2012

TV
Good as Gold
Pond Life
Asylum of the Daleks
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
A Town Called Mercy
The Power of Three
The Angels Take Manhattan
The Snowmen

Books and original audiobooks
Doctor Who The Official Annual 2013 (11)
Doctor Who IDW Special 2012 (11)
Dark Horizons (11)
Magic of the Angels (11)
The Art of Death (11)
Darkstar Academy (11)
Day of the Cockroach (11)
The Nu-Humans Cavan (11)
The Empty House (11)
The Sleepers in the Dust (11)
Snake Bite (11)
Monstrous Missions: Terrible Lizards / Horror of the Space Snakes (11)
Step Back in Time: Extra Time / The Water Thief (11)
The Angel’s Kiss (11)
Doctor Who – Shada (4)
The Wheel of Ice (2)
The Exodus Code  (Torchwood)
Army of One  (Torchwood)
Fallout  (Torchwood)
Red Skies  (Torchwood)
Mr Invincible  (Torchwood)
The Weather on Versimmon (Benny)
The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis (Benny)

Audios
The Curse of Davros
The Fourth Wall
Wirrn Isle
The Emerald Tiger
The Jupiter Conjunction
The Butcher of Brisbane
Protect and Survive
Black and White
Gods and Monsters
The Burning Prince
The Acheron Pulse
The Shadow Heart
1001 Nights
The Foe From The Future / The Valley of Death
The Guardians of Prophecy
Power Play
The First Sontarans
The Masters of Luxor
The Rosemariners
Destination: Nerva
The Renaissance Man
The Wrath of the Iceni
Energy of the Daleks
Trail of the White Worm Part 1
The Oseidon Adventure Part 2
The Great War
Fugitives
Tangled Web
‘X’ and the Daleks
The Anachronauts
The Selachian Gambit
Binary
The Wanderer
The Jigsaw War
The Rings of Ikiria
The Time Museum
The Uncertainty Principle
Project: Nirvana
The Last Post
Return of the Rocket Men
The Child
Night of the Stormcrow
The Davros Mission
Love and War
UNIT Dominion
Bernice Summerfield, Road Trip: Brand Management 
Bernice Summerfield, Road Trip: Bad Habits 
Bernice Summerfield, Road Trip: Paradise Frost 
Bernice Summerfield, Legion: Vesuvius Falling 
Bernice Summerfield, Legion: Shades of Gray 
Bernice Summerfield, Legion: Everybody Loves Irving 
Bernice Summerfield: Love and War 
Bernice Summerfield: Many Happy Returns
Jago & Litefoot: Jago in Love
Jago & Litefoot: Beautiful Things
Jago & Litefoot: The Lonely Clock
Jago & Litefoot: The Hourglass Killers
Jago & Litefoot: Voyage to Venus
Jago & Litefoot: Voyage to the New World
Iris Wildthyme: The Iris Wildthyme Appreciation Society
Iris Wildthyme: Iris Rides Out
Iris Wildthyme: Midwinter Murders
Counter-Measures: Threshold
Counter-Measures: Artificial Intelligence
Counter-Measures: The Pelage Project
Counter-Measures: State of Emergency
Graceless: The Line
Graceless: The Flood
Graceless: The Dark

The first Who from 2012 that I encountered: A faithful Big Finish subscriber now, I downloaded and listened to The Curse of Davros in January. I was 44.

My favourite Who from 2012: On my Hugo ballot I ranked The Snowmen ahead of The Angels Take Manhattan and Asylum of the Daleks. The best of a number of good books was the belated novelisation of ShadaThe most enjoyable of the audios was the Trail of the White Worm /The Oseidon Adventure double, with once again shouts to Jago and Litefoot, though I still haven’t finished listening to all of these.

Moving swiftly on from: Darkstar Academy.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

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2011

TV
Space / Time
The Impossible Astronaut
Day of the Moon
The Curse of the Black Spot
The Doctor's Wife
The Rebel Flesh
The Almost People
A Good Man Goes to War
Let's Kill Hitler
Night Terrors
The Girl Who Waited
The God Complex
Closing Time
The Wedding of River Song
Night and the Doctor
Death is the Only Answer
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Sarah Jane: Sky
Sarah Jane: The Curse of Clyde Langer
Sarah Jane: The Man Who Never Was
Torchwood: Miracle Day

Books and original audiobooks
Doctor Who The Official Annual 2012 (11)
Doctor Who IDW Annual 2011 (11)
Doctor Who The Brilliant Book 2012 (11)
Dead of Winter (11)
The Way Through the Woods (11)
Hunter's Moon (11)
Touched by an Angel (11)
Paradox Lost (11)
Borrowed Time (11)
The Silent Stars Go By (11)
The Jade Pyramid (11)
The Gemini Contagion (11)
The Hounds of Artemis (11)
The Eye of the Jungle (11)
Blackout (11)
Heart of Stone / Death Riders (11)
The Good, the Bad and the Alien / System Wipe (11)
Alien Adventures: The Underwater War / Rain of Terror (11)
Sightseeing in Space: Web in Space / Terminal of Despair (11)
The Prison In Space (2)
Department X (Torchwood)
Ghost Train (Torchwood)
First Born (Torchwood)
Long Time Dead (Torchwood)
The Men Who Sold The World (Torchwood)
Children of Steel (Sarah Jane)
Judgement Day (Sarah Jane)

