Bernice Summerfield - Series Three and Four

More reviews, posted online a while ago, bring me up to Series 4 for the Bernice Summerfield marathon. Check the website linked to for plenty more coverage of Big Finish’s other ranges…

Series Three: 1 Short Story Collection, 4 Main Releases, 1 Excelis Tie In

Bernice's Life at the Collection begins to settle down, but things remain far from peacefull.

Series Four: 4 audios, 1 Short Story Collection
Monster of the Week! Bernice rushes around the universe encountering the worst it has to throw at her, but she's missed something 'big' going down at home... Probably the most consistantly strong series so far.

Bernice Summerfield - Series One and Two

Why should you care about Bernice Summerfield?

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been working through Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range since late last year. This marathon includes around fifty full cast audio dramas, at least ten full length novels and ten more short story collections and a few novella anthologies... And that's just since the range moved to Big Finish in 1999.

Big Finish have just announced that Series 11 is coming soon, and it should be an excellent place for new listeners to jump on as a major long running plot arc is drawing to a close. So if you're interested in dipping your toe into this fantastic range, here's the reasons why you should give them a go. Click on the pictures to be taken to to the Audio Reviews website for in depth analysis.

Series One - An Exquisite series of audio adaptations of Virgin's original Bernice Summerfield books

Buried Treasures - Big Finish's first ever 'Subscriber Bonus'

Series Two Books - When Big Finish considered taking over the range these stories introduced a brand new continuity for them to explore. Proudly introducing: the Braxiatel Collection.

Series Two Audios - Brand new adventures for the same old professor

Bernice Summerfield: The Plague Herds of Excelis

Listening to Plague Herds if Excelis without having just worked through the preceding Dr Who Excelis adventures is an unusual experience. Although it does have a go at filling you in on the details you can’t get around the fact this is a sequel, and so I am going to assume you have at least a passing idea of what occurred previously. Set ‘after’ the final Excelis trilogy it show the world left in ruins after the Doctor abandoned it. It’s also harks back to the very first play in the series, with the reappearance of Iris Wildthyme and a few other tidbits…

Bernice Summerfield: Death and the Daleks

The appearance of Daleks in Death and the Daleks (formerly known as the ‘Axis of Evil’ before it started turning up on people’s doorsteps) may or not have come as a complete surprise after all. Thematically it sits roughly alongside the rest of the ‘monster’s audio series which have insisted on using traditional monsters for the last three plays. It’s a big, bold sequel to ‘Life During Wartime’, which means that if you haven’t read the collection you’re immediately at a disadvantage. Despite the brief ‘previously on Bernice Summerfield segment’ there’s no chance to get to know newbies Moskoff and Anson as intimately as you should. It’s also the first full Bernice story penned by Paul Cornell since BF got the license, so straight off the bat you expect something special…

Bernice Summerfield: Life During Wartime

The Fall
Bernice returns home to the Collection and things aren’t how she expected. In just a few pages Paul Cornell briefs us on the setting and purpose of this collection and just from the very tone of it you can see how different it’s going to be. Both of the previous collections have suffered from a lack of purpose and cohesion, this time, apparently not.

Bernice Summerfield: The Poison Seas

Introducing traditional ‘monsters’ into Series 4 to attract Doctor Who fans over into this mini-range is a pretty shameless piece of advertising, however for the most part it seems to have worked. The first two plays of the series are very strong releases, taking the strengths of their respective monsters and using them to their advantage to tell a completely ‘new’ story. Sadly, on this third release, things start to stumble.

Bernice Summerfield: The Draconian Rage

There are a few things you might expect from the Draconian Rage. It’s by Trevor Baxendale who is known for dark and traumatic stories. It features the misogynistic Draconians who are sure to spark against Bernice’s natural wit and independence. Its got a relatively small cast set amongst a political setting, so plenty of intrigue and backstabbing are expected.

Bernice Summerfield: The Bellotron Incident

Bernice Summerfield and the Bellotron Incident is a surprisingly solid play. Mick Tucker’s script isn’t as clever or witty as some of his predecessors but does hold a tight, well delivered story. The actual plot concerns a planet whose orbit takes it between Sontaran and Rutan lines, which seems a little pedestrian at first but does boast a few genuine surprises throughout. The appearance of Bev Tarrant appears odd on first glance but actually she turns out to be a natural fit, and there’s not a single weak performance from the cast.

Bernice Summerfield: The Mirror Effect

If I thought Lisa Bowerman overacted slightly in certain scenes of ‘Dance of the Dead’, this play rushes in to prove me wrong. This play is full of shrieks and wails, unrelenting in its angst. Only now it all makes sense, it’s called for.

It’s all about context.

Bernice Summerfield: Dance of the Dead

The fact that Stephen Cole also penned ‘Plague Herds of Excelis’ (not actually an official part of the Benny main range) pays dividends here because it informally leads directly into this play. Having Bernice awaken from a party with a hangover, alone in strange surroundings is far from odd. Having her on a ship flying away from an alien peace conference isn’t unheard of either. However, courtesy of the build up in Plague Herds, we know and have felt exactly how important this conference is. It also makes this a very good fit for the Ice Warriors.

Bernice Summerfield: The Green Eyed Monster

The Green Eyed monster is an odd play. It has two plot strands, both highly interlinked, but alone neither would make a satisfying adventure. The tale Bernice stumbles into is just too light and obvious, the villain too melodramatic and the plan too obvious. Alternately Jason and Adrian’s scenes are too short, their dialogue although sweet too simple, and giant leaps in the narrative are made very quickly and too often.

Bernice Summerfield: The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy

Series three of Bernice Summerfield starts bolder than any before it. With a return to the old theme tune, Joseph now established as her defacto travelling companion and an all around tighter sound design, she’s ready to face anything. And in this rip roaring adventure which is half comedy, half action thriller, she gets straight to it.

Bernice Summerfield; The Glass Prison

Before I start the review can I just say ‘yes’ to the cover.

The covers for the first few novels weren’t ‘bad’ as such, but they weren’t very distinctive. The range changed with the launch of series two of the audios and Dave Stone’s Infernal Nexus, but fittingly that cover was as mad and ludicrous as the content of the book itself. Finally, on the fifth attempt, it all just seems to come together. It’s striking, evocative, moody and deeply personal. It’s just… right.

Bernice Summerfield: The Skymines of Karthos

There are lots of things that aren’t wrong about the Skymines of Karthos. Despite being utterly disinterested in the whole adventure aside from the prospect of seeing his wife again, Jimmy Wilson doesn’t put in a bad turn as Michael Peters. His interplay with Lisa Bowerman is certainly one sided in her favour but its nice to see a dynamic where the two leads aren’t colleagues, and it certainly beats Bernice doing it solo as she did in Secret of Cassandra.

Bernice Summerfield: The Infernal Nexus

After three novels that are each entertaining in their own way, the Bernice Summerfield book range has appeared both strong and consistent, but broken very few boundaries. That changes with the introduction of Dave Stone and his creation Jason Kane, in the de facto sequel to the oddball short story from the collection ‘The Door Into Bedlam’. For the first time in the range everything, literally, is up in the air. Dave Stone has created a world within which anything can happen.