In the first episode of the podcast since our controversial Tenth Doctor Adventures reviews Matthew Kresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes get back together for the first time since that recording. After sorting through some feedback and further thoughts about the episode, they move onto the main topic of conversation: Big Finish's adaptation of HG We…

This episodes finds Matthew Kresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes putting perhaps the most hotly anticipated Big Finish release since 2013 under the scope: The Tenth Doctor Adventures Volume One (consisting of Technophobia, Team Reaver and Death And The Queen). Did it live up to the hype though? In discussing that, perhaps the most contentious debate…

With Mary Lang M.I.A., Matthew Kresal and Robert Haynes discuss the 2012 Doctor Who box-set UNIT: Dominion. Topics discussed include Alex McQuuen's “Other Doctor”, UNIT dating, Doctor Who on the big-screen and more. You can find the podcast via our website storiesfromthevortex.blogspot.com or on iTunes. If you'd like to send in feedback to the podc…

Matthew Kresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes take a step away from the Doctor's adventures to instead focus on his greatest adversaries via their own spin-off series. In listening to the first season of Big Finish's Dalek Empire (released in 2001) they discuss the portrayal of the Daleks, epic storytelling, Gareth Thomas and the similarties with the…

It'san Eighth Doctor centric episode this time around as MatthewKresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes take a look at that Doctor's mostrecent Big Finish outings. In reviewing Dark Eyes 4 and DoomCoalition 1, topics discussed include “box-set fatigue”,howone goes about trying to tell one epic story across sixteen CDs,introducing new villains, telling …

Allhail Frobisher! All hail the great talking bird! For Thisepisode MatthewKresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes listen to The Holy Terror and TheMaltese Penguin. In reviewing these two tales featuring theshape-shifting (but mostly penguin shaped) private eye and ColinBaker's Sixth Doctor we discuss Rob Shearman as a writer, plottwists, accents, Robe…

Everything changes in this episode as Matthew Kresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes give the first five releases from Big Finish's range of Torchwood audios a listen. As the five stories go under the scope, topics discussed include our thoughts on Torchwood's TV run, the formats used to tell the stories, John Barrowman as an audio drama performer and…

This episode finds Matthew Kresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes engaging in what the late lamented The Doctor Who Podcast would have called a “geek out”! Topics discussed include an overview of the recent New Series releases, what we've been listening to recently, “whither the main range?” and more. There's also trailers and clips as well! You can f…

Aftera long and unexpected delay, we present our look at the finale of thefourth season of the Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Fate Of Krelos andReturn To Telos. Topics discussed include the merits of telling onestory across two separate releases, fitting Doctors into previousDoctors tales as well as giving an overall look at the season leadingup to …

Following on a suggestion by one of our listeners, this episode finds us giving a listen to Big Finish's series Counter-Measures, which follows the team first introduced in the 1988 Doctor Who TV story Remembrance Of The Daleks, going through all four box-sets of the series. Topics discussed include character development, “box-set syndrome”, the in…

Following on the interview with Big Finish founder and executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery in the previous episode, we're back in action after a lengthy and unplanned summer hiatus. Matthew Kresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes all get back to together for the first time in months to chat about all things Big Finish. Topics covered include the majo…

After a long and rather unexpected summer hiatus, Stories From The Vortex is back!As a way of saying thank you to our listeners, we're pleased to offer this interview with Big Finish founder and executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery conducted by host Matthew Kresal that was recorded at Con Kasterborous back in July. We talk about the history of Big…

In the conclusion of our two part lookat the stories that introduced one of the most unique companions toever travel with the Doctor: time traveling Nazi scientist ElizabethKlein (played by Tracey Childs). In looking at the seventh Doctoraudios Survival Of The Fittest (which also features the singleepisode Klein's Story) and The Architects Of Histo…

This episode is the first of a two part look at the stories that introduced one of the most unique companions to ever travel with the Doctor: time traveling Nazi scientist Elizabeth Klein (played by Tracey Childs). In looking at the seventh Doctor audios Colditz and A Thousand Tiny Wings, Matthew Kresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes look at the chem…

This episode finds Matthew Kresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes taking a look at the three sixth Doctor audios that rounded off the main range for 2014: The Widow's Assassin, Masters Of Earth and The Rani Elite. Topics discussed include returning characters, stories without centers, whether or not the main range has been sidelined and of course the …

This episode finds Matthew Kresal, Mary Lang and Robert Haynes (along with his bird!) engaging in the podcast's second foray into Big Finish's output of another iconic British science fiction series: Terry Nation's Blake's 7. Reviewing The Liberator Chronicles Volume 5, topics discussed include universe building in the stories, getting a full cast …

This episode, recorded back inFebruary, finds Matthew Kresal and Mary Lang welcoming Robert Haynesback to the show where, after getting Robert's thoughts on Dark Eyes2, they tackle the eighth Doctor box-set Dark Eyes 3. In looking atthe four episodes that make up the third chapter in the Dark Eyessaga, topics discussed include the Doctor's characte…

This episode, recorded back in January,finds Matthew Kresal and Mary Lang reviewing The Masters Of Luxorfrom the Lost Stories range. Originally intended to be the secondever Doctor Who story before being replaced by Terry Nation's storyintroducing the Daleks, the unfilmed script was originally publishedas book in 1992 before Big Finish tackled the …

After a long and unexpected delay, we present our third and final episode looking at the Destiny Of The Doctor series, co-produced by Big Finish with AudioGo as part of the show's fiftieth anniversary, looking at the final three stories covering Doctor nine through eleven. Topics discussed include the quality of each of story's respective reader, h…

Just in time for Christmas, we presentthe second of our episodes originally recorded and slated forNovember but delayed until now. This episode finds Matthew Kresal andMary Lang reviewing two Big Finish stories with thematic ties to therecently broadcast series eight in the form of the Unbound tales FullFathom Five and Exile (both released in 2003)…

Originally recorded in early November2014 and finally made available after a hectic November and sometechnical difficulties, episode twenty- seven finds Matthew Kresaland Mary Lang are reviewing the first season of Big Finish's DoctorWho spin-off series Cyberman. Topics discussed include its harkeningback to other sci-fi stories, the way how storie…

Just in time for Halloween, Matthew Kresal and Mary Lang are reviewing Big Finish's hotly anticapted and recently released Phillip Hinchcliffe Presents box-set. With its promise of recreating an era (in)famous for its “tea-time horror”, topics discussed in looking at the two stories that make up the box-set (The Ghosts of Gralstead and The Devil's …

Marking the podcast's first sojourn into non-Big Finish Doctor Who territory, Matthew Kresal and Mary Lang are reviewing the controversial 2001-02 seventh Doctor webcast Death Comes To Time. Topics discussed include its large cast, the epic nature of its plot and the ever shifting nature of it as a result. Plus they ask the ultimate question: is it…

The New Adventures Of Bernice Summerfield is up for review this episode as Matthew Kresal and Mary Lang give this box-set which reunites the seventh Doctor and Ace with Benny a listen. Topics discussed include the diversity of the four stories in the box-set, the callbacks to Love And War and of course the Daleks! You can find the podcast via our w…

Released a bit late (apologies for which and an explanation to be given in the next episode), this episode finds Matthew Kresal andMary Lang giving a listen to Big Finish's acclaimed series based onDalek creator Terry Nation's 1970s apocalyptic series Survivors.Topics discussed include bringing the world to an end on audio,familiar actors in differ…