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Big Finish: Monthly Range #109
Doctor Who: The Death Collectors
THE DEATH COLLECTORS
There is only death.
A virulent disease that killed millions. A missing scientist. An ancient race of salvagers who collect and preserve the dead. The quarantined planet Antikon connects them all.
When the Doctor arrives on a sky station above Antikon, a single accident has already set in motion a chain of events that will mean the death of every living thing.
And the only way he can stop it is to die. Again.
SPIDER'S SHADOW
It is the eve of battle and the Martial Princesses Louise and Alison are hosting a royal ball. But there are unwelcome visitors in the garden and a sequence of events spiralling out of control. And what's more, The Doctor doesn't even remember arriving.
There is only death.
A virulent disease that killed millions. A missing scientist. An ancient race of salvagers who collect and preserve the dead. The quarantined planet Antikon connects them all.
When the Doctor arrives on a sky station above Antikon, a single accident has already set in motion a chain of events that will mean the death of every living thing.
And the only way he can stop it is to die. Again.
SPIDER'S SHADOW
It is the eve of battle and the Martial Princesses Louise and Alison are hosting a royal ball. But there are unwelcome visitors in the garden and a sequence of events spiralling out of control. And what's more, The Doctor doesn't even remember arriving.
Audio CD
First published June 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 12, 2022
Well both of these stories were kind of lame, but Seven really holds the whole thing together. His voice acting is just superb and being one of the more dynamic Doctors his range is most impressive in this format.
I gave it a 4-star rating on my first listen (2021) and it probably felt more like a 3-star listen this time (2022) but I'm going to go ahead and leave the rating as it is. Seven really shines.
I listened to this over 24 hours ago so I can't remember much about the first story. Yes. My memory is that bad. I do remember being a little bored by the plot, but enjoying the overall performance.
The second story is told in a rather disjointed fashion, unsettling for the listener at first, but it eventually ties up neatly. I'd say probably avoid this one if you're a serious arachnophobe, but the spiders don't take up a very large portion and were not a main focus of the story for me.
I gave it a 4-star rating on my first listen (2021) and it probably felt more like a 3-star listen this time (2022) but I'm going to go ahead and leave the rating as it is. Seven really shines.
I listened to this over 24 hours ago so I can't remember much about the first story. Yes. My memory is that bad. I do remember being a little bored by the plot, but enjoying the overall performance.
The second story is told in a rather disjointed fashion, unsettling for the listener at first, but it eventually ties up neatly. I'd say probably avoid this one if you're a serious arachnophobe, but the spiders don't take up a very large portion and were not a main focus of the story for me.
December 16, 2020
DEATH COLLECTORS:
This three-part story sees the Seventh Doctor travelling by himself and in good form. Sheargold brings an original premise to the table but Big Finish have peppered the production with (commendably realistic?) sound effects, distortions and scratchy voices, rendering key points unintelligible.
SPIDER'S SHADOW:
An uncredited one-part coda to Stewart Sheargold’s ‘The Death Collectors’. The in-story repetition is clunky at first (to the point of sounding like a recording error) yet gradually refines itself into a clever little time-trap mystery. Sylvester McCoy rolls with the punches.
This three-part story sees the Seventh Doctor travelling by himself and in good form. Sheargold brings an original premise to the table but Big Finish have peppered the production with (commendably realistic?) sound effects, distortions and scratchy voices, rendering key points unintelligible.
SPIDER'S SHADOW:
An uncredited one-part coda to Stewart Sheargold’s ‘The Death Collectors’. The in-story repetition is clunky at first (to the point of sounding like a recording error) yet gradually refines itself into a clever little time-trap mystery. Sylvester McCoy rolls with the punches.
October 17, 2021
This is my kind of scifi horror. Ticks several of my boxes. It's very light on the campiness, but that's good for this story. Highly recommend. Even if you don't know the 7th Doctor, as this is very much a standalone story. Knowing him more wouldn't hurt your enjoyment, but if this is your first Doctor Who audio, you'll be fine.
It's a three parter followed by a one part, barely related follow-up adventure in the same release, called Spider's Shadow. It's pretty interesting, too.
It's a three parter followed by a one part, barely related follow-up adventure in the same release, called Spider's Shadow. It's pretty interesting, too.
January 21, 2016
The Doctor lands on a space station that a deadly virus has been unleashed. Can he stop it from spreading. Afterwards he lands on a planet that has sisters at each others throats the night before battle.
June 28, 2022
This is one of the sets that have 1 3-part story and 1 1-part story. Both have the same writer, and the second is a sort-of sequel to the first. Solo Doctor 7 follows a distress call to a space station dedicated to researching a mysterious disease called "Decay." The station is aligned with some beings called Dar Traders, who exist on the brink of death and who "trade," though we do not know what they trade, for people's deaths. Problems with this one for me are that the writer has not really worked out the properties of either Decay or the Dar Traders all the way through, which means that they tend to be whatever is needed at the moment to serve the plot. The 1-parter is a timey-wimey story in which The Doctor and couple of princesses are trapped in a time-loop that is gradually getting chaotic. The lesson seems to be "tell your little sister she's pretty." Writer Sheargold apparently likes his extra-dimensional beings that poke into our universe. As with The Death Collectors, these elements feel like lazy writing to allow whatever the writer wants to happen rather than to work out the logic of the initial idea.
January 11, 2019
The story deals with a deadly plague called Decay, that senses death, and it's very interested in the Doctor. Overproduced. Too much audio noise, lots of screeching, screaming and just NOISE meant to be alien. Could have been interesting, but... for a full review, visit www.travelingthevortex.com
November 5, 2019
Well... that was weird.
That's really all I've got. It was weird. Also, the Seventh Doctor really needs companions to balance out his stories. This one just... didn't work quite right.
That's really all I've got. It was weird. Also, the Seventh Doctor really needs companions to balance out his stories. This one just... didn't work quite right.
December 22, 2024
Entirely forgettable
November 18, 2017
Another somewhat disappointing entry in the 7th Doctor audio plays. As with a number of other such stories set before the TV movie, when the Doctor is travelling alone, there is a fair bit of musing on mortality, and, as is also usual, it doesn't really come off.
The story does benefit from some hard sci-fi elements that make it more believable than stories set in the future normally are - there's a significant risk from vacuum, for example. But these are offset not least by the Death Collectors themselves; quite what it is they're supposed to be doing isn't terribly clear.
There's a sense of a dark, brooding atmosphere here, an homage, perhaps, to something like Alien, but the story certainly isn't in that league, and, despite some efforts at exposition never quite made sense to me. It's grim, yes, and it's done reasonably well, but that's about it.
Attached to the end is the 30-minute story "Spider's Shadow", a story about a time loop that's quite a bit better than the main feature. The disjointed nature of the narrative works in its favour, without making it difficult to follow. But it doesn't manage to pull the release as a whole above 3 stars.
The story does benefit from some hard sci-fi elements that make it more believable than stories set in the future normally are - there's a significant risk from vacuum, for example. But these are offset not least by the Death Collectors themselves; quite what it is they're supposed to be doing isn't terribly clear.
There's a sense of a dark, brooding atmosphere here, an homage, perhaps, to something like Alien, but the story certainly isn't in that league, and, despite some efforts at exposition never quite made sense to me. It's grim, yes, and it's done reasonably well, but that's about it.
Attached to the end is the 30-minute story "Spider's Shadow", a story about a time loop that's quite a bit better than the main feature. The disjointed nature of the narrative works in its favour, without making it difficult to follow. But it doesn't manage to pull the release as a whole above 3 stars.
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April 8, 2009The Death Collectors failed totally to engage my interest, yet more monsters with silly voices and Sylvester McCoy shouting a lot.[return][return]By contrast the one-ep story Spider's Shadow, on the same BF release, seemed to me a really neat time/space paradox with Seven trying desperately to avoid being caught by the bubble as it collapses.
October 13, 2014
As one might reasonably infer from the play’s morose title, this play is about death. And it’s grim.
August 25, 2015
This story is set close to the ending 7s life. Aside from this hook , it is a pretty bad story .
well-i-tried
October 7, 2015DNF. this is a good example of how casting a known actress can backfire.
June 11, 2015
Seven, sans Companion, though not for lack of trying. Decay. Trade. Meh.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews