Manufacturer: AudioGO

Written By: Terry Nation

RRP: £13.25 (CD) / £6.79 (Download)

Release Date: 1st November 2012

Reviewed by: Matthew Davis for Doctor Who Online

Review Posted: 11th February 2013

On Skaro, the home world of the Daleks, the Doctor encounters the militaristic Movellans - who have come to Skaro on a secret mission - whilst his companion Romana falls into the hands of the Daleks themselves.

It soon becomes apparent that the Daleks have returned to their abandoned home city with a crucial objective, one which they hope will give them the advantage in a strategic war. When the Doctor realises what the Daleks are up to, he is compelled to intervene.

But he has not bargained for the Movellans having a few secrets of their own, and soon he, Romana and the human refugee Tyssan are wondering who exactly they can trust.

Moreover, will they be able to avert the Daleks from their self-proclaimed destiny?

* * *

AudioGO continues its Doctor Who range by issuing this audio soundtrack for Lalla Ward’s debut story as Romana. The first story to take place after the epic Key to Time season and the one that sees the return to the series of the creator of The Daleks, Davros.

It is difficult for me to review this release as I must admit Destiny Of The Daleks is not one of my favourite Tom Baker stories. It is certainly not the weakest of Terry Nation’s Dalek stories but this is where The Daleks began to be over shadowed by the continuing presence of Davros, such is the shadow cast by him in the excellent Genesis Of The Daleks.

It doesn’t help that Davros has been recast and whilst giving it his all, David Gooderson cannot quite match the tour de force that was Michael Wisher. 

Previous audio soundtrack releases have been fantastic, due to the fact that they provided a way for fans to experience Doctor Who stories that have been lost in the visual format. Destiny Of The Daleks did not suffer the same fate so I find this release to be somewhat unusual. 

If there are any benefits to listening to the soundtrack it is that a lot of the humour that Douglas Adams peppered the script with becomes more obvious, and, (lets be honest), the rather ridiculous looking Movellans gain a bit more weight as characters when we cannot see them.

Destiny Of The Daleks is not a bad story and it is rather fun in places with some intriguing ideas, and the narration by Lalla Ward is lovely and very well placed throughout. 

What makes this release more interesting are the inclusion of the original TV camera scripts which can be viewed as Colour PDF files and a nice interview with Lalla Ward where she speaks rather movingly about Mary Tamm and Douglas Adams.

The Destiny Of The Daleks soundtrack is not an unwelcome release but if you like this story and wish to experience it in another format then this is certainly for you.

Manufacturer: AudioGO

Written By: Nigel Robinson

RRP: £10.20 (CD) / £6.79 (Download)

Release Date: 1st January 2013

Reviewed by: Matthew Davis for Doctor Who Online

Review Posted: 11th February 2013

Shoreditch, London, 1963. The Beatles have beaten John Smith and the Common Men to No. 1 and satellites are being launched in outer space. Back down on Earth, strange goings-on are occurring: The normally placid teenagers of Coal Hill are running riot and a master thief is stealing highly specialised equipment. Schoolgirl Susan Foreman just wants an easy life for herself and her grandfather, the mysterious Doctor.

She wants to be liked and accepted by Cedric and all the other pupils at Coal Hill School. But there’s trouble in in the streets and bombsites around Totter’s Lane. The teenagers are becoming dangerous… Their mission: to hunt down anyone different, or alien…

Susan’s quiet life is about to spiral out of control. Having inadvertently started drawing attention to herself she finds herself drawn into a desperate situation. Suddenly, the chase is on and she and her grandfather are now the hunted…

* * *

This year marks the 50th anniversary year of Doctor Who and already the BBC are beginning to get the celebratory merchandise underway. AudioGO have recruited Big Finish to produce Destiny of the Doctor, an eleven part inter-connected series of dramatised readings.

Kicking off things we have a First Doctor adventure, set before he and Susan encountered Ian or Barbara in An Unearthly Child. You think this would be a chance to really explore some of the First Doctor’s distant past before he landed on Earth in 1963, but Hunters of Earth seems to be retreading very familiar ground. We have Susan at Coal Hill School as the mysterious new pupil who knows far too much about science. We even have a teacher who takes an interest in Susan’s odd behaviour, even going so far to follow her home to Totter’s Lane.