Audios
The Crimes of Thomas Brewster
The Feast of Axos
Industrial Evolution
Heroes of Sontar
Kiss of Death
Rat Trap
Robophobia
Recorded Time and Other Stories
The Doomsday Quatrain
House of Blue Fire
The Silver Turk
The Witch from the Well
Army of Death
Thin Ice
Crime of the Century
Animal
Earth Aid
The Elite
Hexagora
The Children of Seth
Prisoner of the Sun
Lucie Miller Part 1
To the Death Part 2
Peri and the Piscon Paradox
The Perpetual Bond
The Forbidden Time
The Sentinels of the New Dawn
Ferril's Folly
The Cold Equations
The Three Companions / The Mists of Time / Freakshow
Tales from the Vault
The Rocket Men
The Memory Cheats
The Many Deaths of Jo Grant
The First Wave
Beyond the Ultimate Adventure
The Five Companions
Short Trips – Volume 2
Short Trips – Volume 3
Short Trips – Volume 4
Serpent Crest: Tsar Wars
Serpent Crest: The Broken Crown
Serpent Crest: Aladdin Time
Serpent Crest: The Hexford Invasion
Serpent Crest: Survivors in Space
Bernice Summerfield, Epoch: The Kraken's Lament
Bernice Summerfield, Epoch: The Temple of Questions
Bernice Summerfield, Epoch: Private Enemy No. 1
Bernice Summerfield, Epoch: Judgement Day
Jago & Litefoot:  Litefoot and Sanders
Jago & Litefoot:  The Necropolis Express
Jago & Litefoot:  The Theatre of Dreams
Jago & Litefoot:  The Ruthven Inheritance
Jago & Litefoot:  Dead Men's Tales
Jago & Litefoot:  The Man at the End of the Garden
Jago & Litefoot:  Swan Song
Jago & Litefoot:  Chronoclasm
Gallifrey:  Reborn
Gallifrey:  Disassembled
Gallifrey:  Annihilation
Gallifrey:  Forever
Torchwood: The Devil and Miss Carew
Torchwood: Submission
Torchwood: House of the Dead

The first Who from 2011 that I encountered: An excellent start to a better year for the Big Finish Companion Chronicles, with Peri and the Piscon Paradox. I was 43.

My favourite Who from 2011: Well, The Doctor's Wife was always going to be a favourite, and remains so. Rewatching the TV stories I found they were better than I remembered, thought the series was not quite equal to the sum of its parts. Peri and the Piscon Paradox was my favourite audio of the year, though there were many excellent plays in the various BF series, the two Jago and Litefoot sequences being perhaps a high point. Torchwood: Miracle Day was OK on TV, but had a super prequel in James Goss's novel First Born (and the audio House of the Dead gave poor Ianto some good closure). Two more very good books at the end of the year: Dan Abnett's The Silent Stars Go By and once again the Brilliant Book, with James Goss's Vastra/Jenny origin story.

Moving swiftly on from: Paradox Lost, though the audio version is lifted by Nick Briggs' narration; Hunter's Moon also pretty poor.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Now, we all know that the Eighth Doctor’s continuity is pretty convoluted. There are separate ranges of comics, paperback books and audio plays featuring his character, which may or may not be compatible.

It’s noticeable that the only companions mentioned in Night of the Doctor are from the Big Finish audios – Charley (Charlotte Pollard), C’rizz, Lucie (Miller), Tamsin (Drew) and Molly (O’Sullivan) – no mention of Mary Shelley, let alone Samson and Gemma. Now, in the Big Finish short Mary’s Story, several other companions are mentioned by the Doctor, including Gemma, Charley, Ssard (from comics), Compassion (from the EDA books), Trix (likewise), Destrii (from comics), and Alex (Susan’s grandson from Big Finish), plus the otherwise unknown Todd and Rita. So clearly, they are in the same continuity as Mary Shelley. (Fitz Kreiner, who possibly appeared in more books than any other Doctor Who companion, is omitted from the list in Mary’s Story, but he has his own story on that BF release, as do Izzy from comics and Bernice Summerfield who should need no introduction, so they can probably be counted in this continuity too.)

There is of course no guarantee that Mary’s Story is in the same continuity as The Night of the Doctor. In fact, one has to consider her omission a fairly big hint, especially considering that the Eighth Doctor at the end of Mary’s Story is heading off to the Time War, so would be unlikely to have forgotten her as he drank his last draught. If Mary’s Story hasn’t happened to the Eighth Doctor in The Night of the Doctor, then the continuities are unbound (spot the obscure Brian Aldiss reference there?) and we may have two (or even more) different Eighth Doctors in parallel timelines, one hurtling toward Karn, another to the Maison Chapuis beside Lake Geneva. I speculate that the central problem of Day of the Doctor is going to be how to reconcile the different timelines, or indeed to abolish all of them except the “right” one.

Oh gawd: “Will it Hurt?”

Edited to add: Futher to my Brian Aldiss comment, I had forgotten who played the protagonist in the film version…

Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, this trailer for An Adventure in Space and Time looks very promising:

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2010

My favourite Who from 2010: This is another very good year. From TV Who, it has to be Vincent and the Doctor, though there are other good points too; this is also I think the best series of the Sarah Jane Adventures. David Tennant's last appearance is actually the excellent original audiobook Dead AirDeadly Download (Sarah Jane). The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who was an excellent innovation.

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2009

TV
Tonight’s the Night
Planet of the Dead
The Waters of Mars
Dreamland
The End of Time (Part 1)
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Sarah Jane: From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love
Sarah Jane: Prisoner of the Judoon
Sarah Jane: The Mad Woman in the Attic
Sarah Jane: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane: The Eternity Trap
Sarah Jane: Mona Lisa’s Revenge
Sarah Jane: The Gift
K9: Regeneration

Books and original audiobooks
Doctor Who The Official Annual 2010 (10)
Doctor Who Storybook 2010 (10)
Judgement of the Judoon (10)
The Slitheen Excursion (10)
Prisoner of the Daleks (10)
The Taking of Chelsea 426 (10)
Autonomy (10)
The Krillitane Storm (10)
The Nemonite Invasion (10)
The Rising Night (10)
The Day of the Troll (10)
The Sontaran Games (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The Dust of Ages (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The Graves of Mordane (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The Colour of Darkness (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The Depths of Despair (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The Vampire of Paris (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The Game of Death (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The Planet of Oblivion (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The Picture of Emptiness (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The Art of War (10)
Darksmith Legacy: The End of Time (10)
The Doctor Who Stories (10)
Farewell Great Macedon (1)
Short Trips: Indefinable Magic
Re:Collections
Torchwood Yearbook 2010 
Into the Silence (Torchwood)
Bay of the Dead (Torchwood)
The House that Jack Built (Torchwood)
Risk Assessment (Torchwood)
The Undertaker’s Gift (Torchwood)
Consequences (Torchwood)
In The Shadows (Torchwood)
The Sin Eaters (Torchwood)
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (Sarah Jane)
The White Wolf (Sarah Jane)
The Shadow People (Sarah Jane)
Secret Histories (Benny)

