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Doctor Who: The Runaway Train and The Ring of Steel
The BBC's Doctor Who is the longest-running sci-fi TV show in broadcast history. Packed with action, this program illuminates every aspect of sci-fi's favorite time traveler. This program follows the adventures of the 11th Doctor in the episodes The Runaway Train, written by Oli Smith and read by Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor), and The Ring of Steel, written by Stephen Cole and read by Arthur Darvill ("Rory Williams").
The Runaway Train: Arriving on Earth in the midst of the American Civil War, the Doctor and Amy must get a posse together to help them retrieve an alien artifact that has fallen into the clutches of the Confederate army. The terraforming device belongs to the Cei, a race of invaders who plan to use it to turn the planet into a new home world.
But neither the army nor the aliens are keen to let the Doctor and his gang interfere with their plans, and give chase across the Wild West. The only hope of escape for the Doctor and friends is to catch the 3:25 to Arizona and race along the newly-built transcontinental railroad.
The Ring of Steel: When the TARDIS lands on Orkney in the near future, the Doctor and Amy arrive to find a large demonstration in progress over the construction of new electricity pylons.
The Doctor tries to break things up peacefully, but suddenly the road splits open and swallows police, security guards and protestors alike. Separated from the Doctor, Amy takes charge of transporting the wounded to hospital, but the rescue mission becomes a terrifying ride as the pylons come to life and begin to walk and the road rears up, erupting with boiling tarmac
The Doctor, meanwhile, has even more than metal monsters and rebellious roads to deal with. Who is sucking the life out of the power company’s employees, and just what is lurking inside the Astra-Gen headquarters?
The Runaway Train: Arriving on Earth in the midst of the American Civil War, the Doctor and Amy must get a posse together to help them retrieve an alien artifact that has fallen into the clutches of the Confederate army. The terraforming device belongs to the Cei, a race of invaders who plan to use it to turn the planet into a new home world.
But neither the army nor the aliens are keen to let the Doctor and his gang interfere with their plans, and give chase across the Wild West. The only hope of escape for the Doctor and friends is to catch the 3:25 to Arizona and race along the newly-built transcontinental railroad.
The Ring of Steel: When the TARDIS lands on Orkney in the near future, the Doctor and Amy arrive to find a large demonstration in progress over the construction of new electricity pylons.
The Doctor tries to break things up peacefully, but suddenly the road splits open and swallows police, security guards and protestors alike. Separated from the Doctor, Amy takes charge of transporting the wounded to hospital, but the rescue mission becomes a terrifying ride as the pylons come to life and begin to walk and the road rears up, erupting with boiling tarmac
The Doctor, meanwhile, has even more than metal monsters and rebellious roads to deal with. Who is sucking the life out of the power company’s employees, and just what is lurking inside the Astra-Gen headquarters?
- GenresDoctor Who
2 pages, Audio CD
First published October 12, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 3, 2021
Audio Book via Audible
The Runaway Train: Quick enjoyable read. 5 stars
The Ring of Steel: 2nd reading: 4.15.18 -- I found this more enjoyable the 2nd time around. 4 stars
The Ring of Steel: 1st reading: 3.10.18 -- I have no idea how they beat the bad guy. Definitely not my favorite. 3 stars
The Runaway Train: Quick enjoyable read. 5 stars
The Ring of Steel: 2nd reading: 4.15.18 -- I found this more enjoyable the 2nd time around. 4 stars
The Ring of Steel: 1st reading: 3.10.18 -- I have no idea how they beat the bad guy. Definitely not my favorite. 3 stars
August 20, 2013
What’s better than Doctor Who saving the planet from evil aliens? Doctor Who saving the planet from evil aliens twice, that’s what! And that’s exactly what we get in this 2 CD volume. Two stories means twice as much action, twice as much excitement, and twice as many thrills, all courtesy of the good Doctor.
