Master! Planet Doom: Hellbound

Audio  It's fair to say during the first couple of instalments of Planet Doom, I was concerned that the cover with its Axon Eighth Doctor was going to be an over-promise.  However enjoyable this redo of Aliens (1986) with the Bruce Master filling in the Ripley role as he's involuntarily tasked with investigating a Time Lord prison containing the parasitic multi-form entity.  As with similar stories, it just about finds the balance in making one of the worst people in the universe sympathetic enough for us to care about his safety by having him connected to one of Big Finish's other long-running anti-heroes Vienna, who is better than she's ever been here (even though he spends most of it saying he wants to kill her.

Hellbound

Then, some way into the third episode, the Axon Doctor finally turns up with Paul offering his monotone take on the best Doctor before the best Doctor himself turns up and this boxset elevates itself from Alternative Eighth Doctors section of the timeline to somewhere before (see below).  As he and the TARDIS are released from the Axon's grip, the Eight Doctor immediately steals the flow of the story from Vienna and the titular character, defeating the monsters and saving the day.  Quite honestly its brilliant and elevates a story which until that point is pretty grim and nasty in a way which isn't to my tastes.  If only Vienna had stayed with him at the end.  They could have some wild adventures together.

Placement: The cover art suggests he's wearing his Time War clothes and he makes a reference to there being much to do, so I'm putting this between All Hands on Deck and Mr. Eighth.