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Bernice Summerfield Audio Dramas #4.3
Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Poison Seas
Bernice has visited the planet Chosan before, so she seems the ideal candidate to intervene when a Sea Devil colony there comes under threat from a terrorist cell. Under cover of visiting an old friend, Bernice sets out to learn who is working in league with the terrorists to ensure the eradication of the colony.
But as she delves deeper under the oceans of Chosan, she discovers that something else — something much more ancient and powerful — wants rid of the Sea Devils. Soon, every living thing on the planet is in peril. And all because there's no place like home...
But as she delves deeper under the oceans of Chosan, she discovers that something else — something much more ancient and powerful — wants rid of the Sea Devils. Soon, every living thing on the planet is in peril. And all because there's no place like home...
Audio CD
First published September 1, 2003
About the author
David Bailey
204 books7 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
David Bailey is a British editor and author whose published output to date comprises a combination of short stories, audio dramas and magazine articles.
Both before and since being professionally published, Bailey contributed to a number of Doctor Who fanzines in writing and editorial capacities, including Matrix, Silver Carrier and Cottage Under Siege.
As an editor, he worked for the British magazine publisher Titan from 1997 to 2000 during which time he edited their Simpsons and Xena, Warrior Princess titles among others.
His first professionally published writing was a number of articles for the magazine Cult Times, starting in 1996. Since that time he has contributed articles to a wide range of factual publications, including consumer guides and television listing magazines.
Subsequently, he co-authored a number of guidebooks to television series such as Friends and Frasier. These were produced by Virgin Publishing.
The body of David Bailey's fiction writing, both audio and prose, has been produced for Big Finish Productions' range of Doctor Who and Doctor Who derived materials.
In 2011, he decided to start writing under the pen name of David Bryher as his real name meant that he was hard to find on Google.
David Bailey is a British editor and author whose published output to date comprises a combination of short stories, audio dramas and magazine articles.
Both before and since being professionally published, Bailey contributed to a number of Doctor Who fanzines in writing and editorial capacities, including Matrix, Silver Carrier and Cottage Under Siege.
As an editor, he worked for the British magazine publisher Titan from 1997 to 2000 during which time he edited their Simpsons and Xena, Warrior Princess titles among others.
His first professionally published writing was a number of articles for the magazine Cult Times, starting in 1996. Since that time he has contributed articles to a wide range of factual publications, including consumer guides and television listing magazines.
Subsequently, he co-authored a number of guidebooks to television series such as Friends and Frasier. These were produced by Virgin Publishing.
The body of David Bailey's fiction writing, both audio and prose, has been produced for Big Finish Productions' range of Doctor Who and Doctor Who derived materials.
In 2011, he decided to start writing under the pen name of David Bryher as his real name meant that he was hard to find on Google.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 7, 2021
Relisten...
Not the greatest audio in terms of audio quality. I'm hard of hearing but usually, Big finish are excellent on their audios but this one was almost impossible to hear in terms of audio.
But it is slightly important in the build-up of the Fifth Axis invasion on the Collection, my reason for relistening to this.
But in terms of the plot itself for the Poison Seas-
Fits into the Secrets of Cassandra involving Benny being sent by Brax as a secret agent to prevent a bomb going off on the sea devils ship.
The sea devil voices were quite hard to hear which is strange as they were fine in bloodtide; sixth doctor audio.
Not the greatest audio in terms of audio quality. I'm hard of hearing but usually, Big finish are excellent on their audios but this one was almost impossible to hear in terms of audio.
But it is slightly important in the build-up of the Fifth Axis invasion on the Collection, my reason for relistening to this.
But in terms of the plot itself for the Poison Seas-
Fits into the Secrets of Cassandra involving Benny being sent by Brax as a secret agent to prevent a bomb going off on the sea devils ship.
The sea devil voices were quite hard to hear which is strange as they were fine in bloodtide; sixth doctor audio.
