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Doctor Who - Audio Adventures

Started by daf, July 29, 2018, 12:43:56 PM

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purlieu

Quote from: daf on September 26, 2021, 07:09:56 AM
They included it on the 'Hand of Fear' disc on the Season 14 Blu Ray, along with The Pescatons on the 'Masque of Mandragora' disc.
Ah, I thought that might be the case. I've still not had a good exploration of the Blu-Rays yet. Knowing me I'll just end up waiting until I've got all 26 27 40 and binge the whole lot.

Starting on Death Comes to Time tonight.

purlieu


Death Comes to Time

I love the fact that, somewhere, the decision was made that, five years after the film, no new TV series seemed to be on the horizon and so it would be a better idea to completely ignore the movie and follow up series 26 with a radio story that killed off the Doctor for good. I mean, what better way to bring in money from a popular franchise than ending it forever? Even in a series with a very loose concept of continuity, the join between the seventh and eighth Doctors is almost hilariously convoluted. Follow Lungbarrow to the movie to the novelisation of the movie to The Eight Doctors to The Dying Days to Vampire Science and there are more contradictions than you could wave a stick at; throw in this story and it's even more of a mess.

What a weird story. It's absolutely in a universe of its own, with numerous Time Lords supposedly having to follow a particular 'code' of non-interference otherwise they die, the entire race being wiped out at the end, except for Ace who sort of became one, in a potential-series-27 manner. Kevin Eldon stars as an android companion, John Sessions is a camp, over-the-top villainous Time Lord, Stephen Fry is an intended Doctor replacement Time Lord called the Minister of Chance, there's some invasion of a planet which eventually becomes an invasion of Earth, vampires are on Earth, black holes are appearing at a worrying rate, Time Lords are having dreams about whirlpools. I honestly couldn't actually sum up the plot of that at all, which is partially down to it being ludicrously complicated, weird and vaguely nonsensical, and partially down to there just being too many characters - many of whom never even met the Doctor - for an audio drama. But it was quite fun. The humour was absolutely on point - only occasional, but reliably very funny - and the familiar characters were wonderful. It was lovely to hear McCoy playing the part again, and doing it with a gravitas beyond his TV version; the brief appearance of the Brig (backed by the opening movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony, for added drama) was a proper 'fuck yeah!' moment. John Sessions and Stephen Fry were very good as slightly camp, eccentric Time Lords. The second episode was a fun whodunnit crime drama set on Earth that had next-to-no bearing on the overall story. My biggest complaint would be the lack of the Doctor: there was simply too much going on for him to be a main character, and he only appeared for about five minutes in a couple of episodes. But it was bold and brave, and one-time writer, producer and director Dan Freedman did a far better job than your average first timer. Other than a Minister of Chance follow-up, he's not worked on anything since, amazingly.

daf

Quote from: purlieu on September 25, 2021, 09:55:05 PM
Exploration Earth. What a nice little curio. The Fourth Doctor shows Sarah the formation of the Earth, gives some information about rocks and stuff to listeners, and half-arsedly foils the plans of Megron trying to destroy the planet. 20 minutes of educational fun! Is this not on a DVD yet? Seems like the sort of thing people would enjoy.

Had a listen to this, this morning. Very much written for children (with some comically complicated bafflegab chucked in that'd get the red pencil from Nick Briggs these days), but good fun, and lovely to hear Lis and Tom together on audio (I think it's only this and The Pescatons!)

Here's a cover for it done by Big Finish designer Tom Newsom :


purlieu

Quote from: daf on September 27, 2021, 01:44:58 PM
and lovely to hear Lis and Tom together on audio (I think it's only this and The Pescatons!)
Yeah, I think that's definitely part of the appeal, it's a lovely little bonus of the show's most popular pairing. And one that isn't quite so queasy to listen to as the fucking Pescatons.

purlieu


Real Time by Gary Russell

This is a tiny bit of a cheat, as it was made by Big Finish, albeit broadcast via the BBC website, so I'm throwing it in with the BBC ones. Six and Evelyn Smythe are called to the 33rd century to help investigate two research expeditions that have disappeared in a temporal wave. When they arrive, it turns out to be the doing of the Cybermen. Or, at least, one Cybercontroller who's made it to the end of time and is trying to reach back in time to make a new race of Cybermen and somehow work out how to get back in time.
It's a fun story, very trad in its approach: other than some slightly over the top brutality in the conversation chamber, and a Cyberman literally crushing somebody's head, it could have come from the TV show. In fact, I'd say it's a stronger story than your average mid-to-late '80s Who serial. The Doctor is considerably more likeable than his TV persona, although there's still a touch of pomposity and coldness there, and his friendship with Evelyn is lovely. I'm looking forward to their ongoing adventures when I get to the Big Finish stories in a few months. The other cast were fine, if slightly unmemorable. It certainly doesn't help when you have several members of supporting cast with similar voices. Apparently one of them was Richard Herring, although I didn't realise at the time. It ends on a time paradox that's crying out for the sequel that was never made, but there we go.

