The second and final volume of Big Finish’s Avengers Comic Strip adaptations offers four more hour long adventures featuring Julia Wadham and Olivia Poulet playing the iconic roles of of John Steed and Emma Peel.

The set begins with “Playtime is Over” in which Steed and Peel investigate a series of daring robberies apparently committed by children. When a man who has offered them a lead is murdered by a toy boat, that sets them onto a toy factory run by an eccentric man who never quite grew up.

This takes the offbeat nature of the Avengers and ups the zaniness to the level of a 1960s Batman TV episode. It’s incredible fun, if a bit predictable at times.

In “The Antongoniser,” after several strange deaths, Steed and Mrs. Peel are put on the case and discover the cause of death is animals gone bad. This is an entertaining program, with some fun moments, but it doesn’t measure up to the better episodes in the series with a mystery that’s too quickly solved and a villain that’s not that interesting. Still, worth a listen due to the fun one-liners.

In, “The Mad Hatter,” a visiting foreign princess becomes a target for assassins. As the title implies, a theme villain is behind it, but the story has a lot of twists on its way to the big reveal. The dialogue is hilarious as are many of the situations. Although, the idea of a rattlesnake being hidden in a bowler hat does cross the line from hilarious to ludicrous. Still, a fun episode.

“The Secret Six” is a perfect finale for the comic strip stories as Steed and Mrs. Peel find themselves prisoners at a country estate where they are held by six master criminals from around the globe who have decided that eliminating Steed and Peel is critical for their evil plans to succeed. It’s an action packed and dizzying ride as the two have to dodge bullets and even a tank in their quest to stay alive. Overall, this is a fun and exhilarating conclusion to the series. My only complaint is  several of the six villains were not quite credible as crime bosses. In the end, that doesn’t stop this finale from being a pleasure to listen to.

Ratings: 4.0 out of 5.0

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Back in the 1990s, Random House produced a series of audio dramas based on the work of the great Western Writer Louis L’Amour and originally released on cassette.

In “A Gun for Kilkenny” a stranger shoots and kills a local badman in a bar and is taken to be the mysterious Marshall Kilkenny. The town is grateful for the stranger doing the killing and he milks the gratitude for all it’s worth because…what could go wrong?

The characters at first blush seem to fit the Western Archetypes (the saloon girl, the pacifist Quaker storekeeper, the saloon owner,) but they kept surprising me throughout the story. While we may have guessed the gist of the ending, how we get there is surprising. The story raises several great questions. What’s the difference between a “good” gunslinger and a bad man? What happens when you embrace a seemingly friendly killer?

There’s no big stars in the cast, but the performers turn in universally solid and believable performances. The soundscape is well-done and captures the Spirit of the Old West fine. The sound quality is good for something originally made for a cassette tape.

Overall, this was an engrossing performance that made me curious to hear more.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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The fourth volume of Avengers, The Lost Episodes offers listeners four more recreations of the lost first season of the Avengers.

The set kicks off with, “Kill the King,” in which Steed has to protect a visiting king who is key to the British gaining access to his country’s oil. The story becomes a pretty interesting thriller as we encounter three separate individuals who all appear to be setting out with the same assassin’s mission. The story has a very clever twist at the end that hits Steed like a punch in the stomach. It’s the best episode of a very good set and probably one of the most innovative stories in the Lost Episodes range.

Next up is, “A Change in Bait.” Originally, aired at Christmastime, this episode has a lighter tone than, “Kill the King,” as Steed tries to break up a complex insurance racket involving arson at warehouses. The story isn’t laugh-out-loud hilarious,or so over the top in its humor that it would feel like it didn’t belong in this season, rather the humor is mixed in in a way that feels quite natural. The arsonist is probably the most amusing guest character. His stance that they couldn’t steal money from a building they were burning because that would be unethical is priceless. Overall, a fun story.

In, “Hunt the Man Down,” a convicted robber is released from prison and immediately waylaid by two thugs who want to know where his loot is. Steed intervenes and Keel treats the ex-convict. Carol is kidnapped by the gang who believe she knows where the loot is. Overall, this is an exciting case with good twists, particularly as to who the boss of the gang is. A very solid outing.

Finally in, “Dead of Winter,” Steed investigates a body found in a shipment of beef and sends Keel undercover to a man he suspects is behind it after a a pathologist is murdered and the body disappears. This one of the more fantastic plots in the Lost Episodes and very reminiscent of the sci-fi like stories that would come during the show’s most well-known run with Mrs. Peal.