February 24, 2023
The weakest of the season so far. Not helped by sea devil's whisssspering voices which doesn't allow for much vocal influenction. It's a fun romp though and entertaining on its own way to its explosive conclusion. Also, the baddies daft name made me want to munch on a protein bar straight after 😉
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 19, 2021
Ormai ho capito che in questo spin-off la trama orizzontale è moooolto diluita e che i colpi di scena e le svolte che sto aspettando sono molto distanziate tra loro (sì, mi faccio sempre un sacco di spoiler, e in casi come questo mi spronano ad andare avanti piuttosto che rovinarmi la sorpresa), e quindi mi aspetto che ci siano molti episodi riempitivi.
Ma vorrei almeno che tali episodi siano interessanti e varino un po', e che non siano sempre la stessa minestra riscaldata.
Perché questa è la terza volta di fila che assistiamo alla stessa premessa: ci sono delle tensioni con delle razze aliene, delle organizzazioni contattano Brax, Brax convince Benny ad accettare il caso, anche se lei preferirebbe stare a casa con Peter, Benny si ritrova al centro di una cospirazione (e dimentichiamoci il fatto che tecnicamente è un'archeologa e non una spia).
Non ci sarebbe nulla di male in questa trama se, per l'appunto, non fosse la terza consecutiva.
Ammetto che hanno cercato di rendere le cose più interessanti aggiungendo anche una minaccia di tipo ambientale, ma il risultato finale non è molto diverso rispetto a The Draconian Rage. Inoltre, la voce estremamente sibilante dei Sea Devils è difficile da seguire, specialmente quando fanno discorsi molto lunghi tra loro.
Parliamo un po' delle cose positive: c'è un bel discorso di Benny in cui si sente quanto è stanca di tutto questo, ma in cui esprime anche quanto è fortunata ad avere una famiglia e una casa e le motivazione che la spronano ad andare avanti. Un momento di introspezione ci voleva proprio in mezzo a tutte queste avventure.
Ci sono dei collegamenti con The Secret of Cassandra in quanto è ambientato sullo stesso pianeta, e alla fine un ammiccamento a quanto succederà prossimamente.
Non è per niente una storia brutta di per sé, ma manca di originalità. Per fortuna con la prossima avventura si rimescoleranno un bel po' le carte in tavola.
Ma vorrei almeno che tali episodi siano interessanti e varino un po', e che non siano sempre la stessa minestra riscaldata.
Perché questa è la terza volta di fila che assistiamo alla stessa premessa: ci sono delle tensioni con delle razze aliene, delle organizzazioni contattano Brax, Brax convince Benny ad accettare il caso, anche se lei preferirebbe stare a casa con Peter, Benny si ritrova al centro di una cospirazione (e dimentichiamoci il fatto che tecnicamente è un'archeologa e non una spia).
Non ci sarebbe nulla di male in questa trama se, per l'appunto, non fosse la terza consecutiva.
Ammetto che hanno cercato di rendere le cose più interessanti aggiungendo anche una minaccia di tipo ambientale, ma il risultato finale non è molto diverso rispetto a The Draconian Rage. Inoltre, la voce estremamente sibilante dei Sea Devils è difficile da seguire, specialmente quando fanno discorsi molto lunghi tra loro.
Parliamo un po' delle cose positive: c'è un bel discorso di Benny in cui si sente quanto è stanca di tutto questo, ma in cui esprime anche quanto è fortunata ad avere una famiglia e una casa e le motivazione che la spronano ad andare avanti. Un momento di introspezione ci voleva proprio in mezzo a tutte queste avventure.
Ci sono dei collegamenti con The Secret of Cassandra in quanto è ambientato sullo stesso pianeta, e alla fine un ammiccamento a quanto succederà prossimamente.
Non è per niente una storia brutta di per sé, ma manca di originalità. Per fortuna con la prossima avventura si rimescoleranno un bel po' le carte in tavola.
