Doctor Who - The Lost Stories - The Fourth Doctor Box Set

The Lost Stories #3.SP

by Robert Banks Stewart, Philip Hinchcliffe, John Dorney

The Foe from the Future: The Grange is haunted, so they say. This stately home in the depths of Devon has been the site of many an apparition. And now people are turning up dead. The ghosts are wild in the forest. But the Doctor doesn’t believe in ghosts.

The TARDIS follows a twist in the vortex to the village of Staffham in 1977 and discovers something is very wrong with time. But spectral highwaymen and cavaliers are the least of the Doctor’s worries.

For the Grange is owned by the sinister Jalnik, and Jalnik has a scheme two thousand years in the making. Only the Doctor and Leela stand between him and the destruction of history itself. It’s the biggest adventure of their lives—but do they have the time?

The Valley of Death: A century after his Great-Grandfather Cornelius vanished in the Amazon rainforest, Edward Perkins is journeying to the depths of the jungle to find out what became of his ancestor’s lost expedition. Intrigued by what appears to be a description of a crashed spacecraft in the diaries of that first voyage, the Doctor and Leela join him on his quest. But when their plane runs into trouble and ends up crash landing, everyone gets more than they bargained for.

The jungle is filled with giant creatures and angry tribesmen, all ready to attack. But in the famed lost city of the Maygor tribe, something far, far worse is lurking. Something with an offer to make to mankind. Who are the Lurons and can they be trusted? Will the Doctor defeat the plans of the malevolent Godrin or will he become just another victim of the legendary Valley of Death?

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Media Tie In, Fiction

Audible Audio

First published January 31, 2012

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Slough native, it was nice to see an alien invasion come to town. :-)

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked "The Foe From The Future" well enough, but I loved "The Valley of Death," which was a really fun, far-reaching adventure with all sorts of great Doctor Who elements — jungles, mysterious time bending, alien invasion. It's great.

[Waylander101 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Who: The Lost Stories: Fourth Doctor Box Set is a full cast audio from Big Finish Productions featuring two stories, The Foe From the Future and The Valley of Death, from the Fourth Doctor and companion Leela.

The Foe from the Future
The Grange is haunted, so they say. This stately home in the depths of Devon has been the site of many an apparition. And now people are turning up dead. The ghosts are wild in the forest. But the Doctor doesn’t believe in ghosts.
The TARDIS follows a twist in the vortex to the village of Staffham in 1977 and discovers something is very wrong with time. But spectral highwaymen and cavaliers are the least of the Doctor’s worries.
For the Grange is owned by the sinister Jalnik, and Jalnik has a scheme two thousand years in the making. Only the Doctor and Leela stand between him and the destruction of history itself. It’s the biggest adventure of their lives – but do they have the time?
The Valley of Death
A century after his Great-Grandfather Cornelius vanished in the Amazon rainforest, Edward Perkins is journeying to the depths of the jungle to find out what became of his ancestor’s lost expedition. Intrigued by what appears to be a description of a crashed spacecraft in the diaries of that first voyage, the Doctor and Leela join him on his quest. But when their plane runs into trouble and ends up crash landing, everyone gets more than they bargained for.
The jungle is filled with giant creatures and angry tribesmen, all ready to attack. But in the famed lost city of the Maygor tribe, something far, far worse is lurking. Something with an offer to make to mankind. Who are the Lurons and can they be trusted? Will the Doctor defeat the plans of the malevolent Godrin or will he become just another victim of the legendary Valley of Death?

The main thing that put me off Big Finish and their output before is, well, they're kind of pricey. That is pricey if they're not on Audible and you don't have a credit to spare but hey ho here we go. Anyway when I saw this one as part of a two-for-one sale I couldn't resist as I've wanted to listen to some of the Eighth Doctor plays for a while now but back to the review

Both stories are pretty strong, standard, stuff for classic era Who. The Doctor and companion arrive, shenanigans ensue, Doctor fixes it, ta-da. I found the acting to be very good and no-one felt like the "phoned it in" or was just there for the cheque. While the sound effects helped the atmosphere of the stories there were a couple of times it wasn't headphone friendly which was a little off putting (and the only reason I dropped a star).