Audios
The Judgement of Isskar
The Destroyer of Delights
The Chaos Pool
The Magic Mousetrap
Enemy of the Daleks
The Angel of Scutari
The Company of Friends
Patient Zero
Paper Cuts
Blue Forgotten Planet
Castle of Fear
The Eternal Summer
Plague of the Daleks
The Nightmare Fair
Mission to Magnus
Orbis
Hothouse
The Beast of Orlok
Wirrn Dawn
The Scapegoat
The Cannibalists
The Eight Truths Part 1
Worldwide Web Part 2
Death in Blackpool
The Transit of Venus
The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Resistance
The Magician’s Oath
The Mahogany Murderers
Stealers from Saiph
The Drowned World
The Glorious Revolution
The Prisoner of Peladon
The Pyralis Effect
Ringpullworld
The Three Companions (first nine parts)
An Earthly Child
Freakshow
Hornet’s Nest: The Stuff of Nightmares
Hornet’s Nest: The Dead Shoes
Hornet’s Nest: The Circus of Doom
Hornet’s Nest: A Sting in the Tale
Hornet’s Nest: Hive of Horror
Bernice Summerfield: Glory Days 
Bernice Summerfield: Absence 
Bernice Summerfield: Venus Mantrap 
Bernice Summerfield: Secret Origins
Iris Wildthyme: The Sound of Fear
Iris Wildthyme: Land of Wonder
Iris Wildthyme: The Two Irises
Iris Wildthyme: The Panda Invasion
Iris Wildthyme: The Claws of Santa
Cyberman: Outsiders
Cyberman: Terror
Cyberman: Machines
Cyberman: Extinction
Torchwood: Asylum
Torchwood: Golden Age
Torchwood: The Dead Line

The first Who from 2009 that I encountered: By this stage I was a proper Big Finish subscriber, and got and listened to The Judgement of Isskar as soon as it came out. I was 41.

My favourite Who from 2009: This is not such a great year for televised Who, but a very good one for Sarah Jane, with The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith perhaps the high point. Children of Earth is also the most consistently good Torchwood series. But, but, but – The Mahogany Murderers, the first of (as it turned out) many Big Finish plays reuniting Jago and Litefoot from The Talons of Weng Chiang thirty years earlier, is a total delight. (Other, more continuity-heavy hits from BF: Paper Cuts, Death in Blackpool.) This year also sees the best (so far) of the New Who books, Beautiful Chaos by Gary Russell. 

Moving swiftly on from: Another Big Finish audio, Enemy of the Daleks, where the guest cast seem to be just phoning in their performances. The Hornet’s Nest audios with Tom Baker and Richard Franklin were generally disappointing as well. And Mission to Magnus should never have been made.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Current
Reamde, by Neal Stephenson
Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Paterson
The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
[Doctor Who] Dark Progeny, by Steve Emmerson
About Time: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who, 2005-2006; Series 1 & 2, by Tat Wood

Last books finished
Reading the Oxford English Dictionary: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, by Ammon Shea
Isaac Asimov: A Life of the Grand Master of Science Fiction, by Michael White
[Doctor Who] Sleepy, by Kate Orman

Next books
There Will be Time, by Poul Anderson
Patternmaster, by Octavia Butler
Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
Eyeless in Gaza, by Aldous Huxley

Books acquired in last week
Saints of the Shadow Bible, by Ian Rankin
And Novacon happened:
The Sound of his Horn, by Sarban
TOR: Assassin Hunter, by Billy Bob Buttons
Halo: The Thursday War, by Karen Traviss
Heaven's War, by David S Goyer
Prophet of Bones, by Ted Kosmatka
Pattern-Master, by Octavia E. Butler
Dawn, by Octavia E. Butler
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, by Samuel R. Delany

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2008

TV
Partners in Crime
The Fires of Pompeii
Planet of the Ood
The Sontaran Stratagem
The Poison Sky
The Doctor's Daughter
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Silence in the Library
Forest of the Dead
Midnight
Turn Left
The Stolen Earth
Journey's End
Music of the Spheres
The Next Doctor
Torchwood: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Torchwood: Sleeper
Torchwood: To the Last Man
Torchwood: Meat
Torchwood: Adam
Torchwood: Reset
Torchwood: Dead Man Walking
Torchwood: A Day in the Death
Torchwood: Something Borrowed
Torchwood: From Out of the Rain
Torchwood: Adrift
Torchwood: Fragments
Torchwood: Exit Wounds
Sarah Jane: The Last Sontaran
Sarah Jane: The Day of the Clown
Sarah Jane: Secrets of the Stars
Sarah Jane: The Mark of the Berserker
Sarah Jane: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane: Enemy of the Bane

Books and original audiobooks
Doctor Who Storybook 2009 (10)
Doctor Who The Official Annual 2009 (10)
Martha in the Mirror (10)
Snowglobe 7 (10)
The Many Hands (10)
Ghosts of India (10)
The Doctor Trap (10)
Shining Darkness (10)
The Story of Martha (10)
Beautiful Chaos (10)
The Eyeless (10)
Pest Control (10)
The Forever Trap (10)
Revenge of the Judoon (10)
Decide Your Destiny: Lost Luggage (10)
Decide Your Destiny: Second Skin (10)
Decide Your Destiny: The Dragon King (10)
Decide Your Destiny: The Horror of Howling Hill (10)
Short Trips: Defining Patterns
Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership
Short Trips: Transmissions
Short Trips: How The Doctor Changed My Life
Short Trips: Christmas Around the World
Torchwood Yearbook 2009
Something in the Water  (Torchwood)
Trace Memory  (Torchwood)
The Twilight Streets  (Torchwood)
Pack Animals  (Torchwood)
SkyPoint  (Torchwood)
Almost Perfect  (Torchwood)
Hidden (Torchwood)
Everyone Says Hello (Torchwood)
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (Sarah Jane)
The Lost Boy (Sarah Jane)
The Last Sontaran (Sarah Jane)
The Day of the Clown (Sarah Jane)
The Time Capsule (Sarah Jane)
The Ghost House (Sarah Jane)
The Vampire Curse (Benny)