Overall, this is a strong set. It’s not as great as Volume 3, but there’s not a poor episode in this bunch.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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See Part One and Part Two

Minor spoilers ahead.

Right around the same time as the release of Series 5 of Jago and Litefoot, the duo guest starred in a Big Finish Doctor Who story featuring Tom Baker as the Doctor with Mary Tamm as his companion Romana.

The story is kind of a Victorian version of Judge Dredd meets Superman as a steampunk cyborg vigilante delivers swift vengeance to evildoers on the streets of London. It’s a great yarn but Jago and Litefoot are pretty much in sidekick roles.

Series Six came out in the fall of 2013 and sees them returning to their best form as they encounter the mysterious Colonel who has some business for them to do on behalf of the crown.

The series gets back to its Victorian roots with, “The Skeleton Quay,” where they go to investigate a series of murders off the coast of Shingle Cove. The atmosphere on this is perfect and the plotline is very well-written. It’s probably the most authentically Victorian story Jago and Litefoot have done.

It does feature Jago and Litefoot conveniently forgetting their time in the 1960s and their travels in the TARDIS to Venus for no explicable reason and concluding it was a dream. It’s a case of plot and writer convenience. The experiences, if retained, would probably change the characters too much so I understand why they did it. However, that being the case, Jago and Litefoot shouldn’t have gone there or they should have come up with a more explicable explanation for what happened.

Next up is, “Return of the Repressed” which has Jago and Litefoot meeting up with Sigmund Freud in a nice psychological drama. The story begins with Jago telling Freud of his dreams and then those dreams end up coming to life.

The story has some great humorous moments and for once, Professor Litefoot provides them. At the same, it provides some insight into Jago and Litefoot’s characters. It’s brilliantly written and a lot of fun.

In “Military Intelligence,” the mysterious Colonel, who called Jago & Litefoot into service for the crown at the beginning of the sixth series wants information regarding their encounters with Doctor Tulp who they battled in the “Mahogany Murderers” and during Series One of Jago & Litefoot. However, Litefoot smells a rat. A s he asks questions, the situation gets more dangerous.

The story is exciting and packed full of intrigue, mystery, steampunk elements, and a surprise guest character all leading to an ending that sets up the Series finale beautifully.

In, “The Trial of George Litefoot,” Litefoot is arrested for the murder of Jago. The idea for the plot was an intriguing one, but in the first half they strained credulity far too much. It seemed like they were concerned about laying the groundwork for the premise of Series Seven that they cut a lot of corners to get there. At fifty-three minutes, the story could have benefited from being a bit longer to fill in the gaps of logic.

However, the last twenty minutes has the story back on track with our heroes having a thrilling climatic battle with the Colonel, who has an utterly insane plan to bring down the British empire. Overall, it is a decent conclusion to Series Six.

As a whole, Series Six re-established the series’ original premise and sets the stage for Series Seven which would have Jago and Litefoot on the run and wanted.

Series Seven begins with, “The Monstrous Menagerie,” which finds Jago and Litefoot in disguise as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson and sent out on a case by none other than Arthur Conan Doyle (played by Steven Miller) himself.

The story is set after Doyle’s killed off Holmes in “The Final Problem” and finds the author encountering constant cries from fans to bring Holmes back. Miller does a great job in the story and Jonathan Morris’ script does a great job playing up Doyle’s frustration.

There are some great hints and references to future Doyle stories including, “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and “The Lost World.” This is a very delightful, well-acted tale and the strongest opening to a Jago and Litefoot box set since Series One.

While the previous Series’ “Return of the Repressed” took a somewhat lighthearted look at the psychology of our heroes, Series 7’s “Night of 1,000 Stars,” examines Jago, Litefoot, Ellie, and Leela (who has appeared for a reason that’s key to the story).

It’s meaty material that has our heroes questioning which of them is behind their predicament and they come to the conclusion that one of them is in fact a killer. It’s a clever script that could easily be performed as a stage play. It’s a fantastic script that shows that there’s still a lot more depths to plumb with these characters.