All things being equal I think I will probably get a few more of these, most likely McGann's Eighth Doctor at first, as this one was a good listen and I've not heard much dissent about any of Big Finish's other productions

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

These two stories were better than Destination: Nerva. Perhaps a more fair comparison would be between this set and volume one of Phillip Hinchcliffe Presents, though it’s been a while since I’ve listened to the two stories in that set.

The Foe from the Future nailed down Leela bickering with The Doctor. I actually liked how he described poetry as “beautiful nonsense,” and I guess his decision to teach her about puns at the end of this story explains why she later says “Teshnician” in Horror at Fang Rock. There’s a moment where The Doctor believes Leela is gone for good, but of course, we know better. And his scarf actually becomes useful. I do think that the story suffers a bit from being six episodes long. I suppose they really wanted this to feel like a serial toward the end of season 14, despite an explosion sound effect that makes this feel like a more modern blockbuster type of story.

The Valley of Death may have had a better premise, but the Doctor/Leela dynamic wasn’t as entertaining as it was in the first story. This one takes place in the Amazon and then later in England. It was odd bringing the BBC into the plot.

Sidenote: I did listen to this on April 20 for Louise Jameson’s birthday. And it was quite a coincidence seeing that the average score for it was 4.20, though my score may change that slightly.

[Drew Ericsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Foe from the Future (2/5):
By-the-numbers chaos with a thin plot. It's an overt self-parady, which gets a little annoying after a while. Some of the humour lands. Extra star for Leela's wisdom: "It is not wise to get into the time machines of strange men; I know what trouble it could cause."

The Valley of Death (3.5/5):
A much more controlled episode. Sure all the old tropes are there, but there was a story and the actors sounded like they were having fun with it.

The interviews had some interesting snippets about the actors and the process (3/5).

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun. I've listened to some Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas before, but this is the first one I've heard with Tom Baker. Baker was my first Doctor, and he's always been my favorite.
Both stories in this set are pretty crazy, but they're a lot of fun. Baker is still great as the Doctor, and Louise Jameson is great as Leela. This gets a little corny and over the top at times, but then the original TV version could get pretty corny and over the top too, so that's fine.

[Julie Ditton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This set includes two great stories, "Foe From the Future" and "The Valley of Death". In the first story, we travel to a distant monster ridden future. In the second we meet a character from the past as well as the ever present trouble making aliens. Both stories have clever dialogue and great voice acting. My only gripe is the disappointing end of the second story. The author seemed to run out of steam and suddenly ended the story with a twist out of left field.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Just wow. This two-book collection is a sheer delight that celebrates the unique tandem of the Fourth Doctor and Leela. And to have them together again in full cast audio dramas with some very clever and well thought-out stories really makes you feel like you're experiencing a full television episode of the series.

[Twainy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s no surprise that I love Doctor Who but I love it when one of these multi-stories comes out! Narrated by original cast!! Lost stories?! YESSS!

Not only 2 lost stories but multiple interviews with cast & staff interspersed. I love old Who!! Tom Baker & Louise Jameson!! Just fun fun fun!!

I loved it!!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

1) The Foe from the Future
It was fun to have Tom Bakers Doctor and Leela back. I think this works very good as an audio-story. Maybe even better as it would have been as a TV Story

2) The Valley of Death
Same here. Very enjoyable to listen to.

[Sidney McKidney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Foe from the Future: The characterization was good, and the opening was very promising, but it kind of went a bit loopy in the last third or so. Wouldn't really recommend this.

The Valley of Death: Eh. It was okay, I guess, but nothing to write home about.

[Bill Rand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some classic stories in the world of the fourth doctor.

[T.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun to listen to this. To hear Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor is always a joy.

