Buy it online using the link above, or listen for free - you’ll find links where to listen free on the story page!
Once you’ve listened, talk about it below! Even if you listened to it before and just want to discuss it - dive right in! Just please use spoiler tags where appropriate.
Everyone who participates will get a coveted Audio Club badge!
The thing about Project: Twilight is that I don’t know that anyone at the time - including probably Big Finish - realised how significant to the Main Range elements of this story would become. Not only is it the introduction of the Forge and Nimrod, but the ramifications from this story lead all the way to A Death in the Family with branches into the Black and White arc and practically everything to do with Hex.
I keep meaning to sit down and re-listen to all the Project audios - Twilight, Lazarus, Nirvana and Destiny and actually this might be my prompt because it’s been years and years since I listened to Twilight and it wasn’t that long ago I read the novel Project: Valhalla.
I remember this audio really well, even though I haven’t heard it in a while. That one scene where the Doctor enters the human blood farm especially stuck with me as a really shocking and horrifying moment. I’m looking forward to relistening to this one (hopefully next week, along with Loups-Garoux, Dust Breeding and The Eye of the Scorpion to keep up with the clubs ) !
Side note—I love that Big Finish covered two classic monsters so close together: Doctor Who vs werewolves and Doctor Who vs vampires. I kind of love that approach!
Another thing that always strikes me about this story is Cassie who is played by Rosie Cavaleiro.
I’d never heard of her before this audio but since then she has become a very recognisable face on TV, especially in comedy and has main roles in a few sitcoms like Paul O’Grady’s bingo comedy, Eyes Down and the recent The Power of Parker. I always love her when she’s in anything - very funny lady.
Okay I’m sorry, but this is the first story of the main range that I genuinely dislike. Every single one we have had before always had something where I went: “yeah it was a bit boring and a tad daft, but alright in the end”. Actually, I haven’t encountered an audio at all that I dislike. Only stories I thought weren’t very good. This is the first time. This is weird. Oh no is this the start of my hater arc?
Lots of it just felt sooo like a teenager trying to be an edgy writer. All the dialogue is the characters trying really hard to sound ‘dark’. Somehow even the Doctor gets some like when he goes ranting about the time lords unleashing bad guys on the universe or whatever.
Evelyn kept saying the same i don’t understand which was getting annoying. She also didn’t really have that much of a role and honestly, for the first time in my life, I feel like I could’ve done without her.
To add to the ‘edgy-teen-vibes’ it’s also really violent for no reason. Thanks for telling me how much blood and exploding people there are and torture i get how dark your story is now what a masterpiece of writing.
I also think the twists are so dumb. The one for vampires is fine, but then there is also the reveal that that hunter guy is the vampire creator and also a vampire himself, which honestly would fit in a parody. Also “the vampires are actually evil”… could one come up with anything less original?
(Spoilers for Bloodtide as well in this part)Oh and the “they keep humans as cattle” bit was literally (not really but pretty much) just what happened in the Silurian story. Except instead of it being used for great moral implications and philosophical intrigue, it is purely for shock value with the Doctor mindlessly going WE GOTTA SET EM FREE NOW and derailing from the story.
Also it’s really short but somehow feels like an eternity very impressive.
It was not all bad. There are always parts in everything that I enjoy, but such an overwhelming majority was the most horrible mix of edgy and corny and i would like to bring up more points about why i think it’s bad but also im tired already.
Really glad other people seem to like it though. Maybe I’ll warm up to it whenever this arc continues.
This was definitely a story for me.
Perhaps I spent too much time reading Anne Rice books in my teenage years, vampires still works for me
Six and Evelyn! “Your bark is much worse than your bite”, and Yaz could learn a lot from Evelyn about not tolerating the Doctor’s need-to-know ways😉. They just work so well together.
Plenty of world-building/lore for future stories.
But come on Doctor Who writers, there are other parts of Scandinavia than Norway!
I’ve listened to this story a couple of times and loved it both times. I am a sucker for vampires though, I just love them! The gangster element to this is fun and as others have said this story introduces many important elements to the main range.
This was a fun vampire story. I don’t feel anything special about vampires normally but this was fun. Liked the gangster take on it. But it ends in Norway. I give it: 0.5/5……
Okay I give it 4.5/5 but. Why is it always Norway? Sweden also has long nights in the Winter
I haven’t listened to this in a hot minute. I forgot how it began and how long it takes the Doctor and Evelyn to show up (almost halfway into the first episode I think, not super long but I digress). This is a fascinating episode and I do wonder just how much the implications and storyline were thought out and how much they just ran with. I actually appreciate how grim this one gets. It really sets in just how devastating the Doctor can be when they loose.
First time listen to this story, my main issues are the loose ends and ideas that are mentioned but not fully developed, making it feel rushed and confusing. It seems to be part of a larger arc, so I might revisit it in the future as part of a re-listen to the arc. But for now, it’s just a mediocre to me.
i listened to this one a couple days ago; probably the most ‘graphic content’ i’ve encountered in DW yet (not necessarily a bad thing). the sound design doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination, haha. i felt very bad for Cassie.
(is it more common for six’s stories to be dark? i feel like i heard that sentiment somewhere. it’s kind of a funny choice if so, given his costume design.)
anyway, i liked it. i have yet to really dislike any audio, though i have fallen asleep to a few of them (mostly five’s stories). there’s not a lot i’d change about this one, besides maybe a bit of a restructure for pacing.
i do take a bit of issue with the Doctor involving himself so quickly at first sight of horrible occurrences; it seemed to me there should have been a bit more motivation for his meddling. he just seemed to want to poke at something that looked dangerous.
overall, sort of a harrowing listen, not quite scary, just sort of viscerally uncomfortable, which is good once in a while. i gave it a 4.5/5.
Finished this one today! Probably not the darkest BF so far—that might be The Holy Terror—but certainly the grimmest. There’s a real power to placing the Sixth Doctor, such an idealist and moral Doctor, in a cruel and brutal world like the London depicted here. The contrast is striking and very effective.
I definitely like the story overall. The plot is quite simple, but works really well. The script might go overboard at times with the violence, but to me it feels more like a natural and fundamental aspect of the setting, rather than being gratuitous. And Cassie’s story is heartbreaking, and her relationship with Evelyn is the heart of the story, I think, which makes the ending a real tragedy.
It’s a solid 8/10 for me. I appreciate how vividly the setting is portrayed in such a short time—it’s only an hour and a half long! The sound design is excellent, and this might be my favourite appearance of Nimrod (I remember not enjoyingLazarus or Destiny as much). Steven Chance’s voice is so delicious!
I agree with everything @Owen said about this one - I really disliked it.
It was “edgy” and violent just for the sake of it, there was lots of misogyny in the characters just for the sake of it, I really am not a fan of having vampires in Doctor Who (I just don’t see how they fit the Whoniverse, even if it’s some kind of DNA virus and nanobots it’s just silly imo.
And it felt like it went on forever! And yet by the end I didn’t really remember what happened, I had to read the plot description on the wiki.
So I was extremely disappointed to read that this is the beginning of an arc and even has a part to play in one of the highest rated stories, A Death in the Family. I’m not going to dislike that too, am I?
No, that story really is brilliant and has a completely different vibe to this one. This is mostly just laying some important background knowledge about the Forge and Cassie and stuff
@shaunyApart from the character of Nimrod and Cassie, none of the other Forge stories feature Vampires. They take different angles to Forge experiments. The Forge is kind of like Torchwood (especially as presented in Army of Ghosts) before Torchwood existed. They’re like the dark Torchwood.
) !