For anyone who has seen An Unearthly Child, this will seem too familiar, and considering the conclusion of the story doesn’t really feel logical. Why would The Doctor stay there if he has aroused suspicion only for someone else to follow the exact same path a short time later?  

Despite some nice little nods to current Who such as Magpie Electricals, the story seems to tread too much familiar ground and if you know your Quatermass even more so. If there are any linking plot threads with further releases, they are difficult to see here unless you count Susan’s ominous premonition at the conclusion.

You can tell that Big Finish have had a hand in producing this release as it could easily have been a part of their Companion Chronicles range - such is the similarity of the format. There is some excellent music and sound design, including a good narrative performance by Carole Ann Ford and supporting cast member Tam Williams, but it is ultimately the story that lets the whole thing down.

Hunters of Earth is not a bad release, just not a strong one and a slightly disappointing start to the series.

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of Doctor Who And The Tomb Of The Cybermen.

Product Synopsis: 

The Cybermen – silver, indestructible monsters whose only goal is power – seem to have disappeared from their planet, Telos. When a party of archaeologists, joined by the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria, land on the Cybermen’s barren, deserted planet, they uncover what appears to be their tomb. 

But once inside it becomes clear that the Cybermen are not dead, and some in the group of archaeologists desperately want to re-activate these monsters! How can the Doctor defeat these ruthless, power-seeking humans and the Cybermen? 

Michael Kilgarriff, who played the Cyber Controller in the original BBC TV serial, reads Gerry Davis’ complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1978.

+  Doctor Who And The Tomb Of The Cybermen is released on 7th March 2013, priced £13.25 (CD) / £10.99 (Download).

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

+  Check Out the DWO Release Guide entry for this product! 

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of Destiny Of The Doctor #1: Hunters Of Earth.

Shoreditch, London, 1963. The Beatles have beaten John Smith and the Common Men to No. 1 and satellites are being launched in outer space. Back down on Earth, strange goings-on are occurring: The normally placid teenagers of Coal Hill are running riot and a master thief is stealing highly specialised equipment. Schoolgirl Susan Foreman just wants an easy life for herself and her grandfather, the mysterious Doctor.

She wants to be liked and accepted by Cedric and all the other pupils at Coal Hill School. But there’s trouble in in the streets and bombsites around Totter’s Lane. The teenagers are becoming dangerous… Their mission: to hunt down anyone different, or alien…

Susan’s quiet life is about to spiral out of control. Having inadvertently started drawing attention to herself she finds herself drawn into a desperate situation. Suddenly, the chase is on and she and her grandfather are now the hunted...

Performed by Carole Ann Ford and Tam Williams.

+  Destiny Of The Doctors #1: Hunters Of Earth is released on 3rd January 2013, priced £10.20 (CD) / £20.20 (Download).

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of City of Death.

Whilst sightseeing in Paris, 1979, the Doctor and Romana notice a series of unexplained temporal disturbances. When a visit to the Louvre lands them in hot water, they realise that a certain Count Scarlioni knows more about advanced technology than a 20th Century Parisian should.

With British detective Duggan in tow, the time travellers become embroiled in an audacious plot to steal the Mona Lisa and sell it on the open market. Not only that, but Count Scarlioni appears to have more da Vinci masterpieces at his disposal - each one apparently genuine.

What time experiment is Scarlioni forcing a genius professor to undertake? What is behind his suave persona, and what are his plans for not only Paris but the whole world?

The Doctor and his friends must discover the answers before time itself runs out.

Lalla Ward narrates this classic TV adventure, and in an exclusive bonus interview she recalls her time as Romana in the BBC TV series.

+  City of Death is released on 6th December 2012, priced £13.25 (CD) / £9.19 (Download).

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of Snake Bite.

Doctor Elehri Mussurana has spent a lifetime on her work. She's guarded her pet project close to her chest, letting only one person share her secret - her husband and lab partner Ernst Wharner.

