In 1999, Big Finish released its first ever Doctor Who audio story, The Sirens of Time, featuring the Fifth (Peter Davison), Sixth (Colin Baker), and Seventh (Sylvester McCoy) Doctors.
25 years later, Nicholas Briggs revisits the story by using remastered original recording tapes, with new sound design and incidental music. Not just that, but the first three episodes are also re-edited to have the scenes with each Doctor intercutting between one another, while the fourth episode is fundamentally the same. A “director’s cut” as you might call it.
Briggs explains:
“I’ve managed to rescue the original source material off ancient digital audio tapes, with the help of regular Big Finish sound designer and composer Toby Hrycek-Robinson, who skilfully extracted the material, and I’m working now on creating a version of the story like no other before it… again!”
To be honest, I wasn’t particularly a fan of the original version (no offence to the cast or crew involved), but listening to the Redux has allowed the narrative to flow more nicely with the audio quality sounding crystal clear. Think of it as the equivalent to The Five Doctors getting the Special Edition treatment, or Shada getting partially animated to fill in the gaps. Well, it’s always a good idea to keep the original versions available, so that fans can do comparisons.
I do find it strange, however, that there’s an inconsistent use of the theme arrangements throughout the Redux. Firstly, the Peter Howell arrangement is only used twice, the Keff McCulloch arrangement only appears once, and the majority of openings and cliffhangers feature the Dominic Glynn arrangement. As much as I didn’t mind hearing the themes from each respective era, I would’ve preferred it if they had followed what The End of the Beginning (the 275th and final Main Range release) did, by using the Delia Derbyshire theme as a deliberate homage to The Sirens of Time original version (as heard in the early Main Range audios) in the fourth episode.
Having purchased the Silver Edition (which has unfortunately since sold out, alongside the Gold and Platinum Editions), I quite enjoyed listening to the interviews and music suite, especially the unused theme arrangement. But it’s a real shame that the Bronze Edition doesn’t include them as bonus downloads, which feels unfair on listeners who wish to hear said content. Perhaps sending in a request could work as a solution?
Nonetheless, The Sirens of Time Redux is, overall, a brilliant release to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Doctor Who at Big Finish. A wonderful, serendipitous opportunity to revisit the very first audio story and make massive improvements to its original production.
The Sirens of Time Redux is available now from Big Finish on download only.