Audios
The Bride of Peladon
The Condemned
The Dark Husband
The Haunting of Thomas Brewster
Assassin in the Limelight
The Death Collectors & Spider's Shadow
The Boy That Time Forgot
The Doomwood Curse
Kingdom of Silver & Keepsake
Time Reef & A Perfect World
Brotherhood of the Daleks
Forty Five
The Raincloud Man
Dead London
Max Warp
Brave New Town
The Skull of Sobek
Grand Theft Cosmos
The Zygon Who Fell to Earth
Sisters of the Flame Part 1
Vengeance of Morbius Part 2
The Catalyst
Here There Be Monsters
The Great Space Elevator
The Doll of Death
Empathy Games
Home Truths
The Darkening Eye
Return of the Krotons
The Mists of Time
The Ultimate Adventure
The Seven Keys to Doomsday
The Curse of the Daleks
Masters of War
Bernice Summerfield: The Wake
Bernice Summerfield: Beyond the Sea
Bernice Summerfield: The Adolescence of Time
Bernice Summerfield: The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel
Bernice Summerfield: The Diet of Worms
Dalek Empire IV: The Fearless (fourth part)
Torchwood: Lost Souls

The first Who from 2008 that I encountered: The start of the second series of Torchwood, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang – tuned in to watch in in mid-January. I was 40.

My favourite Who from 2008: This is a very good year overall. I think Midnight is a colossally good Who episode, perhaps the best that Russell T. Davies ever wrote. Of the audios, I loved The Doomwood Curse, The Great Space Elevator, Brotherhood of the Daleks (revolutionary Daleks singing "The Red Flag"!) and The Bride of Peladon. A less good year for books, though I quite liked Wooden Heart, Sting of the Zygons, The Many Hands and the Torchwood books Pack Animals and The Twilight Streets.

Moving swiftly on from: Sick Building, by Paul Magrs, which features a monster called, I kid you not, The Voracious Claw. The Torchwood episode Fragments is pretty awful too, apart from the bit with Ianto and the pterodactyl which is mildly funny.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

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2007

TV
Smith and Jones
The Shakespeare Code
Gridlock
Daleks in Manhattan
Evolution of the Daleks
The Lazarus Experiment
42
Human Nature
The Family of Blood
Blink
Utopia
The Sound of Drums
Last of the Time Lords
The Infinite Quest
Time Crash
Voyage of the Damned
Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness
Torchwood: End of Days
Sarah Jane: Invasion of the Bane
Sarah Jane: Revenge of the Slitheen
Sarah Jane: Eye of the Gorgon
Sarah Jane: Warriors of Kudlak
Sarah Jane: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
Sarah Jane: The Lost Boy

Books and original audiobooks
Doctor Who Storybook 2008 (10)
Doctor Who The Official Annual 2008 (10)
Sting of the Zygons (10)
The Last Dodo (10)
Wooden Heart (10)
Forever Autumn (10)
Sick Building (10)
Wetworld (10)
Wishing Well (10)
The Pirate Loop (10)
Peacemaker (10)
Made of Steel (10)
Decide Your Destiny: The Spaceship Graveyard (10)
Decide Your Destiny: Alien Arena (10)
Decide Your Destiny: The Time Crocodile (10)
Decide Your Destiny: The Corinthian Project (10)
Decide Your Destiny: The Crystal Snare (10)
Decide Your Destiny: War of the Robots (10)
Decide Your Destiny: Dark Planet (10)
Decide Your Destiny: The Haunted Wagon Train (10)
Short Trips: Destination Prague
Short Trips: Snapshots
Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas
Another Life (Torchwood)
Border Princes (Torchwood)
Slow Decay (Torchwood)
Invasion of the Bane (Sarah Jane)
Revenge of the Slitheen (Sarah Jane)
Eye of the Gorgon (Sarah Jane)
Warriors of Kudlak (Sarah Jane)
The Glittering Storm (Sarah Jane)
The Thirteenth Stone (Sarah Jane)
The Two Jasons (Benny)
Nobody’s Children (Benny)
Missing Adventures (Benny)

Audios
Circular Time
Nocturne
Renaissance of the Daleks
I.D. & Urgent Calls
Exotron & Urban Myths
Valhalla
The Wishing Beast & The Vanity Box
Frozen Time
Son of the Dragon
100
Absolution
The Mind’s Eye & Mission of the Viyrans
The Girl Who Never Was
Blood of the Daleks Part 2
Horror of Glam Rock
Immortal Beloved
Phobos
No More Lies
Human Resources Part 1
Human Resources Part 2
Frostfire
Fear of the Daleks
The Blue Tooth
The Beautiful People
Mother Russia
Helicon Prime
Old Soldiers
Return to the Web Planet
Cuddlesome
Bernice Summerfield: The Tub Full of Cats 
Bernice Summerfield: The Judas Gift 
Bernice Summerfield: Freedom of Information 
Bernice Summerfield: The End of the World 
Bernice Summerfield: The Final Amendment
Dalek Empire IV: The Fearless (first three parts)>

The first Who from 2007 that I encountered: We watched Sarah Jane’s debut episode, Invasion of the Bane, on New Year’s Day. I was 39.

My favourite Who from 2007: Blink is still my favourite TV episode ever. But my favourite moment has to be the reveal at the end of Utopia. Big Finish’s peaks this year were with the new Companion Chronicles range, where I really liked three of the first four. A surprise hit for me are the three Torchwood novels, getting this range off to a very strong start.

Moving swiftly on from: Big Finish had a less good year this year, and I gave poor marks to Nocturne, Valhalla and No More Lies. But the worst of all is the dreadful Torchwood season finale shown on New Year’s Day.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Jo and her presentation pen from Novacon.

