Big Finish Main Range trilogy guide: 2010

Big Finish Main Range Trilogy Guide: 2013
The Klein trilogy

Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Tracey Childs as Elizabeth Klein

#130 A Thousand Tiny Wings, written by Andy Lane and directed by Lisa Bowerman, released January 2010

#131a Klein’s Story (1 part story), written by John Ainsworth & Lee Manfield and directed by John Ainsworth, released February 2010

#131b Survival Of The Fittest (3 part story), written by Jonathan Clements and directed by John Ainsworth, released February 2010

#132 The Architects Of History, written by Steve Lyons and directed by John Ainsworth, released March 2010

This trilogy revisits Klein, a character from an early Big Finish Seventh Doctor and Ace story written by Steve Lyons, #25 Colditz. 

To understand Architects Of History, you need to have heard Klein’s story and Survival Of The Fittest (released together, handily). To learn more about the Selachians, read Steve Lyon’s BBC Past Doctor Adventure novels The Murder Game and The Final Sanction. They also reappear in his Companion Chronicle The Selachian Gambit

Cliffhanger alert!: The end of Survival Of The Fittest is a sort of cliffhanger, but one that is not immediately resolved

Highlight: The Architects Of History, for it’s brilliant cliffhangers (I love how Part Two is ended), fantastic performances and the scope of the piece. The Selachians are marvellously realised and the story of Klein feels perfectly natural. Well worth marathoning this trilogy.

If you want to hear more Klein, she's in the UNIT: Dominion box set, arguing with Alex MacQueen's Doctor, and then in the Persuasion trilogy, but my thoughts on that when I reach the 2013 trilogies

The Jamie trilogy

Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Frazer Hines as Jamie

#133 City Of Spires, written by Simon Bovey and directed by Nicholas Briggs, released April 2010

#134 The Wreck Of The Titan, written and directed by Nicholas Briggs, released May 2010

#135 Legend Of The Cybermen, written by Mike Maddox and directed by Nicholas Briggs, released June 2010

 This trilogy reunites the Sixth Doctor with an older Jamie, who doesn’t recognise him. Wendy Padbury plays Zoe in Legend Of The Cybermen.

This trilogy requires all three parts to understand it. The threads set up and continued through the first and second parts are explained in the finale. If you’re going to go for any of these stories, go for all three of them. Trust me on this one. The Companion Chronicle Night’s Black Agents (performed by Frazer Hines and Hugh Ross) takes place after City Of Spires and before The Wreck Of The Titan.

Cliffhanger alert!: The end of The Wreck Of The Titan is followed up immediately in Legend Of The Cybermen.

Highlight: Legend Of The Cybermen, not to spoil, but the potential of the setting is used to its fullest degree, and you can tell the cast enjoyed playing their roles. You have fourth wall breaking pieces, and the Patrick Troughton credits at the end seguing into the Colin Baker theme is the icing on the cake.

Season 20 United trilogy I

Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan and Mark Strickson as Turlough

#136 Cobwebs, written by Jonathan Morris and directed by Barnaby Edwards, released July 2010

#137 The Whispering Forest, written by Stephen Cole and directed by Barnaby Edwards, released August 2010

#138 The Cradle Of The Snake, written by Marc Platt and directed by Barnaby Edwards, released September 2010

As my name for this trilogy states, this trilogy features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and an older Nyssa 50 years in her time after she left the Doctor in Terminus. The Cradle Of The Snake features the Mara.

These stories are stand-alone in the context of each other, and don’t really offer much of an arc.

Cliffhanger alert!: The end of The Whispering Forest.

Highlight: The Cradle Of The Snake, all the cast perform well, with Peter Davison taking on a villainous role being a delight to listen to. Marc Platt does away with the predictable story line, and writes something much more interesting.

Revelations trilogy

Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace and Philip Olivier as Hex

#139 Project: Destiny, written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright and directed by Ken Bentley

#140 A Death In The Family, written by Steven Hall and directed by Ken Bentley

#141 Lurkers At Sunlight’s Edge, written by Marty Ross and directed by Ken Bentley

The first two stories involve the backstory of Hex’s mother and how Hex reacts to learning the truth of the Doctor’s involvement in her death. Project: Destiny also wraps up the Project trilogy, started with #22 Project Twilight and #45 Project: Lazarus, and is fittingly the final appearance of Stephen Chase’s Nimrod. Destiny also introduces Lysandra Aristedes, who plays an important part in 2012’s Elder Gods trilogy and it’s tie-in Companion Chronicle, aptly named Project: Nirvana.

A Death In The Family sees the return of Maggie Stables’s Evelyn, who provides some closure for Hex.

Lurkers is pretty much stand alone, although it does contain some forshadowing for the next couple of Seventh Doctor trilogies

Cliffhanger alert: Project: Destiny seques straight into A Death In The Family.

Highlight: A Death In The Family. You get the return of the Word Lord, see Ace and Hex get on (or try to) with their lives without the Doctor, Evelyn is back and the plot is kick yourself for not seeing it before clever. More from Steven Hall please.

This year's highlight trilogy is by a huge margin the Klein trilogy. Exploring both the Seventh Doctor and Elizabeth Klein at different angles is very interesting, and their interactions are superb.