I love Zagreus. It’s absolutely insane, it’s fun, it’s got amazing acting, it’s got Romana and Leela (and they have gotten so far since this meeting!), it’s got five hundred plot threads, several talking animals and feels like like a drug trip. One of the best audios ever! And for the full experience I can strongly recommend listening to this all in one go while feeling like you’re losing your mind already (intense sleep deprivation for example is very helpful).
Also the first time I listened to this I didn’t actually know that all these actors were in it and hadn’t learned their voices yet, so I was very surprised when I looked up the cast list halfway through
I love Zagreus. It along with Neverland/Scherzo were my introduction to Charley (yeah, I know…), though weirdly, I’m not the only one there. I listened to it across several long walks in the summer of 2020, at the height of lockdown, and frankly I think that elevated the experience. It’s such a weird story, and undoubtedly longer and messier than is probably ideal, but I think the weirdness works strongly in its favour. It’s got Alice in Wonderland! It’s got Time Lord eugenics! It’s got Peter Davison as a mad scientist… priest? Try that one out for a recommendation. And of course, it has the infamous Romana-writing-fanfiction scene. Is it good? I don’t know. Is it one of my favourite audios? Naturally. Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy really shine in their not-exactly-the-Doctor appearances, and even Jon Pertwee managed to put in an appearance. I love it to death.
It was many years ago now, but I remember listing to it on over a couple days on commute to uni (it was a loooong commute). people on the bus must have thought I was going through some serious issue, because i was staring straight into the seat in front of me, alternating madly between . Can’t say I remember much of plot now, but I do remember I really liked it.
Is it messy? Yes.
Is it flawed? Yes.
Is it one of my favorite Doctor Who Stories ever? Also Yes.
Zagreus is one of those Stories, where you either see somebody love it or loathe it (or the secret third thing, where they are just baffled by it). I fall under the Camp of love it.
Zagreus is in many ways the biggest fanservice ANY media of the Show has done in my mind (I am sure there are bigger examples, but this one always gets on my mind first) and yet it’s quite bold. While I understand the disappointment of not having a Multi Doctor Story for the 40th or at least not a more “regular” one, I absolutely adore the approach of giving our leads different Roles. Everybody here gives a great Performance and I love how much we travel through Time and Places, because what is more Who then travelling through Space and Time in the weirdest Way possible?
It not being what you expect is perfect especially fitting knowing that this is Big Finish first and only Time of making an Anniversary Special with an incumbent (yes Shalka, love you, my sweet darling but for all I know you are in a weird limbo of Unbound).
Having Wonderland Imagery is lovely and fits well, while this Imagery can get a bit tiring over time, this Story released in a Time when it wasn’t overused (and in general you can rarely get me not liking it in any way). Courtney being a jealous Personification of a Tardis is amazing!
Charley getting through all those time and places, seeing India interact with the 80s Doctor Actors was such a blast! And of course, Louise and Lalla are such a good pairing!
Also is it a hot take to say it but I think this was easily my favorite Use of Rassilon in Who?
Oh and of course McGann is a blast again and I love his Perfomance(s) here, dare I say his best one as of yet even?
Really if I am being honest the only real complain I got for this is how distorted they made Jon’s Voice here, seriously who made this Decision?
Besides that it’s a flawed perfect Masterpiece for me. The very best, the very worst and the very weird of Big Finish summarize in one Audio.
Ooooh, I love this one. Wild, wacky, and just long enough that listening to it feels like an event. Cool milestone for the main range, it always made 1-50 feel like one big arc in my mind.
The way they use the other Doctors is really cool, I really like what is basically the entire Big Finish cast list coming together for a crazy wonderland-style romp. Always a fun listen for me.
Finally finished listening to this mammonth of the story and it’s an easy 10/10 for me. I love practically everything. Fanservice, return of previous Doctor actors in new roles, sense of epic etc. I just think it’s a perfect anniversary special
I wouldn’t say there’s any prerequisites apart from Neverland, and that is an eighth doctor main range story so that should be included. It helps if you can recognize the voices of the other doctors and their companions but it isn’t actually necessary for the story either? It’s just going to make it weirder but Zagreus is weird (in a good way imo) anyways
@shauny asked me to mention this on the Audio Club thread– should this story be included in the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors’ Main Range sets on the website? I’d say not because the Doctors don’t actually appear in the story, just the actors. But I’m aware it’s a gray area.
It’s sort of complicated because they do kind of appear as the doctors at the end, but they are still just created by the TARDIS’s memories of them if I remember correctly? So like they aren’t really the doctor I think
That said, though, I would include it in their sets because it’s still a ‘multi-Doctor’ release; they’re on the cover and they do ‘appear’. If I was working my way through all the Fifth Doctor audios, for example, I would want to know to include it, especially as it also involves all of that range’s regulars.
I would agree that this isn’t really part of their sets, since it doesn’t appear to be part of their arcs (haven’t actually listened to the other ones around this but I think this is true) the way it is for eight and they sort of aren’t really in this one
I did it one part yesterday, and two parts today. Wow, it was long.
I still need time to formulate my opinion and give it a rating. I certainly enjoyed it.
After finally listening and understanding this story, I’ve removed it from the other Doctors’ sets, because it’s not really a part of their listening experiences.
Imagine if you were listening to all of the Sixth Doctor’s Main Range audios only, and then this one popped up. You’d have no idea what is going on at all. And while they do get their Doctorish memories back at the end, this story doesn’t technically feature the Doctors really, apart from at the end (is that the Edge of Existence, seen in Power of the Doctor?)
I like to imagine each Doctor sees the inside of their own head differently. We see Seven’s mind with all his previous incarnations in Timewyrm: Revelation. Why not something similar– but different– for Eight here and Thirteen in Power?
. Can’t say I remember much of plot now, but I do remember I really liked it.