Overall, very enjoyable. Still not sure who the little boy with the curly hair on the front cover is, though.

daf

#545
Quote from: purlieu on September 28, 2021, 03:08:15 PM
I'm looking forward to their ongoing adventures when I get to the Big Finish stories in a few months.

You have a massive treat in store - The 6th and Evelyn stories are the reason he's now my favourite Doctor. That said, this one is probably the weakest of all their stories. The cliff-hanger with Evelyn never gets resolved in any other story - so it's a bit of an 'alternate time-line' oddity.

Here's my preferred Evelyn listening order :
Quote(MR   6)  | The Marian Conspiracy [This is where they meet for the first time]
(MR   9)  | The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
(MR 11)  | The Apocalypse Element
              | Real Time *
(MR 22)  | Bloodtide
(MR 23)  | Project: Twilight
(MR 37)  | The Sandman
(MR 40)  | Jubilee
(MR 60)  | Medicinal Purposes **
(MR 43)  | Doctor Who and the Pirates
(MR 45)  | Project: Lazarus
(MR 57)  | Arrangements For War
(MR 78)  | Pier Pressure
(CC 5.05)| A Town Called Fortune [Companion Chronicle]
(MR 84)  | The Nowhere Place
(MR 100)| 100
(MR 108)| Assassin in the Limelight
(MR 143)| The Crimes of Thomas Brewster
(MR 144)| The Feast of Axos
(MR 145)| Industrial Evolution
- - - - - - - - -
(MR 73)  | Thicker Than Water [a sequel to 'Arrangements For War' which takes place while Mel is the companion]
- - - - - - - - -
(MR 140) | A Death In The Family ***

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* [usually placed after 'Pirates' - but as it was recorded 2 years earlier, it fits in better around this point]
** [released after 'Arrangements for War', but is less jarring here - due to the Doctor's change in attitude after the events of 'Pirates']
*** [a Seventh Doctor-era story - you'll want to listen to 'Project Destiny' before this one, plus a couple of earlier 'Hex' stories to get the most out of it]

Midas

There's a clip on Stewart Lee's website here where he tells a brief anecdote about recording Real Time. It sounds like a pretty awkward session tbh, and I seem to recall there was also some sort of scandalous falling out between Big Finish and BBCi during the production which resulted in BBCi recording the audio for the next webcast by themselves, while Big Finish treated Real Time as non-canonical (hence the unresolved cliffhanger).

purlieu

Quote from: daf on September 28, 2021, 03:55:27 PM
Here's my preferred Evelyn listening order :
I have, I think, everything lined up in release order, so will be trying to recreate the experience of being there as they came out as closely as possible. And quicker, of course, otherwise I'd literally never reach the end.

Chairman Yang

My abiding memory of Real Time was that the animated short was encoded on the BBC website using the despicable RealVideo codec, which meant I experienced this story in five hundred 12-second chunks of a staccato Colin Baker juddering across the screen as if in the grip of rigor mortis.

daf

#549
Quote from: purlieu on September 28, 2021, 04:31:17 PM
I have, I think, everything lined up in release order, so will be trying to recreate the experience of being there as they came out as closely as possible. And quicker, of course, otherwise I'd literally never reach the end.

Good idea - there's certainly more variety listening in release order anyway!

(I just like smoothing out the plot wrinkles that occasionally arise due to the way these were recorded over several years and with different writers.)

purlieu


Hornets' Nest: The Stuff of Nightmares by Paul Magrs

Tom Baker's first in-character performance as the Doctor since... well, I suppose Dimensions in Time. Still, exciting stuff.

I've only read one Paul Magrs book so far, Verdigris, and it was utterly fucking bizarre. One of the very weirdest to date. I was a touch disappointed, in that sense, that The Stuff of Nightmares turns out to be a fairly trad story in comparison: The Doctor, taking a break in a Sussex cottage to investigate some mysterious animal-related deaths, stumbles across a factory that appears to be bringing taxidermy animals back to life. It starts with Mike Yates telling a story of being invited to a mysterious country cottage, after which a stuffed Weasel attacks his host, the Doctor. The Doctor then goes on to narrate the rest of the story, about how he came across the whole thing. It's an ok tale, but disappointingly a bit boring. A fairly long action sequence doesn't translate well into what is effectively little more than an audiobook, although the Doctor's realisation that he's being attacked by a vicious version of The Wind in the Willows is a wonderful line. It turns out to be largely a framing device story, however, as he's about to tell Mike about the various other battles he's had with the space hornets behind the whole thing as the story ends. No doubt the following three tales will be his other adventures, concluded with a final tale featuring the pair saving the day.

Tom is on fine form, recapturing the role in magnificent form, mystery and joy coming from his every line. Richard Franklin is decent enough although ultimately a very small part. Daniel Hill's wonderfully named Percy Noggins is slightly let down by Hill being difficult to separate from his role as Harvey Bains in Waiting for God, his voice is so distinctive.

So, yes. A reasonably pleasant way to pass an hour, but far from a fantastic tale. Still, hoping there are more interesting stories coming later in the series.

