The Worlds of Big Finish
4 CDs@256K
From the streets of Edwardian London to the corridors of a near-infinite library in the distant future, a single book holds the key to the fate of life on Earth.
Some believe it predicts our future – and the apocalypse – with unnerving accuracy. Others will stop at nothing to destroy it, and will chase it from one side of the universe to the other; from a country house in the Roaring Twenties to the casinos of Mars, and from 221B Baker Street to the terrifying desert world of Sisyphus IX…
Featuring Abby and Zara, Sherlock Holmes, Dorian Gray, Iris Wildthyme, Vienna Salvatori and Bernice Summerfield, The Worlds of Big Finish brings together some of Big Finish’s best-loved characters in an adventure spanning thousands of years!
Written By: David Llewellyn
Directed By: Scott Handcock
Cast
Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield), Nicholas Briggs (Sherlock Holmes), Laura Doddington (Zara), Ciara Janson (Abby), Katy Manning (Iris Wildthyme), Chase Masterson (Vienna Salvatori), Alexander Vlahos (Dorian Gray)
1. Graceless: The Archive
Barnaby Edwards (Romulus Chang), Hugh Skinner (Lucian Theta-Singh), Lisa Bowerman (The Archive), David Menkin (Security Drones)
2. Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Bloomsbury Bomber
David Warner (Mycroft Holmes), Michael Thomson (Alexander Korvo), George Rainsford (Albert Taylor), Katy Manning (Mrs Waters), Terry Molloy (Mr Robins),Barnaby Edwards (Alfred Vandermeer)
3. The Confessions of Dorian Gray: The Feast of Magog
George Rainsford (Evan Morgan), Rebecca Night (Pamela St John-Edwards), Michael Thomson (Alexander Korvo)
4. Iris Wildthyme: Kronos Vad’s History of Earth (Vol. 36,379)
Hugh Skinner (Captain Turner), Katharine Mangold (Jenni Marcel), David Menkin(Zack Hoffman), Barnaby Edwards (Mr Vandermeer), John Dorney (Bridge Controller)
5. Vienna: The Lady from Callisto Rhys
Rhys Jennings (Cage Zorn), Rosanna Miles (Magenta Dotrice), Rebecca Night(Lara Memphis), John Dorney (Rodrigo), David Menkin (Check-In Attendant), Katharine Mangold (Passenger), Terry Molloy (Driver)
6. Bernice Summerfield: The Phantom Wreck
Terry Molloy (Captain Quinn), Rosanna Miles (Selina), Rhys Jennings (Phillips), John Dorney (O’Neill), Katharine Mangold (Jenni Marcel), Barnaby Edwards (Romulus Chang)
The Worlds of Big Finish
For the last fifteen+ years, Big Finish has been responsible for some of the best Doctor Who ever made. They helped the Eighth Doctor to become more accepted among fandom, made the Sixth Doctor a fan favorite, and let some of the more neglected characters, like Sara Kingdom and Mel, really have their moment in the sun.
Along the way, they also created audio adventures with a staggering cast of characters both original and adapted. These include, but aren’t limited to, Sherlock Holmes, Dorian Grey, Iris Wildthyme and, of course, the amazing and wonderful Bernice Summerfield.
Last year the company released The Worlds of Doctor Who, and took their popular Doctor Who spinoff series (Jago and Litefoot, Counter-Measures, and Gallifrey), and put them into a gigantic linked adventure. It worked and worked well, giving us a wonderful story. This year they decided to do the same with their other series. Is the result every bit as excellent as what we’d hoped?
Well, just about. Some of the stories work incredibly well; others not so much. But they’re all entertaining.
Of the six stories, the weaker of the two were the first; The Archive and The Adventures of the Bloomsbury Bomber. Again, neither were bad, but neither really “did it” for me, either. The Graceless story was fine, but aside from Big Finish’s wonderful The Key 2 Time series, I haven’t had much exposure to the characters of Abby/Amy and Zara. I know they have their own series, but I haven’t worked my way up to it yet. As for the Holmes story, it was fine, but it was only that. Fine. It wasn’t truly excellent, as I’d wanted it to be. This is perhaps simply due to the format of the story and the limitation of the story length. That said, Briggs is his usual exceptional self, and it was very great to have David Warner show up as Mycroft Holmes.
The two middle stories, featuring Dorian Grey and Iris Wildthyme, respectively, were my favourites. I’m not as up on the Dorian stories as I should be, either, but I find the character generally interesting, and Vlahos does a good job of portraying him as someone you might want to get to know… but then again you might not. A cameo by another character from a different series was also welcome. As for Iris… Well, Iris is always fantastic and Manning’s performance as her is something that has to be heard to be believed. She really is just great, and while she’s not to everyone’s tastes, I will say that I think even most of her detractors will enjoy her in this smaller dose. Her new companion is alright, too, but I do miss Panda.
We round out the stories with Vienna and, of course, Bernice, in The Lady from Callisto Rhys and The Phantom Wreck. I had only previously encountered Vienna in her main range appearance alongside the Seventh Doctor. I found the character to be ok, but nothing great. She’s changed quite a bit by this point, however, and I found her much more engaging in this story. As for the story itself, it was, again, fine. I liked it more than the Holmes story, but it was missing that last little bit of something that might have made it truly exceptional. The same must be said of Bernice’s story, though really one should probably view them as the same basic story. I still liked it quite a lot, and Bowerman is always wonderful as Bernice.
Many Thanks to the anonymous writer of this review
Special Thanks to Bob E from England for the post
Replies
Thank's a lot.
Thank you Bob and Rick for sharing. :o)
HI Rick, glad you got this ok and were able to upload it to TP
hope everyone enjoys it
Regards
Bob
I add my thanks, Bob.
Many, many thanks, Rick!
Thank you Rick!
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to listening.
As ALWAYS- RICK is the AD GROOVE-DUDE!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!