Rogue Encounters is probably the best of the recent sets, one of the strongest writer lineups ever
2 Likes
Iām really looking forward to the next box sets, they could be interesting
2 Likes
A Quiet Night In is one of my fave BFs ever; itās so great! What The Master does to Jo id NOT okay and I love it
7 Likes
Okay, finished Self Defence. Definitely ended on the strongets story, the dynamic between them was just phenomenal. Really though, the worst set so far unfortunately.
5 Likes
Agreed on last story but personally disagree on set overall! I really find set 3 super duper weak personally
3 Likes
This is my issue with Killing Time, i physically canāt listen to this audio (not a slight on anyone who likes it)
8 Likes
Was about to make a thread until i remembered to search 
I really think War Master is great - listened to his first boxset and currently listening to his second
Easily top 3 masters for me. Heās so great, like an evil grandad
10 Likes
Canāt believe nobody mentioned Escape To Reality. Itās a favourite of mine.
3 Likes
Finished Rage of the Time Lords at the end of the week there. Was really surprised to see it wasnāt a lot of peopleās cup of tea, as I really enjoyed it throughout. Even Coney Island Chamelion, although I will admit I was bummed that Sabbatini didnāt reappear in the latter half of the set like Alice did.
I want to say that I like it more than Anti-Genesis, but I felt like I wasnāt paying attention 100% the first time around so Iām going to give that a relisten over next week.
Obviously the highlight is the faceoff against Paul McGann, and geez it is sooo satisfying, as someone who loves to root for the villain, to see the Master in almost complete control. That ending of Darkness and Light gives me goosebumps every time. Iāve never been the biggest Eighth Doctor fan, but Paul McGann certainly won me over with that scream of despair as the nanobot is about to detonate in his head to make him forget all about the Masterās scheme. Iāve been replaying that one scene two or three a times a day since, itās excellent! Maybe my favourite conclusion to a War Master set yet!
Very excited to move on to Hearts of Darkness soon to see what the rematch is like!
12 Likes
Completed my relisten of Anti-Genesis just there, and it pains me to say it but itās definitely a mixed bag. The latter half is definitely a lot better than the first however, considering the presence of the Kisgart/Gatiss Master (I wish theyād kept the pseudonym!)
I get that itās supposed to set up the main plot, but the trip inside the Matrix by Narvin and Krasnus just feels confusing, which is probably the point, but I really did lose a lot of focus when I didnāt have a clue what I was supposed to be listening to. I think it takes up around ten minutes of the first episodeās runtime but it feels like an eternity. It also indulges in total fanwankery, complete with Sean Carlsen having Tom Bakerās āI deny this realityā line, but then this spread out through the whole boxset, one of the worst offenders of Big Finishes ranges so far, with maybe the worst being the complete word-forword rehash of the Dalekās betrayal of Davros in Genesis as the betray the Master here. I get that the point is that the Daleks are inevitable and that no amount of reprogramming will change them, but it just feels lazy to have the same dialogue that I know fans of Genesis are supposed to be drooling over, and donāt get me wrong, Jacobi has an amazing death scream, but it feels so inorganic, as if the pieces have been moved just so we can have this callback, rather than the betrayal happening organically.
Sorry for the tangent, but there is a lot to like here too, primarily the Masterās infiltration of the Kaled elite (the beginning of The Masterās Dalek Plan is a highlight!) and the subsequent horrors that occur inside the bunker. Lemariasā trek through the wasteland with her newfriend Muto friend helps you really picture how much of a hellhole Skaro is which ends up being a little disappointing, seeing as it doesnāt go anywhere and theyāre both promptly killed off before the second half begins. The war on Skaro is far more interesting than the nonsense on Gallifrey that it shares the runtime with. Of course, thereās also the Unbound Master, who is deliciously vain and pompous, and every scene heās in certainly magnifies the quality of the scenes where Jacobi isnāt present. It makes the finale where two must pair up to save the universe from themselves a really tense and exciting listen. I really wish they had more scenes together!
I think the stuff that drags it down primarily is the tons of fanwank as mentioned above, which, while Iām a sad get who understands all of it, really takes you out of it as you know itāll go right over the heads of anyone who isnāt initiated. I donāt get excited by lines that are just lifted from other stories. It feels like Iām having keys jangled in my face, especially when used for important scenes like the Master stealing thr anti-genesis codes, or the Daleks killing the Master.
Iām also not a fan of how much takes place on Gallifrey. Iāve only been exposed to Narvin through this set and the Gallifrey story from Bernice Summerfield Volume 6, and while I got the gist of his character, I really did feel like I needed to homework to appreciate the scenes he was in (which might not have been the case but I felt like it nonetheless).
Itās sad because while I did really end up enjoying it towards the end, itās hard to recommend this to most Doctor Who fans because of how impenetrable and confusing it can be at times. Which is a shame, because the concept is just mouthwatering.
(Edit: listening to the BTS segment, and it is very amusing (although slightly embarrassing) that even though Nick Briggs and Alan Barnes are bigging up their ideas and scripts, the actors being interviewed very obviously (or explicitly in Jacobiās case!) donāt have a single clue what is going on and mention the script being confusing numerous times!)
5 Likes