It’s time to listen to and discuss The Twilight Kingdom
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Even if you listened to it before and just want to discuss it - dive right in! Just please use spoiler tags!
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This was the audio that put me off the Divergent Universe arc and the 8th Doctor MRs until yesterday.
I was so frustrated with the wildly varying quality of this arc - from the superb Scherzo to the piece of Pting droppings that is Creed of the Kromon and the challenging listen of The Natural History of Fear.
This turned out to be another stinker. It’s not that the story itself is bad - it’s actually a pretty standard Doctor Who story. It’s that it’s utterly forgettable and dull, and the characters fail to engage, and the performances are just not there. Even the main trio fail to lift this.
That’s all I have to say. I can’t remember much from my listen back in May, and reading my review again didn’t help a lot.
3/10.
I don’t remember much about this story, it’s standard Doctor Who, which is exactly what a story set in another universe shouldn’t be. It doesn’t help that it’s quite boring, as well.
This is one is okay, I thought. Not great, not terrible, etc. etc. They really weren’t sure what to actually do with the ‘Universe with no time’ shtick, were they?
Well, it’s no Creed of the Kromon. But yeah this is still below average. Incredibly dull, with some neat body horror concepts that are wasted and not used. The TARDIS Team gets an excuse for being unlikeable, but aren’t made more likeable. And it treats the cover as if it’s a twist reveal when it’s the cover??? Lmao
Nowhere near the worst DU story but not a fan. And yet another one where it just feels like we’re going through misery
It’s fine. Painfully fine.
There are some neat Bits here and there, but overall it doesn’t leave you with much. It’s not bad or anything, but there isn’t much to discuss here, frankly. For being set in another Universe, it feels too standard and not in a fun enjoyable way, more so “yet another Adventure!”
There isn’t much for me to write home about, it’s the literal Definition of middle of the Road. I rate it more highly than most, but that’s not saying much. Some neat Imagery, but overall a rather forgettable one. Its Placement in this Arc certainly doesn’t help much.
Do I remember this one? No. Have I ever listened to it more than once? No. Do I want to listen to it again…?
No. It was boring, that’s all I’ve got
The rollercoaster of quality of stories in this Divergent Universe is something else
Take into consideration I’m speaking from memory: the twist/ending is really interesting; I wish the whole story was about that. The gore scenes really stuck with me. Otherwise a boring audio. The weakest (and the only other bad story) from the Divergent Universe besides Creed of the Kromon
It’s competent. It’s fine. It’s mediocre. I listened to this on Thursday on the flight to Charleston for my sister’s wedding and I’ve had a couple days to let this sink in. And it doesn’t. It’s in one year and out the other. It has some cool ideas but outside of the characters being confused because they don’t know what “time” is, it could have been a big standard Doctor Who story. It doesn’t do anything with the arc either, which isn’t great for what is essentially a “Season Finale”. I almost think we could have swapped this with Natural History of Fear to at least give the season an interesting endpoint if we weren’t going to progress the arc in any meaningful way. I do think that the second season of the DU is far better, not really having any misses (I know The Last is controversial but I really enjoy just how deep it dives into and embraces its dark story but that’s a conversation for a few weeks from now)
Wow, I did not realize we were in for a break from the DU after this story. What a bust. Is it worth finishing the DU?
The Divergent Universe is an interesting little corner of the Eighth Doctor. It feels like no one really got how to tell stories in universe without time. And then it was cut short and wrapped up because the show came back to TV. However, a lot of the Eighth Doctor Monthlies feel like they were initially created for a third season of DU because they’re all weird and experimental like they’re still following the Divergence experiment threads. I’d say it’s down to how much of a completionist you are.
It’s a short break but it’s still a break. Eight absolutely dominated the MR in 2004 and left crumbs for the other Doctors but this is also the year we get Hex introduced so I can’t be too mad about it.
Finished this one today and agree with everyone that it’s just so dull and so bog standard Doctor Who, the Divergent Universe is same as the other universe.
Also if hours, days, weeks still exist but the people don’t have a word for “time”, that’s not the same as time not existing.
I don’t understand how you can exist without time so how is it a universe without time? That seems really badly thought out and really badly implemented.
3/10
