FRIENDS OF DOCTOR WHO Volume 11, Number 1 Summer 1999

Audio Adventures in Time & Space

reviewed by Kathy Sullivan

Story 8

The Stranger Chronicles
"The Last Mission"

Note: These CDs are re-releases. Both "The Last Mission" and "Eye of the Storm" were released on audio cassettes in 1995. The liner notes have a history of the Stranger stories, both videos and audios.

"The Last Mission", written and directed by Nicholas Briggs (who also handles the postproduction sound and music), is set between the Stranger videos "The Terror Game" and "Breach of the Peace" and is basically a flashback to when Soloman was a Preceptor terrorist.

The cast includes Colin Baker as Soloman, David Troughton as Egan, John Wadmore as Saul, Holly King as Rose, Elisabeth Sladen as Mirus Alexa, and Nicholas Barclay as the Drain Man. 60 minutes.

Story 9

The Stranger Chronicles
"Eye of the Storm" by Arthur Wallis

"Eye of the Storm", written and directed by Nicholas Briggs (who again did the postproduction sound and music), goes a step further in exploring the motivations of the terrorists who once worked with Soloman. Additional cast includes David Terence as Hunter, Karen Henson as Meta, and Amanda Hurwitz as Sheila.

"Eye of the Storm" is basically the audio version of the video "Eye of the Beholder" (but with a few changes--one major) and is identical to the previous audio released on cassette version a few years ago. The label claims that the CD 'version contains extra material not included in original release' but I didn't hear the extra material. This complaint also ties in with the issue I have with the series numbering. BBV's Audio Adventures now has four separate lines--The Time Travelers, The Stranger Chronicles, The Wanderer and now the Adventures in a Pocket Universe--and yet they're all included in one numbering system. If you want all the releases it's fine--the one numbering system allows the buyer to know which is the newest release. But if you only want one line--say, the Time Travelers--this is very confusing and very irritating. And if re-releases are numbered as new releases, it gets even more confusing.

If you didn't get the audio cassettes of "The Last Mission" and "Eye of the Storm" back in 1995, I highly recommend the CDs. These are excellent stories--well written with excellent performances by all the actors.

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