As their experiment reaches its final, glorious fruition, they watch in awe as sparks fly in a sealed chamber and specks of sapphire light begin to join together into a shining haze. A wormhole in time and space is being created...

But then something unexpected appears inside the swirling vortex: a tall blue box with the words 'POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX' on the side. The TARDIS has arrived in the far future, in a scientific research facility - just as reality is ripped at the seams and the universe tears in two...

Written specially for audio by Scott Handcock, Snake Bite features the Doctor, Amy and Rory as played by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill in the acclaimed BBC TV series.

It is read by Frances Barber, who played Madame Kovarian.

+  Snake Bite is released on 6th December 2012, priced £10.20 (CD) / £6.79 (Download).

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine reports that AudioGO and Big Finish are teaming up for a series of 11 Doctor Who Audio Specials spanning all 11 Doctors for the 50th Anniversary year in 2013.

The series will feature one Doctor per month, and will be overseen by John Ainsworth, with AudioGO’s Michael Stevens and Big Finish’s Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery executive producing.

The first story, Hunters from Earth by Nigel Robinson is read by Carole Ann Ford and Tam Williams, and is set in that little-charted period after The First Doctor and Susan have arrived on Earth in 1963, but before they depart with Ian and Barbara at the end of An Unearthly Child.

The second story, Simon Guerrier’s Shadow of Death, features The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, and is read by Frazer Hines and Eve Dawnay.

As well as marking the first time that Big Finish have tackled stories for Doctors from the current version of the show, it will also be the first time that an original story for The Ninth Doctor will be released on audio.

[Source: SciFi Bulletin]

Big Finish is delighted to announce that its licence with AudioGO to make Doctor Who on audio has been extended up to December 2015.

“I’m so excited that we can continue our voyages with the Doctor for at least another three years,” says Big Finish executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery, “and so pleased that AudioGO and the BBC continue to trust us with the telling of these stories.”

“It's been a privilege and a pleasure for me to have worked on the Doctor Who audio range since 1999,” adds executive producer Nicholas Briggs. “I'm looking forward to continuing the excellent relationship we have with AudioGO and the BBC – and, of course, to the many exciting adventures for the Doctor I'll be working on over the next three years or more.”

“We’re already making plans for 2015,” says line producer David Richardson, “which will be the sixteenth year of Doctor Who audio productions from Big Finish and include our landmark 200th main range play! In addition to the Doctor Who main range and Companion Chronicles, we are working through ideas for an exciting new range which we hope to announce during 2013.”

[Source: Big Finish]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of The Androids of Tara.

In this brand new novelisation of the original 1978 TV story by David Fisher, the 4th Doctor, Romana and K9 become enmeshed in a Prisoner of Zenda-style adventure where the evil Count Reynart plots to become ruler of Tara.

Read by John Leeson.

+  The Androids of Tara is released on 5th July 2012, priced £13.25 (CD) / £12.29 (Download).

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of The Nu-Humans.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on the planet Hope Eternal, where colonists from Earth have reworked themselves with new internal organs and DNA structures. But their presence is far from welcomed by the colony governor - and when the travellers unearth some dark home truths, their lives are put in danger.

Read by Raquel Cassidy.

+  The Nu-Humans is released on 5th July 2012, priced £10.20 (CD) / £6.79 (Download).

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of Dark Horizons.

On a windswept Northern shore, at the very tip of what will one day become Scotland, the islanders believe the worst they have to fear is a Viking attack.

The Doctor is just looking for a game on the famous Lewis chess set. Instead he encounters a people under attack from a power they cannot possibly understand. The islanders must take on a ruthless alien force in a world without technology; without communications; without tea that isn't made out of bark. Still, at least they have the Doctor on their side... Don't they?

A thrilling new adventure starring the Doctor, as played by Matt Smith.

Read by Neve McIntosh.

+  Dark Horizons is released on 5th July 2012, priced £13.25 (CD) / £12.29 (Download).

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of Doctor Who and The Sea Devils.