Disk one contains The Runaway Train , written by Oli Smith and read by Matt Smith. Two alien civilizations have been at war. Luckily, the good guys won. Unluckily, one of the bad guys’ ships survived. Finding Earth close by, the evil alien deposited here a device that will transform the air, water, and plants into a replica of its home world. Of course, that means human beings will no longer be able to survive on Earth. It’s up to Doctor Who to locate the device, and destroy it, but there’s not much time left.
On disk two you’ll find The Ring of Steel , written by Stephen Cole and read by Arthur Darvill. Once again, a race of evil aliens is trying to inhabit our planet, but first they need to alter the atmosphere. On a small island near Great Britain, the aliens are secretly building a gigantic device that will do just that. Will Doctor who be able to stop them before Earth’s air becomes completely unbreatheable to humans?
These stories may be short, but both are packed with action and adventure. Matt Smith, narrator of The Runaway Train , actually played Doctor Who for a while on the American series, and Arthur Darvill, narrator of The Ring of Steel , played Rory Williams.
I remember watching Doctor Who on PBS when I was just a wee lad, and these stories brought back some good memories. I especially enjoyed hearing that old familiar theme song at the beginning of each of these stories. This was an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon.
Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven
Disk one contains The Runaway Train , written by Oli Smith and read by Matt Smith. Two alien civilizations have been at war. Luckily, the good guys won. Unluckily, one of the bad guys’ ships survived. Finding Earth close by, the evil alien deposited here a device that will transform the air, water, and plants into a replica of its home world. Of course, that means human beings will no longer be able to survive on Earth. It’s up to Doctor Who to locate the device, and destroy it, but there’s not much time left.
On disk two you’ll find The Ring of Steel , written by Stephen Cole and read by Arthur Darvill. Once again, a race of evil aliens is trying to inhabit our planet, but first they need to alter the atmosphere. On a small island near Great Britain, the aliens are secretly building a gigantic device that will do just that. Will Doctor who be able to stop them before Earth’s air becomes completely unbreatheable to humans?
These stories may be short, but both are packed with action and adventure. Matt Smith, narrator of The Runaway Train , actually played Doctor Who for a while on the American series, and Arthur Darvill, narrator of The Ring of Steel , played Rory Williams.
I remember watching Doctor Who on PBS when I was just a wee lad, and these stories brought back some good memories. I especially enjoyed hearing that old familiar theme song at the beginning of each of these stories. This was an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon.
Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven
April 14, 2016
Runaway Train:
This was rather fun to listen to. Matt Smith makes an excellent audio-book reader and his Texan accents were delightful (though his attempts at Amy Pond's accent were laughable). In this quick audio drama the Doctor and Amy Pond are in Civil War era Texas where an alien teraforming device has landed and needs to be located and disabled somehow before it is set to go off and remake the entire planet in a way that is NOT suitable for humans but would be great for the Cei; warlike aliens looking to make Earth their new home base. There is a posse to form and a band of Confederate soldiers to get past and a train running out of tracks. This was quick-paced; well-plotted; and the characters all read true-to-form. The story isn't very frightening or original but very fun. Highly recommend; it's like listening to an episode of the show.
**Ring of Steel listened to and reviewed previously**
This was rather fun to listen to. Matt Smith makes an excellent audio-book reader and his Texan accents were delightful (though his attempts at Amy Pond's accent were laughable). In this quick audio drama the Doctor and Amy Pond are in Civil War era Texas where an alien teraforming device has landed and needs to be located and disabled somehow before it is set to go off and remake the entire planet in a way that is NOT suitable for humans but would be great for the Cei; warlike aliens looking to make Earth their new home base. There is a posse to form and a band of Confederate soldiers to get past and a train running out of tracks. This was quick-paced; well-plotted; and the characters all read true-to-form. The story isn't very frightening or original but very fun. Highly recommend; it's like listening to an episode of the show.
**Ring of Steel listened to and reviewed previously**
April 1, 2013
not a great story, but matt smith is adorable. and he does a southern accent, which is hilarious.
August 21, 2015
First story was great, but couldn't finish the second when the alien's voice came on. It was like nails on a chalk board. Couldn't take it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews