Murder on the Withlacoochee by Ron Johnson

  Good Read October 30, 2015

Ron Johnson did a nice job bringing to life the Withlacooche river area. It's filled with characters, murders and fighting between the air boat people and the noise haters. There were some annoying spelling errors, it could have used a good proof reader. But other than that I enjoyed this book, which had some good twists and turns and was a fast paced read. I would have liked to have read the third and from what I understand incomplete last book in the hoped for trilogy, which was cut short by the author's death.

Doctor Who:The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (Big Finish Audio)

Excellent! October 23, 2015

I have listened to about a dozen of the Big Finish Doctor Whos and it has been a real mix. The writing has been the main problem. Some of the storylines are just plain rubbish! This one from 15 years ago however, is excellent. In fact, it could have been a REAL Doctor Who from Colin Baker's time or even before.

I want to fess up here. I was NOT initially a Colin Baker fan. In fact, I hated him as the Doctor! I couldn't stand his acerbic personality and found him to be totally unpleasant as well as some of the shows. As time went on however, and Baker was allowed more room for humor, I began to appreciate his Doctor more. By the time Trial of a Time Lord came up I really began to enjoy his character. Baker was obviously finding his stride! and then it was all over. Sylvester McCoy started out funny and ended up sputtering! Just the opposite of Baker.

I can't stand the "new" Doctor Who for many many reasons and I started looking for more. I purchased all the DVDs available and even enjoyed listening to the very old audio CDs of the original soundtracks that edited in some narration. I enjoyed hearing Jon Pertwee in the two audio shows that he had done for the radio and hated very much some shows Tom Baker did that had a swamp in the TARDIS and dancing ballet shoes! Dreadful.

Then I discovered Big Finish classic Doctor Who shows. The funny thing is that of all the shows I've heard Colin Baker has been the best actor for these audio adventures. Despite how huge he's gotten since his TV days, his voice stayed pretty consistent. He has his character down still, the one I liked from the old days and he is fun to listen to.

Sometimes the storylines haven't been too good, but this one is wonderful! It IS a REAL classic Doctor Who episode. The story might be a little too reminiscent, there are some obvious similarities to a Pertwee story, but it is so well done, both with the writing, style and acting, that you can really "see" the show. It was like listening to a show that you missed from the good old days.

It was nice having a Brigadier story I hadn't "seen" before. Nicholas Courtney fell in easily to his Brig character and Dr. Smythe, The Big Finish companion for Colin Baker is a rather bearable character. James Bolam guested as well as another New Tricks actor. The cast was first rate and the sound effects and music were well done.

All around this one is a good one.