I don’t know how I feel about this one. I want to say it’s because I was doing other things and that’s why I wasn’t as focused for this, but I was doing those same things when I was listening to the first story also. I was most excited for this story and it let me down. The bodyswapping element was neither interesting nor funny, and the Polo/Tonio ship they kept hyping up was so veiled and implicit that it really wasn’t worth bringing attention to in the marketing. I don’t have anything for or against Paul Magrs as I’m not that familiar with his work, but I’ve heard half-baked stories may be a trend for him? Shrug. I was, however, expecting a little more pizzazz from the guy who wrote The Wormery and Baker’s End. This one just meandered.
When I listen to it again I might tell a different tale, but for now it’s a 2/5.
Edited after I listened to it a second time. I think I heard a part where they shared a kiss.
I don’t think anyone is “bombing” anything. People can have different opinions (I rated the first one with an eight (not sure what the other person voted, but it did lower the score) and I’m the person who gave the second one a four). It’s out of 10, which translates to around 3- and 2-stars respectively. Only two people have voted overall, one being me; it’s too early to call for false votes.
It does seem awfully low, we have had someone review bomb these type of threads before. The latest River set had like really low scores within 5 mins of posting, before someone could’ve heard even one story! But there’s no way of knowing for sure. Plus as Bayban says it could just be people haven’t enjoyed it. If it was a proper review bomb I’d expect lower probs.
After listening to this, I’ve altered my vote of Key from 4/10 or 2/5 to 5/10 or 2.5/5. I really didn’t like this, and a big part was because of the format, where Six be Constance were in two different places, recounting their perspective of an adventure to two different people. This made the actual adventure a bit dry and unengaging, like a boring Companion Chronicle or Short Trip. The cover for the set is more interesting than this audio.
This one is now a 3/10, 1.5/5 rating.
Overall a pretty middling set that started strong and got progressively worse. I don’t consider myself a harsh critic, but 2/3 stories didn’t hit the mark for me. I expected the worst but hoped for the best with this set, and while my ratings aren’t high at least I got one good story out of it.
I loved that one! Absolutely my type of thing. The theme of storytelling, a forest world, a misunderstood monster, a symbiotic relationship… I enjoyed it immensely. The whole story felt soft, empathic and lovely.
Even the premise is wonderful – a village in the forest where a broken Dalek reads stories to children. What a marvellous idea. On its own merits it’s an 8/10 story but I enjoyed it so much it’s a 9/10 for me. Lovely lovely stuff!
Mildly spoilerific question - is there any indication whether this set takes place before or after Constance’s adventures with Flip? I assume it is before, but just wanted to check in case I need to listen to those stories first - any answers from people who have already listened would be appreciated
You don’t need to listen to any Flip audios before tackling this set. There aren’t any references to other companions or other Six adventures in this. There is one very small part in the beginning of the first audio that implies Constance has been traveling with the Doctor for a while, but, again, no call-backs to Flip or the mentioning of any specific story. The first audio also assumes that the listener is familiar with where Constance used to work, but it’s just a blip in the overall story and wouldn’t impact comprehension.
I have a friend who listened to this without being too familiar with Constance and Flip and nothing about the set’s choice of companion confused them.
After watching The Story and the Engine, that, “Inconstancy” writer, is how you do a story about a story while making it engrossing it the same time. If only that episode was released prior to this set’s recording; Inua would’ve been an excellent choice for this boxset.
Doubly if the story he would have written for this set was also Afrocentric. It really disappoints me that I can’t recall a single time Six has ever met a black person unless said person was enslaved. And the one time they gave him an Africa-centric story it didn’t even involve the actual people or any specific location (but it did feature a bunch of Africa exploiters).
The Key to Many Worlds. Glorious. So fun. No monsters, no villains, the stakes are as low as they can be. Just the Doctor, Iris, Constance, and Marco Polo (and Marco Polo’s boyfriend), travelling home. Silly and irreverent and sweet. The ending – Marco Polo travelling back through his life – was absolutely perfect.
I have MISSED Magrs scripts in Big Finish! @ Nick Briggs – we need more of him, please! And more of Iris! Oh, this was a joy.
Edit: Listening to the interviews, and hearing everyone talk about Anthony Townsend, was so, so lovely.
