The BF Time Warp 016: Storm Warning

[SiHart]

October, 1930. His Majesty's Airship, the R1010, sets off on her maiden voyage to the farthest-flung reaches of the British Empire, carrying the brightest lights of the Imperial fleet. Carrying the hopes and dreams of a breathless nation.

Not to mention a ruthless spy with a top-secret mission, a mysterious passenger who appears nowhere on the crew list, a would-be adventuress destined for the Singapore Hilton... and a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey.

There's a storm coming. There's something unspeakble, something with wings, crawling across the stern. Thousands of feet high in the blackening sky, the crew of the R101 brace themselves. When the storm breaks, their lives won't be all that's at stake...

The future of the galaxy will be hanging by a thread.

The Eighth Doctor makes his debut in Storm Warning, as does his BF companion of the next few years, Charlotte Pollard. What do you think of this story?

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

It's not the greatest of stories, but it's certainly pretty good. Once the aliens are revealed it loses its way a bit.

Paul McGann is fantastic however. He's like a huge breath of fresh air, full of energy and vitality, an absolute revelation. Big Finish were lucky to get him (and still have him today!) The part of this story that sticks in my mind the most is still the opening TARDIS scene where he's talking to himself!

[stuartdg]

It's ok,being more memorable for Paul McGann's audio debut then anything else.As an audio it doesn't really work because the dialogue is largely descriptive.

[SiHart]

I like this one. It's good. At the time it was incredibly exciting to hear Paul McGann back playing the Doctor- something that seemed incredibly unlikely for a long time. With that, a new theme, new companion, this kicked off something with masses of possibilities.

Charley makes an instant impression- likeable, adventurous and fun. India Fisher is a delight in these early adventures and Charley remains a great companion, even if she probably deserved to be written out a little earlier than they eventually did. her rapport with McGann is quite delightful.

The story itself is fine, though as Stu says does got too much down the line of telling what's going on. never mind. Some decent performances (especially so from Gareth Thomas) get us through this OK.

Good. Not great, but a really exciting start to the 8th Doctor's audio adventures.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I hate it. I hate stories that have a pretty build up to a final episode where everyone gets together in a big room and talks us to the conclusion.

Good job they'd never pull that trick on TV. *cough! Christmas Invasion cough!*

Si.

[MacNimon]

I'm with everyone else on this. While I love the story, the conclusion leaves something to be desired. Stiil, it's always been one of my favourites because at the time it felt like a fresh new beginning with its new theme tune, new Doctor and new companion. I found it much more enjoyable than the TVM. The cast all gave really enjoyable performances as well, I really liked Gareth Thomas in this as well.

It's certainly not faultlees, but great fun. 4/5.

[Simon R]

I thought it was okay but remember being let down by McGann's performance which seemed very phoned in and as if he was reading the lines for the first time. Is there a really embarrassing bit where they have to roar?

[Si Hunt]

See no offence to Kenny, or others who like this story, but despite the wonderful first Episode, the performances, the dialogue, the setting, I could never say this was one of my favourites despite an absolute turd of a dull Episode 4. What would that say for all the other stories? For me, it starts brilliantly but I can't rate it at all if the story at the heart of the thing is just rubbish, which it is. The story is the heart of it.

Si.

[Paul Monk]

I listened to it for the first time the other week, having some how missed this first time round. McGann is excellent, completely nailing his Doctor from the TV movie. In fact the entire cast is fairly brilliant but as Si says the story lets it down. It seems to almost conclude before it even had a chance to properly get going and built any atmosphere.
Initially I was intrigued by the mysterious passenger hidden away in the airship and much more could have been made of that I thought. The appearance of the alien spaceship was about an episode too early and the whole thing splutters to a halt by episode 4.
Still it had a lot to achieve and perhaps it tried to add too much. The vortisaurs seem like a unnecessary addition.
An ok first effort that clearly worked as a reintroduction to the 8th Doctor.

[SiHart]

On the plus side, it does have a lovely cover.

