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Tales from the Tardis #2
Doctor Who: Tales from the Tardis, Volume Two
The Planet of the Daleks Read by Jon Pertwee
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Jo to Spiridon, where they meet old allies — and old enemies.
Warriors of the Deep Read by Peter Davison
In 2084, Earth's superpowers inhabit the far corners of the ocean bed. But they are not alone!
Vengeance on Varos Read by Colin Baker
The Doctor and Peri encounter the reptilian Sil, and a populace entertained by video sadism.
The Novel of the Film Read by Paul McGann
The Time Lord's eighth incarnation is born in this novelisation of the 1996 TV movie Doctor Who.
Earth and Beyond Read by Paul McGann
Travel broadens the mind for the Eighth Doctor and Sam in this trio of original short stories.
Incidental music from the original TV stories is also included.
For PC and Mac users, this MP3-CD also features a special TARDIS-themed viewer screen, images from the original series, excerpts from other Doctor Who CD releases, web links and additional features.
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Jo to Spiridon, where they meet old allies — and old enemies.
Warriors of the Deep Read by Peter Davison
In 2084, Earth's superpowers inhabit the far corners of the ocean bed. But they are not alone!
Vengeance on Varos Read by Colin Baker
The Doctor and Peri encounter the reptilian Sil, and a populace entertained by video sadism.
The Novel of the Film Read by Paul McGann
The Time Lord's eighth incarnation is born in this novelisation of the 1996 TV movie Doctor Who.
Earth and Beyond Read by Paul McGann
Travel broadens the mind for the Eighth Doctor and Sam in this trio of original short stories.
Incidental music from the original TV stories is also included.
For PC and Mac users, this MP3-CD also features a special TARDIS-themed viewer screen, images from the original series, excerpts from other Doctor Who CD releases, web links and additional features.
MP3 CD
First published July 19, 2004
About the author
Terrance Dicks
344 books225 followersTerrance Dicks was an English author, screenwriter, script editor, and producer best known for his extensive contributions to Doctor Who. Serving as the show's script editor from 1968 to 1974, he helped shape many core elements of the series, including the concept of regeneration, the development of the Time Lords, and the naming of the Doctor’s home planet, Gallifrey. His tenure coincided with major thematic expansions, and he worked closely with producer Barry Letts to bring a socially aware tone to the show. Dicks later wrote several Doctor Who serials, including Robot, Horror of Fang Rock, and The Five Doctors, the 20th-anniversary special.
In parallel with his television work, Dicks became one of the most prolific writers of Doctor Who novelisations for Target Books, authoring over 60 titles and serving as the de facto editor of the range. These adaptations introduced a generation of young readers to the franchise. Beyond Doctor Who, he also wrote original novels, including children’s horror and adventure series such as The Baker Street Irregulars, Star Quest, and The Adventures of Goliath.
Dicks also worked on other television programmes including The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and various BBC literary adaptations. His later work included audio dramas and novels tied to Doctor Who. Widely respected for his clarity, imagination, and dedication to storytelling, he remained a central figure in Doctor Who fandom until his death in 2019, leaving behind a vast legacy in television and children's literature.
In parallel with his television work, Dicks became one of the most prolific writers of Doctor Who novelisations for Target Books, authoring over 60 titles and serving as the de facto editor of the range. These adaptations introduced a generation of young readers to the franchise. Beyond Doctor Who, he also wrote original novels, including children’s horror and adventure series such as The Baker Street Irregulars, Star Quest, and The Adventures of Goliath.
Dicks also worked on other television programmes including The Avengers, Moonbase 3, and various BBC literary adaptations. His later work included audio dramas and novels tied to Doctor Who. Widely respected for his clarity, imagination, and dedication to storytelling, he remained a central figure in Doctor Who fandom until his death in 2019, leaving behind a vast legacy in television and children's literature.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 20, 2023
This collection contains four abridged Target Novelizations and three short stories read by their respective Doctors. The first novelization is Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks. I listened to the unabridged audio back in 2021 and enjoyed it. This version is read by the Third Doctor himself: Jon Pertwee. Pertwee does a great job, though his Dalek voice leaves a bit to be desired. I would've loved to hear Pertwee's narration married to Nick Briggs' Daleks. The second novelization is Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep read by the Fifth Doctor: Peter Davison. Davison is probably the weakest narrator of the set, but is still really good. The novel definitely fleshes out the setting of the TV story and fixes/eliminates most of the production issues the plagued this story on TV. The third novelization is Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos read by the Sixth Doctor: Colin Baker. Baker does an excellent job and is surprisingly really good at capturing the character of Sil. The fourth novelization is Doctor Who: The TV Movie read by the Eighth Doctor: Paul McGann. It was good, but there's not really anything else to say about it. McGann does a good job.