[Elsabeth Marriott · Rating 4 out of 5]

First experience of Tom Baker, enjoyed his sassiness and Leena's none human-ness especially. Also the driving lessons and charlottes character.

Nice to get the commentry afterwards.

[Stefan Grieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of nostalgia here, with a quality production and cast. I found the second story more engaging then the first, for the first half at least, then it goes onto something that could seem to be from a completely different story.
Another quality aspect of this is the snippets of behind the scene information, usefull to anyone going into writing for radio like myself, although the information is not expansive.
Overall, fun and funny and if you are looking for something like this you will be satisfied.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, after thirty-five years, the magic has come back. The first run of Leela stories from The Face of Evil to Horror of Fang Rock is in some ways the peak of the Tom Baker era, possibly of the whole of Who, and I have been a bit disappointed that neither the spinoff novels set in this period nor the Big Finish Companion Chronicles featuring a dying Leela reminiscing about untold adventures have quite captured the Zeitgeist. But Big Finish have now pretty much pulled it off. The Fourth Doctor Lost Stories box set includes a six-parter by Robert Banks Stewart, adapted by John Dorney, and a four-parter by none other than Philip Hinchcliffe, adapted by Jonathan Morris - this is already a super package, with ten episodes and a CD of extra interviews with writers and cast.[return][return]Nothing is perfect, of course; The Foe From The Future has quite a complex time-travelling plot, with some of the questions raised in early episodes not really answered by the end, and some really rather gory and visceral moments; and like a lot of six-parters from the original show, it could perhaps have been trimmed a bit. The Valley of Death is much more satisfactory plot-wise - indeed, as a story, it is very well constructed - though it would clearly have been preferable as a Fourth Doctor / Sarah story (alas, no longer possible) and has some dodgy stereotyping of South American tribesmen. [return][return]Whatever the flaws, both of them are carried by the soaring performances of Tom Baker and Louise Jameson; several of the guest cast comment on just how infectious their energy was for the rest of the team during the recording process, and it shows. Baker is still occasionally silly, but nowhere near as portentous as he has been in the Paul Magrs BBC audios, and also able to effortlessly switch from clown to genius to alien wizard as required. Jameson has finally been given Who material that treats her as an equal rather than as a mere sidekick, and is utterly convincing. And the chemistry between them is clearly several magnitudes better than it was when they were on TV; both stories feature moments when the Doctor thinks Leela is dead or dying, and Baker rises convincingly to the occasion. (The guest cast are all good too, but really it's the stars who I was listening for.)

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Foe from the Future- The Doctor and Leela arrive in England where an insect like creature is eating people. Turns out the insect merged with a human from the future and he is going to turn others like him. Can they stop this from happening?
The Valley of Death- The Doctor and Leela join an expeditionary to the Amazon. While there they run into an alien trying to take over the world. Can Leela and the Doctor stop them.

[David Monroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this isn't exactly recapturing lightning in a bottle, it is wonderful. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson click back into their roles as The Doctor and Leela almost seamlessly. Yes, it's nostalgia bait, but it's also well written adventures performed by veteran professional actors who still have plenty of talent to spare.

[Stacey Handler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Doctor and Leela make a great team, their dialogue is fun and snarky in just the right way. I enjoyed both stories, but The Foe From The Future had more compelling secondary characters and more of an emotional centre.

[Anne Barwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving the 4th Doctor/Leela adventures. It's like stepping back in time - they play off each other so well.

[Rebalioness · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm listening to this via Hoopla and my library, and I am loving hearing 'my' Doctor and my favorite companion again. Yes, the scripts may be a bit thin, but the comedy timing is wonderful to hear.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I understand it, these were adventures first written for the show in the 70s, but for reasons, were never finished. So now they've been filled in, tweaked and made into audio stories with Tom Baker returning at the Fourth Doctor.

It was an enjoyable couple of adventures with the struggle of the power hungry against everyone else. I hadn't had much exposure to Leela as a companion, so it was a enjoyable to get to see her in action.