The Sirens of Time [AUDIO/1999.7.19]

★★☆☆☆

  It's sometimes pretty overwhelming when one compares the crisp sounds and undeniable polish of Big Finish's recent outputs to some their very first. They often have that amateurish flair, sometimes underdoing or overdoing sound design and not quite getting sound mixing right until the very end of an adventure. However, I often find myself revisiting the early releases because I find these traits charming; indeed, I don't think there's anything quite like the old Big Finish stories (with their moody, location-based stationary sound design/mixing as opposed to the more dynamic, "cinematic" audio dramas of today), and I find listening to them delightful.

  Now, that doesn't mean Big Finish didn't have early-days hiccups... or to be more precise, 'first day on the job' hiccup. The Sirens of Time had a lot to deliver as the very first licensed Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish, and I sense that Nicholas Briggs threw every idea he had to make a noteworthy first impression... to impress. Thing is, while I admire the palpable ambition, there aren't a lot here to chew on. The narrative is pretty bog-standard for Who and rarely gets exciting, even with the fascinating idea of the Knights of Velyshaa. The production here is more amateurish than most (which is understandable, although Big Finish had already mastered their ways of making audio dramas with the first season of Bernice Summerfield). Even the actors, particularly Sylvester McCoy, are very much still finding their shoes at this point and give serviceable to rather boring performances.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  Still, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a bit of charm in The Sirens of Time. For all its faults, it introduced several ideas that would pop up occasionally on future releases, and it absolutely worked as proof of concept, that it was viable for an audio drama company to make Doctor Who adventures. We wouldn't have all those wonderful stories without The Sirens of Time... as boring as it may be.