Doctor Who: The Maltese Penguin

The Sixth Doctor Adventures

by Robert Shearman, Colin Baker (Narrator), Robert Jezek (Narrator)

It was just another quiet day on the mean streets for Frobisher, private eye. But then a dame walks into his office and into his life. A dame who is drop dead gorgeous and drop dead deadly, offering him a case he just can't refuse.

Well, he could refuse it. If he really wanted to. But he has to pay the rent.

When their paths cross, Frobisher finds himself involved in a web of mayhem and intrigue. A web of gangland killings, corrupt cops, sentient bloodstains, and very rude hotel receptionists. A web of murder and deceit, treachery and fisticuffs.

That sort of web. You know. The sticky kind.

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

Audio CD

First published November 14, 2002

About the author

Robert Shearman has worked as a writer for television, radio and the stage. He was appointed resident dramatist at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter and has received several international awards for his theatrical work, including the Sunday Times Playwriting Award, the World Drama Trust Award and the Guinness Award for Ingenuity in association with the Royal National Theatre. His plays have been regularly produced by Alan Ayckbourn, and on BBC Radio by Martin Jarvis. However, he is probably best known as a writer for Doctor Who, reintroducing the Daleks for its BAFTA winning first series, in an episode nominated for a Hugo Award.

His first collection of short stories, Tiny Deaths, was published by Comma Press in 2007. It won the World Fantasy Award for best collection, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and nominated for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize. One of the stories from it was selected by the National Library Board of Singapore as part of the annual Read! Singapore campaign. In 2008 his short story project for BBC7, The Chain Gang, won him a Sony Award, and he provided a second series for them in 2009.

He is now at work on his first novel.

Reviews

[Farnoush Mellark · Rating 3 out of 5]

this reminds me of that episode of Community that Chang was trying to be a detective and talked to himself all the time in the middle of a conversation :))))

[Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally a subscriber bonus release this references the sixth Doctor's comic strip adventures from the 80s. It's a nice parody romp that is fun and doesn't outstay it's welcome.

[Frank Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unexpectedly strange delight, this is an extraordinarily silly, immensely fun and kind of sweet little tale. I think this is only the second time that I've run into Frobisher but the shapeshifting penguin is a hit with me.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved hearing Frobisher in The Holy Terror, so I was happy to here that there was this audio here that focuses on his PI work. The Doctor appears occasionally, even admitting that he’s lonely and would like for Frobisher to travel with him again, which is quite touching. But Frobisher wants to commit himself to a case, mentally narrating some noir cliches (accompanied by typical noir music) along the way. He disguises himself in the form of The Doctor, so Colin Baker does get to play around a bit. If you’re looking for something silly, I definitely recommend The Maltese Penguin.

[Brian Dassero · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pastiche of The Maltese Falcon with the 6th Doctor's shape-shifting penguin companion? What else could it be? It's silly, ridiculous, and Colin Baker's hard-boiled accent is something to behold. It's not one of the better Big Finish stories, but it did give me a good laugh or two: perfect for the current times.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn’t realized this was the kickoff of Frobisher’s second tour with the Doctor. And that Doctor Who: The Holy Terror follows this story. Oh well. This is a parody and homage to the gunshoe detective stories like The Maltese Falcon from which this narrative gets its title. It does a good job doing that, all the tropes and clichés are trotted out at all the appropriate moments.

[Vincent Darlage · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was neat that Frobisher, a shape-shifting penguin who was a companion of the Sixth Doctor in the comics, was given a chance to come alive in an audio-drama, wherein the Sixth Doctor visits the penguin. Frobisher is making a living as a private eye, and the drama is done like an old hard-boiled noir private eye story. It's entertaining, with characters that mimic Peter Lorre and so on. It's silly fun, but I liked it for that.

[Saturnberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fun. Truly had me laughing my head off.
Spoilers


Took me a minute to realize Colin Baker was doing Frobisher (too) because - Frobisher had disguised himself in the Doctor's humanoid shape.

[Alien_Dwarf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frobisher is cute as ever and I like the pulp-y atmosphere, but The Angel's Kiss maaaaaay have spoiled me unfairly against all Doctor Who noir stories for all eternity, so I was hoping for something a little more than a satirical nostalgic romp. Still fun!

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was everything i wanted and more! we need more Frobisher stories on big finish heck more of him in live action would be incredible too! his a brilliant character and companion to the doctor and if we can get beep the meep then we can get Frobisher the penguin 🐧 I love this character

[Sara Habein · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing noir and my first exposure to Frobisher the penguin, though I was aware of his existence prior.

[Samael Kovacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious.
Also sad.
Also fun.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has some goofy accents, noir quotes, and a bit of Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet impressions, plus we get to meet Frobisher's ex-wife. Perhaps not the best story, but certainly entertaining.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn't get into this as much as I might've liked to, but there's points to be given for a shape shifting talking penguin.

[Daniel Cork · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Maltese Penguin was the beginning of bonus releases that would become a common occurrence in Big Finish's monthly range where you can get them as subscription bonuses, and most of them aside from a couple of exceptions you can get on their own without paying a substantial amount on a specific subscription plan. I've been meaning to re-listen to this one considering when I listened to it the last time, I wasn't too keen on it.

Frobisher on a break from his travels with The Doctor has become a private eye detective, something that isn't coming along too well, after all, he's only saved a missing cat. But when a glamorous, beautiful lady comes on in, Frobisher is too quick to take on the job. Soon enough however he finds himself in the grips of Dogbolter, one of the richest and most corrupt individuals in the known universe.

Robert Shearman has written a really funny private detective story that almost defies the tropes, the genre is very well known for. It's a surprise to me that I didn't enjoy this initially, it's such a fun parody of the genre, with a great cast of actors and plenty of imaginative and hilarious humor. It's nothing amazing and definitely the weakest of his contributions to the company, but it's honestly such a laugh!

Overall: A really funny bonus release, that if you love Frobisher or hell Doctor Who comics in general, you should really give this a go! 8/10

[Seb Hasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doctor Who at it’s most cartoony and jovial, it works like a dream. The humour is subtle and hilarious, Toby Longworth and Colin Baker are clearly having a lot of fun with script, and the smallest dramatic moments work even offset against all the humour. It’s a simple film noir story with a twist, and it just has so much fun with it’s premise. Plenty of stories incorporate humour but that often feels like it was added in edits, whereas here the story just runs with a comedic plot. I’m only sad it ends with 6 and Frobisher going off in the Tardis to have sadly only one further Big Finish Adventure. The characters in this one feel as if they are right from the pages of the DWM comic (which they are), and all their character motivations and actions really do work perfectly; even in this light-heated story. I love that the story is partially narrated by Frobisher, making it feel like a whimsical Companion Chronicle, with all the best scenes saved for the full cast moments in the run time. The plot isn’t anything unique but certainly is fairly original, even more so in the way it’s actually done in the story; not much can really work the same as it does with a cartoon detective penguin and an evil frog man, can it?

[Juan Fernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this story. It was funny, heartwarming and had really nice touches. So why the low score? There were several aspects that bothered me - the film noir style music underscored the whole production, driving me a bit mad and taking me out of the story; Robert Jezek’s Frobisher didn’t quite sustain his energy throughout, it seemed to drop off at points; the film noir cliches outstayed their welcome a little bit and the story could either have been trimmed or a subplot added to justify the length as it got repetitive. There were highlights - Colin Baker popping back to get Frobisher to come with him as he was lonely; the appearance of Frobisher’s ex-wife; Frobisher taking on the Doctors form and hearing Colin Baker play the penguin with an American accent. There were things to love, it just needed either better editing or more material. And the plot of the ‘something’ though original wasn’t quite enough. I still love Frobisher but not his best story.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot. I don't know if Robert Jezek, who voices the 6th Doctor's penguin-companion, Frobisher, is American or not but his drawling accent has just the right dash of guilelessness to put me in the mood to accept such a preposterous character. This is a neat adventure in which the Doctor is only a peripheral character, as Frobisher tries to solve a mystery on his own. Lots of mock-noir touches and the fact that humour is the one thing that can spell the beginning of the end of a corporate tyrant/mob boss' reign is classic Whovian anarchy. Delightful stuff. I hope there are a lot more adventures with Frobisher in store.

[Yosef Shapiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is not for everyone. I never really cared for the Forbrisher character when he was a regular in the comic strips. But, he is kind of amusing here in the audio format.He is much beter here than in the comic strips. I am also a fan of the old hard boliled detective novels and related films and this is a spoof of some of the classics. I enjoyed the Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Bogart, and other spoofs and in references to that genre. Colin Baker was clearly having a great time. The plot itslef however is pretty weak. I gave it three stars for the effort and the comedic elements, It was not really a great example of Doctor Who. I don't recommend it for the casual fan!!

[Avarill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This sparkling little script is a morsel of fun -- provided of course you realize you're not getting any significant Doctor in this Doctor Who story. One star taken away for the horribly distracting wandering of (I think it was) Colin Baker's accent. Seriously, it was so distracting and wandering it sounded like a different person was speaking every time er, that particular character opened his mouth. Anyway, that's just me complaining, don't let that keep you away from this fun little special.

[Nicholas Whyte]

Features the Sixth Doctor and his penguin-shaped companion Frobisher from the comic strips, in a spoof of The Maltese Falcon which won't mean a lot unless you are a) a fan of the original film and/or b) remember the original Six/Frobisher comic strips with some affection. I fall into neither category and it left me rather cold.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frobisher is employed as a Private Eye to investigate Alicia Mulholland's fiancé, Arthur Gringax. As a penguin detective would be somewhat conspicuous, he instead chooses to disguise himself ... as the Doctor!

[Lori S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great fun audio featuring Frobisher the Whifferdill. A great parody of hard boiled detective fiction by Rob Shearman.

[Leela42 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio adventure with Frobisher and the sixth Doctor. Lighthearted homage to hard-boiled detective stories. Occasionally a bit hard to tell exactly what's going on.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun light-hearted spoof of hard-boiled detective fiction. Nothing particularly deep or startlingly original, but good fun.

[Ritchie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. I'm not a fan of Howard The Duck, I mean Frobisher the Penguin. Pointless, cartoonish bullshit. I zoned out long before the end and didn't care.

[Becka Davison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! Maybe I have a "bad" sense of humor, but this is one of my favorites from Big Finish. I wish Frobisher was in more than just the two audios...

[Sidney McKidney · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was, um, interesting. kinda weird.

[Tempus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Frobisher. Some fun subversions here, but you really feel the length of the duration.