December 24, 2020
The Sea Devils make an appearance.
April 20, 2022
Wow. The sound editing for the Sea Devil voices was pretty terrible.
January 13, 2024
Well, maybe a 3.5, but let's be generous.
June 18, 2026
Boring
April 4, 2026
It's safe to say Doctor Who fans love The Sea Devils, but unfortunately not so much the stories they appear in. 'The Sea Devils' and 'The War Between The Land and The Sea' are fantastic stories, but while I consider 'Warriors of The Deep' to be a guilty pleasure, there's also the fact 'Legend of The Sea Devils exists'. So hopefully, despite the negative reviews behind this story, this will be arguably one of the stronger efforts.
A colony of Sea Devils has made a home on Chosan, many years after the war between the two nations ended. Braxiatel has sent Bernice Summerfield to prevent a terrible disaster from taking place. There are enemies who wish to harm the Sea Devils, but there's also something else lurking beneath the ocean that wishes to harm everyone on the planet.
David Bailey has written a strong anti-terrorist story (that acts as a sequel to 'The Secret of Cassandra') that takes an interesting twist of bringing an entity from the dawn of time into the story. The script's one of David's better efforts, but it's unfortunately ruined by the sound-design of the Sea Devils who are so badly implemented voice wise into the story it's hard to hear most of them except for the two major characters, which is unfortunate.
Overall: A delightful story, tarnished by a terrible production decision. 7/10
A colony of Sea Devils has made a home on Chosan, many years after the war between the two nations ended. Braxiatel has sent Bernice Summerfield to prevent a terrible disaster from taking place. There are enemies who wish to harm the Sea Devils, but there's also something else lurking beneath the ocean that wishes to harm everyone on the planet.
David Bailey has written a strong anti-terrorist story (that acts as a sequel to 'The Secret of Cassandra') that takes an interesting twist of bringing an entity from the dawn of time into the story. The script's one of David's better efforts, but it's unfortunately ruined by the sound-design of the Sea Devils who are so badly implemented voice wise into the story it's hard to hear most of them except for the two major characters, which is unfortunate.
Overall: A delightful story, tarnished by a terrible production decision. 7/10
Read
April 8, 2009For the first time ever, I have to mark a BF audio down quite severely for poor production values. The Poison Seas brings Benny back to the world of The Secret of Cassandra to visit an old friend who happens to be a Sea Devil colonist. Unfortunately the Sea Devil characters are almost incomprehensible thanks to their distorted sibilant voices, and their computer is completely impossible to make out. The plot seemed OK, and Jenny Livsey as human conspirator Carver showed promise, but the annoyance of not being able to hear half the dialogue properly made this in places quite an unpleasant listening experience.
August 9, 2010
The whole idea of sentient water would probably have seemed much more original back in the days before "The Waters of Mars" and even the later Benny story "Beyond the Sea". Not the story's fault, but there it is.
The bigger problem with this story is that Sea Devil voices are just damned hard to understand. This is a real problem when you have Sea Devils delivering critical exposition. I had to pay very close attention to follow along, and I'm sure I missed some nuances.
Still, the play has a nice atmosphere, and some nice character moments for Benny. It's not bad, but I wish it had been easier to listen to.
The bigger problem with this story is that Sea Devil voices are just damned hard to understand. This is a real problem when you have Sea Devils delivering critical exposition. I had to pay very close attention to follow along, and I'm sure I missed some nuances.
Still, the play has a nice atmosphere, and some nice character moments for Benny. It's not bad, but I wish it had been easier to listen to.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2022
Benny trying to stop terrorists from destroying the Sea devils. What a race to finish involving evolving life and angry people. Benny wouldn't be her if she didn't get involved in an adventure to save worlds.
July 26, 2013
Interesting story with a few twists, but very hard to hear the silurians' dialogue which took away from the enjoyment of the story.
July 23, 2024
You cannot make out what the sea devils are saying.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews