Doctor Who - Big Finish Mega-Review

So the Big Finish monthly releases for April, May, and June all formed a very loose trilogy where each story focused on one of the Doctor€™s companions. I figured since they all fit together naturally, I€™d review them all together, so here we go! STARRING: Peter Davison (the Doctor), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) eldrad-must-die_cover_largeAPRIL €“ €œELDRAD MUST DIE!€

€œ"A Doctor, curse his name, threw me down among the dead€ but I endure. I am Eldrad€ and I must live! A nuclear icebreaker, foundering in Arctic waters. Seabirds washed up in the fishing resort of Ambermouth, their wings encrusted with crystals. A shining artefact of uncertain provenance, up for sale on an auction site. All of these things are linked, as the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough are about to discover. Linked to the rebirth of a genocidal tyrant, presumed dead many years ago€ For the sake of the planets Earth and Kastria alike€ Eldrad must die!€
Some of you may remember the Fourth Doctor story €œThe Hand of Fear€. It€™s notable for being Sarah Jane Smith€™s last adventure, and the one where she dressed like a kindergarten student. It introduced a silicon lifeform named Eldrad who did, oh, all sorts of nasty things. Well, Eldrad€™s back, and he€™s not in a happy mood. This story focused mostly on Turlough, reuniting him with an old school chum (Pip Torrens), who uses Eldrad€™s mind control abilities to force Turlough over to his side. Turlough and a few other people also start growing crystals out of their bodies, so that€™s a fun thing. I thought this story was decent. It gives Turlough his moment in the sunlight and shows him as something slightly more than just a whiny little scheming alien jerk. It also reveals that he wasn€™t the only alien, not even the only person from Trion, from what I gathered, who was living at his boarding school. Plus the concept of bringing back Eldrad was pretty fun, and have to love just about any title that has an ! at the end. The acting was, of course, top-notch as always, with particular kudos going to Strickson. He doesn€™t get enough credit for making Turlough as interesting as a character as he is.
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Chris Swanson is a freelance writer and blogger based in Phoenix, Arizona, where winter happens to other people. His blog is at wilybadger.wordpress.com