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caz963I've been listening to more Big Finish DW audios over the last couple of months, but I haven't got around to posting my thoughts on them. I've started to 'branch out' and listen to Doctors other than Eight as well although the EDAs have formed the bulk of my listening so far.
I did, however, decide to give Eight & Co a bit of a rest a couple of months back, because I just wasn't enjoying the stories as much as I had been and I thought that perhaps I'd just OD'd on them because I was listening to so many one after the other. I think there was an element of that, and also the fact that some of them were pretty run-of-the mill. Judging from some of the reviews and comments I've read, the latter seems to be the prevailing opinion; that the stories set in the "Divergent Universe" - which stranded the Doctor and his companions on a strange planet in a different universe, with no TARDIS and no obvious means of escape - were on the whole quite weak and some of the performances indifferent.
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy listening to them – I did, for the most part. I like Eight and Paul McGann very much, but I have to say that I agree with that assessment; a lot of the stories were pretty lacklustre and in some cases, they started to merge into each other in my brain. That could, however, be another result of the fact that I listened to them in quick succession, rather than one every few months as per the release schedule.
I did like The Natural History of Fear, which was one of the earliest stories set in the Divergent Universe, because it was unusual; the principal actors were all playing different characters for reasons that weren't explained until the end of the story; I rather like things like that, where we, the audience, comes in "in the middle", so to speak and have to try to work out what's going on! I wouldn't want to do that every story, but it works once in a while, and it worked here.
In the gap, I sampled some of Six's audio adventures. I know that he's the most hated TV Doctor of them all in some quarters, but Six and Seven are the telly Docs with whom I'm least familiar, not having seen a great number of their episodes, so I don't really have a lot to judge Six by - and I've really enjoyed what I've heard so far.
I can't remember why it was - I must've seen it positively reviewed somewhere - but first, I got hold of a copy of The Holy Terror which I loved. The Doctor and his companion, Frobisher (who is a mesomorph who spends most of his time in the form of a penguin!) turn up at the enthroning of a new emperor on some planet or other in a society that is bound by lots of illogical conventions, and silliness and shenanigans ensue. There's an evil half-brother, a mild-mannered scribe, a bitchy dowager and a gold-digging wife; it’s funny, scary and tragic and it takes rather a dark turn as it explores the relationship between fathers and sons and what happens to a child driven mad. But it’s all handled extremely well – and then I looked and realized that the writer was one Robert Shearman. Nuff sed, I think.
On the recommendation of some of the nice folk over at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bigfinishlove I picked up another Six audio, The Marian Conspiracy in which Six gains a new companion – a history professor by the name of Evelyn Smythe – who, it turns out, is going to be erased from history. I know that all sounds a bit Back to the Future (the film, not the novelization!) and I suppose it is a bit, but it’s all very entertaining noneltheless. Six and Evelyn travel back to the court of Mary Tudor where the Doctor becomes the monarch’s confidante and he and Evelyn also manage to foil a plot to assassinate her. I really like Evelyn. For one thing, it’s great that there’s an older companion (Evelyn is in her fifties) and for another, her no-nonsense way of dealing with the Doctor is quite refreshing; she has a nice line in putting him in his place. I’ve also listened to and enjoyed Medicinal Purposes, because I do have a soft-spot for historicals. There was the added attraction here of the audio presence of one Mr D Tennant in the final one of his pre-Ten BF outings, and of course he doesn’t disappoint as daft Jamie, bringing a sweetness and pathos to the part which are very endearing. But for me, the real standout was Leslie “ding-dong” Phillips as Robert Knox – the scenes in which he and the Doctor confront each other were excellent and he makes Knox slimy and vicious and yet somehow almost charming. We also get to see a rather unpleasant side to the Doctor revealed in his enthusiasm for the advancement of medical science which can come about as a result of the activities of Burke and Hare, and it’s really quite chilling when he has to return Jamie to the point of his murder, which he does with a sense of inevitability and almost disconnectedness.
I think that Six and Evelyn are already one of my favourite audio TARDIS teams – along with Eight and Lucie.
After a bit of a gap, I went back to Eight, Charley and C’Rizz with Faith Stealer, The Last and Caerdroia. They were all pretty run-of-the-mill IMO; borne out for me by the fact that I can’t really remember all that much about any of them, apart from the fact that having three Doctors in Caerdroia was quite funny at times, and thinking that Paul McGann did a pretty good job of differentiating them from each other vocally. The Doctor has worked out how they can get out of the Divergent Universe and we learn that Kro’ka, who has been “pulling the strings” so to speak, is actually just as powerless as the Doctor and his friends are, and that he’s there doing Rassilon’s dirty work. It’s not that any of these stories were bad - I just didn’t find them to be as engaging as some of the other DW audios I’ve listened to.