Whilst visiting the Master, who has been exiled to a luxurious castle prison on a small island, Doctor Who and Jo Grant learn that a number of ships have vanished in the area. Whilst investigating these mysterious disappearances, Jo and the Doctor are attacked by a Sea-Devil, one of a submarine colony distantly related to the Silurians.

Soon they discover that the Sea-Devils plan to conquer the Earth and enslave humanity, aided and abetted by the Master. What can Doctor Who do to stop them?

Geoffrey Beevers reads this exciting novelisation of a classic "Doctor Who" adventure. 

+  Doctor Who and The Sea Devils is released on 7th June 2012, priced £13.25 (CD) / £12.29 (Download).

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of Paradise Towers.

Much in need of a holiday, Mel and the Doctor head for Paradise Towers: a luxury man-made planet with sparkling fountains, sunny streets, exotic flowers and a shimmering blue swimming pool.

But when the TARDIS materialises in a dark, rubbish-filled, rat-infested alley it seems that this particular Paradise has turned into Hell!

Pursued by rogue cleaning machines, authoritarian caretakers and old ladies with strange eating habits, the Doctor and Mel track down the source of the chaos to one mysterious character – the designer of Paradise Towers, the Great Architect himself...

This title is read by Bonnie Langford.

+  Paradise Towers is released on 5th April 2012, priced £13.25 (CD) / £12.29 (Download).

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who CD release of Blackout.

It's November 9th, 1965. New York City is plunged into darkness, a taxi driver has bad dreams, and an invisible spacecraft hovers ominously above the skyline.

As an extra-terrestrial disease sweeps the populace, Amy and Rory must sabotage the city's water supply to slow the spread of infection, and a dying Doctor holds another man's life in his hands.

With death toll rising, and his companions stalked through the streets by alien businessmen, the Doctor is forced to make a terrible decision. How far must he go to save his friends?

This title is read by Stuart Milligan.

+  Blackout is released on 8th September 2011, priced £10.20.

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming CD release of The Eye of the Jungle.

The 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves embroiled in an adventure in the Amazon Rainforest, in this exciting original story.

It’s the early 1800s, and a pioneering naturalist is keen to capture a jaguar for London’s new zoological gardens. But soon the hunter has become the hunted, and a far higher grade of species has plans to prey on the human race...

+  The Eye Of The Jungle is released on 7th July 2011, priced £9.25.

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming CD release of The Stones of Blood.

From the pen of the original script writer David Fisher, "The Stones of Blood" is set in 20th Century Dorset, where the ancient Cailleach has exerted her powers throughout the ages.

The Doctor, Romana and K9 team up with Professor Amelia Rumford and her friend Vivian Fay in their search for a powerful artefact...

This is a brand new audio novelisation of a classic Doctor Who TV adventure, which starred Tom Baker as the Doctor.

+  The Stones of Blood is released on 5th May 2011, priced £13.25.

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming CD release of Inferno.

In this exciting reading of a Doctor Who novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1984, the Doctor is trapped in a parallel world, unable to act as the Earth is threatened by a poisonous liquid leaking from top-secret drilling project Inferno.

This title is read by Caroline John.

+  Inferno is released on 7th April 2011, priced £13.25.

+  Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming CD release of The Gemini Contagion.

The ice-planet Vinsk, in the year 2112. The all-new anti-viral handwash, Gemini, has been laced with Meme-Spawn: a sentient micro-organism which makes the user fluent in every language in the universe. However, manufacturer Zalnex made one crucial mistake. They didn’t test Gemini on humans, who are seized by the violent urge to communicate but speak every language all at once – with a manic, garbled shriek – and pass on the virus by touch.

The Doctor and Amy arrive on an Earth-bound cargo-ship loaded with Gemini, where a human crew are succumbing to the virus which has nasty second and third phases in store. When the Doctor and Amy are separated, they both know that it’s only a matter of time before Amy is infected.

With the ship locked on course, and no way of curing the sufferers, the Doctor is faced with a terrible decision: does he save Amy, or Earth?

Meera Syal reads this exclusive audio story featuring the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond.

Written specially for audio by Jason Arnopp, ‘The Gemini Contagion’ is read by Meera Syal, who played Nasreen Chaudhry in the BBC TV episodes ‘The Hungry Earth’ and ‘Cold Blood’.

 The Gemini Contagion is released on 3rd March 2011, priced £9.25.

 Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming CD release of Doctor Who And... The Ribos Operation.

Reluctantly cancelling his well-earned holiday, the Doctor sets off in the Tardis to trace and re-assemble the six segments of the Key to Time on which the stability of the entire Universe depends.

Assisted by the argumentative Romanadvoratrelundar and K9, he lands on the planet Ribos in search of the first segment and finds himself entangled in the machinations of two sinister strangers, Garron and the Graff Vynda Ka. 

Who are they? Is Garron simply a shady confidence-trickster dealing in interplanetary real estate? Is the Graff Vynda Ka just a power-crazed exile bent on revenge? Or are they both really agents of the Black Guardian, intent upon seizing the precious Key in order to throw the Universe into eternal chaos? Risking his life within the monster-infested catacombs of Ribos, the Doctor has to use all his wit and ingenuity to find out...

This is an exciting unabridged reading, with music and sound effects, and this novelisation of a classic Doctor Who adventure, first published by Target Books in 1979.

 Doctor Who And... The Ribos Operation is released on 3rd March 2011, priced £12.99.

 Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming CD release of Genesis of the Daleks.

Starring Tom Baker as the Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane, this digitally-remastered edition of the classic "Doctor Who" TV episodes features a special vinyl-look CD and original LP sleeve notes.

Doctor Who, with his travelling companions, Sarah and Harry, has landed on a desolate planet called Skaro. As he surveys the barren landscape, a Time Lord appears and tells him he has been brought there to try and avert the creation of the Daleks, and thus prevent them from being the dominant creature in the Universe...

With linking narration by Tom Baker, this condensed version of the original TV episodes includes one of the most memorable and dramatic moments in the history of "Doctor Who": the Doctor's moral dilemma about whether he has the right to destroy the Daleks forever.

"Vintage Beeb": classic albums first available as BBC LPs, now reissued on CD.

 Genesis of the Daleks is released on 3rd February 2011, priced £5.99.

 Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the forthcoming CD release of Doctor Who And... The War Games.

Mud, barbed wire, the smell of death...

The year is 1917 and the TARDIS has materialised on the Western Front during the First World War. Or has it? For very soon the Doctor finds himself pursued by the soldiers of Ancient Rome; and, then he and his companions are reliving the American Civil War of 1863. And is this really Earth, or just a mock-up created by the War Lords?

As Doctor Who solves the mystery, he has to admit he is faced with an evil of such magnitude that he cannot combat it on his own - he has to call for the help of his own people, the Time Lords.

So, for the first time, it is revealed who is Doctor Who - a maverick Time Lord who 'borrowed' the TARDIS without permission. By appealing to the Time Lords he gives away his position in Time and Space. Thus comes about the Trial of Doctor Who...

David Troughton reads Malcolm Hulke's complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1979.

 Doctor Who And... The War Games is released on 3rd February 2011, priced £13.25.

 Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]

AudioGO have sent DWO the cover and details for the January CD release of The Edge of Destruction, featuring William Hartnell as The First Doctor.

In a final bid to regain control of the TARDIS' faulty control system the Doctor is driven to experiment with a dangerous untried combination.

With a violent explosion the TARDIS blacks out and the crew find themselves trapped inside. A simple technical fault? Sabotage? Or something even more sinister?

Tension mounts as the Doctor and his companions begin to suspect one another. What has happened to the TARDIS? Slowly a terrifying suspicion dawns. Has the TARDIS become the prisoner of some powerful fifth intelligence which is even now haunting the time-machine's dark and gloomy corridors?

William Russell, who played the Doctor's companion Ian in the original TV serial, reads Nigel Robinson's complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1988.

 The Edge of Destruction is released on 6th January 2011, priced £12.99.

 Compare Prices for this product on CompareTheDalek.com!

[Source: AudioGO]