Big Finish Productions The Shadow Vortex

Written by	David Llewelyn
Format	Compact Disc
Released	2016

Starring John Hurt

Synopsis: Cardinal Ollistra exploits the War Doctor’s affection for Earth to send him to East Berlin, 1961, on the trail of a Dalek agent. Lara Zannis has breached the planet’s quantum shield on a very special mission for the Dalek Time Strategist. Caught between MI6 and the KGB, the War Doctor must first escape the Stasi before he can hope to stop Lara. Cold War scientists are about to make a breakthrough: the Daleks want control of the "Shadow Vortex", and Agent Zannis can provide it.

• It's all in the Title by Noe Geric

It's all in the Title by Noe Geric 3/10/22

Wow, that third War Doctor box set was a hit!... Of course it's sarcasm, it's one of the worst Big Finish release I've heard, and it has even beaten Scaredy Cat and Something Inside. John Hurt managed to fall back to be one of my least favorite Doctors just with three episodes. The Shadow Vortex is the first of this shameful trilogy, and the only good thing about it is that it has the distinction of being the first (and has I write this review, it's the only) historical story for the War Doctor (discounting The Day of the Doctor). Everything about it is crap. It doesn't beat Eye of Harmony but it's really close as being one of the most stupid stories ever.

The story begins with that guy from the stazi interrogating a Dalek agent. And this German has the worst accent I've heard so far. It's unbearable in every sense of the word. As it takes place during the Cold War in Germany, you've got a little bunch of these ludicrous accents and after five minutes my ears were already bleeding. The Doctor doesn't appear until 5 minutes, and when he began to speak, you've got this incredible score coming, as if his comeback was long awaited. Of course not, Big Finish released a story the previous week. And then John Hurt began what can only be described as the dullest conversation ever with the German agent (I think he was called Kruger or something like that). Not that the dialogue is particularly bad (but don't worry, it is) but also that the acting is soooo weak. John Hurt seems to be reading his lines like a book, and it's a competition between him and the German to know who will be the weakest. I never was so uncomfortable listening to a Doctor Who audio. This conversation seemed to never end. You think I'm perhaps a bit overreacting? Well, no. The story is that bad!

The plot about the Shadow Vortex is everything about the story. It's uninteresting and it's another of Big Finish's unimaginative way of spoiling the myth of the Time War. None of the characters are interesting. I thought I was in a comedy because every situation was overplayed, and it wasn't even funny. Everyone was trying to be deadly serious. Worst was the Doctor taking the Stazi agent into the TARDIS (not that he was forced in any way, they've just become friends). Kruger was apparently the only good guy in the Stazi, and I seriously hope David Llewellyn isn't going to write a story in which the Doctor visit some concentration camp and meet a German Soldier because the sweet Stazi agent was a step too far in stupidity. Did someone read that script? The resolution don't even makes sense!

Characterization has been lost somewhere before the opening title, and this Dalek Time Strategist is one of the most irritating creations ever and perhaps the first time I hear Nick Briggs play a Dalek like if he was an amateur. This Strategist is just another useless Dalek with funny colours on the cover to makes him look powerful while in the next story he gets captured by three Sontarans. The Daleks are just redundant now. Stop using them; it's boring. Long gone are the days when Rob Shearman and Ben Aaronovitch could do something. Now Big Finish drained them of their power with more and more unmemorable Dalek stories.

"You must think I regenerated yesterday!" What a poor line. It must join the "Not the Mind Probe" club. Absolutely everything here is terrible. This Box Set (Agent of Chaos) is one of the worst thing to ever touch Doctor Who. Who could've thought Sir John Hurt could be so deceiving? Writing and acting are alike, and I can't recommend anyone to listen to this. Even the completist should avoid it. There's nothing there except boredom and bad quality. Even the historical stuff get massacred by The Shadow Vortex. It looks like I'm a bit too hard on the box set (The Shadow Vortex, The Eternity Cage, Eye of Harmony) but it's really, really bad. Quality isn't Big Finish main priority now. It's quantity.

Just because it's an historical with the War Doctor: 0.5/10