Bloodtide [AUDIO/2001.7.23]

★★★☆☆

  This is like The Visitation for the early Big Finish monthly range -- a story emblematic of practically every aspect of Dr. Who, distilled into one four-part adventure that is pretty much competent at everything. You want a solid Silurian story? Don't look anywhere else. Do you want a historical with a famous historical figure? Charles Darwin is right here, a bit younger than you'd normally expect but he's still worthwhile. Do you want strong characterisations for the Doctor and their companion(s)? Ol' Sixie and Evelyn are a fantastic duo that shines with their own individual moments to shine in abundance. Do you want good comedic lines, or tense atmospheres? Jonathan Morris provides some banger one-liners, and Gary Russell directs the hell out of this audio drama as always... best Big Finish director by a country mile.

  You know what this means. It means Bloodtide is a bloody (pun well and truly intended) good time, with a great score that harkens back to the original Dr. Who and the Silurians, great performances from Colin Baker and Maggie Stables, and a great connection between Darwin's discovery of evolution and the Silurians' dirty secret of having created homo sapiens as a deluxe form of cattle to eat. That revelation adds so much to the table, elevating Bloodtide from being 'just another Silurian story'. It's a shame it's not more entertaining than it is (mostly because Darwin becomes a rather uninteresting lad come parts 3 and 4, and the atmospheric merit diminishes with time), but I'd still say that this is well worth your time and effort.