Si xx

[Lissa]

The performances are good, it was exciting to have McGann back and I really liked the R101 setting (and have wanted to glide in luxury on board an airship ever since) but the aliens are too fake and concept-y to take seriously. It's a while since I heard it but they ruined an otherwise reasonable play (and it's still the best of the 1st McGann season) with a race that needed a lot of explanation just to convince us they were dreadfully uninteresting.

[Jon Masters]

3/5

Lets get a big moan out of the way first - the awful version of the theme tune. Clearly unable to use the TVM music (shame !) they settle for a collection of dustbins falling over and doors slamming, while someone tootles on a glockenspiel many miles in the distance. A big disappointment.

However, once its over parts 1 and 2 are really good. McGann brings a great sense of excitement which is matched by India Fisher as Charlie. There are good vocals (Gareth Thomas) and not so good - Rathbone doesn't need to be SA, and Chief Steward Weeks sounds more like Kryten's spare head 3.

It plummets downhill from 3 onwards - Uncreator is a crap term designed just to be slightly confusing, and the Three part aliens are no Minbari. There's a slight upsurge at the end with McGann being serious about destroying the R101, but the Vortisaur is an annoying McGuffin that wasn't really needed and adds confusion to whats going on.

[Anthony Williams]

January 2001. 11 years ago. Five years had passed since the TV Movie. Y'know... that thing where Paul McGann only had approximately 90 minutes of screen time as the Doctor. No real time to shine, only a short amount of time to tease us with what he could've been as the Doctor.

This was the first Big Finish play that I ever heard. What drew me in? Well, McGann of course! For the first time, we had a brand new story in four parts of a Doctor we hadn't really heard before. Big Finish weren't trying to re-invent the wheel here, but provide us with something that we hadn't really heard before.

So, looking back on this 11 years on, it's a challenge not to get drawn into nostalgia. It's difficult to look at this objectively, but I've tried. And I sincerely hope I've managed!

Unsurprisingly, the best thing about this story by far is McGann. What BF had here was essentially a blank slate. With only 90 minutes of screen time, they could more or less do what they wanted with the character. And what we get is essentially the breathless romantic that so many of us saw the Doctor from the TV Movie develop into. He charms all who come near him, escaping being dumped off the airship by pretending to be a spy! This is a Doctor that loves the thrill of jumping into the unknown, and it's just wonderful.

And then there's the wonderful India Fisher as Charley. Alan Barnes had a really difficult task - he had to introduce a new companion as well as re-introduce a Doctor that we barely knew. And no-one may have realised it at the time, but this is a companion that would be with the Eighth Doctor for the best part of seven years on audio. By the time we meet Charley, she's already got an airman drunk, stolen his uniform and stowed away on the R101. Is anyone surprised by how quickly people grew to love this companion? Of course, this plummy upper-middle class Edwardian adventuress would probably never happen post-2005 Who, but at the time time, she was wonderful!

So, what about the story itself? I feel that the story itself has come in for a lot of flack over the years. There's nothing inherently wrong with it - it's a strong enough story in itself, carried along by some strong guest performances. The idea of something like the R101 being used to contact alien lifeforms appeals to my penchant for secret histories and the like. The Triskeli themselves are okay - quite well described, although their voices are quite irritating. And human nature leading to the selfishness act that causes the R101's crash is a brilliant subtext.

So, a reasonable story, with some good guest performances (notably Gareth Thomas), and a wonderful re-introduction to an old friend, and the introduction of a new friend, this is a good start to the Eighth Doctor's era proper. Even 11 years on, I think this holds up well, and gets a solid 4/5 from me!

[Nyder]

I really enjoyed the first two episodes, I thought Paul M was terrific, as was Gareth Thomas. But dear oh dear, as soon as Episode 3 came round with all that exposition and lame-sounding monsters, I lost interest fairly quickly, though I did rally at the end when they were back on the airship.

So a cracking performance by Doctor 8, a really strong first 2 episodes.... and we'll leave it there I think!