2006

TV
New Earth
Tooth and Claw
School Reunion
The Girl in the Fireplace
Rise of the Cybermen
The Age of Steel
The Idiot’s Lantern
The Impossible Planet
The Satan Pit
Love & Monsters
Fear Her
Army of Ghosts
Doomsday
The Runaway Bride
Torchwood: Everything Changes
Torchwood: Day One
Torchwood: Ghost Machine
Torchwood: Cyberwoman
Torchwood: Small Worlds
Torchwood: Countrycide
Torchwood: Greeks Bearing Gifts
Torchwood: They Keep Killing Suzie
Torchwood: Random Shoes
Torchwood: Out of Time
Torchwood: Combat

Books
Doctor Who Storybook 2007 (10)
Doctor Who The Official Annual 2007 (10)
The Stone Rose (10)
The Feast of the Drowned (10)
The Resurrection Casket (10)
The Nightmare of Black Island (10)
The Art of Destruction (10)
The Price of Paradise (10)
I Am A Dalek (10)
Short Trips: Farewells
Short Trips: The Centenarian
Short Trips: Time Signature
Short Trips: Dalek Empire
Deus Le Volt  (Time Hunter)
The Albino’s Dancer  (Time Hunter)
The Sideways Door (Time Hunter)
Parallel Lives (Benny)
Something Changed (Benny)
Genius Loci (Benny)
Collected Works (Benny)
Old Friends (Benny)

Audios
Pier Pressure
Night Thoughts
Time Works
The Kingmaker
The Settling
Something Inside
The Nowhere Place
Red
The Reaping
The Gathering
Memory Lane
No Man’s Land
Year of the Pig
Blood of the Daleks Part 1
Return of the Daleks
The Veiled Leopard
Bernice Summerfield: The Goddess Quandary
Bernice Summerfield: The Crystal of Cantus
Bernice Summerfield: The Tartarus Gate
Bernice Summerfield: Timeless Passages
Bernice Summerfield: The Worst Thing in the World
Bernice Summerfield: Summer of Love
Bernice Summerfield: The Oracle of Delphi
Bernice Summerfield: The Empire State
Gallifrey: Fractures
Gallifrey: Warfare
Gallifrey: Appropriation
Gallifrey: Mindbomb
Gallifrey: Panacea
Sarah Jane Smith: Buried Secrets
Sarah Jane Smith: Snow Blind
Sarah Jane Smith: Fatal Consequences
Sarah Jane Smith: Dreamland
Cyberman: Telos
I, Davros: Innocence
I, Davros: Purity
I, Davros: Corruption
I, Davros: Guilt

The first Who from 2006 that I encountered: Yep, I tuned in for New Earth. I was 38.

My favourite Who from 2006: Well, nothing quite packs the emotional impact of School Reunion. But The Kingmaker is another favourite Big Finish audio, the second Sarah Jane audio series is even better than the first, and I, Davros is brilliant too. The books are much less memorable this year, with the old ranges ended and the new just getting started.

Moving swiftly on from: Nicola Bryant is very ill-used in The Reaping.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Hello from Nottingham!

2005

TV
Rose
The End of the World
The Unquiet Dead
Aliens of London
World War Three
Dalek
The Long Game
Father’s Day
The Empty Child
The Doctor Dances
Boom Town
Bad Wolf
The Parting of the Ways
Children in Need Special
The Christmas Invasion
Attack of the Graske

Books
Doctor Who Annual 2006 (9)
The Clockwise Man (9)
The Monsters Inside (9)
Winner Takes All (9)
The Deviant Strain (9)
Only Human (9)
The Stealers of Dreams (9)
To the Slaughter (8)
The Gallifrey Chronicles (8)
Match of the Day (4)
Island of Death (3)
Spiral Scratch (6)
Fear Itself (8)
World Game (2)
The Time Travellers (1)
Atom Bomb Blues (7)
Short Trips: Seven Deadly Sins
Short Trips: A Day in the Life
Short Trips: The Solar System
Short Trips: The History of Christmas
Echoes (Time Hunter)
Peculiar Lives (Time Hunter)
The Tree of Life (Benny)

Audios
The Juggernauts
The Game
Dreamtime
Catch-1782
Three’s A Crowd
Unregenerate!
The Council of Nicaea
Terror Firma
Thicker than Water
LIVE 34
Scaredy Cat
Singularity
Other Lives
Cryptobiosis
A Storm of Angels
Bernice Summerfield: The Masquerade of Death
Bernice Summerfield: The Heart’s Desire
Bernice Summerfield: The Kingdom of the Blind
Bernice Summerfield: The Lost Museum
Gallifrey: Lies
Gallifrey: Spirit
Gallifrey: Pandora
Gallifrey: Insurgency
Gallifrey: Imperiatrix
Iris Wildthyme: Wildthyme at Large
Iris Wildthyme: The Devil in Ms Wildthyme
UNIT: The Coup (included with DWM #351)
UNIT: Snake Head
UNIT: The Longest Night
UNIT: The Wasting
Cyberman: Scorpius
Cyberman: Fear
Cyberman: Conversion

The first Who from 2005 that I encountered: Hooray! Yep, along with many people reading this, I tuned in for the rebirth of the show on Easter Saturday 2005. I was 37.

My favourite Who from 2005: My favourite episodes are Dalek and The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances. But I also want to shout out for the second series of Gallifrey, particularly episode 2, Spirit, which explores the relationship between Leela and Romana, as the high point of another good year for Big Finish. Of the books, Winner Takes All and Only Human are my favourites.

Moving swiftly on from: Scaredy Cat, another rather forgettable Eighth Doctor audio.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

2004

Books
Sometime Never… (8)
Halflife (8)
The Tomorrow Windows (8)
The Sleep of Reason (8)
The Deadstone Memorial (8)
Scream of the Shalka (Alt!9)
Empire of Death (5)
The Eleventh Tiger (1)
Synthespians™ (6)
The Algebra of Ice (7)
The Indestructible Man (2)
Short Trips: Past Tense
Short Trips: Life Science
Short Trips: Repercussions
Short Trips: Monsters
Short Trips: 2040
Short Trips: A Christmas Treasury
Blood and Hope (5)
The Dalek Factor (?)
The Tunnel at the End of the Light (Time Hunter)
The Clockwork Woman (Time Hunter)
Kitsune (Time Hunter)
The Severed Man (Time Hunter)
The Big Hunt (Benny)
A Life Worth Living (Benny)
A Life in Pieces (Benny)

Audios
The Creed of the Kromon
The Natural History of Fear
The Twilight Kingdom
The Axis of Insanity
Arrangements for War
The Harvest
The Roof of the World
Medicinal Purposes
Faith Stealer
The Last
Caerdroia
The Next Life
UNIT: The Coup & Silver Linings
Bernice Summerfield: Death and the Daleks
Bernice Summerfield: The Grel Escape
Bernice Summerfield: The Bone of Contention
Bernice Summerfield: The Relics of Jegg-Sau
Bernice Summerfield: Silver Lining
Gallifrey: Weapon of Choice
Gallifrey: Square One
Gallifrey: The Inquiry
Gallifrey: A Blind Eye
Dalek Empire III: The Exterminators
Dalek Empire III: The Healers
Dalek Empire III: The Survivors
Dalek Empire III: The Demons
Dalek Empire III: The Warriors
Dalek Empire III: The Future
UNIT: Time Heals

The first Who from 2004 that I encountered: the Short Trips: Past Tense anthology, bought in 2006, which  is a bit of a mixed bag.