Murder at Moorsey Manor features Jago and Litefoot showing up at a mansion for a party under assumed names to speak to a key witness who can clear them. However, they find out that they’re at an early convention. Then they and the other guests discover that they’re in an old house where one person dies every hour. Murder at Moorsey Manor is evocative of, “And Then There Were None…” and other “old house” murder stories.

The story moves at a good pace and manages to blend suspense with comedy in a way that is seamless. The finale and solution to the case are superb and cleverly executed. The story concludes with them apparently arrested.

However, in the series finale, “The Wax Princess,” Jago and Litefoot, to their surprise, find themselves not under arrest. Instead, they learn Jack the Ripper was captured by Inspector Abeline but he’s escaped and it’s up to them to find him.

The story works. There are some great suspenseful moments, a strong performance for Sergeant Quick, a nice bit of misdirection over the identity of the Ripper, and even a somewhat funny bit where Lightfoot impersonated Jago.

The story wasn’t perfect. The whole premise of the box set was dealt with and dismissed rather quickly. “Forget about that whole being on the run thing, the police need you to hunt Jack the Ripper.” Also, I have to admit the realization of Queen Victoria was a little weak. Having the actress who played her talking in a very high falsetto seemed a bit below the typical standards of the series, although she still managed some good moments even with that voice.

Overall, though this was an enjoyable conclusion to one of the best series of Jago and Litefoot.

Between Series Seven and Eight, Big Finish released, “The Worlds of Doctor Who,” a good marketing idea that featured a story that would feature episodes from three Doctor Who spin off ranges and then a Doctor Who episode with Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor. The four stories would be inter-linked by the same villain operating in different times and places.

Jago and Litefoot are in the lead off story, “Mind Games,” where the duo look into a series of murders in London when they find a man who dreamed he committed the murder and another is awakened before following through. The clues point back to a hypnotist named Mr. Rees. Overall, this was unremarkable Jago & Lightfoot fare. Our heroes provide charm but little else. The story’s problems may stem from the fact it’s the start of a storyline that would be picked up 3/4 of a century later.

They do make a cameo appearance in the third story for UNIT, “The Screaming Skull,” via a recording done on a wax cylinder. It’s a nice touch and Big Finish did a great job treating the audio so it sounded like an authentic wax record from the late 19th or early 20th centuries.

In the fall of 2014, Jago and Litefoot Series 8 was released and it was a bit of a departure from most of the recent box sets. Usually, at least three of the four stories are interconnected, starting with the first episode. However, in this set, the first and second stories are standalone tales and the final two episodes are essentially a two parter.

The set kicks off with Jago deciding to hire a puppet act in, “Encore of the Scorchies.” Little does Jago know the Scorchies are evil alien puppets (from a Doctor Who audio in which they were the titular characters.) It doesn’t take long before those evil killer puppets are up to their old tricks as they get hired on to perform at Jago’s theater and the result is mayhem.

The episode is full of superbly written musical numbers and are performed brilliantly with some very good guest vocalists as well as a couple of strong numbers from Jago and Ellie. The Encore of the Scorchies has some very funny scenes, most notably the one where the Scorchies expected to blow Lightfoot’s mind by explaining they were evil aliens bent on world domination and found him unimpressed, plus the final scene for Ellie has a great humorous twist.

At the same time, the story never loses sight of the genuine horror of what the Scorchies are doing and it how it effects the characters in the story, which manages to give it a neat balance. Overall, this was a very memorable start to the series.

“The Backwards Men,” has Jago and Litefoot looking into mysterious deaths that center around Wednesday’s World of Weird Wonders. It marks the return of Andy Lane who wrote the Mahogany Murderers but hadn’t written for the series since Series Three. The story has a lot of fun touches that seem quite true to the Victorian era . The story features an extra-terrestrial element including an alien symbiote that’s not everything he seems to be.

The villain was given an interesting backstory and motive. The final few minutes were riveting with Jago fighting for his life and mind.

“Jago, Litefoot, and Patsy,” introduces the Mudlark Patsy,  who discovers a fish with a man’s severed hand in it. This leads to her foisting herself on Jago and Litefoot as she wants the fish back when the investigation is done. Through the course of the story, she’s given an interesting backstory as the Queen of Jacob’s Island.

This one is solidly atmospheric with Flaminia Cinque turning in a solid performance as Patsy and the story maintaining some great Victorian atmosphere and a well-done final confrontation and a final scene that set up the box set’s finale.

