Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Skymines of Karthos

Bernice Summerfield Audio Dramas #2.4

by David Bailey, Lisa Bowerman (Narrator), Miles Richardson (Narrator)

When Bernice receives a message from her old friend Caitlin, saying that she's found evidence of a ruined civilisation on the mining colony of Karthos, the good professor is naturally intrigued. After all, the planet is meant to be barren, with no life other than the colonists.

Arriving on Karthos, Bernice finds that Caitlin is missing, and the colony is under attack from vicious creatures that seem to have come from nowhere. Bernice has no choice but to set out for the heart of the ruins to discover just why Karthos seems to have sprung to life once more...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published April 1, 2001

About the author

David Bailey is a British editor and author whose published output to date comprises a combination of short stories, audio dramas and magazine articles.

Both before and since being professionally published, Bailey contributed to a number of Doctor Who fanzines in writing and editorial capacities, including Matrix, Silver Carrier and Cottage Under Siege.

As an editor, he worked for the British magazine publisher Titan from 1997 to 2000 during which time he edited their Simpsons and Xena, Warrior Princess titles among others.

His first professionally published writing was a number of articles for the magazine Cult Times, starting in 1996. Since that time he has contributed articles to a wide range of factual publications, including consumer guides and television listing magazines.

Subsequently, he co-authored a number of guidebooks to television series such as Friends and Frasier. These were produced by Virgin Publishing.

The body of David Bailey's fiction writing, both audio and prose, has been produced for Big Finish Productions' range of Doctor Who and Doctor Who derived materials.

In 2011, he decided to start writing under the pen name of David Bryher as his real name meant that he was hard to find on Google.

Reviews

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Benny relisten.

I always love the beginning of this audio with Irving voicemail message. It's just SO Brax thing to do, especially when Benny needs him the most.

An enjoyable audio about Benny going to see some old friends on the planet Karthos, stealing Brax's private shuttle and wondering what happened to her missing friend.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bernice riceve un messaggio dalla sua amica Caitlin che le dice di aver trovato i resti di un'antica civiltà sulla colonia mineraria di Karthos, a discapito del fatto che sul pianeta non ci sarebbe dovuta essere vita prima dell'arrivo dei coloni.
Tuttavia, quando arriva scopre che Caitlin è scomparsa, senza che né il marito né il suo capo che sappiano nulla. Nel frattempo, delle creature volanti sono comparse dal nulla e stanno attaccando la colonia, e per capire cosa sta succedendo e come le due cose sono collegate si deve mettere alla ricerca di queste rovine.

Una storia senza infamia e senza lode. Abbiamo questa amica di cui non abbiamo mai sentito parlare prima e che probabilmente non rivedremo mai più, e che comunque compare poco; un professore di non si sa bene cosa abbastanza imperturbabile. La voce di Brax si sente per 20 secondi in una segreteria telefonica, cosa che mi fa domandare perché inserirlo nel cast (mi hanno fatto illudere che ci fosse, non si fa così...). Il personaggio con cui Benny interagisce di più è il marito di Caitlin, Michael, con cui a quanto pare non va molto d'accordo. Anche la trama in sé non è particolarmente avventurosa o intrigante.
Decisamente un episodio riempitivo, soprattutto considerando che, se qualcuno non leggesse i libri, non si capirebbe affatto come è possibile che Benny si trovi in questa “condizione”.

[Gareth · Rating 4 out of 5]

More a 3.5 for me, a fun listen with some interesting goings on, quite fast paced and some interesting twists, albeit one was so well foreshadowed was able to guess it before hand.
Is one of the ones that references the book adventures, but doesn't feel like was needed, just would have helped provide more background to what going on.
Benny / Lisa Bowerman in good form as always, and wrapped itself up nicely, albeit felt it could have been a bit longer.

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, now this feels like a proper Benny story, plus that terrible theme song is replaced.

[Mole Mann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it's not bad and it does have some good ideas but I found it a bit muddled and thought the two stories that follow it were a lot better.

[Jamieson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very pregnant Benny goes to a mining world in search of an old friend. There, she discovers the remnents of an ancient civilization that build an unstoppable army. It's a fine story, but nothing special. I enjoyed it in the moment, but there was no "wow" moments that stick with you. I've found that this first season of original Benny audios is a bit lackluster. (It's technically season 2, but season 1 is made of novel adaptations, so I'm not counting it in my Benny listening.) So far, the Big Finish Benny novels are where the main arc is occuring. This story falls between Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Infernal Nexus and Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Glass Prison.

[Nicholas Whyte]

The Skymines of Karthos was OK. I liked the concept of Benny going to the rescue of her friend, trapped in a troubled marriage and peculiar planet. The interaction with the dubious errant husband was also very well done. But I was puzzled by Benny's pregnancy - presumably a part of the background story I had missed?

[Debra Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad adventure compared to the last few. No attacking computers. Benny goes to the planet of Karthos because of a lead on a possible ancient civilization. What she finds is a race very primitive, intelligent and deadly. You have to listen to the rest.