7th Doctor, Ace and Hex trilogy

[Lissa]

With Big Finish's trilogies now firmly established as more than just three stories with a common team in them, it seems fitting to devote a thread to each trilogy rather than separate ones for each play.

The recent trio of Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex stories has just finished and from the two I've heard so far it is a fantastic mini-series.

Project: Destiny



The third chapter in the Forge saga is best listened to with a good working knowledge of Projects: Twilight and Lazarus, Forty Five and perhaps even Thicker Than Water (the last bit anyway) as it references stuff that happened quite a long time ago.

It's a solid opening to the story arc - not perhaps as good as Twilight and not as clever as Lazarus but the monster bit of the story is just a backdrop for the bigger drama between the Doctor, Ace and Hex. That sounds soapy and bad but it does pay off some long standing issues and the balance between insect monsters and soap opera hysterics is kept right.

The Forge now seems like a low rent Torchwood (despite pre-dating them by quite some time) and it's not surprising that BF have been a bit reluctant to go back to them. They don't really need to be in the story at all - UNIT would suffice - but Nimrod does and the support structure that lets him have one last go at manipulating Hex is perfectly serviceable.

The story's main weaknesses are that the aliens are pretty generic, the stuff with the revived Cassie is quite embarrassing and it would've been advisable for me to have listened to the above prep stories before rather than after listening to it. To be fair, they make it abundantly clear in the title that it is a sequel so that's my fault rather than theirs.

It ends on a rather good cliffhanger too.

7/10

[Lissa]

A Death in the Family



This one is quite astonishing. It combines the classic Seventh Doctor as cosmic chess player extraordinaire with a new series style detail-based story arc that could easily have been scattered across 13 weeks rather than these 4 half hour episodes. It's like nothing Big Finish has ever produced before. They've made plenty of really good, really clever, really big and really enjoyable plays but this one feels above everything else in its ambition and complexity.

It does require the audience to buy into the idea of the Word Lord (see the final story on "Forty-Five") and to appreciate the Seventh Doctor's ability to plan ahead like no one else but if you can do both of those then this may be the best Doctor Who audio play ever made.

[Si Hunt]

Coo! This was the one I won for being Letter of the Month! I might have to actually listen to it now. But tell me, does it being Part 2 of a trilogy make it incomprehensable without me buying the first Part? Perhaps I should anyway, being a big fan many years ago of Projects Twilight and Lazarus?

Si.

[Lissa]

It depends what you know about Hex. All Project Destiny does is have unnamed people tell Hex the thing that you'll know if you know all about Hex.

But that's just to explain why everyone is separated at the start of "Death..." The rest is both self-contained and relies on knowing about earlier stuff from the range or relying on the explanations they give (which they do).

"The Word Lord" story from Forty-Five is available from Big Finish for 99p and if you've not got that, you probably should listen to it it first.

I don't know how much of that is necessary but it can't hurt if you've already got it or fancy it anyway.

[Si Hunt]

I think I know the Thing About Hex from rumour. I think I have 45 and - cripes! - actually remember it. Possibly. I could give it a re-listen. I might get P anyway!

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

It's a shame the third entry in this mini series Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge was not really up to much IMHO as I adored A Death in the Family

Anyway I've just read in the latest Vortex (Issue 34) that this TARDIS team, who are my current favourite of the Big Finish main range will be back in three new adventures released from July - September next year! That's the best news I've had all day.