The next in the series, The Next Life is the last of the Divergent Universe series and it’s probably just as well, because I think the format of the team crossing via a sort of intergalactic “waiting room” from one environment to another, having an adventure, back to the waiting room etc., etc. had overstayed its welcome by at least three stories
The Who geek in me was squeeing at the presence of Daphne Ashbook in this one. She played Grace Holloway in the TV movie and the chemistry she and Paul McGann had back there is much in evidence here. Her character, Perfection, flirts shamelessly with the Doctor (and he’s clearly not averse to the idea!) – and there are some superbly bitchy exchanges between her and a very jealous Charley.
The 70s sci-fi geek in me was also squeeing at the presence of the dulcet and very recognisable tones of Paul Darrow as Guidance, who also turns out to be C’Rizz’s father.
The Next Life is quite a convoluted tale in which we find out about the origins of the Divergents and why there is no such thing as Time in the Divergent Universe; why the Doctor was stranded there; and we find out more about C’Rizz (and see him start to become a bit unhinged). Having read around a bit, poor ol’ C’Rizz seems to be wildly unpopular and I can understand why – I’m not sure the writers really knew what to do with him some of the time, and he’s not really given all that much to do – but I have to say that the actor who plays him has a gorgeous voice :-)
After further encounters with Rassilon and Zagreus, things reach a rather messy conclusion and our heroes enter the TARDIS with a view to getting out of there. But all is not well; things have changed between Charley and C’Rizz and they have a bit of a spat before the Doctor threatens to bang their heads together (my words!) and tells them to stop behaving like spoilt brats.
When the two of them make up and agree to bury the hatchet, the Doctor puts the TARDIS into flight and shortly after, they all emerge into “our” universe… and run straight into Davros and a bunch of Daleks.
Welcome back, Doctor!
I did, however, decide to give Eight & Co a bit of a rest a couple of months back, because I just wasn't enjoying the stories as much as I had been and I thought that perhaps I'd just OD'd on them because I was listening to so many one after the other. I think there was an element of that, and also the fact that some of them were pretty run-of-the mill. Judging from some of the reviews and comments I've read, the latter seems to be the prevailing opinion; that the stories set in the "Divergent Universe" - which stranded the Doctor and his companions on a strange planet in a different universe, with no TARDIS and no obvious means of escape - were on the whole quite weak and some of the performances indifferent.
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy listening to them – I did, for the most part. I like Eight and Paul McGann very much, but I have to say that I agree with that assessment; a lot of the stories were pretty lacklustre and in some cases, they started to merge into each other in my brain. That could, however, be another result of the fact that I listened to them in quick succession, rather than one every few months as per the release schedule.
I did like The Natural History of Fear, which was one of the earliest stories set in the Divergent Universe, because it was unusual; the principal actors were all playing different characters for reasons that weren't explained until the end of the story; I rather like things like that, where we, the audience, comes in "in the middle", so to speak and have to try to work out what's going on! I wouldn't want to do that every story, but it works once in a while, and it worked here.
In the gap, I sampled some of Six's audio adventures. I know that he's the most hated TV Doctor of them all in some quarters, but Six and Seven are the telly Docs with whom I'm least familiar, not having seen a great number of their episodes, so I don't really have a lot to judge Six by - and I've really enjoyed what I've heard so far.
I can't remember why it was - I must've seen it positively reviewed somewhere - but first, I got hold of a copy of The Holy Terror which I loved. The Doctor and his companion, Frobisher (who is a mesomorph who spends most of his time in the form of a penguin!) turn up at the enthroning of a new emperor on some planet or other in a society that is bound by lots of illogical conventions, and silliness and shenanigans ensue. There's an evil half-brother, a mild-mannered scribe, a bitchy dowager and a gold-digging wife; it’s funny, scary and tragic and it takes rather a dark turn as it explores the relationship between fathers and sons and what happens to a child driven mad. But it’s all handled extremely well – and then I looked and realized that the writer was one Robert Shearman. Nuff sed, I think.
On the recommendation of some of the nice folk over at
bigfinishlove I picked up another Six audio, The Marian Conspiracy in which Six gains a new companion – a history professor by the name of Evelyn Smythe – who, it turns out, is going to be erased from history. I know that all sounds a bit Back to the Future (the film, not the novelization!) and I suppose it is a bit, but it’s all very entertaining noneltheless. Six and Evelyn travel back to the court of Mary Tudor where the Doctor becomes the monarch’s confidante and he and Evelyn also manage to foil a plot to assassinate her. I really like Evelyn. For one thing, it’s great that there’s an older companion (Evelyn is in her fifties) and for another, her no-nonsense way of dealing with the Doctor is quite refreshing; she has a nice line in putting him in his place. I’ve also listened to and enjoyed Medicinal Purposes, because I do have a soft-spot for historicals. There was the added attraction here of the audio presence of one Mr D Tennant in the final one of his pre-Ten BF outings, and of course he doesn’t disappoint as daft Jamie, bringing a sweetness and pathos to the part which are very endearing. But for me, the real standout was Leslie “ding-dong” Phillips as Robert Knox – the scenes in which he and the Doctor confront each other were excellent and he makes Knox slimy and vicious and yet somehow almost charming. We also get to see a rather unpleasant side to the Doctor revealed in his enthusiasm for the advancement of medical science which can come about as a result of the activities of Burke and Hare, and it’s really quite chilling when he has to return Jamie to the point of his murder, which he does with a sense of inevitability and almost disconnectedness.I think that Six and Evelyn are already one of my favourite audio TARDIS teams – along with Eight and Lucie.
