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nwhyte's review
I actually rather liked The Roof of the World; even though the good bits are all stolen from other Doctor Who stories (apart from the nods to Lovecraft) I liked the development of Erimem's character, and Davison and Bryant got good chances to do their stuff; plus the setting was on the whole very well depicted given the audio environment. I was rather astonished to find out the back-story of the author after I did a little googling...
kmccubbin's review
3.0
At this point in Big Finish's chronology, each of the big four Doctors (Five through Eight) has a companion that was created by Big Finish and who has never appeared on television. In many ways these new characters are the best things about the range and the TARDIS crew for this story featuring Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor, Nicola Bryant's Peri and Big Finish creation, Erimem as played by Caroline Morris, are no exception. Giving Peri someone to mentor stretches her character in a wonderful way and adds a depth that the television series never allowed her. The team works as does the double act of Sylvester Morand's General Bruce and his chronicler John Matthews' Alan Cox.
Dealing with the legacy of colonialism was a highlight off the Fifth Doctor's televised era and this story takes it's cues from stories like "Kinda" or "Black Orchid". It also tries to take on advancing Peri and Erimem's relationship while fleshing out the ex-Pharoah's backstory.
All well and good and it clips along at a nice pace for about two and a half episodes before becoming an almost incomprehensible melange of illusions, psuedo-religeous babble and cheap science fiction gimmicks.
It should have been better than it ends up being, but it's a lot of fun, occasionally.
Dealing with the legacy of colonialism was a highlight off the Fifth Doctor's televised era and this story takes it's cues from stories like "Kinda" or "Black Orchid". It also tries to take on advancing Peri and Erimem's relationship while fleshing out the ex-Pharoah's backstory.
All well and good and it clips along at a nice pace for about two and a half episodes before becoming an almost incomprehensible melange of illusions, psuedo-religeous babble and cheap science fiction gimmicks.
It should have been better than it ends up being, but it's a lot of fun, occasionally.
coffee_deer's review
3.0
What I liked: the overall feeling that this story belongs to the Fifth Doctor era, the further development of the mythos of the Old Ones in Doctor Who, the way Peri and Erimem had integral parts in the story, the description of the Doctor by Peri (delicious and apt!), and the final monologue of the Doctor.
What I found lacking: the Old Ones... maybe because the unknown is always scarier. But even as the visions of the Doctor and Peri as shown to Erimem, they were... disturbing but not really frightening. And they lose almost any capability to invoke fear towards the end. Which, considering the aforementioned monologue of the Doctor, is either intentional and/or ironic.
What I found lacking: the Old Ones... maybe because the unknown is always scarier. But even as the visions of the Doctor and Peri as shown to Erimem, they were... disturbing but not really frightening. And they lose almost any capability to invoke fear towards the end. Which, considering the aforementioned monologue of the Doctor, is either intentional and/or ironic.
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