“Higdson and Quick,” is a very different finale that finds something very wrong with our heroes and it’s up to Ellie and Inspector Quick to save the day.

At the core of the story is the idea of Jago and Litefoot being under an alien influence but it not changing their personality. It’s very well acted by the two leads. The whole plot is fascinating, and it features well-realized scenes on a train.

Series Eight left our heroes quite beleaguered and emotionally drained and ends with them deciding to recharge by taking cruise expecting nothing eventful at all to happen, but they’d learn better in Series Nine, which we’ll discuss next week.

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Twelve Year old Douglas Spaulding is growing up in the 1920s in Green Town, Illinois, a town that’s full of life, energy, and a reliable circle of friends and family, and Summer is the best time of all. In the course of Summer, the magic of Green Town makes for many wonderful moments, but Douglas also has to cope with the first pangs of growing up.

Dandelion Wine was originally a novel by Ray Bradbury, who later wrote it as a play and then turned it into this audiodrama for Colonial Radio Theatre.

Dandelion Wine showcases why Bradbury is such a beloved author even outside of the science fiction genre. Bradbury’s at his best and this story works very well for radio as the lyrical dialogue paints evocative pictures that capture the imagination. Dandelion Wine manages to take even mundane moments in life and wrap them in wonder. One of my favorite scenes involves Douglas’ grandfather taking inventory of his stock of the medicinal dandelion wine. It’s a well-done scene that creates a sense of nostalgia and gives a keen insight into the childlike way Douglas views the world.

The play is well-acted with Jerry Robbins turning in a great performance as the mysterious and soft-spoken Mr. Forrester. The sound design is ably done and helps to re-enforce the tone of the story.

The play is a story for all ages, though younger and older viewers will view it differently. Douglas relates well to the younger listeners. Yet, for older listeners, it’ll call to mind a whole other set of emotions: reminders of childhood and the moments when it ended with the realization that the world was changing whether you wanted it to or not.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

Note: This Audio Drama is available for free through Audible Channels for Audible subscribers. It’s also available for purchase for non-subscribers.

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Big Finish has so far adapted 20 of the 26 episodes from the lost season of the ITV hit The Avengers. Still, when people think of that classic British program, they think of the period with John Steed and Mrs. Peel that allowed the show to cross the pond to American Television.

In 1966 and ‘67, at the height of their popularity, several comic strip stories were written featuring the duo of Steed and Peel. Big Finish brings them to life in a new range with Julian Wadham playing Steed and Olivia Poulet offering her take on the iconic role of Mrs. Peel. Volume 1 of the Series offers four hour long stories.

Both the new actors are superb. I was familiar with Wadham from the more strait-laced “Lost Episodes,” but he does a good job playing the Steed of the Peel era with aplumb. Poulet offers a lively take on Mrs. Peel. Both succeed in making the rolls their own.

Here’s a breakdown of the episodes included in Volume 1 of the Comic Strip adaptations:

Return to Castle De’ath: A follow up on a T.V. episode, finds Steed and Peel returning to Castle De’ath to protect an insufferably arrogant prince who is key to British oil interests. This snappy script is littered with witty one-liners and the plot has outrageous twists. Only a few moments don’t quite translate to audio. But overall, a very good beginning for the series.

The Miser: A dangerous saboteur calling himself the Misers rocks Great Britain. Mrs. Peel and Steed go to work to find him before the nation’s leaders are forced to hand all of Great Britain’s wealth to him. Overall, this is fun, with a grain field that doubles as a minefield, impersonation, a wax works, and a notable villain, though the plot’s too predictable on the wind up.

The Golden Dresses: Several prominent officials have disappeared after their wives purchased fabulous dresses from a posh boutique. The story is well-told but a bit predictable. The villainess goes a bit too over the top even for the Avengers in the final minutes. Still, it’s a decent episode.

The Norse Code: Steed and Peel search for a missing colleague in Norfolk and find themselves having to thwart a Viking plot to destroy Great Britain. Overall, it’s a perfectly outlandish tale that’s clever and would have fit in with the 1960s show. There are many humorous parts, particularly the opening with Mrs. Peel learning conversational ancient Norse. (”Excuse me, my warship is on fire.”)

Overall, this set offers a fresh spin on two classic characters. While the adaptation from a strictly visual medium leads to a few uncertain moments, these are a few and far between. Fans of witty dramas will love this set.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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