The Doctor actually FLIES a fighter plane! And there’s some delightfully arcane nonsense about prehistoric stone formations. Not to mention the nods to continuity: the cameo by Bessie, the introduction of young Mike Yates, and an intriguing comment about the Doctor’s future self that made me wonder if I should have been listening to these “Destiny of the Doctor” stories in order.

The audio production was more like an audiobook with sound effects than a full-cast dramatization. Richard Franklin read most of the voices, and Trevor Littledale played the alien enemy. The sound effects were well done, particularly the fighter plane bits, and I jumped in a couple of places. The vocal range was a bit limited (it’s difficult for an older man to do the voice of a little boy), but the story kept me hooked.… (mere)

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2262551.html

Another audio with Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor and Lisa Greenwood as feisty young companion Flip. This has two very effective concepts - the eponymous Brood, who call themselves the Drachee, horrible malevolent childlike aliens; and the woman who has amnesia, engineered so that she does not know the role she plays in the history of the planet Erys (which itself turns out to have some unexpected secrets). Smith of course wrote Adric's debut Full Circle back in the day, and has done a couple more Big Finish stories since; I think this is the best of them.… (mere)