Quote from: purlieu on November 03, 2021, 11:26:43 PM

Hornets' Nest: The Stuff of Nightmares by Paul Magrs

Tom Baker's first in-character performance as the Doctor since... well, I suppose Dimensions in Time. Still, exciting stuff.

I've only read one Paul Magrs book so far, Verdigris, and it was utterly fucking bizarre. One of the very weirdest to date. I was a touch disappointed, in that sense, that The Stuff of Nightmares turns out to be a fairly trad story in comparison: The Doctor, taking a break in a Sussex cottage to investigate some mysterious animal-related deaths, stumbles across a factory that appears to be bringing taxidermy animals back to life. It starts with Mike Yates telling a story of being invited to a mysterious country cottage, after which a stuffed Weasel attacks his host, the Doctor. The Doctor then goes on to narrate the rest of the story, about how he came across the whole thing. It's an ok tale, but disappointingly a bit boring. A fairly long action sequence doesn't translate well into what is effectively little more than an audiobook, although the Doctor's realisation that he's being attacked by a vicious version of The Wind in the Willows is a wonderful line. It turns out to be largely a framing device story, however, as he's about to tell Mike about the various other battles he's had with the space hornets behind the whole thing as the story ends. No doubt the following three tales will be his other adventures, concluded with a final tale featuring the pair saving the day.

Tom is on fine form, recapturing the role in magnificent form, mystery and joy coming from his every line. Richard Franklin is decent enough although ultimately a very small part. Daniel Hill's wonderfully named Percy Noggins is slightly let down by Hill being difficult to separate from his role as Harvey Bains in Waiting for God, his voice is so distinctive.

So, yes. A reasonably pleasant way to pass an hour, but far from a fantastic tale. Still, hoping there are more interesting stories coming later in the series.

From memory this was written with The Brigadier in mind, but Nick Courtney's passing meant Richard Franklin got drafted in as replacement. Sad really, as Baker had originally agreed to do it so he and The Brig could work together again.

daf

Quote from: Ron Maels Moustache on November 03, 2021, 11:39:50 PM
From memory this was written with The Brigadier in mind, but Nick Courtney's passing meant Richard Franklin got drafted in as replacement. Sad really, as Baker had originally agreed to do it so he and The Brig could work together again.

Funnily enough, the 6th Doctor audio 'The Spectre of Lanyon Moor' from 2000, featuring Courtney as The Brig, was originally offered to Tom Baker, but he turned them down (the rumour is that he called the script "chickenshit").

purlieu

Ah, now that would make sense, as him requesting Yates does feel a bit odd. What a shame.

daf

Not Doctor Who, but a nice video message from Russell 'The' Davies about the Audio of Dark Season he's just made with Big Finish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ewhOaS-xQY


Malcy

Big Finish have got the licence to make more Who audios until 2030.

I don't know how people keep up with it. Financially and time wise. There's just so much of it. I'm way behind on the stuff I was following to the point where I'll be lucky to listen to more than a few a year.

JamesTC

I'm way behind just on the ones I've bought. I plan to buy very few more though. You get to a point and realise you'd rather re-listen to the really good ones rather than continue flowing through everything at great expense.

mjwilson

Should end up with a few decent Jodie Whittaker stories then.

jamiefairlie

Yeah would be interesting to hear what she'd be like with decent writers and a personality

Malcy

Quote from: jamiefairlie on December 10, 2021, 06:31:33 PMYeah would be interesting to hear what she'd be like with decent writers and a personality

Worked for River.

jamiefairlie

Quote from: Malcy on December 10, 2021, 06:58:19 PMWorked for River.

Yeah it did. BF tends to improve the TV characterizations of the newer cast.

purlieu


Hornets' Nest: The Dead Shoes by Paul Magrs.

The Doctor and Mike Yates are trapped in the basement, with reanimated taxidermy animals trying to get in. To pass the time, The Doctor tells the story of his second encounter with the hornets. He heads back in time to 1930s Cromer where he encounters a dancer, Ernestina, who has stolen some shoes possessed by the hornets. They try and kill her by making her dance into the sea. I can imagine it would be quite entertaining to watch, but it doesn't work at all on audio. The second half is much stronger, with The Doctor and Ernestina shrunk down and placed in a doll's house inhabited by possessed dolls. I'd say it'd be great to see on screen, but it's basically Night Terrors. Still, it's told very well, and Tom absolutely sells the horror of it in his performance.

There are plenty of really excellent lines in it, but for the most part it still feels a bit safe and unsurprising. Paul Magrs can certainly do better. His next encounter with the hornets will be in the ludicrously named Circus of Doom.

Malcy

Colin Baker Is...

The War Doctor!

https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/doctor-of-war-rewrites-history

The latest Unbound story set after Tom Baker's Doctor makes the choice to stop the creation of the Daleks in Genesis Of The Daleks.

That's the first Unbound for fourteen years. First bit of BF news I've been genuinely excited about since Eccleston.

Malcy


Midas


Bad Ambassador


purlieu


daf


olliebean

The actor playing Dodo is pretty poor too.