Escape from Kaldor [AUDIO/2018.10.9]

★★★☆☆

  Ravenous 2 starts with a story that gives Liv time to process all that's happened in her life recently and an opportunity to "set things right" with her family, and I find it a wonderful choice. Helen's family has been explored quite a bit, the Doctor is the Doctor, and so Liv deserves some time off -- quite literally -- to set things right between her and her family, and for that, Escape from Kaldor is a meaningful starting installment of this boxset. Nicola Walker sells her character's slight disillusionment and resolve so well that it's hard not to feel about her, even for those fans who haven't been the biggest Liv Chenka fans. Me personally, I've always liked her, so this detour is very much appreciated. It's an uncomplicated, straightforward base-under-siege (sort of) narrative that gives Big Finish the opportunity to start another Dr. Who spinoff series hardly anyone's going to listen to.

  It's a joke. I've heard good things about that Robots series, and I'm pretty sure I'll give it a listen one day. Judging from how I like these Kaldor robots done in the audio medium, I'll at least enjoy the boxsets. Escape from Kaldor is pretty darn run-of-the-mill, and it threatens to get boring around the middle point, but I largely forgive it for its excellent work on Liv. The final five-or-so minutes are genuinely great, basically a cop-out from actually portraying her reconciliation with her sister but done in such a smooth way that it hardly matters.