Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154237 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-15
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Not a cagoule in sight
This intriguingly titled Sixth Doctor and Charley Pollard story is the latest Big Finish monthly release to feature this particular combination of time travellers. The titular character is a humanoid alien named Lish, who acts as a `damper' in any situation in which he is involved, and who proves to be the key to the events that soon unfold. The Doctor and Charley encounter him when they come to Manchester in the present day to and The Doctor is reacquainted with DI Menzies; a sarcastic Mancunian police officer who once arrested the Timelord for murder. Between them they become involved in the machinations of the enigmatic Brookes, played by the suave Michael Fenton-Stevens of KYTV fame. Brookes is a renegade Talabbacian who is being hunted by his people and who is using the essentially peace-loving Cyrox to fight them for him. Added to the mix, and the reason The Doctor headed for Earth in the first place, is Carmen, another time traveller who is using her ability irresponsibly by journeying through time and gambling. To thwart the warlike Tabbalac The Doctor has to put at stake not only his TARDIS, but his very existence; will he win his freedom or is this finally the end..?

Continuing the will he/won't he thread regarding whether The Doctor will finally discover Charley's duplicity - she has previously travelled with a future incarnation of the Timelord - this story is a refreshingly Earth-based tale that enables The Doctor to play detective and has him sparring effectively with the blunt and caustic Menzies. Anna Hope plays the DI and it is a wonder to hear her real home counties accent when she is interviewed on the CD extras. During the story, Charley herself shows signs of becoming increasingly furtive as The Doctor starts to get nearer to the truth, and it can only be a matter of time before all is revealed...
Colin Baker excels as always, with his Doctor continuing to impress on audio with his intelligence and his humanity, and the guest cast are uniformly excellent. The CD extras are informative and light-hearted, with Fenton-Stevens in particular proving to be as erudite as the characters he regularly plays. Overall this is one of the best audios in the series so far and it will be a shame when the Charley Pollard/Sixth Doctor pairing finally has to end.

Clever science fiction and entertaining characters
There is much to commend this release in terms of science fiction concepts that I found highly original even after decades of watching sci fi and having listened to all previous Big Finish.

The story continuing from events in The Condemned would still work well in its own right but benefits from listening to the prequel. The police woman is a particularly engaging character worthy or more returns to the series as is her involvement in aliens on Earth over and above her normal duties. I always like stories where ordinary people are involved in aliens.

The Condemned and The Raincloud Man would have made an excellent 8 episodes towards a separate mini-series. I just hope there is more of this to come.

Not as good as The Condemned, but an interesting continuation of the story arc
Barcode: 9781844353255

Having massively enjoyed The Condemned with it's blend of the 6th Doctor in a modern contemporary setting, i was looking forward to this follow-up release immesnely. As per-usual with Big Finish it is amazingly produced and turns out fantastic performances from the cast, but whereas The Condemnded presented a gripping, imaginative and tension-filled storyline, The Raincloud Man felt a little flat for me.

First off, it is great to see Patricia Menzies again, her character injecting energy and a keen sense of dry-humour into every scene she appears in. The 6th Doctor/Charley pairing also comes up trumps, their relationship developing further as Charley struggles to keep who she really is from the Doctor. There is a lot of underhand dealings going in in this story and as with The Condemned, Colin Baker's Doctor slots wonderfully into the crime/thriller genre.

Caught up in a mix of a hi-tech boat, gambling and battling alien races, there's a lot on offer here and things pick up in the 2nd half of the story. But whereas the Condemned felt slick and streamlined, there at times feels like there's perhaps just a little too much going on in this story.

Still, another enoyable addition to the Big Finish range and another stellar performance from Colin.