My favourite Who from 2004: The Big Finish play The Harvest introduces a new companion and does something interesting with the Cybermen at the same time. Other good points: the first Gallifrey seriesPaul Cornell's novelisation of Scream of the Shalka (which I liked more than the webcast); David McIntee's The Eleventh Tiger. Of course from the middle of the year we knew we were on hold for greater things.

Moving swiftly on from: Big Finish's Eighth Doctor stories, now set in an alternate universe supposedly without time, went through some dips here of which the lowest point is The Last.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

This morning, on the train into work, John Hurt turned and looked at me on my iPad, and I realised that I’d done it – completed the rewatch of New Who that I began last November 23rd. It turned out to be more difficult than my two-year rewatch of Old Who, in 2009-11, had been; there are, what, 270 episodes of New Who and spinoffs, but it took me over eleven months to get through them. With Old Who, because the episodes are usually only 25 minutes long, I could usually catch up over lunchtime or at home if for some reason I didn’t manage to watch that day’s episode on my commute; with New Who, that really only works for the Sarah Jane Adventures and the Australian K9 show.

I found out the hard way that I simply had to give up on any ambition of watching in strictly broadcast order. The biggest problems are the Australian K9 series and Torchwood: Miracle Day, whose first showing dates mesh confusingly with the other shows. But there are also cases like the animated story / webcast The Infinite Quest, which ran alongside the broadcast Season Three. And I confess that I still have not watched all of the Monster Files. (One could of course question whether a New Who rewatch should include the Torchwood audio plays, the animated stories / webcasts, the Comic Relief shorts or even the Australian K9 show. But I think that if a thing is worth doing at all – and that, of course, is a completely different issue – it’s worth doing properly.)

I also misplanned the scheduling of my write-ups. For my Old Who rewatch, it worked well enough to do six stories at a time, though this got more intense towards the end as the stories got shorter. But for New Who and its spinoffs, it would have been much better to take each season, and associated mini-episodes / audios / animations, as a separate topic. As it was, I dried up about half way in, and have had to circle back at the end with individual wrap-up posts on K9, Sarah Jane and Torchwood, and now this one to finish off.

So, all that said: my basic conclusion is that the Moffat era is actually better than I remembered from first time round, and the RTD era perhaps not quite as good. The Tenth Doctor in particular will never be my favourite (admittedly, Blink is one of my favourite episodes in the whole 50 years, but he is barely in it). The first decent Tenth Doctor story is School Reunion, four episodes in; the last is The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End, before the year of specials and the jumble of The End of Time. I see the Tenth Doctor as similar to the Third in some ways, with similar character flaws that don’t always appeal to me.

I do like the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith to an extent being Tom Baker to David Tennant’s Jon Pertwee; the Doctor isn’t human, and is most interesting when he is most obviously not One Of Us. But I don’t think he has always been well served by the show’s material. Season Six’s overarching narrative in particular is confusing – I still don’t quite grasp the overall concept. But there are some excellent individual pieces, the standout being (of course) The Doctor’s Wife. And I love the three quite different takes on the role of the companion – Amy, Amy/Rory and Clara, with Amy/Rory/Eleven being perhaps the most fun combination ever. But this is also the era of the Paternoster Gang, a hilarious and yet effective invention (and I do recommend that fans hunt out James Goss’s origin story for how Vastra and Jenny got together in the first place).

One less celebrated aspect of the Moffat era is that they have cracked the art of doing short episodes, either as teasers for the next full episode or even as stories in their own right. Thus there’s the hilarious fan service of Meanwhile in the Tardis II, and the great time paradoxes of Time / Space and First Night / Last Night – this is the sort of farce format at which Moffat excels, and you wouldn’t want it every day, but once every year or so is absolutely fine. Of course, in general the Moffat era is darker, which I like, and I’m sympathetic to it also being more internally referential, even if that doesn’t always work.

Still, my favourite New Who Doctor remains Nine, who picks the whole thing up from Rowan Atkinson parodies and Richard E. Grant caricatures, and brings it vehemently and unstoppably back to life. In my personal ranking he is second only to the Fourth Doctor and just ahead of the First. His characterisation was completely different, fresh and very watchable. He showed us that, once again, the Doctor mattered, and I have no hesitation (and quite a good track record of success) in introducing new fans to the show with Rose.

I do recommend that you give the grand watch-through a try – if you possibly can, all the way forward from 1963 to the present day, including at least the TV spinoffs (maybe skipping K9 is allowable) and Torchwood radio plays and if possible all the various short videos. There’s no other way to appreciate the full variety of the show. It’s fantastic. 

I had arranged lunch with a senior EU official who wanted to discuss some things in a reasonably private setting, and so I chose a discreet place in the neighbourhood which I hadn’t been to in a while.

I had not realised that it was becoming well known as a discreet place for lunch. At the table immediately to my left, I saw the former British ambassador who runs the EU’s policies on Africa; and at the table immediately behind my friend was the Dutch prince who is also the chef de cabinet of the EU Commissioner for Competition. We all pretended not to recognise each other, let alone be listening to scraps of conversation drifting across.

