On a whim, finally getting around to some of the Unbound stories today, and I don’t think they have their own dedicated thread. I could just post in the ‘what are you listening to’ thread but I like having somewhere dedicated to go for a range
Anyway, I’ve listened to all of the Warner!Doctor and Benny stories and enjoyed them greatly, but I’ve never got round to the proper ‘Unbound’ range. Some of these are very… infamous, so I am intrigued to get to them. Maybe I’ll even finish the Doctor of War set…
Let’s chat about Unbound! Which are your favourite Unbound stories? Who do you think did a great job as an Unbound Doctor? Are there any Unbound Doctors you’d love to see explored more? Do I really need to be afraid of Exile?
I’ve only experienced the Warner Doctor and Warrior, less said about the latter the better… Really love Warner in the role, think he’s paired so well with Benny. I too need to do the Unbound stories, I’ve only done The Warrior ones! I’m quite excited for the Unbound 1 series coming up.
I’ve listened to the first two Warner Doc stories, Sympathy for the Devil and Masters of War (love his Doctor, love the stories, would recommend him to anyone), as well as Deadline, which is difficult to talk about without spoiling the premise - it’s a Rob Shearman story, so it goes to some rather dark places.
I’ve never felt an urge to pick up the rest (Warner’s Doctor continues in a separate range), but I will get the upcoming First Doctor trilogy with David Bradley - I’m interested to see whether these actually diverge from the main continuity of the show, or if they’re just being labelled as Unbound because they feature Bradley, as others have speculated.
Someone who attended BF day, where they got a preview, tweeted that there is a reason its Unbound but they won’t spoil. I thought as much, because why change it now unless it is going properly Unbound. I think the main theory rn is the Monk causes the timeline divergence.
I have a real soft spot for the Unbound range – they were some of the first BF stories I ever listened to. That being said I haven’t listened to most of them in years so my memories are a little hazy!
I remember Auld Mortality, Sympathy for the Devil and Full Fathom Five as great stories with interesting, unique Doctors. Deadline is of course a beautiful, heartbreaking story. A Storm of Angels is one I barely remember a thing about but I know I enjoyed it at the time.
Of the ones I didn’t like – Exile is just not funny, …He Jests at Scars and Masters of War I found super boring, and the Doctor of War sets just had no stakes and no decent characters. Plus the way Leela was treated in that story was truly, truly horrible IMO.
And David Warner’s Doctor is one of my all time favourites I LOVE him and Benny together!!!
Auld Mortality: I often struggle with a Marc Platt story. I find the dense lore he often weaves in hard to follow and I tend to find I don’t like the way he writes women very much. That said. This story was excellent. It’s been a long, long time since I read Lungbarrow but picking up on all the little continuities in there was nice. It was a little slow and silly in places, but once Susan arrived I was having fun, and I thought she and the Doctor were wonderful together, as they always are.
Ooh, thanks for the hot gossip - that seems the most likely explanation! I’m glad that they’ll seemingly be “proper” Unbound stories, rather than just because they feature Bradley and the Adventure in Space and Time gang.
Interesting that you didn’t like Masters of War - I get why, because I agree it is a bit slow to start, but I personally think it’s fantastic from the end of the first part onwards. I really enjoyed the spin it puts on the Daleks, Davros and the whole Dalek-Thal conflict, and it felt very unique to me as Dalek stories go (which, for me personally, is pretty impressive - given just how many stories they’ve been in!). Obviously, David Warner is fantastic in it too
That’s fair enough - it is a long one, and it very much hinges on the Dalek-Thal dynamic, so it’s very understandable you weren’t keen on it if you’re not bothered about those elements.
Couldn’t agree more with your first sentence, it’s an enormous loss that he’s no longer around to play the Doctor. I’ve got all of his adventures with Benny still to get to and I’m really looking forward to them, but I’m also sad because we won’t get any more of him after that. He’s one of those actors who was born to play the Doctor, IMO - I would have loved to see him play the part on screen.
Oh I wish I were still in this boat! They are truly incredible, we are so so lucky to have had Warner and Benny in so many stories together. They are a formidable team <3
Sympathy for the Devil: ohhhh you guys weren’t joking this one is superb. Warner Doctor I miss you so much :( A lot to digest in here, many layers, all working beautifully together. I feel like one would get a great deal out of a relisten to this one. I enjoyed how very real it felt to its place in history, and of course the Brigadier is a delight. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while
This thread makes me want to relisten to the Unbound range so bad. I haven’t listened to all of them, actually, only the first four or five, I think. Sympathy for the Devil remains one of my all-time favourite BF releases, and it’s what made me appreciate David Warner’s Doctor. I’m so happy that I listened to his adventures with Benny last year. That’s an amazing run of stories that was unfortunately cut short.
I also love this range, the only story I would call bad of the original run is Exile tho i think Weir would have been amazing if they had actually wrote for her seriously. Without saying Warner is brilliant and I consider him as much the doctor as any of the mainline ones. And Deadline is up there as my favorite Shearman Who story
Full Fathom Five: (yes I’m blasting through these today, I’m home alone and sewing ) Things I said aloud to myself during this one: “Holy shit…” “Christ…” “He’s not going to… oh my god”. So that one was a bit bleak (!) I really didn’t think they were going to go as far as literally making the Doctor a murderer but like, what a fascinating thing to push all the way to its limits. Something about stories that are about the impact the Doctor has on people’s lives (and my god did he really mess Ruth up) is so beautiful. It took me a while to get into the format of this one and I found it a little hard to follow, but the twists really hit when they hit.
How did such a good range as this produce Exile! Not that I’ve listened to that one yet but I see the rating. I’ve heard spoilers. Oh my god.
I LOVE him and Benny together!!!
