Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 4

Doom Coalition #4

by John Dorney, Matt Fitton, Paul McGann (Narrator)

The Doctor has been disposed of, and the end of the universe is nigh. There will only be one winner, but how many will lose?

4.1 Ship in a Bottle by John Dorney

The Doctor, Liv and Helen are hurtling into a future that has been utterly destroyed, trapped inside a shuttle with no possible means of escape. But with the lives of everyone in the universe in the balance, they've got to find one. And soon. When the stakes are this high, you can't just give up. Or can you?

4.2 Songs of Love by Matt Fitton

Left to fend for herself against a bunch of power-hungry plotters hell-bent on destroying the universe, what choice does a girl have but to throw in her lot with the winning side? Using her past to her advantage, River Song returns to the ancestral seat of the Time Lords to make her last stand.

4.3 The Side of the Angels by Matt Fitton

Cardinal Ollistra has plans for New York, plans which involve the Deputy Mayor and her sponsor, one ‘Reverend Mortimer’ – better known to the Doctor as the Meddling Monk. The Eleven arrives to stamp out the resistance, but that isn't the only danger the Doctor finds lurking in the shadows – for New York is a city of Weeping Angels.

4.4 Stop the Clock by John Dorney

The time has arrived. Events are in motion. The end of the universe is at hand and the Doctor and his friends have one hour to save eternity. Starting now.

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Time Travel, British Literature

6 pages, Audio CD

First published March 1, 2017

About the author

John Dorney is a British writer and actor best known for stage roles including the National Theatre, the BBC Radio 4 sitcom My First Planet; and his scripts for the Big Finish Doctor Who range. His script 'Solitaire' was rated the most popular Doctor Who Companion Chronicle of 2010 on the Timescales website and was the runner up in Unreality Sci-fi net's poll for Story of the Year 2010-11.

As well as Doctor Who, he has written for Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel series and on radio co-wrote three series of BBC Radio 4's Recorded for Training Purposes. He won the BBC Show Me the Funny 'Sketch Factor' competition, was a finalist in the BBC 'Laughing Stock' competition, and has performed in Mark Watson's Edinburgh Comedy Award winning long shows as 'The Balladeer'. On stage, he has written plays for the Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead and Soho Theatres.

He trained at LAMDA.

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very, very good. Two of my favourite big finish writers finishing up the story arc of the Eleven, the destruction of the universe, and the interweaving of River with the Eighth Doctor.

The first story picked up right where DC3 ended, The Doctor, Helen and Liv stuck in the unfinished escape capsule as the universe ended around them. As you'd expect from John Dorney it was a very emotional and personal script. I did end up in tears at one point. The women were resourceful and lovely. The Doctor had more to work with than he sometimes does.

The secound story had River on Gallifrey pretending to be one of the bad guys, which was as perfect as you'd imagine. Teaming up with the bad guys cause unlike them she'd actually managed to kill the Doctor!

The third story saw the weeping angels working with the Time Lords in New York in the 70s! Probably worth repeating that, the third story saw the weeping angels working with the Time Lords in New York in the 70s!!!!!! and Ollistra even! Matt also worked in a wonderful museum plot device! It was a beautifully balanced story. Normally I really dislike when Doctor Who goes to the US but not this time.

The fourth story tied up the Eleven, and the destruction of the universe in a VERY satisfying way. (no spoilers)

I really enjoyed the box set. While this may have ended this series. I really hope we get more adventures with Liv, Helen and Paul McGann's Doctor. They really are a superb team!

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought Doom Coalition was a bit boring up until the last story in the last set. This whole set was dramatic and exciting. Theres a fun bit with the Monk, clear set up building to the time war and more politics in Gallifrey.

[Taksya · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.1 Ship in a Bottle by John Dorney
Primo episodio, un assolo con il Dottore, Liv e Helen, utile per ritrovare il polso della situazione e capire dove e come eravano rimasti.
Un po' di introspezione e solita lezioncina da parte dei companion....al Dottore, indipendentemente dal numero, ogni tanto serve.

4.2 Songs of Love by Matt Fitton
Gallifrey ovvero Time Lords ovvero politica, complotti e soliti parrucconi pomposi che si parlano addosso.
Fortunatamente c'è River, che sembra trovarsi perfettamente a suo agio... anche se si troverà immancabilmente nei guai. Tutto come al solito insomma.
Ritroviamo anche The Eleven... ed era ora.

4.3 The Side of the Angels by Matt Fitton
Prendi qualche Time Lord, portali in una New York piena di Angeli e lascia che il Monaco si occupi dell'organizzazione.
Ottima ricetta per una catastrofe... anche se è stato divertente ritrovare il Meddling Monk e vedere come i rapporti con il Dottore non sono cambiati con il tempo.
Gli Angeli continuano a fare un buon effetto anche in audio, sfruttando alcune situazioni a la Byzantium.

4.4 Stop the Clock by John Dorney
Siamo alla resa dei conti. Evitare la fine dell'universo non è mai semplice ma, in maniera abbastanza semplice (e un po' tirata fuori dal nulla) riusciamo a farcela.

Il finale sembra definitivo, per quanto concerne la Sonomancer e Padrac, mentre sono in dubbio riguardo a The Eleven e, soprattutto alcune sottotrame lasciate fastidiosamente non risolte.
River è in una situazione critica (credevo sarebbe stata lei la risolutrice della vicenda) che sappiamo non essere definitiva, visto che Darillium e Biblioteca sono ancora da venire.
Inoltre dobbiamo recuperare un membro del Team Tardis... insomma, c'è largo spazio di manovra per un nuovo set di storie a proseguo della vicenda.
Non ci resta che attendere.

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was okay. I'm bummed that River only appears in one story in this series, as I felt she brought a lot to the table. I liked that The Eleven was the main villian, finally giving us a break from The Master and the Daleks. I enjoyed having the Doctor on Gallifrey.

[hhertzof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needs more River!

[Ellen Schoener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, just wow. This was amazing. Great story, great villains, lots of intrigue and twists and the acting was awesome. The whole Doom Coalition story arc was great, and I highly recommend it.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've been following my Doom Coalition reviews, you probably know that I am enjoying the crap out of this series. And the final box set here - it delivers a wonderful finale. Though certainly not in the way I expected.

"Ship in a Bottle" - It's a bottle episode. Ha ha - ISWYDT.

But really, this one was great. It's nice to have these stories where it's just Team TARDIS. And after the insanity of DC3 the Doctor, Liv, and Helen needed some time to decompress (as it were) and figure out what they're going to do. Not just in terms of getting out of the trap that Padrac stuck them in, but also to figure out their friendship and airing out everyone's grievances. And when that's done, it's right back into the seat-of-your-pants action and figuring out how they're going to get back to the regular universe and fix everything.

"Songs of Love" - Meanwhile, back at the ranch... River Song is left to discombobulate the Evil League of Evil Time Lords who are bent on destroying the entire universe, except for the Time Lords (I always find it funny that tyrannical despots think that things will be so much better when everyone they hate is dead and gone - I mean, they're never going to find reasons to get pissed off at the super-special-chosen-ones that are left? They're always going to find love and favor with the ones they've decided to spare? I highly doubt it). Anyway - the idea of the Time Lords interacting with River is hilarious. Mostly because she is kind of like them, but she is also soooooo not like them at all. They have no idea what to make of her and, which Padrac could plan for the Doctor's meddling, he had NO clue what River Song was capable of. That was the best part of this one, I think.

"The Side of the Angels" - So, this one confused me at first. What in the world were we doing going back to 1970s New York? And who is this Reverend? And why.... oh... oh, I get it! The Time Lords want to make NYC their new version of Gallifrey. But why New York City? All that's there is corruption and egos and snotty people who think they're better than the rest of the world... oh, okay. That makes sense. Never mind, this one's perfect.

Also, the Meddling Monk is kind of a personal favorite of mine. He's just an interesting character - a more mercenary version of the Doctor. Neither entirely good, nor entirely bad. Whenever Big Finish brings that character back, it's always a good time.

"Stop the Clock" - And here we are - the big finale. The one we've all been waiting for! And... Caleera finally figures out that she's in an abusive relationship and Padrac is never going to change and it's time to stop going back to him and finally turn her Sonomancer powers against him.

Though I did wonder how the Doctor thought his Eleven disguise was going to work. He may have looked like that lunatic, but there was no way he could manage the Eleven's personality and mannerisms. I suppose that wasn't the point.

And thus ends an wonderfully entertaining series of audio Doctor Who. There is kind of a cliffhanger to go into the next series, but certainly not as bad as DC3 sending Team TARDIS to be stranded in a busted up pod in a disintegrating vortex. In fact, that's what kind of motivated me to do this big binge-listen of these audio stories. I started with Ravenous 1, and felt like I was missing a few details. So I went back to the beginning with Dark Eyes and here I am now.

Doom Coalition as a whole was great. I love that they had the story mapped out from the beginning, because it felt like they were working towards a satisfying ending. But it wasn't so strictly mapped out that they couldn't add a few surprises and treats in (according to the BtS interviews on... DC2, I think? - Big Finish got the rights to River Song in the middle of working on this series, so they decided to put her in and it worked wonderfully). So, yeah - Dark Eyes might have gotten all the awards (there's no accounting for taste, I guess), but Doom Coalition was the best one. I hope this quality continues into Ravenous and beyond!

[Jamie Revell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the conclusion to what's effectively been a 16-episode "season" of 8th Doctor stories that, by this point, has built up quite a complex storyline. Considering how much had to be resolved and tied together, it's a surprisingly good finale, although obviously far from self-contained. The 8th Doctor stories are really knocking it out of the park at the moment.

• Ship in a Bottle – As implied by the title, this is effectively a “bottle show”, featuring just the Doctor and his companions trapped inside a time pod careering into oblivion with no apparent means of escape. This allows plenty of time for reflection, with the characters discussing their varying attitudes to the predicament. It’s also an examination of why the Doctor needs companions, with Liv being particularly strong in this one. It’s arguably a slow burn, although there are obviously moments of tension as the crew make various attempts to resolve the quandary, but it’s well placed, given the need to wrap everything up in the remaining three episodes.

• Songs of Love – River Song faces off against the Sonomancer in a story that contrasts the nature of their respective romantic relationships. Indeed, this only features the Doctor in the closing moments and even the companions are side-lined, only briefly present and reacting to events rather than driving them. Instead, the story is set on Gallifrey, as we see the Coalition’s plans moving towards fruition, and discover their true motives (which do turn out to be logical, even if their methodology is extreme). As befits a story that’s largely based around River, there are a number of ties to the new series, and while there’s relatively little action, there’s enough scheming and manipulation to make things move along quickly.

• The Side of the Angels - The connections to the new series are at least as strong here, in a story that brings back the Weeping Angels, and, in particular, builds on ideas and references in both The Time of Angels and The Angels Take Manhattan. It's the historical story for this particular volume, being set in 1970s New York, although it might as well have been the present day. featuring a group of Time Lords - two of whom are recurring characters from elsewhere in the audios - trying to come up with their own alternative plan to beat the Doom Coalition. Unsurprisingly, it all goes wrong, and there's some really good use of the Angels in a story that's high on tension as things move towards the climax.

• Stop the Clock - That final confrontation comes here, in another story set on Gallifrey. It manages to pull a number of threads together, with the three main villains of the series arc apparently on the verge of their final victory. There's plenty of action as the story runs in what's apparently more or less real time and there's a particularly good scene with the Eleven tormenting one of his psychologically damaged victims. While the main plot arc is concluded at the end in a satisfying way, there's also a cliffhanger of sorts, leaving things open for the next set of adventures.

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doom Coalition 4 is the epic ending to the epic adventure that is Doom Coalition. With Doctor 8 in the 2010s and after, Big Finish seems to want to bring him ever closer to Gallifrey. More and more, his fate is tangled up in that planet. Thus, Doom Coalition revolves around the concept of Save the Universe by Saving Gallifrey. And save it from what? Well, it turns out in Doom Coalition 3 it is not from the new mad Time Lord The Eleven, and not the even newer mad Time Lord The Clocksmith, but from ultra patriotic, snooty Civil Servant Time Lord, and, of course, a quondam friend of The Doctor, Padrac (finally, an evil Time Lord who does not have a "The" for a name). Thus, the Doom Coalition of the title is not The Doctor and pals, but Padrac + The Eleven + The Clocksmith + The Sonomancer (from earlier in the series). Part 1 of Doom Coalition 4, Ship in a Bottle, starts with The Doctor, Liv, and Helen, trapped in a lifeboat of sorts in a future that is rapidly disappearing. The story is an occasion for much self-reflection and confessions from the characters, as every effort to escape is doomed to fail. Of course, they do escape, but to what? Part Two, Songs of Love, concentrates on River Song, now seemingly a prisoner of Padrac. However, she schemes her way out, sort of, and exits the series via the Matrix, sort of (it is not really clear just what happens to her in there other than that she rescues The Doctor, who temporarily gets back all his memories of her, only to have her take them away again, which is becoming an all-too-easy out for Big Finish, and then just fade back into her regular timeline, maybe?) So, with River now out of the story, Part Three, The Side of the Angels, gets the TARDIS crew back together. They end up in an alternate New York City where The Monk has formed an alliance with Cardinal Ollistra and the Weeping Angels to create a new Gallifrey on Earth rather than make a direct strike against Padrac. This is an earlier Ollistra incarnation. This one might be the best episode of the four. Then, we get the big confrontation at the end with Stop the Clock. The whole series is fast-paced and keeps one riding along. Writers Fitton and Dorney tie up most the loose ends from Doom Coalition 1. Robert Bathurst is suitably upper-crusty arrogant as Padrac. I have a problem with the resolution, because it rests on Caleera/The Sonomancer being completely doolally for Padrac. The simplification of characters to simple types, to having just one dominant emotion or point of view, does not resonate with me. It seems to me like a solution derived from time constraints or lack of imagination, or both. In sum, Doom Coalition 4 works only if one has already listened to the rest of the Doom Coalition series. The scope is suitably big for Doctor Who, but there are many corners cut in terms of story, especially with the resolution.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another mixed bag for me.

Ship in a Bottle, by John Dorney (3.5 stars): The real highlight of this story was Liv confronting the Doctor about his actions in the previous box set. While I personally would have loved to have seen them dig into each other a bit more deeply, I was still immensely satisfied to see Liv call the Doctor out on his BS both in the previous box set and him taking out his anger and frustration on her and Helen. They are not his verbal punching bags tyvm. I also loved Liv's determination to keep going, to find a way out of their predicament, to try every option even when there's so little likelihood of them working. Liv Chenka you star I <3 you.

Songs of Love, by Matt Fitton (3 stars): AKA "Meanwhile back at the ranch on Gallifrey." It was interesting to see River on Gallifrey, I'll give you that. All River has ever known of it is the legends she's read about or what tiny tidbits the Doctor has let slip, and here, she's granted a chance to see it in all its complicated glory. And I love how her reaction is, basically, "No wonder he left." Still, it really felt like a bit of a filler, there to kill time until River was able to save Helen and Liv and help drag the Doctor out of the Time Vortex, seemingly at the cost of her own life (though we, of course, know differently).

The Side of the Angels, by Matt Fitton (4 stars): I'll admit, this story really fed my inner pettiness. Ollistra gets struck down for her hubris. The Monk, albeit an earlier version of him, gets his comeuppance for being such a flip-flopper all the damn time. Plus, it was a very nice throw back to the Lucie Miller era and the Monk's involvement in Tamsin's death. The Doctor *clearly* has not forgotten, to the point that he willingly leaves the Monk to the Weeping Angels, something that shocks the hell out of Liv and Helen, particularly when he never explains himself or his actions. Still, the episode did a great job portraying the menace of the Angels, particularly given the limitations of this format for such a thing. Very good story!

Stop the Clock, by John Dorney (3.5 stars): For the most part, the ending was pretty predictable. The Sonomancer *finally* sees that Padrac has been playing and manipulating her all along, and that is where salvation stems from. Though the Sonomancer can't stop him herself, she can save the one who can. Still, it wasn't all that exciting, and the pace dragged a fair bit.

[Xander Toner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, I got a little tired of the Doom Coalition storyline around halfway through the third box-set. This one did wrap up most of the threads fairly nicely, and even found a nice loophole in River Song’s appearance. There’s been a couple stand-out stories from these box-sets, namely The Red Lady and Absent Friends, both of which I plan to go back and listen to regardless of the overarching stories that they are collected within, and Ship in a Bottle I think joins those two. Seeing the Doctor, Liv and Helen pushed to almost breaking point, circumstance wise, definitely makes this the best story contained within this set. The rest, however, really involve themselves with Time Lord business, something I find can lose me if gone on for too long. River’s interactions with the various Gallifreyans helped alleviate this a little, the problem stuck around for me after she left. The Side of Angels was an alright enough story, it wasn’t particularly revolutionary from a Weeping Angel story standpoint, and mainly felt like a filler story, only there to add recognisable faces to the box art, like the Angels and the Monk. Overall, I’m glad I finally got around to listening to the Doom Coalition saga, but I doubt I’ll remember what actually happened in it for very long.

[Ashley Beery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked how they brought the Angels into this (Don't Blink) and other previous characters from the Whovian universe. What I didn't enjoy was River's story not getting finished, is she dead, is she not? Is she in limbo? If she is then this messes up Silence in the Library and the timeline for it. Then it's the same with the 11. Is the 11 dead? Or is the TARDIS energy really River since she is "the child of a TARDIS". Confusing.

Otherwise, the story was great, the 8th doctor felt a little left out of it in some spots where I would have liked him in some more. But still, a great listen.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doom Coalition 4 isn't quite as good as I'd have liked it to be. It's still really solid, but it doesn't quite reach the heights that Doom Coalition 3 did. Still, it's a solid and satisfying conclusion to the Doom Coalition series that answer the majority of questions and plot threads that have been explored throughout the series. It does make the rather strange decision to end on a cliffhanger with no news as to when that cliffhanger will ultimately be resolved, but even with that move, it's still satisfying and enjoyable. The performances from all of the actors are as strong as always, especially from Paul McGann, Hattie Morahan, and Emma Cunniffe. It's not quite as good as the last box set was, but it's still a lot of fun and I'm excited for the cliffhanger to be resolved. Until then, I'm looking forward to the series of Eighth Doctor Time War box sets.

(Full review on my blog)

[Darren Pearce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This audio book series continues to show that it can achieve the same level of story telling if not better than the TV series had over the years. The conclusion was as satisfying as any that I have watched at the end of a season. We'll worth checking out if you like Dr Who even a little. Just start with Black Eyes before this one. I think favourite aspect is that the characters that do evil things are not one dimensional, they have reasons for what they have done.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Big Finish production had a tough time against a rather bitty long drawn out (partly due to technical issues which meant some bits were repeated over and over) But I don't think that's the only reason it failed to engage in any major way. It wasn't bad or annoying, just OK.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starts off right away with some really good drama where The Doctor’s actions are called into question. He’s really come a long way from how he was in the 1996 TV movie. River plays her role very well throughout.

[Sara Habein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff leading up to the Time War.

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly the best set out of the whole Doom Coalition series.

[Radka · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

[Alba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but very complicated plot! I'll have to listen to it again some time....

[Katie Y. · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF

[Barry Bridges · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best Tardis teams, perfect for a journey or London and back!!

[Jurgen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.1 'Ship in a Bottle' by John Dorney: 5*
4.2 'Songs of Love' by Matt Fitton: 5*
4.3 'The Side of the Angels' by Matt Fitton: 4*
4.4 'Stop the Clock' by John Dorney: 4*

[Marcel Driel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serviceable ending, but not very memorable. The first episode, Ship in a bottle, is brilliant though .

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ship in a Bottle:
7/10
Verdict: Recommended

This is how you do "running around putting out fires" right. Speaking of that quote, the Doctor isn't at his best here, far from it, and that shifts up the dynamic between the team quite a bit. The energy of this is really fun with a nice sense of escalation.

Songs of Love:
6/10
Verdict: Recommended

Pretty functional story overall but still decently fun. River is a great manipulator in this, her unravelling lies are pretty entertaining to watch progress. Unfortunately a lot of this story depends on Padrac and the sonomancer, and between them they have the charisma of a soggy cheese sandwich. Gallifrey is a good setting, but not used at all here. You could set this story in an empty warehouse and it'd be more interesting.

The Side of the Angels:
6/10
Verdict: Recommended

Overall pretty iffy story. The weeping angels sort of work well in concept here, but a big part of the appeal there is what goes unseen by the characters, that's why Blink was so popular. This means that they're a bit weaker when the characters have to explain what actions have been taken. Same with the sound design, the 'Time of Angels' sound effect is used every time they move and it gets really irritating to listen to very fast. Everything with the Eleven is great, his charisma alone stops this story from being a 5/10. The Monk on the other hand... I love Rufus Hound, but I don't think the monk role is for him. This version is a bit too showboatey and I personally prefer a more sly weasely monk. A lot of the dialogue in this story is also pretty iffy, feeling really technical, being almost purely set-up for the finale, which means that this story's quality is tied to the next one.

Stop the Clock:
6/10
Verdict: Recommended

It's alright. The impersonation scenes were fun, the eleven was a joy as usual and Padrac / The Sonomancer were their usual selves. It's a serious shame they ruined the mystery behind 'that' story with the ending, even leaving it ambiguous would have been better. I guess it integrates all the Doom Coalition stories into this, for both good and bad.

[Anne Barwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ending for the series, looking forward to seeing where they go from here.

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liv, Helen and the doc chase 11 and the monk.