The Time Travellers
"Ghosts" by Nigel Fairs
Two travellers are on a tourist flight to volcanic islands in attempt to recover a lost memory. But when a tragedy separates them, 'Alice' decides to start her own investigation. What did Madame Eternal have to do with her friend and the President? Why did the President also have a lost memory?
Directed by Nigel Fairs (who also wrote it), "Ghosts" is uneven in places, such as an uncertainty about the lead characters' names and what the audience thought they knew about them--that 'The Dominie' could even lose a memory, for one. Even the music and post production by Harvey Summers has a slight problem when an important announcement by the President seems to have a party with loud laugher in the background.
Despite those problems, "Ghosts" is an interesting mystery.
The cast includes Sylvester McCoy as The Domine, Sophie Aldred
as Alice (this adventure has the change in names from the
Professor and Ace), Caroline Burns-Cook as Madame Eternal, Joe
Young as Saul, John Cormack as Alistrair Briggs, and Toby Eddington as President Maxington.
60 minutes.
Recommended.
The Wanderer
"Vital Signs" by Tim Saward
The Museum of Universal History and Cosmographies on the company planet of Ephestus seems beset with misfortune-- exhibits eating people, computer systems gone wrong, and a new director more concerned with profits than the museum. In the midst of an unseasonal snow storm, a driver stops to rescue a stranded traveller known as 'Fred'. The two (plus budgie) soon find themselves dodging wolf attacks and snow drifts on their way to the Museum. Meanwhile, the Museum director suspects sabotage behind the weather problems, but the wolves aren't so easily explained away.
This is a fascinating story. Nicholas Briggs and Jack Galagher are wonderful as Fred and Kevin snipe at each other on their way across the city. Will Warrior puts the perfect edge on Murphy's crankiness, while Richard Franklin as Cellax the Curator is at turns arrogant, oily and devious. John Ainsworth's direction brings out the best in this story.
The cast includes Nicholas Briggs as Fred, Richard Franklin as Cellax, Jack Galagher as Kevin, Louise Morrell as Phoebe, Will Warrior as Murphy/Gerda and Andrea Newland as Andora/Receptionist. Music and post production is by
Harvey Summers.
60 minutes.
Highly recommended
The Time Travelers
"Only Human" by Mark J Thompson
The Dominie and Alice decide to visit Earth, but their space time machine instead lands on a far different planet--one where the ground is covered in blood and the buildings are made of body parts. Even stranger, the inhabitants are claiming that the travelers are contaminating the area by their presence. The space machine's next stop is a space station with only one inhabitant left, a very friendly and accomodating android named Vixxy. But what is Vixxy not saying about the disappearance of the rest of the station's inhabitants?
This is an uneven story, as Alice is suddenly at odds with The Dominie, accusing him throughout of being manipulative and superior. This is completely opposite to the wonderful affection at the end of "Ghosts", so I kept wondering if I had missed a story between the two Time Travellers stories. An additional layer of angst is added with another revelation about Alice's past.
Sylvester McCoy as The Dominie, Sophie Aldred as Alice, Jo Philips-Lane as Samantha, Sammie Winmill as Vixxy, Peter Dean as Reg, Gary Hailes as Karsius, and other voices by various members
of the cast. Directed by Mark J Thompson.
60 minutes.
Recommended.
Tourists should be wary whenever The Dominie and Alice are about. This time they're on a luxury train ride to Vienzza when the first of several bodies turns up.
This audio has an interesting mix of characters from different cultures and languages, which made the story that much richer. It's also nice to hear references back to the events in 'Ghosts' and 'Only Human', as well as a very little but welcome reference to the Audio Visuals. The Dominie (using a another name for the passenger list) and Alice are back on friendly terms and are once again the smoothly-working team I enjoy listening to.
As well as Sylvester McCoy as The Dominie and Sophie Aldred as Alice, the cast also includes Jackie Skarvellis as Betty Durham, Bernard Kay as Sid Durham, Keith Drinkel as Baloney, Andrew Laycock as Leach, John Cormack as Zagess and Jo Castleton as Djala.
Graheme Wilson handles post production and music quite well, with only one possible mis-step at the opening when something sounded more comedical than was probably intended. Otherwise I quite enjoyed several of the musical cues.
60 minutes. Highly recommended.
Price: UK £7.99, US and Australia £8.99 each including postage and handling. Buy both together for: UK £15.99, US and Australia £17.99 including postage and handling.
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