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Free with DWM No Place Like Home |
| Written by | Iain McLaughlin |
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Starring Peter Davison and Caroline Morris
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Free with DWM No Place Like Home |
| Written by | Iain McLaughlin |
|
Starring Peter Davison and Caroline Morris
|
| Synopsis: Whilst showing Erimem and her cat around their new home, the Doctor discovers that the TARDIS seems remarkably keen to be as unhelpful as possible. |
A Review by Richard Radcliffe 12/2/03
Freebies are exciting. You've not paid for it, and thus there is absolutely nothing to lose. So many times I have read a DW Book (for example) and been disgusted that I wasted £6.00 of my hard earned money. It gets sold on to the 2nd Hand Shop for a pittance, and I feel fate has dealt me a severe blow. But these CDs glued onto DWM are free, at least just so long as you shell out £3.40 for the mag (which I always do as a kind of rite of passage every 4 weeks).
No Place Like Home follows its illustrious predecessors Last of the Titans (not too bad overall) and The Ratings War (nothing good at all). So how would Davison fare in the freebie stakes. McCoy and C Baker had had a go, it was time for the nice Doctor. It's the best of the 3, no doubt about that. It doesn't scale the heights of grandeur that many other BF Audios reach, but for what it is - 35 minutes extra story - it's great.
The cast is kept to a minimum, which I always think is a good idea even in the longer dramas. There's the 5th Doctor, there's Erimem. There's also a few surprises who pop up in the TARDIS. And of course there's the TARDIS itself - the whole 35 minutes is set inside the many corridored home of the Doctor. As the title states - there really is no other place like it.
Big Finish have displayed something of liking for the comic strip of DWM. I am a great fan of this particularly story type myself, and I find the comic strip characters that have popped up welcome (except Beep the Meep, who I never liked anyway). I won't give the game away as to who pops up here, but he is one of the most memorable of all the strip creations.
The opening half of No Place Like Home actually plays like a Doctor's first story - you know, the one just after the regeneration. They always wander round the corridors, noticing old clothes of their predecessors. Erimem's tour of the ship allows Iain McLaughlin to indulge in some nostalgia, and it put a great smile on my face. I like this referencing of the past every now and again, brings back that nostalgia glow. The story feels the need though to tell a story, and thus a very strange rodent appears. A great laugh is had at this creature's expense (I don't remember Davison being this uncontrollable ever before). And there's a rather dull end too. But I have to repeat the first half was right up there for likeability. Pity the second half spoilt the party.
Peter Davison and Caroline Morris work brilliantly together. I really hope, after hearing this and Church and the Crown, that Erimem will stay around for a while. She's got to go sometime, but the character is excellent, and deserves many stories. The absence of Peri is a bit of shame, but I understand the shortness of the piece leant to only 1 companion.
A nice Free Gift this is - I was happy with No Place Like Home. Thank you DWM! 7/10
A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 27/5/04
No Place Like Home succeeds because of the story; it seems Big Finish have got the right story for a freebie, in that it is self contained, entertaining and just the right length. Like the previous offering, The Ratings War, the story is inspired by the comic strip, thankfully this is no bad thing as the small cast helps the production. For starters we get greater characterisation in both Erimem and the Doctor, whose relationship is explored a little deeper. Keeping the story entirely aboard the TARDIS also helps in this regard.
The character of Shayde is equally successful, thanks to Mark Donovan`s portrayal; his versatility also being displayed in the meglomaniacal character of the Rovie that he also portrays. Overall then No Place Like Home is lightweight and diverting, but still highly entertaining.
A Review by John Seavey 30/6/04
It's light, it's silly, it's frothy, and it's thoroughly inconsequential. But it is funny, Peter Davison and Caroline Morris give good performances, it's neat to see the Shayde involved, and having the villain be an Evil Rat Lord is quite, quite funny. Worth a listen.