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Tuesday 12 April 2016

Doom Coalition, eh? Can't be worse than the last one. Can it?

There are just some things in life that should not be joined together. Chalk and cheese, water and electricity, the Conservative Party and the general public, Mr Drumpf and the prospect of being the leader of America, I could go on and on...

BUT THE BIGGEST THING ONE SHOULD NOT ALLOW: an insane Time Lord criminal to join up with anyone who has superpowers. Though that's a given. Isn't it?

(Also, I AM SO, SO SORRY for the delay on this one!!!)

DOCTOR WHO EIGHTH DOCTOR ADVENTURES REVIEW
6.02: DOOM COALITION: VOLUME 2
BY JACK RYAN


BEWARE: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK


As I have said before, following from Dark Eyes would always have been a task in itself. Even though it was only meant to be a single box, the entire 16 episode run became one of Big Finish's greatest achievements. And then Doom Coalition 1 came along and our expectations were raised again. But the most interesting thing about this series is that a whole four months before the first boxset was released, they announced details about its sequel. Details which, when first announced, everyone wasn't exactly happy with. But then, that's what we thought about The Diary Of River Song and look what happened with that!



The Eleven has been defeated. But The Doctor isn't happy. Because even though The Eleven was defeated, he's still at large, still mad and still dangerous. But soon The Doctor and his companions, Liv Chenka and Helen Sinclair, discover that there are bigger things to worry about. From a Voord invasion of southern England, to an ancient TARDIS abandoned in the Time Vortex, to the darkest day in the history of San Francisco. All of which will lead the Doctor to a planet ravaged by evil, where The Doctor and company will discover that a familiar face is about to re-enter their lives. Well, it would be two familiar faces, but..... spoilers. x

Ooooohh where do I start with this?!?! Well, remember how I said that we learned of this long before the first box was even released? Well, all we learned was the special guest star. That was it. It wasn't until earlier this year that we learned anything else. Since that time, the first Doom Coalition box came out and was brilliant and then  The Diary Of River Song came out and shut up her most pernicious critics. So by the time we learned more about it, I was very excited to see if the box would surpass the first. Did it? Well, yes and no....



The set begins with Beachhead, marking Nick Brigg's first writing credit for the series, which sees The Doctor et al, land on a British seaside town bombarded by rain, floods and leather-wetsuit-clad aliens you may find a bit familiar. Following it is Scenes From Her Past, by John Dorney, which has the time travelers come into contact with an old abandoned TARDIS, the crew mad, and an experiment in progress; an experiment with a deadly result. Then in Marc Platt's The Gift, The Eighth Doctor returns to San Francisco, 93 years earlier, where an alien artifact is bringing about the city's biggest disaster. The finale, Matt Fitton's The Sonomancer, brings the TARDIS crew to a planet ravaged by familiar face, now in partnership with a super-powered Time-Lord experiment, and the only one who can help is another familiar face. Trouble is, River's arrived too early. All the stores in the box are nicely crafted and neatly interwoven, showcasing the talents of all the writers on show. If there has to be a standout of the stories, then, no contest, John Dorney's knocked it out of the park again.



But words are only as good as the people speaking them. Once again, Paul McGann, Nicola Walker and Hattie Moran return as the incumbent TARDIS crew, with the glamourous Alex Kingston joining the cast in the final episode, along with Mark Bonnar returning as the insane Eleven. And with a guest cast consisting of the likes of John Banks, Jacqueline King, Julia Hills, Paul Marc Davies, Vincent Franklin and Emma Cunniffe, the acting ability across the four hours is brilliantly done. One complaint I'd have is that I, along with others think that The Eleven was underused in this set, when he was a standout in the last one. But then it struck me.... and I'll tell you in a minute.

Jamie Robertson returns to composer duties for this box, which, in my opinion, show his best work since The Prisoner. Tackling themes and cues from all across time and space, and with the assistance of sound designer Benji Clifford, the duo succeed in adding a decent layer of depth to the proceedings.



I said that the only criticism I had was was the under-using of the Eleven. But then I realised, the name of the series is Doom Coalition. Whilst it was confusing for the first box, now it makes more sense, with the arrival of the Eleven's new partner. Whether or not more will join remains to be seen, but regardless of that fact, the set was a brilliant follow-up and the final proof that Big Finish can do a character justice. There's only one question on my lips now other than where the series can go next...

Will we ever see.... the Twelve?

VERDICT: 4/5 A few slight problems, but a brilliant boxset nonetheless! ;D

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