Doctor Who Club of Australia

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4472

Finished listening to Chapter 3 of the UNIT mini-series from Big Finish, The Longest Night.

This is the best of the UNIT chapters that I have heard so far.

Very gripping as terrorist attacks hits London. The chapter has been excellently paced to lead a very explosive end and I mean that literally.

As an added bonus the trailer for the concluding chapter The Wasting is included and we get to hear briefly Colonel Ross Brimmicombe-Wood played by one David Tennant.

Ten Downing Street is featured in this chapter. This was released in March 2005 and coincidentally Number Ten would be seen the following month in the TV episodes Aliens of London & World War Three.

Also in The Longest Night is Albion Hospital which too was seen in Aliens of London and later on in The Empty Child & The Doctor Dances.

Matt Michael in his review in DWM 359 wasn't totally impressed with The Longest Night saying that if people want a Doctor Who story set at Number 10 then stick with Aliens of London.

I disagree as there is no way that Aliens of London is better than The Longest Night.

Sulp Niar · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 2:06 pm Post subject:

Yeah, Matt Michael's comment is completely unfair. 'Aliens of London' was full of very vague political stuff - vague attacks on the War on Terror, a September 11 look-alike, and then... er... some fat people entered government and farted. Forgive me for not finding it, you know, scary. But in 'The Longest Night', even though it can't possibly be the world we live in 'cos of the events that occur (or the New Series world, actually), the sh*t really hits the fan, and crucially we get to see how, and why. It's almost like Torchwood Britain out in the open. Nasty, exploitative.

I listened to this one, probably ironically, at midnight. God. It was this one that cemented my adoration of this little mini-series. It's so willing to break every rule in the "UNIT story" and indeed "Doctor Who story" book. I don't even think there's many aliens at all in the entire series... and it really, really works because of that (if anything, the non-humans are usually helpful and peaceful, such as the Silurians).

Actually - Matt Michael said, "if people want a Doctor Who story set at Number 10"...? This isn't Doctor Who. It's UNIT. So, uh, again, that's completely wrong.