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Not listened to this one in too long, but I used to love it back in the day and listened to it quite a bit. I can still see much of the mental imagery it created. A story that worked well on audio, I felt. Indeed, the only thing that I found odd was the name “Cimmerians” because I associate that name so strongly with the writings of a certain Robert E. Howard. I get why Nick Briggs chose it (a people of folklore who come from a land of perpetual darkness and mists) but the Howard connection stuck in my head.
The sequences where characters have their eyes ‘taken’ and the high pitched sound that accompanied those sequences were actually quite graphic in my mind.
A very solid and enjoyable entry into the Eighth Doctor’s early adventures for me.
I shall avoid scoring until I’ve had a chance to relisten, however. Just in case, as Nathan Turner would have said, the memory cheats!
I remember when I listened to this one, everyone was recommending you listened to it in the dark. I remember waiting till it was dark each evening to listen to an episode and enjoying the story well enough - but not thinking the darkness necessarily added anything to my experience.
I didn’t find it necessary to listen in the dark. In part, this is because the sound design is really good and, in part, because it’s very easy to imagine the dark. It’s much harder to imagine something very specifically visual (at least for me) without a point of reference).
I really enjoyed this one. I think it had a great atmosphere and loved the Empty Child-style ending where nobody is really that evil or malicious. A solid 10/10 for me. This run of Eighth Doctor stories were all really strong IMO.
I always forget what this one is even about. It’s actually really fun. I feel like it would be a nice Halloween listen with the spooky atmosphere it has.
Oh, this one is good! I like these atmospheric stories, and the horror stuff in the beginning was especially good. I feel like this story is really one made for audio too, because of all the darkness it’s really best in your imagination. I prefer stories like this on audio, with a strongly limited amount of characters and surroundings too. I think towards the ending this story lost a bit of the atmosphere in exchange for tension, which I would have preferred otherwise, but it was good nonetheless.
This run of Eighth Doctor stories was just so good. Chimes of Midnight, Seasons of Fear and Embrace the Darkness - all one after the other: a really strong trio of stories. And all very different too.
At first, it seems as if Embrace is to be the bleakest of the lot, and things certainly get worse for the crew before they get any better. I liked the low-key ending, but I preferred the uncertain and genuinely frightening delirium of the mid-episodes. Jim Mortimore’s extraordinary music and sound design really help with his (Jim’s soundtracks for BF are available on his Bandcamp page and are well worth listening to in isolation).
A terrific, immersive story. I agree with those who recommend listening to it with the lights out.
Oh wow did not expect seeing all the super positive reviews. Like don’t get me wrong it’s a solid story, but it was such a slog to get through. Just something pacing wise that didn’t manage to hold my attention very well. First cliffhanger was superb, second half was more interesting, and the ending was a bit of a nothing burger.
Story wise i think it’s good, yeah, but it felt so generic to me. I had more fun with some worse audios i think. Maybe the Nicholas Briggs fatigue has finally started to kick in…
Sorry, i really dislike being negative but this one’s not more than your average enjoyable DW story. 6/10
I’ll probably skip actually listening to this one this time around. It’s one that I always seem to enjoy in the moment, but is then utterly forgetable once I’ve finished.
Been relistening to some 8 and Charley, but just the ones I like and I relistened to this today. I was really big on it when I first listened around 2020, but I think I’m less so now? It’s still great, but I remembered it as a tense horror story it just isn’t. I also remembered nothing from part 4, and despite being so far from what I came for it might be my favourite part.
I remember being confused when I first listened, because when they first started talking about Solarians I thought they were talking about the Silurians. It sounds close to how I said their name growing up in the Smith era.
Embrace The Darkness is something I often see hated on by members of the Big Finish Community but in my opinion, it’s actually pretty good. Those scenes where we discover the characters have had their eyes taken from them are actually pretty chilling and the story is confusing and a bit slow going at the start but is still pretty well done.