• Georgians Revealed
  
  I got an email about this and thought of the wrong #Georgia !
  (tags: history )
• Letter From Western Sahara, a Land Under Occupation
  
  Report from the camps.
  (tags: westernsahara )
• Disabled people win living fund case against government
  
  A rare defeat for the UK government in its war on the disabled.
  (tags: ukpolitics disability )
• Sifting Through Arthur C. Clarke’s DVD Collection in Colombo
  
  Very interesting, but not sure that I really approve.
  (tags: sf )
• Disgraced. Azerbaijan and the end of election monitoring as we know it
  
  ESI draws some wider conclusions from the débâcle.
  (tags: azerbaijan )
• What I’d tell you if I could
  
  Grief.
  (tags: )
• Laurie Anderson reflects on her life with Lou Reed
  
  An obituary.
  (tags: music death )

2003

Webcast
Shada
Scream of the Shalka

Books
The Domino Effect (8)
Reckless Engineering (8)
The Last Resort (8)
Timeless (8)
Emotional Chemistry (8)
Blue Box (6)
Loving the Alien (7)
The Colony of Lies (2)
Wolfsbane (4,8)
Deadly Reunion (3)
Short Trips: Companions
Short Trips: A Universe of Terrors
Short Trips: The Muses
Short Trips: Steel Skies
Rip Tide (4)
Wonderland (2)
Shell Shock (6)
The Cabinet of Light (?)
Fallen Gods (8)
Frayed (1)
The Eye of the Tyger (8)
Companion Piece (7)
The Winning Side (Time Hunter)
Life During Wartime (Benny)

Audios
Jubilee
Nekromanteia
The Dark Flame
Doctor Who and the Pirates
Creatures of Beauty
Project: Lazarus
Flip-Flop
Omega
Davros
Master
Zagreus
The Wormery
Scherzo
No Place Like Home
Living Legend
Auld Mortality
Sympathy for the Devil
Full Fathom Five
He Jests at Scars…
Deadline
Exile
Bernice Summerfield: The Mirror Effect
Bernice Summerfield: The Bellotron Incident
Bernice Summerfield: The Draconian Rage
Bernice Summerfield: The Poison Seas
Bernice Summerfield: The Dark Flame
Dalek Empire II: Dalek War

The first Who from 2003 that I encountered: I reviewed the Telos novella Shell Shock for Infinity Plus soon after publication; it impressed me more than my previous encounter with the range.

My favourite Who from 2003: The Shada webcast is great, but once again Big Finish had captured the high ground – my favourite is Creatures of Beauty, but I also like Jubilee (which of course got remade for TV a couple of years later), Flip-flop, Omega, Zagreus, The Wormery and from the Unbound range Sympathy for the Devil which has David Warner as a different Third Doctor and Nicholas Courtney as retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, whose successor, Colonel Brimmacombe-Wood, is played by David Tennant. Plus Mark Gatiss as the Master. I also enjoyed the Short Trips: Companions anthology.

Moving swiftly on from: It is rare that one has to mark down a Big Finish audio for poor production values, but The Poison Seas is not their finest hour.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Current
Reading the Oxford English Dictionary: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, by Ammon Shea
Reamde, by Neal Stephenson
Isaac Asimov: A Life of the Grand Master of Science Fiction, by Michael White
[Doctor Who] Sleepy, by Kate Orman
About Time: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who, 2005-2006; Series 1 & 2, by Tat Wood

Last books finished
The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I, by Stephen Alford
[Doctor Who] Nightdreamers, by Tom Arden

Next books
Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Paterson
The Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
There Will be Time, by Poul Anderson
[Doctor Who] Dark Progeny, by Steve Emmerson

Books acquired in last week
Het achterhuis: dagboekbrieven 12 juni 1942-1 augustus 1944, by Anne Frank, ed. Otto Frank and Mirjam Pressler

2002

Webcast
Death Comes to Time (parts 2-12)
Real Time

Books
Mad Dogs and Englishmen (8)
Hope (8)
Anachrophobia (8)
Trading Futures (8)
The Book of the Still (8)
The Crooked World (8)
History 101 (8)
Camera Obscura (8)
Time Zero (8)
The Infinity Race (8)
Relative Dementias (7)
Drift (4)
Palace of the Red Sun (6)
Amorality Tale (3)
Warmonger (5)
Ten Little Aliens (1)
Combat Rock (2)
The Suns of Caresh (3)
Heritage (7)
Fear of the Dark (5)
Short Trips: Zodiac
Citadel of Dreams (7)
Nightdreamers (3)
Ghost Ship (4)
Foreign Devils (2)
The Glass Prison (Benny)
A Life of Surprises (Benny)

Audios
Invaders from Mars
The Chimes of Midnight
Seasons of Fear
Embrace the Darkness
The Time of the Daleks
Spare Parts
…ish
The Rapture
The Sandman
The Church and the Crown
Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
The Maltese Penguin
The Ratings War
Excelis Dawns
Excelis Rising
Excelis Decays
Bernice Summerfield: The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy
Bernice Summerfield: The Green-Eyed Monsters
Bernice Summerfield: The Dance of the Dead
Bernice Summerfield: The Plague Herds of Excelis
Sarah Jane Smith: Comeback
Sarah Jane Smith: The TAO Connection
Sarah Jane Smith: Test Of Nerve
Sarah Jane Smith: Ghost Town
Sarah Jane Smith: Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre

The first Who from 2002 that I encountered: I reviewed Keith Topping’s Telos novella Ghost Ship for Infinity Plus shortly after publication. I didn’t like it much.

My favourite Who from 2002: Again, Big Finish are doing very well here. My absolute favourite, possibly of Big Finish’s entire output, is the Cybermen origin Spare PartsThe Greatest Shop In The Galaxy) and the first Sarah Jane series (my recommendation: Test of Nerve).

Moving swiftly on from: The two webcasts are awfully disappointing. The Time of the Daleks is another rare lapse from BF. Ghost Ship was a poor introduction to the Who of this year for me.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

• Cameron wants Kenny
  
  Enda for Brussels?
  (tags: eu ireland ukpolitics )
• The War is over: the Conflict Unresolved? The Consequences of the Good Friday Agreement after 15 years
  
  The 24th John Whyte lecture, 19 November
  (tags: northernireland )
• Azerbaijan should release political prisoners
  
  Ilgar Mammadov’s trial began on 4 November.
  (tags: azerbaijan )
• Europe etymology maps 1
  
  Bear. Church. Beer. Rose. Pineapple. Apple. Tea. Cucumber. Orange.
  (tags: linguistics )

2001

Webcast
Death Comes to Time (part 1)

