is a freelance comic writer and author. He is best known for his work on a variety of spin-offs from both Doctor Who and Star Wars, as well as comics and novels for Vikings, Pacific Rim, Sherlock Holmes, and Penguins of Madagascar.
Cavan Scott, along with Justina Ireland, Claudia Gray, Daniel Jose Older, and Charles Soule are crafting a new era in the Star Wars publishing world called Star Wars: The High Republic. Cavan's contribution to the era is a comic book series released through Marvel Comics titled Star Wars: The High Republic.
This is a sixth and seventh Doctor adventure with Evelyn Smythe as the sixth Doctor's companion. The story is #45 in the Big Finish main range and is a direct sequel to #23 in the same series, Doctor Who: Project: Twilight by the same author.
I came into this with some trepidation. I wasn't a fan of Project: Twilight, and an unlooked-for sequel is rarely a good place to start. However, I was quite pleasantly surprised. The structure here suits the story well with it being essentially two linked two-part episodes, the first two with the sixth Doctor and Evelyn and the second two with the seventh Doctor. That kept the pace up and Nimrod makes for an excellent villain who plays well against both these Doctors. The seventh Doctor in particular is the mastermind schemer of the latter part of that incarnation and that plays brilliantly against another evil genius.
It's just a shame you have to get through the first story to get to this one.
This is also an important story for Evelyn, and I'm a little worried that it presages that character leaving which would be a huge shame because this Doctor/companion pairing has been consistently brilliant.
In realtà 3 stelle per la storia e 1 per l'interazione tra Colin Baker e Sylvester McCoy. La storia è il seguito di Doctor Who: Project: Twilight. Il sesto Dottore e Evelyn tornano alla ricerca di Cassie, con una cura per il virus che l'ha contagiata... ma si trovano nuovamente coinvolti dei progetti della Forgia. Le vicende delle prime due parti lasciano Evelyn molto prostrata e in rotta con il Dottore, ma non sapremo se risolveranno i loro problemi, non in questo audio, perché le ultime due parti hanno il settimo Dottore come protagonista. Il progetto della Forgia sembra essere stato un successo, ma il settimo Dottore capisce presto che qualcosa non quadra. Tutto sembra concludersi per il meglio, ma il finale lascia un cliffhanger per un terzo audio. La storia è abbastanza sui generis, ma l'interazione tra i due Dottori è un piacere da ascoltare. Per il resto non ci resta che attendere la conclusione di questo arco narrativo.
This turned out great. It's a sequel to 'Project Twilight' (Big Finish release #23,) which I had mostly enjoyed very much.
I didn't really enjoy the first half of this one so much, it was a bit of a guilt trip story about Cassie having been left behind in the previous tale but at the end of that story Cassie was offered a ride in the TARDIS which she voluntarily refused... so the guilt tripping is a bit rich and I wasn't having it. This part of the story does remind us that Nimrod is a dick and then introduces us to Project Lazarus.
One other thing I've pretty much had enough of is Evelyn being portrayed as overly emotional and prone to tears. I've been noticing it in the last few Six releases and kind of excusing it as relevant to each story, but it's becoming such a trend that it feels like it is an intensional character development. We don't need that! Smythe had been a particularly enjoyable hardass! (I had always gotten Dr. Pulaski vibes, for those who remember her from TNG - more Star Trek references below)
Anyway, on to the second half and the story instantly gets much better. For me it's not that Seven is a better Doctor at all, Six and Seven are both fabulous, but every single time the Doctor bumps into himself I have had a grand old time as a spectator. So the excitement naturally sky-rocketed when Seven appeared and then when he met Six, even though the caveat to this meeting became instantly obvious, I was still prepared for great shenanigans.
As promised, there are two more Star Trek references required for this review. Completely odd and unexpected references. I have a pretty bad memory, so much so that even though I'd listened to the previous story just under two months earlier, I still had to google for an overview of the previous plot. Well I mentioned that because it could be that these traits are well established in the Doctor Who lore and that I've simply forgotten them, however to my surprise Seven pulls off two completely Vulcan moves. You guessed it, Seven performs a Vulcan Nerve Pinch shortly before conducting a Vulcan Mind Meld. Incredible.
The first story was creepy. This one isn't creepy but it is a dark concept. The first half serves to place Six back in contact with Nimrod but otherwise could be skipped. The second half is a delightfully dark tale which will be well worth your time. Enjoy!