The three short stories were originally released in 1998 on cassette as Doctor Who: Earth and Beyond. This was the reason I picked up this collection. The three stories are read by Paul McGann who does a good job of it and feature the Eighth Doctor and his companion from the novels, Sam Jones. The first story, Bounty, was exclusive to the original set and sees the Doctor and Sam in the Seychelles when they run afoul of an alien bounty hunter. A fun early Sam story that wasn't too Sci-fi or timey-wimey. The second story, Dead Time, sees the TARDIS die in a black void where the Doctor and Sam are imprisoned by an ancient Gallifreyan experiment. It was good, a bit creepy, but took a bit to get to the good stuff. The third story, The People's Temple, was probably my favorite. When Sam wants to see the creation of Stonehenge, she finds the past is a dangerous place. All told, this was an excellent set. Though abridged, the novelizations were good, and the short stories were a delight. A great set for Doctor Who fans.
The three short stories were originally released in 1998 on cassette as Doctor Who: Earth and Beyond. This was the reason I picked up this collection. The three stories are read by Paul McGann who does a good job of it and feature the Eighth Doctor and his companion from the novels, Sam Jones. The first story, Bounty, was exclusive to the original set and sees the Doctor and Sam in the Seychelles when they run afoul of an alien bounty hunter. A fun early Sam story that wasn't too Sci-fi or timey-wimey. The second story, Dead Time, sees the TARDIS die in a black void where the Doctor and Sam are imprisoned by an ancient Gallifreyan experiment. It was good, a bit creepy, but took a bit to get to the good stuff. The third story, The People's Temple, was probably my favorite. When Sam wants to see the creation of Stonehenge, she finds the past is a dangerous place. All told, this was an excellent set. Though abridged, the novelizations were good, and the short stories were a delight. A great set for Doctor Who fans.
August 23, 2024
- The Planet of the Daleks (read by Jon Pertwee)
This is a one person narration story, with occasional ambient music & sound effects. Jon Pertwee still sounds great as the Doctor, his voice making everything sound action packed.
- Warriors of the Deep (read by Peter Davison)
Done in the same way as the previous one (one person narrates, etc), but not as much fun to listen to. Davison doesn't sound as engaged with the material as Pertwee.
- Vengeance on Varos (read by Colin Baker)
One thing I've learned here, is that Colin Baker is really good at differentiating between multiple characters (his 'Peri voice' is hilarious!).
- TV Movie (read by Paul McGann)
The more recently released movie audiobook has Dan Starkey (aka the Commander Strax) narrating, but this is the first version, and has Paul McGann reading the slightly abridged movie novelization. This was done years before he ever became involved with Big Finish, and he sounds really good here. So buy this audio boxset and listen to this story, to hear Paul McGann say gems like "party on" & "jump start the Tardis".
- Earth and Beyond (all three mini stories read by Paul McGann)
The first story (Bounty) starts with the Doctor & Sam stumbling onto an alien artifact on a Seychelles beach, and chaos starts from there. Some nice character building moments for the Doctor & his new companion. A nice geeky plus is that Babylon 5 is name checked.
The second story (Dead Time) is my favorite. It's creepy & eerie, and is perfect if you want your Doctor Who really spooky. It starts in the middle of action already, with the Doctor & Sam stuck in jail & trying to figure out where AND when they are. If you loved the recent Doctor Who Special called "Wild Blue Yonder", you'll appreciate the mood here.
The third story (The People's Temple) is the longest out of three. While the previous two moved rather quickly, this one takes its time with setting up the world that the Doctor & Sam visit (after she asks the Doctor to visit a favorite place of hers to see how it started). There's a lot of action & conflict, and you don't even notice that it's all being narrated by just one person.
This is a one person narration story, with occasional ambient music & sound effects. Jon Pertwee still sounds great as the Doctor, his voice making everything sound action packed.
- Warriors of the Deep (read by Peter Davison)
Done in the same way as the previous one (one person narrates, etc), but not as much fun to listen to. Davison doesn't sound as engaged with the material as Pertwee.
- Vengeance on Varos (read by Colin Baker)
One thing I've learned here, is that Colin Baker is really good at differentiating between multiple characters (his 'Peri voice' is hilarious!).
- TV Movie (read by Paul McGann)
The more recently released movie audiobook has Dan Starkey (aka the Commander Strax) narrating, but this is the first version, and has Paul McGann reading the slightly abridged movie novelization. This was done years before he ever became involved with Big Finish, and he sounds really good here. So buy this audio boxset and listen to this story, to hear Paul McGann say gems like "party on" & "jump start the Tardis".
- Earth and Beyond (all three mini stories read by Paul McGann)
The first story (Bounty) starts with the Doctor & Sam stumbling onto an alien artifact on a Seychelles beach, and chaos starts from there. Some nice character building moments for the Doctor & his new companion. A nice geeky plus is that Babylon 5 is name checked.
The second story (Dead Time) is my favorite. It's creepy & eerie, and is perfect if you want your Doctor Who really spooky. It starts in the middle of action already, with the Doctor & Sam stuck in jail & trying to figure out where AND when they are. If you loved the recent Doctor Who Special called "Wild Blue Yonder", you'll appreciate the mood here.