Books
Father Time (8)
Escape Velocity (8)
EarthWorld (8)
Vanishing Point (8)
Eater of Wasps (8)
The Year of Intelligent Tigers (8)
The Slow Empire (8)
Dark Progeny (8)
The City of the Dead (8)
Grimm Reality (8)
The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (8)
The Quantum Archangel (6)
Bunker Soldiers (1)
Rags (3)
The Shadow in the Glass (6)
Asylum (4)
Superior Beings (5)
Byzantium! (1)
Bullet Time (7)
Psi-ence Fiction (4)
Dying in the Sun (2)
Instruments of Darkness (6)
Time And Relative (1)
The Gods of the Underworld (Benny)
The Squire’s Crystal (Benny)
The Infernal Nexus (Benny)

Audios
Storm Warning
Sword of Orion
The Stones of Venice
Minuet in Hell
Loups-Garoux
Dust Breeding
Bloodtide
Project: Twilight
The Eye of the Scorpion
Colditz
Primeval
The One Doctor
Last of the Titans
Bernice Summerfield: The Stone’s Lament
Bernice Summerfield: The Extinction Event
Bernice Summerfield: The Skymines of Karthos
Dalek Empire I: Invasion of the Daleks
Dalek Empire I: The Human Factor
Dalek Empire I: Death to the Daleks!
Dalek Empire I: Project Infinity

The first Who from 2001 that I encountered: Bunker Soldiers, and shortly after that Last of the Titans and Storm Warning, in 2007.

My favourite Who from 2001: The Eighth Doctor Adventures have picked up a bit here, I think; I’ve got as far as The Slow Empire in my own reading of them. But Big Finish is now really coming into its own, with some absolute crackers, of which my favourite is Bloodtide. Shout also for Kim Newman’s Time and Relative.

Moving swiftly on from: Byzantium! is one of the worst Who books ever. And from BF, a rare lapse: Minuet in Hell.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

• Jupiter s Triple Shadow Transit
  
  Callisto, Io and Europa.
  (tags: astronomy )
• The Beauty of Duplicity: Two Maps of Kashmir
  
  Depends how you look at it…
  (tags: pakistan maps india china )
• OSCE statement on election violence in Northern Kosovo
  
  Serbia’s special way of keeping promises.
  (tags: kosovo )

2000

Books
Parallel 59 (8)
The Shadows of Avalon (8)
The Fall of Yquatine (8)
Coldheart (8)
The Space Age (8)
The Banquo Legacy (8)
The Ancestor Cell (8)
The Burning (8)
Casualties of War (8)
The Turing Test (8)
Endgame (8)
Last of the Gaderene (3)
Tomb of Valdemar (4)
Verdigris (3)
Grave Matter (6)
Heart of TARDIS (2,4)
Prime Time (7)
Imperial Moon (5)
Festival of Death (4)
Independence Day (7)
The King of Terror (5)
Short Trips and Sidesteps
The Dead Men Diaries (Benny)
The Doomsday Manuscript (Benny)

Audios
The Land of the Dead
The Fearmonger
The Marian Conspiracy
The Genocide Machine
Red Dawn
The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
Winter for the Adept
The Apocalypse Element
The Fires of Vulcan
The Shadow of the Scourge
The Holy Terror
The Mutant Phase
Bernice Summerfield: Dragons' Wrath
Bernice Summerfield: The Secret of Cassandra
Bernice Summerfield: The Shadow of the Scourge

The first Who from 2000 that I encountered: Looks like this was Land of the Dead, rather early in my Big Finish listening.

My favourite Who from 2000: Also early in my Big Finish listening, I really loved The Apocalypse Element. Of the books, a particular shout to The Ancestor Cell and Festival of Death.

Moving swiftly on from: Winter for the Adept was not one of Big Finish's early successes.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

• Terry Pratchett on Doctor Who
  
  “The hero can fail, or die… It’s an important lesson.”
  (tags: doctorwho sf pratchett )
• Browsing history: A heritage site is being set up in the room the first Internet message originated in
  
  Where it all began.
  (tags: history internet )
• Street musician sings – original singer comes and joins him
  
  Jimmy Somerville’s comeback!
  (tags: music videos )
• Restoring Trans-Atlantic Trust
  
  A sensible summary from the sensible Wolfgang Ischinger.
  (tags: espionage )
• How to hijack an aid program
  
  Lessons from Canada – for Australia, but could be anywhere.
  (tags: politics )
• Post-Shutdown America by @SlaughterAM
  
  Wrong to say that US constitutionalism works better, right to highlight role of women.
  (tags: uspolitics )

1999

TV
The Curse of Fatal Death

Books
The Face-Eater(8)
The Taint (8)
Demontage (8)
Revolution Man (8)
Dominion (8)
Unnatural History (8)
Autumn Mist (8)
Interference: Book One (8,3)
Interference: Book Two (8,3)
The Blue Angel (8)
The Taking of Planet 5 (8)
Frontier Worlds (8)
Salvation (1)
The Wages of Sin (3)
Deep Blue (5)
Players (6)
Millennium Shock (4)
Storm Harvest (7)
The Final Sanction (2)
City at World’s End (1)
Divided Loyalties (5)
Corpse Marker (4)
More Short Trips
Perfect Timing 2
The Mary-Sue Extrusion (Benny)
Dead Romance  (Benny)
Tears of the Oracle  (Benny)
Return to the Fractured Planet (Benny)
The Joy Device  (Benny)
Twilight of the Gods (Benny)

Audios
The Sirens of Time
Phantasmagoria
Whispers of Terror
Bernice Summerfield: Birthright
Bernice Summerfield: Just War
Bernice Summerfield: Buried Treasures

The first Who from 1999 that I encountered: The Curse of Fatal Death, closely followed by The Sirens of Time, both in 2006.

My favourite Who from 1999: Well, despite the silliness and everything, it’s difficult to top The Curse of Fatal Death. Honorable mentions to Salvation and the audio version of Just War.

Moving swiftly on from: Not much enthused by either The Blue Angel or The Taking of Planet 51963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

This isn’t so much a second volume as a second half of Rateliff’s bookThe Hobbit, the subsequent revisions to bring the Gollum episode and other elements better in line with The Lord of the Rings, and finally his abandonment of an attempt to rewrite the entire thing to get rid of some of the continuity errors (eg, what did the dwarves do with their musical instruments after they played them in Bag End?) at the behest of an unnamed female friend who persuaded him to let the text be.