Creepy, and depressing. Both Baker and McCoy did an awesome job, though. I haven't heard Project: Twilight, so I suspect I'm missing bits(I didn't realize this was a sequel until I was into it).
This is the type of story that I don't think Classic Who could have done. I suspect current Who might have trouble, come to that. I can't say I enjoyed Project: Lazarus, but it was certainly a fascinating listen. For that, and for the excellent voice talent, I give it 4 stars.
So I just finished listening to Project Twilight and Project: Lazarus and er...WOW. These two audios? *smashes cup* I LIKE IT. ANOTHER!
THANKS BIG FINISH FOR TEARING OUT MY HEART AND CAUSING EMOTIONS. These two audios were a train wreck of emotions when listening to them. So dark and bleak and poor Cassie but also that ending scene with Sixie and Evelyn just...beautiful 3
this one actually made me tear up - maggie stables was a gem and such a lovely actress. and her and colin baker are wonderful together. the ongoing arc of their characters is so involving and well written.
Project: Lazarus really had my emotions in a whiplash. I bought it because I was eager for Six and Seven to interact, but they don't meet until the very end of part two. Because of that, the story dragged on dreadfully. Part 3 was fantastic, but then a twist ended up disappointing me. Great concept perhaps on paper, but I really wasn't fond of the execution.
This, second in the "Forge" series, has a lot going for it and seems to have a stronger reason for existing that the first one, Project Twilight, but it still seems to fall apart at the end. Again we are dealing with "The Forge" a sort of inverse Torchwood where alien tech and aliens are captured and are experimented on in order to find weapons for... um, somebody. And again we've got a vampire virus and a mythological siren kind of thing and... well, you get it. The trick here is that the story is told across two Doctor's timelines. The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn occupy the first two episodes and while there is some nonsense (The Forge's mind control techniques leave much to be desired.), there is also a gut punch of an emotional ride with The Doctor, Evelyn and Cassie. Without giving too much away, it leads to a The Doctor being left in a position so outside his comfort zone that it seems things may never be right again. Then the Seventh Doctor half begins and the story seems to have nowhere else to really go. There is an attempt at a twist that you will see a mile away and the solution to the dilemma is way too cheap.
But that first half is awfully good! And I am reminded that, perhaps, the most revolutionary thing Big Finish has done is the pairing of Colin Baker and Maggie Stables.
When I first started listening to it, I was rather excited they brought back the season 23 theme tune, which I've always really liked. I was looking forward to Colin Baker & Sylvester McCoy interact, and they do have a few good moments. Overall, it felt a bit choppy that Evelyn is beside herself with grief at the end of episode 2, and then that's the last we see(hear) from her, as we skip a beat in the record groove to McCoy's timeline. I'm not against jumping around in time, but I dunno, felt a bit off. Nimrod's diabolical plans I couldn't really wrap my head around, other than something to do with cloning. Big Finish has a tendency to have people screaming in agony in audio when dying, or being tortured, can be bit much to listen to at times. I sometimes feel a bit lost when they have action sequences and a lot of explosions, scurry. oh, and I'm not sure, sounds like Sylvester McCoy uses the word 'fucking' in episode 3, I went back a couple of times, and sounds that way ?
It's the (sort of) middle part of a very long story arc, and this one episode consisted of two different not-unrelated plot, so there's a couple of rushed nuance here and there. A little bit exposition to speed things up. But a bore it is not. It's an emotional roller coaster, and boy don't the actors delivered it perfectly. Maggie Stables, bless her, was the highlight in the first plot; and Colin Baker just stole the entire show in the second plot.
I liked this one, although it at times felt like two different stories. They were connected, but not as much as I had hoped. The more I listen to 6 and Evelyn, the more I like the duo. Also, it felt kind of rushed for the amount of story it was trying to tell. Having said all that, it was entertaining.
Pretty good with a nice little twist towards the end. I always like to hear multiple Doctors co-operate (or not) to achieve something and these two have good chemistry.
For some reason I find it a little bit forgettable, though. But that may just be my memory. Or lack of one.
With a character named Nimrod, my expectations were not high. This is not a story with a terribly happy ending, but McCoy and Baker put in terrific performances. Listen to Project Twilight first! This is part 2.
Sad one, but good. They've used a version of this plot twist in other media — this came out first, but I saw the TV episode before I heard this — so I saw that coming, but that's not really the story's fault.
Good pacing, relatively short length for a Big Finish story which kept it from feeling boring. Great performances from the cast especially the late Maggie Stables as Evelyn. I do like that despite the drama and darkness of the story, there are moments of humour - one in particular, the opening 'tea/breakfast' back-and-forth is grimly paralleled in the closing of the first act.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The second part of the "Project" trilogy/pentalogy is every bit as strong as the first, but in a different way. This time, Scott & Wright employ an experimental format, which certainly shakes the story up a bit and keeps the Forge and Nimrod as interesting villains which span a larger portion of the Doctor's life than most.
(Spoilers):
I was actually pleasantly surprised to have been misled by the cover. This is NOT a multi-Doctor story, but rather, one-half Sixth Doctor and one-half Seventh Doctor. The two incarnations themselves do not interact - You may think they do at first, but there's a twist.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
2004. Having discovered the cure to the Forge Virus, the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn travel to Norway seeking Cassie. They find her, but much time has passed and she now works for the Forge and goes by the name of Artemis. At the Forge on Dartmoor, Nimrod conducts a terrible experiment on the Doctor, attempting to force him to regenerate by electrocution. Evelyn talks to Cassie about her son, whom she had forgotten due to Nimrod's brainwashing, and making her realise Nimrod's evil intentions. Cassie tells Evelyn that she knows the secret that she keeps from the Doctor — she has a heart condition and had had an attack just before travelling with the Doctor. She had been afraid to tell him as she thought the Doctor would not allow her to travel with him as his companion. Cassie frees the Doctor, but is killed by Nimrod. Evelyn is distraught, and upset at the Doctor for leaving Cassie behind. Nearly four years later, the Seventh Doctor detects an anomaly in the vortex, which leads him to the Forge. There he meets his sixth self who is now working as the Forge's scientific advisor and Nimrod is conducting an experiment on the alien Huldran. Other Huldran creatures attack the Forge, and the Sixth Doctor is injured losing his arm. Knowing that he had never lost an arm, the Seventh Doctor makes mind contact and realises that it is in fact only a clone, his DNA taken from him when he endured Nimrod's regeneration experiment. As the Seventh Doctor and the clone Doctor uncover Nimrod's awful experiment, it is revealed that clone is just one of many — Nimrod has lost count of the total. The clone Doctor uses his perfect mimicry of Nimrod's voice and instigates the Hades protocol causing the Forge to shut down, ending all of Nimrod's experiments. The Seventh Doctor apparently escapes with the Forge's human staff and the Huldran, however, Lysanda Aristedes suggests to Ace in Project: Destiny that this was many of her colleagues were killed on Dartmoor. The Forge is not totally destroyed however, as the Oracle computer is heard stating that the back up facility has been created.
Believing he has discovered an antidote that will cure Cassie (last appearing in Project: Twilight) the Doctor and Evelyn hope to return to Earth just after they dropped Cassie off in Norway. Unfortunately, they're off a few years, and discover that rather than hiding from The Forge, Cassie's now working for The Forge and Nimrod.
This is a pretty dark story. Cassie's angry and bitter (understandably) and it doesn't end well for The Doctor and Evelyn. But that's just the first two episodes. Episodes three and four bring in the Seventh Doctor who discovers more about Nimrod's experiments. It's all pretty gruesome (someone lose an arm!) but it's an intriguing continuation of the Forge storyline. And because the Forge arc crosses the timelines of two different Doctors with this story, I have no idea how it branches out from here. Probably best to just figure out which Forge story was released next.
A multi-Doctor (6th and 7th) story which really puts you through the wringer in terms of emotions.
A sequel to 'Project: Twilight', this audio play sees the 6th Doctor and companion Evelyn track down Cassie, a young girl who was turned into a vampire in Project: Twilight, with a cure for her. Except Cassie is now known as Artemis and working for the sinister and down-right-nasty Nimrod, who has planned to trap the Doctor and experiment on him.
Nimrod is especially interested in the Doctor's ability to regenerate, so embarks on almost killing the Doctor so a regeneration would be brought on. Luckily, and thanks to a sacrifice from Cassie/Artemis, the 6th Doctor barely escapes. Returning to the TARDIS, Evelyn is inconsolable over Cassie's death, and it seems the friendship between Evelyn and the Doctor is on the rocks.
And then halfway through, we are suddenly with the 7th Doctor who has returned to The Forge, Nimrod's base, where he is taken aback to find the 6th Doctor there, working as adviser to Nimrod. How can this be when the 7th Doctor has no knowledge of this ever happening? Well, buy yourself a copy and find out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.