After a bit of a gap, I went back to Eight, Charley and C’Rizz with Faith Stealer, The Last and Caerdroia. They were all pretty run-of-the-mill IMO; borne out for me by the fact that I can’t really remember all that much about any of them, apart from the fact that having three Doctors in Caerdroia was quite funny at times, and thinking that Paul McGann did a pretty good job of differentiating them from each other vocally. The Doctor has worked out how they can get out of the Divergent Universe and we learn that Kro’ka, who has been “pulling the strings” so to speak, is actually just as powerless as the Doctor and his friends are, and that he’s there doing Rassilon’s dirty work. It’s not that any of these stories were bad - I just didn’t find them to be as engaging as some of the other DW audios I’ve listened to.
The next in the series, The Next Life is the last of the Divergent Universe series and it’s probably just as well, because I think the format of the team crossing via a sort of intergalactic “waiting room” from one environment to another, having an adventure, back to the waiting room etc., etc. had overstayed its welcome by at least three stories
The Who geek in me was squeeing at the presence of Daphne Ashbook in this one. She played Grace Holloway in the TV movie and the chemistry she and Paul McGann had back there is much in evidence here. Her character, Perfection, flirts shamelessly with the Doctor (and he’s clearly not averse to the idea!) – and there are some superbly bitchy exchanges between her and a very jealous Charley.
The 70s sci-fi geek in me was also squeeing at the presence of the dulcet and very recognisable tones of Paul Darrow as Guidance, who also turns out to be C’Rizz’s father.
The Next Life is quite a convoluted tale in which we find out about the origins of the Divergents and why there is no such thing as Time in the Divergent Universe; why the Doctor was stranded there; and we find out more about C’Rizz (and see him start to become a bit unhinged). Having read around a bit, poor ol’ C’Rizz seems to be wildly unpopular and I can understand why – I’m not sure the writers really knew what to do with him some of the time, and he’s not really given all that much to do – but I have to say that the actor who plays him has a gorgeous voice :-)
After further encounters with Rassilon and Zagreus, things reach a rather messy conclusion and our heroes enter the TARDIS with a view to getting out of there. But all is not well; things have changed between Charley and C’Rizz and they have a bit of a spat before the Doctor threatens to bang their heads together (my words!) and tells them to stop behaving like spoilt brats.
When the two of them make up and agree to bury the hatchet, the Doctor puts the TARDIS into flight and shortly after, they all emerge into “our” universe… and run straight into Davros and a bunch of Daleks.
Welcome back, Doctor!
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no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-03 12:55 pm (UTC)I've actually finished listening to all the EDAs now; I just haven't written them up yet, but I will get around to it. I've got hold of a lot of Six's audios (PM me if there's anything you want - Eight as well, and I've got a few Five and Seven) and am listening to those now.
All my opinions are based on just the one "listen" though. I'm sure there are some that may deserve a better opinion once I've revisited them.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-04 06:45 am (UTC)I love Holly Terror too - despite my loathing of Frosbisher. It prompted to buy one of Shearman's books. Now there is no going back!
I have to say I really liked Caerdroia - but it was very much a romp. I really liked seeing the Doctor's personalities split up though.
I think you will like the last season of Eight/Charley/C'rizz. It has one of the few true historical stories "Other Lives", (which is something I'm always hoping they'll do in new Who again, but I'm not holding my breath.)
Great reviews!
no subject
Date: 2011-07-04 07:09 pm (UTC)I really enjoyed Medicinal Purposes. The presence of David Tennant in anything is going to get my attention, but like I said the real eye-opener - for me - was Leslie Philips. I like historicals - there's a sense of inevitability about them (of course) and it's always interesting to discover how the writer mixes fact and fiction and makes it work.
Caerdroia was a romp - which is fine; there's always a place for a good romp in Doctor Who, isn't there?
I've actually completed my run of EDAs now, but I haven't got around to posting anything yet. I loved Other Lives though and thought that those last few were, on the whole, quite strong stories.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-05 07:10 am (UTC)Other Lives is wonderful, (and I love it even more for including India Fisher's sister in it. Who is such a family affair, and that is so charming).
I am still heartbroken over The Girl Who Never Was..and it was a couple of years ago that I first heard it!