I've always been a fan of the Eighth Doctor. Perhaps it's because, barring the vaguest memory of McCoy, Paul McGann was MY Doctor - and the TV Movie the first slice of new Doctor Who I could enjoy. Then there's the fact that he was superb in said TV Movie and also the nagging feeling that he was hard done by in not getting a series to follow up.
Never mind though, his vocal talents have helped shape this incarnation on Big Finish and he continues to go from strength to strength. I'm yet to catch up with the rest of the Dark Eyes saga - I'll jump back when I can - but the chance to launch into the intriguingly titled Doom Coalition was too good to miss.
Yet, sneakily, we begin the saga with Sylvester. Matt Fitton's The Eleven opens with the Seventh Doctor at his R rolling, menacing best as he consigns his foe to the 'big freeze'.
It's a fun opening and a neat way to establish that there's clearly a long back story to these adventures. However, it doesn't take away from the fact that this is all about the villain of the title. In one of 'those ideas' that sounds so right that it surely must've been done before (but hasn't), Mark Bonnar steps up to the plate to play a demented Time Lord whose mind is filled with all 11 of his personas at once.
It amounts to one of Big Finish's finest creations to date and works superbly thanks to Bonnar's brilliance. The Eleven veers from the vicious to the bookish and everything in between, in a constant chaotic state of war with himself. It's vivid enough to avoid being 'Master-lite' and Bonnar's performance contains enough distinctive voices without descending into something that could have been confusing to listen to. Every second in which he's involved crackles with edge-of-your-seat energy.
He returns to the action thanks to the academic interest of Academy student Kiani and quickly gives the authorities the slip, throwing Gallifrey into utter chaos.
The Doctor, by now very definitely the McGann incarnation and paired with Liv Chenka, is brought in to help his old school chum Padrac. There's plenty of rich moments as we discover a little more about the Doctor's past and race to a face off with the devilish Eleven.
Perhaps the only weak point comes with the ending. It's a little abrupt, although feels less so on second listen as The Eleven 'does a Doctor' and scarpers.
After pledging to follow the merest of leads to chase The Eleven, the second instalment has a fairly tricky brief. You'll soon come to realise that this box is far from a straightforward 'chase the baddie' exercise, just in the way that you feel that the whole 16-disc saga has twists and turns that we're yet to predict.
Yet in The Red Lady we find a story that is not only the best on the whole box, but probably the best I've heard from Big Finish for many a year.
The creepy tale of the mysterious Red Lady - a figure that crops up in a bizarre collection of artefacts - is gripping, wonderfully paced and rich with great moments and strong characters. As a standalone tale it'd be brilliant, but it also pushes the saga in a new direction and expertly introduces academic Helen Sinclair as a new recruit to the TARDIS team. Put simply, it's a great Doctor Who idea, wonderfully realised on the audio medium that still finds time to manage some important legwork. We'll take our Stovepipe hat off to John Dorney for this.
The Galileo Trap then, as you'll have guessed, sets the intrepid trio off on a mission to find the famous scientist. Galileo himself is brought to life excellently by John Woodvine (and Marc Platt's script). There's a nice idea here too and this is a story that certainly benefitted from a second listen.
Even after that repeat though, the villain still feels a little weak and slightly lets the side down. It's good, just not quite The Red Lady good.
In fact the second half of the box set inevitably suffers from the quality of the first. Faced with topping a triumphant introduction for a villain who deserves to become iconic and a story that should be hailed as a Big Finish classic it was always set for a challenge.
It doesn't fall away too much though. The Galileo Trap is fun and The Satanic Mill is also gripping. The return of the Eleven helps, as his motivation becomes clearer and the Doctor races to try to thwart him. There's also a tantalising hint that The Eleven's actions are part of something much larger, giving us a teasing nod to what might be to come.
The setting is interesting and the action allows Helen and Liv to develop their burgeoning partnership while the Doctor gets to go off and rail against 'the system' in which people are bread to work until they drop, quite literally. It's perfect for McGann's compassionate crusader and he rises to the challenge with top performance. In fact, it's fair to say he's flawless throughout, relishing the material coming his way.
Then, before we know it, it's time to pause and wait for the next set. These four stories are rich with ideas and seem to sew the seeds for plenty more to come. In any circumstances you might feel a little baffled to have bought a box set entitled Doom Coalition 1 and come away not even having the foggiest idea of what the Doom Coalition might be yet that can be forgiven. There's clearly much more to come and if it can match the start of box set one then it'll be a heck of a 16-story ride.
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