The third story (The People's Temple) is the longest out of three. While the previous two moved rather quickly, this one takes its time with setting up the world that the Doctor & Sam visit (after she asks the Doctor to visit a favorite place of hers to see how it started). There's a lot of action & conflict, and you don't even notice that it's all being narrated by just one person.
October 19, 2020
This collection was a lot of fun. It took me awhile to get through as well, because there's over ten hours of stories on here. There's a story from the 3rd Doctor, the 5th, the 6th, The Doctor Who movie (with Doctor 8) and three brand new stories with the 8th Doctor and his companion, Sam. The good parts about this set were most definitely the fact that all the stories were narrated by the Doctors: Pertwee, Davison, Baker and McGann all did them justice, even if occasionally they went a little too far with the voices (I'm looking at you, Pertwee with the Dalek voices, and you, Baker, for Sil and Peri!). The other unexpected joy was finding three brand new 8th Doctor stories at the end of the audiobook; The Bounty, The Forgotten and The People's Temple. My favorite was by far the last one, but they were all well written and beautifully narrated by Paul McGann's buttery voice. The one drawback here was the other stories were simply novelizations of episodes of the TV show. They weren't new stories. That was rather disappointing- but the collection was still enjoyable.
December 29, 2020
It is great to hear the audio version of these stories narrated by the Doctors that starred in them.
Jon Pertwee does a great job. My only criticism is that he can not do Dalek voices.
Peter Davison is great . But, he could not do Teagan's Aussie accent.
Colin Baker did a great job. I loved his Sil.
For Paul McGan's stories, he did his TV movie as well as some short stories written for the 8th Doctor. I am glad that they removed the televised references to the Doctor being half human.
Jon Pertwee does a great job. My only criticism is that he can not do Dalek voices.
Peter Davison is great . But, he could not do Teagan's Aussie accent.
Colin Baker did a great job. I loved his Sil.
For Paul McGan's stories, he did his TV movie as well as some short stories written for the 8th Doctor. I am glad that they removed the televised references to the Doctor being half human.
January 21, 2009
Like the other Tales from the Tardis volume, this one is a mixed bag, though I think it's stronger than its predecessor. (Not quite enough to nudge it up to 4 stars, but I debated.)
The standout here is definitely the short story collection Earth and Beyond, especially Peter Anghelides's story "Bounty", which singlehandedly changed Sam Jones from a character that I was fairly indifferent to to a character that I find quite interesting. Paul McGann's voice work is up to its usual standard here as well.
For me, the most interesting thing about Doctor Who: The Novel of the Film was seeing writer Gary Russell's attempts to eliminate most of the things in the movie that outraged fans. All that stuff about the Doctor being half human? Gone. That bit about the Daleks putting the Master on trial? Likewise. The kissing stays in, although Russell has the Doctor say something along the lines of, "Sorry, I don't usually do that." There's even an explanation of how the 8th Doctor got ahold of some jelly babies. The one flaw that Gary Russell can't remedy is the fact that the plot resolution is an absurdity wrapped in a bunch of incomprehensible technobabble. Ah well. It's still decent fun.
Warriors of the Deep probably benefits from being on audio - even if it's still horribly over-lit in my imagination, the Myrka looks a bit better.
Planet of the Daleks is a fun little runaround, even if Pertwee's Dalek voices sound a bit like they have head colds. There really doesn't seem to be enough plot here to make a 6 parter - either they abridged the heck out of the novelization, or the TV story (which I've not yet seen) must be quite padded.
Vengeance on Varos probably also benefits from being on audio, although Colin Baker's impressions of Peri and Sil get a bit grating. (Arguably no more grating than the real thing.)
The standout here is definitely the short story collection Earth and Beyond, especially Peter Anghelides's story "Bounty", which singlehandedly changed Sam Jones from a character that I was fairly indifferent to to a character that I find quite interesting. Paul McGann's voice work is up to its usual standard here as well.
For me, the most interesting thing about Doctor Who: The Novel of the Film was seeing writer Gary Russell's attempts to eliminate most of the things in the movie that outraged fans. All that stuff about the Doctor being half human? Gone. That bit about the Daleks putting the Master on trial? Likewise. The kissing stays in, although Russell has the Doctor say something along the lines of, "Sorry, I don't usually do that." There's even an explanation of how the 8th Doctor got ahold of some jelly babies. The one flaw that Gary Russell can't remedy is the fact that the plot resolution is an absurdity wrapped in a bunch of incomprehensible technobabble. Ah well. It's still decent fun.
Warriors of the Deep probably benefits from being on audio - even if it's still horribly over-lit in my imagination, the Myrka looks a bit better.
Planet of the Daleks is a fun little runaround, even if Pertwee's Dalek voices sound a bit like they have head colds. There really doesn't seem to be enough plot here to make a 6 parter - either they abridged the heck out of the novelization, or the TV story (which I've not yet seen) must be quite padded.
Vengeance on Varos probably also benefits from being on audio, although Colin Baker's impressions of Peri and Sil get a bit grating. (Arguably no more grating than the real thing.)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews