Scan barcode
Reviews
Doctor Who: Jubilee by Robert Shearman, Martin Jarvis, Colin Baker, Rosalind Ayres, Maggie Stables
cyberarcanist's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is perhaps the best Doctor Who story ever written.
nerdy_elle's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
zimb0's review against another edition
5.0
A superb audio drama that alone justifies Sixie's range and dynamic. A must listen.
diewachen's review against another edition
2.0
Robert Shearman would later use themes of this story to write the television episode, Dalek. And, frankly, to much better effect. The story of Evelyn and the Dalek is fantastic. Using an alternate history to present a Dalek alone after a great war is clever. The mad President and First Lady of the English Empire plot, however, fell flat as comedic relief, was unnecessarily sexist (in a but-that's-the-joke way), and generally took away from the better elements of the story.
elizafiedler's review against another edition
4.0
I usually really like these temporal paradox episodes. This one got really weird really quickly, even for doctor who. Dalek babies chanting Dalek nursery rhymes is one of the creepiest things I've heard.
faiazalam's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
nwhyte's review against another edition
was of course the basis for the superb Ninth Doctor story Dalek. I was surprised, though, by how different it was. There are similarities - the first confrontation between Doctor and imprisoned Dalek, the relationship between Dalek and companion (done more convincingly on TV), the Dalek's quest for orders (done more convincingly here); but there is a huge difference in setting, the audio play taking place in an alternate 2003 where the world is ruled from London by the villainous Mr and Mrs Martin Jarvis, thanks to the Doctor's intervention a hundred years earlier. And yet this doesn't fall into the category of Doctor-returns-to-the-scene-of-a-previous-adventure stories, because the earlier Sixth Doctor is still there. It's a good one, but the TV version is I think better (not always the case; see Spare Parts).
colossal's review
5.0
This is a sixth doctor adventure with Evelyn Smythe as his companion and is #40 in the Big Finish main range.
The Doctor and Evelyn experience a strange event in the TARDIS that makes it seem like they're landing in two different places at once; like they're being ripped apart. The TARDIS appears in London in 2003 but it's a very different place than they're expecting with the Empire of England ruling the whole world after a failed Dalek invasion in 1903. The current President of England and his wife seem very strange and they have a single surviving Dalek prisoner that they've been torturing for a century, and there's another more mysterious prisoner as well, someone in a wheelchair.
This is an amazing story. One of the best I've heard from Big Finish, and I've listened to a lot outside their main range. It's also very much a Rob Shearman story, and if you're at all familiar with his copious short work, then you'll know that means it's horrific, fundamentally disturbing and extremely profound.
It's also the basis for the Ninth Doctor TV episode "Dalek" and there are clearly several scenes lifted directly from this to put in the TV episode, which is definitely one of the darker Doctor Who episodes. This one is darker. Much more so. And definitely not for younger listeners (particularly ones that aren't going to react well to dismemberment played for horror). Both the President and his wife are barking mad, but in positions of power that make that go from eccentric weirdness to absolutely terrifying. And of course there's Daleks exterminating people all over the place.
Interestingly there are also key themes from this one that have seen reuse in the modern TV series as well, including the Twelfth Doctor's question "Am I a good man?" and the oft-cited contention that the Doctor turns his companions into soldiers (something that both the Twelfth and Tenth Doctors were accused of).
The Dalek is, like the TV episode, the real star of the piece with it's constant plaintive request for orders. It's such a stark cry for meaning that you can't help but feel for it, even beyond the century of torture it had suffered. And it's final fate is even more profound that what happens to the Dalek in the TV version. Some of the characterization is a little off: no Dalek has ever appeared this philosophical in the show, but it's worth the inconsistency.
If you're at all familiar with classic Who and you have an opportunity to listen to this, then I strongly recommend you do. It's a dark masterpiece.
The Doctor and Evelyn experience a strange event in the TARDIS that makes it seem like they're landing in two different places at once; like they're being ripped apart. The TARDIS appears in London in 2003 but it's a very different place than they're expecting with the Empire of England ruling the whole world after a failed Dalek invasion in 1903. The current President of England and his wife seem very strange and they have a single surviving Dalek prisoner that they've been torturing for a century, and there's another more mysterious prisoner as well, someone in a wheelchair.
This is an amazing story. One of the best I've heard from Big Finish, and I've listened to a lot outside their main range. It's also very much a Rob Shearman story, and if you're at all familiar with his copious short work, then you'll know that means it's horrific, fundamentally disturbing and extremely profound.
It's also the basis for the Ninth Doctor TV episode "Dalek" and there are clearly several scenes lifted directly from this to put in the TV episode, which is definitely one of the darker Doctor Who episodes. This one is darker. Much more so. And definitely not for younger listeners (particularly ones that aren't going to react well to dismemberment played for horror). Both the President and his wife are barking mad, but in positions of power that make that go from eccentric weirdness to absolutely terrifying. And of course there's Daleks exterminating people all over the place.
Interestingly there are also key themes from this one that have seen reuse in the modern TV series as well, including the Twelfth Doctor's question "Am I a good man?" and the oft-cited contention that the Doctor turns his companions into soldiers (something that both the Twelfth and Tenth Doctors were accused of).
The Dalek is, like the TV episode, the real star of the piece with it's constant plaintive request for orders. It's such a stark cry for meaning that you can't help but feel for it, even beyond the century of torture it had suffered. And it's final fate is even more profound that what happens to the Dalek in the TV version. Some of the characterization is a little off: no Dalek has ever appeared this philosophical in the show, but it's worth the inconsistency.
If you're at all familiar with classic Who and you have an opportunity to listen to this, then I strongly recommend you do. It's a dark masterpiece.
sshabein's review
5.0
A very strong Doctor Who story in that it demonstrates the differences between the Doctor and the enemies he fights, but also shows how fine a line it is between "good" and "evil," and how without pausing to examine why we do the things that we do, and how those things/help or hurt, we can just as easily become those against whom we fight.
Also, I like Evelyn Smyth as a companion, but I haven't listened to enough of her yet!
Also, I like Evelyn Smyth as a companion, but I haven't listened to enough of her yet!