So for one weekend (May 26-27 2012) we have a special offer from Big Finish to get the Klein Trilogy for £9 each or £25 the lot. The link is here (link now removed as offer ended) but the question is – should you get this?
The offer coincides with the transmission on Radio 4 Extra ( a UK station) of the episodes though in abridged form. The real question (for those in the UK) is edited version for free or full versions (with CD if wanted) for £25. To help think that through (and I haven’t been listening to the broadcasts) I give some background…
What are they?
The sequel to the rather good Colditz and (we now know) the prequel to the upcoming UNIT: Dominion. There are three discs:
- Thousand Tiny Wings: in which the Seventh Doctor meets Klein again in Africa and lets her come on board the TARDIS to hopefully educate her on why he stopped the Nazi version of history
- Klein’s Story / Survival of the Fittest: the missing story of how Klein got the TARDIS before Colditz and also featuring the Eighth Doctor; the other three part tale is a story of an alien world and prejuduce
- Architects of History Klein has the TARDIS, the Nazi Empire rules the galaxy and only the Doctor can put history back on track.
Are they any good?
In my opinion Colditz is strong and this trilogy could have been excellent, for me though the Africa story was ok but not wonderful; Klein’s Story is brilliant but I don’t like Survival and have developed a theory that insect stories don’t work. Architects on the other hand is one of the very best stories made (nearly up there with Death in the Family) and also features one of the best inconstant companions – Rachel Cooper.
Buy or not?
Overall these are quality tales – if you haven’t got them and can’t get the Radio 4 Extra then definitely a buy; if you haven’t any money left after all the other sales / subscriptions for 2012 and can get he abridged versions then maybe the case is less strong.
When they’re good they are very good though!
Red Rocket Rising 
Hopefully a lot of people will give this trilogy a try because it is really excellent. I tend to agree with your insect story theory though I think Survival of the Fittest is one of the more tolerable examples, largely because of Klein’s role.
LikeLike
I hope I didn’t come across too negative, I hadn’t heard Colditz originally so I didn’t have the excitement others might have had on hearing Klein re-appear
LikeLike
Not at all – it’s certainly the weakest of the three releases (leaving aside Klein’s Story which is rather wonderful). Strangely though I had heard Colditz, I had never really been all that keen to hear her again so I was rather surprised that they found an interesting way to bring her back and such a memorable final story that could only really be told with that character.
LikeLike
Though we don’t know what ideas never make it past the cut – maybe we could have had the trilogy following on from (randomly chosen) Loups-Garoux whereby the doctor follows around various werewolf lairs across the world or a set of spin-offs called the Kroton Wars!
LikeLike
I love Architects and Klein’s Story but Colditz upon a recent 2nd listen didn’t score nearly as high for me 😦
LikeLike
Any reason? Was it the lack of surprise?
LikeLike
I loved the Klein bits, but Ace got really irritating in it. Plus the sound at times wasn’t so grand.
LikeLike
I would agree Ace didn’t seem to take the situation very seriously, I put that down to her age
LikeLike